I’ve had a few questions about how I’m periodizing my squats, so I thought I’d start this journal entry with a quick explanation of that for everyone. Here’s how I’m managing my squat training.
I’ve come to the conclusion that I need to squat twice a week, and I do them on Tuesdays and Fridays. On Tuesdays, I perform low bar squats, alternating between the cambered bar one week and a straight bar the next. I find that performing low bar squats with a straight bar every week tends to jack up my shoulders – hence the inclusion of the cambered bar.
On the cambered bar sessions, I’m using a Stack 5 approach. This means that, starting with the empty 65lb bar, I make 40-50lb jumps each set, hitting five reps every set until I reach a weight that I cannot manage five reps with. On the next session, my goal is to improve upon the last one. On the straight bar days, I work toward getting a heavy single, double, or triple (whichever I think I have the best shot at bettering an existing perrsonal record on), and seek to improve upon recent bests each new session.
Fridays are high-bar squats. For me, this movement is simply a slightly more knee-dominant version of my competitive low bar squat. My quads are a weakness in my competitive squat, so my reasoning is that this movement has a high degree of dynamic correspondence for me. I’m using a Stack 10 approach here as well. Starting with the empty bar, I make 40-50lb jumps (45, 95, 135, 185, and so on) hitting ten reps on each set, until I reach a weight that will not permit ten reps. Next time out, I try to beat my last performance. When I get to the point where I’m hitting a plateau with this, I modify it to a Stack 5 progression and continue as far as possible.
Okay, now on to this week’s training journal:
Athlete Journal 85: Weekly Volume And Noteworthy Lifts:
• Volume: 47,653 lbs (Last Week: 57,280 lbs)
• 350 Low Bar Squat
• 485 Block Pull
Tuesday, April 1, 2014, 8:45 PM
Bodyweight: 201.2 lbs
Volume: 15,370 lbs
SQUAT
Set 1: 45 lbs × 5
Set 2: 95 lbs × 5
Set 3: 135 lbs × 5
Set 4: 185 lbs × 3
Set 5: 225 lbs × 1
Set 6: 275 lbs × 1
Set 7: 315 lbs × 1
Set 8: 350 lbs × 1 (Video Below)
BACK EXTENSION
Set 1: 140 lbs × 10
Set 2: 140 lbs × 10
Set 3: 140 lbs × 10
LEG EXTENSION
Set 1: 140 lbs × 10
Set 2: 140 lbs × 10
Set 3: 140 lbs × 10
Wednesday, April 2, 2014, 8:30 AM
Bodyweight: 201 lbs
Volume: 11,495 lbs
BENCH PRESS
Set 1: 45 lbs × 10
Set 2: 95 lbs × 10
Set 3: 135 lbs × 10
Set 4: 185 lbs × 7
Set 5: 205 lbs × 4
Set 6: 225 lbs × 3
Set 7: 155 lbs × 13
Set 1: 1 reps
Set 2: 2 reps
Set 3: 3 reps
Set 4: 4 reps
Set 5: 5 reps
Set 6: 1 reps
Set 7: 2 reps
Set 8: 3 reps
Set 9: 4 reps
Set 10: 1 reps
Set 11: 2 reps
Set 12: 3 reps
Set 13: 1 reps
Set 14: 2 reps
Set 15: 1 reps
EZ-BAR CURL
Set 1: 65 lbs × 12
Friday, April 4, 2014, 10:45 AM
Bodyweight: 200.2 lbs
Volume: 11,419 lbs
4″ BLOCK PULL
Set 1: 135 lbs × 3
Set 2: 135 lbs × 3
Set 3: 135 lbs × 3
Set 4: 225 lbs × 3
Set 5: 225 lbs × 1
Set 6: 315 lbs × 1
Set 7: 385 lbs × 1
Set 8: 435 lbs × 1
Set 9: 485 lbs × 1 (Video Below)
HIGH-BAR SQUAT
Set 1: 45 lbs × 10
Set 2: 95 lbs × 10
Set 3: 135 lbs × 10
Set 4: 185 lbs × 10
Set 5: 225 lbs × 10
Set 6: 275 lbs × 3
Saturday, April 5, 2014, 7:27 AM
Bodyweight: 200.2 lbs
Volume: 9,378 lbs
BENCH PRESS (DUMBBELL)
Set 1: 100 lbs × 10
Set 2: 130 lbs × 10
Set 3: 160 lbs × 10
Set 1: BW + 25 lbs × 1
Set 2: BW + 25 lbs × 2
Set 3: BW + 25 lbs × 3
Set 4: BW + 25 lbs × 1
Set 5: BW + 25 lbs × 2
Set 6: BW + 25 lbs × 1
BICEP CURL
Set 1: 70 lbs × 10
Set 2: 70 lbs × 10
Set 3: 70 lbs × 10
A big believer in practicing what he preaches, Charles Staley trains and competes just like his clients. Every Friday you can read what Charles has done this week in his workout sessions.
