FuBarbell

There will come a time in a weightlifter’s career where their lifts start to stall and PRs are fewer and far between. Welcome to Intermediate Land — where you snatch, snatch and snatch some more for maybe a kilo or two of improvement every now and then. Improving technique, increasing volume, and adjusting intensity are all ways to manipulate a program to further enhance physiological adaptations and promote positive stress, but this all takes time and a basic knowledge of periodization to tweak properly. So how does one still learning the ropes of proper programming punch through the walls of plateaus?

Never fear.

If there’s one relationship that can be drawn over and over again, it is that as leg strength improves then so does lifting potential. Get your legs stronger and start PRing again. It is just that simple.

I like experimenting on my group of weightlifters to see what works. Fortunately for me, I have their trust and I haven’t killed anyone yet. We are currently in a 21 Day Squat Challenge where we squat to a max daily and on several of those days we do a bunch of back off sets. I’m sure I will post about the results of these three weeks in future articles and speak of our experiences. Until then, try out a proven squat program from Coach Tim Swords of Team Houston Weightlifting. This is a 7 week program; and on the first cycle, all of our lifters experienced anywhere from 20-30 pounds of gains on both their back and front squats. Not too shabby if you ask me.

For a template of Coach Swords program, check out www.facebook.com/FuBarbell/notes

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Tim Swords is the coach of Team Houston Weightlifting in Houston, TX. Excellent program to increase leg strength for application towards the fast lifts.

Week 1

Front Squat

• Warm-up: 6×60%, 6×65%
• Working set: 6x2x70% (6 sets of 2 at 70%)

Front Squat

• Warm-up: 2×70%, 2x75%
• Working set: 6x3x80%

Back Squat

• Warm-up: 2×60%, 2×65%
• Working set: 6x2x70%

Week 2

Front Squat

• Warm-up: 2×70%, 2×75%
• Working set: 6x4x80%

Back Squat

• Warm-up: 2×75%, 2×80%
• Working set: 3x2x85%

Front Squat

• Warm-up: 2×70%, 2×75%
• Working set: 5x3x80%

Week 3

Front Squat

• Warm-up: 3×60%, 3×65%
• Working set: 6x3x70%

Front Squat

• Warm-up: 6×70%, 6×75%
• Working set: 6x3x80%

Back Squat

• Warm-up: 3×60%, 3×65%
• Working set: 6x3x70%

Week 4

Front Squat

• Warm-up: 5×70%, 5×75%
• Working set: 3x5x85%

Back Squat

• Warm-up: 4×65%, 4×70%
• Working set: 3x4x75%

Front Squat

• Warm-up: 4×75%, 4×85%
• Working set: 3x4x90%

Week 5

Front Squat

• Warm-up: 2×60%, 2×70%
• Working set: 6x2x75%

Front Squat

• Warm-up: 3×75%, 3×85%
• Working set: 2x3x95%

Back Squat

• Warm-up: 3×75%, 3×85%
• Working set: 2x2x95%

Week 6

Front Squat

• Warm-up: 5×80%, 2×90%
• Working Set: 1x2x100%

Front Squat

• Warm-up: 5×60%, 3×70%
• Working set: 3x3x75%

Front Squat

• Warm-up: 5×75%, 3×85%
• Working Set: 1×95%, 1×105%, Up to a MAX FRONT SQUAT

Week 7

Back Squat

• Warm-up: 3×70%, 3×80%
• Working set: 2x3x85%

Front Squat

• Warm-up: 5×60%, 5×65%
• Working set: 6x2x70%

Back Squat

• Warm-up: 2×70%, 2×80%
• Working set: MAX BACK SQUATx1