PLII Review and Questions

Training Q&A [Moderated]
1

Hi, I just finished week 12 and wanted to share some experiences in addition to asking some questions about things I noted along the way.

Overall, I just want to say PLII is really awesome and I think perfect for my needs right now. While it isn’t intended to be hypertrophic I guess, I’ve also made amazing gains in that department as well. This is my “third time” through, however this is the first time I really ‘stuck’ to the prescription and ditched any old notions of training I had ingrained before hand which caused more substitutions, so I stuck probably 95% (see below) to the program with major modifications only as a result due to working through injuries (pec, then shoulder pain from OHD press). I honestly like this program alot and I feel like I just want to keep doing this, perhaps for many more run throughs. I think this is because of the ideal exercise variety on the supplemental movements, where it switches just often enough to keep it fresh.

Here are some things I noted during the last 12 weeks 1. I ran the 4 day split Sun/Tue/Wed/Fri. The reason for this is because of (1) preconceived notions of ‘resting’ my back at least one day before any dead lift activity and (2) the backoff squat work in weeks 1-6 always tended to get my legs pretty sore. If I were to stick to the same day split, would you suggest any modifications to programming? Otherwise, I might just overcome my bias and just do M/T/TR/FR
2. I will admit, I have not done the prescribed cardio, and I want to correct this, but I need to find the right activity that will meet the guidelines while still being something I can enjoy - any suggestions?
3. Stiff legged deadlifts on weeks 9-12 - I’ve replaced these with RDLs. I don’t have experience with the movement, and I always felt I was “not flexible” enough to get into a “safe” (nonsensical, I know) starting position. I think I can over come this though - tips for SLDL in general?
4. 2" deficit deadlifts - is it normal to feel a bit more lower back stress in this movement? I try to mimic the exact 5 step deadlift set up for normal deadlifts with this. It feels like because the distance and i have short arms that my back is not as squeezed into extension as with normal deadlifts. Any tips on this movement? I saw Austin doing these in one of your deadlift warm up videos so I am convinced I shouldn’t worry about it, just looking to see if there is anything I should think about differently on this movement vs normal deadlift.
5. e1RMs - do you view e1rms as a moving metric not just daily, but during the workout itself? For example, my true 8 single might give an accurate 1erm, but that number moves down in theory as fatigue sets in during the workout (primarily during backoff sets) - should I stick to the 8 e1rm always when doing back offs? I have tended to shed a few pounds off when determining the weight on the backoff sets (maybe 5-15lb)
6. Warm ups: I am pretty conservative, I always do the bar 2-3 sets and then use 45/50 pound jumps to my working sets. Is that too much warm up volume? Or should I consider bigger plate jumps (e.g. 90) at some point?
7. Looking forward, is there any real reason to go to Strength III? What is the main difference from PLII?

Thanks
Mike

2

Mike,

Thanks for the update. Sounds like you killed it on this program!! Great job. To your questions:

  1. I would not modifying programming in any way. Stick to the RPE and adapt over time :slight_smile:
  2. I would definitely do the conditioning. I don’t know what you personally enjoy, but I suspect doing things you have easy access to would work best. Cycling, brisk walking, stairs, etc. using the RPE targets to make sure they’re at the right intensity would be the rec. Cycling is my go-to from a fatigue cost standpoint.
  3. If you can RDL, I think you can SLDL. I don’t think there’s a big difference in training adaptations between the two, so I don’t really care if you swap SLDL for RDL or vice versa. It’s really just s small difference from your regular deadlift setup, with your knees being just a bit straighter with the SLDL compared to your regular deadlift. I think being sure to keep the bar on your legs during the pull and being conservative with loading are the only keys worth mentioning here.
  4. Your back will be more flexed in a deficit DL and therefore likely undergo more active ROM compared to a regular deadlift. This may or may not create more low back fatigue, but I don’t think about the two movements any differently otherwise.
  5. I do not alter the e1RM I’m using for load selection during a workout, no, though fatigue obviously builds up during a training session. I think fatigue produces variable decreases in performance, whereas the e1RM is more static in predicting performance. I would adjust loading as necessary sans messing with e1RM.
  6. I think 4-6 warm up sets is reasonable for most. If you’re doing more than that, I’d adjust something.
  7. If you become stale on PL II, Strength III is the obvious choice. Similar programming, but the dose is ratcheted up a bit along with more adjustability for the more advanced trainee.

-Jordan