I’ve spent years back squatting twice per week, but I’m lately finding that low back fatigue from deadlifts prevents me from performing the second squat session productively. I’m substituting front squats for my second back squat session. I’d like to bring them up because I really suck at them, in spite of being a quad-dominant back squatter (I go high bar, ATG). I’ve heard Dan Green credit front squats for bringing up his back squat, but many other lifters feel that they don’t get much carryover. Have you seen your back squat benefit from bringing up your front squat?
My two cents cannot substitute for the host, so feel free to ignore it.
You might consider doing trap bar deadlifts to reduce the low back involvement and seeing if this helps. Or even stop deadlifting for a few weeks.
In my experience, front squats only moderately improved my back squats. In my case, I have the strength but some musculoskeletal limitations and sometimes inconsistent technique. Proper footwear made a big difference. So did doing hard workouts somewhat less often.
Thank you, @DoesTheHeavyLifting. My instinct was that I wouldn’t see much transfer to back squats. The trap bar is a great idea, but I’m attached to bringing up my conventional deadlift and back squat; I might have simply reached the point where I need to prioritize one of the two in order to see progress. I’d ideally be training on a 4-day rotation of squat/bench/deadlift/OHP, with front squats as assistance after deadlifts, but my lower back isn’t adequately conditioned yet. One working set of deadlifts at 7 RPE leaves my lower back sore for four days. I’ve devoted a lot of effort to strict RDLs, so my hamstrings are well-conditioned, but the erectors are definitely my current weak link. I’d love to get back on a reverse hyper once the equipment is available to me.
The trap bar deadlift brought up my deadlift. It helped so much with leg drive and made me more confident handling heavier weights. You could try rotating them every week for a while. It will alleviate some of the lower back stress and as long as your squat is going up, it’s likely your deadlift is anyway.
I don’t know how much you can deadlift, but if one set of RPE7 is messing you up you may need to rethink your approach. Many of the best deadlifters in the World don’t even lift from the floor every week. Adding some novelty may help bring up some weak points you’re unaware of.
Rotating the two is a good idea, at least until my lower back gains work capacity. Dumping deadlifts to chase down a 500 lb squat seems to have de-conditioned my spinal erectors. Now all I have to overcome is that, and my visceral disgust toward the trap bar.
Hope things are coming back. Some people can only squat or deadlift once a week if they go heavy. You could try Carter’s suggestion of a lighter “leg pump day” where you do lunges, somewhat lighter loads and asymmetric stuff (which I don’t really do or like; but as yo momma used to say, you do not know until you try.