[quote]f.n.n.s.f. wrote:
@ 225, i don’t think it makes sense to use conjugate period. for squats. a VERY simple program should be all you need e.g. 2x per week 5x5 (straight sets, all sets equal weight). and, in case you’re doing PL-style squats (and your flexibilty allows it): switch to ATG squats! i believe they are better for overall muscle/strength improvement.[/quote]
But…it’s fun
Squat twice a week. No reason not to. With only a 225 back squat simple frequency and consistency will get you far. Plus one on looking up the 5x5 routine.
And, if you don’t have it already, go buy Starting Strength, 2nd Edition, by Mark Rippetoe. There’s no reason to be rotating through all different ME lifts if you can’t even squat right to begin with.
[quote]the_patient wrote:
I am right there with you man. 5’9 249 with a dl in the high 500’s a bp of 425 and bam a squat of 455. my bp is almost equal to my squat and i can’t seem to get my squats moving. i have looked at some of the westside stuff and none of it looks all that different from what i already do. if you figure it out let me know.[/quote]
I just read your profile and your first ever deadlift was almost 600 pounds??
[quote]Donut62 wrote:
Squat twice a week. No reason not to. With only a 225 back squat simple frequency and consistency will get you far. Plus one on looking up the 5x5 routine.
And, if you don’t have it already, go buy Starting Strength, 2nd Edition, by Mark Rippetoe. There’s no reason to be rotating through all different ME lifts if you can’t even squat right to begin with.[/quote]
I’d suggest squatting even more than that. I’d have him squatting every session, and just switch up the weight/reps/volume a bit.
Definitely agree there’s absolutely no need to start pissing about switching lifts around every 30 seconds. Totally pointless and will only make him a worse squatter than he is already.
To the OP: given that your squat is so far behind your other lifts you could possibly give Smolov a go, even if you only do the intro and base meso. Normally with a 225 squat I’d say do something a bit less intense like the 5x5, but those numbers are seriously funky. A few weeks off benching isn’t going to do you any harm in the long run.
I’ll go against the grain. you should NOT be rotating exercises. I disagree with the idea that someone at your level should be rotating exercises. You squat 225, you are not an 800 lbs squatter trying to bump up to 850. You should be constantly working on form and JUST squatting.
I did westside and was stuck at 200 kg (441 lbs) forever. I was using full equipment. I switched to sheiko and put 37.5 kg (over 80 lbs) in less than a year with less equipment.
Honestly, cut out this BS of switching exercises every week and every 3rd week. You’re not there yet.
I would like to ask, how long have you been lifting and how long have you been doing your current routine?
Clearly, what you’re doing isn’t working, so stop doing what you’re doing and do something else.
[quote]Synthetickiller wrote:
Clearly, what you’re doing isn’t working, so stop doing what you’re doing and do something else.[/quote]
Yeah. I kinda realized that after I saw that he was rotating exercises.
[quote]Synthetickiller wrote:
I’ll go against the grain. you should NOT be rotating exercises. I disagree with the idea that someone at your level should be rotating exercises. You squat 225, you are not an 800 lbs squatter trying to bump up to 850. You should be constantly working on form and JUST squatting.
I did westside and was stuck at 200 kg (441 lbs) forever. I was using full equipment. I switched to sheiko and put 37.5 kg (over 80 lbs) in less than a year with less equipment.
Honestly, cut out this BS of switching exercises every week and every 3rd week. You’re not there yet.
I would like to ask, how long have you been lifting and how long have you been doing your current routine?
Clearly, what you’re doing isn’t working, so stop doing what you’re doing and do something else.[/quote]
Good post!
[quote]CrewPierce wrote:
the_patient wrote:
I am right there with you man. 5’9 249 with a dl in the high 500’s a bp of 425 and bam a squat of 455. my bp is almost equal to my squat and i can’t seem to get my squats moving. i have looked at some of the westside stuff and none of it looks all that different from what i already do. if you figure it out let me know.
