Pieter, I've worked with thousands of athletes, and I will tell you there's no one size fits all. I try to assess technique to see which fits your body type the best. Personally, I am in between a high and low bar and it works for me. High bar has me fall forward too much and low bar doesn't feel stable on my back. In my experience people have a lot of issues with technique in the back squat in general. They lack hip and ankle mobility, which will throw off technique. I will have people progress from front squat to back squat to a box then traditional back squat. Feel free to fire back more questions because we can go down a bunch of rabbit holes with this one.

Pieter, great question. I actually just had some of my team members and 1:1 clients ask me something similar. I’ll be transparent, recovery is my biggest struggle too. Like many of us, I don’t get enough sleep because of kids, work, and life in general. What’s helped me is making sure the other areas of performance are dialed in. Nutrition, hydration, and prioritizing aerobic conditioning have been game changers. My daily goals are simple: - Hydration: at least half my bodyweight in ounces of water - Protein: my bodyweight in grams - Conditioning: 100–150 minutes of easy aerobic work each week, which really helps me bounce back from strength training even when sleep isn’t ideal. You’ve probably heard this before, but it’s true - control the controllables. If sleep is out of your hands, then double down on the things you can control so your performance doesn’t take a hit. Recovery tools like cold therapy, foam rolling, Theraguns, or sauna can be helpful—but if the basics aren’t in place, they’re just a band-aid on an axe wound.