Squat Every Day

Bigger Stronger Leaner Powerlifting & Strength Sports
1

So I have been doing my new workout, which is as follows:

5 days/week:

Snatch up to max
Clean and Jerk up to max
Back Squat up to max w/ back down sets

Dips and Chins

I went from a 275lb to 320lb deep back squat in 1 1/2 weeks. However, now (4 weeks in) I am doing no greater than 275 most days and I feel weak in my bottom position (calf pain).

My question…has anyone done squats every day and why are my numbers going down? (Incidently, my snatch keeps going up and is now at 210lbs). I am experiencing no general soreness and feel pumped and ready to go pretty much every day.

2

[quote]honest_lifter wrote:
So I have been doing my new workout, which is as follows:

5 days/week:

Snatch up to max
Clean and Jerk up to max
Back Squat up to max w/ back down sets

Dips and Chins

I went from a 275lb to 320lb deep back squat in 1 1/2 weeks. However, now (4 weeks in) I am doing no greater than 275 most days and I feel weak in my bottom position (calf pain).

My question…has anyone done squats every day and why are my numbers going down? (Incidently, my snatch keeps going up and is now at 210lbs). I am experiencing no general soreness and feel pumped and ready to go pretty much every day.[/quote]

Its due to adaptation. It will pass, and at least the work is carrying over to the lifts.

3

[quote]GqArtguy wrote:

[quote]honest_lifter wrote:
So I have been doing my new workout, which is as follows:

5 days/week:

Snatch up to max
Clean and Jerk up to max
Back Squat up to max w/ back down sets

Dips and Chins

I went from a 275lb to 320lb deep back squat in 1 1/2 weeks. However, now (4 weeks in) I am doing no greater than 275 most days and I feel weak in my bottom position (calf pain).

My question…has anyone done squats every day and why are my numbers going down? (Incidently, my snatch keeps going up and is now at 210lbs). I am experiencing no general soreness and feel pumped and ready to go pretty much every day.[/quote]

Its due to adaptation. It will pass, and at least the work is carrying over to the lifts.
[/quote]

What he said. And if anybody knows, it’s GqArtguy.

4

Thanks a lot guys! Really appreciate it. I didn’t want to sound like I was complaining, I just wanted to make sure I was still heading in the right direction, long term.

5

FS at the start…

Koing

6

[quote]Koing wrote:
FS at the start…

Koing[/quote]

Wait, you mean start off my workout with Front Squats?

Then do the normal Snatch, Clean and Jerk, and Back Squat?

7

do you use excessive bounce out of the bottom. when i stopped bouncing a lot at the bottom my calf pain went away. plus a lot of foam rolling.

or you could you could do what most people in the forum seem to dislike and use a plan progression program. many nagging pains go away when you actually plan ahead

8

[quote]honest_lifter wrote:

[quote]Koing wrote:
FS at the start…

Koing[/quote]

Wait, you mean start off my workout with Front Squats?

Then do the normal Snatch, Clean and Jerk, and Back Squat?
[/quote]

Yes, that is what I do, for 2 out of my 5 days. The other 3 days I FS at the start and at the end.

I train 5x a week so that is
FS 8x
BS 2x

It depends on what your weakness is but I can gurantee if your not FS at least 30kg over your max CJ you won’t be able to lift much more without jacking up your FS.

To totally steal Kirksman info on it

FS 20kg more then your CJ about 50/50 chance of getting it
FS 30kg more you have a good chance of getting it
FS 40kg more you are unlikely to miss CJ it

I think it’s pretty reasonable.

Uncle (Abadjiev) says if you struggle out of a Clean you are more than likely NOT going to be able to Jerk it over head as you are tired now.

Clean 167.5 with a 180 FS, way way too gassed to Jerk it. I feel that 155 is about the most I can Jerk with my 180 FS. 1RM is 152 with loads of misses of misses at 153 and about 4 at 155. Cleaned 160 3-4x, 165 1x but no point even trying to Jerk it as I was so too tired, coupled with the fact that I don’t drive off my legs properly…

Koing

9

[quote]Koing wrote:

[quote]honest_lifter wrote:

[quote]Koing wrote:
FS at the start…

Koing[/quote]

Wait, you mean start off my workout with Front Squats?

Then do the normal Snatch, Clean and Jerk, and Back Squat?
[/quote]

Yes, that is what I do, for 2 out of my 5 days. The other 3 days I FS at the start and at the end.

I train 5x a week so that is
FS 8x
BS 2x

It depends on what your weakness is but I can gurantee if your not FS at least 30kg over your max CJ you won’t be able to lift much more without jacking up your FS.

To totally steal Kirksman info on it

FS 20kg more then your CJ about 50/50 chance of getting it
FS 30kg more you have a good chance of getting it
FS 40kg more you are unlikely to miss CJ it

I think it’s pretty reasonable.

