Squats overrated?

Also, your muscles can lose what strength/endurance they have in as little as 2 days so doing them only once a week is likely not enough. Try doing them every 3 days for now and work towards doing them every 2 days. Carbs after a workout also help reduce the acid build up in the muscles and may help reduce soreness.

I disagree. I only squat once a week and have no issues losing strength. Also, research is showing that DOMS is not caused by lactic acid buildup like once thought, but rather microtears in the muscle fibers.

I would try sleeping or eating more to recover properly, and walking post squat session.

- do what you enjoy doing and ditch the squats.

"ducks head as a dozen squat enthusiasts swoop in from the nearby squat rack"

That's one option, but given that he said he always does them with heavy weight/high intensity, I'd say that's why his legs are trashed every time he finishes squats.

Try increasing volume, lowering weight and intensity and see how your legs respond to that. Then do the heavy/intense workout maybe once a month. Mixing up weights/intensity is a good way to keep your muscles confused.

dupe post

As other posters have mentioned, I found that squatting 3x per week is the best way to get over the soreness. I'm currently on a 1 or 2 time per week squatting routine and I'm definitely more sore than when I was doing it every other day.

I would suggest adding in light squats to the rest of your week, getting blood to the muscles will help them recover and I think you'll find that it helps the soreness

Everything I've read extolls the virtues of squats above all other forms of exercise. So I've been methodically doing them once a week, with heavy weight and fairly high intensity, for nearly half a year now. But after squat day, my legs are next to useless with soreness for the next two to three days (like even walking or going up the stairs takes some mental preparation!) and I find myself avoiding jogging, soccer, basketball, etc.

Isn't this defeating the purpose of exercise, if the consequences of performing it precludes us from enjoying normal life? Does anyone else experience this from squats? If so, do you have any suggested alternative exercises?

Just a thought, but are you stretching after your workouts? I used to get sore like that all the time when I didn't stretch, but now that I do, it doesn't bother me so much. After leg day, I tend to finish my routine with 10-20 minutes doing light cardio, then 10 or so minutes of stretching. Sometimes I still feel a little sore but for the most part, it doesn't hinder anything for me.

Wow, great advice from this community, thanks all. My squats currently consist of 4 sets of 10 reps at 225,275,315,335. These are followed by deadlifts, lunges, and straight legged deadlifts. I'm 6', 185 lbs, and 44 years old, so I'm inclined to think that Sunofabeach is spot on about highlighting my age.

I wouldn't chalk it up to age. Granted - I'm "only" 35, almost 36 but I have worked out for years with competitive natural bodybuilders in their 50's who don't find age to be as big a problem as you're having. What I'd advise is to move your deadlifts to your back day. I have never done so many big lifts in one day - I suspect THAT'S what's killing your legs for days on end. If you're going as heavy on the other excercises as you are on squats I'm not surprised your sapped for a few days.

Here is my leg day - and I recover just fine within a day or two.

Squat (185 x 12, 225 x 10, 315 x 8)
Leg Press (180 x 12, 270 x 10, 360 x 8, 450 x 6)
Calf Raise machine (150 x 12 ,160 x10, 170 x 8)
Leg Extension (150 x 12 ,160 x10, 170 x 8)
Leg Curls ((150 x 12 ,160 x10, 170 x 8)

I go heavy on deadlifts - and I couldn't imagine doing them on leg day.

My legs day looks exactly the same!! ...with much lower numbers, of course :bigsmile: I copied mine from M. Kory's fitness channel. I also run 3-4 miles on the same day ( I do not recommend that for anyone, unless you know you can handle it. Please don't do it and then blame me for "bad" advice ) I very rarely have sore muscles, and it only takes about a day to fully recover.

ETA: someone mentioned a foam roller. Best seventeen dollars I spent in a long time.

Also, your muscles can lose what strength/endurance they have in as little as 2 days so doing them only once a week is likely not enough. Try doing them every 3 days for now and work towards doing them every 2 days. Carbs after a workout also help reduce the acid build up in the muscles and may help reduce soreness.

I disagree. I only squat once a week and have no issues losing strength.

Exactly. I squat once a week as well, my progress has been fine, my gains are there. Reduce volume, find the right balance for you. I would never do 4x10 sets at that high of a weight, too much weight and too much volume. Pick one or the other but scale it back.

If you follow stronglifts 5x5 at all, you know that getting sore and worn out is not the goal. Overtraining and wearing down the muscle is not the goal. The right amount of training is. If it feels like its too little, it might actually be the right amount. You should not be walking around crippled for half of your week, and you don't have to to make steady strength gains with the squat.

And by the way OP just to answer your title, squats are definitely not overrated. They are hands down the best exercise to do out of all exercises. If you could only do one thing, squat, and forget the rest.

SQUAT or SQUAT til you drop That is The Question..

My name is Dances w/ Wow..

You have answered your own question in two ways..

First what you are witnessing is an addiction to exertion fatique....You trash your legs believing that Go heavy or Go home

and then Blaming age as the reason they are over trashed..


Your Goal is both fully armored wheels.. and the trying to keep them fully armored plated..

Once a week at the load you are doing is for some one CONTINUALLY trying to build size - Tom Platz size.....At 41 how much more size did you want to achieve? Also the level of soarness you are describing..if you are not on the sauce.. is way over the top..

Your replenishment cycle by itself means half your day is spent sleeping to repair..fron the beating you give them..

If you are the size you want to be.

