Well long story short, I tweaked my knee two weeks ago. Doing nothing training related. I bounced the wrong way and... ouch.
The good news was that it was just a tweak and I knew nothing was really too messed up. The bad news was that I needed to back off from squats for two weeks.
This actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise. I realized I was pushing squats too hard too soon. An off season isn't the time to grind out sets of five, it's time to build up as much volume and GPP work as you can.
So back to the drawing board I went. I decided that once the knee was pain free, I would keep my reps in the 6-10 range, and focus on tempo and control. I also know that paused squats have worked really well for me, especially when any joint is causing me trouble (any isometric is a godsend for me when I have ouchies).
So the plan is to keep volume high(er) and tempo slow(er) for the next four weeks, then slowly work my way into a peak.
Here's how this week's squat session went
Athletic warm up
I've been doing this for about two weeks now, and I'm noticing a huge difference in how my body and mind feel during training
All for 25m
High knees
Butt kicks
Lunge/twist
Toe touch
Good/Bad girls
Shoulder circles
Squats
Barx10
95x10
135x8
190x8
220x6
245x2x8
245x3x5 paused
220x10x2
Lunges 25mx4
Leg extensionsx4x12
Lying hamstring curlsx4x12
Low back extensionsx4x10