BB Squat + 20lbs: wtf?! plyos or no shoes?

[AutoKal47]

So, I've had this great strength increase this past month and half,
I didn't change anything in my diet or supplement, I just trained
as hard as I can and well, I think I just got better, more efficient,
my drive is up to the roof because i keep adding size while keeping
my BF as is.. long story short, a good period.

Last week I hit a new PR on squats, but nothing major,
5lbs, 2 good reps, I was happy.

Today, a week later, the session starts
with crazy rhythm and I feel strong, for some reason
I start to warm up without shoes (I wo home), I always
wear combat boots for my workout, I hit my first 3 sets of squats
and I'm not even breaking a sweat.

At my 6th (last) set I repeat the past week PR only
I lay down 8 reps instead of 2. Which was impressive already.

Of course I decide to go on and at the end I added ** 20 LBS **,
dude, 20 freaking lbs to what was my PR just 7 days ago,
and guess what? 6 reps!

Now, 20lbs is a great deal, is not normal..
I give you some numbers: I weight 150lbs @ 4% BF
my previous PR was 310lbs x 2, today it was 330lbs x 6!!

Now, I need to figure out wth happened and
what's the "cause" for this (btw the rest of the session went
just as crazy..) and I narrowed it down to 2 possible reasons,
I'd love to hear what you guys think:

1st possible reason: no shoes. Is it possible an increase of 20lbs + 4 reps
just because I had no combat boots on?

2nd possible reason: bb squat is my first exercise on leg day,
after warm up I do 6 or 7 sets, regular pyramid. Once at the top,
I do a reverse pyramid, so another 6/7 sets, each to failure.
Last three weeks I started to do 10 jump squats after each sets
of the reverse pyramid (on the way "back"), with no weight of course,
they would be considered plyos, so, could *this* be the cause of such
increase?

I mean seriously, I *could* have gone further, but my traps and shoulders
where actually about to crack with such difference in weight..

I personally think it was more the boots thing because on top
of all that, I felt much more stimulation on my quads/legs
and much less (than usual) on my back.

thoughts?

 

[BigRigg]

I vote for the shoes, when wearing my vibrams, my leg workout are always better. It's always good to tweak things every now and again.

Grats on the PR

 

[SLW2]

Could be a combination of the different training and the shoes. Whatever the cause, congrats!

 

[sprintstar01]

I'm thinking shoes+plyos.

More so on the plyo side.Look at elite track and field athletes. Most of them can squat large amounts of weight and they do plyos on top of sprints(which can be considered a plyo).

 

[Resolve]

I'd wager it's a combination of both as well. Squatting bare foot probably made the movement less quad dominant (which the heels on combat boots do), and the incorporation of jump squats helps with neural/motor unit recruitment. If Rodja or Zir Red wanted to touch on the subject, they'd know much better than me, though.

 

[AutoKal47]

Thanks guys

I agree it's probably a combo of the two, the increase is nonetheless impressive for me
especially because legs are not my stronger muscle group by any stretch, and yet
this past month improvement was not only strength related, separation goes up
to the top and I have striation on the sides.

Plyos are great tho', I started doing them for legs just a month ago (i've been doing 'em
for chest for much longer) and I can say they gave pretty awesome results.

 

[Swanson52]

I know my squat weights went up when I switched to barefoot and/or flat soled shoes (Adidas Sambas) simply because I could sit back more effectively. My posterior chain was engaged more
because of the lack of forward tilt (as mentioned).

 

[AutoKal47]

Quick report a week later: repeated the PR with the +20lbs,
so I'd say is the barefoot/no combat boots, but I do believe
the plyos are in part responsible too, definitely they are responsible
for the way my legs look, since I started doing them I got much greater
separation and striations on the sides of my thighs.
I forgot to mention that I'm also doing occlusion training,
so the weight increase is even more impressive

 

[Resolve]

Good for you man

 

[tigerdb2]

Shoes often represent an energy link with either instability or simply too much/ too soft of a cushion. That's part of the reason the raised heel in olympic shoes is solid wood. Congrats either way, 20 lbs. Is no joke

 

[AutoKal47]

Good for you man

Shoes often represent an energy link with either instability or simply too much/ too soft of a cushion. That's part of the reason the raised heel in olympic shoes is solid wood. Congrats either way, 20 lbs. Is no joke

Thanks guys
I'm quite happy about it as the improvement is solid, yesterday was legs again
and it went the same way, actually I since the squat got stronger my leg press
improved too, sure I passed out half way my walking lunges and can't freakin' walk for 3 day lol
but oh well, gotta love legs

Tiger, you're right, granted that combat boots have a tougher sole than pretty much any other footwear
I always kept them unlaced, I never thought about it before, it has been a (bad) habit I've always had
ya know one of those things you do by default without really thinking about it.
This past year I my strength went up like crazy and so the weight compared to my weight,
so I start to pay attention to things like this