I have been working out since September '07 and made some great progress. I’m seeing an average of 10% strength gains in all of my exercises from month to month.
Except squats.
In the last month I went from 180 to, hold on, 185 for set of 5x5 and I was pushing it.
Strangely, my deadlifts and lunges are all making great gains. My deadlifts trailed squats by 15-25 pounds for a while, but the deadlifts have since surpassed my squat weight.
Any ideas on why I’m having problems with squats? I’m a tallish guy (6’4") and I’ve been reading on here that tall guys have problems with certain exercises, like squats. Could that be the wall that I’m hitting?
In my experience a 5x5 program can easily take its toll on ones recovery and body. I also followed a 5x5 for a year and stalled. How have you programmed your 5x5. Is its MWF with the squats or are you doign squats monday and friday with deads on wed?
Do you have an obvious weakness in one of your “squatting muscles”? For example, I just hit 195 for 5x5 Monday and I am shooting for 205 tomorrow for at least 3 reps. When squatting I can feel it bigtime in my low back. My glutes and legs handle the weight OK … so by bringing up my deadlift and increasing back strength I can raise my squat. Thats just me personally.
A somewhat useful test is to try and measure the strength between your quads and hams. You could use leg extension/flexion machines for this, but gauging the actual amount of weight you are lifting is nearly impossible with all the pulleys. There are a number of small weaknesses that become the weak link the squat chain that may be holding you back. Try investigating those.
I agree with njrusmc. If you research the Westside methods they advocate strong hamstrings, glute and lowerback recruitment. In fact they base their heaviest training bringing those areas up to increase their squat and deadlift. Good mornings, stiff deadlifts, and glute-ham raises should help increase your squat total.
I feel all the weight on my quads just above my knees. I concentrate on using my quads during a squat and keep most of my weight on the balls of my feet.
I was thinking of moving away from squats for a few weeks and work mainly with both sumo and romanian deadlifts. Maybe I should replace one of the deadlifts with something like a glute-ham raise.
I could also use a leg extension machine to work the quads. That seems to work the mid quad more than squats.
So if my quad-specific squat causing my problems or perhaps I need to work more of the quads to get full recruitment?
What kind of lunges do you do? In place lunges, walking lunges? Do you use extra weight or just body weight? I like overhead lunges: Hold a weight above your head (plate, DB, BB, whatever) and do walking lunges around the gym. Shit will tire your shoulders out too!
I do in-place lunges with weight on my shoulders (like a back squat). I’d love to have it over my head, but either I’m too tall or my basement is too short.
This brings up another interesting point about my squats. I am doing lunges with 130 pounds on my shoulders. That’s only ONE leg. It seems like I should be near 260 (I figure 230) for a squat, but I’m much lower at 185.
As much as I am on my toes for squats, I’m on my heels for lunges which really hits my glutes and hamstrings.
Nope. When you are lunging you are not pushing straight up against gravity as your rear foot is an anchor point. Thats why many people can leg press 3x more than they can squat
For the lunges, try walking lunges because you have to propel your body forward. Go outside and try it … its summertime man! Not sure where you live but I like to do walking lunges outside. I even go outside my gym to do them to break the monotony.
Don’t be distressed about a 185 squat. I JUST hit 195 on Monday myself for 5 reps so its not like you totally suck. 135 was hard for everyone at one point. Try 195 next time for 8x3 instead of 5x5 … thats my suggestion. Good luck.
[quote]Iron Joe wrote:
Keep your weight on your heels when you squat.[/quote]
Listen to Iron Joe. The weight should not be on the balls of your feet, you should be driving up through your heels. With the weight on the balls of your feet, you are completely changing the geometry of the squat. Sounds like you might need to work on your form a bit.
[quote]Mikul wrote:
I have been working out since September '07 and made some great progress. I’m seeing an average of 10% strength gains in all of my exercises from month to month.
Except squats.
In the last month I went from 180 to, hold on, 185 for set of 5x5 and I was pushing it.
Strangely, my deadlifts and lunges are all making great gains. My deadlifts trailed squats by 15-25 pounds for a while, but the deadlifts have since surpassed my squat weight.
