Max squat guidelines?

LiftAllThePizzas
LiftAllThePizzas Posts: 17,857 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I'm curious about the fact that the typical "max" people are able to squat seems to be expressed as a function of body weight. I would expect at least some difference between, for example, someone who is 5 foot tall and 200 lbs, versus someone 6 foot tall and 200 lbs.

Also, if the 5 foot person has a max squat of say 200 lbs and then loses a bunch of fat while continuing to train, I wouldn't expect their squat to go down...I'd expect they could squat the same amount of combined weight, but with more of that in the form of iron and less of it in the form of body fat.

Replies

  • Bakkasan
    Bakkasan Posts: 1,027 Member
    My squat has gone up faster than my rate of weight loss. I intentionally take fat loss breaks to build muscle again so my data is probably invalid.
  • Cyclink
    Cyclink Posts: 517 Member
    At my peak, I as squatting 2 1/2 times my body weight (170 pounds, 425 pounds).
  • LiftAllThePizzas
    LiftAllThePizzas Posts: 17,857 Member
    At my peak, I as squatting 2 1/2 times my body weight (170 pounds, 425 pounds).
    Right, but if you had gained 100 lbs of fat, would you then expect to be able to squat 2.5 times 270, or 675 pounds? (Of course not.)

    I guess what I'm saying is that it seems like it would make more sense to express squats in terms of LBM instead of just body weight. ::shrug::
  • jimmie65
    jimmie65 Posts: 655 Member
    Does it really matter? Take a 6' tall man who should weigh 200 lbs (my target weight) but weighs 300 lbs (I started at 330). If the low-end goal is 1.5x weight, then does that make the heavy guy healthy and strong if he can squat 300 lbs?

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