Bridge Ending Totals (e1RM)
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Belted Squat: 493.5 lb/223.8 kg
(Peaked at 556.5 lb/252.4 kg)
Belted Deadlift: 591 lbs/268 kg
1ct Paused Bench Press: 265.8 lb/120.6 kg
(Peaked at 290.6 lb/131.8 kg)
Belted Standing Military Press: 200.7 lb/90 kg
(Peaked at 240.4 lb/109 kg)
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The Breakdown
My last lift for Bridge 1.1 is tomorrow, but I'm dumping some data into my log now. This last week is a cooldown week, and I already gathered the experience I needed so I'm ready to review now. In fact, I gathered the experience I needed about 3 weeks ago. All of my numbers went up by the end of the bridge, well past my old PRs, but I made
twocrucial mistakes - underestimating my RPE on my presses, and underestimating my fatigue resulting in an accidental true 1RM at 530 on my squat when it should've been 1@8.
There's not a lot to say in review here. I expected to fuck up my first try at RPE. Surprisingly, I managed my RPEs for my deadlift perfectly, and I expect to pull something that equates to an e1RM of 600 tomorrow, which makes up for the disappointing presses. I suspect I was simply not being honest with estimating my RPEs for presses, or that having smaller muscle groups made learning to distinguish RPE for those movements more difficult. The misjudged squat was entirely hubris - and I attempted to repeat it the following week, resulting in complete rep failure despite feeling exceptionally fresh that day (I was able to safely retire the bar to the pins without injury).
I had no serious form issues, other than learning to row (I suspect my rowing form is still shit) and getting used to pauses on the bench (as well as the paused deadlift accessory). I liked the exposure to pin squats and was pleased with my performance on those. The only additional issues I had throughout Bridge were one missed unbelted squat accessory due to knee pain (hurt my knee playing VR, made squatting heavy the next day impossible), and a single failed pin squat because I landed the bar too far back and couldn't drive out.
I've successfully remained compliant to my macronutritional plan and have seen ~15 lbs of weight loss over the last couple of weeks. There's been some fluctuation due to increasing my water consumption. I had a brief bout with a tiny kidney stone last week, but that resolved itself quickly (thank God). I realized from that I'd been pretty well dehydrated for awhile. I expect to see the weight loss trend continue - RPE training is everything I hoped it would be in that regard, that I have not gotten so under-recovered that I required a caloric rebound just to stay awake during the day.
Overall I'm still very happy with the progress Bridge 1.1 brought me, and I got the experience I needed. I was well prepared, mentally, for the challenges I ran into so none of my motivation was lost despite the objectively disappointing numbers (most of which I believe will resolve within a week or two of further training/recovery, as you can already see those trends in my workout results this week). I got some valuable exposure to a variety of assistance exercises as well that helped further broaden my experience and prepare me for what's next. Speaking of...
What's Next?
I've been investing, this week especially, in learning Tuscherer's Reactive Training System. The screenshots above are from his
RTS app which I've been using to analyze my total Bridge performance data and trends in recovery status over the last couple weeks - which doing so, in part, lead me to learn more about his training theory.
There were several points during my progress through The Bridge where I would have applied RTS theory, particularly with fatigue back offs - but my program was written and I needed to do the program (a mentality carried over from SSLP) so I just dropped the weight to hit the RPE. I believe this, coupled with my inexperience with RPE, contributed to my recovery deficit and ultimate rep failures and poor ending totals.
Starting next week I'm going to be experimenting with writing my own programming. I feel confident that I now grasp RPE well enough to begin this, and I ultimately feel like I don't respond perfectly to pre-written programming (does anyone?). I'd like to start logging regularly at that point, reviewing my progress each week, but I'm not going to make promises re: frequency at this point, because switching formatting and detailing large volumes of work is kind of a pain in the ass and my focus is 100% on learning to properly program for myself and get REALLY stronk.
Goals
I have two primary goals: Weight loss, and fixing my piss-poor bench.
There's no reason my bench is only 40 lbs south of my standing military press. None at all, I'm still paying for that tendonitis from squatting on my 2nd SSLP. My training will reflect a bench focus until I get closer to restoring that ratio. I'm confident it's not a form problem
at this point based on the different bench assistances I worked on through the Bridge. It's just that I haven't worked it properly.
The weight loss has been coming right along and compliance is a sinch now - like I said, RPE was everything I was initially excited it might be for me. I've actually been coming in
under my 2700/3000 kcal (recovery/training values) targets with substantial cuts in fat/carbs. My BB buddy is training for the USSF meet in Oakland that is taking place in October and while helping train him I've committed to keeping my macros in check during that period of time as my form of 'training'. Anyone that'll be going to that meet will see us there - but I won't be competing this time through (no matter how much shit
certain people will give me for that).
My squat will return with some more recovery, and if I can rectify my bench and lose this belly I will be feeling exceptionally good about things. My deadlift is now in good shape, and I have no problem with my over-225 standing military press. Target bodyweight is still in the neighborhood of 240 lbs.
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