I tend to find that squats are one of those exercises that I need to do often and heavy or they just become hard. Bench is similar too. Right now you have other stuff that is important just do as much as you can when you can. You aren’t really losing any real strength and your squat will come back when you have time to squat more often.
Fair, but im squatting twice a week now.
Can also depend on the progression and volume, not all systems work for everyone
True fact. Accessory and other main lifts also directly impact (my) squatting strength.
What are you trying to get done in the short term? I know your overall goal is for 3 plates, but the high volume approach you are using (few or no heavy sets) will just get you better at repping lighter weights.
@Cyrrex @simo74
Acting on the advice of a formerly competitive powerlifter at my gym, im spending 4 weeks doing volume work, then have a forced deload due to planned travel, then will begin peaking down.
So for a couple more weeks its sets of 12 and 8, then i start decreasing reps.
It may not be optimal for me. But this guy has been very helpful, and this at least gives me some structure.
Well in that case, it sounds like it is part of a plan.
All you can do is try things and see what works for you. As long as you work hard, all roads lead to Rome. ![]()
2/18
50 burpees. Not hard, just did 5 emom x 10.
Crazy upper back soreness from DLs.
2/19
2 mile run, slow and untimed
1 mile walk carrying baby
2/20 sunday
5x15 swings early
20 rounds EMOM
Odd minutes: bear hug carry sandbag down driveway
Even minutes: 5 burpees
2/21 Monday
JSSP W3D1
Squats
12x 135, 160, 175, 185, 185
SS DB rows
10 minute EMOM:
Odd minutes 5 goblet squat; even minutes, 6 DB power cleans (3 per side).
A good sweat and at 85lb sufficiently heavy to be worthwhile, I think.
Edit: this is week 3, not week 1. Fixed it.
2/22 Tuesday
JSSP W3D2 push focus
Mile walk carrying baby in middle of the night. It was ridiculous.
5x15 swings, ss 5x10 pushups, before breakfast. Thats a great start to the morning.
Pullups 10, 9, 8, … 4;
Press 95lb 1, 2, 3… 7.
Ran out of time, will do the remaining reps tonight (press 8,9,10; pullups 3,2,1).
Edit to say i got the remaining reps. Broke up the 9- and 10-rep sets though.
How old is your baby ? I remember one of our children had an allergy issue and some gut issues that meant from 6 months to 18 months they screamed for an hour in the middle of the night every night from stomach pain. Wife and I took alternate nights walking round the house carrying a crying baby for a year. Then one day it just stopped. Hopefully as your baby grows you too will get a rest from this.
9 months.
Yeah i recall similar with my oldest, he had an egg allergy we only discovered when he was a year or so. Many miserable days and nights.
2/24/2022 Thursday
JSSP W3D3
Squats
8x 135, 185, 225, 235, 230
SS 6x5 pushups
10 minute EMOM
Leg press 10x225. Really felt this in my “teardrops”. Pretty pumpy.
5 minutes on the air rower. Every minute: 100M fast, 100M slow. 1000+M total.
Happy to say that squats weren’t as soul-crushing as last week, though they were tough. Doing 12s and 8s is brutal. I hope it pays off.
2/25 5x15 swings, 5x3 ab rollouts.
2/26 80 burpees. Plan was 8 EMOM x 10 minutes, baby interrupted that halfway through and a good thing too, because I don’t think I could have done 8 each minute toward the end. As it was I had about a 20 minute break between sessions and was fine.
2/27 Some sandbag work. 5 over shoulder, carry down, 5 over shoulder, carry back. 8:24.
Also pushed the lawnmower for a while and took a mile walk with family. I’m OK with not taking a run this time.
A couple updates:
1)My sandbag has ruptured. It’s made from an old Navy seabag, which is tough stuff, but obviously not designed for this kind of use. Rogue bags are crazy expensive, the Titan is more affordable (more than a seabag though LOL), but is currently out of stock.
I think I’d get a 200lb bag, though I’ve never become comfortable with my 150lb bag, because I think I could underfill it initially and have the option to move up to 200 when ready.
So unsure how to proceed here.
2)Something’s going on in my right leg/foot. I feel a very sharp, “pinched nerve” type pain in the bottom of my right heel if I dorsiflex, straighten the knee, and flex the hip. Like if you were going to sit on the floor and touch your toes.
I’ve always been too tight to touch my toes FWIW. It’s never been a problem. I can’t tell if a nerve is pinched somewhere due to inflammation in the calf or hamstring, or if there’s somthing going on in the actual foot where I feel the pain. It hasn’t prevented any lifting or life activity yet, but I do position myself funny when I pick something up off the floor to compensate.
If it doesn’t disappear after another week I’ll need to escalate.
-
This isn’t the place to discuss it, but holy crap my side business is… really, really taking off. I mentioned it here before - the past 12 months have seen a lot of activity on that front - but the past few weeks have been an explosion. It’s exciting. And possibly part of the reason I haven’t been catching up on peoples’ logs as I normally do.
-
The next few days are my last full week of lifting, then I’m travelling for several days with the family. Don’t expect to do much besides burpees during that time. When I get back I’ll be peaking the squat over an 8 week period.
Glad to read you’re still at it despite being so busy. I’m glad I spent more on a Rogue sandbag. I’ve encountered some bad reviews of Titan’s, but I dunno ![]()