I thought I’d give you a bit more context, although, at this point, I guess I’m presenting an idea more than asking you a direct question. But given the number of replies on the thread maybe other people will find it interesting too.
After wasting months grinding reps in a “novice linear progression” that led me nowhere (I was no longer a novice, actually, but I resisted switching to an intermediate program because I felt like my numbers were to low for not being a novice… dumb, I know) I started an intermediate program and weights started going up pretty quickly.
I chose to do 531 (I know, I know… but as long as it keeps working I’m not changing it ). However, I’m absolutely sold on the idea that volume drives hypertrophy and strength for an intermediate lifter, both because I trust science and because I experienced it firsthand. So I’m arranging things in order to do assistance work that is a little more than just “assistance”. Hypertrophy being my main goal at the moment, and based on the information you shared in your podcast, my idea would be to do something like this:
main: 531 on one of the main lifts ——> use “plus set” to extrapolate 1RM for the day
assistance: take 75(ish)% of that number and do 3 sets amrap (stopping a couple of reps short of failure) - add some other assistance exercise (pull ups, rows…)
how to progress: add sets over time (as Austin said: "The more useful parameter/predictor is the number of sets you perform in which you achieve sufficient motor unit recruitment)
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I’ve never tried RPE training, but I think this approach is not completely different, in that it uses a parameter that accounts for your daily performance: instead of prescribing n reps @ RPE x it prescribe a certain intensity (75% of your 1RM of the day, which is the optimal range for hypertrophy, based on what I’ve found in the literature), and you do amrap for that day… maybe you do 8 one day, 6 another and 10 another still…
Any thoughts would be highly appreciated.