PB III Block III questions

Training Q&A [Moderated]
1

Hi BBM,

I’m about to start block III of PB III next week and have a couple of questions about it:

  1. What’s a good way to set-up the 2 inch deficit deadlift? I train at a standard commercial gym, and the only way I could think of setting the exercise up is to stand on a bumper plate. The problem is that i’m unsure I should stand on a 10 kg, 15 kg or 20 kg bumper plate.

These are the bumper plates in my gym: Tiguar 10 kg bumper plate V2 TI-WB01000V2
I couldn’t find the measurements for them when searching online, though these are standard bumper plates.

  1. I’m going to be away for most of week 14 (the final week of PB III), and i’ll only be able to train from Thursday of that week. Should I repeat the final 2 workouts of week 13 during that week (week 14), and then move on to the testing week the following week (week 15)?

  2. I’ve never tested my 1RM on any lift before, so i’m not quite sure how to approach it:

  • How long should I rest between the RPE 8, 9 and 10 attempts? And, how long should I rest between the squat, bench, and deadlift after testing my max for each lift?
  • How do I know which weight to select for each RPE? For example, my current deadlift is probably around 190 kg @ RPE 8, which is a calculated 1RM of 205 kg, though I don’t think i’m actually able to pull 205 kg. Also, for the comp bench press I can probably do around 115 kg @ RPE 8, which is a calculated 1RM of 125 kg, though again I don’t think I can actually lift 125 kg. Based on these numbers, what would be the number I should choose on the day I test my max for the lifts @ RPE 9 and 10?
2

Hey Ben,

  1. A couple rubber mats would work best, but a 20kg plate will work in a pinch.

  2. That’d be fine.

  3. For the squat, bench press, and deadlift, if you know your previous 1RM PR and it’s somewhat
    recent, we’d recommend working up to a new 1RM like this:

  1. 30% x 5 reps
  2. 45% x 3 reps
  3. 65% x 1 rep
  4. 75% x 1 rep
  5. 85% x 1 rep
  6. 90% x 1 rep (planned opener/first attempt for a powerlifting meet)
  7. 95% x 1 rep (planned second attempt for a powerlifting meet)
  8. ~102% x 1 rep (planned third attempt for a powerlifting meet) If you don’t have an accurate 1RM and circumstances forced you to feel it out, we’d

recommend working up to a 1RM like this:

  1. 30% e1RM x 5 reps
  2. 45% e1RM x 3 reps
  3. 65% e1RM x 1 rep
  4. 75% e1RM x 1 rep
  5. 1 Rep @ RPE 7
  6. 1 Rep @ RPE 8 (planned opener/first attempt for a powerlifting meet)
  7. 1 Rep @ RPE 9 ((planned second attempt for a powerlifting meet)
  8. 1 Rep @ RPE 10 planned third attempt for a powerlifting meet)
  9. use ~ 5% jumps between RPE’s 7-8, 8-9, 9-10 I’d rest 3-5 minutes between attempts.

-Jordan​

1 Like
3

Hey Jordan,

Thanks for the answers.

As for the 20 kg plate (as we don’t have rubber mats in my gym), did you mean a standrad iron 20kg plate? From looking online it seems that it’s slightly under 2 inches (~1.6). I guess that’s close enough, or would it be better to double it and stand on 2 plates?

4

It’s close enough in my opinion. I wouldn’t stand on two plates.