Hi all, some people may know me from other threads/forums, I want to get a solid opinion of people who have some experience into training regarding changing of program at this time, a briefly introduction to my training story is,
I’ve been properly training since march-april of this year, I runned SS all the way till August where I started to stall/fail in some exercises, at that moment I made some modifications to the program to be able to make progress, but that was not enough I was able to push it a little bit more, so I recently changed (1 month ago) to Nuckols beginner program, everything was going fine, I was progressing as the program specified, however the last week and this one for some reason everything started to feel incredibly heavy, mainly in squats, that has gotten me to fail reps.
Now I don’t know what to do, should I change of program to a more advanced one (I was thinking on the Bridge) or do a deload and try again in the program I’m following, my stats are:
Regarding nutrition, in others threads I’ve mentioned I want to gain weight and that’s what I’ve been doing, gaining somewhere between 0.5 to lb/week, however this time I’m fully commited to this and will gain 1 lb/week.
I’ve gotten recomendations of trying again the LP and don’t try the RPE system because I won’t be able to do it properly, others to start the Bridge and don’t bother again with grinding reps to make progress, I really don’t know what to do, any help would be appreciate it. I want to do something that provides long term gains and sustainability.
Any more information I can give would be happy to provide it,
Thanks
Honestly, I would move on to The Bridge right now. Yeah RPE has a learning curve (it’s easier than some people make it out to be), but it’s a skill that’s extremely useful to develop, especially if you’re looking for “long term gains and sustainability”. Continuing to grind and trying to force LP is not sustainable and doesn’t produce many gainz.
Are you familiar with Barbell Medicine’s programming podcast? It’s a 3 part series you can find on their YouTube. It goes into a lot of detail on how to train for long term success.
To continue to make progress you’re going to need to give up on " linear progression" and start doing more volume at appropriate intensities, and The Bridge was specifically designed for trainees in your position who have reached the end of their novice phase. The extra volume will also aid in hypertrophy as you gain weight!
First thanks for the prompt answer, I know that RPE it’s a pretty useful tools in training, but on the last day in other forum some people told me that I was not that advanced to be able to distinguish a rep from @8 from @7 or @9, but I think that The Bridge would teach me that, right?
I’ll check those 3 episodes, I’ve seen some vlogs and Q/A from them but not those podcast, thanks for that.
I think you’re right, I probably will see well benefited from The Bridge, also what you say at the end about hyperthrophy is something that is in my main goals too, I want to get bigger and stronger.
Thanks man, I really don’t want to make a decision and think that it was the wrong decision.
@llaffin is spot on. It’s also clear that failing reps is something that is demotivating to you (as it is to a lot of us) so moving to a program that keeps you away from failure and grinding would be a good thing. Remember, that no matter where you go you’re going to get conflicting information. The best thing you can do is look at the scientific evidence available and make the best guess you can. Those podcasts will definitely help bring you up to speed on the logic behind the BBM training model. To echo a couple things I said in the nutrition thread as they still hold true in this context, nobody knows what will work for you specifically. Neither will you until you try. The best thing you can do is pick something, commit to it, and then see how you do. There is no such thing as wasted time. Even if you choose a program that doesn’t work for you, you will still learn that the exact mix of training variables behind it did not work for you. This is still very valuable information. Don’t be afraid of making mistakes and don’t feel like you have to search for perfection, because perfection does not exist. So basically, pick something, work it, and see how it goes. The Bridge is certainly a good place to start, if that’s where you’re leaning. Everyone, regardless of training age, has a learning curve with RPE. And that’s ok, you don’t have to be perfect at first, as long as you’re in the general ballpark you’ll still check the necessary boxes, and over time you’ll get better and more comfortable with it.
Wow man, really apprecite your opinion adn support, I’m kinda tired of getting like punished because they say that I’m wasting a lifetime opportunity, and that’s what’s keeping me from making a decision and doubting everything. As I’m kinda new to this stages of training I never tought that failing was key to understand what works and what doesn’t, mainly if I failed I tought that it was my fault because of my mistakes. I need to implant in my mind that perfection does not exist, that’s a problem I tend to have a lot.
I’ll definetely will start The Bridge next week and see how it goes, it’s going to be interesting since I’ve never been into this type of programming, I’ll make my best effort to do a proper RPE.
Thanks a lot, really it helps a lot even if you don’t believe it.
That is the most false statement I’ve ever heard. There is no once in a lifetime event. There is no magic program or training phase out there with a limited expiration date on it. You just put in the work and over time you reap the rewards. There are plenty of very strong people out there that never ran an LP. The key for you will be building muscle, and that’s a slow process. Over time you’ll build more contractile tissue, and teach it to be useful, and that will result in you getting stronger. Don’t listen to the silly bullshit out there. There are n number of routes to accomplishing that goal, of which The Bridge is one of them. If you choose The Bridge, work it whole heartedly. Stop going to other forums and websites so you don’t get confused and distracted. Focus on the bridge exclusively for the next 8 weeks, and then assess where you’re at then for the next step. If you need to get your strength training internet fix, this is the link to the BBM YouTube channel. There’s hours upon hours of good stuff up there to get caught up on. I would start watching through these videos slowly over the next 8 weeks in place of going to other forums or websites: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMc…dEvT2-Q/videos
And these few episodes specifically are important, they are the programming podcasts mentioned above, start with these:
Thanks man, I really need to start taking my own decision without recurring to other people, or I will get more confused than I was before, I’m going all in in this phase of my training life, I will give it all and won’t loose my focus, I’ll ran The Bridge and after the 8 week period I’ll review how it went, if it worked or if it doesn’t.
Really thank you so much.
