I’m on my first week of The Bridge program and I noticed that I’m still experiencing novice gains on some of my lifts, especially ones that I barely started training weeks before switching programs. I barely got the hang of squats two weeks before, and I’m expecting my squats to get a lot stronger, hopefully somewhere near my deadlift. Using the RPE scale, my main lifts prior to starting The Bridge are: deadlift of 545 lbs for 1 @ RPE 10 (really happy with this), squat of e1RM of 320 lbs based on 295 lbs for 3 @ RPE 10, bench of 225 lbs for 3 @ RPE 9, and overhead press of 135 for 3 @ RPE 10. My novice gains are noticeable for the close grip bench where I matched 225 for 4 @ RPE 9, Press with belt of 145 for 5 @ RPE 8, and barbell rows (Pendlay rows) of 190 for 8 @ RPE 8 where I had some body language starting on the 6th rep.
My problem is with the rack pulls. Based on a 1RM of 545 for deadlift (yea I know I wasn’t supposed to base rack pulls with a main lift) and using the RPE estimate calculator, my working sets were 385 lbs for 7 @ RPE 6 which felt like an actual RPE 6, 400 lbs for 7 @ RPE 7 which felt like an actual RPE 7, then 415 lbs for 7 @ RPE 8 which felt like an RPE 9.5. I have never done deadlifts for more than 5 reps for 405 lbs or higher, and 7@8 was a huge step for me and surprised me that I was even able to do it. The week prior to starting The Bridge, I did 435 for a 3x3 for the first time. Assuming that I should embrace the gainzzzzZ and stick with the program, did I make a mistake with using RPE somewhere or is my body just experiencing novice gains for squats, overhead press, and Pendlay rows?
No, you didn’t make a mistake. The calculator is intended to be a rough estimate and if you are using the excell template that is a third party who took the bridge from an E-book PDF and put in into that template and added the calculator. While the program for the most part is accurate to the E-book, I have noticed a few errors. Also, RPE calculators are just a guess based off of what a certain percentage of your 1RM should feel like for a given RPE and reps. When you get as far away from your max as sets of 7 are, I would expect this to begin to falter at higher reps as it is using a strength metric for a set of reps that has a larger endurance component the farther from that single you are. I have noticed the inverse of this which is to say that my work in the middle rep ranges (4-6 or so) is better than my strength for singles.
Hi, in looking at some data, “…a 10% gap between the squat and deadlift seems to be pretty typical, with about 2/3 of IPF competition lifters squatting between 80-100% of their max deadlift…”. You have a bit of work to do on your squat, but with a deadlift that high, it should improve quickly. (Actually, did you mean to write your 1RM for deadlift is 445? If your previous multiple rep maximums have been 405 @ 5 and 435 @ 3, I’m a bit confused about how you trained to reach a 1RM of 545?)
Remember, slow and steady wins the race. I wouldn’t push the weight if this is your first experience with higher volume. High volume is for hypertrophy and endurance. I’d recommend you start lower, gauge how you recover, and slowly increase over time. It is completely logical that your third set of high volume reps felt hard. I tend to set my weight so the last set is still in the correct RPE range. The whole point of RPE training is to achieve a level of stress from which you can recover from in a healthy, efficient way.
No I actually did 545 lbs. My previous 1RM for deadlift was around 515 lbs, but that was a little over a year ago, with 0 training between then and early September 2019. My squats are low relative to my deadlift because I was, and still am, worried about form and having butt wink when reaching parallel so I rarely did squats, but after recording myself and realizing that I am able to squat parallel and that I’m not getting back pain after taking my training more seriously, I’ve increased my squat frequency from once every two or so weeks (a year ago) to 2 times a week (early September) to 3 times a week like The Bridge prescribes.
My training for deadlifts before was just based on how I felt. I slowly did 3x3’s, increasing the weight over time when I felt comfortable to increase it until I was able to do 405 for 3x3 (I had to start at 315 again when I got back to training recently). I woke up 3 days after trying 405 for 3x3 the first time and decided to try and beat my previous 515 lbs, and ended that day with a 545 lb deadlift.
I’m not forcing myself to increase frequency or volume in any way possible, and was just going along with The Bridge’s prescription based on the estimate RPE calculator given in the E-book. I guess I just surprised myself since I’ve never done such high reps with that amount of weight. I have read somewhere that my squats should be a lot closer to my deadlift, and I’m expecting that to go up significantly over time, hopefully somewhere around the mid 400 lb range. I was just surprised that I was even able to do the prescribed rack pulls on the first day of The Bridge, especially because the last set felt like an RPE 9.5. Today (10/16/2019) is the third day of the program, which is why I waited to recover from the first day before posting on the forums about whether or not I misjudged my weight selections. I’ll take that into consideration though going on my second week, and see if I should lower the weight a little if I feel like I’m pushing myself too much.
How big are you and do you work construction (or similar)?
With that deadlift max, your 7 reps at 385-415 were solidly in the 6-8 RPE range. Don’t worry about high volume sets of deadlifts (at the prescribed RPE). I don’t know if you followed starting strength or not, but they are oddly pessimistic about deadlift volume. The only way to get stronger (with any lift) is with more volume.
I’m 5’7’', 207 lbs with a big belly, and I’m an Aerospace Engineer, but I was pretty athletic back in high school where I played volleyball, basketball, track and field, and did some skating once in a while. I did some variation of a 5x5 and 3x3 and combined it with a push and pull type of work out before I took training seriously. I guess my body is just adjusting now that I have a proper program to follow.