Date: July 14, 2026
Age: 39
Bodyweight: ~81 kg
Context: This was your final planned lower-body strength session before your July 20–28 work trip. You returned to squats after recently prioritizing deadlifts, with the goal of maintaining squat strength rather than aggressively progressing it.
Squats
Warm-Up
| Load | Sets × Reps | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Bar | 1 × 15 | |
| 60 kg | 1 × 10 | |
| 80 kg | 1 × 8 | |
| 100 kg | 1 × 5 | Moved normally and felt noticeably better than during the June 30 session |
Working Sets
| Load | Sets × Reps | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 115 kg | 2 × 5 | RPE 8.5–9; required focus and intentional execution, but reps were not grindy |
Session observation: Although 115 kg moved successfully, it was not a load you would want to approach casually or without being mentally and technically locked in. Given the reduced squat frequency over the last several weeks, this was not unexpected.
Hamstring Curls
| Load | Sets × Reps |
|---|---|
| 53 kg | 2 × 12 |
Leg Extensions
| Load | Sets × Reps |
|---|---|
| 68 kg | 3 × 12 |
Back Extensions
| Sets × Reps |
|---|
| 3 × 15 |
Ab Crunch Machine
| Load | Sets × Reps |
|---|---|
| 35 kg | 2 × 15 |
Treadmill
| Duration | Speed | Incline |
|---|---|---|
| 20 min | 5 | 7 |
Session Interpretation / Why This Session Matters
Your interpretation is reasonable: this does not look like meaningful squat strength loss.
It looks more like reduced squat-specific familiarity and efficiency.
Over the last several weeks, your lower-body emphasis has shifted toward:
- Deadlifts at 150 kg × 3 × 3
- Leg press
- Dumbbell Romanian deadlifts
- Lower-body accessory work
Those exercises maintain and develop a lot of the underlying musculature used in squats, but they do not fully maintain the skill of squatting heavy.
Squats require their own specific coordination:
- maintaining upper-back tension,
- bracing under axial load,
- controlling the descent,
- staying balanced over the midfoot,
- maintaining the correct hip and knee relationship,
- and producing force from the bottom position.
When squat frequency decreases, those qualities can become slightly less automatic even if your legs have not become weaker.
That matches your description well:
“It wasn’t grindy, but not a load that I’d want to casually commit to if I wasn’t locked in.”
That sounds less like insufficient strength and more like a load that currently requires deliberate technical execution.
Comparison With June 30
Your previous squat session was:
- 100 × 5 felt somewhat sluggish at approximately RPE 7.5–8
- You reduced the planned work from 115 to 110 × 2 × 5
Today:
- 100 × 5 moved fine
- You successfully completed 115 × 2 × 5
So despite 115 feeling demanding, today’s performance was still an improvement over the previous squat exposure.
You returned to the planned load rather than needing to autoregulate downward.
Why 115 Felt Relatively Heavy
Several factors probably contributed:
- Reduced squat frequency
You have been alternating lower-body movements and recently performed more deadlift work. Squat-specific efficiency is probably slightly detrained.
- Monday’s total workload
Yesterday included:
- 122.5 × 4 × 3 bench
- Paused bench
- 42 kg incline dumbbells
- High rows
- Pushdowns
- Pull-ups
- Hanging leg raises
- Treadmill
Although this was primarily upper body, heavy benching still requires substantial full-body tension and systemic effort.
- The load itself
115 kg for sets of five is not a warm-up load relative to your current squat training. At approximately RPE 8.5–9, it should require concentration.
The fact that the reps were not grindy suggests you remained in control even though the sets were demanding.
Current Lower-Body Picture
Deadlift
150 × 3 × 3 @ RPE 7.5–8
Very stable and repeatable.
Squat
115 × 2 × 5 @ RPE 8.5–9
Strength is maintained, but reduced exposure means the movement currently requires more deliberate execution.
Lower-Body Accessories
Consistent:
- Hamstring curls
- Leg extensions
- Back extensions
- Leg press and RDL work when included
I don’t see evidence that your lower body has meaningfully regressed. Your squat is simply less practiced than your deadlift right now.
Implication for Wednesday Bench
Today’s squat session was somewhat demanding, but the total volume was low:
- only two working sets,
- no additional compound leg work,
- normal accessory volume.
I would not automatically change Wednesday’s bench plan because of it.
The planned reduced session still makes sense:
- 102.5 kg × 4 × 3
- 120 × 1
- 125 × 2
- reduced accessories
- Thursday complete recovery
However, tomorrow morning, assess general fatigue. If the legs feel tired but your upper body feels good, proceed normally. Lower-body soreness alone should not be a major issue for the bench session.
Biggest Takeaway
You returned to 115 × 2 × 5, completed every rep without grinding, and correctly recognized that reduced squat frequency has made the weight feel less automatic.
There is no need to force squat progression right now. Your primary goal remains rebuilding toward a 140 kg raw bench, while lower-body work maintains strength and balance.
For the current phase, 115 × 2 × 5 is sufficient. After your work trip, if you want the squat to feel more routine again, simply returning to more consistent weekly exposure will likely produce a rapid improvement in perceived effort—even before adding more weight.