I had definitely not intended on failing the rep, and one of the things I love about the Bridge (1.0 and now 3.0), is that I haven’t experienced the horrible grinds that had tormented me towards the end of SS LP. I think, however, I need to respect RPE a lot more, and perhaps I’ve been treating Bridge 1.0 and 3.0 like a weekly LP… up to this point, I’ve been pretty much able to add weight to squat and DL every week, and perhaps I’ve been in denial about how I’ve gotten here with regards to my squat form.
A bit of my weekly single RPE 8 squat history is (going from this week and going backwards in time:)
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250 [ failed; did not attempt another single rep this day. Adjusted E1RM to 245, and reset all squat reps that day from that weight – they all went fine, but were a lot lower weight)
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245 [ RPE 8.5 ; apparently good depth but I did not see it and my training partner is very new ]
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260, 255 [ RPE 9; the 260 was very high according to my workout partner, so I rested and tried again at 255. They recorded me this time, and I could see I was still high, so that’s when I committed to dropping 10lbs for next week and trying again ]
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250 [ RPE 8; no one to call out my depth]
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no heavy single this week – first week of Bridge 3.0
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240 [ RPE 8; no one to call out my depth. end of Bridge 1.0 ]
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238 [ RPE 9; no one to call out my depth ]
In your experience, how much ‘harder’ is squatting high (~2-3" above parallel) than reaching depth (just below parallel). Worth an RPE or 2, or more?
I will record next week’s heavy single… I will probably drop the weight further for that lift. Perhaps even dramatically so to like 235 or 230, but will try to do a better job of letting the warm-up dictate how it feels. The problem I experience, however, is that warm-ups don’t feel particularly good until I start moving heavy weight, and the first sets of heavy work dont feel as good as the 2nd, 3rd, and sometimes even 4th sets. It’s almost like I am slow to warm-up, and then hit a kind of “runners’ high”
I will reflect more on, “If it was a little grindy or high, I’m not sure I’d expect to go up.”, and try to incorporate this into my expectations, only doing so when the lifts felt good.
What thoughts do you have on the Bridge 3.0 leaving me feeling sore and tight more-so than 1.0 ever did? Should I listen to this soreness and not try to add weight to muscle groups if they are still sore/tired?
I also wanted to add that I had incorporated Front Squats on my 3rd squat day since I didnt have access to a leg press or SBS. And because I had never done those before, my early weights for front squats were very, very light. Despite being 10 reps, I doubt they were adding much to my ability to LBBS. They started off with an E1RM probably 1/3 my LBSS. After a few weeks, they’re up to a little past 1/2 my LBBS, but still so light I dont know what kind of specific transfer/benefit they have. Could this essentially mean I’ve cut out adaptation-causing squat volume, and am effectively only squatting 2x a week? Early on when I was first starting out (back in late 2019), I would only squat 2x a week, and found I stayed sore until I went 3x.
Once again, thank you for all of your programs and efforts. The fact that you find the time to respond to these posts is incredible, and has made me appreciate your organization even more. I try to spread the gospel whenever I can, and have even managed to convert some other lifters from SS to your programs (and gotten them to buy some, too!)