Hey Doc, earlier this year I ran the Bridge 1.0. Shortly afterwards I didn’t do a specific program and started messing around sets of 8. After a few weeks of that I decided to re run the Bridge 1.0. I am currently a student that is not working so tapping into my savings (to buy the juicy 12 week) with no income is not a smart idea for wants vs needs in my opinion.
I modified the Bride 1.0 where I added 1@8 before my comp lifts, and then do the 5 @ 8s and then the set of @7 afterwards.
Couple of things.
During the volume portion of the program (or any BBM for that matter) is it realistic to add 2.5 - 5 lbs each week while increase volume? Or do you recommend people to either change one variable either volume or intensity.
I’ve tried adding 2.5 lbs (1.25 on each side) each week so long as the RPE is what is prescribed. But within week 3 the 1 @ 8 became 1 @ 9.
Week 2 I squat was 222.5 lbs for 1 @ 8
Week 3 was 225 for 1 @ 9
Week 4 was 227.5 @ 9
Week 5 227.5 @ 9
My other comp lifts have stalled as well, 1 @ 8 is becoming 1 @ 9.
Am I stalling because I ran a strength program back to back? Should I have done a volume block in between?
During the first run of the Bridge I was eating 12.75 x BW
Second run of the Bridge I slowly added calories up to 3380 Cal.
No, we don’t expect that you’ll be able to linearly add weight for a significant period of time. That being said, it’s not unusual to be able to do so in stints either. Adding weight to the bar doesn’t necessarily change the intensity unless you’re not any stronger on a particular day. For example, let’s say an individual with a 400lb 1RM squat does a set of 5 with 340lbs (85%). 1 week later he squats 345lbs, but his 1RM on that particular day was 410lbs. His intensity is not any different despite the increase in load. Conversely, let’s say that 1 week later he attempts 345 x 5 but his 1RM on that day is 390 and he misses his 5th rep, which wouldn’t be unusual considering 88% is closer to a 3-rep max than a 5-rep max. We think there are a number of limitations to using only discrete increases in load to obtain progressive overload.
I don’t know why you’re stalling, as I’m unsure of anything else, BW, height, training history, form, training consistency, etc. I probably wouldn’t run The Bridge 1.0 back to back unless you crushed it the first time on that program.
First week you do one set @ 8
Second week do @ 8 x 3
If on the first week you squat 225 for 5 @ 8, your e1rm is 278
But on the second week you squat the same 225 for 5 @ 8 x 3, but your RPE was actually a 7.
According to RPE, you got stronger, ~ 7lbs?
That sounds like a better way to improve your e1RM, as adding weights even 2.5 lbs can overshot and RPE, causing the e1RM to go down.
Lets say the third week starts off with 1 @ 8.
Second week RPE for 5 @ 8 x 3 for 225 was @7@8 and @9
Which RPE would you use to base the 1 @ 8 off of?
Lets say the third week wasn’t 1 @ 8, but it was the same 5 @ 8 x 3.
Would you bump up the 225 for the first set by 2.5 pounds and go from there? Or would you keep using 225 until all 3 sets are perfectly @ 8?
I think you may have answered my question about my recent lack of progression. I was having thoughts of doing steroids given my stats.
For both runs of the Bridge, I tried to add weight where I can (especially in the volume phase) and it did not turn out very well. Only to cause more and more frustrations. Counter intuitively, an efficient way of achieving progressive overload is not physically adding weight to the bar.
Depends how you define “stronger”, but from an e1RM perspective- no.
If you squatted 225 x 5 @ 8 x 1 set and 225 x 5 @ 8 x 3 sets your e1RM doesn’t change. Repeating sets @ 8 is not unusual.
If you’re doing 225 x 5 @ 7, your RPE 8 and 9 sets should be higher than 225.
Usually singles are done before any volume work and I would base them off the previous week’s e1RM. 1 @ 8 is ~ 90-93% of a 1RM.
You should not be using the same weight for sets at different RPE’s. I’m not sure what you’re doing exactly, but sets @ RPE 7 should be lighter than RRPE 8, which are lighter than sets @ RPE 9 given the same rep range.
What I mean by @ 7 , 8 , 9 is that if calculate my 3 x 5 @ 8, it comes out to be 225, and after the first set of 5 with 225, it felt like an RPE 7 . The second set of 5 felt like an RPE 8, and the third set of 5 felt like an RPE 9.
