Squats

[hemann]

@bobsanchez4321

I have a few things to say about the questions raised by “hemann” several pages ago about 1)-breathing- and 2)-whether it is possible to make progress too quickly-. I am stating these as my personal opinion, and not as fact. I am speaking from personal experience I have gained in the past year since I have stopped running track and began doing powerlifting workouts.

1)Breathing…I believe the best way to breathe is to hold the breath throughout the entire lift, pause at the top only long enough to exhale and inhale again, then perform the next rep. This method has allowed me to perform my reps in training with more barspeed because it allows more stability through increased intra-abdominal pressure and my explosiveness in general has improved. I think holding the breath through both the eccentric and concentric part of the lift makes the valsalva maneuver more effective. I believe sprinters should train this way to, because if it increases the quality of the reps performed and allows you to train yourself to recruit more MU’s then it could only help.

2)Can you progress too quickly?..Even if technique and barspeed are not negatively affected I do believe that it is possible to make progress too quickly. I am a strong believer that strength training should be structured and planned in an organized manner to achieve a specific goal. I think the best way to do this is for progressions not be made too quickly, in progressive overload or periodization.
Adding weight too quickly can cause you to hit a plateau faster when if you had made the additions in load more conservatively you could have progressed right through that level. I am speaking in terms of weeks/months…not days.
In regards to periodization, I think the overload from week to week prior to the deload week should be similar…(you wouldn’t go up 5% one week…then 20% the next)

I have a few final comments in regards to weight training that I believe are applicable to this discussion…I believe that lifting too close to your max too often can cause injuries, shitty form, and lower levels of MU recruitment…I believe that in training the primary goal should be to recruit as many MU’s as possible because the end result will be more power, explosiveness, and strength. This requires not approaching failure IMO. All athletes and strength training individuals should utilize Prilipen’s table when designing strength training programs. If you don’t know what that is you should look it up and give it a chance.

Yes. Thanks for your reply. I was just thinking today of another way someone could go up in weight faster than they are actually gaining strength. Say if you are working up to a 3-5 rep max in the squat. You may work with weights like this:

135x5, 225x5, 275x5, 315x5, 350x5

then the next week you come in and want to get 360x5 on your final set, but the set of 315x5 is too tiring today and you only complete 3 reps. Then on your set with 360 you complete all 5 reps as planned. The question becomes, Why weren’t you able to do 315x5 like last week? If all variables (pre workout and speed/lifts prior to squats) are the same. AND, like i said, you are able to do 360x5 as planned.

I think it could be because you are just adding weight to the bar quicker than you are actually gaining strength. Most of the time there is some leeway in what your actual workout max is, too.