Andy Dick:
Monday has a emphasis of which lift is the heavy lift. 90% each week I push it 2.5kg. Next week it is snatch. The rest of the moderate days are 10% less. Light day is always 70%. I am 30. As the gap gets closer to my 1RM I am more and more fatigued the following days.
TheRedReaper:
But above you have listed only work sets, right? What about warm up sets? Are you doing many? How heavy and how many reps is an average warm up set?
Here's a couple more things I was reading today, again Mark Rippetoe
Progressive training within the context of the General Adaptation Syndrome requires that an increase in training load be applied as soon as it is apparent that recovery has occurred. Continued use of the initial, adapted-to load will not induce any disruption of homeostasis and therefore cannot lead to further progress. Using the same training load after adaptation has occurred is counter to effective coaching practice if performance or fitness improvement is the goal.
For the intermediate and advanced trainee it is not expected nor desired that each workout begin free from fatigue. If an intermediate, advanced, or elite trainee is persistently fatigue free, the loading scheme is not rigorous enough to induce homeostatic disruption and adaptation. In fact, if an athlete is chronically fatigue-free, he is by definition still a novice.
The first paragraph is basically why I like to stay close to my rep max. When you train too far below it, you are not pushing your body to adapt and move forward. Though, Mark does it a bit differently. He encourages a lot of 5x5 sets. But the important thing is these sets are always difficult and he is always increasing the weight. I train less reps but higher weight, though it is the same concept - adapt and move forward in weight, then adapt to that weight and move forward again.
I suppose you're doing that, however. But can I ask you, even when you're only training at 80%, is the final rep in a set of 3 difficult to the point where you sometimes drop it or have poor technique? Or is it fairly comfortable?
The second paragraph is important. You were saying about fatigue, but I think a little stiffness is good, so long as it does not prevent you from achieving what you want to achieve. Stiffness and feeling well worked means you're pushing yourself to the highest level. Just be careful you don't go over the top. What i wanted to point out though, was if you were avoiding training at a higher % of your rep max because you will drop the bar too often if you did that due to fatiuge, or if you are simply not trying to lift when fatigued because you just don't want to? If it is the latter, that is why I posted that quote.