I hit the end of the SSLP and wasn’t moving the weight up any more so I went over to the Bridge. I like the new training but feeling a little depressed at the lighter weight. I know the volume is there just such a huge adjustment feeling like a set back looking at the weight I can move around @7, @8 and @9. By the third set at the end I’m looking at what a 9 feels like and it’s depressing. I like the program and looking forward to seeing the progress, it’s just a really tough transition psychologically. Anyone else have that happen?
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I totally understand. I am going through a similar experience. Since being on the Bridge, I haven’t hit anything similar to the ‘end’ of my LP. That being said, an honest retrospective of the ‘end’ of my LP was a highly modified, RPE 9+ on every single work set, approach that was just strength demonstration at the sacrifice of strength development. Also, no additional work was occurring for developing my work capacity.
I am finally reaching the point now where my form is getting consistent, and things are ‘feeling’ like I am dialed in. The stress is productive, I am making consistent progress, and as a side benefit, more hypertrophy.
What has helped me has been 1) to remember what the BBM folks have said, this is about long-term lifting career, 2) it is nice to chase a different progress metric, it takes some of the pressure off. I recommend buying one of the BBM templates and fully using it.
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The transition period from SSLP to the bridge can be a bit discouraging, because you are realizing the end of what is essentially a peak that occurs at the end of starting strength - where you’ve stopped actually getting stronger and have been just displaying strength you already have developed in a more and more specialized way ie bench, squat, deadlift, press, power clean, etc - and that in order to keep developing strength, you must lower the weight and program correct intensity and volume. tl;dr lifting more weight doesn’t necessarily mean you’re actually stronger.
You’re also exhausted from that peaking and it will show in the beginning stages of the bridge, but soon you’ll be increasing weight with much better form and you’ll feel a lot better physically as well. Just need to be patient is all
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I found the start of The Bridge a relief from the grinding and, to be honest, the pre-workout apprehension. I used to feel pretty anxious before each training session, for each of the four lifts.
The relief was good as at week 4 of The Bridge the volume goes up for a high stress week, and then from week 5 (or is it week 6) the singles kick in. At this point it was awesome to lift weights which were greater than what I was able to do on the SSLP and instead of being bone-on-bone RPE 10s for a set of 5 (where I sometimes would fail), it was a smooth, strong, single at RPE 8 knowing I could do two more reps.
Stick with The Bridge to the letter and you will come around. You will find that BBM templates are not easy. There is much hard work to be done; RPE 8 for a single or for 6 reps is not at all easy, but it is not super absolutely hard for the sake of being super absolutely hard. It is not absolute max effort, anxiety inducing, grinding bullshit for 5 reps just because.
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Yes and no. It’s depressing how hard intermediate programming is, especially because you probably gained too much weight on SSNLP and have to undertake your intermediate programming with minimal weight gain, or more likely, extreme weight loss. So yeah, it’s kind of depressing my squat, bench and press are weaker than they were at the end of LP 5+ months ago. But I’m also 21 lbs lighter, so I’m not that depressed about it.
I found SSNLP itself to be far more depressing. I worked with SSOC, gained 15 lbs, started developing sleep apnea, and would dread almost every workout because I knew if I couldn’t get the reps it’d mean I’d have to try again next session or get reset to light ass weights. The sessions started taking upwards of 2 hours because I was told to keep resting longer so I could eke out what in retrospect, wasn’t even more strength – just an extended peak with 5s as the test. And despite all that effort, my bench and press went up maybe 15 lbs, 6 months after starting “LP.” Funny how terrible SSCs are at math.
The Bridge was a breath of fresh air. It was harder, overall it was almost as time consuming if you add up the GPP day time too, but at the end of it I could basically lift the same weights (my bench stayed flat, my press and squat went down, my pull went up 40 lbs) with half the rest time which felt like a real accomplishment.
Don’t expect to add a ton of weight on the bar doing the Bridge. Think of it like it’s namesake. Work on form, getting rest times down and conditioning. It will make training more fun, less time consuming, and will give you the volume tolerance necessary to run a more productive strength gain program – and hopefully give you some insight into what works for you as an intermediate. Nothing on the bridge worked for me particularly well except paused DLs – which blew up my DL. Good to know for the future. Have to find what works for the other 3 lifts now.
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To echo the previous callers, SSLP was more the root of depression. With the benefit of hindsight, I was clearly following, to put it nicely, less than optimal advice.
Marathon workouts and grinding out micro loaded sets in order to ‘run it out’ because ‘training should be simple’, questioning my own perseverance due to more or less dreading every session was doing my head in.
So glad all that dogmatic intensity focused, volume phobic, GPP shunning training is a thing of the past for me.
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I’m with Teddyd. Going from NLP which was an absolute grind at the end of every set, I’m enjoying the hell out of those RPE 8 sets. Working super hard, but leaving 2 in the tank just feels right. I’m actually enjoying training again! I probably would quit if i had to grind each and every time. Just not built for that long term. Guess Rip and crew would call me a pussy, but I know I’m better positioned for long term success.
My advice is just enjoy the journey and try not to get hung up on the weight numbers. If you want a nice, big number, look at your TOTAL tonnage over the long term. Then compare that number with what you would have gotten had you stayed on LP. Now that’s motivating 
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I have had the same experience moving from LP to the bridge. Dialing back the weight was more difficult then it probably should be for me. I’m on week 3 and my weights dropped a bit I think due overshooting rpe on week 1 and 2 trying to get back to end LP weight. I’m confident it will get better. I just have to dial back the ego and get more practice with rpe.
Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences. I’m in week 6 of the bridge and it feels much better now. I’m, seeing progress and it is easier to get into the gym knowing that I’m not facing the @10’s. Looking forward to each week and loving the different support lifts. There will always be psychological element anytime you get under the bar I suppose. RPE in itself is subjective and that is a tough one for me. I suppose it will get easier in time as I lift more to have a better understanding of my body’s response to the weight each day. Thanks again, maybe helpful to have Jordan or Austin talk about the psychological aspect to training and lifting.
It was a difficult mindset change for me as well. From thinking about the weight on the bar to thinking about the dose of stress being just right. At least now my joints aren’t all screaming in pain at once.