Calibrated Increments

I've been trying out something new the last couple of weeks. Previously, my lowest weight increment was 2.5kg. This sometimes meant a struggle to increase weight on a weekly basis when using the same rep and REP (Rate of Perceived Exertion) scheme, as the jump in e1RM (Estimated 1 Rep Max) can then be too high. For example:

• 135kg x 3 @ RPE7 == 162kg e1RM
• 137.5kg x 3 @ RPE7 == 165kg e1RM

So, that 2.5kg increase adds 3kg to the e1RM. Normally, that would result in a decrease in velocity, and then over another couple of weeks, the velocity would match or better the lighter weight and at that point, you can then increase another 2.5kg. But, those sessions in-between would not strictly be a RPE7 - maybe RPE8 or RPE7.5 - so more fatigue will have been accumulated than prescribed.This time around, I now have 0.25kg and 0.5kg plates for much smaller increases.

For squat and deadlift I'm targeting a weekly 1kg increase in e1RM (bench press drops down to a 0.5kg target increase), with the changes for the last couple of weeks being:

• Squat: 135kg x 3 @ RPE7 to 136kg (+1kg) == 162kg e1RM to 163kg e1RM
• Deadlift: 165kg x 3 @ RPE7 to 165.5kg (+0.5kg) == 197kg e1RM to 198kg e1RM

The velocity comparison videos (top: last week, bottom: this week) are actually showing an increase not a decrease. This may be due to being better recovered from that back tweak, but it'll be interesting if that trend continues. If/when this pattern breaks, then I'll drop the targeted increase to a weekly 0.5kg on the e1RM and see if that course corrects.