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Hey guys, just looking to spark a conversation about these two types of programming.
For those unaware
RPE stands for Rate of Perceived Exertion, or basically, HOW HARD you had to try to complete a movement. It's on a 0-10 scale, 0 being effortless (bending a finger), 10 being you couldnt complete another rep even if a dog bit you on the nads.
Percentage based/linear progression is just that; a percentage of your 1 rep max, done for a certain amount of sets/reps with weight added every session, week, month, etc.
My opinion of each:
Linear Progression-
The Good-Fantastic for beginner lifters. Classifications of "beginners" is up in the air depending on who's typing, but my opinion is that you're a beginner with less than 18 months of (proper) lifting under your belt.
Linear progression allows you to add weight at a rate that is applicable to your own needs or abilities. If you can add 10lbs per week to a movement, fantastic. If you can add 2.5lbs per week to a movement per week, that's awesome too. It's all about adding weight, or sets/reps, over time.
The Bad(?)- At some point in time, based on your diet, training history, bodyweight, etc, you WILL find that you can simply not add more weight to the bar. One week you may bench 225 for 5 reps, but the following you cant get 227.5 (microplates ayyy) for 5 reps. So what do you do? Try again the following week? Do you switch to using 227.5 for sets of 3 and try it for 5 reps again in a FEW weeks? What if it was an "off day" where you just didn't get the sleep you needed? Find out next week!
RPE Based training-
The Good- This type of training is, in my opinion, great for intermediate and advanced lifters who can not simply add weight to the bar week after week. Some weeks when you have less sleep, less food, etc, you simply cannot lift what you could under better conditions. This is where the RPE scale comes in.
If your workout is scheduled to have 3 sets of squats for 5 reps at RPE 7,8, and 9, you may work up to 315x5, 325x5, and 335x5. The last set you reach RPE 9 (you could do one more) and your workout is complete. Now, if you were recently sick, tired, hungry, or any of the above, you may end up with 285x5, 295x5, and 315x5.
What you just did is autoregulated your own fatigue. You didn't grind out any reps, so you didn't cause any unnecessary fatigue that could take away from a session later in the week, or next week, that could be effected by a grinded out extremely difficult last set. You put a cap on how hard it was supposed to be.
The Bad(?)- This type of training can be difficult for some people to see the progression long term. They may have a string of bad sessions and think they've gotten weaker. Unless you're in a calorie deficit, detraining takes longer to happen than a week. Detraining occurs when you go from, say, a powerlifting meet, to laying on the couch for two weeks. Otherwise, the actual STRENGTH is still there, but outside factors (food, sleep, stress, etc) are limiting what you can do that day.
With the ups and downs of training fatigue and what weight is lifted each session, a lifter can become frustrated.
Another downside to this training is that unless you know what you can recover from, it's easy to underestimate your capabilities, or overestimate them. If you think that because last week you squatted 335 for 5 @ RPE 9 that this week you can do 340 for 5, you could be right or you could be wrong. You need to learn your body and how quickly you recover from specific events. IE: My body recovers VERY well from bench pressing, so I tend to do it more often than other people. But I don't recover from back squats as well as someone else may, so when squatting multiple times per week the recoverable volume tends to be lower for me.
Figured this could be an interesting topic for those of you who are into strength training. What do you all think? Opinions are your own, and nobody can change someone's mind over the internet, so just have fun with it.
-Dan
For those unaware
RPE stands for Rate of Perceived Exertion, or basically, HOW HARD you had to try to complete a movement. It's on a 0-10 scale, 0 being effortless (bending a finger), 10 being you couldnt complete another rep even if a dog bit you on the nads.
Percentage based/linear progression is just that; a percentage of your 1 rep max, done for a certain amount of sets/reps with weight added every session, week, month, etc.
My opinion of each:
Linear Progression-
The Good-Fantastic for beginner lifters. Classifications of "beginners" is up in the air depending on who's typing, but my opinion is that you're a beginner with less than 18 months of (proper) lifting under your belt.
Linear progression allows you to add weight at a rate that is applicable to your own needs or abilities. If you can add 10lbs per week to a movement, fantastic. If you can add 2.5lbs per week to a movement per week, that's awesome too. It's all about adding weight, or sets/reps, over time.
The Bad(?)- At some point in time, based on your diet, training history, bodyweight, etc, you WILL find that you can simply not add more weight to the bar. One week you may bench 225 for 5 reps, but the following you cant get 227.5 (microplates ayyy) for 5 reps. So what do you do? Try again the following week? Do you switch to using 227.5 for sets of 3 and try it for 5 reps again in a FEW weeks? What if it was an "off day" where you just didn't get the sleep you needed? Find out next week!
RPE Based training-
The Good- This type of training is, in my opinion, great for intermediate and advanced lifters who can not simply add weight to the bar week after week. Some weeks when you have less sleep, less food, etc, you simply cannot lift what you could under better conditions. This is where the RPE scale comes in.
If your workout is scheduled to have 3 sets of squats for 5 reps at RPE 7,8, and 9, you may work up to 315x5, 325x5, and 335x5. The last set you reach RPE 9 (you could do one more) and your workout is complete. Now, if you were recently sick, tired, hungry, or any of the above, you may end up with 285x5, 295x5, and 315x5.
What you just did is autoregulated your own fatigue. You didn't grind out any reps, so you didn't cause any unnecessary fatigue that could take away from a session later in the week, or next week, that could be effected by a grinded out extremely difficult last set. You put a cap on how hard it was supposed to be.
The Bad(?)- This type of training can be difficult for some people to see the progression long term. They may have a string of bad sessions and think they've gotten weaker. Unless you're in a calorie deficit, detraining takes longer to happen than a week. Detraining occurs when you go from, say, a powerlifting meet, to laying on the couch for two weeks. Otherwise, the actual STRENGTH is still there, but outside factors (food, sleep, stress, etc) are limiting what you can do that day.
With the ups and downs of training fatigue and what weight is lifted each session, a lifter can become frustrated.
Another downside to this training is that unless you know what you can recover from, it's easy to underestimate your capabilities, or overestimate them. If you think that because last week you squatted 335 for 5 @ RPE 9 that this week you can do 340 for 5, you could be right or you could be wrong. You need to learn your body and how quickly you recover from specific events. IE: My body recovers VERY well from bench pressing, so I tend to do it more often than other people. But I don't recover from back squats as well as someone else may, so when squatting multiple times per week the recoverable volume tends to be lower for me.
Figured this could be an interesting topic for those of you who are into strength training. What do you all think? Opinions are your own, and nobody can change someone's mind over the internet, so just have fun with it.
-Dan
