Slowing down on squats

[kravi]

I'm in the middle of SS, and need some advice.

I just did 3 x 5 at 215 and my form got sloppy. I'm going to repeat it next session.

I was up to 220 about 6 weeks ago, but went overseas and was unable to lift, and it took me a wee bit of time to get back to 215.

I'm trying to figure out if this is a natural "slowing" spot, or if I'm just not doing enough volume with warmup sets?

Usually I warmup 1 x 5 at 40, 1 x5 at 70, 1 x 5 at 120, and 1 x 3 at 170 (more or less) prior to doing the 3 x 5s.

Is this sufficient warmup? Is it too little? Is there a reason my squats are not making gains? My DLs, presses, bench, etc are all still advancing (relatively) easily.

--Me

[Brian Zahn]

When i warmup i do higher reps with the lower weight to get my knees and back feeling alright

My set/rep scheme yesterday was

45x10 135x8 205x7 260x6 320x3x5 take it as you will. Honestly there is probably some other reason for the slowdown as most people cruise through to the mid-upper 200's. Form video? height/weight? bodyweight trending upwards? sleep? doing any other sports or running? all of these impact your lifts.

[kravi]

Thanks for the response. Obviously if I'm slowing down at a spot where others tend to cruise, I'm obviously doing something wrong. This got me to video my squat.

I'm looking at my form, and my lower back is tending to loose its arch at the bottom of the squat. Outside of being dangerous, I assume this could also impact my ability to properly drive my hips up and thus have an easier time with squats, yes?

Hopefully fixing that (flexibility issue, I think) will make it significantly easier to squat in the 200s. Thanks!

--Me