Been reading a lot on here for a while but first time poster. Started training for PL about 3 1/2-4 months ago, meaning I actually started doing squats and deadlifts lol. Before this, I did the stupid bro split bullshit and had horrible programming ect, which consisted of about 8 months lifting. My second time doing deadlifts I managed to hit 405 for a solid 1RM, and then started on the ED Coan program which has worked magically for me and I just pulled 500 on dead last week, but my squat has been coming up slow as hell…Ive made definite progress but in comparison to deadlifts, it sucks.
Current 1rm on squat is 325 at below parallel. I squat with a touch outside shoulder width stance and medium grip placement. Any tips on how to bring up the lagging squat a little more quickly? Im purchasing AdiPowers very soon which I know will definitely help with hitting depth and more stability/Heel drive. Any help on benching is appreciated as well lol. Thanks in advance, much appreciated.
Posting a video of the two lifts will help, it could be a number of things. Adipowers will help you hit depth easier, thats for sure, but they wont automatically help you squat go up. They may actually make it go down so be careful with purchasing them. Maybe try for a cheaper pair first.,…and I am speaking from experience.
Lets see. How are you built? Are you one of those guys built to deadlift? Do you have long arms relative to your lower body? How tall are you? Whats your body weight?
You could just be one of those guys who are built to deadlift which with that being said the gap between your squat and deadlift isnt unheard of it happens quite often. You may find a point in your training where your deadlift becomes hard and you cant move it off the floor and at the same time your squat or bench is shooting up. On the other hand the guys who arent mechanically sound with their deadlift or are built with bad leverages for deadlifting you might find the opposite such as 500 deadlift 525 squat leverages become a huge factor.
How has your squat progressed in the months you have been powerlifting? If it has progressed a fair amount i wouldnt worry about it.
Now if you get somewhere like this. 575 deadlift and a 365lb squat then i would start to question your squat form.
But for now it seems fine and i really believe you should just keep up the hard work.
EDIT: i second that about the adipowers i went and spent 189.99 on the nike romaleos 2 and they took 25-30 lbs off my squat and i never felt right squatting in them. So one day i forgot them but had my chucks in my bag and said hell with it. I added 50 lbs to my squat instantly putting my chucks back on. They didnt work well for me. I second getting a cheaper pair to try first maybe rouge do wins or the adidas powerlift trainer.
That is not unusual at all for someone to have a much higher deadlift than the squat, especially longer limbed lifters. I hardly ever train the deadlift and I can hit fairly good numbers. The squat is a much, much more technical lift requiring a lot more flexibility/mobility, coaching ques for most people, and motor skills developed over time.
I know of very few people who can just hop in a rack and squat a descent amount with solid form. The squat is a lift that certainly takes time and training to truly master and become good at.
The best way in my opinion to boost your squat quickly, is to simply squat more. I don’t know what your training is like, but high frequency is the best thing I think someone can do.
To repeat some of what has been said, and add some…
It’s not unusual for a beginner to be way better at deadlifts than squats. The reasons vary, but some are 1) squat is much more technical; deadlift you essentially bend over and pick it up, even if your form turns to shit you can finish the lift. Squat, your form turns to shit and you dump it. 2) Squat is much more mental. It’s not scary to deadlift heavy, cause you just let go. But to have hundreds of lbs on your back? much freakier when you aren’t used to it. And 3), you can really load up your back doing a deadlift, and a lot of guys who did the typical bro stuff for a while, played sports, etc, have a big, strong back and skinny weak legs. In the deadlift, if you have weak legs and a strong back you can still deadlift a lot, even if you don’t squat a lot.
SO, it’s not abnormal. Now to fix it? 1) Squat more. 2-3 x a week minimum. To get the hang of the movement and force your legs to grow. 2) Squat HEAVY more especially, to get rid of the fear of heavy squats 3) Front squat. This will be a top accessory because it will help build up your quads AND your upper back, which means it will have great carryover to both squat and deadlift.
That’s what I’ve got for ya. Keep at it bud, good luck
I will try to get some video soon, only one I have of squats is when I very first started and was horrible Lmao. As far as leverages go, I’m definitely just built more for deadlifts, med/long legs with slightly longer arms and shorter torso. I’m 5’8 on a good day and 165 lbs. I use puma shoes for deads and squats which are flat.
When I was starting out lifting I had a similar problem. My deadlift was up to 505 raw and my squat was at 365 raw, at age 17. Over the years just from training the two lifts, my squat rose higher and higher. I think part of it was due to the fact that I had already been deadlifting for about a year prior to beginning the squat. Another part of it was gaining confidence in the squat. Another aspect I think that helped much was working on form and maximizing my leverages I personally have. Also adding briefs helped too-I squat with a wide stance most of the time.
At first I had thought I was better built to deadlift, but now 13 years later, I have a personal best of 700 (walked out) on squat and 606 raw (conventional) on deadlift. Sure I added briefs on my squat but still, 545x8 raw w/ wraps is greater than I can do on deadlift.
You are presumably the opposite in build to me, which means that the deadlift is easier for you. As you probably have long legs, the squat will be harder. You also have very little training experience.
I would recommend a few things:
Widen your squat stance if it is not already wide (but don’t overdo it either; video and aim for a straight bar path).
Squat more frequently than you do currently. Do NOT use variations of competition technique, practice in full every session.
Get bigger and stronger (lol). The squat and bench are the true tests of muscle in powerlifting, deadlifts are more to do with build, skill, and the ability to recruit the muscle you do have efficiently. So, while you may add a lot to your deadlift without gaining any size, this is unlikely to happen with squat and bench, and not as sustainable. Therefore, you should eat well and keep working for years if you want to hit really big squat and bench numbers - they take time!
You might be using the wrong squat style for your build and strengths. I was reading Deadlift Dynamite, a pretty good read I might add, and it suggested the greatest lifters use a similar style of squat and pull. That is, if your pull looks a lot like an RDL off the floor, then you’re probably going to do best with a wide stance sit far back kind of squat like with Andy Bolton. The opposite is true as well.
Ed Coan was much more upright during his pulls and with his squats as well. The reason is that all your assistance exercises and doing your comp. lifts for your lower body will carry over to both lifts instead of having to train them completely separately. Also, if you’re built to do well with one type of lift towards one end of the spectrum, then chances are you’re built to do it for the other lift in a similar fashion.
It’s not uncommon for relative beginners to have a big discrepancy like this, but if you threw up video that would be very helpful for those of us trying to help you even things out a little.
Also, spending some time focusing on JUST your squat would do wonders most likely.
Thanks for all the help so far guys, ill try to get some video of squats soon, i have my first meet coming up on Saturday but its only a push/pull…I deadlift conventional and squat more with feet outside shoulder width and toes out, not super wide overall but definitely not Olympic style either. I just purchased some Adi powers which should be here Thursday. I havnt done any accessory work for squat other than pause squats and goblet squats. For deadlift, I use the ed coan program.
