I’ve been browsing through Tuchscherer’s articles on the RTS website and at T-Nation of late since I find myself paying closer and closer attention to RPEs during my training. I’m currently reconditioning after a two-week break from training while I was on vacation and was thinking about programming my next mesocycle myself based on the principles of RTS. I’ve ran 5/3/1 and its variations on and off for a while now and find it too easy for me to go balls-to-the-wall on the “+” sets and on AMRAP training max sets; I think working to a fixed perceived exertion would be more beneficial for me.
I haven’t that much experience with self-programming but have read a couple of old books on periodization and saw how my coaches used to program for us when I was a teenager. Over the next eight weeks or so, I’m looking to work on “intensification” (basically not a peaking cycle, but ramping up to that – so intensity in the 80%-90% range). I’m hoping to follow a four-day split, with squat, bench and deadlift twice per week (one day in the RPE 9 range, once as a secondary movement in the RPE 7-8 range).
Do any of you have experience designing programs based on autoregulation or RTS? Do you follow a simple tapering volume/intensity pattern (e.g., Week 1: Up to 5 @ RPE 9, Week 2: Up to 4 @ RPE 9, Week 3: Up to 3 @ RPE 9, Week 4: Up to 2 @ RPE 9) or go for more “fixed” rep patterns while increasing perceived exertion? And do you tend to work on the competition movements themselves multiple times per week or do you include variations (as Tuchscherer seems to advocate)?
Looking forward to your input and thanks in advance!
I’ve started doing this recently. Right now, I just work up to a weight that’s an RPE 8, then work on the same weight until it’s a 9. If I’m feeling beat up, I’ll start with 7 and work up to an 8 and keep rest periods low and try to move the weight fast.
At least once a week, I’ll either do the comp lift or a very close variant. The only reason I don’t do the comp lift every week is to spare my joints.
I’ve started doing this recently. Right now, I just work up to a weight that’s an RPE 8, then work on the same weight until it’s a 9. If I’m feeling beat up, I’ll start with 7 and work up to an 8 and keep rest periods low and try to move the weight fast.
At least once a week, I’ll either do the comp lift or a very close variant. The only reason I don’t do the comp lift every week is to spare my joints.
I haven’t that much experience with self-programming but have read a couple of old books on periodization and saw how my coaches used to program for us when I was a teenager. Over the next eight weeks or so, I’m looking to work on “intensification” (basically not a peaking cycle, but ramping up to that – so intensity in the 80%-90% range). I’m hoping to follow a four-day split, with squat, bench and deadlift twice per week (one day in the RPE 9 range, once as a secondary movement in the RPE 7-8 range).
It’s too early to say if it’s working, but in Mike T’s book, he recommends doing a 3 week accumulation followed by a 3 week intensification. I’m almost finished with my first accumulation block so when I get to intensification, I’ll work up to a 9, keep at that weight until I get a 10 for 1-3 reps and even occasionally just work up to an ME if I’m feeling good.
On his website he has different fatigue stop methods, but they’re a bit more advanced and I don’t feel comfortable trying to implement them until I become accustomed to the basics.
Friday:
High-bar squats
Sumo deadlift from blocks
Lunges
Hyperextensions
Sunday:
OHP
Bench press (TnG)
Pull-ups
Triceps
And here’s my progression protocol for the main lift on each day as well as for the second lift on each day:
Main lifts:
W1. Up to 5 @RPE 8
W2. Up to 4 @RPE 8, drop 5%
W3. Up to 5 @RPE 9, drop 5%
W4. Up to 4 @RPE 9, drop 6-9%
W5. Up to 3 @RPE 9, drop 5%
W6. Up to 4 @RPE 9, drop 5%
W7. Up to 2 @RPE 9, drop 6-9%
W8. Up to 2 @RPE 9
W9. Retest maxes
Second lifts:
W1. Up to 5 @RPE 7
W2. Up to 4 @RPE 7, drop 5%
W3. Up to 5 @RPE 8, drop 5%
W4. Up to 4 @RPE 8, drop 6-9%
W5. Up to 3 @RPE 8, drop 5%
W6. Up to 4 @RPE 8, drop 5%
W7. Technique
W8. Technique
I’ve been programming for myself using an RTS overlayed block periodization scheme for about six months now, and once you get used to it, I really think its the best way to train. Just for some general guidelines from my own training:
-RPE’s of 7, regardless of the movement, won’t have the intensity necessary to drive any sort of adaptation at all. For this reason, I never program with an RPE of 7 for my initial (although you’ll obviously hit them while building up to your initial, and while working on your fatigue drop)
-The competition lifts are the most important things to work on, and should be included as often as possible. Find variations that work well for you, and focus on a particular part of the lift you struggle with, and work those as secondary movements. If you’re only squatting twice per week, it may be beneficial to alternate competition squats twice in a week followed by competition squat and secondary squat the following week.
