Simple squat routine - BACK SQUAT

Every lifting coach I’ve ever met, heard speak, read the material of etc agrees that being stronger is the primary way to be a better weightlifter. It’s not that technique doesn’t matter, of course it does, but that what matters more is your strength reserve when training a lift. It follows that there are 2/3 primary exercises almost all coaches use to get their lifters strong. I’d guess the only one they all agree on is the squat. Front squats are marginally more specific to the clean but are inherently lighter due to the harder rack position and consequent change in both centre of mass and use of the levers of the legs and hips.

The back squat therefore is normally your priority method of increasing strength, alongside some variation of pull from the floor. I have personally always been a stronger puller than a squatter but coming out of the first lockdown in 2020 i hadn’t back squatted since March. Annoyingly in the months before lockdown I had been following a great 14 week programme by Travis Mash - in his Squat Gainz book available here. I had really enjoyed it and managed to get my squat up from 161kg to 170kg. To then not be able to back squat for 3/4 months was a tad frustrating.

I needed to get back to those kind of numbers in order for my snatch and clean and jerk to also be at their best. This is never not the goal really but given my aims at the start of the year to hit a PB total I was keen to hit the ground running.

I’d been fortunate enough to have a bar and plates and could train in the garden most of the summer so my technique was maintained and strength prevented from dropping off the cliff too much. That said, when I began the squat phase I’m about to show you, I was struggling to hit 100kg for 5 reps… I know. I know.

Just like with the front squat programme I wrote about here I based it on the thinking of Glenn Pendlay’s 5RM style of training. Simply put, you figure out a rough 5 repetition maximum, then do some volume at around 90% of that load, then once recovered test the 5RM again. The theory is that the sets of 90% 5RM are what gets you stronger and by doing a heavy 5 once a week you can keep adjusting the volume sets up in accordance with that new strength.

In practice it looked like this:

Week 1: Session 1: Test current 5RM (I hit 125kg)

Week 2: Session 1: 5 x 5 @ 90% 5RM

Week 2: Session 2: 1 x 5 @ 5RM (I hit 130kg)

Week 3: Session 1: 3 x 5 @ 90% 5RM (deload)

Week 3: Session 2: 1 x 5 @ 5RM (I hit 135kg)

Week 4: Session 1: 5 x 5 @ 90% 5RM

Week 4: Session 2: 1 x 5 @ 5RM (I hit 140kg)

Week 5: Session 1: 5 x 5 @ 90% 5RM

Week 5: Session 2: 1 x 5 @ 5RM (I hit 145kg*)

• This was equal to my best ever 5RM

Although I wasn't hitting big numbers or achieving new personal bests, this ran along side me lifting 90-100% in both the snatch and clean and jerk throughout the final 3 weeks of the programme. At that point i switched focus to the front squat and the clean. There is always more to work on!

It’s likely I’ll run this again or do the same with 3RM for example. I think there’s a lot of value in these simple formats that only have much volume on one day per week. At least for a 34 year old dad it seemed to work…

If you try this programme or even just take away the principle drop a comment below and let me know how it goes!