Any ideas on why I’m having problems with squats? I’m a tallish guy (6’4") and I’ve been reading on here that tall guys have problems with certain exercises, like squats. Could that be the wall that I’m hitting?[/quote]
its funny because right off the bat i was thinking 5 x 5 would be the answer, but that was before i read your post. its strange because ive seen such a big gain from only one month of 5 x 5’s.
how OFTEN are you squatting?
ive been trying out a routine where i devote a majority of my time to squats. (5 x 5 three times a week)
in a matter of 4 weeks, i went from a 225lbs squat to 315lbs.
If you’re already doing 5 x 5 i got some things for you to keep in check.
depth of your squat. ATG is the way to go to really hit those hips.
frequency. at least 3 times a week. (if possible)
when you squat up, your mentality should be to push up as fast as possible.
It definitely sounds like I need to modify my squat form to move on. I like the way that the toe-squat that I do really hits the bottom of the quad. I don’t have anything else that hits that. The deadlift hits the top of the quad for me.
I’m making good progress on the lunges and amazing progress with the deadlift (close to 20% per month), so it doesn’t seem like recovery is a problem. I used to do lunges and squats on the same day, but after my workout I was DONE for the day.
I’m squatting every 6 days. My squat depth is good. When I started going low enough, I could really feel it in my hips. I push fast, but need to remind myself to do it. 3x per week?!? Wow! I was considering a leg day with heavy leg work and some low-set, high weight squat work 2 other days per week.
As for pain, I can really feel… stress on my knees. I wouldn’t call it pain, but I’m certainly not used to feeling anything else like it. It feels like my knees have turned to concrete. I’ll admit that it’s a little frightening.
I’m a tall squatter also and have problems with squatting. I believe having a long torso and and short legs(for my height) has something to do with it. You could be having the same problem, but your deadlift should always be higher then your squat.
[quote]Mikul wrote:
It definitely sounds like I need to modify my squat form to move on. I like the way that the toe-squat that I do really hits the bottom of the quad. I don’t have anything else that hits that. The deadlift hits the top of the quad for me.
I’m making good progress on the lunges and amazing progress with the deadlift (close to 20% per month), so it doesn’t seem like recovery is a problem. I used to do lunges and squats on the same day, but after my workout I was DONE for the day.
I’m squatting every 6 days. My squat depth is good. When I started going low enough, I could really feel it in my hips. I push fast, but need to remind myself to do it. 3x per week?!? Wow! I was considering a leg day with heavy leg work and some low-set, high weight squat work 2 other days per week.
As for pain, I can really feel… stress on my knees. I wouldn’t call it pain, but I’m certainly not used to feeling anything else like it. It feels like my knees have turned to concrete. I’ll admit that it’s a little frightening.[/quote]
I see nothing wrong with squats and lunges on the same day… i guess some people just never tried a hard workout.
its not a shocker why your squats aren’t what you want it to be. once every 6 days? try 225lbs 5 x 5 3 days a week for two weeks… people will think you were on roids from the weight you’ll be tacking on. And because you are so tall, your knees will be a critical factor. its not gonna crumble or some shit, but just watch your foot placement and at what point of your feet you drive off at.
If you have been doing the same form for a while, switch it up…
doing back squats? do front for a few months…
The best program is the one your not doing…
I highly doubt you need to do squats 5x5 3 days a week, I know that for me personally that would … 1) lead to overtraining since I push myself hard each time, and 2) not give me enough time in the gym for other shit… 2x a week maybe… but I am on a 3 day split then a day or two off…
It’s tough to squat as a tall/narrow guy. These are short guys who just have a extra-long femur due to a short growth spurt phase. Not people who are proportional, like scaled-up power lifters. Ghetto tall - tall at the sacrifice of balance, proportion, strength.
It’s a curse in weight lifting. Drop down your weight, develop the outer part of your thigh down from your knee up to and including the glute-medius. It keeps pressure off the knee, and lets u go low. Always try to keep the weight on the outer part of your leg, not inner.
Then you can squat for real and use the hamstrings/glutes for power. You’ll be able to use all your force and feel muscles working without fear of joint pain.
I squat about the same weight as you however my squat goes up every week whereas before it would go down or stay the same.
