Right, I'm a week and a half into RTS programming and its already raised a whole host of questions for me...but at least I'm thinking so thats good right?
1) Intensity vs volume. On the primary lifts, I'm hitting an average of 75%-80% intensity across all sets including warmups. Not necessarily a problem but I'm getting 30-50 reps total at this average until I hit a fatigue stop (typically 8.5's or 9's). It's weird, I don't seem to fatigue very easily in the 75-80% range, so I end up doing a bunch of sets then getting fed up and bumping it to the 85% mark. This however, just seems a little high to be doing the bulk of the work at. I think its probably a good idea for the main lifts but in the assistance ones, would it not be a better idea to limit myself? (as seen in question 2/3)
2) Secondary exercises: The assistance ones, should I be working them to the same level i.e going for a 9 fatigue stop on doubles and tripples?
3) I notice in your log Mike sometimes you specify you're working at 70-80% for example. Is this something you recommend utlising at lower levels (i.e mine). I ask because otherwise, I'm going to be training with a lot of volume at a relatively high intensity 4 times per week... maybe this isn't a problem I don't know... I feel beaten but I'll always get through it. Just wonder if this is good in the long run or should I just man up and adapt?
4) The intensity block is approaching. Now, as I understand it currently I'm supposed to pick high intensity protocals for the following:
Shirted Bench Raw Bench Shirted Assistance Raw Assistance Raw Squat Equipped Squat Deadlift Deadlift Assistance
All in the space of one week, is this not going to beat me to the ground? I understand that I wouldn't necessarily be going maximal all the time but I would be hitting over 90% for reps on all of them without question. Is this sustainable over 3 weeks? Or even one week if we're doing it 8 times in that week? How do you arrange it to make it manageable?
Sorry for all the questions, just trying to get it clear in my mind.
1. Don't back the weight off after you hit your @9 set (or just back it off a little). You maintain your ability to display strength even with fatigue, which is a very good thing, but I'd be willing to bet that if you kept the weight higher after your @9 set, you'd fatigue more quickly (which, in this case is fine, because time and energy, etc becomes a concern).
2. There are 3 main catagories of exercises in the RTS system. Main. This is pretty self explainatory. This is your main lift. Often, it's your competition lift, but not always. Regardless, in most cases, this is the lift with the highest specificity to your contest lift.
Assistance (Sheiko would call this Supplemental SPP). This lift is very close to the contest lift, but less specific than the Main lift. It's trained in a similar way with similar volumes, intensities, and RPE's.
Supplemental. Depending on the lifter (experience, work capacity, template, etc), this can be something Sheiko would call Developmental SPP or another (less specific) Supplemental SPP. One way or another, in RTS, it's characterized by the least specificity of any of the selected lifts. Instead, it is targeted at muscle groups. The reps are higher for these movements (how much higher depends on the lift). The RPE's are usually 8-9, but by the nature of rep training, 8's will be more prevailant (this isn't a concious decision, it will happen on it's own).
3. This is something that is supposed to happen when you arrive at higher levels of preparation. I made this change because it allowed me to use different volume controls, which I needed at the time. I was in a good position for this, because I "did my time" with fatigue percents and so on, so I had the means to create a custom volume chart. Getting back to the question of your training volumes, if you go with some higher RPE's and that doesn't fix your issue, then I'd suggest some different volume controls because your individual makeup may be preventing Fatigue stops (and subsequently fatigue percents) to be as effective as they could be.
4. This is a common misconception among Powerlifters (and I know where it came from) -- that consistent training above 90% will somehow "burn you out" or something. This CAN be true. It often IS true in lifters that are unprepared for the work. But if you are sufficiently prepared for high intensity programming, then repeated 90% work isn't an issue over a certain period of time (depending on preparation). This is a big factor in Block Periodization. However, I recognize that this thought takes some getting used to psychologically (as well as some deliberate planning physically). If those components aren't in place, then lots of work in the 90%+ range could become problematic (and the answer is NOT to rotate exercises). In this case, recognize that you HAVE to select protocols that your body can handle. If it's 90%+ that bothers you, then remember x3 @9 is 85%. If even that is too much, x4 @8-9 and so on.
5. In your log you also ask, "So if I want to do tripples at eight to nine I need to hit a nine drop back down to an eight and hammer it till it feels like a nine?"
Not exactly. You work up to a 9, then when you have some loss of capacity (i.e. a weight that should be an 8 feels like an 8.5, a weight that feels like a 9 feels like a 9.5, etc), that's the fatigue stop.
