I thought it would be useful to keep a running log of PPST2's Advanced Pyramid periodization for the squat. Although I'm now in the middle of a successful second cycle, initial onboarding was tense because many of the jumps, particularly in the 3x3 peaking phase, seemed too aggressive to be plausible given my experience from running the Texas Method for over a year. There also was minimal information available from people experienced running a 5x5 pyramid, which is understandable given the niche activity that this is. I hope that anecdotes about my training may fill this gap and be beneficial to others at a similar stage in their training, particularly to those on this forum that taught me how to lift in the first place.

Also if you have any ideas for how to squat without taking 20 minute rests between each set, that would be super.

INSTA-STATS

Name: Sean Stangl
Sex: Male
Age: 25
Weight: 200 (competing 198)
Height: 5'6
Region: California (Boss Barbell Club AKA Dan Green's Gym)
Years Training: 3
Meet Total: 1366

CURRENT TRAINING MAXES

Squat: 515x3 (sleeves)
Bench: 295 3x5
Press: 215 6x3 (SSBBT3-style)
Deadlift: 505x1 (conventional)

I competed in one SPF meet back in November, 9/9, 523/314/529, (totaling 1366). Next meet (USPA) is on August 2nd. But I just enjoy the training, and not so much the peaking and weight maintenance that come with competition. Join me on my journey to get fat and squat my lifetime goal of 600.

TRAINING SCHEDULE

All my lifts are in different stages, but I always train with the same template. Squat is currently a little over Intermediate, so I am just running the 7.5lb/month Adv Pyramid cycle. Bench and Press are trained linearly, with resets/peaking when linear fails. I haven't deadlifted in a very long time due to volume issues during the Texas Method, but added 90lbs to my deadlift 1RM by only squatting, so I'm not terribly worried. I will ideally soon introduce deadlifts leading to the Starr split of haltings/rack pulls/shrugs.

Monday: Squat
Tuesday: Bench, 3x5 +2.5lbs (falling back to 4x4 or 6x4 linear at same weight upon failure)
Wednesday: Squat, sometimes Power Snatch
Thursday: Press, 6x3 +2.5lbs (resetting to 3x5 linear upon failure)
Friday: Squat
Saturday: Bench, 3x5 +2.5lbs