How much did you start out squating?

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Replies

  • Galatea_Stone
    Galatea_Stone Posts: 2,037 Member
    I started with 65 pounds. It would have been better if I had started with the bar.

    Form is the most important thing. About once a month, I take a day and practice form with very light weight, do pause squats, then a couple sets where I go down slowly and come up very slowly to check what I'm doing with my hips and glutes at the bottom and top of the squat.

    Starting with the bar is the best thing you can do in the long run. Don't worry about actual numbers. Worry about the work you're feeling from the exercises you perform.
  • smithed812
    smithed812 Posts: 289
    I started with the bar! Just started stronglifts and that's what Mehdi recommends in the program. No shame here :)
  • SunofaBeach14
    SunofaBeach14 Posts: 4,899 Member
    the empty bar.. until I perfected my form.

    ^ This. I've gone through a couple of periods where I've stripped the bar to work on form. I think squats and deads are both very technical and it's important to dial in your form. Hell, I'm doing the same with my bench right now and it's a hell of a lot different technique than I've been using. Worry about the end result more than what you do today. Get it right.
  • coral_b
    coral_b Posts: 264 Member
    Firstly I agree- decent form is better gained with lower weights, then work up to what you can manage with correct form on all your reps.
    This doesn't really tie in with the original question, and I'm sorry for jumping in; but my max is some-what stifled, and I have no idea the true amount I can squat. The squat rack is NEVER free, and the wait is sometimes 3 people, which frustrates me. So I currently squat 25kg, because that's the max I can Overhead press, to actually get it into position! Tips? I'm quite sure man-up and wait for the rack is the option....
  • SunofaBeach14
    SunofaBeach14 Posts: 4,899 Member
    I started with 65 pounds. It would have been better if I had started with the bar.

    Form is the most important thing. About once a month, I take a day and practice form with very light weight, do pause squats, then a couple sets where I go down slowly and come up very slowly to check what I'm doing with my hips and glutes at the bottom and top of the squat.

    Starting with the bar is the best thing you can do in the long run. Don't worry about actual numbers. Worry about the work you're feeling from the exercises you perform.

    ^ And this. Don't worry about what other people in the gym may think. Dial it in right
  • AZKristi
    AZKristi Posts: 1,801 Member
    I started with body weight squats.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    I got back into lifting with Starting Strength and followed that program which has you start with the bar regardless of whether or not you can do more than that. It is helpful in learning form as well as adapting those smaller muscles and tendons to the load...often people's larger muscles can handle the load fine, but they run into issues with those smaller helper muscles and tendon and ligament injuries due to going too heavy too fast.

    Starting Strength is a 3x5 program that focuses on compound lifts and is designed for the beginner...it has you progressively add weight each workout so that within a couple of months or so you're going pretty heavy but those couple of months at lighter weight has allowed for your body to adapt slowly to increased loads without overdoing it.
  • dont_tap_my_aces
    dont_tap_my_aces Posts: 125 Member
    I started working out at a gym this week and did the squat rack for the first time. I can barely get 8 reps with just the bar. My question is it normal to start out with no weight in the bar. ? Or could I be doing something wrong

    a lot of beginner programs start with just the bar. That's the way i began as well. you feel foolish, and you are in and out of the gym in under 20 minutes for the first few weeks, but quickly the weight gets up when you add 5lbs to your squat each session. check out SL5x5 on google if you are looking for a decent beginner program.
  • Squidgeypaws007
    Squidgeypaws007 Posts: 1,012 Member
    "heavy" in the fitness world is a relative term. Only matters to you. I always warm up with bodyweight squats and also the empty bar, no matter what max I am at.

    ^^ this.

    Form is key - get that right and then get the weight on :)
  • dixiewhiskey
    dixiewhiskey Posts: 3,333 Member
    Always start with the bar (most bars weigh between 35-45lbs anyways). I started with the bar then added 50lbs.
  • tycho_mx
    tycho_mx Posts: 426 Member
    The bar. For a long time; I started quite young and the trainers didn't want us to add weight for about 2 months. Very risk-averse gym :)
  • Lofteren
    Lofteren Posts: 960 Member
    The first time I squatted I was 13 in the 8th grade football combine. I was about 5'6'' 200lbs and chubby but I squatted 295lbs
  • Sarahliquid
    Sarahliquid Posts: 201 Member
    Body weight. I've gotten up to 95 with the smith machine, but i want to do full body ATG squats so I used a barbell and did 40 lbs safely.
  • richardheath
    richardheath Posts: 1,276 Member
    Firstly I agree- decent form is better gained with lower weights, then work up to what you can manage with correct form on all your reps.
    This doesn't really tie in with the original question, and I'm sorry for jumping in; but my max is some-what stifled, and I have no idea the true amount I can squat. The squat rack is NEVER free, and the wait is sometimes 3 people, which frustrates me. So I currently squat 25kg, because that's the max I can Overhead press, to actually get it into position! Tips? I'm quite sure man-up and wait for the rack is the option....
    When I was using dumbbells, I would just let my arms hang down by my sides. It's not perfect for form of course, but it is doable.

    Or, just wait for the rack... :wink:
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
    every single person who lifts weights started with just the bar once upon a time.
  • Lofteren
    Lofteren Posts: 960 Member
    every single person who lifts weights started with just the bar once upon a time.

    notsomuch...
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
    every single person who lifts weights started with just the bar once upon a time.

    notsomuch...

    so even before you EVER knew how to squat you loaded up? never learned form first?

    mmhmmmm

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