Below is a tidbit of advice I gave a Phil Tyreman Letter subscriber on getting stronger (editorliaised for clarity as I’ve omitted the context):
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“If you’re going significantly or even slightly deeper on your squats then you’ve gotten significantly stronger.
I know this because the position of most mechanical disadvantage is when the hips drop below the knees. The exact point varies between individuals, but everyone experiences a significant drop in the weight they can use when they go into “the hole”. And the deeper you go the less you can lift with the rare exception of people who are highly trained and skilled in olympic-style squats that involve a frighteningly rapid descent to maximise the stretch reflex rebound at the bottom (these people can sometimes lift more going arse to grass than they can to powerlifting depth which is only a shade below parallel).
All too often, people only consider the weight being lifted when assessing strength, rather than how that weight is being lifted.
Obviously there are limits.
Somebody squatting a 20kg with a 7 second negative and slow ascent is still not very strong at all, but a person who has gone from squatting to approximately parallel with 60kg for 8 to a nice, safely executed, deep squat with the same has gotten stronger. Same goes for reps — if you’ve gone from squatting 60kg for 8 to 60kg for 12, you’ve gotten stronger (provided you’ve not engaged in any form shenanigans to win the extra reps). Volume, too although this is a less definitive measurement (i.e. 2 sets to 3 could indicate a gain in strength, but could equally be down to gains in endurance).
(The above applies to any lift, not just squats, by the way.)”
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None of this is to say that chasing more weight on the bar is necessarily the wrong course of action.
Indeed, losing sight of that as an overarching goal is by far the fastest way to wind up spinning your wheels for months or, more likely if my experience is anything to go by, years on end.
But there is far more to this “getting stronger” thing than progressively slapping on plates in a linear fashion when you’re a serious person whose life cannot revolve around the pursuit of fitness.
On that note…
If you are a serious person who wants to get strong and in shape the slow way, find details of my paid newsletter here:
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Thank you,
Phil Tyreman