10.01.2015/Thu-noon
Back Squat, belt and wraps at 355
135 x 4 paused, 4
225 x 2 paused, 4
275 x 1 paused, 2
315 x 1 paused, 1
355 x 1
375 x 1
385 x 3

10.01.2015/Thu-pm
Bench Press
135 x 3 paused, 3
185 x 2 paused, 2
225 x 1 paused, 1
245 x 1 paused
260 x 1
275 x X
225 x 5 x 2

[Deadlift, conventional, no belt 405 x 2 ]

I partied a little too hard the night before this and it looks like it is still costing me. My weight has been going down. This is despite my attempts at getting my calories up along with my water intake. My performance yesterday really suffered. My squat was okay, but I don't have the endurance to do deadlifts on the same day as maximal effort squats.

I almost made it through the 275 bench. Even if I'd gotten that rep, I'd have been sad that I couldn't do I double with it. I was still being affected by the squat session from a few hours earlier. And my weight was down about two pounds so my bench was probably ten pounds weaker. My max when I was two pounds heavier was probably 285. During the session it wasn't quite 275.

I was amazed that a 405 pull was all I could muster after bench. My quads and lower back -- but especially my quads -- just couldn't handle anything else that day. I was honestly hoping to work up to using 495 with a belt! Not even close. I put the deadlift in brackets above because that doesn't even really count as worthy of note...except as a measure of how burned out the squats left me.

Also something in my left lat popped when I was warming up on squats. I think it went out on 275.

Squats and Hopes for the Meet

Now, my best high bar was 385 x 2 a couple weeks ago. The second rep was hard and slow through the sticking point. And of course I was wearing wraps (which add 20 lbs to what I can do without wraps). Yesterday I got 385 x 3 with the addition of a belt. I have to start training with a belt now because I'm six weeks out from the meet.

But a belt really only adds 10 lbs to my high bar squat. It is much, much more effective at adding weight to my low bar squat, which has me leaning over more and therefore makes lower back strength a limiting factor.

With high bar my upper back strength is more the limiting factor; with front squat the upper back completely displaces the lower back as the limiting factor. Notice the trend: the more vertical the back in the squat, the less the lower back holds the lift back and the more the upper back does. This also means that the more upright the squat, the less the belt helps.

I say all this to point out that I'm probably actually a little bit stronger with this 385 x 3 with the belt than the 385 x 2 without the belt, even discounting the assistance that the belt afforded me. In any case, what matters for the meet is how much I can lift with the belt and wraps.

I want to squat at least 200kg/440lbs at the meet, though my real target is 205kg/451lbs. My belt+wraps max is probably 415lbs right now. So I'm looking to add 5lbs/week for the next six weeks.

But if I want to keep my deadlift moving up, I'm going to have squat light on the day I train deadlifts. I don't mind not deadlifting much during most of my training cycles (because deadlift gains are built on squat gains), but I have to practice holding the weight in my hands through lockout and generating impulse from a dead stop.

Comparing to Past Low Bar Achievements

I've low bar squatted 405 and more with a belt multiple times in the past. The first time was when I weighed 175. Then I worked up to 405 x 3 x 3 before squatting 418 in competition at 179 lbs.

But there is no way I would have been able to high bar squat that weight back then! In fact, when I first low bar squatted 405 with a belt, I don't know if at that time I was able to high bar squat 315! After I low bar + belt squatted 418 in competition, I found that I could barely high bar squat 330.

I would later spend a few weeks working up to my then best ever high bar squat of 365 @ 182 wearing just knee sleeves.

So here is my first 405 low bar with a belt back in 2009....

And even though I squatted 405 to the satisfaction of the raw lifting rules in various federations and then did it for reps a year later, there is no way I was strong enough back then to do this....

I mean, it's not even close. If you would have asked me heighten the bar position and close up my stance a bit and take off the belt...I would have been buried in the bottom position by 325 if I didn't come right back up with the stretch-reflex.

It's funny. Ocassionally an article will ask if the one or two inches difference in bar position between low and high bar really makes that much of a difference. Bar position in the squat is like football and penis length: inches count. The movement changes a great deal. Muscle emphases shift. Different capacities are developed. A higher bar placement gives more carryover to more stuff while a lower bar placement allows more weight to be moved (usually requires a belt to exploit this fully).

This is coming from a former low bar and belt zealot. I've spent years in pursuit of both low and high bar improvements and I much prefer the benefits conferred by the higher bar placement. I am more "explosive" though I think a lot of that comes from the fact that my quads are much more developed by high bar. With low bar the quads are deemphasized while the glutes are overemphasized (as in a deadlift, thouh not to the same degree because a squat of any sort has more knee flexion...though low bar does start toeing the line of the good morning).

So yeah, I've "squatted" 405+ before at 175-179. But that was low bar with a belt. This is not the same as squatting 405+ high bar with no belt. I am getting close to that magical Olympic-style (high bar, no belt, sleeves or minimal wraps) 405 right now. In fact, I'm pretty sure that I could get it now, but I would need wraps. My best completely naked squat right now is likely just 385, but wraps would put me at 405.

In short, wraps add 20 lbs; a belt adds 10. So when I hit 440 with the wraps and belt, I should simultaneously be good for 405 with just knee sleeves.

I'm taking a more conservative approach this time and just adding 5lbs/week for the next six weeks. I should be able to hit that 405 Olympic-style just before my meet. I will be training with the belt one session and without it the next. Like so...

Mon: Bench Press (touch and go)
Tues: Squat (no belt)
Wed: Rest
Thu: Bench Press (touch and go)
Fri: Rest
Sat: Squat (belt and wraps), Bench (paused), Deadlift (belt)
Sun: Rest

Saturday is obviously meant to replicate meet conditions. This is to be low volume practice with heavy weight. For example, I will NOT be going for another all-out third rep with 95% again on a day like that. I think working up to hard-but-not-impossible singles makes more sense.