Quit trash-talking my gym, hater 
So with the squats, depending on how your knee feels, you can stay at 315, and start lower the height of the box, say an inch or two a week, until on the final week, you get one session without the box. When I do it this way, I find my knee is sore for a couple days following the free squat workout, but the following week Iām back to my highest box again, with another 20lbs or so. This way depending on how many weeks your ROM progression is, your only having to deal with a sore knee, every 5th or 6th week.
The other way to set it up, is to just keep the box where it is, and keep progressing forward week to weeek with heavier weight, then each week after you get your PR, grab some free squat sets on the way back down, so if you get 315x10, you might remove the box, and try a feeler set at 275, trying to get full depth if your knee will allow ( the form from the box squats should be imprinted, so you should be able to keep lower leg upright ) If 275 is heavy, go with a couple sets at 225. The important thing is to get some work in after the box squats, at whatever percentage you can of the box squat, then gradually as your box squat moves forward, so too will your free squat follow. If your box squat goes from 315x10 to 365x10, over 6mths, then hopefully your free squat can go from 225x10 to275x10. Whatever, the weights not important, only that you find a spot where your comfy, after doing the box squat, and then have it progress along side the box squat.
The second explanation was awfull wordy, but Iāve found if you donāt do any free squats at all, when you do try to do one ( say after 6mths) youāll have a horrible time. You donāt need to do alot of them, just a few back off sets here and there, or one full day every 5 or 6 weeks. Other thanthat 315x10 is big, and Iām glad your back squatting heavy again, I just donāt want to see you fall into the trap I did at first when I found them, and found I could do them pain free, where I did no free squatting for probably a year. Anyway good stuff Bro, gotta go get the kid from the bus stop. Goodluck ! and Later
Thanks for the advice.
I think Iāll stick with 315 and lower the box little by little each week then run a few deep squat back off sets.
Iāll shuffle leg presses back into the assistance column again and hopefully build a respectable squat.
Squat day is tomorrow so I should be able to get a video from the side to ensure that Iām performing them correctly.
I get all self conscious when I video myself liftingā¦
Just had the inclination and drive to look for your training log.
So just stopped in to say āhiā.
Still have to read pages 2 - 6.
From what I see you keep it simple, real 5/3/1 which is good to see. Some of these logsā¦
And you have AJ chiming in which is good for you.
Well, keep moving heavy things and Iāll be back.
You have an injured knee, so any training you can get away with is a bonus, and being able to progressivly get stronger on any form of squat is a bigger bonus, I just know with myself, when I discovered these, and started squatting to a box, at exactly parelle, I was happy it allowed me to keep my lower legs completely upright, and thus squat pain free, with a good amont of weight, but after a year of doing them, One day when I went to perform a reg squat, it wsnāt even half what I was working with on the parelle box.
I started cycling the height, and in fact now, Iāve gotten to a place where I can keep my form, and do quite a bit of squatting without the box. Thats all Bro, just wanted to make sure you were keeping atleast some sort of free squatting in the rotaition, and didnāt make the same mistakes I did when I found these. I was in a hurry yesterday when I was chiming in, but things look like there going well, just adding my 2cents. goodluck !
Just made it through your log. You are a pressing monster!! A monster! That dip with 135 video made my brain tear a mental rotator cuff.
I like AJās advice. I squat rather lower leg fixed, lot of forward lean for a couple of reasons, knee being one, back ( believe it or not) being the other. I do not box squat but I totally get the notion.
I think the sit-back-to-squat formulation is most natural AND what you need to do with your upper body (hip joints up) translates well to helping you stay ribcage large in the deadlift. So many people cannot lock their spine and make their chestās proud when they pull. My squat is my major deadlift assistance exercise.
Do you think the leg presses do you any help?
I was going to write this all down, but it got really wordy fast, so Iām going to shoot my first instructional vid 
and Iāll be back, if your going toi do what I do, I might as well show / explain in detail āā Iāll be backāā
Your embarrased to shoot yourself squating try shooting a vid like this, anyway this I think was simpler then trying to explain by typing.
