01
How Rackd picks your next weight
Every program runs on a progression rule. Rackd reads your last set, your reps, your RPE, and writes the next session.
01Read
The bar stops moving. Same weight, same session, third time it has not gone up. Plateaus look dramatic on the way in and ordinary on the way out. Here is how Rackd reads them, and how to act on what the Coach Note tells you.
What a stall looks like in the Coach Note
The Coach Note is the single line that runs across the top of a session. It reads your last few sessions and names what it sees. A stall reads like one of these:
- "Held last session. Same target today."
- "Missed reps two sessions running."
- "Top set RPE 9.5+ for three sessions. Hard ceiling."
One held session is not a stall. Two is a flag. Three is the engine telling you the rule has hit its limit on the current training max. Read the line, do not argue with it.
When to deload the training max
If the lift is run on a percentage-based rule (5/3/1 and most strength templates), the fix is the training max, not the program. Open the lift from your program, edit the training max down by 10 percent, and let the next cycle rebuild from there.
A 10 percent reset is not a step backward. It buys 4 to 6 weeks of clean progressions, which carries the bar past the old number. Lifters who keep pushing at a stuck training max are the ones who stay stuck for months.
When to swap the program
Some stalls are not a number problem, they are a program-fit problem. Linear programs run out of runway. Beginner templates stop matching an intermediate body. If you have reset the training max twice in 8 weeks and the same lift is still hanging, the program has done its work.
Open Explore, pick a template that fits where you are now, and start fresh. My Rack keeps the old program in case you come back. Nothing is lost.
When the issue is recovery, not programming
A stall with bad sleep, light meals, and stress at work is not a programming problem. The rules cannot read your week. Two clean weeks of food, sleep, and a deload usually clear it. If the bar moves after that, the program was fine. If the bar still does not move, then it is a training-max or program call.
Stalls are part of the work. Read the Coach Note, pick the right lever, get back to the bar.
02Related
02
When to use RPE, when to ignore it
Some progressions weight RPE into the next session. Others ignore it. Knowing which is which saves you the guesswork.
03
Read the Coach Note
The Coach Note is the one line on each exercise card that tells you what to do today and what changes next session. Here is how to read it.