To autoregulate your training you essentially go to the gym and do ‘what feels good’. That might mean your legs are feeling strong, and you want to work in a low rep range for some squats. Or maybe you did a lot of walking during the day, so you’re better off hitting your upper body, but you don’t feel like going heavy, so you go for some higher rep pulls and presses. You get the picture, you let your body decide on the day how to hit the weights.
A problem with the above approach is that there is no structure, and what if you just decide not to train your lower body during the week, that’s just not on. So we need to create a programme as without an idea of what needs to be done we won’t progress. Therefore, better is to have at least an idea that you are going to squat, bench and deadlift heavy and for reps at some point in the week, but then choose when you do each. The amount of structure you provide can vary, there are whole training programmes such as Mike Tuchscherer’s Reactive Training Systems.
A problem with that approach is that if you are new to training you might not really know what weights you should be using for each of these. Or maybe by not having knowing when you are meant to be hitting it hard and taking it easy, you never actually hit it all that hard. That also might lead you to not progressing. If you are a more advanced lifter you might actually be able to select a weight to hit an appropriate Rate of Perceived Exertion (to learn more about the RPE scale click here). You know how certain weights feel, so if you are warming up you can identify whether you should shoot for that PR or hold back and just go through the movement with a lighter weight.
My suggestion? if you are completely new to training I think you would be better suited to stick to a programme, using %’s based off your estimated 1 rep maxes. This is because you lack the experience with the weights to autoregulate and we want you to be progressing each week. I often will guide my clients alongside with an RPE, but they know the weight they are aiming for.
However, if you are a seasoned lifter, and are progressing at a monthly or more basis then I think a combination of RPE and % may be a better suited. What might this mean in practice? Say you know you are squatting today, it is a heavy day. You want to do 5 reps for a given number of sets. I suggest looking at what %’s of your 1 rep max you would like to achieve. For this case, lets say it is 75%, I would then create a range, say 5% above and 5% below this. Then you can work up to this range and then depending how you feel on the day, autoregulate the weight from this range. You’d do this during your warm up sets, if they feel slow you know to go lower within the range, if they are springy and smooth then push for higher. That is one approach I have seen to be very successful with my clients and it gives another reason why warming up is required. DO NOT JUST GO AND START ON YOUR WORKING WEIGHTS, that is reckless and could easily lead to an injury.
There are many other approaches that are definitely worth trying, such as using %’s for the main lifts and then hitting RPE’s for the assistance lifts. Or going for a rep max for the day and then backing off until you hit a certain RPE. The way you eventually choose to programme will be very individual. This is just a brief look into autoregulation and there is a lot more to be said about it, but lets leave that for another time.
Hope this helps you and your training #REVIVESTRONGER
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