Powerbuilding 2 template - Drop sets?

Training Q&A [Moderated]
1

Hi,

When I review the template I see sets after the first at RPE 8 are written separately. For example, looking at the squat:

Squat w/ belt

• 6 Reps @ 6 RPE (72%)

• 6 Reps @ 7 RPE (76%)
• 6 Reps @ 8 RPE (79%). Repeat 6 reps @ RPE 8 x 2 additional sets.

Is it written like this because:

  1. No reason, you should interpret this as a total of 3 sets across
  2. The following 2 sets may (or may not, depending on how you feel) contemplate a fatigue drop of 3-5%, so you do your first at 8 and drop a bit for the following 2 so fatigue does not creep up and hits 9
  3. Some other logic that I am missing

My money is on #2, but I would appreciate some clarification.

Thanks,

Martin

2

I wrote it like this because people are different and there needs to be some flexibility with loading. If a person can do 3 sets across @ RPE 8, cool.If they need to take some weight off the bar, that’s cool too.

3 Likes
3

Hi,
Leading off the first question:

I had thought that the above instruction was for sets across at the weight that was found to be @8 for that first set (even if this trends up to @9 over repeated sets this was fine/intended). Whereas instructions like “6 reps @ RPE 8 x 3 sets” implied changing the weight if required such that we try keep the back off sets @8 also.

In some templates we have the following instruction for the back off work: “Repeat X reps @ RPE 8 until it becomes @9 (cap at X sets)” unless stated like this is the intention to pretty much always modify the weight such that we keep to the defined RPE for the first set? (the more I type this out the more is seems like overthinking outside the more general guidance of trying to not hit sets @10 intensity all the time)

Thanks