I used this picture because it's two old dudes who have certainly put some serious intensity into their training. Now I can't speak for Harry, hell, Harry can probably hit an RPE of 11 all day every day. However, yours truly can't anymore.
As with most things I preach, I have learned them through experience. For as long as I can remember, I have tried to kill every session I have gone into. I can still pin the dial, but at what expense?
A few weeks ago I went for my 600 dl. I barely broke the floor with 550. Not really the way you want to go after 600. I thought maybe I was out of the groove so I rested a good bunch of time and went back after it. Nope, same result. Nearly stapled.
With the training I have put in I would have never missed this in the past. I can see not getting the 600, but 550... WTF is going on? The month before I hit 445 for 10, but I will say it was nearly soul-stealing. On the rep calculator that set put me right around, 600 and I have historically done even better than the calculator when it comes to singles.
So with not getting 550 it was clear I was overtrained. In the past I'd hit an amrap max to guage an estimated single and then the next cycle I'd go for it. What I'm finding is that when I hit an RPE of 10 whether it be on a single or amrap, I am not recovering like I used to. My body and cns need more time than in the past.
Going forward I'm going to focus on leaving at least one rep in the tank for amrap sets and probably more like two. It's going to be hard to gauge and even harder for me to mentally adjust to.
I have found over time with training you either adapt or perish. There are not a lot of old meatheads around for a reason, but I plan on being one of them. Keep an eye out for next year when I go for 600 again. We'll see how the change in training pans out.
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