01 Feb 2026
I had a single fitness goal for 2025: squat “3 plates” (315 lb). This is how I did it (with 1 day to spare).
Since this is my first post around strength training, I figured I’d give a bit of context for my training up to now. If you just want to hear about my squat PR, feel free to skip to the section below.
I first started lifting in high school, as a supplement to my cross country & track activities. Nothing serious, just 1 day a week - and I didn’t really know what I was doing. But I did build a little muscle (I think my bench press working sets went from 65 lb to 85 lb or so).
Then in college, I started lifting more seriously.. but only upper body. Yeah, I know - not great, but still better than not training at all I suppose. This got me to roughly a 200 lb bench which I was pretty proud of.
Finally, in grad school, I decided to do what I should have been doing the entire time and incorporate lower body work. Specifically, I started with a simple 5x5 linear progression powerlifting program called Stronglifts. It had me squatting 3x per week (which I liked, since that was my weak point at the time) - it also introduced me to deadlifts and overhead press, which I also came to enjoy. Over 7 or 8 months, this took my squat from 155 lb to 225 lb and my deadlift from 185 lb to 275 lb. My upper body strength also increased a bit as well.
After a year of Stronglifts, I moved onto 5/3/1, a more intermediate-level program that progresses in multi-week cycles rather than every week like Stronglifts. I did that for a few more years, but didn’t make all that much progress (although I did cut ~20 lb body weight and increased my strength by another 10% or so), mostly because of the pandemic (no gym available for much of this time). I was also focused on my dissertation and graduation at the time.
After grad school, I discovered GZCL, a framework for designing your own strength training programs that divides movements into T1 (high intensity, low volume), T2 (moderate intensity, moderate volume), and T3 (lower intensity, high volume). Learning about GZCL inspired me to start creating my own programs and get back into training frequently. To this day, I design all my workouts and programming using the GZCL framework - I have probably 50+ spreadsheets saved on my computer for all the programs I’ve run. During this time, in the aftermath of the pandemic, I mostly trained at home using the small gym in my apartment building. I also started using the Harambe System, a strength training system that uses a small barbell with bands for resistance that is convenient for home use.
Finally, in late 2024 I decided to get back into the gym and go for a goal I’d been aspiring to ever since I started squatting back in grad school - a 3 plate (315 lb) squat. I decided to start relatively light and squat deeper than I had been before (my previous squat form went to just above parallel, so now I focused on getting my hip crease below my knee - i.e. powerlifting rules - which is significantly more difficult). I was able to increase my squat with this new form from 185x5 in Sept 2024 to around 215x5 at the start of 2025 with some basic programming.
Then, throughout the first half of 2025, I focused on high volume leg work. This is what a typical workout looked like:
These workouts were grueling - but I was super motivated and made a lot of progress! My squat 1RM increased from 245 lb at the start of 2025 to 285 lb 1RM by September (~5 lb increase/month).
At this point, I was ready for a change - specifically, I wanted to try doing less volume, but higher intensity. Instead of sets of 4, 6, or 8 for my T1 movements, I wanted to do singles, doubles, and triples. I also wanted to stop doing so many AMRAP sets.
So I wrote a new program that focused on higher intensity with fewer reps - here is a sample squat workout from December, a few weeks before my 315 attempt:
I’m still doing this type of high-intensity program today - I’ve made some modifications since I started it, but overall I’m liking the change!
Anyway, I made even more gains on this program, even though I felt like I was doing less work - wild. My 1RM increased from 285 lb to 315 lb in just over 3 months (~10 lb increase/month).
Finally, on December 30, I decided it was time to attempt 315. My previous best was a 3x292.5 lb AMRAP working set while fatigued, so I was confident that I could hit it.
And here it is!
You probably can’t tell from the video, but I was super excited to finally hit this milestone!
Some of you might be thinking “Why isn’t he wearing any shoes! He’s going to slip!” Not to worry. I’m wearing socks that are super grippy on the bottom (like these). Personally, I think they feel even more stable than wearing shoes, which is why I squat in them.
So I hit my 2025 goal, now what? Since I gained a good bit of body weight this year prepping for this (around 15 lb), I want to start out 2026 by cutting 10-15 lb. I then want to work up to a 2xBW squat in the first half of 2026 (e.g. 320 lb at 160 lb BW).
Then, I plan to focus more on deadlifts in the second half, since I’ve been neglecting them for the past year or so. It’d be great if I could work up to a 4 plate (405 lb) deadlift sometime in early 2027. Maybe by the end of 2026 I could hit 385 lb. My deadlift 1RM is currently not much higher than my squat, maybe around 325 lb.
Finally, I plan to start working more on my upper body. Specifically, I’m targeting a 1xBW overhead press by end of the year. I’m currently at 145 lb OHP at 175 lb BW, so I’m hoping to hit something like 160 lb OHP at 160 lb BW.