I’ve read over the Bridge ebook several times and looking to start it next week after my current LP(ish) program ends. Since finding BBM i’ve been documenting my set and session RPE’s just to get familiar with it, but haven’t been driving my weight selection via RPE other than avoiding RPE 9.5/10’s every set & session.
My questions are related to a trend i’ve noticed with my RPE ratings and warmup sets leading up to my work sets.
I’ve noticed my first workset, especially with press & bench press, tend to be higher RPE than subsequent sets. Say i’m doing 200 lbs for 3 sets of 5. The first set is almost always ~1 RPE higher than the next two sets. Something like 5 @ 9, 5 @ 8.5, 5 @ 8 is fairly common. With an LP, this isn’t a big deal, but in an RPE prescription like the Bridge and other BBM templates, this could be tricky since from what i’ve read, it sounds like if you are prescribed @6, @7, @8 and that if you overshoot, say your first set is @8 you’d move on to the next exercise (or backoff sets if prescribed). But for me, my first work set is always harder than my next few sets. Seems like i just need a lot of warmup to finally feel “good”.
So in a situation like this… would you still skip the @6 and @7 sets if your first ends up being an @8, even if it would feel more like a 7 if you did it again?
This week, after noticing the trend in my logs, I’ve tried working up a single @ 8 as a part of my warmups to see if that would help, but it doesn’t seem to make much difference. The first “work set” still feels the hardest.
Remember, BBM templates also use percentages in conjunction with RPE. A single at 8 puts you at around 90-92% of 1RM. Thats a work set, not a warm up. Further more, its (RPE) not so much about ‘feels’ as much as performance.
I found using the 1RM calculator along with the suggested percentages helped me sharpen up my RPE kung fu.
The single @ 8 thing as a “warmup” was something i tried this week as an experiment after seeing Alan Thrall talk about including those regularly in his warmup. I was curious to see if the exposure to a heavy single @8 would make my first work set of 5 with less weight on the bar feel lighter and fix the feeling of the first set being harder/higher RPE than the subsequent work sets.
When you talk performance, do you mean bar speed while maintaining proper technique? I’ve heard Mike T. say stuff like that, that it’s not just “reps in reserve” but a measure of performance and he talked about his technique as metric in that performance.
Well, if you move on to a BBM template, they will almost always have you work up at a 5@6, 5@7, 5@8, etc. So if 200 was your target 5@8, your warmup could look like:
45 x 5 x 2-3
95 x 5
135 x 5
165 x 5
180 x 5 @ 6
190 x 5 @ 7
200 x 5 @ 8
I think doing more sets of 5 within 5-10% of your target @8 set will help you calibrate better and make the top sets ‘feel’ better. Even in the event 165 or 180 feels like an @7, you may find your 190 also feels like an @7, and then your first 200 may feel like an @8 instead of @9.
The Bridge warmup is a bit more grindy than that. Say you were expecting to do Favhs at 200, you would probably end the warmup with:
5x180@~6
5x190@~7 (5% more than the @6)
5x200@~8 (5% more than the @7)
Many BBM lifters don’t take much rest between these warmup lifts. I’ll take 2 min between the @6 and the @7, and 2-3min between the @7 and the @8 mostly because I can’t afford to take more time than that, and you adapt accordingly. Also, the RPE of these warmup sets is supposed to inform where you end up with the working weight at the end. If that 5x190 felt like an easy 6.5 with the plates rattling on the last rep, and then the 5x200 felt like an easy 7, then keep going up!
Eights are expected to run out as sets across and aren’t supposed to have RPE creep, but maintain at an 8 with the same weight. If you are programmed sets @9, it is expected that you will have to decrease the weight for the next set or it will probably be a 9.5 or 10.
I get how going heavy early on has the effect of making a following set ‘feel’ lighter, at least initially. But in reality, you’re probably just driving up your RPE for the work sets (which may or may not be desirable depending on the intensity / volume required) The HLM program for example I’ve just run is more or less based upon a 1 @ 8 (90 -92%) - 4 @ 9 (86%) then say 2 x 4 @ 80 % estimated 1RM structure on the main lifts. The 4 @ 9 set virtually always feels way lighter on the first rep, but by 4, very much a 9.
