hi all. first post, but i’ve been a member for awhile and read much info from this site, and appreciated all of it. i’ve read the importance of squatting and basic power movements over and over, and now i want to incorporate that into my schedule. i’m just wondering how many of you actually squat/dead lift and how much it’s helped your overall physique and helped your gains, and how much it affected your overall muscle development and growth. thanks guys.
I squat and deadlift all the time. They’re both great exercises and add great overall size to your frame. You basically become a lerger version of yourself, all your body parts respond to these exercises in favorable ways, even ones not directly involved feel the effect and get thicker.
The pundages i use depends on a few factors. Throughout the year i go through periods where i lift heavy and intense or just have regular workouts where weight is not so important, like when functioning on 1900 calories because of cutting.
I often look back at my training log of 27 years and I observe an exact correlation between squat progress and overall progress, meaning that I made the best overall gains in strength and development when my squat was progressing the most. Another thing I have always found to be true about squats is that you can almost always make increases, for example, I have often gone into the gym, totally confident and ready for my session–and I load the bar to do upper body work, such as bench presses–and there are some days, when no matter how hard I try, no matter how hard I push, the reps that I am attempting to make just wont happen. But with the squat the desired reps almost always came. I think that is because the legs are so much stronger than we even imagine and there is always some reserve strength to get another repetition.
I cannot echo what the other folks have said enough. I firmly believe you can make great gains on a steady diet of deads, squats and bench and nothing else. Conversely, if you were to use every other exercise, and every variation of those exercises, but never squat, dead, or bench, I do not think your gains will ever be nearly as great.
I started to incorporate squats and deadlifts around 4 months ago and found they have made me stronger and put some thickness into my muscle. My lower back and outer quads feel and look thicker than before. I started off fairly light but improvement and strength was fast in coming. As the folks always always repeat on these boards they really are the best exercises for hypetrophy.
Squats and deadlifts are like steroids for natural lifters. When done correctly they are so tuff that they cause a natural release of hormones for growth!
When I first started lifting at the tender age of twenty six or was it twenty seven the one thing I did read over and over again, even in the muscle rags, I used to read was if you want to grow squat and dead!
Alot of newbies get mad and say “we’re tired of hearing squat, dead, and eat, as advice,” but it’s so true! When I incorporated those lifts into my training and kept a food log I made the best gains period.
[quote]Elkhntr1 wrote:
Squats and deadlifts are like steroids for natural lifters. When done correctly they are so tuff that they cause a natural release of hormones for growth!
When I first started lifting at the tender age of twenty six or was it twenty seven the one thing I did read over and over again, even in the muscle rags, I used to read was if you want to grow squat and dead!
Alot of newbies get mad and say “we’re tired of hearing squat, dead, and eat, as advice,” but it’s so true! When I incorporated those lifts into my training and kept a food log I made the best gains period. [/quote]
This is an important observation. I was guilty of wasting years trying different variations of every exercise you can imagine trying to find the right mix. I finally started to make the gains I wanted when I simplified my program and use almost exclusively compound movements. It may sound simplistic but it really does work.
Squats and various compound movements like cleans build the foundation for most athletic strength. Some world class athletes stuck to only three movements to fuel their success. Among these was former world record holder in the 100m Ben Johnson. If you aren’t doing these movements I don’t know what else you’d be doing.
I went from a skinny bastard (150lbs) to 165 with less BF in about a year of solely compound movements (Squat, Deads, Pull-up, Dips). They remain a staple in my routine.
awesome brothas. this is exactly what i needed to hear to stop thinking about it and start applying it. i guess i was kind of nervous to start cause i’ve never really done these movements before, but i think i’m ready. my workouts are pretty intense already, but i trust the knowledge around here enough to make another step. keep it comin!
[quote]toocul4u wrote:
awesome brothas. this is exactly what i needed to hear to stop thinking about it and start applying it. i guess i was kind of nervous to start cause i’ve never really done these movements before, but i think i’m ready. my workouts are pretty intense already, but i trust the knowledge around here enough to make another step. keep it comin![/quote]
One more slightly less than profound suggestion - start with a weight you can handle fairly easily and nail your form. There are some really great squat and deadlift how-to form articles on this site that have made a huge difference for me. Once I got my form nailed the gains really started coming naturally. Your back position and breathing are important, but nothing helped me more than learning how to get and stay tight during the big lifts.
Good luck.
The first exercise I EVER tried at the gym was squats (yes, before even bench press) so I cant say that squats changed my workout or anything but its great.
For years I was doing machine circuits and they were helpful … but boring after a while. Also, I reached a plateau that I could not get beyond. About six months ago I switched to free weights. The change is incredible in many ways. I incorporated the major compound lifts (deads, straight-leg deads, and squats) right away. I think it is good to get someone knowledgeable to help you with these large lifts at first. Soon enough you will “feel” when you are doing them correctly.
Doing them correctly instills confidence and provides body changes that you can see and feel from the start. Also, there are physical changes over time that are really terrific.
My mix of exercises varies a lot. For example, I also do weighted lunges and weighted step ups to challenge my muscles with variety, but do deads and squats frequently for several reasons: they are basic, I LOVE to do them, and they produce results.
Start squattin, man. You won’t regret it.