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I apologize for going on for a while but I'm getting somewhat frustrated and there are a lot of little details I've gone over with myself to try to figure out why my squat is stuck at the low 200's.

Started getting back into lifting/vert training after like a year+ off.

My highest 1RM was 300 before i took a break maybe slightly below parallel down and up very fast. I increased my squat last time through squatting but i made my best gains when i was primarily leg pressing and supplementing with lunges and glute raises but it was a very slow process. I used to basically only do 1 rep max and was anal about doing basically the same routine every time. I figured after hearing about people increasing their squat over 300 smoothly if I was smarter with my training this time I could improve it faster. I've struggled worse then ever this time and I'm trying to figure out why.

My squat seemed to go up pretty quickly at first. I think I went up to 225 5 rep and did 245 twice after only a few sessions with a little grinding at the end but not bad rhythm and pretty good form. somebody with some experience watched me and said my form looked good and the weight looked appropriate. I went and next time i couldn't do 225 five times. This continued over a few sessions and ended up scaling back to 215 with shit form. i basically ended up scaling back because my form was ass and i dont think given my strength level it was safe. my leg seemed to cave in or i seemed to lean forward or something would be wrong every time.

the whole thing is odd to me because it seems like i can cut back to basically 185 or lower and STILL struggle. i dont know if i have to much quad strength and have weak hamstrings or glutes but my squat just seems fucked up or out of whack. in the past if i took 10 or 20 off each side i would be able to squat that weight with ease.

I know squatting is difficult for everybody but I do feel like primarily squatting doesn't play to my strengths. I'm very good at just going hard whether its sprinting or leg pressing.  when I squat I feel like I'm trying to remember to focus on 10 different small details (stay on heels, keep glutes type going down, keep good speed, etc etc) so I don't end up not working as hard. so I came up with the plan a week or two ago to do primarily do SL pressing and lunges with some leg curls and glute raises in. I figured that would improve my overall strength and cover all bases and I could mix in some submax squatting to keep the form. I figured it would improve my squat would improve as my general strength improved even if i wasnt going all out with it. since i improved my squat the best in the past mostly leg pressing I thought it ought to work well. after a few sessions with that in mind i went to the gym and was really grinding on the last rep of 205x5. its probably too early to reach a verdict on my secondary squatting plan but it was discouraging since i expected my squat to go smoother.

the whole thing is odd to me why i'm so stuck with my squat. not to mention if i wasnt paying attention to my squat i would actually think my strength was improving. i have been doing 70 consecutive lunges with 2 20 lb dumbells and that seems to go well. i started out doing 50.

i can grab rim with 2 hands fairly easily with a running start and i have been doing sprints and feel explosive and fast. Like my legs don't feel to me like somebody who can't squat 225 5 times.

let me mention 2 other things ive wondered about. on weekdays i usually get like 6 hours a sleep a night. i know i rack up a sleep deficit because come friday i sleep 12 or so hours. could that be stalling me? my girlfriend keeps saying how skinny i am but i cant see that being it either. i'm 156-158ish at 5'10". when i could squat 300 i was probably 160-162. i have been eating a lot less to try to keep my weight down. i am skinny but looking at me i dont look THAT skinny where it would effect gaining muscle especially squatting at such an amateur weight. i know i dont get 160 grams of protein daily but i dont think i ever did so i dont see why that would have me LOSING ground.

so basically my plan now is try to get more sleep, take 3 or so scoops of protein power a day and continue my plan of doing lots of legpressing, lunges, glute, raises, leg curls, calf raises, and plyos, and hope it resolves itself i suppose. i know a squat video would probably be helpful i will try to get that at some point when i can get my girlfriend to tag along. i dont know if maybe i should go back to doing mainly 1 rep work since that worked better last time? i figured it might be easier if i didnt since it seemed like i worked my butt off for a pretty mediocre 1rm. i thought from hearing others experience you could progress pretty far doing 5 reps mostly and rarely have to grind or kill yourself to get through which doing 1 rep i was always having to get myself hyped as hell and failing a lot. maybe i'm completely off base but i think it HAS to lack of sleep. Even if I'm not getting 160 grams of protein or if my hamstrings are weak or whatever I would still think at this level I would be progressing not completely stuck. especially when i'm giving it basically 100% in the weight room.

 im perplexed by the whole thing.

I know I typed this up horribly but if you skim over it and have any suggestions or thoughts it would be greatly appreciated. I suppose if I had to come up with just one question it would be can getting 5 or 6 hours of sleep on average (sometimes as little as 4) 5 days a week completely fuck up your squatting progress?