Author Topic: How much to stay in "squat maintenance" mode?  (Read 6505 times)

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Raptor

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How much to stay in "squat maintenance" mode?
« on: March 09, 2011, 03:00:14 pm »
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OK, I'll very very soon (in a week or two) switch my squat to squat maintenance mode (1 workout of 3x3@80% (so 3x3 with 120 kg)) per week or every two weeks.

The question is - how much time "can" I stay this, in your experience, without having my squat regress. I feel like I have serious untapped strength reserves at this point so I'm going with explosive stuff and mostly bodyweight stuff like sprints that I have in mind, depth jumps and KB swings for more hip focus AND fat loss. My conditioning is EXTREMELY low at this moment so I need work on that and work on making my quads react explosively and being able to cope with actually moving my body instead of a barbell that sits on my back.

So, in your experience, how much can I stay in maintenance mode without losing squat strength (muscle strength basically), considering I'll also be doing plyo and explosive work that should count in a way or two as strength factors as well?

adarqui

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Re: How much to stay in "squat maintenance" mode?
« Reply #1 on: March 09, 2011, 03:29:04 pm »
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OK, I'll very very soon (in a week or two) switch my squat to squat maintenance mode (1 workout of 3x3@80% (so 3x3 with 120 kg)) per week or every two weeks.

absolutely HORRIBLe...



Quote
The question is - how much time "can" I stay this, in your experience, without having my squat regress. I feel like I have serious untapped strength reserves at this point so I'm going with explosive stuff and mostly bodyweight stuff like sprints that I have in mind, depth jumps and KB swings for more hip focus AND fat loss. My conditioning is EXTREMELY low at this moment so I need work on that and work on making my quads react explosively and being able to cope with actually moving my body instead of a barbell that sits on my back.

So, in your experience, how much can I stay in maintenance mode without losing squat strength (muscle strength basically), considering I'll also be doing plyo and explosive work that should count in a way or two as strength factors as well?

LanceSTS

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Re: How much to stay in "squat maintenance" mode?
« Reply #2 on: March 09, 2011, 04:13:24 pm »
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OK, I'll very very soon (in a week or two) switch my squat to squat maintenance mode (1 workout of 3x3@80% (so 3x3 with 120 kg)) per week or every two weeks.

absolutely HORRIBLe...



Quote
The question is - how much time "can" I stay this, in your experience, without having my squat regress. I feel like I have serious untapped strength reserves at this point so I'm going with explosive stuff and mostly bodyweight stuff like sprints that I have in mind, depth jumps and KB swings for more hip focus AND fat loss. My conditioning is EXTREMELY low at this moment so I need work on that and work on making my quads react explosively and being able to cope with actually moving my body instead of a barbell that sits on my back.

So, in your experience, how much can I stay in maintenance mode without losing squat strength (muscle strength basically), considering I'll also be doing plyo and explosive work that should count in a way or two as strength factors as well?

x2.  Why do you feel you have to drastically cut down your strength training volume so much raptor?  Your current program would easily permit you being more active and jumping more without any modification at all.  You can still continue to get stronger AND get more athletic in general EASILY at this point in your training.  Switching things so drastically like that is a great way to spin your wheels and not gain anything in strength or power.   
Relax.

DamienZ

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Re: How much to stay in "squat maintenance" mode?
« Reply #3 on: March 09, 2011, 05:14:47 pm »
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you could do something like 5/3/1 where you squat and deadlift once a week and increase slowly. It's a bad idea to just stop trying to progress and use a constant weight for a long period of time at low frequency and volume, imho.

Also i think that you would benefit much more from more strength than plyo work :ibsquatting:

Raptor

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Re: How much to stay in "squat maintenance" mode?
« Reply #4 on: March 09, 2011, 05:45:13 pm »
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Well for one, because gym work is costly. Secondly, I've been at strength work for waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too long, like 2 years continuosly without any real plyo or power focus. I just feel like I have strength that is so underutilized, I can't "reach" it when doing explosive stuff. And I'm kind of tired of squatting.

