In strength sports, the RPE9-10 super low reps close to 1rm weights is the "fun" part, but you can't do it forever and sustain progress. As you're noticing, it also leads to injury and burnout/low motivation/overtraining pretty easily. This is true whether natty or enhanced.

The "boring" part is all the RPE7 high volume higher rep workouts you do drilling down technique and getting in a fairly high number of reps and "easy" weights. But ultimately this is what facilitates long-run progress. You will also notice that doing this style of higher volume training has a better impact on your body composition than the low rep peaking phases. I remember Shane Hunt mentioning this... his body composition gets better during his offseason phase when he's doing higher reps and more variation, and then during the precontest phase when he focused on lower reps his body composition gets slightly worse around the same bodyweight while his low rep strength shoots up.

I made exactly the same mistake when oly lifting. Wanted to always be hitting heavy 90% singles and never wanted to drop down and do the 60-80% weights for lots of reps within a workout.

Deloading is when you take time to lift at a much lower level of effort for about 5-10 days, usually about a week. You do this to dissipate fatigue and allow some of the wear and tear on your body to heal itself. But you don't take time totally off and you keep weights above a certain threshold to avoid detraining. Often times after a deload, you come back significantly stronger.

For instance, if you were going to prepare to hit 1RMs, you'd probably intentionally take about 7-14 days of lighter training before attempting 1rms. This is deloading. Through your regular training for any strength sports, you will generally need to take deloads to prevent injury and to continue making progress without burning out. How to set up your deload is highly individualized, but a good guideline is "Do about 90% of your normal weights for 50% of the number of sets"


I really recommend you find a coach. Not a lot of people can successfully program for themselves in strength sports, and usually the ones that can are only able to do so after being in the game for many years and experimenting with lots of different approaches. I certainly wasn't able to. Powerlifting coaching is generally much more affordable than bodybuilding coaching; some of the best guys in the game like Shane Hunt, Pete Rubish, Jamal Browner, and John Haack all offer coaching around $100 usd per month or so. There is enough variation in people's bodies to where just picking a pre-made program is usually not quite optimal.

There is also the Juggernaut AI coaching program which a ton of people have had success with. Syndr0m who used to post here reached a 180kg front squat weighing like 95kg doing the Juggernaut AI coaching program. It's not like a pre-made program exactly because you give the app feedback and it changes your program in the same way a coach would. It's only like $30/mo.

Wow! Ty

It is really easy to talk yourself into dumb ideas without someone asking you why you suddenly decided to do an exercise you have not done in 5y.

Oh, and in powerlifting the standard deload frequency is around 3-6 weeks of training before a week deload. This can vary a lot based on the individual and phase of training. In a peaking phase like yours, deloads might be more frequent. Females and smaller athletes don't need to deload as often. By powerlifting standards, you are still considered a smaller athlete. usually when they say big, they mean in the 242lb class or higher. where 198 and 220lbs class athletes are 'medium" and anything below that is 'small'. Generally the higher %s and higher RPEs you're working at, the more often you might deload. All you can do is experiment to try and figure out what works best for you, or get a coach or one of the several AI coaching apps.

This is excellent advice.

Might start reprogram after the loco trip. The trip might not even happen though.



Here my top set. Form don’t look too bad, but placed phone at weird angle.

https://youtube.com/shorts/vekWUegWs...FHcZYsSl0vLfo4

The trip is happening bro, just not sure where and how juicy it's gonna be.

Definitely gonna be better than grinding coffee beans at the 'Bux.

Ha! Ya I have to tell these gen Z kids what to do every second, it’s annoying. Some of them have been here over a year and still don’t know the routine of the store….

Last night power session


I film my squats again. Same problems. I deep stretch before squatting. Ankles, hamstrings, back. No difference, same issues.

Might need to hit up squat uni.

Forgot my lifters today. Didn’t real feel any difference.

Today I released some insane upper neck pain. It was stuck for a good 4-5 days. Was in pain daily until I got on the foam roller. I grabbed my head with both hands from the back. I rolled the upper back and pull on my head and heard at least 6-7 pops. Felt great and relieved. For now…






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Wow so I think I found my issue with butt wink. I came across this video and he is totally right. When I squat I am looking at a mirror and trying too hard to stay upright.

I have no mobility issues. I always been flexible with good rom.

Need to squat not in front of a mirror. Might be weird bc of
Muscle memory but change must be done to save my back.

https://youtu.be/bbNA17KjBzU?si=-7utDTgkVMcLOh8v

Today I write down what I ate. Had a simp 4.5 hour shift. Had to show the noob supervisor how to close the store since i will be gone for 10+ days starting next week.

