When do squats start becoming effecive?

sunlover89

I do squats 4 times a week. I do them wide legged and butt to floor, and hold a 10kg plate as my balance is bad with a barbell. I do 3 x 20. Do you think this is enough to have an effect on glutes? I also do dead lifts and leg presses for lower body strength training. I don't feel an ache because I take a pre workout supplement which disables the burn. Should I push myself to do more?

katevarner

You should increase your weight as the reps become easy. Or google "squat challenge" and do a month where you increase daily without using weights.

gmallan

Are you working to failure? You could consider upping the weight and lowering the number of reps (3 sets of 6-10 reps for example). Even doing this one or two day a week could help. It's not neccessarily about volume but intensity is important

d2footballJRC

I do squats 4 times a week. I do them wide legged and butt to floor, and hold a 10kg plate as my balance is bad with a barbell. I do 3 x 20. Do you think this is enough to have an effect on glutes? I also do dead lifts and leg presses for lower body strength training. I don't feel an ache because I take a pre workout supplement which disables the burn. Should I push myself to do more?

What pre-workout are you taking??

Sorry, but if you tear muscle fibers, a pre-workout isn't going to save you from DOM'S.

Rule of thumb is if you can complete your set full reps no problem, then you need to raise the weight some. Especially on squats you should be struggling a bit on those last few reps.

Lastly, anytime you say, hmm I wonder if I should push myself more when you are lifting, the answer is most likely always yes.

BackTatJIM

To build strength you need to add weight PERIOD! 20 reps is more of a endurance workout then strength training. Maybe start adding weight until you can only do 5 reps each set. **Switching to a barbell would help**

jimmie65

Why wide-legged?

thankyou4thevenom

I do squats 4 times a week. I do them wide legged and butt to floor, and hold a 10kg plate as my balance is bad with a barbell. I do 3 x 20. Do you think this is enough to have an effect on glutes? I also do dead lifts and leg presses for lower body strength training. I don't feel an ache because I take a pre workout supplement which disables the burn. Should I push myself to do more?

What pre-workout are you taking??

Just what I was wondering.

sunlover89

I do squats 4 times a week. I do them wide legged and butt to floor, and hold a 10kg plate as my balance is bad with a barbell. I do 3 x 20. Do you think this is enough to have an effect on glutes? I also do dead lifts and leg presses for lower body strength training. I don't feel an ache because I take a pre workout supplement which disables the burn. Should I push myself to do more?

What pre-workout are you taking??

Just what I was wondering.

I take Cellulor C4. I have to do it wide legged because I have a mild case knock knees and I have bad balance. The only pain/discomfort I feel after workouts is in my shoulders/upper arms. I increased my leg press yesterday from 79kg to 141kg and still feel nothing ;-/
When I hold the plate, it feels like it's not making the squat any harder...I squat with it, lift it above my head and repeat..I was doing this mainly to keep my heart rate elevated while lifting - i realise I'm working my arms and shoulders more with this move. I really can't use a barbell, I tried again yesterday and ended up just falling over with it unloaded! Is there a way I can heavily weight my squats without a barbel?

Chadomaniac

its amazing though , i do heavy heavy squats and get no burn at all on lower reps BUT the next day woooow , and my legs are building so well , but its said that we all respond differently . some grow on high reps lower weight and some legs grow at heavier weight less reps

delonda1

I never feel my squats the day of, I always feel my dead lifts and leg press the day of. But NEXT DAY! The pain in my glutes is UNREAL. like honestly.

As far as actually noticing a difference in that area. IM JUST STARTING. I squat 110-130 for 4 sets of 10. and just starting to see a major difference. as I added another leg day instead of just doing 1 im doing 2. and 1 high rep day and 1 low rep day. both including squats

dr3w_s

It's the intensity, ever since I switched from 3x10 to 5x5 squat, my quad and my bum sore the next 2 days

wonderbolt

When you stop using a 10kg plate and lift heavier! I do 50kg for 5 sets of 5 reps and my legs and butt look pretty good after a few months of doing so

bdamaster60

If you want squats to target your glutes more then contract your glutes on the eccentric part of the movement.

