The Great Squat Experiment: Week 7

Josh Trammell

Tuesday, 11/18/14

Still recovering from food poisoning, but I wanted to get in the gym and see what I could do. Wasn't going in expecting much - my goal was to come in, work up to 315-365, see how it felt, and if I felt like crap, leave, if I felt good, go a little heavier.

Low Bar Squats (Beltless)

 - 365 x 1, 1, 1, 1 - was very out of the groove. A couple of adjustments plus just working at this weight loosened me up and things felt better. Felt good enough to move up.

 - 385 x 1 - felt good, moved up

 - 405 x 1 - felt easy

 - 415x2 - new 2RM. No video, unfortunately. Wasn't prepared to set a PR after food poisoning.

Paused Low Bar

 - 365x3

Called it quits. Who says you can't set PRs after getting sick and not eating much at all for 3 days?

Wednesday, 11/19/14

Low Bar Squats with a Belt

 - 365 x 1 (add belt), 1,1

 - 405 x 1

 - 425 x 1

 - 450 x 1 - PR +5lbs



Conventional Deadlifts w/ Belt

 - 365x1

 - 405x1

 - 455x2 - PR 2RM - Not really KK/ Pete Rubish like. First time I've videoed these. Felt good though.

Sumo Deadlifts w/ Belt

 - 365x1

 - 405x1

 - 455x3 - PR +1 rep



 - 435x3

Thursday, 11/20/14

Felt very exhausted going on. That's why, typically, the day after deadlift days is a Pause squat to reduce absolute volume/loading and compression on the spine.

Pause High Bar Squats

 - 355x1

 - 375x1 - could've gotten 2, but it would've been a real grind. Decided against it.

 - 355x3 - PR 3RM +10lbs I believe

 - 315x3

Short ab/decompression/stretching circuit, and called it quits.

Friday, 11/21/14

4-second Eccentric High Bar Squats w/ Belt (That's a mouthful...)

 - 365x1, add belt, 1

 - 385x1

 - 405x1

 - 415x1



 - 385x3

Not a particularly big fan of these, but I never work on the eccentric phase of the lift, so I figured it was time to do so. Plus, it is a nice change of pace.

Saturday, 11/22/14

Felt absolutely wrecked going into this session. Tired, worn down, not really ready to get a lift in, honestly.

 Low Bar Squats w/ Belt

 - 365x1 - add belt

 - 345x1 - moved down to get my groove

 - 385x1 - felt horrible

 - 405x1, 1 - both sets felt awful. This is something I did earlier in the week, without a belt, with ease. Just called it quits here. Still got quality work in that 85%+ range, so it's all good.

Sunday, 11/23/14

Front Squats

 - 315x1

 - 355x1 +10lb PR. Haven't done these in like 6 or 7 months, so I was very pleased with the speed of this on camera. Also pretty obvious that there are some left-right differences in front rack flexibility from this video. Not very comfortable looking front rack, probably due to the fact that I just haven't done them in a while.



 - 315x3 +40lb PR

'Speed' Sumo Deadlifts

 - 345x 1 x 10 sets - about 60-90s rest between sets, focusing in on maximal velocity off the ground to lockout. Felt decent.

Paused Bench Press

Haven't been able to bench press due to elbow pain, but I got my compression cuff in, so I wanted to test it out.

 - 225 x 3 x 3 sets - not too bad. Had a couple reps where the left elbow just gave out on me, but I'm still probably good for about 270 right now. Could've done all sets for 5 reps. Decently happy with that. Need to get my speed back, but everything else was fine.

Monday, 11/24/14

Remedial circuit and recovery work. Nothing of note to post about.

The Great Squat Experiment, Week 6

Josh Trammell

Wednesday, 11/12/14

 Wide(r) High Bar Squats w/ Belt

 - 315x1 - Add Belt

 - 315x1

 - 365x1

 - 405x1

 - 415x3 - PR + 10lbs - around a 10 RPE though. Went a little too hard. Was pissed from the struggle all last week though.

 - 385x3

Narrow Sumo + Belt

 - 365x1 - Add belt

 - 405x1

 - 455x2 - ties previous PR at a narrower stance

 - 425x3

Felt like crap, so I stopped.

Thursday, 11/13/14

Beltless Low Bar Squats

 - 365x1

 - 395x1

 - 405x3 - Rep PR + 2 reps (also, PR + 20lbs)



 - 375x5 - Rep PR +2 reps



Felt like crap, but it appears fast on video, so I'll take it.

