There are some mornings where I feel like a bag of crap - this morning, for example. How do we account for that when gauging RPE? Here’s a specific example.
A month ago, I squatted a set of 5 at 335 (RPE 10). That was an unusually good day. In the week before beginning the bridge I did a set of 5 at 315 that was an 8.5 or 9. To be conservative, I used that as a benchmark before beginning to program, treating that as my 5RM, for an e1RM of 365.
This morning, a set of 5 at 205 as a warm up, felt like an RPE 8. I was thinking, “An RPE 8 means 2 RIR… I know I have more than 2 RIR; I just feel like crap. This is realistically a 5+ RIR.” But it feels like RPE 8. Do I call it an 8 and do my work sets at 205? I’m thinking that’s too light (56% of e1RM).
If my math is mathing correctly, and I was aiming for RPE of 6, 7, and 8 based off an eRM of 365, then I should have aimed for 5x275, 5x285, 5x2x295.
I opted to do 255, 265, 2x275. I estimated that those would get me to RPE 6, 7, and 8. My last set at 275 actually felt like I had 2 RIR, so I was comfortable calling that an 8. The sets leading up to it all felt like 8+.
Did I adjust this appropriately? Or is there a better way? Should I have just taken the day off and opted to do the workout tomorrow?
[quote=“tm207, post:1, topic:15435, full:true”]
There are some mornings where I feel like a bag of crap - this morning, for example. How do we account for that when gauging RPE? [/quote]
The warm-ups and rating of the effort will clue you in if subsequent performance is actually down or up, where you’d reduce weight on the bar if performance is down, and you’d add weight if the performance was up. By rating your efforts level of exertion, you can predict this in real time.
In your specific example, the set of 5 at 205 clued you in that 205 was heavy for that day (if you rated it an 8, which it doesn’t seem like you did based on RIR). Using the calculator to ballpark performance estimations is fine, but how you feel during a workout should supersede historical performance.
I think using RIR and not “feeling like crap” is preferable. Using a consistent proxy for RPE like RIR makes this a bit more straightforward than having multople proxies, e.g. “feel good, bad, or great” + RIR.
I don’t think pushing training back a day or two is a great idea unless performance on that day’s workout REALLY matters, where it generally doesn’t. For example, pretty much everything > 245 on squats is going to work about the same for strength development. Squatting 275 (at a higher effort) isn’t necessarily better than squatting 255 (at a lower effort).
RPE is included in this and our other programs to keep effort consistent week to week. It shouldn’t be harder one week and easier the next week. Rather, the effort should be about the same, with the weight changing to accomplish that.
Related follow-up:
I’m on week 2, day 3. 4 sets of OH press @ RPE 8.
Is this intended to be same weight for each of the 4 sets? If so, presumably there’s a longer rest period (4 min or so), so I can recover and do the same weight at RPE 8? Or should I slightly decrease the weight on each set to account for fatigue with normal rest times (2-3 min) and sustain RPE 8?
Spoiler: I did longer rest periods and kept the weight the same. This wasn’t intentional. It’s because my kids interrupted me repeatedly.
The assumption here is that with a ~3- to 4-minute rest period, you’d be able to repeat the @ 8 effort at the same weight. If not, I’d reduce the load. Yes, increasing rest periods can often generate a slightly higher level of performance. For those with logistical freedom to do so, this can be a strategy to employ in order to maximize performance within the workout. It’s not clear that a slightly higher level of performance within a workout, e.g. 185 x 8 reps x 4 sets vs 185 x 8, 175 x 8, 165 x 8 x 2 sets, results in greater adaptations. All of these loads are “viable” for driving strength gains to a similar degree.
That said, one concern of extended rest periods is that less total training will occur secondary to running out of time. On the other side of the coin, too short of rest periods can limit the # of reps completed at an appropriate load. And so, we’re trying to compromise a rest interval that mostly preserves performance while maximizing the amount of training that gets done.
