just finished my first week of The Bridge. So far, so good. I have a question about Tempo Squats. I was shocked how hard these were. This was the first time I’ve done them and I had to use dramatically less weight than my regular squat. At the end of my SSLP I did 285lbs x 5 x 3 on squat. For tempo squats yesterday I was down to 140lbs for my 8@6, 147.5lbs for my 8@7, and 155lbs for my 8@8. That’s a lot less than 285 lbs and I’m just wondering if this sounds right. Keep in mind, I’m just getting a handle on RPE. It seemed right by I could be way off. Also, given that it’s my first time doing tempo squats, it may have felt much heavier than it actually was. One thing I’ve learned is a lot of lifting heavy weight is in your head. The movement is so much different than a regular squat I may just need to build some confidence. Any thoughts? If those weights seem way too low, should I just try for a big jump next week when I do tempos again?
Yep, that’s about right- especially the first exposure to the new lift, new rep range, and performing squats last in a session. I expect these to improve
While we’re on the subject of Tempo Squats, is it normal for the point of failure to shift from leg musculature to trunk musculature? I definitely feel way more fatigued in all of my trunk muscles from high rep 3-0-3 Squats than I do even from similar rep ranges of my normal pacing “Comp” Squats with or without belt even though I’ve been doing Tempo for at least some part of a few rounds of training now.
I read through all the other posts I could find and while they have many lovely words attributed to them, I didn’t see anyone else specifically mentioning the change in point of fatigue for the movement. For a possible helpful reference of isometric core strength, I have worked my way up to 12 reps for my sets of ab wheel rollouts from the knees on my GPP days and I am doing my current sets of 10 @RPE 9 for 3-0-3 are at 215lbs vs 8 @ 9 for Comp with belt are 285 lbs.
I don’t think it’s normal or abnormal, as individuals will have different experiences with the same exercise. I wouldn’t worry about however. Your tempo squat weights look to be within the normal range to me.
