Mike, I just seemed to be a little over whelmed with setting up a template. I tried to use the cd but I am unsure how to define stress. I know in the volume period I should be low to med stress. What % range would this fall into? Looking at the Rpe chart if I chose sets of 2 at 8-9 . I would be in the 85-90% range. this woud seem to be high stress.
Can I chose sets of 2 in a lower % range say 70-80%? or would this take forever to reach a 9(if my goal is to work in x2 in 8-9Rpe).
Think of "stress" as the amount of general unpleasentness caused to your body. Your body then has to recover from that stress. All things being equal, you will recover from low stress faster than high stress.
That creates a link between stress and recovery time. Therefore, we can discuss stress in terms of recovery time.
The stress of a workout can be influenced by many things, but for a powerlifter, it's primarily influenced by volume and intensity. During a volume block, you want the majority of your training stress (whether it's low, medium, or high) to come from training volume -- thus intensity would be lower. Intensity blocks are roughly the opposite.
The specific definitions for each level of stress is outlined pretty well in the book and I'd encourage you to re-read those chapters. In the volume OR the intensity period, you can be low, medium, or high stress. It's only what makes up the stress that changes.
With regard to the manual, stress is related to the Fatigue Percent (3%, 5%, 7%) not the intensity. So, you may define 90% as high intensity, but it won't necessarily be high stress -- that would depend on how much volume you do in that intensity range.
Hope that helps. Feel free to clarify if I misunderstood your question!
Thanks your response does help. I think I am getting confused between stress and what makes up the stress (IE intensity vs Volume).
In general terms in the volume blocks I should range my intensity from say 70 -85%(occasional higher) , keep the RPE in 8-9 range and vary the stress from 3% 5% and 7%. Overall goal of med to high volume , low to med intensity.
In the Intensity bocks I should range the intensity from 80-95%(sometime higher), RPE should be 9-10 and vary the stress with the same 3%,5%,7%. Overall goal med to high intensity , med to lower volume.