I just read your profile and your first ever deadlift was almost 600 pounds??[/quote]
obviously internet bullshit,
Also to the Op, if you wouldn’t mind you could post video of your form. A lot of people wont improve if your form is shit, just improving your technique will allow you to progress much better.
[quote]shizen wrote:
NeoSpartan wrote:
hum… u could cycle in some front squats.
However, if you are going ATG on ur back squats don’t expect them to go up high really quick.
My best DL is 375lbs, and my best back squat ATG is 268lbs (best front squat ATG 245lbs). BW of 185lbs at the time.
your front squat is very close to back squat, have you maxed back recently? I bet you could probably get more out of it. [/quote]
The back squat was tested a week after the front squat. I have not Maxed on anything recently.
I’ve never had a “huge” difference between the front and back squat, nor have I seen it with the guys I train OlyW with.
To the OP. Dan John wrote a good 5x5 article here on T-Nation. And I agree with getting Rippetoe’s Starting Strength.
[quote]NeoSpartan wrote:
shizen wrote:
NeoSpartan wrote:
hum… u could cycle in some front squats.
However, if you are going ATG on ur back squats don’t expect them to go up high really quick.
My best DL is 375lbs, and my best back squat ATG is 268lbs (best front squat ATG 245lbs). BW of 185lbs at the time.
your front squat is very close to back squat, have you maxed back recently? I bet you could probably get more out of it.
The back squat was tested a week after the front squat. I have not Maxed on anything recently.
I’ve never had a “huge” difference between the front and back squat, nor have I seen it with the guys I train OlyW with.
To the OP. Dan John wrote a good 5x5 article here on T-Nation. And I agree with getting Rippetoe’s Starting Strength. [/quote]
well just that I notice most pro oly lifters the difference between their full back and front squat is usually about 100 or more lbs.
[quote]JFG12 wrote:
So yeah… as the title says… aside from squatting more, what are some other exercises I can add to improve my squat? Benching and deadlifting come easy for me but my squat is really sucking so I want to improve on it.
I’m currently doing WS4SB 3.
I’m 5’9, 158lbs, Bench = 260lbs Deadlift = 365lbs Squat = 225lbs (highest I’ve tried, maybe could have done a bit more but this almost folded me in half). You can see what I mean by a crap squat lol.
Thanks![/quote]
Adding heavy good mornings would also help boost your squat.
I’d concure with those that have suggested squating more and working hard on developing good, robust technique. Something that rotating exercises on WS4SB won’t do.
You might want to check out Eric Cressey’s book Maximum Strength. He has some templates specifically geared to lifters looking at hitting one of the big 3 (Sqaut, DL, BP) for weight.
Alot of Guys on here really think that the Westside way of training is the way to go, and it is for some, but certainly not all and there is a bunch of great lifters past and presence that won’t have anything to do with the Westside style of training.
Ed Coan is the greatest powerlifter who has ever stepped onto a platform and Ed never did Westside work outs. My good friend Jesse Kellum, again one of the sports true great lifters doesn’t do Westside, and my last example is my friend Steve Wong who has bench over 900, he doesn’t do Westside.
I think the best place to start is classic periodization just like Ed Coan has used for 25 years. You can still get Ed’s book from Jackels gym, I think, and it is titled: The “Man, the Myth, and the Method”. Buy one if you can and go for it.
George
[quote]NeoSpartan wrote:
hum… u could cycle in some front squats.
However, if you are going ATG on ur back squats don’t expect them to go up high really quick.
My best DL is 375lbs, and my best back squat ATG is 268lbs (best front squat ATG 245lbs). BW of 185lbs at the time. [/quote]
Just wonderinghow tall are you? Ive been really cranking up the freuqency of squatting (currently on Smolov for back squat) Before that, I was doing OH/Front/Back Sqauts weekly and found that doing all 3 spread out over the week really helped strength transfer over from 1 squat to another.