Uncle (Abadjiev) says if you struggle out of a Clean you are more than likely NOT going to be able to Jerk it over head as you are tired now.

Clean 167.5 with a 180 FS, way way too gassed to Jerk it. I feel that 155 is about the most I can Jerk with my 180 FS. 1RM is 152 with loads of misses of misses at 153 and about 4 at 155. Cleaned 160 3-4x, 165 1x but no point even trying to Jerk it as I was so too tired, coupled with the fact that I don’t drive off my legs properly…

Koing[/quote]

Great info! I will start today. Thanks a lot.

10

So I just finished my workout for the day. Started with Front Squats up to singles. Then progressed to snatches…which suffered…then I just did some medium weight C&J’s to work on my jerk. Then finished with back squats. Much more taxed today after adding the FS at the beginning. I definitely have weak quads.

11

[quote]honest_lifter wrote:
So I just finished my workout for the day. Started with Front Squats up to singles. Then progressed to snatches…which suffered…then I just did some medium weight C&J’s to work on my jerk. Then finished with back squats. Much more taxed today after adding the FS at the beginning. I definitely have weak quads.[/quote]

The lifts will stop suffering after you get used to squatting first.

12

Also you need to make sure you rest properly between exercises. Squat, rest 15, snatch, rest 15, C&J, rest 15, squat.

13

[quote]honest_lifter wrote:
Back Squat up to max w/ back down sets

I am experiencing no general soreness and feel pumped and ready to go pretty much every day.[/quote]

Why are you maxing 5 days per week? Plan a progression and make sure you’re using sub-max loads on some days. Trying to go to max every day is just a recipe for frying your CNS and/or getting injured. You should incorporate a combination of heavy, moderate, and light days.

I definitely believe in squatting every day, but it needs to be done intelligently. It’s just not sustainable otherwise. I typically snatch, squat, and hit a pressing move at every session, but I rarely use max loads (a heavy day for me is usually about 90% of my max). Maxing every day is completely unsustainable, and I would not be surprised if your numbers continued to go down if you don’t change that.

EDIT: The percentage I mentioned was compared to a true max, not a daily max. Sorry for the confusion.

14

[quote]bigmac73nh wrote:

[quote]honest_lifter wrote:
Back Squat up to max w/ back down sets

I am experiencing no general soreness and feel pumped and ready to go pretty much every day.[/quote]

Why are you maxing 5 days per week? Plan a progression and make sure you’re using sub-max loads on some days. Trying to go to max every day is just a recipe for frying your CNS and/or getting injured. You should incorporate a combination of heavy, moderate, and light days.

I definitely believe in squatting every day, but it needs to be done intelligently. It’s just not sustainable otherwise. I typically snatch, squat, and hit a pressing move at every session, but I rarely use max loads (a heavy day for me is usually about 90% of my max). Maxing every day is completely unsustainable, and I would not be surprised if your numbers continued to go down if you don’t change that.
[/quote]

Just you wait till koing sees this lol

15

[quote]Swolegasm wrote:

[quote]bigmac73nh wrote:

[quote]honest_lifter wrote:
Back Squat up to max w/ back down sets

I am experiencing no general soreness and feel pumped and ready to go pretty much every day.[/quote]

Why are you maxing 5 days per week? Plan a progression and make sure you’re using sub-max loads on some days. Trying to go to max every day is just a recipe for frying your CNS and/or getting injured. You should incorporate a combination of heavy, moderate, and light days.

I definitely believe in squatting every day, but it needs to be done intelligently. It’s just not sustainable otherwise. I typically snatch, squat, and hit a pressing move at every session, but I rarely use max loads (a heavy day for me is usually about 90% of my max). Maxing every day is completely unsustainable, and I would not be surprised if your numbers continued to go down if you don’t change that.
[/quote]

Just you wait till koing sees this lol [/quote]

FS daily to max…

Koing

16

[quote]bigmac73nh wrote:

[quote]honest_lifter wrote:
Back Squat up to max w/ back down sets

I am experiencing no general soreness and feel pumped and ready to go pretty much every day.[/quote]

Why are you maxing 5 days per week? Plan a progression and make sure you’re using sub-max loads on some days. Trying to go to max every day is just a recipe for frying your CNS and/or getting injured. You should incorporate a combination of heavy, moderate, and light days.

I definitely believe in squatting every day, but it needs to be done intelligently. It’s just not sustainable otherwise. I typically snatch, squat, and hit a pressing move at every session, but I rarely use max loads (a heavy day for me is usually about 90% of my max). Maxing every day is completely unsustainable, and I would not be surprised if your numbers continued to go down if you don’t change that.
[/quote]

no one likes to plan. they don’t have the knowledge how to plan so its just easier to max every day and claim its the be all end all to training.