In my own training, I’ve certainly found, especially since its winter in Aus currently, plenty of light warm up reps seem optimal. I’m talking say 3 x 10 on the squat with the empty bar for example. Plus it helps to get your cues and bracing (if need be) in order.
As to performance, I’m not convinced dropping $500 on a device like Bar Sensi to measure bar speed is money well spent for the average lifter, and possibly detrimental in terms of ‘nocebo’ effect.
Videoing yourself would yield far more useful information, certainly in terms of technique.
Ok, this makes sense. Thanks for your input guys. This helps get a better understanding of it. So your warmups kind of meld together with your worksets. I was worried about pre-exhausting myself working up w/ the same rep scheme all the way up, or using too much time resting enough, but the way you’ve laid it out makes sense. If with 2-3 minute rests a “warmup” feels like an RPE 7, well that’s my RPE 7 set and adjust accordingly. Warming up this way also makes the programming make more sense. A lot of the volume seemed too low, but if you warm up like this then the volume is still there.
I finished my LP last week and had my first session of The Bridge. Overall it went pretty well with the RPE and warmups, but my close grip bench was definitely tricky since i have no starting point and it’s my first time just feeling out the RPE on it… i ended up way undershooting my worksets. Here’s my export from my log:
** Close Grip Barbell Bench Press **
Total Volume: 4,690 lbs
45.0 lbs x 10 reps
45.0 lbs x 10 reps
95.0 lbs x 4 reps [Rpe 5 or 6]
115.0 lbs x 4 reps [Rpe6]
135.0 lbs x 4 reps [Rpe7; Target @7]
142.5 lbs x 4 reps [Rpe7.5; Target @8]
150.0 lbs x 4 reps [Rpe8; target @9]
155.0 lbs x 8 reps [Rpe9; I was way under shooting my rpe on these so took this set to reps until I hit a 9. Next time I’ll do 165,170,175 for my 6,7,8]
Notice the last set which was supposed to be at 9… it ended up being super easy so i just kept going until it felt like a 9. I am using 155x8 @ 9 as my guide for next week which puts me at the noted numbers.
I’m wondering if my @7 and @8’s were actually more like 5’s and 6’s or if it’s just my usual “take forever to warmup pressing movements” thing… I probably should have done another set at a higher weight instead of repping it out like that, right?
For comparison, my rack pulls, which were another new movement, ended up almost perfectly spot on:
** Rack Pull **
Total Volume: 7,595 lbs
135.0 lbs x 7 reps
135.0 lbs x 7 reps
185.0 lbs x 7 reps [Rpe5]
205.0 lbs x 7 reps [@6]
210.0 lbs x 7 reps [@7]
215.0 lbs x 7 reps [PR] [Rpe8;target @8 - these were fun!]
From my copy of some of BBM’s legacy templates, Jordan says “Log anything RPE7 and up.” Additionally, they have discussed in some of their podcasts (and I’ve seen it discussed at length by Chris Beardsley) that any reps that are within 5 reps of failure are reps that contribute stimulus towards hypertrophy which is the base line determiner of strength potential. So a set of 30 to failure and a 5RM generally have a similar hypertrophy stimulus, but since sets to failure: 1. Can’t be repeated at that weight
2. Are quite stressful and difficult to recover from compared to the level of stimulus provided
3. Volume is another major driver of hypertrophy, so you eventually kinda HAVE to do multiple sets at an intensity that can be recovered from to drive adaptation BBM programs “RPE8” which means the last 3 or so reps are prime stimulus for hypertrophy, are repeatable, and depending on the total number of reps, the intensity is sufficient to drive strength gains for the rep range desired. But more to your point, those RPE6’s and RPE7’s in the “warm up” have reps that are also contributing towards training stimulus, just not as much.