Should Daily Maxes be slow, grinders?

[Xi Xia]

Hi there,

I started squatting almost everyday about 45 days ago and I got a question about the amount of effort and the speed at which my squats should be moving.

I find a daily max and then I do doubles, triples for a while. Many of my daily maxes are grinders, just a fight to get up. My doubles and trips end up being grinders on the last reps as well. I'm starting to wonder if that is too much weight and I'm doing this wrong??? Or is that the effort I need to output.

I was watching some pro O lifter squat videos and it never seems like they grind a rep out. There is some stalling but it seems always smooth and relatively fast. I hesitate to use a few videos of o lifting legends as that could be the exception to the rule.

I don't have an Olifting coach with this experience to watch me so I'm just going by feel. Any advice?

Xi Xia

[Brian DeGennaro]

Grinding out reps is just a waste of energy, in my eyes. Also you are ingraining some bad patterning by attempting heavy weights and grinding them out. I call it a max for myself or others when the speed slows down compared to previous reps and attempts.

[glennpendlay]

Hi there,

I started squatting almost everyday about 45 days ago and I got a question about the amount of effort and the speed at which my squats should be moving.

I find a daily max and then I do doubles, triples for a while. Many of my daily maxes are grinders, just a fight to get up. My doubles and trips end up being grinders on the last reps as well. I'm starting to wonder if that is too much weight and I'm doing this wrong??? Or is that the effort I need to output.

I was watching some pro O lifter squat videos and it never seems like they grind a rep out. There is some stalling but it seems always smooth and relatively fast. I hesitate to use a few videos of o lifting legends as that could be the exception to the rule.

I don't have an Olifting coach with this experience to watch me so I'm just going by feel. Any advice?

Xi Xia

I am of the opinion that you can, and maybe even should, get "grindy" maybe one day a week or so, might be a bit different for different people... but the vast majority of work should be moving fairly fast.

[Xi Xia]

Thanks for the advice...I think I might need to back off the weight a bit and get smoother, faster reps in.

The first 30 days was fun and it was easy to get pumped up for PR attempts and looked forward to them. Now, there has been a change. Physically, everything feels fine but its just hard to get neurally jazzed for the big lifts. Almost feel like I'm forcing myself to get excited, rather than just be excited since I'm attempting to squat heavy.

I'll shoot some videos and if anyone can critique, that would be great

[glennpendlay]

Thanks for the advice...I think I might need to back off the weight a bit and get smoother, faster reps in.

The first 30 days was fun and it was easy to get pumped up for PR attempts and looked forward to them. Now, there has been a change. Physically, everything feels fine but its just hard to get neurally jazzed for the big lifts. Almost feel like I'm forcing myself to get excited, rather than just be excited since I'm attempting to squat heavy.

I'll shoot some videos and if anyone can critique, that would be great

back off the weights 10% or so for a few days... get the enthusium flowing again...

[Xi Xia]

back off the weights 10% or so for a few days... get the enthusium flowing again...

Thanks Glenn for the advice. That is the direction I feel like I should head, just wasn't sure if I should try to push through or would be "slacking" if I backed off.

[Puffin]

I was under the impression that every 6 weeks or so there should be a recovery week scheduled in at a lower percentage anyway. At 45 days you're a little over 6 weeks, so I don't think a recovery week is slacking so much as part of what I see as a common schedule.

[NickHorton]

I was under the impression that every 6 weeks or so there should be a recovery week scheduled in at a lower percentage anyway. At 45 days you're a little over 6 weeks, so I don't think a recovery week is slacking so much as part of what I see as a common schedule.

I would argue that if you're working hard enough, then you should only be doing about 2 or 3 weeks of heavy loading followed by a deload week.

On the other hand, if you have been slowly ramping up over the 45 days, you're probably fine. There seems to be some variation in this. But, we are doing 2 or 3 weeks heavy, 1 week backoff, or 2 weeks backoff before a contest.

[johnnya]

From my experience it's repeated heavy grinders that start to tax the recovery the most.

[mhansbrough]

This is something I've struggled with ever since becoming a weightlifter. My squat/leg strength has always been weak, thoough I jump very well for someone at a low level. The question I have is if your squating and only grinding once per wwek, how much volume are you performing? My pb's are 127.5/162.5 and 190 squat at 94kgs (6 yrs ago). I've never been concerned with "muscles" but I've always had well developed erectors and you wouldn't even be able to tell I've ever even done any leg work. Though I hate to classify training this way, my training has always been more "Russian" style. I've experimented with doing anywhere from 20-36% of total NL in squats and have always struggled. Sorry for length of post, but any help would be greatly appreciated!

[NickHorton]

Sorry for length of post, but any help would be greatly appreciated!

LOL! My friend, that ain't long. Check my long-winded posts on the site and my blog ... I'm a blabber! :)

As to your question:

If you've never given daily squatting a try, it can be fun! It may or may not end up being your cup of tea, but you should certainly give it a go if you never have.

I've got a few lifters who only make serious progress if they squat all the time. Others are different. I think it's a feel thing. But, you have to give it a real go. I'd try it for 8 weeks and work in slow.

Recently how I've been going about it is first doing only front squats to max 3 days a week with a few back off doubles at 90%. Once they seem good with that, we add front squats on 3 other days but not as heavy - so, now they are squatting 6 days a week. Then we switch to back squats heavy 3 days a week with front squats on light days still not going to max. Then go to max on all of it every day with only back off sets on back squat days (M-W-F: max + back off doubles/triples on back squat; T-H-S: max on Front squat w/out any backoff sets). Finally, we do the same thing but add in some back off sets on the front squats.

Honestly, I'd love to see the progression Glenn uses to get people from doing the beginners 5x5 stuff to transitioning into the Bulgarian-like daily squatting since I also like to start my beginners with Texas method squatting, but eventually want to see more frequency as they get farther along.

My own current version was adapted from what John Broz has said he does, but I am always looking to improve my methods.

Anyone else got a progression they use that has worked well?

[Wlfdg]

Anyone else got a progression they use that has worked well?
Mon/Thurs - Overhead Squat
Tues/Fri - Front squat
Wed/Sat - Back Squat

Thurs,Fri,Sat are the heaviest days.