17

[quote]boldar wrote:
no one likes to plan. they don’t have the knowledge how to plan so its just easier to max every day and claim its the be all end all to training.[/quote]

My Reasons:
I feel that having a rough plan is good but it’s better to see what you can do for that given day on how the warm ups go.

Why limit yourself when your feeling uber strong? Why struggle/ fail % when your too tired because of outside factors? Just go as heavy as you can for the day. I feel the % restrain the lifter too much even if they are guidelines. It basically just gives the lifter a minimum to do and allows for a relatively easier squat session on that given day.

It is a very simple concept. It’s up to the person to believe and work hard to carry it out. Just look at Ed Ache, he’s had one of the biggest gains on this forum in 2010-2011. 2011-2012 will be good for him.

Make no mistake it is NOT EASY TO DO. 95% is a really good session. 90-94% is an okay, anything below 90% is a poor session. Also some people are not cut out to going heavy everyday (known plenty of lifters that get injured much more often then others and I’m sure you all have also) and it’s up to the coach to see this and to adjust accordingly.

Koing

18

[quote]bigmac73nh wrote:

[quote]honest_lifter wrote:
Back Squat up to max w/ back down sets

I am experiencing no general soreness and feel pumped and ready to go pretty much every day.[/quote]

Why are you maxing 5 days per week? Plan a progression and make sure you’re using sub-max loads on some days. Trying to go to max every day is just a recipe for frying your CNS and/or getting injured. You should incorporate a combination of heavy, moderate, and light days.

I definitely believe in squatting every day, but it needs to be done intelligently. It’s just not sustainable otherwise. I typically snatch, squat, and hit a pressing move at every session, but I rarely use max loads (a heavy day for me is usually about 90% of my max). Maxing every day is completely unsustainable, and I would not be surprised if your numbers continued to go down if you don’t change that.
[/quote]

Are you an Oly lifter?

19

[quote]boldar wrote:

[quote]bigmac73nh wrote:

[quote]honest_lifter wrote:
Back Squat up to max w/ back down sets

I am experiencing no general soreness and feel pumped and ready to go pretty much every day.[/quote]

Why are you maxing 5 days per week? Plan a progression and make sure you’re using sub-max loads on some days. Trying to go to max every day is just a recipe for frying your CNS and/or getting injured. You should incorporate a combination of heavy, moderate, and light days.

I definitely believe in squatting every day, but it needs to be done intelligently. It’s just not sustainable otherwise. I typically snatch, squat, and hit a pressing move at every session, but I rarely use max loads (a heavy day for me is usually about 90% of my max). Maxing every day is completely unsustainable, and I would not be surprised if your numbers continued to go down if you don’t change that.
[/quote]

no one likes to plan. they don’t have the knowledge how to plan so its just easier to max every day and claim its the be all end all to training.[/quote]

Say that to John Broz.

20

[quote]Koing wrote:
My Reasons:
I feel that having a rough plan is good but it’s better to see what you can do for that given day on how the warm ups go.

Why limit yourself when your feeling uber strong? Why struggle/ fail % when your too tired because of outside factors? Just go as heavy as you can for the day. I feel the % restrain the lifter too much even if they are guidelines. It basically just gives the lifter a minimum to do and allows for a relatively easier squat session on that given day.

It is a very simple concept. It’s up to the person to believe and work hard to carry it out. Just look at Ed Ache, he’s had one of the biggest gains on this forum in 2010-2011. 2011-2012 will be good for him.

Make no mistake it is NOT EASY TO DO. 95% is a really good session. 90-94% is an okay, anything below 90% is a poor session. Also some people are not cut out to going heavy everyday (known plenty of lifters that get injured much more often then others and I’m sure you all have also) and it’s up to the coach to see this and to adjust accordingly.

Koing[/quote]

I agree with this, to an extent. I think you’re right on that if someone has a 90-95% effort in them on a given day, it’s a waste to not lift heavy. At the same time, I am absolutely against failing lifts. Whether you call a <90% of max day “bad” or not, I don’t think that changes the fact that some days the body just isn’t ready for a heavy lift like that.

I’ve tried the “keep going up until you fail” approach before, and I’ve more recently switched to an approach where you cut off before failure. The results are night in day as far as sustainability of gains goes, at least in my experience.

I think it’s awesome to train as heavy as your body can manage, but I really think it’s important to learn how to anticipate how heavy you should go for a given day through lighter-weight work rather than simply throwing weight on the bar until you fail lifts.

This is just my experience obviously, as you noted, different lifters perform differently. OP noted that his lifts were on a regular decline rather than in a “some good days, some bad days” pattern, and that just struck me as a bad trend that was indicating an accumulation of neural fatigue that would lead to a decline in performance before an improvement. Those are my thoughts- I’m obviously not that experienced and OP is free to take them or leave them.