A stall is a pattern, not a session
One grim Tuesday at 130 kg is not a stall. You slept badly, you ate late, the bar felt heavy. That’s a bad day.
A stall is the same work, flat, for about three weeks. Same weight, same reps, no easier. That’s the program telling you the dose is wrong.
Three doses, one squat
A program can only change three things: how heavy, how much, and how often. If you’ve squatted 3 × 5 at 130 kg for a month, one of those has gone stale.
| If this is true | Change this | Try |
|---|---|---|
| You do one hard squat day a week | How often | Add a lighter day: 3 × 5 at 110 kg on Friday |
| Every set is near your limit | How heavy | Drop to 120 kg and do 5 × 5, then build back |
| You only ever do triples or fives | How much | Run 4 × 8 at 105 kg for four weeks |
| You’ve not had a lighter week in months | Nothing yet | Take a deload first |
Five rules before you change anything else
- 01
Check three weeks, not one
Write down your top set for each of the last three weeks. If it’s still climbing, you’re not stuck.
- 02
Deload first
Fatigue hides strength. A lighter week often shows the squat was never stuck at all.
- 03
Change one dose at a time
More days and more sets and less weight all at once teaches you nothing.
- 04
Give it four weeks
A change needs a few weeks to show. Judge it at the end, not on day two.
- 05
Then look at technique
If the dose is right and it still won’t move, film a set from the side. Now a cue might help.
Most squats that look stuck are simply under-dosed or over-tired. Fix the program and the lift usually follows.
From the Compound founder. Notes on training, not medical advice.