You also ask, "Been thinking some more And am a bit confused. Let's take my deadlifting on Tuesday, I had programmed tripples at eight. So I went up to a weight that was a solid eight and continued with it until it got harder and became a nine. Was this not the right thing to do? Thanks for the help."
Yes, that's the right thing to do if you're programmed RPE range is 7-8. If it was 8-9, you should work up to a 9, then assess your fatigue in the manner I mentioned earlier.
And now that I'm looking at your log more closely, I think you'd benefit from using Fatigue Percents. It might take some slight adjustment, but I think you'd get where you want to go much faster from that.
Also, Rack lockouts can be wierd sometimes. If you hit the pins funny or something, that can have a dramatic effect on how hard the set is. Also, if you're starting from the bottom, then that adds MUCH more variability to the reps. Don't know if that was the case -- just food for thought.
Fantastic thanks mike. This actually clears it all up pretty good I've had a lightbulb moment here. It means a lot that you take the time so thank you. Hope your training and stress gets back on track.
I also wonder about the progression model implemented, as there seems to be several.
Say that you've programmed x3 @RPE 8-9
The first workout you hit something like:
385 x 3 @8 395 x 3 @8 395 x 3 @8.5 405 x 3 @9 PR
Here I've seen both
405 x 2 @9...stop (since x 3 would've been @9.5)
or using a 5% fatigue percentage
385 x 3 @9...stop (or 385 x 3 @8.5, 385 @9...stop - if you have more in you that day)
Is this correct?
Then I see it programmed as 4-5 x3 @RPE 8-9 so you would stop after 5 sets if you hit @9 somewhere in there, right?
The next workout, do you:
1. Aim for 415 @9RPE e.g. 395 x3 @8, 405 x3 @8.5, 415 x3 @9 PR followed by another set or backoff set (3%, 5%, 7% depending on the fatigue % used) if you programmed 5 sets 3 reps?
2. Go straight to 405 and try to get more volume before moving up in load e.g. 405 x 3 @8, 405 x3 @8.5, 405 x3 @9, 405 x3 @9.5....stop (or back-off load to 385-395)
3. Just keep working up until you hit an RPE9, so if you're strong that day: 395 x 3 @8, 405 x3 @8, 415 x3 @8.5, 425 x3 @9...stop (or back-off load to 405)
The difference being that 1. gives you a set progression of 2.5%, 2. gives you more volume at a given load before moving up, 3. is more intensity/progress oriented and you increase loads faster if your strength is improving fast, slower if you're not (obviously).
Now, I've also seen intensity/volume models of:
NL = number of lifts, e.g. 12-15NL so you would try to hit a range of 4-5 sets of 3 but could also do some doubles or singles depending on the RPE chosen
Sheiko-based work, as Mike seems to be doing now, of 75% x3, 80% x3, 85% x2x2, 80% x3 etc
Just using x3 with an RPE range, which is what Mark R is doing now, doing triples until the cows come home and the dogs have barked at the moon, basically :)
The answers would probably depend on whether you're in a volume or intensity block, obviously - and if you're using fatigue stops or %ages...but some general guidelines of what seems to have worked in different contexts or with different lifters would be helpful.
The reason the RTS progression works e way it does is like this....
Fatigue stops teach you to not depend on a set rep protocol -- listen to yourbody, so to speak. This is in direct preparation for fatigue percents.
Fatigue percents get you to use volumes in accordance with your preparation. I've spoken about this at length. The weakness here is that after a certain point, you need more precision with your volume control.
When this happens, you've moved past volume 1 of the RTS manual.
The next thing is a more definite volume prescription and intensity ranges. The reason you should do fatigue percents first is so you have data for your custom volume chart. At some point you will also outgrow this as well. For me, I needed technique work and this method didn't provide the appropriate control.
So I progressed into a firm-coded system that retained the load flexibility I needed, but met my changing needs as an athlete. I should mention that it took me 3 years to get to this point. Now I see the weakness here is a lack of flexibility, so I developed and am ready to implement TRAC (Training Recovery Assessment Computer) as a means to modify the firm-coded program based on my response.
Some notes... Each phase built on the phases before and each one built fantastic strength while it was relevant. It's important to follow the order.
Another thing... TRAC will change things. The ability to (accurately) assess recovery is a very powerful tool that will allow better fine tuning of training at an earlier time. The exact impact remains to be seen, but it will be cool, no doubt!
