The Bridge Novice - RPE confusion

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1

Hi,

currently doing SS Novice LP and still going strong, however, i’m aware this will not last forever so i’m looking into transitions to intermediate programs and found The Bridge (since it was free). As You know, SS Novice phase does not use RPE at all. It is assumed that at some point - depending if you started too low and have to catch up, or started to high and need to reset a little - each set will be at RPE 8. So here comes several questions:

  1. Week one should begin where SS novice LP ended?
  2. RPE increase translates to roughly 5% increase, is this still valid? Or is it my estimation?
  3. Assuming RPE stays the same, at some point i will want to increase weight (even though number of sets increase), how does it fit to initial RPE on first set? Should i guestimate or base that on some warmup?
  4. On topic of warmups - same idea as in SS novice?
  5. On topic of weight increase (should it be increased additionally per week?) or just as in #2 and #3?
  6. Bridge 2.0 after 1.0 or just jump to 2.0?
  7. Can GPP be incorporated at the end of one of the sessions? (i cannot make 4-5 times per week to gym)

Thanks in advance for clarifying that!
-dm

2

So after much digging through the forums i managed to get some answers:

  1. technically yes,
  2. yes, but should be used mostly in case of decreasing RPE,
  3. RPE in a nutshell - warmups do indicate starting weight and go from there,
  4. yes, to find correct weight,
  5. RPE based, weekly cycles,
  6. can be, can be rerun of bridge 1.0 also,
  7. This is one last thing i didn’t find anwser to, so please help me with this.

Correct me if i’m wrong, thanks!

3

Great job not leaving the questions unanswered, helps people in the future!

My 2 cents:

  1. Yeah, but don’t get too attached to these numbers. Even if you look at the tabel, sometimes 5% is more or less than 1 RPE, keeping reps constant. Also, RPE 8 is not a value, it’s a range. Maybe if you have used less 5lbs, you would call it an 8 also. Maybe even using 5 more! You’ll get the hang of it with time, but you can use this to guide you at start.

  2. Warmups sometimes are hardenr than they should, since you’re still cold. My last warmup usually feels the same as my first work set. You’ll also get used to it, and you it is for you.

  3. On point. But given what I said above, it is good to aim some pounds above.

  4. I’m running 1.0 for the second time, afterwards will go to HLM.

  5. Yes, if the increased time fits you. You can also do it outside the gym, on the weekend, for example, depending on your GPP.

4

Thanks for the input!

  1. Understood - this was also my understanding - 5% of higher weight can translate to more than we can increase :wink:
  2. Cool! Was thinking about doing the same :slight_smile:
  3. Thanks a lot - definately will try to run GPP on off days but my time schedule is pretty tight (1yo kid :))

Cheers!

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