A bad session is not a stall

Sections

What a bad day looks like

Last week 100 kg went for 5, 5, 5. Today it’s 5, 4, 4. You slept six hours, skipped lunch and had a rough week at work. That’s noise.

Three weeks without progress, with the same work getting no easier. That’s a pattern.

01
Wait three weeks
Before you change a thing, see whether it repeats.
02
Check the obvious
Sleep, food and stress move strength more than any program tweak.
03
Finish the session
Take a bit off and do the sets. A lighter day still counts.
04
Then change the dose
If it really is a stall, change how much, how heavy or how often. One at a time.

Read Your squat isn’t stuck for what to change when it really is.

From the Compound founder. Notes on training, not medical advice.

Compound waits for a pattern before it calls anything a stall.

1 session

One poor session isn’t a stall, and Compound doesn’t treat it as one.

Stall

Compound calls a lift stalled when the same work has been flat for three program weeks. Progress shows the stall with its cause and a Why. Free.

RPE

Log Easy, Hard or an RPE. With Pro, the next set moves about 3% per RPE point, capped at a tenth, for today only.

Why ›

Tap any weight to see why it’s there. Every Why is free.