The Bridge, a Filler Week, and Beyond

Training Q&A [Moderated]
1

Hello BBM Crew!

I’m just about to begin week 7 of the bridge 1.0, and starting to plan out my next few training blocks. 2 weeks after I finish the bridge I leave for a week vacation and find myself with kind of a “filler week” before I start my next program. I made what I think is good progress on the Bridge, so my current plan is to run it at least one more time and then go into Strength 1. For context, I ran the bridge coming out of a SSLP (I started just before the release of the beginner program).

My progress in the first 6 weeks (e1RM lbs):

Squat: 300 → 326
Bench: 185x5 (TnG-never paused on SSLP) → 218 (with pauses)
Deadlift: 350 → 383
Press: 140 ->147
My weight has been going down very slowly, but I’m starting to see my body change. I’ve tightened my lifting belt 2 notches since starting the program.

Question 1: Given the progress I’ve made, is it wise to run the Bridge again, or would I be better served jumping straight into Strength 1?

Question 2: What to do with that week prior to vacation? My thought was to just run week 1 of what ever program I’m going to do, and then run it again when I get back.

My current goal is to keep slowly loosing weight while getting stronger.

Any guidance would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Ben

P.S.: Thank you to the whole BBM crew. The content you put out is extremely informative, and this community of lifters is awesome. This forum has become a daily visit for me.

2

Ben,

Thanks for the post and I hope you’re well.

  1. You could do either in this scenario.
  2. This is a reasonable choice, sure.

You may intuit that it just doesn’t matter too much for one week in the context of an entire training year, you know?

-Jordan

3

I will carry on then. Thanks for taking the time to reply.