I like to keep things simple.
Work on perfecting squat technique. Film yourself if need be.
I think many people fail their squats because of poor form, weak backs and weak abdominals. This is the foundation of a strong squat.
Aside from that, my main assistance are goodmornings with an arch back and the same stance I squat with. I’ve squatted 775 in contest and that was with a walkout and was a 4th attempt. Next time I plan to go well over 800.
Also, don’t go for broke every week. You’ll never recover that way.
[quote]Donut62 wrote:
Squat twice a week. No reason not to. With only a 225 back squat simple frequency and consistency will get you far. Plus one on looking up the 5x5 routine.
And, if you don’t have it already, go buy Starting Strength, 2nd Edition, by Mark Rippetoe. There’s no reason to be rotating through all different ME lifts if you can’t even squat right to begin with.[/quote]
Im actually debating doing Rippetoe’s after my Smolov cycle just due to the simplicity and progression. I know from many people’s experience it is a very useful program and after Smolov will appreciate the lower volume that Ripptoe’s provides.
And at your squat, you dont need to be worrying about ME/DE days etc… just squat more. One suggestion that might get your back squat going up is to start doing Overhead squats if your shoulder flexability is up to the task. It really is worth the effort and only reinforces good back squat technique.
[quote]BigKDawg wrote:
Donut62 wrote:
Squat twice a week. No reason not to. With only a 225 back squat simple frequency and consistency will get you far. Plus one on looking up the 5x5 routine.
And, if you don’t have it already, go buy Starting Strength, 2nd Edition, by Mark Rippetoe. There’s no reason to be rotating through all different ME lifts if you can’t even squat right to begin with.
Im actually debating doing Rippetoe’s after my Smolov cycle just due to the simplicity and progression. I know from many people’s experience it is a very useful program and after Smolov will appreciate the lower volume that Ripptoe’s provides.
And at your squat, you dont need to be worrying about ME/DE days etc… just squat more. One suggestion that might get your back squat going up is to start doing Overhead squats if your shoulder flexability is up to the task. It really is worth the effort and only reinforces good back squat technique.[/quote]
Did you do base meso, intense, or whole thing?
I would suggest russian squat program similar to smolov and only 6 weeks should give similar gains also. I’m doing smolov whole thing right now for front squat and plan to do this after that. exrx.net/WeightTraining/RussianSquatProgramGenerator.html
[quote]shizen wrote:
BigKDawg wrote:
Donut62 wrote:
Squat twice a week. No reason not to. With only a 225 back squat simple frequency and consistency will get you far. Plus one on looking up the 5x5 routine.
And, if you don’t have it already, go buy Starting Strength, 2nd Edition, by Mark Rippetoe. There’s no reason to be rotating through all different ME lifts if you can’t even squat right to begin with.
Im actually debating doing Rippetoe’s after my Smolov cycle just due to the simplicity and progression. I know from many people’s experience it is a very useful program and after Smolov will appreciate the lower volume that Ripptoe’s provides.
And at your squat, you dont need to be worrying about ME/DE days etc… just squat more. One suggestion that might get your back squat going up is to start doing Overhead squats if your shoulder flexability is up to the task. It really is worth the effort and only reinforces good back squat technique.
Did you do base meso, intense, or whole thing?
I would suggest russian squat program similar to smolov and only 6 weeks should give similar gains also. I’m doing smolov whole thing right now for front squat and plan to do this after that. exrx.net/WeightTraining/RussianSquatProgramGenerator.html[/quote]
Currently on the 1st week of the base mesocycle with plans to do the whole thing Mesocycle-Switching2-3 week speed phase - Intesnse Phase. Should be fun 
http://www.T-Nation.com/readArticle.do?id=1866676
Voila, a lot of different routines you can do to up your squat. Squatting twice a week is more than enough.