Pause squats will be interesting.

Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 19, week 4

• Work Set – Squat (working max: 305#)
  • 2x5x45 (warmup)
  • 2x5x120
  • 2x5x155
  • 2x5x185
  • 1x5x185 (paused)

• Work Set – Bench Press (working max: 240#)
  • 2x5x45 (warmup)
  • 2x5x95
  • 2x5x120
  • 2x5x145
• Assistance – DB Rows
  • 2 x 25 x 45
• Assistance – Pulldown Abs (standing)
  • 3 x 15 x 60
• 100 rep work – JM Presses, Face Pulls

It’s deload week, so nothing much to say. Just get in, do a little work, get blood flowing, don’t put anything too hard, and go home.

I did want to try out pause squats tho, since I’ll be adding them in next cycle. My question has been: how much to do? What’s the right weight? What’s right number of sets/reps? People have been down this road, so why not learn from their wisdom and experience, right?

Found this post (well, comment) from Paul Carter:

(“Tiny David” asked):

Quick Question. How would you incorporate pause squatting into a 5-3-1 template?

I’ll run “boring but big” for a few more cycles so I was thinking-
Squat 5-3-1
Squat 5×10
Pause squats (light, but not sure reps and sets?)

Or Do some pause squats on my deadlift day?

Thoughts?

(Paul’s reply):

I wouldn’t do pause squats for 10. Ever. 5 at the most. They really zap you and you have to hold your breathe in the bottom.

If you’re already doing the BBB template, I wouldn’t add more squatting to that. I’d run 531 and do pause squats after with what you used on your first set.

So on the 5 week use 65%x 5

On the 3 week use 70% x 5

On the 531 week use 75% x 3

that’s how I would do it.

So there we go. I saw a lot of Cube Method folks would do a similar thing, but maybe 3 sets of 10. One thing Paul’s reply doesn’t make clear is the number of sets, but from a subsequent comment he made, I get the feeling that 5 sets is where to go. But I could be wrong. My approach will be to strive for at least 3 sets, ideally go for 5, but if I have to work up to 5 then I do because I’d rather do 3 strong sets than 5 half-assed ones, y’know?

Thus today after my last normal set, I left the 185 on the bar and did 1 pause set of 5. My pause? Seems that’s another variable people will manipulate, but if the main point of pause squats is to lose momentum and the stretch reflex out of the hole, then I figured well… go down until I settle in, lose momentum, stay for a “still” moment, then come back up. So that was what? 2-3 seconds? That’s fine. I’m not going to count, just ensure I have come full stop, wait a sec, then back up. And I can tell with the 185 that this is going to be fun. 🙂