Air squats, or regular squats without weights. If you were to do them everyday, what amount of reps would be appropriate? considering I do weights four times a week.
Squats and dead lifts twice a week, and if I’m doing shoulder presses on the third day, I might use my legs to be able to manage some extra load, so my legs would be taking punishment from heavy weights at least two, maybe three times a week.
Squatting every day hasn’t really affected my legs, probably because I don’t do hundreds of reps, and mostly it’s around 10 reps in around 3 sets. But if I were to push the reps, how many reps a day could I safely do without overtraining, or ruining progress for my legs?
[quote]silkyhorse wrote:
Air squats, or regular squats without weights. If you were to do them everyday, what amount of reps would be appropriate? considering I do weights four times a week.
Squats and dead lifts twice a week, and if I’m doing shoulder presses on the third day, I might use my legs to be able to manage some extra load, so my legs would be taking punishment from heavy weights at least two, maybe three times a week.
Squatting every day hasn’t really affected my legs, probably because I don’t do hundreds of reps, and mostly it’s around 10 reps in around 3 sets. But if I were to push the reps, how many reps a day could I safely do without overtraining, or ruining progress for my legs?[/quote]
It would be very hard for you to overtrain or ruin your progress… with that said of course you could over do it to the point that you are so sore that you miss a leg workout but the again that would only be for the first couple of days or week of starting this type of training.
Why don’t you perform a few Tabata Interval sets… you know airsquat for twenty seconds, rest for ten seconds, repeat… depending on your squating speed and depth you should be aiming for 15-25 reps/squats in twenty seconds. Knock out these Tabata sets until your legs begin to burn or cramp and then stop right there… however, I really don’t see why you couldn’t do the full eight sets for four minutes or at least after a couple days of doing 4-6 sets first.
[quote]mapwhap wrote:
Just to add…when you are doing the Tabata intervals, try doing your ten seconds of “rest” in the bottom position of the squat. Agony![/quote]
Not only does that sound like hell, it seems like it would very likely defeat what the Tabata method is all about. So it is no longer a Tabata interval anymore, just 4 min with no rest.
[quote]mapwhap wrote:
Just to add…when you are doing the Tabata intervals, try doing your ten seconds of “rest” in the bottom position of the squat. Agony![/quote]
Not only does that sound like hell, it seems like it would very likely defeat what the Tabata method is all about. So it is no longer a Tabata interval anymore, just 4 min with no rest.
But I have been wrong before.[/quote]
No, I’m with you on this one. The reason I’m asking this question is because I am wondering if I am getting enough rest, so rest is the important point here.
I’m sure it would be pure agonizing Hell with no rest for four straight minutes, which as Vikingrob said would ruin the purpose of the T-intervals. I want maximum rest, with maximum work.
I think I’ll give it a months try, though, like I said. A month or two.
[quote]silkyhorse wrote:
I’m sure it would be pure agonizing Hell with no rest for four straight minutes, which as Vikingrob said would ruin the purpose of the T-intervals. I want maximum rest, with maximum work.
I think I’ll give it a months try, though, like I said. A month or two.[/quote]
I never responded to your original question…
IMO you will have very little muscle breakdown, nor will it tax your nervous system doing the Tabata method using air squats. It will just improve your conditioning. While it may not improve conditioning as much as doing the Tabata method using loaded front squats(Dan John’s recommendation), it will be much easier to recover from.
Your body will get used to it in a week or less, so recovery should not be an issue.
Just FYI, the Tabata method works so well because you push yourself AS HARD AS YOU CAN, during the work phase and rest completely during the rest phase. By working the muscles during the rest phase, you are not resting. Obvious right? So you are not able to push your muscles as hard during the working phase. You probably understand that, I am just clarifying myself.
[quote]silkyhorse wrote:
I’m sure it would be pure agonizing Hell with no rest for four straight minutes, which as Vikingrob said would ruin the purpose of the T-intervals. I want maximum rest, with maximum work.
I think I’ll give it a months try, though, like I said. A month or two.[/quote]
I never responded to your original question…
IMO you will have very little muscle breakdown, nor will it tax your nervous system doing the Tabata method using air squats. It will just improve your conditioning. While it may not improve conditioning as much as doing the Tabata method using loaded front squats(Dan John’s recommendation), it will be much easier to recover from.
Your body will get used to it in a week or less, so recovery should not be an issue.
Just FYI, the Tabata method works so well because you push yourself AS HARD AS YOU CAN, during the work phase and rest completely during the rest phase. By working the muscles during the rest phase, you are not resting. Obvious right? So you are not able to push your muscles as hard during the working phase. You probably understand that, I am just clarifying myself.
Good luck![/quote]
Yes, thank you for your contribution.
Reminds me of the 60/30 tricep band exercise from the tricep article the other day. I think high rep (30+ or Tabata) squats could give your muscles a conditioning stimulus similar to the feel of the triceps pressdowns with a band that coach Nick did in the article. It could prove to be a great addition to your workout, or maybe not. I have no idea. Do let us know.
[quote]mapwhap wrote:
Just to add…when you are doing the Tabata intervals, try doing your ten seconds of “rest” in the bottom position of the squat. Agony![/quote]
AKA: Bottom to Bottom Tabata Squats, and yes they are pure fucking misery.
[quote]mapwhap wrote:
Just to add…when you are doing the Tabata intervals, try doing your ten seconds of “rest” in the bottom position of the squat. Agony![/quote]
AKA: Bottom to Bottom Tabata Squats, and yes they are pure fucking misery.[/quote]
I’ll just let my buddy do them instead of me!
I will have to do the regular ones to prevent overtraining.
But today is my “leg day”, so I might do the B2B Tabata Squats as a Hardcore warm-up!
I’d imagine that bodyweight stuff wouldn’t be overly taxing on your system, unless you’re a massive 100+kg beast. probably help improve the conditioning of your legs, and once you get used to it, you might bounce back from squats faster as you’d be pumping more blood/nutrients to the legs (kind of like how some people say cardio helps with doms).
[quote]Battle Pope wrote:
I’d imagine that bodyweight stuff wouldn’t be overly taxing on your system, unless you’re a massive 100+kg beast. probably help improve the conditioning of your legs, and once you get used to it, you might bounce back from squats faster as you’d be pumping more blood/nutrients to the legs (kind of like how some people say cardio helps with doms). [/quote]
Yeah, exactly. Tomorrow I’m doing legs instead of today, I had a test today and I had to it late, giving me enough time to study all day, so I couldn’t work out.
I’ll fucking waste myself tomorrow at the gym! SQUATS!!! And if I need it, assistance moves, depending on my weakness.