What would you conclude about your recent training session? If that had happen to you, what would you do the next 3 x 5 @ 8?
Ex.
Week2
e1RM 278 lbs
3 x 5 @ 8 - 225
Set One with 225 felt like a @ 7 - e1RM 285 (You were on your A game, feeling on top of the world that moment)
Set Two with 225 felt like a @ 8 - e1RM 278
Set Three with 225 felt like a @ 9 - e1RM 268 - Reason for it being @ 9 is due to fatigue (lack of recovery or whatever the reason you didn’t have 2 reps in the tank)
If that had happen to you, what would you plan to do on the next 3 x 5 @ 8?
Would you do
Set 1 - 230 lbs (285 x .81)
Set 2 - 230 lbs
Set 3 - 217.5 (the reason for backing off is because of fatigue for the 3rd set last week causing the RPE to creep up @ 9, and to prepare the weight such that the RPE will be @ 8 for that particular set)
Or
Set 1 - 230
Set 2 - 230
Set 3 - 230 - Increase the weight for the 3rd set knowing that the 225 @ 8 felt like a @ 9 and still up intensity anyway.
It is a bit more straight forward if you do all three sets and they all felt like an @ 8, just add 5lbs next week.
I hope I am making sense, I tend to over think things and need to know the minutia.
I’m not sure what you mean “when you calculate your 3 x 5 @ 8.” What do you mean?
If 225 x 5 is RPE 7, then 5 @ 8 should be ~232.5 and 5 @ 9 should be 240 unless someone is very, very bad at doing repeated efforts. For reference, we don’t call this “3 x5 @ 8.”
You should not be doing the same weight across for different RPE’s
That I was very out of shape.
If I did 225 x 5 @ RPE 7 one week and didn’t add weight to the subsequent sets then I would do :
225 x 5 (@ RPE 7)
230 x 5 (@ RPE 8)
235-240 x 5 (@ RPE 9)
What I mean by calculate 3 x 5 @ 8 is say you do 255 lbs for 1 @ 8. The next 3 sets of the program is 3 x 5 @ 8. Since 278 is your e1RM, you find your 5 @ 8 by calculating 278 x .81 and 225 is your weight selection for the next 3 sets.
The reason I emphasizing this is because I have trouble repeating efforts for the same weight at a certain RPE. It starts to creep up by .5 or 1.
What ends up happening is i’ll find my @8 and the first set will be an 8, second set would be 8.5 and third set would feel like a 9. Generally speaking
Recently i’ve switched it to just backing off 2.5lbs per set to keep the RPE constant @8. Sometimes it will creep up but not as much. Does this indicate a work capacity that needs to be improved on?
With my example of 3 x 5 @ 8 being a @7@8@9 is to exaggerate a bit to make a point so you can help clear up any confusion I have.
if the program prescribes @7@8@9, I definitely increase intensity based of the RPE chart in the Bridge E book. Like you said you don’t do the same weight for different RPE. What I’m talking about is what to do after you do the set and there’s a discrepancy in RPE ratings
Then I would do 225 x 5 x 3 sets then unless it started getting > RPE 9.
[quote=“Paul7654321, post:7, topic:5677, username:Paul7654321”]
The reason I emphasizing this is because I have trouble repeating efforts for the same weight at a certain RPE. It starts to creep up by .5 or 1./QUOTE]
That’s fine. Carry on.
Paul7654321;n37187:
Recently i’ve switched it to just backing off 2.5lbs per set to keep the RPE constant @8. Sometimes it will creep up but not as much. Does this indicate a work capacity that needs to be improved on?
I don’t think RPE is granular enough to determine 1% of the bar weight. I’d just keep it the same.
Sounds like it’s not that big of a deal if it creeps up by .5 or 1.
So today, I Pressed.
1 @ 8 - 137.5 and because I messed out on 2 meals yesterday and didn’t have the best sleep last night, the RPE rating was 9.5
I was intending on hitting 140 today, but since I wasn’t on my A game, I did 137.5 which I did last week and it was perfectly @8
So because with the Press session I was feeling a bit under recovered, what weight would you recommend doing for the next 1 @ 8?
For the record, for the second Re run of the Bridge, my Press hasn’t stalled, I’ve been adding 2.5 lbs a week to my 1 @ 8 with no problems.
For the record, I also added 1 @ 8 to the comp lifts since I am re running the Bridge and wanted to add more Stress for more gainZzz.