Novice Bench Plug In into Bridge 1.0

Training Q&A [Moderated]
1

Hi team,

First time poster here. I’d like to start off by thanking you all for the great work you do, and apologise if my question is retreading old ground (I couldn’t find anything specifically about this in my search).

I’m now coming to the end of my novice SSLP as my squat is tapering off, and am planning to switch to the Bridge 1.0. My press & bench stalled long ago, but was able to kick start it again thanks to your novice press plugin, and they keep effortlessly gliding upwards (cheers guys!). Where previously my bench had stalled at 97.5x5x3 with 5 mins rest between sets, last session using your plugin in I hammered out a top single and 95x5x5 with 2 mins rest at about RPE 8. Results for my press are similar.

As I understand it, one of the primary purposes of the Bridge program is to help build work capacity (please correct me if I’ve gotten this incorrect), but if I follow the program exactly as prescribed this will mean a drop in the volume of the pressing variants (initially, at least). So, with the volume from the plugin seeming to work so we for me and me being very keen to keep this trend going, my question is, would I be better:

a) Just doing the bridge exactly as written.

b) Doing the bridge as written, but adding in the extra 4x8@8 sets at the end of the workout (as in, on a day where the program prescribes a bench variant, add on 4x8@8 press at the end, and vice versa for the press) and continue this until it stops working

c) Something else…?

Thanks for your help. Any insight you could provide, regarding the pros and cons of this approach would be much appreciated, thank you.

Other information that might be relevant:
Male
6’2"
192 lbs (about 13% bf)
29 y.o
7-8 hours sleep per night
Following To Be A Beast for weight gain

2

Glad to hear the adjustments are working well for you. I think you could either follow option (b) there, or follow the Bridge prescription for squats and pulls, and stick with the plug-in approach if it’s working for you. I don’t have a very strong preference between the two, and think that in the long run (the Bridge is a fairly short program, after all) it will provide you with some valuable information about how your upper body lifts respond to different programming approaches.

3

Thanks for the response, Dr Baraki.

I hadn’t considered using this as an opportunity to see how I respond to different training stimuli. I’ve read many people on the forum have had success with multiple run throughs of the bridge. If I do as well on it as anticipated, I may take your advice, run it through a couple of times, and try both approaches to determine what works best for me.

Thank you for the insight.