Squats

mrfrodogetdown

How do YOU do squats? With additional weights, just your body weight, or something else? I thought I knew what a squat was, until my friend tried to show me how to do one- totally different than what I thought.

I'm thinking of the 30 day squat challenge, but whatever works- just how do you do them?

Bakkasan

Today was 1 bar, 6 45lb plates. *kitten* to grass, pause 1 second, then back up. Sets of 5 till failure. If I can complete 3 sets, I add more weight next time. I got 2 sets of 5 and 3 into the third set before my legs said no more.

LoraF83

I squat with heavy weights (1 rep max is 225lbs) with the bar across my back, below parallel.

I do a 5x5 program (Strong Lifts), so I do 5 sets of 5 reps each.

bokodasu

A lot of people think they know what a squat is but don't; it's hard to know if you or your friend is That Guy there. Check out the "So You Think You Can Squat" series of videos on YouTube, it covers pretty much everything you need to know, the rest is just practice.

MikeInAZ

Get some dumbbells or kettle bell. Squat and thrust the weights up into a press as you go up. Get 2 for 1. Added weight on the squat and some shoulder and chest work too! 3 sets of 15 reps!

ScottishMrs

How do YOU do squats? With additional weights, just your body weight, or something else? I thought I knew what a squat was, until my friend tried to show me how to do one- totally different than what I thought.

I'm thinking of the 30 day squat challenge, but whatever works- just how do you do them?

I do them without weights and with high reps a lot of the time (4 sets of 30 usually), but when my lifting program calls for them I do them with weights (25lb dumbbells last time). I do them wide stance and not quite as far as 90 degrees because I've got a bad knee and doing only that much doesn't cause inflammation. As my knee strengthens I'll try going to 90 degrees and bringing my legs to shoulder width apart.

toxikon

http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/GluteusMaximus/BWSquat.html

Iron_Feline

NROL4W. Stage 1

Currently up to 20.5kg in total on a barbell on my back - *kitten* to the grass. 3 sets of 10 reps :bigsmile:

waldo56

I do my thing at home with dumbbells, so I do pistol squats (single leg squats) with DB's in the front rack position. PR of 3 reps @ 35 lb DB's (x2).

Pistol squats are by nature ultra deep. It is not unusual to fall back a bit and actually sit down accidentally when weighted; its pretty easy to recover from though and doesn't mess up the set like it would 2 legged.

When doing volume work I ditch the DB's and just work at BW, as the 10-20 rep area is the sweet spot for big 'ol quads.

tom_olech

I superset my squats as follows

4 sets of:

10-15x body weight squats - focus on speed
5-7x weighted squats, 135-185 ilbs, bar along with shoulders retracted - focus on strength and the negative rep

Form:

I go down until my thighs are parallel to the ground so that i get a more complete range of motion and integrate the glutes into my squats (below parallel is too hard on my knees). I make sure that my torso does not lean forward during the negative and that my core stabilizers are active at all times during the set.

BUT, this is just one way of doing it, squats can have so many variations....

F1uffy123

If Im honest, if you are not 100% sure what a squat is (tecjnique and form), i would strongly recommend only body weight squats for now.

View this - perfect form!

http://stronglifts.com/how-to-squat-with-proper-technique-fix-common-problems/