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Post finished. I don't understand how I went from 405x4 to 335 in about a month.

Here's some squat history:.

Basic set up:
Heavy day - 1x4, 2x7
Light day - 1x2
Heavy day - 1x4, 2x7

Eventually i switched from mon-wed-fri to mon-wed-sat because it fit my schedule better.
By the end I deloaded. Notice I started from 335x4 to 405x4 in just 7 weeks or so. A lof of my log data deleted so not everything is 100% accurate until the 4th week. But I DO recall gaining 10lbs a week on my 4RM.

Mon - 335 x 4 | 295 x 7 | 295 x 7
Wed - 340 x 2
Fri - 345 x 4 | 300 x 7 | 300 x 7

Mon - 350 x 4 | 305 x 7 | 305 x 7
Wed - 355 x 2
Sat - 360 x 4 |310 x 7 | 310 x 7

Mon - 355 x 4 | 315 x 7 | 315 x 7
Wed - 360 x 2
Fri - 360 x 4 | 320 x 7 | 320 x 7

Mon - 365 x 2
Wed - 365 x 4 | 325 x 7 | 325 x 7
Sat  - 370 x 4

Mon - 375 x 4 | 330 x 7 | 330 x 7
Wed - 375 x 2
Sat - 380 x 4 | 335 x 7 | 335 x 5

Mon - 385 x 2
Wed - 385 x 4 | 335 x 7 | 335 x 7
Sat - 390 x 4 | 340 x 7 | 340 x 5

Mon - 395 x 4  | 340 x 7 | 340 x 7
Wed - 395 x 1
Sat - 400 x 4 | 345 x 7 | 345 x 7

Mon - 405 x 1
Wed - 405 x 4 | 355 x 3
Fri - 365 x 1

Mon - 405 x 4 notice i did this TWICE, it was a consistent 4RM
Wed - 365 x 1
Fri - 405 x 1 (de-loading)

Tue - 405 x 1 (de-loading) but 405x1 felt VERY difficult
Fri - 405 x 1 (end of de-load)

Tue - 405 x 1 VERY difficult, thought I would go for 405x3 but couldn't
Sat - 355 x 5 | 355 x 5 | 355 x 5 extremely difficult

Tue - 345 x 5 | 345 x 5 | 345 x 3 Couldn't even do 3 sets of this
Sat - 345 x 5 | 345 x 5 | 345 x 5 Barely went up

Thu - 335 x 5 | 335 x 5 | 335 x 5 Continued decline in weight, this was near failure




HOW DOES THIS HAPPEN?!

What could be the cause for my plummeting squat gain?
FWIW, I was the same weight of the 405x4 thru 355x5. THEN I started to cut weight (lost 3 pounds so far, that's it).

I think it could be anything. You could be sick and not know about it (some mild infection or something). Or it could be something as easy as not having the correct stance (too narrow of a stance throwing you off the rhytm) or something along those lines.

I mean, it's obvious you can't lose enough muscle in that time frame for this loss to occur so it has to be something else. Bad sleeping/bad eating/infection/overtraining/going to the gym at a different time of day than usual/a combination of factors.

Well let me narrow it down:


Bad sleeping X
 - Probably not. These gains were made over school break and started to decline still over school break. Had a bunch of sleep throughout.

Stance X
 - Stance has not changed, though I did notice a great loss in bar speed. That, however, is due to the strength loss.

Diet X
 - I highly doubt this as well. I was at a consistent 200g protein a day, and stayed between 207-210 pounds throughout the final 5 weeks or so which means calories were at ~maintenance.

Supplements X
 - I doubt this. I continued to take creatine everday as well as protein.

Muscle loss X
 - I doubt this as well. I would have lost a bunch of weight if my squat dropped by 70lbs due to muscle loss. I didn't lose weight until I purposely started cutting AFTER the drop, and I've only lost 4lbs so far.

Neural Strength loss ?
 - It has to be this. If I didn't lose strength from muscle, then it must be from the CNS or something. There's no other place to lose the strength unless my limbs magically changed proportions along with my muscle insertions. Neural strength loss can be due to technique (which I already covered) or something else. Could it be from the de-load? Can a de-load account for a 70lb loss in the squat?!

Ok I had just typed up a long post, but the summary was yes, it is all neural.

First though I'd liketo know,
1. Why did you deload?
2. How much did you "feel" like squatting during those first 7 weeks, versus the other 4 weeks when you lost strength?

After one week of deloading, you said 405 felt heavy. From my own experience, i think this is because the volume was WAY too low. Keeping voume higher will keep the motor pattern for squatting intact. That's one fo the benefits of lifting for higher reps, versus performing singles and soubles all the time, your body becomes used to this movement, and you feel like doing it more.

The past two months with deadlifting, I had the same problem, I deloaded and got weaker. I conclude it's from low volume heavy work, btu also starting bounds and sprints, which change the neural drive. So right now, I chenged my program entirely to accomodate this, because I can't make significant gains in deadlifting while bounding for isntance.

I'm wondering how much you "felt" like squatting because that can tell you how recovered you are in some circumstances. I don't think you were lacking in recovery during the last four wees, In fact I think you were taking too much time off, and your body was not used to this.

Ok I had just typed up a long post, but the summary was yes, it is all neural.

First though I'd liketo know,
1. Why did you deload?

I wanted to come back strong for a 405x5 on video, a milestone I never thought I would achieve.

2. How much did you "feel" like squatting during those first 7 weeks, versus the other 4 weeks when you lost strength?

When I was making gains I couldn't wait to go squat, but after I dropped so much I lost a lot of motivation.

After one week of deloading, you said 405 felt heavy. From my own experience, i think this is because the volume was WAY too low. Keeping voume higher will keep the motor pattern for squatting intact.

Work sets were 4 reps. I thought 1 rep for a de-load, 2 or 3x a week would be fine. I think I only did it twice a week though. Maybe I should have done doubles and some back-off sets with more reps then.

i might have jinxd u when i asked for the "getting pinned vids".. i knew eventually something like this would happen. if it was that easy, (7 week in your case) then everybody would be squatting 4 plates... it just makes taking a 405x5 vid that much more rewarding if you get it.

IMO - you burned out because you are dishing so much effort in getting the x4 and the x7 weights.. there should be a time to focus on just getting the top set of 4, or the multi set of 7.. can't have all at once.

the worst you can do right now is stop lifting heavy. at least single a near max so you still get the form (of lifting heavy) going.
 

The mixed sets of 4 and 7 was an experiment to see if it would stimulate quick gains and it did... quick gains, and sustained gains for 7 weeks straight.

I'm not sure if I burned out, I probably could have continued at a rate of 5lbs a week instead of 10lbs a week after that for like 2 weeks. I was close though.

I thought the de-load would help since I was near-burnout, but I guess I just de-loaded improperly. This is maybe the third time something like this has happened to my squat after a de-load.

And I can't believe burnouts drop my squat ~70lbs that's insane. Took so much effort to get there.

I remember when I was struggling to squat 130x1 one week ago after not squatting for a week straight... and complaining about it... and then I just came back the next workout and squatted 130x5 no problems. So... who knows? Maybe the next time you hit the gym you're going to squat 405x5 no problems.