-Accumulation periods are a good place to work in higher rep ranges to focus on a bit of hypertrophy and work capacity. I use at least one high rep session for each competition lift per week during accumulation blocks, and will program them as x8@8 for squat and bench and x6@8 on deadlift. Working with rep drops seems to be the best accompaniment with these sessions.
-As you move through a transmutation block (or intensification, whichever term you prefer), gradually cut back on the volume for secondary lifts.
-Load drops and rep drops are very useful for accumulation blocks; load drops and repeats are very useful transmutation blocks. I only use load drops for realization blocks.
That’s pretty much what I’ve learned from reading Mike’s articles and posts and using the methods myself. Good luck.
^ Awesome, man, thanks for the tips! I’ll try to keep my secondary work at RPE 8 and higher, then. I was thinking of keeping it somewhat lower for the first couple of weeks (accumulation, in essence), but I can see what you mean in terms of not eliciting any adaptation.
Just out of curiosity, how often in a mesocycle do you work up to an RPE 10? Only during the realization weeks?
I only hit 10’s for initial sets during realization, but I do program repeats during my transmutation block with initials of 9, so my last drop set would end up at a 10. I think you’d probably be fine hitting initials of 10 towards the back end of the transmutation block, especially if you cut secondary volume in that range, I just haven’t done so myself. Its just going to result in a little less overall volume.
Cool, thanks! Maybe I’ll resurrect this thread in a few weeks to report on my progress. Will likely begin with my program next week if my current plan to “recondition” following my vacation time proves fruitful.
Reconditioning sucks, I’ve been dealing with it myself. Traveled for a week for work, and heading to Mexico for a wedding next week. I’m hoping the resort has a somewhat functional gym, so I don’t have to backtrack again. Good luck!
Thank you all for your input! Here’s my adjusted program. Going to begin with this tomorrow and see how things work out. If need be I’ll throw in another extra “accumulation” week following week two, but I’ve already been going lighter with moderate volume this past week, so it shouldn’t be too difficult to get into the intensification block.
Main lifts:
W1. Up to 5 @RPE 8
W2. Up to 4 @RPE 8, drop 2-4%
W3. Up to 5 @RPE 9, drop 5%
W4. Up to 4 @RPE 9, drop 8-10%
W5. Up to 3 @RPE 9, drop 2-4%
W6. Up to 4 @RPE 9, drop 5%
W7. Up to 2 @RPE 9, repeat, drop 8-10%
W8. Up to 2 @RPE 9
W9. Retest maxes (RPE 10)
Second lifts:
W1. Up to 5 @RPE 8
W2. Up to 4 @RPE 8, drop 2-4%
W3. Up to 5 @RPE 8, drop 5%
W4. Up to 4 @RPE 8, drop 8-10%
W5. Up to 3 @RPE 8, drop 2-4%
W6. Up to 4 @RPE 8, drop 5%
W7. Technique
W8. Technique
In his book, one of things Mike T suggests doing and sticking with the basics until you master those, and then going into the more complicated things like fatigue percents and the different kind of fatigue drops.
I understand the whole concept of using RPEs that Mike pushes, but I fail to see what the big deal of it all is. One must be an idiot to not be able to adjust the prescribed training stress for a given session to one’s ability that day. No need to operationalize it with some fancy terms.
That seems pretty regulated for something that’s supposed to be autoregulatory.
Why are you looking to plan out autoregulation to such detail? Is it because you’re just not comfortable yet with the basic concept?
One of the simpler examples is the “Classical Nemesis” idea:
Ramp from 60% or so to a 3RM, then 2RM, then 1RM using ~10-15% jumps
Ramp from 70% of that to a 3RM using 2-3% jumps
Drop to 50% and do 2 sets of 5 with slow eccentrics
Done.
And every session is the same. I suppose you could say those are all taken to an RPE of ~9.
Until you’re more intimately familiar with using autoregulation in your own training, I think it’s entirely overkill to try periodizing things based on it. E.g., Smolov will get your squat up, but it doesn’t matter if you don’t really know how to squat.
I’ve seen you tracking RPEs in your log, but it still looks like you’ve been training around the actual weight rather than the RPE. I think you should just find a basic RPE plan that you can do every session for a month or three… and then once you have a better handle on it, you can tack on the periodization.
I just think in this case you’re trying to run before you can walk.
^ Thanks for your input! I think you’ve summed up my approach to my present program pretty accurately. However, I still wish to periodize things in order to ensure that I don’t get diminishing returns over time. In essence, Westside is also an autoregulatory program without the presence of a typical block periodization. I feel as though I respond better to the latter style.
The difference in my present approach is really, truly not having any set weight or number of total sets in mind before beginning the workout. I find this enticing since I do tend to go too intense too often with my training, regardless of the point in the mesocycle. Having set RPE goals that keep me from going closer and closer to a true 1RM throughout the training cycle will hopefully mean that I’ll learn how my body reacts and recovers from lower intensity leading up to a true peaking cycle, and thus hopefully better manage fatigue.