My squat plan that I used before achieving my 345 squat max. This plan
only applies to the squat.
I came up with this plan as a response to me wanting a way to max out my squat. I got some inspiration from this board based on some ideas on the Can't Explain but Believe thread. One idea that stuck in my head was to avoid any sort of regime that requires grinding heavy weights for a prolonged period. I'm taking period as meaning a set, so basically no grinding heavy sets. In my own experience, grinding heavy sets never lead to new 1RM gains, although sometimes they would lead to rep-max gains. Rep max gains means I got from 10 RM for a weight, to 11 RM for instance. I don't like those rep maxes since they're not very repeatable within a month, so the idea of not grinding heavy weights was appealing. More importantly, I never felt good doing them. Since I'm going for a heavy single, I can make peace with the fact that I'll need to build up to it with quality repetitions, and the length of time between heavy single or max attempts can be months apart.
To avoid grinding in the squat,
If it's a heavy weight (75% or above) I don't do many reps or many sets. 4 is the max, and every 5% I go down a rep per set.
I never stay in the 95% weight range for more than a few sessions. And when I move on from 95%, I go down significantly to close to 55% to take a break from heavy weight.
I always start with fewer reps and fewer sets, and never increase by more than a single rep or two sets my total workout
Above 80% my total # reps completed is going to be 10 or less.
Anything close to my 1RM will be planned with rather conservative volume (7 singles or less, 2-3 doubles at most).
The design of my plan:
All blocks are designed by weight not percentage, but they roughly tend to follow a percentage pattern. Each block has three or two weight increments scheduled to be cycled within the block.
Each block has a starting volume target and an ending volume target. How I get to the ending volume target depends on how I perform. This means blocks can sometimes take anywhere from 1-5 weeks, depending if I dive into the end target volume or start from the starting target volume and work my way up.
I progress by running a volume pattern (example 2reps x 2 sets) for all the weights scheduled in the block, then I move to the next pattern. I always prioritize increasing sets before reps, since a rep makes a set much more difficult than adding a set. The ending target volume will always be the last week in a block.
I always start with weights that are light (55% ish or so). I can decide to linger in a block with that, or simply take the end target volume.
I usually have a day or two in between workouts. If I feel good though, I can have back to back days
What I did using this cycle:
- For first block (185, 195, 205) I did ending target volume of 5reps x 3sets, skipping all of the prior volume, as I didn't consider needing it
- Did the same for second block (215, 225, 235)
- For the third block (245, 255, 265) I started off with 3reps x3 sets and worked the volume for each weight as follow
3rx3s
3rx5s
4rx3s
4rx4s
I skipped doing 3rx4s as I felt on the 245 day that I could do the extra set, so I ended fast forwarding to that week. This block took about a month to complete
- For the 4th block (275, 285) I did
2rx4s
3rx2s
3rx3s
I skipped the starting volume of 2rx3s as I felt strong on the first day of 275. Given this, there were only really 6 workouts done every other day, so just under two weeks I finished this part. For the 4th Block, there are only two weight increments since I feel there's a fine line between low rep volume and singles volume and there isn't a lot of weight increment margin since they are all really heavy. So this block and the next has only two weight increments.
- For the 5th and final block (295, 305) I was by the book so I did
5 singles for 295
3 singles for 305
2 doubles for 295
1 double for 205
7 singles 295
5 singles 305
3 doubles 295
2 doubles 305
That eight workouts was done over 2.5 weeks. For the 5th and final block, I choose to treat each of the weight on an individual volume plan, since it's my heaviest weights before I max out, and I find they cannot be treated with the same volume unlike the previous 4 blocks. The heavier one essentially lags on volume before the lighter one, and I find I can manage my recovery and performance with that stagger.
For the maximal days where I max out, I treat it as a holiday from lifting in general. There are only singles done. I ended up only having 2 max days within 2 weeks a week apart each.
First one was the day I achieved 345
empty bar, 225x2, 275 x1, 315 x1, 335 x1, 345 x1
My original target was 335 and I got it, and still felt good to lift so I went for 345 and got it (see previous post)
a week later tried
empty bar, 225x2, 275 x1, 315 x1, 335 x1, 355 but was not able to complete 355.
Now, as of today, I'm currently doing the same plan as above, with all weights in all blocks incremented by 10 lbs. Am already in the 3rd block at 255,265,275. Will see how it goes.