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Keosawa's Powerlifting Log

Also, next Tuesday, I'm going to go in and squat, and I'm going to work up to a PR attempt if I feel good enough for it. I've been really conservative in the past leading up to a meet, and my squat has sucked. It's been great in training when I work on it frequently and squat HEAVY, OFTEN. So, Let's just squat like a maniac for a new PR on Tuesday and see where that leaves me.
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Next Tuesday, meaning the 10th?

When is your meet?
 
You have a good amount of experience with preparing for competition and I'm sure you know what you're doing...

But I can't see how maxing out 4 days out of a meet can be a good idea.




EDIT: correct me if I'm wrong here, but on your last comp you stopped squatting altogether quite a few days out of the comp, right?
 
miaou said:
You have a good amount of experience with preparing for competition and I'm sure you know what you're doing...

But I can't see how maxing out 4 days out of a meet can be a good idea.




EDIT: correct me if I'm wrong here, but on your last comp you stopped squatting altogether quite a few days out of the comp, right?
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There's seemingly no benefit to going for a new PR, but for me, it would be a matter of a.) assessing my progress and, more importantly, b.) gaining confidence through recent experience with heavy squats.

Last time, I took eleven days between my last squat session and my meet, and it didn't go well at all. I recover very quickly from squatting, even at a near-max, and it's not a lift that I've performed better at with prolonged rest. My best squat sessions--and my squat PRs--all seem to come when I'm doing a lot of squatting.

So, I'm really trusting my gut and my training history with this one.

To be honest, I'm not at all worried about my squat rebounding; it's more a matter of having heavy squatting affect my deadlift at the meet, but I've spent the last month pulling after three consecutive heavy training days (two being squats), so I'm going to give it a shot.

Your skepticism is completely warranted though, and I'd be saying the same if I were in your position, reading this.
 
^ My comment would be that 11 days with no squatting is just too much. You can expect your form to suffer with that long a lay-off.

On the other hand, maxing out 4 days out takes it to the other extreme. I'm not saying it would result in having a bad performance, but 4 days might not be enough to reach top shape.

The most logical thing might be to go do a short squatting session working up to something like a 90% single. If you want to put some additional reps in, you could always do a few singles at 60-ish% focusing on solid form and muscle activation or could even have a very light form session 2 or 3 days out (form session as in a few light singles at 50-60%). Something like that should be enough to ensure sharp form on the day of the meet without being taxing enough to significantly inhibit full local and central recovery and the architectural adaptations from rest after prolonged training.

Just throwing that out there.
 
miaou said:
^ My comment would be that 11 days with no squatting is just too much. You can expect your form to suffer with that long a lay-off.

On the other hand, maxing out 4 days out takes it to the other extreme. I'm not saying it would result in having a bad performance, but 4 days might not be enough to reach top shape.

The most logical thing might be to go do a short squatting session working up to something like a 90% single. If you want to put some additional reps in, you could always do a few singles at 60-ish% focusing on solid form and muscle activation or could even have a very light form session 2 or 3 days out (form session as in a few light singles at 50-60%). Something like that should be enough to ensure sharp form on the day of the meet without being taxing enough to significantly inhibit full local and central recovery and the architectural adaptations from rest after prolonged training.

Just throwing that out there.
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This was my original plan--to work up to a single between 90-95%. I will consider this; I imagine my mind won't be made up until I start training on Tuesday.
 
Squat
Barx8
135x3
135x1
185x1
225x1
275x1
315x1
365x1
405x1
435x1
465x1 (PR)

So, I went against conventional wisdom on this day and instead went with my gut. I felt good warming up, and all my attempts moved quickly, so I went for a ten-pound PR and hit it.

Yes, miaou was absolutely right to tell me that this was a bad idea. It probably was, but doing 465 so easily gives me a tremendous boost of confidence heading into this meet. From the looks of it, I still had some pounds left in me, so this probably isn't even a true max attempt.

Anyway, I wasn't trying to sabotage myself before this meet, but my conservative approach hasn't worked in the past, so hopefully this will turn out better. Based on the numbers I had been putting up these last few weeks, I thought I had a good chance at hitting a clean PR, and I was right. It was a gamble, but I think it will pay off for me when I step out on the platform. I recover well from max attempts--anyone who follows my training knows I work over 90% on a pretty regular basis, and I take a relatively high number of PR attempts each week--and I think I'll recover easily from this one. I mean, just last week I squatted 430x4, did a heavy bench session the next day with singles at 95%+, squatted up to a low-box PR and did ten singles at 90%+ the next day, and pulled a 540-lb. deficit deadlift PR the day after that.

I'm not saying I'm special, but I think I need to embrace my work capacity if I'm going to reach my potential, and my climbing squat suggests exactly this to me.
 
I was there for this (alright, I actually did the video filming) and that PR was RIDICULOUSLY easy. If I had never seen Keo do anything before and watched him squat this weight today, I would have thought he was doing it for multiple singles that day or something. Or that he was going to do a higher single on the next set. I sincerely doubt this taxed his nervous system to a degree at which it will affect the meet. It was freaking kickass.
 
You just made it look like a regular heavy single. Awesome.
 
kotriz said:
congrats dude 3 x bw is serious business!
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klonger said:
That looked ridiculously easy. Awesome PR. Kill it on Saturday.
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JauntyAngle said:
You just made it look like a regular heavy single. Awesome.
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Thanks everyone! This went better than expected, and three times' bodyweight was a milestone I wanted for a while. I believe I have new answers regarding my squat training, and I look forward to really improving my squat over my next training cycle. I still have a lot of room to grow with this lift.
 
Keo, it looks like you use a sort of narrow stance, is that right?
 
That was really cool to watch, didnt look like a PR weight at all
 
3 things.

1.) Holy shit, you made that look retardedly easy...seriously.
2.) Your post squat celebration was very KISS esque.... very nice. :D
3.) What all did you change to your squat training? Was it simply more volume?
 
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