"Owning" the weights
Posted: Tue May 08, 2018 1:34 pm
The other day I found myself thinking (it happens rarely, but it happens) about what "owning" the weights actually means. I completely agree that you should not move on to heavier weights until you really own/master the ones you're using. But it struck me that though I intuitively think I understand what "owning" means, it could very well mean something very different for someone else. Which isn't necessarily a problem, on the contrary, but I got curious about how other lifters sort of operationalize it. Aside from curiosity, like so many other people I want to progress as fast as possible and don't want to spend more time with a given weight than necessary. And I'm still kind of new to TB, right now I'm finishing up my fifth block. So I thought I might learn a few things from how you think about this.
So my question is: how, as concretely as possible, do you measure "owning the weight"?
Here's roughly how I measure "owning": First of all, I find it easier to use the heaviest weeks to measure it. Since I'm doing Zulu I/A, I use week 6 (95% of 1RM). It also makes sense since it's the last week in that block. I should probably also mention that I'm not using a training max. So far I've operationalized "owning" as being able to complete all five sets of two repetiitions with good form. It seems to work but again, my experience is limited.
The thing is, I feel it might be a little to conservative/cautious. I'm considering using three sets of two as my treshold instead. I'm also considering using an RPE estimate, since I'm usually fairly accurate in RPE ratings this close to my 1RM. For instance, if I can make the first set of two lifts with good form at an RPE 9 (meaning that I estimate that I could have completed another rep at the same weight with good form), that would roughly translate to that weight no longer being 95% of 1RM but rather 90% of 1RM, yes? And it might make sense to move on to heavier weights at that point, assuming that I went into the block with accurate numbers. From previous experience, I find five sets of two at 95% harder to achieve than one set of two at RPE 9. Which might mean that I could progress faster. Or, of course, that I would run into a brick wall two blocks later... I get that strength is a long term game, but that doesn't mean I want to move slower than necessary. So what do you guys do and how does it work for you?
So my question is: how, as concretely as possible, do you measure "owning the weight"?
Here's roughly how I measure "owning": First of all, I find it easier to use the heaviest weeks to measure it. Since I'm doing Zulu I/A, I use week 6 (95% of 1RM). It also makes sense since it's the last week in that block. I should probably also mention that I'm not using a training max. So far I've operationalized "owning" as being able to complete all five sets of two repetiitions with good form. It seems to work but again, my experience is limited.
The thing is, I feel it might be a little to conservative/cautious. I'm considering using three sets of two as my treshold instead. I'm also considering using an RPE estimate, since I'm usually fairly accurate in RPE ratings this close to my 1RM. For instance, if I can make the first set of two lifts with good form at an RPE 9 (meaning that I estimate that I could have completed another rep at the same weight with good form), that would roughly translate to that weight no longer being 95% of 1RM but rather 90% of 1RM, yes? And it might make sense to move on to heavier weights at that point, assuming that I went into the block with accurate numbers. From previous experience, I find five sets of two at 95% harder to achieve than one set of two at RPE 9. Which might mean that I could progress faster. Or, of course, that I would run into a brick wall two blocks later... I get that strength is a long term game, but that doesn't mean I want to move slower than necessary. So what do you guys do and how does it work for you?
Because there's no way in h-ll that I'll ever hit 6-8 reps in a set of 95%...