Friday, 11/14/14

Birthday Pause Squats (low bar)

- 365x1

- 395x3 - PR + 40lbs (haven't done triples for weight in a while)



- 365x3

Saturday - Monday:

Ate at my favorite restaurant for my birthday, and managed to get food poisoning in the process. Thus, no training happened on any of those days.

The Great Squat Experiment: Week 5

Josh Trammell

I will preface this log by saying I spent around 20 hours driving in a car from Monday - Wednesday afternoon. Hips were destroyed, didn't get any lifting in, generally felt like crap that first workout back. Anyway, here it is.

Thursday, 11/6/14

 Beltless High Bar Back Squats

 - 365x1

 - 395 x miss (what the hell?) - hips shifted out behind the bar. Got pissed. Took another shot at it

 - 395 x 1 - kept hips in a better position, less shifting, more lifting. Still pissed though

 - 335 x 5

Friday, 11/7/14

Beltless High Bar Squats

 - 365x1

 - 385x1

 - 405x1 - get recruited by powerlifting team, turn them down

 - 365x3

 - 315x3, 3-second pauses at the bottom of each squat, cause I felt like it

Conventional Deads (no belt)

 - 365x1

 - 405x1

 - 405x5x3 sets - PR + 20lbs and 2 sets

- Starting to get the hang of conventional pulling. Took a while. Turns out my build favors a KK/Pete Rubish-ish type of pull. Almost enjoying conventional now, after hating it for so long.

Going to play around with 2 deadlift days: 1 conventional (for volume), 1 sumo, where the intensity will be upped. See how that goes along with all the squats.

Saturday, 11/8/14

Staying on the strugglebus...

Pause Squats - beltless

- 315 x 1

- 345 x 1

- 365x2 - PR +1 rep (cheap, I know)

- 335 x 3

Sunday

The strugglebus continues!

Beltless High Bar

- 365x1

- 385x1

- 405x1 - a little slower than normal, still haven't fully come back from that dang car ride.

- 365x3

- 315x3

Monday - Recovery/Pump Day

1A) Kossack Squat -> crossover Step-Up 3x12/leg
1B) Chest Flies 3x12 (5-10s eccentric for the stretch)
1C) Rear Delt Flies - 3x12

2A) Bar Hangs x a decently long time
2B) Bear crawls focusing on neutral spine and breathing
2C) Half Kneeling Chops - 3x8-10/side

Week 5 sucked.

The Great Squat Experiment: Training Log, Week 3 (or 4?)

By: Josh Trammell

*Note: This is a little over 3 weeks into the training cycle I'm currently in, experimenting with very high frequency, every-day max (EDM) style squatting. I won't go into the specifics of the plan here (future article will), but here's my log from the last week.

Previous videoed PRs:

385lb Belt Pause Squat x 1

Beltless, 415lbs x 1 High Bar Back Squat

Competition Stance Low Bar Squat 435lbs x 1 with a belt

445lbs x 1 Competition Stance Low Bar Squat, with Belt

Wednesday, 10/29/14

Beltless, Low Bar Back Squat:

 - 365lbs x 1

 - 395lbs x 1

 - 420lbs x 1 - +5lb Beltless PR

 - 385lbs x 4: +1 rep PR @ 385lbs

 - 355lbs x 3

Thursday, 10/30/14

Beltless High Bar Back Squats

 - 365lbs x 1

 - 390lbs x 1

 - 365lbs x 5 - +2 rep PR

Bench

 - 225lbs x 1

 - Elbow decided to crap out on me. Called it a day here. No use in aggravating it any more.

Friday, 10/31/14

 - Beltless, Paused High Bar Squats

 - 355lbs x 1

 - 375lbs x 1 +10lb PR

 - 385lbs x 1 +20lb PR

 - 335lbs x 3 new 3 rep PR

Conventional Deads:

 - 365x1

 - 405x1

 - Add belt: 405x5 (7 RPE)

Narrow Sumo:

 - 365x1

 - 405x1

 - 455x1 - tied Beltless PR with a narrower stance. Oh, and I haven't pulled sumo in around 6 months

 - 425x3 - 7 RPE

Sunday, 11/2/14

Safety Bar Squats

 - 330x1

 - 380x1

 - Add Belt: 410x1 - +60lb PR

 - 350x6 + 35lb PR

 - no belt: 310x5