Feel wrecked after HLM heavy squats

[Aaron Montgomery]

Hey Andy, I've been running HLM for about 8 weeks now. My last medium day squat was 265 3x5, and yesterday's heavy squat session was 290 3x5. First set felt super heavy, second set felt good, third set I felt sick (had to grind out reps 4 and 5).

I tested my 1RM recently (took a week off due to tweaking my back, so I thought it would be good to attempt a 1 RM after the rest) and it was a comfortable 330 (probably could have hit 335 or 340 with acceptable form). That puts my 3x5 squat at almost 88% of my recent 1RM. I don't think I can do that again (needed motrin and a nap afterwards). Should I attempt 295x5 then do 5-10% back offs next heavy day? Frankly, I think TM 5x5 @ 75% of my 1RM would be way easier than what I did yesterday. 290 would have been comfortable triples, but was miserable for 5's.

Goal right now is to hit a 405lb squat before the year is out. I'll deal with whatever volume/rep scheme you think is best to move from 290 3x5 (330lb actual 1RM) to 405x1 over the next 6 months.

Possibly relevant info - Male, 6'1", age 30, 200lb, gaining weight on 4500 cals/day, good sleep, good test. levels, low stress, have free time before school starts again in the fall.

Thanks for the help, and I liked your recent videos on youtube. Good stuff!

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Well, you can keep the HLM template and just change the way in which you do your heavy day. One strategy might be to use the volume cycling approach preceded by one heavy set of 1-3

[Aaron Montgomery]

So I could do the following on heavy day, based on your training volume cycling article:

Week 1 - Heavy set of 1-3, 75% of 1RM 5x6
Week 2 - Heavy set of 1-3, 80% of 1RM 5x5
Week 3 - Heavy set of 1-3, 85% of 1RM 5-6x3
Rinse and repeat, taking an actual 1 RM on week 7

How would I organize medium day on such a scheme? Cycle volume using 90% of heavy day for only 3 sets, stick with 3x5 @ 90% of actual 1RM the whole cycle, or something else?

Thanks Andy!

[Eric Larousse]

So maybe something like

1-3 rm rotated weekly followed by
3x3-5@75,80,85% rotated weekly

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

So I could do the following on heavy day, based on your training volume cycling article:

Week 1 - Heavy set of 1-3, 75% of 1RM 5x6
Week 2 - Heavy set of 1-3, 80% of 1RM 5x5
Week 3 - Heavy set of 1-3, 85% of 1RM 5-6x3
Rinse and repeat, taking an actual 1 RM on week 7

How would I organize medium day on such a scheme? Cycle volume using 90% of heavy day for only 3 sets, stick with 3x5 @ 90% of actual 1RM the whole cycle, or something else?

Thanks Andy!

So maybe:

Monday:
Week 1 85% x 4-6, 75% 3-4 sets 5-8
Week 2 90% x 2-4, 80% 3-4 sets 4-6
Week 3 95% x 1-3, 85% 3-4 sets 3-5

I'd make light day about 10-20% less than your volume work for 2-3 sets. Medium Day is 5-10% less than your volume work for 3-4 sets.

[Aaron Montgomery]

So maybe:

Monday:
Week 1 85% x 4-6, 75% 3-4 sets 5-8
Week 2 90% x 2-4, 80% 3-4 sets 4-6
Week 3 95% x 1-3, 85% 3-4 sets 3-5

I'd make light day about 10-20% less than your volume work for 2-3 sets. Medium Day is 5-10% less than your volume work for 3-4 sets.

Genius! Thanks Andy! I'll give this a go for a few cycles and report back.