When life doesn't line up with your training cycle

Let’s say you have a good program (I’m on week 6 of Bridge 2.0), and you are hitting a wall. Life getting busy, recovery resource becoming more limited, and then a few minor but annoying tweaks (shoulder and groin) start creeping in that you have to train with, not to mention just feeling fatigue in general. Can’t seem to get more than 7 hours of very fitful sleep too. Stress much?

What’s your general thought on how to adjust and to keep training? Lower volume a bit perhaps? I have been thinking of cutting a set off all the main lifts, and then taking the lift variations down to @8 instead of @9 wherever present. Maybe cut a set off the variations to to make the medium/light days less stressful.

Another option is to do the Bridge deload week, and then move to GPP Hypertrophy which is what I’ve planned to do next from the start. I just hate to bail on a program that has been working great, but the last two weeks of the Bridge have been brutal for me.

Since you have just a couple more weeks of the Bridge, I would NOT lower the volume or switch that up now. It is very likely that your RPEs are creeping up, and you could be overshooting your numbers. I’d ease back a bit on the weight this week to make sure you’re on track, but keep the program the same. Then with a deload week at the end, you should be able to let some of this fatigue dissipate.

Leah, you know, on some lifts it feels like you could be right. I am trying to add about 5lbs/week everywhere I can, except presses overhead where I go for 2.5. Sometimes I feel like the 1@8 is pretty easy, but then the volume sets @8 are too high, especially on the weeks with 4 and 5 sets @8. Those are what I feel is killing me which is why I thought I should cut a set. Or, maybe what I really need is to start learning how to do some form of auto-regulation based off fatigue percentages to keep that in check. My work/family life is always throwing me a curve ball that really seems to upset my training flow. A few days of having to live out of a suitcase with less sleep and it takes me a good week afterward to recover.

Yes, if that’s the case, I’d just lower the weigh on the bar for your final sets of 5 (or the final 2 sets). This allows you to keep the volume and not overshoot the RPE. If you drop just 5%, I bet you’ll get those reps and stay within the working RPE range.