So now I’m realizing I been eating way too much before gym. This was because I would work then Come home and feel tired and think 200g carbs in 1 sitting will give me energy.. now fat as a blob.

Today ate kind of light because I wasn’t at work too much. But felt v good in the gym.

So I tried to keep my head down for DL too bc I look in the mirror when I pull and I have crazy neck pain bc of it. My muscle memory keeps wanting to look at the mirror. Might take a while to adjust.

Still lifting. Lazy to log.

Today’s lift.

Did not ohp due to shoulder pain. Now it’s my left shoulder. Cannot lateral raise a 15lb DB without annoying ache. Gojng to lay off the military.

Also switching to front squats for now. Low back pain and my butt wink ain’t getting better.

Back squatted bc of ego. Loco has told me I need to let it go and my back will feel a lot better. But will be very sad the day i quit the back squat…

Left shoulder a little pain but bearable.

Squat 340x1 @8, not 9.




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I am glad I quit back squatting. Overrated ego lifting exercise that gains you status among neurodivergent (mostly fat) males. Past squatting in the 300s it's not even the best way to develop your quads, where things like leg press, hack squats on a machine, leg extensions, or lunges are far better choices. It's a very good lower back and core exercise and a "good" glute exercise, however.

Very good movement when done as HBBS for many athletic events, but even then there are substitutes and other things that can get the job done. LBBS is 100% pointless for anyone who is not a competitive powerlifter or has severe ankle mobility limitations that prevent them from doing atg hbbs.

If you switch to front squats for a while, your LBBS will still increase just from doing front squats and other accessories such as lunges, single leg squats, step ups, or leg press. Don't sweat it. You might also find HBBS less stressful on your back, but it depends on the nature of the back pain. HBBS can actually be worse in some cases.

Anyway, loco is right. Drop it, even if just temporarily, and do some closely related movement that doesn't bother your back.

I was going to front squat today, but realized I probably max out around 200 or so. I’m a numbers guy and that just felt really wrong and depressing for some reason..

But my back ain’t getting any better and it’s probably the best thing to do atm.

I wonder how Pete rubish felt when he came off gear. That must have been really depressing and something he had to get over.


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deadlifts were the thing that always terrified me, that bend over motion and fact it just never felt right so just don't do them ever

i loved doing squats but unlike you guys was never doing power lifting just lighter weights for more reps just trying to get toned rather than bulked - usual weight would be 45kg on each side and do about 12 of them 8x

then at the end of the session lay down on my back with my knees up and feet on the ground, put a foam roller under my back and just roll back and forth on that for a while - eliminated most of the soreness i'd otherwise get


that's not advice btw, i know i'm a donk, just saying i always preferred light weight because i am a huge nit when it comes to injury prevention

hahaha, no. He was extremely happy and lived a much better and more fulfilling life. The dude just did not respond well to hormones mentally. If I felt that way on hormones, I wouldn't take them either. The decision to go full on natty rather than trt was puzzling and also pointless/stupid, but it only induced about a 12 month struggle.

Yuh he’s a huge runner now and still power lifts.

He does like 10 mile runs and lifts after. Wtf.

He said he’s in the best shape of his life(he is), but he used to look like a massive freak of nature and scary as hell.

He looks 10 years younger also.


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This kind of FS/BS ratio is also indicative of just having straight up weak legs. Weak legs=>you over rely on lower back and hips to lift the weight but lower back is being compressed under load while you're using the muscles to lift the weight. You can perhaps see why this is going to lead to back problems. You can view getting stronger quads by doing leg press/FS/hbbs/lunges/leg extensions as rehab so you can eventually squat pain free again. BEcause that's exactly what it is. REhab.,

Yuh I heard the back sqaut becomes a back exercise at a certain point when load gets heavy. The worst is the good morning squat. Now some people have to squat like that because of long femurs but still looks not like a squat.

Got no wink when I front squat, want to hit the 3 wheels like the back squat, but no clue on how long it will take.

I would try doing the Locke 3 regularly as part of your warmup for your shoulders. I picked them up from Evoken’s log and my shoulders have never felt better.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGePZy...91bGRlcg%3D%3D

Also, when I was running these Mike T powerlifting programs back in the day, I was always super setting facepulls, band pullaparts or rear delt flies between all my bench sets to keep my shoulders healthy

Bee, ty

Here was my sqaut from yesterday. I usually film from the back but this was the only angle I could get. I might be winking but the angle might not show it.


https://youtube.com/shorts/Q4goZqWVF...TtQRcED9P3Dpc6


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I also stop back squatting long ago. Should've done it sooner.

A 3 wheel FS at your size would be very impressive. I never hit that. But you're stronger than I ever was, so prob doable.