(1) I ran Texas Method with a squat 5RM of 145 pounds. Then ran 5-3-1 for a few months with little to show for it.mgil wrote: ↑Thu Nov 16, 2017 6:43 am There have also been several folks run non-novice programming from the start (like a 531 variant) and made nearly identical progress to an expected SS trainee over a longer period of time.
That’s because the avoided stalls and resets that put the focus of blame on the lifter.
This was because my problems weren't program-related, they were bad form and the resulting injuries. I needed a coach. I think most true novices need a coach to succeed. Particularly lifetime non-athletes like myself.
(2) A coach makes RPE for the novice lifter unnecessary. The coach picks the weight increases, using formal or informal RPE metrics, and the transition to a long-term program, etc. The lifter just does as (s)he's told. So SSLP for a properly coached novice is fine w/o RPE.
Also, true beginners can't rate RPE for shit.
(3) I was led astray by the SSBBT v2 book I bought. I thought I could do it w/o a coach. I think Rippetoe et. al. have realized their mistake and are pushing the coaching angle now. They are right.
(4) If SSBBT and PPST had included information about RPE, it would have been helpful for me in the transition to intermediate programming. Maybe I could have gotten decent at self-coaching in 3 years instead of 6. But I still would have needed a coach at the beginning.
PPST is not a self-help book for new intermediate lifters coaching themselves, which is what I wanted it to be. None of the program templates in that book work for an inexperienced lifter because they cannot gauge how much intensity/volume to pile on. If PPST were a self-help book, it would have RPE in it.