Just to contribute to what the O.P. is saying, I am experiencing the same thing.
I am doing Rippetoe’s program a.k.a. squats 3 times a week
I started squatting mid December, it’s now almost end of February and I went from 110lb (started purposely low but it wasn’t easy then either) to 235lb , and have not had a day of soreness. Plenty of fatigue after doing this exercise though.
[quote]grilw wrote:
Just to contribute to what the O.P. is saying, I am experiencing the same thing.
I am doing Rippetoe’s program a.k.a. squats 3 times a week
I started squatting mid December, it’s now almost end of February and I went from 110lb (started purposely low but it wasn’t easy then either) to 235lb , and have not had a day of soreness. Plenty of fatigue after doing this exercise though. [/quote]
You are not experiencing the same thing as the OP - you are experiencing (damn good) progress.
The fact that he is more worried about a lack of soreness than he is busy attributing his lack of growth to a lack of weight added to the bar is ridiculous.
You increased your squat 125 lbs in the time he went up 20.
You are not experiencing the same thing, at all. Awesome work, though.
How far down do you go? Try starting with a low weight, and squatting down as far as you can without losing your balance. Then keep adding weight until you can no longer go that low, and do your reps with that weight.
If at that point you still feel no sorenes, consider yourself lucky and weight for the size gains, which will come in time.
20 rep squats or look at hungarian oak blast
[quote]t-man200 wrote:
MytchBucanan wrote:
imc_1121 wrote:
I’ve been doing squats for about 2 months and haven’t got sore from them the day after I do them, my legs haven’t grown also. While I perform a squat I can’t feel the burn in my quads, I just get tired after finishing, but no burn, no soreness, nothing. What could be the problem??
imc, my advice is to start raising your heels. It has made all the difference in my quad size (and I have been training for 17 years).
I also switched to front squats soon after. I find it is easier to go low and maintain balance this way.
I started with a 5 lb plate under my heel and noticed that I got a better mind/muscle connection and pump with my quads. I got a little carried away with the idea so I kept raising them higher. Now I use a wieghtlifting shoe with a 2x4. My feet are probably at 30 degrees and the pumps and growth are better than ever.
I’d give it a try, you will certainly get sore again.
Did you use less weight when you used the plate under the heel?
thanks…[/quote]
I did, but I went through about 3 stages of “heel hieght”. Once I got to my previous weight x reps, I experimented with putting them higher. I wasn’t very strong on front squats. My best flat footed was 225 x 5 parallel with a belt. Now I can do 225 x 6 with the heels 3 to 4 inches off the ground. I also go lower and without a belt now.
It’s not a lot of weight, but it’s progress and my legs look better than before. I also feel stronger than ever on my skis this season.
[quote]anonym wrote:
imc_1121 wrote:
Guys I’m sure this has nothing to do with the weight.
and
imc_1121 wrote:
Two months ago it was 80 kilos now its 90 kilos.
You just started doing squats two months ago and have only bumped up the weight 10 kg…?
Guess what? I bet it has everything to do with the weight - or lack thereof. Your legs aren’t growing because you are squatting like a pussy. Your legs aren’t sore because you are squatting like a pussy. You can’t feel the burn because you are squatting like a pussy. You feel tired after a set because that’s what standing up and sitting down over and over tends to do to a person who obviously doesn’t understand what hard work is.
Don’t be afraid of actually adding weight to the bar, on occasion. Someone brand new to squatting who actually sacks up under the bar should be able to add 20 lbs to that lift after a couple weeks, not a couple months.[/quote]
I’m sure this has nothing to do with weight, when I finish doing the reps I feel very tired, but I can’t feel it in my quads.
Try higher reps, that way it’s easier to keep strict form, and you’ll just be more sore because that’s what high reps do on squats. use a shoulder-width stance also, helps target the quads more. Lastly, do front squats, they hit your quads even more. And don’t be afraid to throw some weight on the bar.
Raise your heels…that is the advice I will also take from another gentelmen who posted in your thread, because I to have been facing the same problem. Hungry for more you raise an interesting point, but you see im using the smith machine. Will your advice for high reps pertain to that as well. Thank You.
[quote]mroseland wrote:
Is it possible that you’re using too much back during the lift? If you lean forward too far at the bottom, then lead with your butt coming back up before straightening out you transfer a lot of the load off the quads and onto your lower back which probably isn’t too safe if you’re lifting real heavy. Try making your chest be the first thing to start rising out of the bottom of the squat.
Still need to know your set/rep scheme.[/quote]
Hey, can you explain this a little better? Like my back doesn’t kill, but I think I “feel it” more than I should.
Also, to the one guy who does squats w/ heels raised, I thought I read somewhere you wanted to dig your heels in the ground and keep the weight back and stop from going up on your toes. Mad props for switching to front squats, I am working on my stretching and crap, I can’t go but like 1/2 the way to parallel before I just can not go down any further.
Last question…I used to do 1-3sets of warm-ups then 2-3 sets of working squats, like 8,6,4 and maxes on all of them, like I usually end up dropping weight back or having spotter help me up on last set. Then I would do some 1 legged bulgarian squats, because these kills your hammies and glutes, but here recently my back has been hurting (as mentioned above) so I have been switching between the two, I guess I am looking for advice or any comments that anyone has about it.
