Pivot, Pivot, Pivot!

Have been feeling a bit fatigued recently. For the past 12wks, I've been pushing a bit harder than I maybe should have. Top sets were as prescribed, but added 3% to the drop sets to make the weight more challenging - it's the volume in drop sets that drives a lot of strength adaptations. In hindsight, 1.5-2% was probably a better choice, but the thinking was to make up some of the lost time when I tweaked my back in March.

Coupled with being mostly in a calorie deficit (down 1st (14lbs/6.35kg) since the start of the year), I knew this was a bit risky, so took a "pivot" week for recovery - keeping the intensity relatively high, but with minimal volume.

Video shows 3 squats of similar weights:

• Top: this week, 156.5kg (345lbs/24.6st), 0.25m/s
• Middle: 2wks ago, 155kg (342lbs/24.4st), 0.22m/s
• Bottom: same week in last training block, 157.5kg (347lbs/24.8st), 0.20m/s

The difference in the last 2wks is stark. Not just physically, but being more mentally recovered is so important for performance. It's not that I got "stronger" in those 2wks, although some adaptations are likely to have occurred, it's more that I'm in a better condition to express the strength already earned - putting in the work is important, but so too is allowing yourself to recover so that the results of the work can be realised.

The bottom video is interesting as it's from the same week of the last training block, of which I didn't add anything to drop sets, so that bit extra (albeit on the high side) looks to have had a positive impact - needs dialed in for the next training block iteration.

Ironically, the "best" squat of the 3 is technically the worst, as the bar path plot clearly shows a bit of forward-tilt that I'll need to address. Still, good for confidence with PR attempts only 2wks away - that is if I don't tweak my back like last time!