I feel tired from all the stuff I'm doing and I don't really want to pay a gym membership for 2 days per week that I do squats... upperbody I can train at home anyway, core the same.

If the track opens up, and the gym there as well, it would be cool to work there with squats. Still not sure where to go in terms of volume and development with the squats.

I mean, last year I was all year tired because of the squats, I couldn't enjoy playing ball because of continuous and chronic fatigue etc. That's the whole culprit.

If I'm to continue with squats, I'm not really sure where I should go with volume and intensity. If I should get back to something more volume oriented (say 3x5 like in starting strength) or continue with MSEM and work with plyos.

I want to do more sprints and gradually increase sprinting volume, so it doesn't make a lot of sense to squat too much in this period. If I squat before the sprints, depending on the volume, my sprints will suffer. If I sprint before the squats, my squats will suffer. And so on.

I need to focus on a quality and develop on that, and I have neglected my "bodyweight" training (meaning - I have a hard time controlling my own body when I play sports - change of directions, quick jumps, maximal jumps, you name it) for quite some time. My snatch is pathetic, my power clean is pathetic for my squat numbers, it's really a mess. And my CONDITIONING IS ZERO. Trust me, if I run 20-30 meters I'm breathing hard after that.

So considering all this, it's hard for me to make a decision in terms of what to do with the squats.

DamienZ

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Re: How much to stay in "squat maintenance" mode?
« Reply #5 on: March 09, 2011, 06:26:35 pm »
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I don't know what your squat was 2 years ago, but if you trained mostly for strength the last 2 years and your max squat is only 140kg something seems to be wrong.

Why don't you try Smolov Jr for 3 weeks? I'm not saying that Smolov Jr is the answer to everything, but it might teach you what high volume+intensity really means and if not you only "lose" 3 weeks.
I don't see how you could benefit from MSEM that you currently do. The weight just seems too low for you - you're using 130kg which you used for a triple months ago!

I think Smolov Jr and getting your squat up to 150-160kg and after that doing some high intensity MSEM while doing plyos and speed work might work pretty good!

Raptor

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Re: How much to stay in "squat maintenance" mode?
« Reply #6 on: March 09, 2011, 06:44:30 pm »
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I can't afford to use more than 130 kg because there's too high of a risk. I don't have the luxury of a "pin cage", I have to squat outside of the squat cage that has fixed pins, so I can't adjust depth. If I full squat I go lower than those pins, so I have to squat outside of that. I only stay inside of the cage when I use 140, and that's dangerous too since if I fail that lift I have to get pretty low with a weight I fail with, and that's very hard and dangerous.

So I have to use a weight I can kind of control well enough for my MSEM. Max squat two years ago was probably ~115 kg high bar. Today is about ~145-150 low bar.

The idea is that if I lose some weight, do plyos, sprints, work better with my bodyweight as a stimulus while maintaining the squat I should be good. If I get ~75 kg with a squat of ~150 then that's 2x.

One thing I could do is totally ditch the assistance work that I currently do. Just focus on squatting with a bit more volume. That could help me save some fatigue and be fresh enough for plyos and sprints. But I still don't know what volume/scheme to follow, if I'm not doing Smolov JR.

Maybe something like 2x5+2x8? Say two times per week?

I could go with 2x5+2x8 Monday and Thursday, and plyos on Tuesday and Friday, with some 3 on 3 ball on Saturday and Sunday, or if the track gym is open, do there some squats with less volume (maybe sprints then 3x5 squats every Tuesday and Thursday, and ball on Saturday and Sunday). 3x5 two times per week, I'm thinking, should be enough of a stimulus for strength increases.

