I think I've reached a turning point... at least in my squat

After remembering a snippet I read in one of Westside Barbell's articles (this one: http://www.westside-barbell.com/westside-articles/PDF.Files/04PDF/Box%20Squatting.pdf), I recall it said that basically as a lifter gets more experienced at a movement, their first rep will be the best, and subsequent reps aren't as good.
Conversely, lower-skilled lifters use the first rep as a body awareness tool, so their later reps are better.

Now I'm not for a second comparing myself to the Westside lifters in terms of strength, but I think that particular idea is quite interesting.

I feel that I've reached a kind of turning point in the squat, now that I've maintained the same form for quite a while with no injuries. In my last few squat sessions, I have been noticing that indeed my first rep is the best. I believe that I can attribute this to my love of low reps (3 and under) as this gives practice on the first rep. Obviously it's the first rep that counts in powerlifting.

I've also found what actually makes my squat increase - high intensity, high frequency and low volume. In fact, I believe that in the three weeks before my most recent meet, I put 10kg on my squat.

In other news, I really, really like this picture.

Something else I'm starting is behind-the-neck presses. Essentially, I had this idea today or yesterday. I found an old pool cue in a skip, so I salvaged it. And so for the next week, I'll be doing loads of behind the neck pressing with the cue, just to make sure I have the shoulder mobility when it comes to adding weight this weekend. I'm already noticing my traps working just as hard as my shoulders when I do them. Good sign, I suppose, that I'm doing them right and squeezing the scaps.

Woof.

I'll leave you motherfuckers with some music. I really rate Emmure, though they're not sludge metal. Either way, they get me ready to kick some major ass. I think they have an album coming out soon-ish, so look out for it.

Lift hard.