2nd November 2007 – 168 kg, 800 mm stance, 765 mm beam
Introduction
This post is divided into this main text and an appendix which you may want to look at for specific details.
In this post I detail my squatting improvement over 14 days bringing my squat from to roughly 153 kg to 173 kg, for the next post it will be deadlift (close stance sumo style) which rises from 183 kg to 203 kg and for the post after that it will be an accessory lift (partial squats) which rises from 215 kg to 233 kg.
It should be borne in mind that I have many years experience in doing very heavy partial lifts so am used to supporting very heavy weights – thus full lifts seem light… light in the sense that they are about half of what I used in the partials.
But what is a partial? A full powerlifter squat might look like this;
Whereas a partial is simply a lift which is shorter in range of motion that what is normally expected, for example a partial squat might look like this;
What I did
The basic layout of each session of squats looks like this;
LIFT WID DEP
8′ SQUAT 800 765
93 kg × 2 reps
3 sets × 133 kg × 2 reps
133, 153, 163 kg
3 sets × 168 kg
No. 3 71 96 R 3 mm 17 × 1
No. 3 71 96 L 10 mm 17 × 1
i.e. In this example I do squats starting with 93 kg for 2 reps and end up doing 168 kg for 3 single reps. 8′ SQUAT 800 765 refers to me using my 8 foot long bar using an 800 mm stance measured to the outer edges of my shoes and squatting down until the long axis of the bar is 765 mm above the ground (it hits the beams of my rack at this point).
After the squats I do another lift or two or three – in this case I just did one exercise which was to use a gripper device for grip strength.
I did 9 squat sessions (the first 2 being box squat sessions) and they looked like this;
| SESS | KG | LIFT |
| 1 | 163 | box |
| 2 | 173 | box |
| 3 | 145 | squat |
| 4 | 9 × 153 | squat |
| 5 | 165 | squat |
| 6 | 5 × 163 | squat |
| 7 | 3 × 168 | squat |
| 8 | 173 | squat |
| 9 | 136½ × 8 | squat |
How I selected what weight to use
Mel Siff has referred to progressive overload weight training as a fluctuating overload system (Siff M. 2000 Supertraining page 90). In other words progression is more like a wiggly up and down graph with an overall trend of up.
Thus for a workout I might lift 140 kg so that for the next workout I would either lift 145 kg and if this were not possible I would take 140 kg and do say two single reps or if that were not possible I would take 135 kg and do say 6 singles or sometimes I might just do 140 kg again and leave it at that. The idea though is generally to do a bit more – depending on how I feel this may be more weight, more reps or some combination.
The end of a cycle is anticipated in the same fashion. Instead of head banging against a brick wall I take stock of the gains made and plan for the next cycle – going high intensity mad doesn’t work.
Gains
In 14 days I did 9 squat sessions.
My starting squat I take to be on the 3rd session which was the 26th October – I did 145 kg on that day but could have done 5 or 10 kg more.
The heaviest squat was on 3rd November at 173 kg – though my best squat depth was at 168 kg on the 2nd November.
So the squat improvement was at worst;
168 kg – 155 kg = 13 kg
or at best;
173 kg – 150 kg = 23 kg
Thus my squat improved by 13 kg (8.4%) or 23 kg (15.3%) in 14 days.
It could be said that the starting point of 26th October rather than 21st October and finishing point of 2nd or 3rd November means that instead of 14 days it is 13 kg (8.4%) in 6 days or 23 kg (15.3%) in 7 days.
So does squatting frequently and on each session work? I’d say it clearly does because to get the same gains squatting say once per week would mean that I would have to wait 6, 7 or 9 weeks to get the same improvement.
Ill effects? None, my back isn’t tired. I felt on the 8th and 9th sessions that I was getting bored so ended it there.
Things to Note
Except for a few fast doubles with 133 kg on the 2nd November and some reps on the last session, I did singles, i.e. with the heaviest weights I did single reps rather than doing heavy doubles or triples.
I initially did a couple of box squat sessions then just settled into doing powerlift style squats. This was because I didn’t decide to do a squat cycle until the 26th October where I squatted as part of a biomechanics study.
I squatted as frequently as I could and squatted every session, often on consecutive days – the cycle only lasted 14 days so burnout from overly long cycles does not happen.
I used a weight which I felt I could lift for that day.
The idea was to build up heavy tonnage, thus in 14 days in the 60% and above category I did 12792.5 kg of tonnage and averaged 83.6% intensity. Tonnage is weight × reps thus 100 kg × 10 reps is 1000 kg of tonnage. Intensity is % of max, thus if I lift 80 kg but I could have lifted 100 kg I am at 80% intensity – note that I might do 80 kg for 1 rep or 2, 3, 8 reps or whatever, the intensity is still 80%.
Note the camera in the videos is located at knee level to show that the top of my thigh actually reaches or goes below parallel as in a powerlifting competition.
Appendix
The following are the exact workouts I did with a summary table at the end – note only poundages equal to or above 60% intensity are shown.
% max, work (kg.m) and impulse (kg.seconds) include the % of bodymass lifted. Tonnage (kg) is the traditional definition, thus I lifted 12.8 metric tons of squats in 14 days. For work (which includes % of bodymass lifted) I lifted 8.8 metric tons of mass a vertical distance of 1 metre. For impulse (which also includes % of bodymass lifted) I lifted 82.2 metric tons of mass for 1 second. Note that % max for each session is the % of 1RM for that day – my average % of max in the 60% and above zone being 83.6%.