Continue to Train them with squats and just split up the workload.. This will by default lessen the EXERTION fatique Soarness ..
The same level of intensity is accomplish able and leg size effective without once a weekly beating of being a load bearer..

on my squat Day.... basic pyramid up to 75% of my one rep max...

then I do 1 minute rides.. to retain vascularity. I use only two..rotations keeping my revolutions/ steps, stairs or climbs per minute at my cardio baseline then uping the cardio intensity by 20% to finish to ensure enough lypolytic enzymes stay relevant in my blood stream.and. to keep my heart accustomed to the threshold I want my legs to be..

I active rest for up :180 seconds Then complete my squat routine w/ 25 reps..in a row @ 125Lbs ..Ina row.. No bottoming out just smooth and rhythmic.. as long as i can hit 25 reps .. with out a full stop.. I know my legs will remain Thick and ample.. for my size 33in waist..and when I wear shorts..

yes legs are soar but at two times week..the soarness is half of what a once a week leg workout a week will do with twice the benenfits..

5x5, HIIT, and other such programs have a premise that.. you are some how weak if you cant do them built into their Mount Olympus programs..In reality you are demonstrating immaturity and insecurity about your training abilities over the long haul if you batter and batter and batter and beat your body down to make them submit just to prove you can do it..

the routine I laid out is called Motorskill training.. and it will not allow you sacrifice.. or compromise your end game..because there are work arounds that go beyond just adding load and manhandling exercises


The Motorskill Method forces you to think through and strategically solve how you want your muscles achieve amazing results or a maintenance result without a constant barbarian at the gate concept of what exercise intensity load and/or frequency should be..


Bottom line greater safety at the top end, more enjoyment, and awesome predictability with regard to outcome.. marriageability of soarness..and is for 100% of end users.. not just for those whose ego has to be perceived as always down for the struggle.


My name is Dances with Wow..

I help individuals just like you train, build, compete and condition body parts that exude indomitable Life force.

SQUAT or SQUAT til you drop That is The Question..

My name is Dances w/ Wow..

You have answered your own question in two ways..

First what you are witnessing is an addiction to exertion fatique....You trash your legs believing that Go heavy or Go home

and then Blaming age as the reason they are over trashed..


Your Goal is both fully armored wheels.. and the trying to keep them fully armored plated..

Once a week at the load you are doing is for some one CONTINUALLY trying to build size - Tom Platz size.....At 41 how much more size did you want to achieve? Also the level of soarness you are describing..if you are not on the sauce.. is way over the top..

Your replenishment cycle by itself means half your day is spent sleeping to repair..fron the beating you give them..

If you are the size you want to be.

Continue to Train them with squats and just split up the workload.. This will by default lessen the EXERTION fatique Soarness ..
The same level of intensity is accomplish able and leg size effective without once a weekly beating of being a load bearer..

on my squat Day.... basic pyramid up to 75% of my one rep max...

then I do 1 minute rides.. to retain vascularity. I use only two..rotations keeping my revolutions/ steps, stairs or climbs per minute at my cardio baseline then uping the cardio intensity by 20% to finish to ensure enough lypolytic enzymes stay relevant in my blood stream.and. to keep my heart accustomed to the threshold I want my legs to be..

I active rest for up :180 seconds Then complete my squat routine w/ 25 reps..in a row @ 125Lbs ..Ina row.. No bottoming out just smooth and rhythmic.. as long as i can hit 25 reps .. with out a full stop.. I know my legs will remain Thick and ample.. for my size 33in waist..and when I wear shorts..

yes legs are soar but at two times week..the soarness is half of what a once a week leg workout a week will do with twice the benenfits..

5x5, HIIT, and other such programs have a premise that.. you are some how weak if you cant do them built into their Mount Olympus programs..In reality you are demonstrating immaturity and insecurity about your training abilities over the long haul if you batter and batter and batter and beat your body down to make them submit just to prove you can do it..

the routine I laid out is called Motorskill training.. and it will not allow you sacrifice.. or compromise your end game..because there are work arounds that go beyond just adding load and manhandling exercises


The Motorskill Method forces you to think through and strategically solve how you want your muscles achieve amazing results or a maintenance result without a constant barbarian at the gate concept of what exercise intensity load and/or frequency should be..


Bottom line greater safety at the top end, more enjoyment, and awesome predictability with regard to outcome.. marriageability of soarness..and is for 100% of end users.. not just for those whose ego has to be perceived as always down for the struggle.


My name is Dances with Wow..

I help individuals just like you train, build, compete and condition body parts that exude indomitable Life force.

Ah, now the thread is complete.

I'll just let the life-force wash over me for a minute...

"marriageability of soarness?"

Does this have anything to do with mating eagles?

This content has been removed.

. sorry - not relevant to the OP's question. deleted.

Wow, great advice from this community, thanks all. My squats currently consist of 4 sets of 10 reps at 225,275,315,335. These are followed by deadlifts, lunges, and straight legged deadlifts. I'm 6', 185 lbs, and 44 years old, so I'm inclined to think that Sunofabeach is spot on about highlighting my age.

Okay, I had a feeling there was more to it than just squats themselves. Didn't read everybody else's replies, but here's my thoughts. Look into a heavier load at 3 - 5 sets for the squats. Something like Starting Strength would be a good start for you. Also, you've have a good level of strength established so you may even consider 5/3/1. Since your sport activities are important to you, I would train 2 to 3 times a week tops; you can always move to a 4-day split in the off-season assuming you have an off-season. If you end-up squatting 2 or 3 times a week, you probably won't need the SLDL's or Lunges.

In my opinion, if you do absolutely no other exercises ever for the rest of your life with the exception of 4, it would be squats, dead lifts, bench press, and overhead press. And believe me, I absolutely loathe bench press and overhead press, but they are awesome compound movements that build a stronger core, stabilizing muscles and synergize well with each other.

Are overhead presses the same as military presses?