Dynamo

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Re: How much to stay in "squat maintenance" mode?
« Reply #7 on: March 10, 2011, 01:02:36 am »
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My recommendation for squat maintenance while dieting would be to keep the set 'difficulty' high, but do fewer sets (i.e. 2x5 @ 82+% or 2-3x3 @ 87+%).  I've tried the whole 3x3 @ 80% (pretty easy) and the like, but I found my body would just adapt (detrain) to that weaker stimulus until 3x3 at that weight was difficult.  Even though 80% is technically pretty high intensity, the stimulus from those kinds of far sub-maximal sets just isn't enough for your body to hang on to the muscle it needed to handle the difficult sets you were doing during your strength building phase.   
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Raptor

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Re: How much to stay in "squat maintenance" mode?
« Reply #8 on: March 10, 2011, 03:30:08 am »
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Interesting. I wonder if that's a neural issue or a muscle loss issue.

adarqui

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Re: How much to stay in "squat maintenance" mode?
« Reply #9 on: March 10, 2011, 03:37:28 am »
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My recommendation for squat maintenance while dieting would be to keep the set 'difficulty' high, but do fewer sets (i.e. 2x5 @ 82+% or 2-3x3 @ 87+%).  I've tried the whole 3x3 @ 80% (pretty easy) and the like, but I found my body would just adapt (detrain) to that weaker stimulus until 3x3 at that weight was difficult.  Even though 80% is technically pretty high intensity, the stimulus from those kinds of far sub-maximal sets just isn't enough for your body to hang on to the muscle it needed to handle the difficult sets you were doing during your strength building phase.   

x2 ^^^^^^^^^

3x3 @ 80% is just way too submax, detraining will occur.. 3x3 @ 80% is seriously like, why even squat in the first place, might as well not even squat if that's the percentage you're 3x3'n at.

regardless of what you choose, you need some HEAVY lifting in there, low set volume (reps can be anywhere from 1-10), and something that forces you to recruit all MU's.. so whatever you decide on, fitting that criteria, it'll be ok.. 3x3 @ 80% is just not going to challenge the highest threshold motor units so it becomes futile..

it has to be challenging or you will detrain.. 3x3 @ 80 % = guaranteed detraining.

so don't settle on a set/rep scheme as of now, just settle on the criteria.. regardless of what you do it has to be moving weight at a high percentage of your 1RM until ALMOST-failure or non-psyched failure.

peace

DamienZ

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Re: How much to stay in "squat maintenance" mode?
« Reply #10 on: March 10, 2011, 04:26:12 am »
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Working up to a daily max on one day and 3x3@80% on another is also an option.

Raptor, your gym seems to be full of people, why don't you ask one to spot you on your max attempts?

Raptor

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Re: How much to stay in "squat maintenance" mode?
« Reply #11 on: March 10, 2011, 04:36:09 am »
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I could recruit more MUs by having less time between sets. Heck, I could probably do Lance's method but using lower body for it. 45s breaks in between sets, 3 sets of maximal correct, explosive reps with a weight that I can do a good amount of reps and that's it.

Don't know - like I said, maybe if I ditch the strength assistance work and just do squats, and replace the strength assistance with plyos, sprints etc, then I'd be better off than right now.

adarqui

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Re: How much to stay in "squat maintenance" mode?
« Reply #12 on: March 10, 2011, 05:01:10 am »
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I could recruit more MUs by having less time between sets.

nope................ rest/pause is way diff than 3x3 with short rest..



Quote
Heck, I could probably do Lance's method but using lower body for it. 45s breaks in between sets, 3 sets of maximal correct, explosive reps with a weight that I can do a good amount of reps and that's it.

nah man you won't be recruiting the highest threshold mu's with that..

if that was a 1x8 with 80% then short rest singles then ya, but not 3x3 @ 80% short rest.



Quote
Don't know - like I said, maybe if I ditch the strength assistance work and just do squats, and replace the strength assistance with plyos, sprints etc, then I'd be better off than right now.

i'd go that route for sure..

you have to remember you are trying to improve utilization of the entire "motor pool", that is what causes the biggest gains.. if you don't get into the "regularly untapped portion of the motor pool", then you won't adapt to be able to use it.. those motor units are considered protected, they are last ditch effort recruited when you are recruiting maximal weight or entering a significant amount of fatigue during your set, then they turn on.. so if you don't have that stimulus in your training, anything else becomes detraining, you need at least 1x/week of that in terms of "progressive overload training", though at least 2 sessions is more effective imo.

peace man

Raptor

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Re: How much to stay in "squat maintenance" mode?
« Reply #13 on: March 10, 2011, 07:31:54 am »
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What I meant by Lance's method was to choose a weight (say 100 kg) and start doing reps with that, for 3 sets, as many as I can with good form and good bar speed.

