Intentionally training to squat high?

Hey Doctors, there is a guy I see at my gym who is really strong (competes in USAPL raw in the 93kg class with a near 1,700 total). In the videos of his meets, he clearly squats to depth. However, no matter when it is during training, he always squats high. Around 1" high at the least and at times possibly 2"+. I have never seen him squat to competition depth while training in person or any of the Instagram videos he has ever posted. Is this an advanced training method to overload? I have only competed once so far and will continue to train to depth but am interested in your opinion on why someone may be doing this and still able to hit depth in a meet? - I don’t want to ask him outright since he’s clearly doing something right for him and I don’t want it to come across as the noob powerlifter critiquing his training. Thanks!

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No idea if he’s intentionally doing this, and we would not recommend it. He is clearly capable of hitting depth and so far it’s working out for him. Ray Williams tends to do this as well, and for a long time it was all ok, but he did recently get red-lighted at a meet.

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Yeah, I don’t plan on risking it either. I would rather know I could hit depth with a certain weight than risk getting red lighted. Thanks for your insight!

Delt304, do you train out of 4 Star Gym in SoCal, by chance?

My first thought was: Why dont you ask him :).

Be nice, tell him you want to learn and ask something, … you dont know any better and here’s your question:

Why wouldn’t he be nice if you put it like this?

If u ask, keep us posted :wink:

I dont know if this applies to him, but if I had to guess it is because he has a tough time reaching depth. Maybe it eventually causes lower back paint or some other thing. So he trains most his season in a pain free fashion and probably during his prep he shaves off a little weight and trains to depth.

It’s hard to tell for sure through video, but it definitely seems like alot of competitors that log on instagram squat high during training.

My main point here is that I don’t get why it matters or why we speculate about it here. If anyone wants to know, it can be asked, but assuming that it’s back pain or something seems like a stretch too. Just don’t squat high unless YOU have a reason to do so.