I’m midway through Week 8 of The Bridge v1, and it’s time to think about what’s next. I’m not sure my lifts got much higher. But I enjoyed learning RPE, the new lifts, etc. so I consider it a success. I also hit a few heavy singles I’d never actually done before, so that’s a win, too.
40 y.o. male, 5’10", 165 lbs
Changes in e1rm (in lbs):
Press: ~150 → ~155
Bench Press: N/A → ~168 (I’d not really trained bench until now)
LBBS: 325 → 335
DL: 330 → 355
My goals wrt programming are as follows, in priority order:
Lift three days a week with programs that work for a COVID home gym (squat rack, barbells). I don’t have access to belt squats, leg presses, etc.
Improve on bench press and DL. My DL is pretty far below my all time high e1rm of ~425.
Hypertrophy.
Perform heavy singles.
What should I do next? I’ve bought the Bridge v3, HLM, and Hypertrophy I–but I’m open to rerunning Bridge v1 if it makes sense. I was very conservative with the RPEs.
Thanks. And I should only use the belt on lifts where it explicitly says “with belt,” right? I remember reading (or hearing) some Nuance™ about how beltless lifts provide intensity, but with less fatigue–so I assume the beltless lifts are that way on purpose.
OK, I’m almost done with HLM–what next? I didn’t make much progress except on bench, which will probably have gone up a little, at least. Part of the reason may be that I’m time constrained, and can really only get through the first two exercises before I have to get back to work. It’s pretty rare that I manage to get through all three–it usually means I had extra time on my hands due to a cancelled meeting.