Also a couple times in the vid I refer to what I think is a parelle or leagl squat, and apon watching the vid, Iām not as parelle or leagl as I assumed, probably not till I free squat was it actuially legal, might be Iām just finaly starting to get an ass, and hamstrings, and this makes me sit higher, anyway I hope this helps with what your doing, Iām off to workout
^ is what you could have said
[quote]RozS wrote:
Quit trash-talking my gym, hater [/quote]
Thanks, fellas and thanks for the video, Jake!
I grabbed a couple of people and asked for their opinion about the height of the box I was squatting to today and itās more like 5" above parallel, not 2"-3".
Insert embarrassed emoticon here
Todayās workout, C6, W2, D4:
Stretching and crunches to warm up.
Leg Curls:
5 sets of 15 @ 95 lbs (I think)
Squat to a box 5" above parallel:
bar x 10
135 x 10
135 x 10
185 x 10
225 x 10 (I already have a RIDICULOUS lower back pumpā¦unpleasant)
275 x 5
315 x 5 (wide stance)
315 x 5 (concentrating on sticking out my butt, narrow stance)
315 x 5 (I swapped out one of the steps for a shorter step, this is actually 3" above parallel)
315 x 5 (back to the higher step)
ATG squat:
135 x 10 (yep, 135) (narrow stance)
135 x 10 (narrow, yes my quads are burning from 135)
225 x nope (nope)
135 x 10 (Iām friggin wiped)
Speed bag for 15 minutes or so.
[quote]csulli wrote:
^ is what you could have said
[quote]RozS wrote:
Quit trash-talking my gym, hater [/quote]
[/quote]
Dammit! lol
Wish I would have thought of that!
Linky to a video I just made. I need to bring the camera closer to my legsā¦
Hopefully this works.
brb lol
Vid number 2. Please ignore the mess, my kids use the basement as a play area. (Thatās where I filmed this.)
At the 32 second mark you can clearly hear my wifes cat call me a pansy.
[quote]csulli wrote:
^ is what you could have said
[quote]RozS wrote:
Quit trash-talking my gym, hater [/quote]
[/quote]
ROFL
@ emskee:
Thanks, that compliment means a LOT coming from someone with your level of strength.
With the leg presses, on every set, except the amrap set, I tried to emulate the movement my legs went through in the deadlift.
I set my feet on the sled at my conventional stance width then pushed up, released the safety catches and brought the sled down to the bottom of the movement and started my reps from there.
About the only thing other than that I gained from them was a bit of growth in my legs.
Do you have a deadlift video, from the side?
I tried leg presses and due to my DL style (I guess) I couldnāt imagine the pull-through-the-traps thing and they never really helped me, but I knew tons of folks who swore by leg presses. Always vexed meā¦
Nice work with the bucket and figuring out where your at, if your woking around a knee injury, like I had to do, donāt worry so much at first where you are in relation to parelle, or legal, just find the height where you can keep your lower legs upright, and squat pain free. Stay there and build some strength ( get in some light back off free squats) then over time you can play around with lowering the height, as you build muscle and strength.
At the very first after my last operation, I couldnāt get anywhere near parelle, so I just got strong at the lowest height I could pain free ( 4inch above parelle), and over time doing this, things seeemed to get stronger, and feel more natural, and right now I mabey use the cooler ( box ) once a month only to get a real heavy PR ( breaking new ground ) and at this point thats more for peace of mind training alone, than for pain management.
So donāt rush it, build strength where you can, Goodluck !
No deadlift video yet. Iāll get one up soon but it will most likely only be with 405.
Thanks again, Jake. I guess I was kind of putting the cart before the horse being so concerned about hitting parallel.
Iāll start at Dave Hoff height (5" or so above parallel lol) going heavy then, like you said, perform some back off sets to full depth with a lighter weight and gradually drop the box height.
C6, W3, D1:
Speed bag and crunches as a warm up.
OHP (sandbagging for my bench 1rm test Wednesday):
bar x 10
65 x 10
85 x 10
95 x 5
115 x 5
140 x 5
160 x 3
170 x 4 (AFR [ a few reps] not AMRAP)
Dips SS chins:
Bodyweight on both 5 sets of 15 and 10 respectively
More speed bag! I love that thing!!!
A little bit of foot work and some heavy bag drills.