First off, I have used both your training templates and one-on-one coaching. Both have been spectacular. I recently had to take ~6 months off some time off due to some crazy life circumstances, but I am back at it now. I’ve been training for roughly 6 weeks then got sick for another 2-3 weeks, putting me practically back where I started.
Some observations - During those 6 weeks, I worked up gradually on the squat, press, and deadlift. I got a little carried away having fun with my gym buddies and hit some moderate singles at RPE 8 on the squat and deadlift, admittedly earlier than I probably should have. My deadlift immediately shot back up to 495lbs in about 3 weeks, within 15 pounds of my PR from 5 years ago. My squat however, has struggled quite a bit and stalled out around 375 for an absolute max effort lift (PR is 410lbs)
After resuming training again for about 3 weeks now, my squat (high bar) has been terrible. I hit 275lbs for a couple sets of 5 last week and ended up feeling wrecked for 4 days. Descending into the bottom feels wobbly and inconsistent/inefficient. I’m having trouble finding the right tempo to get the normal bounce that I used to get. Even 225lbs feels heavy. My quads and knees feel perpetually sore. It just feels like I am out of practice, but things don’t really seem to be improving. I’ve never encountered this kind of stall before after a layoff.
I bought the Beginner Template to start using as an onramp. Should I just keep training and start with Block 1? Secondly, should I moderate RPE to account for the soreness and technique issues?
Lastly, why would the deadlift shoot right back up with no issues, but the squat lag so badly?
I don’t really view your deadlift and squat as being too different with respect to regained strength. Your deadlift is ~ 97% of your previous 1RM and your squat is ~91% after 3 weeks. That’s close enough for me.
To the question about RPE, yes, we should almost always use RPE to moderate the load based on performance potential on the day. If you’re sore on subsequent days, you should use RPE to moderate the weight that day. I don’t think RPE can reliably be used for technique without some sort of criteria. I don’t think that’s going to be useful for you so I’d use the reps in reserve proxy we normally do.
I think starting at Block I is a fine choice, sure! Let me know how it goes.
Well, that escalated quickly. Just thought I would drop a quick update of my experience using the Beginner Template as an onramp after a layoff. I’m about 5 weeks in right now.
Progress shown below:
BW: 215 → 225lbs
Squat: 275 x4 @ 8 → 325 x4 @ 8 → This is lagging behind what I’ve done historically, but starting to catch up now that my deadlift progress has slowed down.
Deadlift: 425 x4 @ 8 → 475 x4 @ 9 for a huge lifetime PR.
Press: 140 x4 @ 8 → 170 x4 @ 9, just shy of a lifetime PR.
I’ve had more success with this program than anything I’ve ever done, including some of the other BBM templates I’ve used in the past. In retrospect, I was probably not ready for the more advanced templates even though I thought I was. I’ve managed to hit PRs I haven’t touched since well before COVID, and I’m doing it at 10-15lbs bodyweight lighter, and on admittedly sub-optimal nutrition. I still have lots more in the tank too.
Some observations that helped me personally and slightly different from the program as written:
I moved on to the “Block 2” programming on the deadlift earlier but I’m still doing Block 1 for squats. This might be unnecessary, but I found that after a few weeks, I was having a really tough time recovering between the two deadlift sessions. Switching to RDLs on day 1 helped a ton. Squats are still moving up every week using block 1, so I’m sticking with that until it stalls.
I am focused more on the press, and I moved on to Block 2, using the same rep scheme but swapped out bench movements for press and vice versa. I’ve found that for me, it is harder to tell the difference between a RPE 8 and an RPE 9 on the press, because there is a bit more technique involved, and after a certain point, pretty much everything “feels” grindy and heavy. For now, I am just adding 2.5-5lbs a week to the top set and then doing the backoffs until that stops working. I tend to be overly conservative on RPE stuff, so I try to be a little bit more aggressive than what I “think” I can do. Usually that works out.
Not worrying about whether or not all of my lifts are going up simultaneously has been a huge help. For a while, my deadlift was going up like 15-20lbs a week. Great for the deadlift, but I would end up feeling really fatigued in the squat session the following week. Now that progress in the DL has slowed, the squat is starting to pick up steam.
Sets of 10 squats in a 95 degree gym make me wish for a swift death, and must count as cardio, I don’t care what anyone says lol