RPE Megathread: The Sweet Smell of Easy.

[Hanley]

Anyone else see that deadlift single at 720 by Austin?

That was ridiculous.

Didn't even look true-1RM-y.

I don’t think his eyes even popped out of his head.

I don't think he's far-off from 750#

[alek]

Anyone else see that deadlift single at 720 by Austin?

That was ridiculous.

Didn't even look true-1RM-y.

I don’t think his eyes even popped out of his head.

I don't think he's far-off from 750#

I think you’re right... unless Jordan Tanya Hardings him.

[dw]

Anyone else see that deadlift single at 720 by Austin? He said he’s kept all training @7 or lower leading up to it if I’m not mistaken.

The @7 part is interesting to me because it suggests Mike T is coaching HVLF.

[AllM1ght]

Anyone else see that deadlift single at 720 by Austin? He said he’s kept all training @7 or lower leading up to it if I’m not mistaken.

The @7 part is interesting to me because it suggests Mike T is coaching HVLF.

I'm not sure it does, Mike's programmed deads at lower average RPE for a few people since the Gibbs experiment I think

[dw]

Anyone else see that deadlift single at 720 by Austin? He said he’s kept all training @7 or lower leading up to it if I’m not mistaken.

The @7 part is interesting to me because it suggests Mike T is coaching HVLF.

I'm not sure it does, Mike's programmed deads at lower average RPE for a few people since the Gibbs experiment I think

Oh I didn't know that. I was inferring from BBM templates which occasionally have an @6 leading up to 7/8/repeat but otherwise are @7-@9.

[Testiclaw]

Anyone else see that deadlift single at 720 by Austin? He said he’s kept all training @7 or lower leading up to it if I’m not mistaken.

The @7 part is interesting to me because it suggests Mike T is coaching HVLF.

I'm not sure it does, Mike's programmed deads at lower average RPE for a few people since the Gibbs experiment I think

I'm out of the loop...what's the Gibbs Experiment?

[AllM1ght]

Anyone else see that deadlift single at 720 by Austin? He said he’s kept all training @7 or lower leading up to it if I’m not mistaken.

The @7 part is interesting to me because it suggests Mike T is coaching HVLF.

I'm not sure it does, Mike's programmed deads at lower average RPE for a few people since the Gibbs experiment I think

I'm out of the loop...what's the Gibbs Experiment?

Just my words to refer to the programming changes he made before worlds for Brett Gibbs


I think it might be in this podcast, he basically talks about how evertime they took a traditional intensity ramp up approach Gibbs deadlift went to pieces, and then they took a gamble of actually let RPR stay low during the lead up to Worlds I believe it was, not sure what year now. And that paid off hugely.
I believe, this was one of the triggers that helped develop the emerginf strategies mind set, at least that's my interpretation based on Mike's words.



Possibly that one, or both.. Mike guest's on every podcast in the training world so it's hard to pin down

[lehman906]

Anyone else see that deadlift single at 720 by Austin? He said he’s kept all training @7 or lower leading up to it if I’m not mistaken.

The @7 part is interesting to me because it suggests Mike T is coaching HVLF.

I thought Jordan programmed for Austin and Mike T programmed for Jordan. So do you mean by the transitive property Mike T’s stuff is coming down to Austin? Or am I dead wrong/outdated on my assumptions?

[dw]

Anyone else see that deadlift single at 720 by Austin? He said he’s kept all training @7 or lower leading up to it if I’m not mistaken.

The @7 part is interesting to me because it suggests Mike T is coaching HVLF.

I thought Jordan programmed for Austin and Mike T programmed for Jordan. So do you mean by the transitive property Mike T’s stuff is coming down to Austin? Or am I dead wrong/outdated on my assumptions?

I believe Mike T programs for both. I know Jordan has specifically said he doesn't program for Austin.

[Austin]

I have done my own programming for several years now. Jordan helped back around 2013-2014, and again in the last few months leading up to 2018 Nationals. I have never been coached by Mike.

[dw]

Sorry about the error, not sure where I got that.

[RyanHartigan]

Sorry about the error, not sure where I got that.

Lots of us do RTS-style, few of us do RTS.

[DPriest442]

I have done my own programming for several years now. Jordan helped back around 2013-2014, and again in the last few months leading up to 2018 Nationals. I have never been coached by Mike.

What RPE was that 720 at? What do you think your max is?

[Austin]

What RPE was that 720 at? What do you think your max is?

I couldn't have pulled it for another rep but it definitely wasn't a true max either. Comparing the bar speed to some prior grindy PRs, I'd estimate another 20-25 lbs or so on that day with the stars perfectly aligned.

[Hanley]

What RPE was that 720 at? What do you think your max is?

I couldn't have pulled it for another rep but it definitely wasn't a true max either. Comparing the bar speed to some prior grindy PRs, I'd estimate another 20-25 lbs or so on that day with the stars perfectly aligned.

