First of all. English isn´t my first language, so i apologize in advanced for any spelling or grammatical errors.
Furthermore, i would like to thank you for all the great information you are spreading. It is a huge help for a lot of people.
However, I found myself a little bit confused about volume and when to add weight to the bar. Lets imagine that i´m benching with 70% of my 1rm. I´m adding more sets and reps over time to increase volume with the same weight on the bar. Have I understood it correctly → that i´m suppose to add weight to the bar, when the volume on the used weight gets to high to recover from?
No, I don’t think you’ve understood correctly. Additionally, I’m not sure what your plan for increasing loads is at all if you’re basing the training numbers off of a hard percentage like 70%.
We use RPE to auto regulate training loads based on acute performance & fatigue levels – and as you get stronger, you’ll be able to hit heavier loads at the same RPE.
Thank you for the clarification Austin. I have now read up on RPE now and understand it. When doing this i also found some of your training programs. Do you think i would benefit from “the bridge” ?
A little about me:
I´m 40 years of age, 178 cm/5´10 and weight 87 kg/190 lbs. Waist is 40 inch/102cm, so still a bit on the large size i guess.
I was 140 kg/ 308 lbs 4 years ago. I aim to get to 80 Kg/176 lbs.
Despite the weight i was carrying around i am healthy without any physical issues or pain.
I run 3 times pr week mixing LISS and HITT for conditioning. LISS is maximum 45 min pr run and HITT is around 20 min.
I have been lifting consistently for 2 years now using “old school” linear progression trough various “programs” like Fierce 5 etc. lifting 3 days pr. week. But i feel my lifts are not where they could be and they have not improved for almost 2 months, but always put it down to being in a calorie deficit. I then stumpled upon a podcasts talking about getting stronger in a deficit is possible and volume as the main driver of hypertrophy and strength (?). Naturally this got me interested and thinking i have been training “wrong” for 2 years. (most programs I used were 3 sets of 5 hitting the same muscles 2-3 times pr. week. So not much volume as you can see)
My current 5rm´s (the only lifts i know my 5 rep max)
Squat → 140 Kg/ 308 Lbs
Deadlift → 180 Kg/396 Lbs
Bench → 110 Kg/242 Lbs
OHP → 70 Kg/154 Lbs
I dont care about any form of bodybuilding. I just want to be healthy and strong. Do you think that i would see some progression on one of your templates? Even while i´m still in a deficit for some time?