I’ve been doing some reading on here about half squats but there is so much back and forth answers its hard to tell. Has anybody increased there full squat by using half squats with more weight? I was thinking I’d lower the weight onto safety pins, pause for a second, then lift back up. Then after a few sets of those, go to the full squat in the same workout.
box squat–different heights?
I don’t know about half squats… But I will reiterate what unstable said. Box squats maybe 2 inches above parallel have helped me some. Then move the box down… You get the idea.
I tried a progressive movement training sort of thing (it worked for me for the deadlift) for squats and didn’t get much out of it.
Maybe just try reverse band squats for overload?
Only if you can full squat more than you can quarter squat.
A lot of the old school lifers used partial movements, 60’s and 70’s. I haven’t tried it with the squat but it worked great for my bench press and seems to be working with my deadlift so far.
I have started doing half-squats from pins as part of my squat workout. I do them with as much weight as I can do for 3-5 reps. I always do these right after my main squat sets. I feel that they have helped me, especially because I can go heavier on these than my normal squats, which basically prepares my psychologically for heavier weights.
Basically, I’d say try them. If they help you, continue to use them. If they don’t, then dont.
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They’ve helped a lot of really good lifters I know, a 181 usapl lifter I know, took his squat from low 600’s to 705 by implementing these. Daniel Miller, polish 82.5 lifter, uses full gear half squats for 4 reps as a huge part of his training, and Jay Nera one of the best raw squatters out there, uses really heavy partials in training.
I’ve used them myself with great results while peaking
I, Bodybuilder Leg Phase - Mondays calls for partial top half squats (from pins) as a “warmup” for real squats. I would set the pins so I was a little deeper than a quarter squat and could overload about 125 pounds more than my working weight.
I forgot the set/reps scheme (it may have been 3 cluster reps), but once I moved onto the squats, I was much stronger. I think there is a lot to be said for CNS activation using the partial work. I felt “primed” when I got to my working sets.
I didn’t stay with it long enough to notice if it had a lot of carryover in the long run though, since the leg phase was only 4 weeks. But I think it could be very useful as a warmup tool.
I’d have to agree with canada - i know a lot of lifters will use this sort of system on bench press using boards so i dont see why it wouldnt work on squats as well. From a theoretical point of view it would get the body accustomed to heavier weights and help with the neurological side of things. Thats just my point of view though, i cant say i’ve ever tried it.
The only thing similar to this that I’ve tried is setting the pins and doing concentric squats.
[quote]canada wrote:
A lot of the old school lifers used partial movements, 60’s and 70’s. I haven’t tried it with the squat but it worked great for my bench press and seems to be working with my deadlift so far.[/quote]
Care to quantify what great means? thx
Google Paul Anderson and Progressive Movement Training. Works like gangbusters.
Box squats against bands from varying heights. Plus good mornings, for both reps and heavy work. I think good mornings would help more than partial squats for me at least.
[quote]TheDudeAbides wrote:
[quote]canada wrote:
A lot of the old school lifers used partial movements, 60’s and 70’s. I haven’t tried it with the squat but it worked great for my bench press and seems to be working with my deadlift so far.[/quote]
Care to quantify what great means? thx[/quote]
I started to bench again late dec and my max was around 231 now its 292.
[quote]canada wrote:
[quote]TheDudeAbides wrote:
[quote]canada wrote:
A lot of the old school lifers used partial movements, 60’s and 70’s. I haven’t tried it with the squat but it worked great for my bench press and seems to be working with my deadlift so far.[/quote]
Care to quantify what great means? thx[/quote]
I started to bench again late dec and my max was around 231 now its 292. [/quote]
Wow, nice job!
For a raw squatter, squats should be performed to depth if one want to increase the full ROM squat. Squats, squats and more squats.
I have used partials as an accessory movement to get through a sticking point. Otherwise full ROM squats are the way to go. You have to train like you lift.
[quote]stallion wrote:
For a raw squatter, squats should be performed to depth if one want to increase the full ROM squat. Squats, squats and more squats.[/quote]
Well that settles it, no more partial squats. I also think I may have injured my back a few weeks ago with partials, it didn’t hurt at the gym but the next day something didn’t quite feel right and that was the only thing out of the usual I did.
Also the reasons you do rack pulls or upper ROM bench press movements don’t apply as much to squats especially with gear, I think. Getting used to the heavy weight on your back is an okay reason for them but they definitely are not a squat alternative for max effort in the way lifts such as rack/box pulls or floor/board presses are for the other 2.
[quote]sufiandy wrote:
[quote]stallion wrote:
For a raw squatter, squats should be performed to depth if one want to increase the full ROM squat. Squats, squats and more squats.[/quote]
Also the reasons you do rack pulls or upper ROM bench press movements don’t apply as much to squats. Getting used to the heavy weight on your back is an okay reason for them but they definitely are not a squat alternative for max effort in the way lifts such as rack/box pulls or floor/board presses are for the other 2.[/quote]
Well said. I have always prefered ‘overloaded walkouts’ for acclimation, but considering the mono-lift, partials with the pins set high might be a great idea.
[quote]canada wrote:
[quote]TheDudeAbides wrote:
[quote]canada wrote:
A lot of the old school lifers used partial movements, 60’s and 70’s. I haven’t tried it with the squat but it worked great for my bench press and seems to be working with my deadlift so far.[/quote]
Care to quantify what great means? thx[/quote]
I started to bench again late dec and my max was around 231 now its 292. [/quote]
How long were you not benching? What I’m getting at is, couldn’t that be more a scaled-down “newbie gains” effect, and not so much a result of the partials?