It's not about your feelings, so stop worrying about it

[Fadi]

My training as an Olympic weightlifter back in the 80s, was based on the Eastern Bloc, namely the Soviets and the Bulgarians. Training was methodical, with everything planned one year in advance. There were times when I felt very strong, and capable of lifting more than a particular daily program had called for. The coaches would sense this and would say, the program does not care about your feelings and neither should you!



You see, there is a very good reason why one feels good on certain days. The program's volume and intensity is constantly changing, so it's quite natural that you feel you can manage to lift more on some days. It's designed with days that are built into it precisely to ensure that you would be lifting tomorrow; next month, and hopefully 10 years from now.

Here in the west, some follow a system that tells them that they need to feel broken at the end of each workout; that there's something wrong if they're feeling right by having something left over after a workout.

So the take home message from these few words of mine is this: enjoy those days when you're feeling stronger than what the program calls for, and stop beating yourself up feeling that you ought to have done more when the program doesn't call for it. The program doesn't care about your feelings and neither should you.

 

[Jungnaut]

Yes I enjoy those days when I'm feeling stronger than what the program calls for and take advantage of that by doing an extra reps or extra sets. Because I know there will be days when I am under the weather and won't be able to do as well so everything averages out in the end.
I don't like to walk out of the gym knowing I still have heaps in the tank but not too beat up either so that fatigue carries over into my next workout. Friday workouts are mad wicked form going balls to the wall because I know I got 2 days off to recover especially after sculling some ep1c and scoop n' half Apocalypse.

I wonder if the Soviets and Bulgarians use the RPE system at all because that goes by feel a lot too doesnt it.

 

[Fadi]

Yes I enjoy those days when I'm feeling stronger than what the program calls for and take advantage of that by doing an extra reps or extra sets. Because I know there will be days when I am under the weather and won't be able to do as well so everything averages out in the end.
I don't like to walk out of the gym knowing I still have heaps in the tank but not too beat up either so that fatigue carries over into my next workout. Friday workouts are mad wicked form going balls to the wall because I know I got 2 days off to recover especially after sculling some ep1c and scoop n' half Apocalypse.

I wonder if the Soviets and Bulgarians use the RPE system at all because that goes by feel a lot too doesnt it.

Thanks a lot for that, it's great. I think I was thinking on a totally different level, that of a lifter whose aim is to peak on a particular day, not one day after or one day before, and one whose aim is to compete. That was one aspect of the spectrum.

What you have presented us here ( and I'm very grateful for you for doing that), is the other side of the spectrum; that is a system, the RPE system where most average fitness enthusiasts would fit right in and would more than likely benefit from such a system.

To answer your question no, the Russians and Bulgarians (and competitive weightlifters world-wide) do not use the RPE system, not because it's not good or it isn't valuable, but because they're after a system that carries within it much more precision and assurances than to simply rely on one's feelings.

So as you can see, both systems surely have their merits, however the deciding factor is the ultimate aim of the athlete involved.