5x5 Front Squats to Break Plateau

I’ve been doing 5x5 Back Squats with high rep front squats and a few other things as assistance for a good while. I’ve been stuck at 295 5x5 for a few weeks and feel as though it’s time to change things up a bit.

Would 5x5 front squats be a good change of pace? I would be adding heavy pin squats into the mix before the front squats to warm up my CNS and to keep my body slightly used to back squatting.

Thank you.

If your intent is to change how you train to break a plateau, I feel you would be better served by altering the programming rather than swapping the movement. You have most likely exhausted your ability to Progress with 5x5 at the moment; why not try a different protocol?

You mean like smolov or 20 rep squats?

I mean, those are definitely different approaches, as is 5/3/1, sheiko, the Juggernaut Method, linear perioduzatio, etc. Even just a change in rep and set protocol would be different.

Alright, thanks for the reply bud.

Jesus. Do anything else than smolov at this point. Otherwise I totally agree with the punisher.

Been hearing some murmuring around my gym of a new program “J-BReese bench routine…” Maybe a similar program would benefit your squat. Might be trying it myself here soon.

Cheers.

JBReese? What is the program?

What’s your method of progression?

I’ve been adding 10 lbs per workout and I’ve been squatting once a week. All of my 5x5 were sets across so I decided to change to ramping sets which I started yesterday and they went well. Added pin squats in before my main squat sets and the change seems to be going great.

Have you tried doing a deload week? Also, have you tried taking maybe about 90% of what your working with and working back up? Basically, taking 2 steps forward, then one step back, then take 2 more steps.

I’m not saying the advice you’ve already received is bad, it’s just I would do the simplest possible fixes before moving on to anything more advanced. There’s a lot less spinning your wheels this way and you’ll get a better feel for what does and doesn’t work for you in the long term too.

I know more advanced training methods sound cool, but they’re really not. It just means it takes more time and more thought and even more effort to progress.

If you bring your car to the mechanic because it’s making a weird sound, there could be a lot of things that might make that sound. The mechanic will look into the simplest and most common issues before moving onto more complex issues that could be the problem. Troubleshooting lifting issues is like that too.

If you’re just getting bored to tears, you could try a program with variety like Defranco’s Westside for Skinny Bastards program. Granted, if the PL lifts are your priority, you’ll want to stick to variations very close to the comp lifts. Like changing your bar position on squats or your grip width for bench.

Plateau breaker:

Put 250 on the bar, complete 50 reps in whatever fashion you can.

Each week, do it in one less set. Start conservatively - run for 3-6 weeks