So I could get 100x9, 100x7, 100x5. Once I get a total set1+set2+set3 of 20+ I can increase the weight. If I keep the rest periods low, then the body can't help but reach for maximal MU recruitment, since it's needed because the other motor units that you use regularly are fatigued so the body needs to taper into the reserves to get the job done.

I'm basing this on his recent article on myoreps, like here:

Quote
For example:
Quote:
I've implemented a fatigue-stop method akin to Mike T in his RTS system (he uses a % table) where you use RPE and rep speed to determine how to continue the set. So for example:

10 reps (activation) + 10sec rest, 3 reps + 10 sec rest, 3 reps (third rep slow and grindy) this is Fatigue Stop 1 (FS1)

now... + 20sec rest, 2 reps (so - longer rest and less reps) + 20sec rest, 2 reps etc until 2nd rep slow and grindy - you've reached Fatigue Stop 2 (FS2) so STOP.

At heavier loads, you switch to lighter loads at FS1, as mentioned.

This will auto-regulate your volume, moreso limiting it when your recuperative abilities are limited as I do not recommend going beyond a pre-determined volume by more than 40-50%.
Heavier loads require fewer reps after the activation set because you are close to maximum fiber recruitment from the first rep. Lighter loads require more reps, because the actual tension per fiber unit is lower, and you must let the load "work" on the muscle longer to compensate. At the same time you must consider that it will be beneficial to get more recovery early in the training phase so that you'll be able to push heavy in the end, so you should aim to keep the number of reps after the activation set pretty much in the same area throughout the whole training phase.

What's your opinion on this kind of training at my current level adarqui and Lance? I'm not trying to overcomplicate or anything, I really am not, but this could work well if I really have good untapped strength (especially explosive) potential like I believe I do.

Should I go with myoreps or should I stick to a more fundamental approach. If I go with fundamental, what's the volume that you think I should start with? Do you think plyo work earlier in the day and then squats 5x5 for 2 days per week is cool enough?

If I do good plyos early in the day and squats later at night (like I do at the moment, at ~21:45 hour, then I'll probably use a small weight (say 100 kg) in my squats workouts if I do such a high volume (5x5 work sets across)). If that's true, then that's a small stimulus. Instead I could go with 3x5x110 for using a heavier weight with less volume.

What would you choose? (I know, there are so many posibilities exposed in here)

1) Plyos + Lance's method
2) Plyos + Myoreps
3) Plyos + 3x5 with a heavier weight (more intense, less volume)
4) Plyos + 5x5 with a lighter weight (less intense, more volume)
« Last Edit: March 10, 2011, 07:35:56 am by Raptor »

LanceSTS

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Re: How much to stay in "squat maintenance" mode?
« Reply #14 on: March 10, 2011, 01:20:29 pm »
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  Well the rest pause sets are more of a hypertrophy specific method, so that method is better used at a different time, the rest pause method used to boost max strength on squat and deadlift  is x load x 1 rep, ~20 seconds rest, 1 rep, etc. till 10 reps are completed.  You can look at stuckintheairs squat log and see an example of that and the progress , even on a lettuce diet,  but the traditional rest pause sets work better with other exercises, mainly for hypertrophy specific work.

   Myo reps style will work well IF you make a conscious effort to progress either the load or total reps done each session, in fact, that will help you regulate volume and make each squat a guaranteed pr session for a long peroid of time. You know your body and what you respond best to, its not like if you choose one template you cant adjust it along the way based on how you feel.

  I definitely agree with dropping the assistance work youre doing and focusing on more jumps/sprints/ etc, and focusing on progressing the main lifts, as long as you are using progressive overload in a timely manner you will be successful.

  
« Last Edit: March 10, 2011, 01:24:27 pm by LanceSTS »
Relax.