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Old Forum ROP- "It's all easy til…

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Michael Corrales

Michael Corrales

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…it's heavy."  Mark Rif

Been back on Rite of Passage for the past 10 weeks (with one week off).  It's really the first time I've done it "By the Book" and followed instructions as exactly as possible.  Previously and numerous times, I used Anthony DiLugio's ETK workbook.  I far prefer to do it as written by Pavel.

Anyway, working with the 28kg now and am able to do 5 ladders of 4 rungs on heavy day.  My best 32kg press on last test day was 5 reps left, 3 reps right.  I did not feel confident enough to jump from 24kg to 32kg and settled on working with the 28kg.

Wow…it's heavy FOR ME.  Hard work!!  I've found that I need to re-read ETK frequently and choose a queue or two each workout to focus on to nail the form and get through.  Without the queues, my form just falls apart.

In my recent workouts I've been totally focused on "breathing behind the shield" and pushing my breath very low into my abdomen to compress.  I've traditionally had a problem of breathing high in my chest.  I was also focused on pressing with the "virtual shoulder" in the lat that Pavel has written about but recently am fixated with "pressing away from the KB".  It's going to be a while until I get to the 32kg.  But it's been great focusing on the basics.

My shoulders and upper back are also noticeably more dense and my pull-ups are getting higher and higher almost lower than the clavicles.

ROP is an awesome program!!
 
I recently went back onto the Rite of Passage as well. A few years ago when I first started getting more serious with my training, diet and body composition I ran it perfectly by the book and coupled it with the Precision Nutrition system. To paraphrase Dan John, it worked so well I stopped doing it. Coming back to it now (admittedly with some changes to the overall weekly layout based on my goals and what I know works for me, but with the structure of the Rite of Passage days remaining the same) I’m even more keenly aware of how great an overall program it is. I don’t usually do the gushing fanboy thing, but for this it is deserving. And I’m kicking myself for neglecting ladders in my recent training and am reminded of this post I saw by Pavel:

“Ladies and gents, if you are not doing ladders, the joke is on you.” (http://www.strongfirst.com/topic/medium-day-in-etk-world/#post-4613)

An awesome program is right.
 
Samuel-  Excellent quote and thanks for pointing to the thread.  Great reading:

> “Ladies and gents, if you are not doing ladders, the joke is on you.” (http://www.strongfirst.com/topic/medium-day-in-etk-world/#post-4613)

Even though I've had ETK for seems like ~5 years, and practiced it off-and-on, I did not fully understand the ladders concept about accumulating volume without failure.  Reading through an older MILO edition the other day (Dec 2000), with an article written by Pavel called "The Ladder:  How to Grease the Groove on a Tight Schedule" really, finally helped to get the concept to sink in and make sense.  I guess I'm a slow learner sometimes :]

 
 
Michael,

I too have too often stopped working the ROP not because it was failing, but because I became impatient and bored. I am progressing well now but i have to fight the urge to do too much on variety days. I also use a pulse monitor on my grinds to "force" myself to adequately recover between rungs and ladders. I don't start a new rung until my heart rate drops below 100. Sometimes that is a loooooong wait, but the great progress I am now making is giving me a lot of patience.

"The ROP doesn't fail, we fail to do the ROP".

 

Jim
 
Jim et al., something to help you stay on ROP.  You are practically guaranteed to see improvement every week on the heavy day—more sets, more reps.  More strength.
 
It seems funny now but at 41, I feel like I'm starting to peak again whereas before getting ETK and following it, I thought my best days were over. Pavel's writings are breathing new life into this body of mine and this group of really smart folks learning from each other and sharing the information is just awesome to be a part of. Wish I could have started sooner, but incredibly happy to be a part of it today.
 
I did ROP a couple years ago to bridge the gap from pressing a 16 to a 24 for 5 solid reps. Several other programs and my SFG cert later, I'm back on it again.

ROP feels like cheating (to quote Rob Lawrence). I'm on 4 ladders with my 28 now and I have every bit of confidence I'll be doing ladders with my 32 before Thanksgiving. I echo the earlier quote from Jim, “The ROP doesn’t fail, we fail to do the ROP”.

Speaking of which Jim I heard through the grapevine that there is a local SFG in your area also doing ROP. Maybe you guys could meet up sometime for a session together? ;-)
 
I believe that is why thereare variety days on ROP is to help keep us entertained but still focused on the goal
 
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