Tuesday 9/24
Back Squat
5x135
2x165
2x195
2x225
2x255
2x345
2x380
Wednesday 9/25
Back Squat
5x135
2x165
2x195
2x225
2x255
2x345
2x380
2x345
Do you re-warm up the Back squat after doing your front squat sets?
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Nope. What you see is what you get, lol. On a day like that, sometimes I the last front squat turns into a bit of a grinder, so I like to do one back-squat double afterwards to finish with a rep that’s a little more crisp.
I’m doing back squats after fronts right now in my programming too and I’ve got a very efficient back squat warmup. 1 rep of the front squat weight belt-less, add weight and belt, get to work.
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Thursday 9/26
Back Squat
5x135
2x225
2x225
2x315
2x375
2x405
Friday 9/27
Back Squat
5x135
2x225
2x225
2x315
2x315
1x405
1x445 (PR)
Think for the next couple of weeks I’m
gonna top out at 2x380 for every back squat day (Mon-Fri) with a weekly front squat day and a weekly deadlift day. I’ll revisit how I feel about daily squatting (versus daily deadlifting) at that time.
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Nice work as always. Good job mate.
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Saturday 9/28
Deadlift
5x135
5x185
5x225
5x240
5x250
5x255
1x315
1x405
1x495
At a professional conference; worked out with a friend of mine (you’ll all be delighted to hear this - a cardiologist that lifts!) so I just followed his sets & reps for convenience, then tacked on a progression to a top single at 495.
Also, the gym had gorgeous and perfect Eleiko equipment:
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Sunday 9/29
Back Squat
2x135
2x165
2x195
2x225
2x255
2x345
2x380
Monday 9/30
Back Squat
2x135
2x165
2x195
2x225
2x255
2x345
2x380
Tuesday 10/1
Back Squat
2x135
2x165
2x195
2x225
2x255
2x345
2x380
came in for deadlifts, saw squats…sad
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Lol. Since you’ve mentioned it, do you guys agree with the saying that squats increase deadlift but not the other way around?
I’ve no idea, I have always done them both.
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Wednesday 10/2
Deadlift
5x135
5x225
1x315
1x315
1x365
1x365
1x405
1x405
1x455
1x455
1x405
1x405
I have thoughts on this, will share when I get a chance to write more.
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Alright, thanks! Was just curious cause I recently lowered the weights significantly on my DL. I’m making a change in my technique in the hopes of getting rid of this lower back rounding that I’ve been having for the longest time now.
I’m also interested.
I need to simplify my training some.
OK, so here are my quick thoughts on whether the squat drives the deadlift or vice versa.
The overall answer, as always, is “it depends on a lot of things” (proficiency with each lift, frequency with which you train each lift, how much assistance work you do, etc).
My anecdotal experience: I spent a couple of years doing mostly high-frequency, low-volume deadlift workouts. I actually got all the way to a 500-pound deadlift without doing any squatting, or really much of anything but deadlifts (just a couple medium-to-heavy singles, performed 5-6 days per week) and some kettlebell stuff.
At some point, I decided to start doing a few squats. The first day I squatted, I worked up to a single at 295, just on some carryover from the deadlift and whatever muscle memory remained from squatting 7-15 years prior as a high school & college football player.
I carried on doing mostly deadlifts with some squats sprinkled in for awhile (probably about 4-5 deadlift days and 1-2 squatting days per week). I think the addition of the squats actually got my deadlift moving upwards again, and I hit 600 pounds later that summer. I kept at it mostly doing that for awhile, and hit a 625 deadlift early this year (February). I also eventually got my squat up to 420 pounds, though it wasn’t as much a priority as my deadlift.
This summer, in July, I decided to flip things around & see what would happen. I started squatting (mostly back squats, some front squats) 5-6 days per week with just a single deadlift day.
I’ll be honest, I’m not all that happy with how it’s gone. I’m sore more frequently, my knees and ankles feel a bit more beat up, and my posterior chain has lost more than my legs seem to have picked up. I have moved my squat up a bit (370 front squat & 445 back squat) but I’ve lost a lot on my deadlift (e.g. now 495 feels really hard, and that used to be a medium working weight; I also can just tell as soon as I start a pull that I don’t have the same posterior chain strength & tightness that I did before).
So as of last night, I decided to go back to the old ways: I’ll start pulling 5 days/week (Mon-Fri) and then squatting on the weekends.
What does this mean for whether the squat drives the deadlift, the deadlift drives the squat, both, or neither?
Well, I certainly don’t think the squat alone drives the deadlift. I’ve spent three full months doing pile of squats, still pulling once a week, and it feels like I’ve just lost 50-75 pounds on my max deadlift while only gaining 25 on my squat. For another example, Reed from these forums is a super-squat dude that doesn’t really train the deadlift; he squats literally twice what I can squat, and we had similar deadlifts.
I don’t think the deadlift really drives the squat either, though. It’s perfectly fair to point out that squatting in the low/mid-400’s with a 600+ deadlift is a huge imbalance the other way. I liked it more - it was cool to say that I could deadlift 600+ pounds, and I honestly did feel better - but it’s not like the big deadlift was getting my a big squat all by itself.
So the answer is probably that, derp, if you wanna have a big squat and a big deadlift, you’ve gotta put in the effort on both. If you only have limited time and energy (which has always been my whole deal, trying to get decent strength out of a minimal effective dose) then my anecdotal experience suggests I personally preferred more energy on the deadlift and just kinda living with whatever I could get out of my squat. YMMV.
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