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Originally Posted by Spenda
I think you should adjust upper volume based on recovery.
Increase it, you mean? I'm already adding an extra amrap set of pressing per day and doing more rows than most novice programs recommend. And there's also a question of opportunity cost: what I currently do takes nearly two hours in the gym sometimes. It's going to be difficult to substantially add to what I'm doing without taking away from squatting/deadlifting.
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I don't think you need to reset the squat. How about grinding it out and progressing instead? lol but really why not keep the work sets AND then drop down and improve form/depth as a way to add a little more volume if you feel like you're recovering properly?
It wouldn't be a reset, just a day where I don't squat heavy and work on technique. Yeah I could just grind out 150 again and try to go deeper, but I'm a little concerned about ingraining a bad movement pattern. This is also a method that has worked for me in the past this time around. My squat form is better than it ever was in the last log.
Maybe there's a compromise? I could do paused reps at 75% or so of work set weight, which would still be quite a challenge while focusing the effort on where I'm weak: depth and strength out of the bottom without caving.
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I do think you fall in some category where you just have a hard time applying max force to lifts. Some sort of kinesthetic bull**** I'm spewing but just seems like you've lifted enough before to be much stronger yet you aren't. I feel the same way about my deadlift all the time. Just can't seem to get my body to move the weight I feel I should be able to do.
No doubt, and I think this is just being an unathletic person for my entire life. And it's something that's going to hinder me for a while, probably. When I'm under the bar the **** feels hard, and when I watch the video after, that looks like a person who isn't making a formidable effort. Shrug.
That said, I should expect slow progress considering I'm eating a deficit. I also don't mind slow progress this time around, as long as it's reasonably linear. This time for me it's as much about doing something hard and sticking to it forever as it is about getting stronger and looking better.
Once I'm back from the U.S. (in 3 weeks), I'm going to re-evaluate my programming and diet in a more comprehensive way. Until then I'm going to eat around 1600 a day and try to get the form of my squat, bench, and deadlift under control, and hopefully make slow and steady progress on them in the meantime.
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Glad to see you're back at it!
Thanks, I'm glad to have more support.