In order to determine if progress has stalled, we need to define what progress looks like. Progress comes down to three components: 1) the metric you are using, 2) exercise selection, and 3) the number of repetitions. For today’s blog, I will be using the 1RM squat as an example.
In the beginning, almost anything will work to increase your 1RM. The quickest way to get your squat stronger is to train the same squat variation week in and week out. You’ll become highly adapted to squatting. Then, you can enter a peak phase. A peak phase is a great way to test your 1RM, often involving 1-6 heavy training exposures with loads above 90%. Afterward, you test your 1RM.
However, peaking for a 1RM has its pitfalls. It can be incredibly stressful on the body and may take anywhere from 4 to 12 weeks, consuming a lot of training time. During a peak, training loads increase, and so does the risk of injury. If you peak too often, you lose time that could have been spent developing technique, general strength, and hypertrophy. Not to mention, there is a reduced focus on addressing muscular imbalances and developing optimal recovery strategies.
When a lifter has made significant progress, the law of diminishing returns begins to take effect. This means the more time you put in, the less you get out. The methods that once worked may no longer yield the same results. This isn’t just due to program staleness but also the accumulation of injuries and soft tissue limitations, which can prevent similar volumes, intensities, and squat styles from delivering the same gains as before.
The best way to prevent this is by incorporating different types of squats. For example, using a box squat or a cambered bar squat can have a novel effect, leading to quick gains in that variation. This is because the body rapidly develops new motor patterns. By rotating the exercise out before maximum adaptation occurs, the body becomes efficient enough to express strength close to, but not quite at, a true 1RM in that variation.
The genius of variation lies in the phrase “close to.” Because you are never truly expressing a "true" 1RM, you are able to recover far better than if you were to test a real 1RM. By rotating through different exercises over the course of a year, and not repeating any variation twice, you’ll have a year’s worth of variations. If done correctly, and barring any major training setbacks, you should be slightly stronger than when you last performed each variation. This approach spreads progress across many different types of 1RM squats. Don’t be surprised if some variations are close to or even exceed your regular squat.
But what about progress with my 1RM squat? After taking time to step back from the main lift, you can peak your regular squat again. Some people align this with a powerlifting meet or simply do it in the gym. Make sure you take the proper amount of time and exposures to train over 90% in preparation for your nervous system to handle and execute your 1RM squat.
GODSPEED.