Doctors.
For context, I’m a 40 y.o. male trainee, lifting regularly now for ~3 years. Among other work I’ve run the SSNLP, as well as the Bridge 1.0, BBM Hypertrophy and HLM programs. During that time I haven’t experienced any significant injuries or issues as a result of strength training, so I believe that my form and recovery is generally good. With that said, about 4-5 weeks ago while undertaking the Hypertrophy template I developed an ongoing issue with my left shoulder that was aggravated by OHP and bench press. I didn’t experience discomfort as a result of pulling movements (e.g. rows, chin ups), low bar squats and general day-to-day movement. In reading about the issue, I self-diagnosed “shoulder impingement” and assumed that the causes were probably BP form problems and inappropriate intensity.
After initially trying to tough it out, I finally internalised some of Austin’s writing and videos and took the following remedial actions: reduced BP and OHP intensity by ~15% and purchased a football barbell to alter my grip orientation. As a result of these changes, I’ve now carried out several training sessions without pain and I’m satisfied to continue training like this for the moment. The sole remaining issue is that my pressing sets are now all well below the prescribed program RPE (e.g. sets of 5 @RPE 5-5.5 instead of 7, 6 instead of 8).
My question is: given that intensity is now this low for sets of 4/5, would it be appropriate to increase the number of reps to drive up the RPE (e.g. sets of 8), or is that an inadvisable change to make?