Sunday 21 Oct 07 13:54 60MIN 77KG
LIFT WID DEP
8′ BOX 1000 350
103 kg × 2 reps, 123, 143, 163 kg
143 kg × 1, 1, 1 repsNo. 3 71 96 R 3 mm 11 × 1
No. 3 71 96 L 10 mm 11 × 1>=60%
REP %MAX TON WORK IMP
13 73.9 1579.0 935.8 9081.9
TN/RP 121.5Squatted to a 350 mm high box, squeezed No. 3 gripper.
Wednesday 24 Oct 07 13:40 73 MIN 76.5KGLIFT WID DEP
8′ BOX 800 350
103, 143, 163, 173 kgNo. 1 66 86 R -5 mm 110 × 1
No. 1 66 86 L -5 mm 110 × 1>=60%
REP %MAX TON WORK IMP
5 82.9 705.0 403.3 5522.9
TN/RP 141.0Squatted to a 350 mm high box, squeezed No. 1 gripper.
Friday 26 Oct 07 13:30 60MIN 77KGLIFT WID
SQUAT 800
2 sets × 85.0 kg × 1 rep
2 sets × 105.0 kg × 1 rep
2 sets × 120.0 kg × 1 rep
2 sets × 135.0 kg × 1 rep
1 sets × 145.0 kg × 1 repHANG CLEAN
2 sets × 32.5 kg × 1 rep
2 sets × 42.5 kg × 1 rep
2 sets × 52.5 kg × 1 rep
2 sets × 62.5 kg × 1 rep
2 sets × 72.5 kg × 1 rep>=60%
REP %MAX TON WORK IMP
15 79.6 1410.0 1012.5 7082.4
TN/RP 94.0I was part of a biomechanics study and did squats and hang pulls.
Saturday 27 Oct 07 13:09 101MIN 77KG
LIFT WID
8′ SQUAT 800
93, 133 kg
9 sets × 153 kg × 1 rep>=60%
REP %MAX TON WORK IMP
11 95.2 1603.0 1114.6 11724.5
TN/RP 145.7Did squats whilst washing windows – thus did some windows did a squat, repeat.
Sunday 28 Oct 07 13:34 54MIN 77KG
LIFT WID DEP
8′ SQUAT 800 765
3 sets × 160 kg
165 kgD LATERAL
3 sets × 22½ kg × 15 reps
>=95%
REP %MAX TON WORK IMP
4 98.2 645.0 439.5 5240.2
TN/RP 161.3Used a belt and wrist wraps, also non-squashy shoes compared to yesterday. Did some dumbbell laterals.
Wednesday 31 Oct 07 11:58 52MIN 78KG
LIFT WID DEP
8′ SQUAT 800 765
5 sets × 163 kgD CURL
5 sets × 30 kg × 10 reps>=60%
REP %MAX TON WORK IMP
59 77.6 4287.0 2771.1 18963.8
TN/RP 72.7Didn’t go quite as heavy as yesterday but used a fixed weight. Did some dumbbell curls
Friday 2 Nov 07 12:36 55MIN 78KG
LIFT WID DEP
8′ SQUAT 800 765
93 kg × 2 reps
3 sets × 133 kg × 2 reps
133, 153, 163 kg
3 sets × 168 kgNo. 3 71 96 R 3 mm 17 × 1
No. 3 71 96 L 10 mm 17 × 1>=60%
REP %MAX TON WORK IMP
14 83.7 1937.0 1365.7 12425.2
TN/RP 138.4Went heavier – good depth. No. 3 gripper.
Saturday 3 Nov 07 13:00 43MIN 78KG
LIFT WID DEP
8′ SQUAT 800 765
103, 153, 163, 163, 173 kgCLEAN & PRESS 700 215
5 sets × 60 kg>=60%
REP %MAX TON WORK IMP
11 93.9 1105.0 779.0 7144.5
TN/RP 100.5Went heavier – not so good on depth. Clean and pressed 60 kg barbell.
Sunday 4 Nov 07 13:01 44MIN 78KGLIFT WID DEP
8′ SQUAT 800 765
93 kg × 3 reps
136½ kg × 8, 6, 5 reps7′ CURL 750
3 sets × 65 kg × 10 reps>=60%
REP %MAX TON WORK IMP
52 78.3 4822.5 3301.2 21992.7
TN/RP 92.7Did some reps with 300 lbs. Did some barbell curls.
The squatting only totals for each workout, i.e. not including other exercises;>=60% of max SQUATS
DATE SESS REP % TON WORK IMP
21/10/07 1 13 73.9 1579 935.8 9081.9 24/10/07 2 5 82.9 705 403.3 5522.9 26/01/07 3 9 79.3 1035 759.8 6240 27/10/07 4 11 95.2 1603 1114.6 11724.5 28/10/07 5 7 90.5 1019 708.7 7742.7 31/10/07 6 9 87.9 1287 900.9 9612.8 02/11/07 7 14 83.7 1937 1365.7 12425.2 03/11/07 8 5 89.6 755 532 4905.8 04/11/07 9 22 80 2872.5 2089.1 14922
95 83.6 12792.5 8809.9 82177.8