HelloDan

DOMs or burn isn't an indicator of effectiveness.
An indicator of effectiveness would be muscle growth, or strength\endurance improvements.


Squats, or any other exercise become effective, when you work at a level that is challenging enough to force the body to adapt. For you that might be 40kg, for me that might be 150kg, for Hossein Rezazedah that might might be 300kg, there is not fixed answer.

sunlover89

DOMs or burn isn't an indicator of effectiveness.
An indicator of effectiveness would be muscle growth, or strength\endurance improvements.


Squats, or any other exercise become effective, when you work at a level that is challenging enough to force the body to adapt. For you that might be 40kg, for me that might be 150kg, for Hossein Rezazedah that might might be 300kg, there is not fixed answer.

Awesome, thanks! I'm going to see how squatting "hugging" a few plates will work and do a 5x5 routine instead.

HelloDan

Awesome, thanks! I'm going to see how squatting "hugging" a few plates will work and do a 5x5 routine instead.

For now, that's fine, and you can do "goblet squats" with a dumbbell.

Long term, you need to work out why you are struggling with barbell squats, as they are a staple that should be in everyones exercise repertoire.

EvgeniZyntx

I take Cellulor C4. I have to do it wide legged because I have a mild case knock knees and I have bad balance. The only pain/discomfort I feel after workouts is in my shoulders/upper arms. I increased my leg press yesterday from 79kg to 141kg and still feel nothing ;-/
When I hold the plate, it feels like it's not making the squat any harder...I squat with it, lift it above my head and repeat..I was doing this mainly to keep my heart rate elevated while lifting - i realise I'm working my arms and shoulders more with this move. I really can't use a barbell, I tried again yesterday and ended up just falling over with it unloaded! Is there a way I can heavily weight my squats without a barbel?

The reason you are not feeling DOMS is most certainly not the C4.

Here is a small test - try 3x10 Bulgarian squats (one legged squats) with a small weight (say 1kg-4kg in each hand) -promise you will feel DOMS the next day. (It will work and improve your balance too!) If you can't do them due to balance, do them without weights and have someone hold your hands to help on the balance. A routine of a few weeks will help on squatting balance imensely.

For squats, if you are falling over is your foot position correct? Toes point outward 80-90% from each other, as you go down, knees move over the toes and remain wide?

Look at Zercher Squats if you want to try with the bar up front or hugging plates.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14e12wFB2GQ

lcuconley

I do squats 4 times a week. I do them wide legged and butt to floor, and hold a 10kg plate as my balance is bad with a barbell. I do 3 x 20. Do you think this is enough to have an effect on glutes? I also do dead lifts and leg presses for lower body strength training. I don't feel an ache because I take a pre workout supplement which disables the burn. Should I push myself to do more?

What pre-workout are you taking??

Just what I was wondering.

I take Cellulor C4. I have to do it wide legged because I have a mild case knock knees and I have bad balance. The only pain/discomfort I feel after workouts is in my shoulders/upper arms. I increased my leg press yesterday from 79kg to 141kg and still feel nothing ;-/
When I hold the plate, it feels like it's not making the squat any harder...I squat with it, lift it above my head and repeat..I was doing this mainly to keep my heart rate elevated while lifting - i realise I'm working my arms and shoulders more with this move. I really can't use a barbell, I tried again yesterday and ended up just falling over with it unloaded! Is there a way I can heavily weight my squats without a barbel?

Omg...you need to stop taking creatine. You are not using a solid lifting program and creatine is, at best, a waste of money.

Look into new rules of lifting for women, strong lifts, etc

I agree with the previous poster that you need to work on using a barbell.

In general, if you are looking for better results, you need to "push yourself to do more"

dinosnopro

If you can squat " hugging " a plate. I would try front squats with a barbell.

Crankstr

I would watch some squat videos on form, and try your best to use the barbell.

even if you can only do a few at a time, and work your way up

Do you have someone who can spot you?

darkguardian419

They become effective when you stop being scared of the weights and start lifting heavy.