The Bridge potentially helpful Google sheet

Programming Discussion
1

Hi all,

I’ve seen a post or two floating around out there about Excel templates for The Bridge (original PDF version); however, unless I missed something, none really had a lot of automation built into them. I’m a mid-intermediate who’s giving The Bridge a try as my intro to RPE, and I thought having a Google Sheet to use during the program would be helpful. I made the following:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ncKXHFLGq88-CkTiocvWHZkJtQTkfseTNo50uIY2J7k/edit?usp=sharing

The benefit to using Google Sheets is that you can input data using a smartphone with a data connection in real time as you lift. Data is backed up automatically, and the only required download to run it is the Google Sheets app, free on any smartphone. Your workout log is then accessible from any device, mobile or desktop.

That version is public to anyone who’d like to make a copy for themselves. Brief instructions are included, but it’s fairly self-explanatory.

The user just edits the green cells. If unsure of an initial weight to pick for an exercise, there’s a calculator tab. If you fill in all the green cells about past rep PRs and the required RPE/ reps for your upcoming set, you get a suggested initial weight to try. An estimated 1RM is calculated for each set you perform in a workout.

Even though you’re not supposed to record anything below a 7 (if memory serves), this sheet calculates a 1RM for anything RPE 5 and above up to 10 reps using data taken from RTS’ site. This resulted in no changes to RPE 6.5 and above, as the original PDF used rounded versions of the RTS data.

Hope this is helpful to someone.

Note: the first workout in Week 1 uses paused deadlifts instead of rack pulls. This was purely logistic - I am still building my blocks and should have them done in a week :slight_smile: Please undo this substitution if desired.

If anyone plays around and discovers errors or problems, let me know. I fixed a few bugs last night after my first session on The Bridge, but there could be others.

Edit: I see another user uploaded a much more detailed spreadsheet to the training forum; guess I wasn’t the first to get to this :slight_smile: It appears that theirs has some things mine doesn’t, so unless you just like the look and feel of mine better, try theirs first :slight_smile:

Good luck.
Scott

2

This made me feel like I was back in college and someone shared their notes with me. Fantastic! Thank you. I already committed to yours before I saw your mention of the other one. Yours works great though, and I have it all set up now. :slight_smile:

3

Oh, the other version can be found here

https://forum.barbellmedicine.com/forums/training-q-a-with-dr-jordan-feigenbaum-and-dr-austin-baraki/4571-the-bridge-1-0-tracker

4

That one is great too. Thank you. After reviewing the figures they provide, I really have to think this is more intuitive (given their descriptions of the RPE). This may be a silly statement, but I’m just developing the basic outlines of how this works. Also, I noticed that the figures in the second sheet provide a generous one rep max based off of a set of 3. The numbers seem unrealistically high for me. I think this may be reflective of a woman’s capabilities vis-a-vis a one rep max versus a man’s? I don’t believe there’s that much variation between my 3s and my 1s in some of these lifts. Anyhow, time will tell. Thanks again. This is helpful.

5

I haven’t seen this discussed with respect to RPE, but I have definitely seen Jordan discuss this fenominon before. I’ll see if I can come up with any discussion on this tomorrow.

6

@J.S.Williams Ok, I was in error, the discussion I remembered was actually an article by Rippetoe himself. (Although I think I’ve seen Jordan mention it in less detail, I just can’t find it)

Training Female Lifters: Neuromuscular Efficiency

I did some googling and couldn’t find anything by Tuchscherer on this with respect to RPE (and searching for Jordan wisdom is how I came across the above Rippetoe article), but Mike T. did publish this guide on personalizing an RPE chart which he referenced in a later forum post about females deviating from the standard RPE percentages:

Customizing your RPE Chart

Having failed to find any simplified guidelines for adjusting RPE percentages specifically to account for a woman’s ability to perform a higher % of her 1RM for reps,* I’ll call in the big guns :slight_smile:

@LeahBBM , do you have any handy guidance on typical adjustments for the standard BBM RPE chart to account for a female propensity to do a higher % of 1RM for reps than the typical male?

*the asterisked assumes Rippetoe’s broad statments describe J’s experience, and that it is in fact broadly applicable.

7

Thank you Serack, I have read materials from Rippetoe on the subject. I wish that I could say that it wasn’t true. And perhaps it isn’t for some other ladies, but as far as my performance is concerned, my 3 rep maxes are often within 90-95% on many of my lifts (or close-I really didn’t end my NLP at failure on any of my lifts so I’m not sure how much further I would have run it.) I’m just changing because I was increasing incrementally with 2.5 lbs/squat/deadlift and 1 lb/press and bench). I’ve read that at that point it’s pretty much over and more can be gained by adding volume.

8

On a related note, my personal experience doing AMRAPS on the 5/3/1 program last summer, I did a 5RM at 260, and the next week’s weight according to the BBM RPE charts should have been a RPE10 for 8 reps based off the previous weeks e1RM, but I did 14. This kind of performance was repeated cycle after cycle, is also reflected in my recent my Bridge 1.0 perscribed beltless 3-0-3 tempo squats for 8 reps which are at abnormally high weight compared to the belted 3R@8s. My best guess is that since in a past life my bike was my primary mode of transportation, and I was a bit of a cardio junkie, I’m conditioned to rep em out at slightly lower weights than my 5RMs, but I don’t actually know whats going on here, and forum wisdom is that I’m not a unique and special snowflake.

9

@J.S.Williams I’m glad to hear this helped! On a related note, if you liked the layout of the Bridge template, I’m doing them for every other BBM template I purchase, which so far is just HLM. I’ll probably eventually cycle through and buy them all though. The BBM-provided spreadsheets have what you need, don’t get me wrong, but I tend to prefer a more linear layout that requires zero lookups during my workout to figure out things like exercise selection. Just having exercise, sets and reps listed with input boxes is more my thing.

Feel free to reach out if anyone wants the HLM sheet.

Also re: the 3-rep max lookup, I believe my sheet was being referred to. I just grabbed the lookup chart right off BBM, with an extra row or two for lower-rep sets that I got from RTS. That was just the boiler-plate chart; based on my limited knowledge, individuals may deviate from that chart, and it’s permissible to change values based on experience or, perhaps, gender.

10

@J.S.Williams , I’m glad you liked the sheet! As I believe others on here mentioned, the other sheet that came before mine is more detailed and probably more useful. I made mine for my personal use when I already had a pretty good handle on RPE and just put it out there in case anyone else wanted it - it’s not as good for someone with no prior knowledge.

For obvious reasons, I won’t distribute these out, but I used pretty much the exact same format for the HLM template and other paid templates I’ve since bought - the data is all there, but I find the pre-delivered format of the BBM Excel templates to require a lot of on the fly lookups from table to table, which isn’t something I want to do during my session. I prefer having everything pretty much laid out when I get to the gym, with just the sets, reps, weights and RPE to be filled in :slight_smile: For me, that’s worth those up-front couple of hours before a block where I lay all the sets out for the weeks.

I think your reference to the generous 1RM based on a set of 3 was with respect to the other sheet. If it was referencing mine, I literally just took the tables from BBM and added extra rows for 5.5 and 5 RPEs since they’re available on RTS. That was all “stock”. As others mentioned, I know it’s acceptable in some cases to edit your own personal RPE chart based on known training data or, perhaps, gender.

I obviously don’t log in often enough given my late response.