Singles suffering during end of Strength 1 development block?

Training Q&A [Moderated]
1

Hey Jordan,

I’m on week 6 of Strength 1, and looking for advice on how to approach a regression in my RPE 8 deadlift singles. Program history:

  • On week 2 I pulled a 470@RPE 8, then 5 reps @ 430 @ RPE9, backoffs at 410. Here’s a video of the 470, my buddy didn’t catch the setup, apologies: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/3nJjSANZts4

  • Sick on week 3, I failed 477.5 below my knees (there was some ego in sticking with this weight choice, but the warmups didn’t feel terrible), so backed off to 415@5, which still felt RPE 9. backoffs down to 350.

  • week 4 was feeling better, so I did a 425 single @ RPE 7, then 415x5@8, 3 backoffs at 375

  • week 5 I felt recovered and my last warmup single at 445 felt great, RPE 6, but I failed 475 (https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Xj4mOhBtCXs). BUT I managed an increase to 432.5 for 5@9, then backoffs at 415.

  • week 6, today, the 445 warmup single felt RPE 7, slightly harder, but then I wasn’t able to break 465 off of the floor. After that, based on the warmup, I pulled 435x5@9, then 3 backoffs at 417.5.

Here’s a video of the 435: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/c0NHjGDBxs8

In summary:

  • Do you think it’s the volume of the development block affecting my single performance, and that I should relax and let the program take its course?
  • How would you approach singles in the next few weeks? Should I drop my expectation down to something like a 455 to get some undershoot successes? I feel like it’s not helpful to keep banking these failed efforts, and I don’t want to get myself into “learned helplessness” territory at these higher weights.

I’d love some reassurance here if this is totally normal, or advice on how to approach the next few weeks to get myself back on track, based on your experience. Maybe relevant, I started Strength 1 right on the heels of Bridge 3.0, which gave me great and consistent increases each week or two on deadlift for the full 10 week program, so it’s been a while since I had a proper “easy week”.

Thank you!

2

Sritchie,

I think between the overshoot and illness, performance may still be down from where it was on week 2. Week 2 may have also been a bit of a spike in performance coming off of the low stress week, provided that the previous training cycle had a bunch of deadlifts in it (Bridge 3.0 does).

I wouldn’t change programming, though my advice would revolve around being conservative on the loading until it comes time to test. In short, I’d err towards 1 @ 7-7.5 vs 8 to 8.5 and 8 to 8.5 vs 9 to 9.5 if there’s a question. All of these loads are well within the “range that works to get strong” and so, being 5 or 10lbs more than that doesn’t make it work better per se’, but it does cost more fatigue.

If we can build a bit of momentum, adding weight to the bar every couple of weeks and staying within your performance level on the day, we should be good to go when it comes time to test.

-Jordan

1 Like
3

Okay, this sounds like a plan. I’m excited for testing, and I’ll stop mini-testing with these singles along the way and work on building momentum as you suggest. I’ll report back at the end of the program, after test week…

4

I ended the week before testing week with a good amount of fatigue, specifically around my hips, sore adductors and the top of my quads that feels very tight when I try to run. By testing Friday, I felt great and managed, for my top singles:

  1. 400# squat (a 15# PR over my max in training, 30# over the start of the program)
  2. 320# touch-and-go bench (20# PR over the start of the program, matching my max accidentally-9.5-RPE from a few weeks earlier)
  3. 460# deadlift (slight regression from 465# top single at the start of the program higher RPE and lower weight than my week 2 470# deadlift from this post… I got 470# about 1/3 up on testing day) This is at 182# bodyweight.

I’m thinking through what I should do differently on the next program (Strengthlifting II). Actual questions bolded:

  1. I think in retrospect I would overshoot by stretching my rests out. I have good squat endurance, and after last summer’s 52 reps at 205# I feel like my “reps in reserve” calculation is off. My “9 RPE” is “with 3-4 good breaths could I achieve another rep”. Is this fine? I feel like my 8s and 9s are pretty slow and maybe were contributing to a lot of fatigue above and beyond what I needed for strength.
  2. My bench had the biggest volume and biggest progress, squat next with medium volume, deadlift regression with 2 slots a week. Do you recommend higher deadlift volume? Deadlifts have been feeling HARD lately… they probably felt hard 10 weeks ago too but this added hip fatigue makes that first pull rough. Honestly any advice you have on what to do next (is Strengthlifting II the right move on volume etc?) would be great. My goal is to keep driving up my squat and deadlift. I feel great about the overhead press component, I’m 2# short of a bodyweight overhead press at last test so I want to get that up.

Side note… my big goal this fall is to lift the Dinnie Stones, then drive immediately over to western Scotland and run the 58m, 29k-of-gain Charlie Ramsay Round. After testing I did manage to get the full 733# Dinnie weight to almost lockout, off of a previous 600# max at this lift. I Lots of work needed on technique but I was very surprised at this gain, given the deadlift regression… https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipMp8VV1aPNSXEsZuIwiPrWeINdEtOPTZeZS6Ra-

Bench for reference: https://photos.app.goo.gl/bx4oF4mGQiTxp1LA9
Squat: https://photos.app.goo.gl/GpfwiJ5yLzCAt9fx9
deadlift: https://photos.app.goo.gl/22eRuCoBDQWue5fWA

final set of 5 deadlifts@405 today: https://photos.app.goo.gl/xxm3ELSqzFtjGdPZ7