RPE related question

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1

Hi everyone, Ill be starting the Beginner Template tomorrow and had a question related to RPE. I fully understand it however with the Ohp I’m to perform 1 set of 10r @ rpe 6, 1 set @7 and a third set @8. Currently my 3r max is @60lbs. I usually do 2 empty barbell warmup sets of 5. Then a set @50lb for 3 reps, then my 3 work sets of 5. Should I warm up for a couple sets of dumbell ohp with ligh 10lb’ers then do a set of 10 empty bb? This will be tough to scale being im so weak at ohp’ing. With 10 reps needed for each set I may only be able to use the empty bb for each set for a while and by the 3rd set 10 reps will likley be an rpe 8-9.

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Ok so you are doing 3 sets of 60 not a 3 rep max set of 60. Lets just assume that is RPE 8. So if you use the calculator your estimated RPE 8 for 10 is 50 lbs. In my experience when I wasn’t used to higher reps that the calculator often overshot my RPE when I based something on 5 reps to determine what I should do at 10.

Options

  1. Use dumbbells. Start with 5’s and work up to 20’s. Since you are moving independently the weight you can do with 2 dumbbells is usually a little less than the weight of a bar at the same reps and RPE. You might want to stick with these until you get up to about 85 lbs estimated for 10@RPE. The benefit is similar. Alternative if you can do 20’s on the dumbbells at RPE 8 you can switch to the bar next time.

  2. Not all gyms have them but some have 15 lb bars. If you train in a gym ask if they have one. You can start at 15 lbs and work up to 45 or 50 lbs.

  3. A lot of gyms have sort of long dumbbells. They are short bars with fixed weights on them. Usually these start at 20 lbs and go up to 100. I think they are long enough to rack but I could be wrong. So you might have to clean it to press level to use it if you can’t get it in a rack.

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3

Thanks for the reply, thats good advice and what I ended up doing was similar. I did 2 set of 10 with 5lb db’s then 1 set with 10’s for a warm up. 1st work set was 15lb db’s for 10 at rpe 6, then the empty bar (so 45lb) for 10 at rpe 7, and the way it felt I did my 3rd set with the empty bar after a 2 min short rest and it was real close if not an rpe 8.

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