I squat like a girl. Actually, I bet most of the girls on this forum probably squat more than me. I am 6’1", 160-165 lbs, And i can only squat my body weight. How can I bring this movement up faster? right now i am only training legs 1x per week. If I were to train legs 2x per week, how could I still train the rest of my body without overtraining?
‘Squat, add some weight, squat again’ - Norb Schemansky. There’s no easier way.
Drax is right on with this his answer. BTW: recovery is sometimes the best thing for a hardgainer. Train hard while in the gym, but make sure you give your body food and rest to help it to grow.
The squat is all about creating the right intensity, mindset, and desire. One routine I’ve found that’s never failed to work on anyone is this. Just pyramid up and squat as heavy as you can (around 3-5 reps per set or so) with good form (no cheating) until you see stars and feel your body’s about to break. After a few sets of that do 1 high rep set of 20 reps with a normal 10 rm weight. If you can make it to 15 without wanting to quit or if you do all 20 and then don’t stumble out of the rack and fall nauseated to the floor then the weight wasnt heavy enough. Do this once every 5-7 days. Increase the weight for 3 weeks and then drop it back down for a week then start back up…the step type loading method.
Of course there are better routines for pure strength but this will give you a good combination of size and strength but more important then that it will build the “toughness” and “intensity” you need to have in the squat rack.
Try Ian Kings limping program. If that doesn’t help improve your squat nothing will ;-). You can find it at the FAQs.
First, read Ian King programs: 2 days for legs/week. 1 quad dominant and 1 hip dominant. Stop training the upper body 3+ times per week and make room for more leg work. How can you improve your legs if your ratio is 3:1 (upper training:lower body training)???
Second, read Dave Tate’s articles on squatting. Train your hams, glutes, lower back and abs with real exercices and get ready to watch the weights going up!
My 2 cents,
-LPdSB
Seriously Drax,I love the old school,no fancy bullshit attitude,but I think your recommendation is too general.If that was the case,everyone would be squatting 900.Worse yet,that recommendation will probably lead to injury.First things first,at 6’ 1",165,you need some more lean mass.Squatting will help get you there.It’s not really that simple to say do this,do that.I would make sure your form is perfect,stretch your muscles regularly to make sure you’re squatting properly.Joint restriction will shut your squat down(I think Goldberg mentioned he noticed this helped).Now,if your just concerned with weight,try the powerlifting stance,used with box squats,and read Dave Tate articles on this site.But if you want to nail your quads,stick with the close stance.The thing is,the “olympic squat” is very stressful to the body,and therefore you’ll need to recover.Louie Simmons says it takes some people up to 10 days to recover from “regular” squats.If you were to train legs 2X a week,I would split quads and hamstrings,or have a squat workout,and maybe a lunge,or split squat workout.Also,if you put extra attention on your legs,keep a close eye on your upper body volume.Really though,a lot more information(diet,training split,training age,weak links,etc.) is needed to help.
Stop squatting and start deadlifting.These two exercises and their variants should be alternated between microcycles.
Play around with the weight some. Do some lower weight high rep stuff, then start jacing the weight up. Go for a new -rep max, then slowly increase the number of reps you can do with that weight (or slightly less). Over time, you’ll find that you’re squatting more weight for more reps.
I think my way is the least complicated. Just adding weight to the bar will get him a long way without having to resort to other methods. SissyLegs isn’t a 300lb powerlifter who has hit a plateau after training for 20 years, if he just adds weight & tries hard, the lb-age will go up. SissyLegs, I think you could handle 2 squat sessions per week without overtraining, but if you do overtrain, try doing one heavy workout & one med-light one.