077 Build Your Squat

Vital with Paul Weber

Squat 1RM “Nearly Perfectly Correlated” with Weightlifting Performance

The relationship between squat 1RM (both front and back squat) and weightlifting total had already been established in competitive weightlifters.

A recent study confirmed this relationship across 13 weightlifters who had qualified for the 2023 World Championships.

This simply describes the properties of the best lifters, it does not make any direct statements about how to train for weightlifting.

Here are some mistakes I see among CrossFitters when it comes to the Olympic lifts:

1. Going heavy too often

Lifting heavy loads requires effort. When effort is up, cognitive engagement is down. When cognitive engagement is down, you’re not sensitive to errors.

Error sensitivity is essential to improving how you move. If you’re never sensitive to errors when doing the movement, you’ll always move the same way.

Not only can you not be as sensitive to errors when the weight is heavy, but you also can’t do as many reps.

Lower the load and do more reps, so you have more opportunities to improve your skill.
Low Load High Volume Weightlifting

• 30-60% 1RM
• 30-60 reps per session
• Small enough complexes and long enough rest periods to keep fatigue low
• 1-2x/week/lift

Once you can snatch 65% of your back squat, that’s when you can be confident that increases in your squat 1RM will mean increases in your snatch and clean and jerk.

2. Always performing the full lifts

Not only do many CrossFitters perform the Olympic lifts at high percentages most of the time, they’re also doing it in the full lifts.

When you’re skilled in the snatch and clean and jerk, indicated by a 65% snatch:back squat ratio, the full lifts induce a significant amount of fatigue.

This fatigue can interfere with gains in the squat.

Once athletes achieve a 65% snatch:back squat ratio, if they still need to improve their Olympic total, I shift the emphasis to improving their squat strength.

The squat is going to allow you to load the legs more, achieve more mechanical tension in the working muscles in the Olympic lifts, thus achieving more muscle growth, which is highly correlated with long term strength gains.

Training the squat requires lots of mental acuity and neural drive.

If you’re pre-fatiguing yourself with heavy, full lifts prior to your squats, you could be slowing down your strength gains.

This is why it’s important to prioritize, especially as you get more advanced, not just the general discipline of strength but the exercise.

If you need to improve your 1RM in the squat, train it fresh, train it enough, prioritize it.

Front or Back Squat

• 2-10 working sets per week
• Working set = 7.5-9.5 RPE
• Sets of 5 – allows you to achieve lots of mechanical tension with less joint and connective tissue stress than sets of 1-4
• 2x/week frequency
• With advanced trainees I will progress the number of top sets from 2-10.

Accessory Work

• Another Squat Pattern in the 5-15 rep range (High Bar Squat, Front Squat, Wedge Squat, SSB Squat)
• A single leg squat in the 5-15 rep range (DB RFESS, SSB RFESS, FFE Reverse Lunge, Reverse Lunge)
• I will also include a posterior chain accessory, though this does not contribute very directly to squat strength (glute ham raise, back extension, RDL, SLDL, good morning)
• With advanced trainees I will progress the number of top sets from 1 per exercise to 3 per exercise.

Take this approach if you already snatch 65% of back squat and still need a bigger Olympic total.