My current work out is: upper, lower, off, upper, lower, off, off…If I get tired I will take a day off between upper, lower or I will take 2 days off in a row in the middle of the week, but anyways…any advice
Doing only 3 sets of 12, 10, and 8 once a week is not enough to continue to make gains on squats; it might work for the first couple weeks or even month of training; but after that i doubt its enough to keep increasing strengh or size over the long haul.
First, you need to increase your frequency to at least twice a week and you also need to increase the amount of working sets to 5. I am unsure if your current 3 set scheme includes warmups; but given that you are constantly going heavier from set to set on your current program, it seems that at best you may only have one working set (your set of 8). You should try and increase this to 3 to 5 working sets and keep it in the lower rep range between 5 to 8. Also, i would increase the frequency to twice a week. (once a week programs are more for very advanced athletes; and, even then, they have a hell of lot more volume than you have).
Would’nt I overtrain by doing squats twice a week? I’m an ecto btw.
Am I misinterpreting this, or are you saying that you do a 1/4 squat? If so, this is likely part of the problem.
[quote]hYperTrOphY_07 wrote:
I can’t go but like 1/2 the way to parallel before I just can not go down any further.
Am I misinterpreting this, or are you saying that you do a 1/4 squat? If so, this is likely part of the problem. [/quote]
i had a friend that said he couldn’t go past a 1/4 ways down…turned out he was being a pussy
[quote]imc_1121 wrote:
Would’nt I overtrain by doing squats twice a week? I’m an ecto btw.[/quote]
No, especially given your low volume and the fact that you have been training only for two months. If anything, some might argue you should be training three times a week (this would triple your volume if you kept your current training routine).
For beginner and even intermediate trainees, recovery usually occurs within 48 to 72 hours; meaning 48 to 72 hours later your muscles are ready to grow/gain again.
The once a week programs are really for elite athletes who are approaching there genetic cieling as far as making further gains. Not that you cant make gains using a once a week…if you were to take one of these “advanced” once a week training programs and apply it to your program, you would have to up your volume considerably (more than double or triple what you currently have) and even then your gains would not be as fast if you distributed this volume over 2 or 3 workouts during the week.
Dont get caught up in all the once a week stuff you see in bodybuilding magazines as this really is not the optimal way to make gains unless you are really advanced; and, even then, I still question this over other methods such as periodization (which is whole another discussion)…
With regard to the technique of the squat; i would stick with the basic squat for now and not try and add or do all the different special variations of the squat being suggested as you have been only training for two months and you should be making gains beyond your initial 10 kilos for the squat (which is only 22 pounds).
As i mentioned before, your 3 sets of squat per week (with only 1 working set) is not enough volume or frequency for you to continue to grow - so this is one problem… you need to address .
Your form could be another. One thing many beginners make a mistake on is not going deep enough in the squat and this involves going to below parallel. Beginners often have the perception they are parallel even though they are above paralell; one of the reasons is they have to much wieght on the bar which causes them to stop prior to reaching the sticking point involved in the deep squat. Thus, you may have to actually decrease your wieght to get lower; and once you get your form down going deep, then start increasing wieght. Given that you have a long legs, getting proper form for going into a deep squat with proper form might be impossible if the wieght is to heavy. You may even want to take an empty bar at first and get in front of a mirror and see how low you can go with empty bar and look at your form overall. I do not know if this is the problem or not; but thought it should be something you should consider.
Main thing is stick with the basics as many posters are suggesting adding lunges, leg presses, or squat variations to problem; but this is not going to correct problem. Something is wrong somewhere as you have only increased your squat 22 pounds and you only started lifting two months ago.
I do know that you need to increase your training frequency and volume; however, your form could be another problem…maybe you could post a video of you working out on your squat so more specific advice can be given
[quote]imc_1121 wrote:
Would’nt I overtrain by doing squats twice a week? I’m an ecto btw.[/quote]
Just do one heavier day and a lighter day…and eat…a lot.
try doing a 100rep drop set on the leg press after your squats. Post results.
[quote]MikiB wrote:
try doing a 100rep drop set on the leg press after your squats. Post results.
[/quote]
I’ll try front squats then do the 100rep leg press, sounds interesting.
do more than 3 sets. do 6 or 9, you will get sore if you do enough.
You don’t need pain to judge your progress.
Therefore, don’t look for the pain, look for the gain - in weight on the bar.
Your progress should be measured by the incremental rise in the weight moved.
Dan John urges squats to be done with heels on the floor, chest up and out. The “beach” chest he calls it.
Go low -arse to grass- as they say and push up with your quads, through your heels.
If there’s no pain - who cares - keep the correct form and increase weight progressively whilst maintaining that form.
Lastly, if you’re now squatting 90kg - make sure it’s a full squat - not a partial. There are guys in my gym who boast about their squat weight but they get to about 45 degrees before coming back up again.
If you’re incapable of doing a full squat movement, then concentrate on rectifying that before you bother with increasing weight and getting sore.
Hope that’s of some use to you.