Squatting decline on a calorie deficit

[slash12]

I'm on a diet at present and every single time I have dieted I have found that my ability to squat severly decreases where as other lifts tend to only drop in strength by around 10%. I have heard of people who say that they can increase strength whilst on a diet but to me these mythical creatures must ride to the gym on a Unicorn and train with Santa Clause because I've never seen it happen with any training partners and I've never even managed to maintain strength whilst dieting!

I feel good, my diet is well balanced (I'm on around 2100 cals at 77Kg, 5'10" and sub 10% Body fat) and I'm losing around 1lb per week but when I squat I'm useless compared to when I'm bulking.

So when I squat at present I've noticed its not an issue with my legs but seems to be my core so when pushing upwards my legs seem to be able to push the weight but my core doesn't seem strong enough support my upper body so it becomes a glorified good morning!
This means I have to reduce the weight so I can do reps with good form. When I'm eating 4000 cals a day I obviously don't have this issue but would just be good to find a way round it for when I'm dieting.
Where as previously I would knock out 120kg for 3 x 8, its now more like 90/95kg for 3 x 8!?
Does anybody have any advice on this?

[Fred]

Eat more around the squat workout. You could also try some caffeine or other stimulants before the session as that seems too large strength difference to only be caused by diet. I suspect some of it is mental.

A lot depends on what you are actually eating as well imo. My strength dips if I am on a low carb diet, so I eat more carbs before and after training on lifting days. Problem solved.

[slash12]

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Eat more around the squat workout. You could also try some caffeine or other stimulants before the session as that seems too large strength difference to only be caused by diet. I suspect some of it is mental.

A lot depends on what you are actually eating as well imo. My strength dips if I am on a low carb diet, so I eat more carbs before and after training on lifting days. Problem solved.

I'm already on Kre-alkyn and <competitor pump product> before the gym and they both working well and giving me a good boost.

What you're saying makes sense however, I've experimented with dieting before and have dieted on 2800 calories (declining to 100 calories each week) and still found my squat has gone crap although definately better than when on 2100 calories. If I eat a little more than 2800 cals I'm basically on maintenance!
But why does my deadlift not suffer so significantly as thats a 'bigger' lift??

[James Copping]

It's because you lose stability because your core is shrinking. DOnt sweat it, when you gain weight back it will go back up.

[slash12]

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It's because you lose stability because your core is shrinking. DOnt sweat it, when you gain weight back it will go back up.

So its not just me then?!

What does it mean by my core shrinking??

I'm wondering, if its not something I can fight then it might it be worth minimising the squats and concentrating on other leg exercises that I'm less familiar with like front squats and even getting on the leg press and some other resistance machines and also throw in some good mornings now and then to keep things ticking over so I'm still hitting the legs and at least mimicking squats in some way or another.

[Fred]

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It's because you lose stability because your core is shrinking. DOnt sweat it, when you gain weight back it will go back up.

I know I really shoudn't question crazy James, but does losing a bit of fat off an already very lean core ("sub 10% bodyfat") actually result in that level of instability?

[James Copping]

Yep, if you lose weight you lose stability. Fat around the waist will give you a larger core and hence more stability under bigger loads.

[slash12]

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Yep, if you lose weight you lose stability. Fat around the waist will give you a larger core and hence more stability under bigger loads.

That's interesting, I didn't know that.

I'm hoping to have a better 1RM bench, squat and deadlift per BW at 12 stone than at 13 so will be interesting to see the outcome in a few weeks.

[James Copping]

It will improve pound for pound unless you do something very wrong!

[Skye]

Hi Slash,

During my last cut I lost around 1.5 stone and got to around 9% bodyfat and my squat, deadlift, bench press and pull ups increased each week.

I found that I was only able to do this by doing some key things differently to other cuts where I'd lose strength too:

1 - Focussed my biggest meals around workouts
2 - Focussed all of my carbs on workout days
3 - Reduced volume by 2/3rds - No bicep/tricep work etc, just focus on the compound movements
4 - Reduced frequency - Cut back from 4 days per week to 3
5 - Reduced Reps - Cut reps in the big lifts to 6 reps and focussed on maintaining strength and trying to add more weight to the bar when I could
6 - Used Reverse Pyramid Training scheme so only that one set each week had to improve

I also changed the way I squat to the style described in Starting Strength where the bar sits lower on your back instead of your traps, it was much more comfortable for me. It also made my core and upper back tighter so I could handle the load better.

I believe I was able to keep the strength by focussing on the key lifts each week and limiting progression in anything else (i.e. no accessory movements/bodybuilding movements). As I had a lower volume I could use the energy I did have to give it my all in those sets.

Also, don't worry about losing muscle by reducing the volume, you can reduce by up to 2/3rds and still maintain adaptions (strength/muscle) provided the weight on the bar stays the same.

Hope this helps

Skye