07/10/2026
6 weeks out from his first Nationals, Dan started cutting depth.
There are two things that affected squat depth towards the end of the prep: nerves and bodyweight.
As the weight got heavier, Dan naturally was more nervous, rushed, and the result was a shallow squat.
Dan also started his prep about one kilogram over his weight class. As the prep went on he dropped some weight but ended up getting lighter than he needed. He went from 83.5 roughly to 80.8.
On the day though, squats turned up. We only hit 137.5kg in prep and ended up hitting 152.5kg on the day.
The key was keeping squats towards the end of prep and the opener conservative.
We needed to stack some good reps to re-build the confidence around depth. And he had to go into the first lift of the day feeling good, not afraid.
Another big takeaway is making sure that he is already in his weight class before prep starts. Then monitoring body weight so that it doesn’t drop too much as he moves into his heaviest weeks of training.
Every competition is a data point. It helps you to refine the strategy over time. This is one of the benefits of being with a coach long term.