Goddamnit. I was going to deconstruct your deadlift cycle leading up to your 720 pull...but no log.

Some general questions:
1) were you using velocity cut-offs to determine reps-per-set...or did you use qualitative cut-offs?
2) what did you use for total pull-session volume? how did you ballpark that total session volume?
3) was intersession-rest fixed/variable? Variable within a range?

^ I think these are tricky elements* of a "high-peak-force-reps/low-fatigue program", so just curious how you addressed these issues.

* traditional "standards of measurement" in terms of stress/stimulus/fatigue simply aren't applicable IME.

[Testiclaw]

What RPE was that 720 at? What do you think your max is?

I couldn't have pulled it for another rep but it definitely wasn't a true max either. Comparing the bar speed to some prior grindy PRs, I'd estimate another 20-25 lbs or so on that day with the stars perfectly aligned.

Goddamnit. I was going to deconstruct your deadlift cycle leading up to your 720 pull...but no log.

Some general questions:
1) were you using velocity cut-offs to determine reps-per-set...or did you use qualitative cut-offs?
2) what did you use for total pull-session volume? how did you ballpark that total session volume?
3) was intersession-rest fixed/variable? Variable within a range?

^ I think these are tricky elements* of a "high-peak-force-reps/low-fatigue program", so just curious how you addressed these issues.

* traditional "standards of measurement" in terms of stress/stimulus/fatigue simply aren't applicable IME.

I second all of these fantastic questions.

I'm kind of exploring a lower rpe setup for things, but it's a bit outside of what I'm used to, and would love a little more insight.

[Hanley]

I'm kind of exploring a lower rpe setup for things

Dooooo it!

it's a bit outside of what I'm used to

It's kinda not, though. Just use reps-per-set that you would for oly lifters or throwers (like throwers in aggressive "power block" phase), but push total session sets higher than you would for oly or power athletes.

Then, report back with best practices so we can formalize this shit rather than winging it.

[Testiclaw]

I'm kind of exploring a lower rpe setup for things

Dooooo it!

it's a bit outside of what I'm used to

It's kinda not, though. Just use reps-per-set that you would for oly lifters or throwers (like throwers in aggressive "power block" phase), but push total session sets higher than you would for oly or power athletes.

Then, report back with best practices so we can formalize this shit rather than winging it.

So reasonable it just might work.

I think the difficul part is translating what I do for other people into what I do for myself.

Like, enough practice with heavier singles to retain the skill and feel, while building volume in the 75% range, focusing on bar speed and accumulating volume as body allows.

Makes perfect sense...but fuck me, I can't stick to it.

"Coaches need coaches"

[Austin]

Goddamnit. I was going to deconstruct your deadlift cycle leading up to your 720 pull...but no log.

Some general questions:
1) were you using velocity cut-offs to determine reps-per-set...or did you use qualitative cut-offs?
2) what did you use for total pull-session volume? how did you ballpark that total session volume?
3) was intersession-rest fixed/variable? Variable within a range?

^ I think these are tricky elements* of a "high-peak-force-reps/low-fatigue program", so just curious how you addressed these issues.

* traditional "standards of measurement" in terms of stress/stimulus/fatigue simply aren't applicable IME.

1) More qualitative cutoffs, and using percentages of e1RM where a particular rep range would by definition be low-RPE

2) Pulling volume didn't change drastically throughout the training cycle. Ballparked based on my feels & prior training history, I suppose

3) My training schedule / intersession rest has been fixed for years, as I *really* don't like moving training around. A session might get moved backwards or forwards by a day depending on hospital call or travel schedule, but this is uncommon.

I deadlifted twice per week (as I have for years). The "main" comp DL day was also set up similarly to how I've trained for a long time, with minor adjustments. The bigger change compared to past training was using a similar setup on the supplemental deadlift day - this previously would have been higher-effort work, like ramping sets up to @8-9 with 5-10% backoffs. I'd hit some relatively big numbers on these like 575 x 4 beltless paused DL, 635 beltless deficit deadlift ... but I suspect the fatigue cost was too high.

The prior training cycle involved ramping 5s until the effort/fatigue got too high (pulled 606 x 5 at the end of it), then immediately transitioned right into something the looked more like:

Day 1: Comp SQ

Day 2: Comp DL 2 @ 7, 75% x 3 reps x 1-2 sets, 70% x 4-5 reps x 2-4 sets. This worked from 280 kg x 2 up through 295 kg x 2, then in the last two weeks I pulled 300 kg x 1, then 312.5 kg x 1 prior to the PR.

Day 3: Supp SQ (pin/paused)

Day 4: Supp DL (paused or deficit): 1 @ 6-7, then backoffs. These started at 4-5 sets of 6 @ 6-7, then gradually decreased to the last week, which was 5 sets of 3 @ <6

There are still some things I'd like to experiment with here, though.

Hope this helps.

[alek]

Well, I know what everyone’s training is gonna look like now. Thanks for the write-up, Austin.