Kettlebell Extending RoP beyond 13 weeks to hit ladder goals?

[One T]

I started RoP in a weird spot progressing to 5 rung ladders early and then moving to the next bell size up about 3 weeks in. Now it looks like about a minimum of 16 weeks to hit 5 rung ladders with the heavier bell. The goal now is to do Strong (Neupert) after a 044 Q+D cycle following RoP. Question is whether stopping at 13 weeks to switch to the Q+D cycle would be better, or getting to 5 rung ladders, which is preferable at least mentally, would not be a problem from an overtraining point of view.
Thanks

 

[Tjerr]

My RoP is 21 weeks; 13 until 5x5 then build up to 100 reps with 2-3-5 and then 100 reps with 2-3-5-10;

I would stop with RoP when you're done, then switch to Q&D.

Or

Switch to Q&D, and when go back to RoP, see if you can complete it in the goal in 13 weeks. So same bell, faster progression.

 

[Bauer]

I started RoP in a weird spot progressing to 5 rung ladders early and then moving to the next bell size up about 3 weeks in. Now it looks like about a minimum of 16 weeks to hit 5 rung ladders with the heavier bell. The goal now is to do Strong (Neupert) after a 044 Q+D cycle following RoP. Question is whether stopping at 13 weeks to switch to the Q+D cycle would be better, or getting to 5 rung ladders, which is preferable at least mentally, would not be a problem from an overtraining point of view.
Thanks

Do I read that right, that your next bell up was a 5RM?

If that is so, I would take my time. In recent publications and plans Pavel stresses the importance of stabilizing gains, repeating workloads if necessary. Personally, I try to get the RPE of my heavy day below a 7.5 before moving on. Otherwise the next heavy day(s) might be too much. Sometimes I spend a few sessions with one workload and then leap ahead much faster. (However, I am not doing strict ROP, but an experimental SF plan based on ROP.)

For some people, I believe that spending more time with higher volume might be beneficial for joints, tendons, etc. -- as long as your form is good and your body feels good. On the other hand, other people might benefit from only staying with heavier weights and lower volume.

Personally, I would spend the extra weeks with ROP to stabilize the adaptations and really milk the cycle.

 

[Mark Limbaga]

If your goal is to complete the ROP with your new 5rm bell then extending the ROP beyond 13 weeks or stopping halfway then restarting but with less density is a great idea

 

[Steve W.]

Do I read that right, that your next bell up was a 5RM?

If that is so, I would take my time. In recent publications and plans Pavel stresses the importance of stabilizing gains, repeating workloads if necessary. Personally, I try to get the RPE of my heavy day below a 7.5 before moving on. Otherwise the next heavy day(s) might be too much. Sometimes I spend a few sessions with one workload and then leap ahead much faster. (However, I am not doing strict ROP, but an experimental SF plan based on ROP.)

For some people, I believe that spending more time with higher volume might be beneficial for joints, tendons, etc. -- as long as your form is good and your body feels good. On the other hand, other people might benefit from only staying with heavier weights and lower volume.

Personally, I would spend the extra weeks with ROP to stabilize the adaptations and really milk the cycle.

One of the quirks of ROP is that when you add a new rung on heavy day, the medium day resets to match what was previously the heavy day. It's a big jump, like all of a sudden having two heavy days in a row, especially if you are starting with a challenging bell (like a 5RM instead of an 8-10RM).

For instance, when you add your first rung of 4 on heavy day, your top rungs on medium day jump from 2 to 3, which is 15 extra reps and 100% increase in total volume on medium day all at once. Then when you add your first 5 rep rung, medium day jumps by 20 reps, which is a 67% increase in total volume on medium day. The week or weeks before and after these jumps are good places to repeat weeks to prepare for and then get used to the jump in volume.

Another strategy to consider is to start by only using the new heavier bell for the rungs of 1 (you can start with 5 ladders instead of building up from 3). Then keep the volume the same but start using the heavier bell for rungs of 1 and 2, and then 1, 2, and 3. You can cook it as slow as you need to, adding heavy sets of 2 or 3 as is comfortable (not just possible). When heavy day with 5 x 1, 2, 3 ladders is comfortable you can continue the progression from there.

Basically, it's overall pattern of the progression that's important, not a 13 week time frame. And starting with a 5RM bell, you are likely to hit a wall if you rigidly follow a 13 week progression.

 

[Bakker91]

Today i learned that i do ROP wrong. My understanding was that when you go for 4 reps on the first rung on heavy day. You go for 3 reps only on the first rung on medium days. On on all rungs.
So Heavy: 1x 4,3,2,1 + 4x3,2,1 And medium: 1x 3,2,1 + 4x2,1.

 

[Bakker91]

@Steve W. is absolutely right. Its right there in the book with that same example. I can't believe i missed this. I think a lot of us are doing the ROP wrong (or different. Depends how you look at it).

Screened from the Enter the Kettlebell book page 136.

 

[One T]

You can cook it as slow as you need to,

This!

Personally, I would spend the extra weeks with ROP to stabilize the adaptations and really milk the cycle

And this definitely resonate with me.

However, I am not doing strict ROP, but an experimental SF plan based on ROP.)

This just gives me FOMO
In any case thank you for the informed replies. I'm gonna take it crock pot style, hit my goals and make sure things are rock solid before I move on.

 

[Hausman]

@Steve W. Mind blown, reading skills will be reassessed from now on. I'm going to make sure I can really own that first new rung. I've been missing out on work, and in turn a focus on great technique to ensure it's doable.