frequent squatting

chrisdavey
chrisdavey Posts: 9,834 Member
edited December 2024 in Fitness and Exercise
http://jcdfitness.com/2012/05/a-case-for-frequent-squatting/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+jcdfitness+(JCDFitness)

Good article.

A wise man once said "If you wanted to increase you're squat numbers by the greatest amount in a month, would you do it once a week?"

Replies

  • Natx83
    Natx83 Posts: 1,298 Member
    Word!
  • snookumss
    snookumss Posts: 1,451 Member
    Its true! My boyfriend in college and high school made squat records, he thinks he probably even overtrained, because he was squatting so frequently. Its how he forced his body to squat more!

    It makes me think of a farm situation. If you have to lift bales of hay, you may not be strong enough initially, but doing it every day you'll get pretty good at it!
  • crisanderson27
    crisanderson27 Posts: 5,343 Member
    Bumping to read tomorrow when I'm at my pc.
  • FoxyMcDeadlift
    FoxyMcDeadlift Posts: 771 Member
    Bump for a read later, i love my squats
  • chrishgt4
    chrishgt4 Posts: 1,222 Member
    Good read and interesting change in numbers.

    Have to say though - the guy looked the same on both photos, and if anything I thought slightly bigger in the first so it makes me wonder if he was overworking his body and detrimenting his size gains in favour of increasing his squat numbers. Obviously, we can't see his legs so I don't know what gains were made there, but I'd bet not much.

    I think it would work for putting numbers up, but I think that guy in the article probably hasn't really challenged himself that much in the past, so he had a lot of 'beginner gains' still to make.

    Once someone is up at 300/400/500 lbs etc and the weights start really taking it out of them then I would always advocate 3 days rest in-between.
  • Lift_hard_eat_big
    Lift_hard_eat_big Posts: 2,278 Member
    Good read and interesting change in numbers.

    Have to say though - the guy looked the same on both photos, and if anything I thought slightly bigger in the first so it makes me wonder if he was overworking his body and detrimenting his size gains in favour of increasing his squat numbers. Obviously, we can't see his legs so I don't know what gains were made there, but I'd bet not much.

    I think it would work for putting numbers up, but I think that guy in the article probably hasn't really challenged himself that much in the past, so he had a lot of 'beginner gains' still to make.

    Once someone is up at 300/400/500 lbs etc and the weights start really taking it out of them then I would always advocate 3 days rest in-between.

    I squat over 300 lbs. and I squat 3-4 times a week, gains are coming along nicely.
  • chrishgt4
    chrishgt4 Posts: 1,222 Member
    Good read and interesting change in numbers.

    Have to say though - the guy looked the same on both photos, and if anything I thought slightly bigger in the first so it makes me wonder if he was overworking his body and detrimenting his size gains in favour of increasing his squat numbers. Obviously, we can't see his legs so I don't know what gains were made there, but I'd bet not much.

    I think it would work for putting numbers up, but I think that guy in the article probably hasn't really challenged himself that much in the past, so he had a lot of 'beginner gains' still to make.

    Once someone is up at 300/400/500 lbs etc and the weights start really taking it out of them then I would always advocate 3 days rest in-between.

    I squat over 300 lbs. and I squat 3-4 times a week, gains are coming along nicely.

    Perhaps if you included rest periods your gains might be faster?

    Also, something I didn't add in my original post is that squats are a heavy energy drainer. If you have those up front every workout then you are limiting what you can do on subsequent exercises.
  • FoxyMcDeadlift
    FoxyMcDeadlift Posts: 771 Member
    the guy says he wanted to grow his squat and he grew his squat. I cant speak for the rest of the programme, but his goal wasnt really hypertrophy. Also, theres a lot of advanced programmes that advocate squatting more than once a week. (Smolov, 5/3/1, sheiko squat)
  • chrishgt4
    chrishgt4 Posts: 1,222 Member
    the guy says he wanted to grow his squat and he grew his squat. I cant speak for the rest of the programme, but his goal wasnt really hypertrophy. Also, theres a lot of advanced programmes that advocate squatting more than once a week. (Smolov, 5/3/1, sheiko squat)

    If his goals weren't hypertrophy then no issues there. I was just extrapolating the results to make other conclusions.

    Also I totally advocate squatting more than once a week, but wouldn't want to do it without an absolute minimum 2 days off in-between. 6 times a week - in my opinion - is too much for what most people are after in their workout.
  • hannahlbur
    hannahlbur Posts: 221 Member
    Am I the only one who thought this was about having a poo?!
  • chrisdavey
    chrisdavey Posts: 9,834 Member
    Good read and interesting change in numbers.

    Have to say though - the guy looked the same on both photos, and if anything I thought slightly bigger in the first so it makes me wonder if he was overworking his body and detrimenting his size gains in favour of increasing his squat numbers. Obviously, we can't see his legs so I don't know what gains were made there, but I'd bet not much.

    I think it would work for putting numbers up, but I think that guy in the article probably hasn't really challenged himself that much in the past, so he had a lot of 'beginner gains' still to make.

    Once someone is up at 300/400/500 lbs etc and the weights start really taking it out of them then I would always advocate 3 days rest in-between.

    I just finished the basic cycle of Smolov and went from 160kg to 170kg in 3 weeks of squatting 4x a week. Ate ****loads, got adequate rest and thigh measurement was up an inch (first time in 12 months!). I failed 160kg just before I started Smolov, did it for 3 weeks (and it was TOUGH) and by the end of that I made 170kg. My knees needed a rest moreso than anything by the end of it though.
  • nick1109
    nick1109 Posts: 174 Member
    Am I the only one who thought this was about having a poo?!

    LOL!
  • wellbert
    wellbert Posts: 3,924 Member
    I don't understand why the before/after was of his torso when the article is about squats.
  • ilovedeadlifts
    ilovedeadlifts Posts: 2,923 Member
    A wise man once said "If you wanted to increase you're squat numbers by the greatest amount in a month, would you do it once a week?"

    I still never squat more than 2x per week.
    Smolov definiately works but it's clearly not something you stay with long term, it's hard to keep that level of recovery for long.

    I can't think of any extremely strong people that would squat more than twice per week. The majority of the record holders in powerlifting use the westside method, and it involves squatting 1-2 times per week. Once as a max effort excercise (squat, goodmorning, or deadlift variation) so sometimes they won't even have a heavy squat each week. Then once as a dynamic excercise (alway box squatting with accommodating resistance). And these are the strongest people in the world.
  • chrisdavey
    chrisdavey Posts: 9,834 Member
    I don't understand why the before/after was of his torso when the article is about squats.

    If you've ever had double BW or more on you're back you'll realise it's a whole body exercise. I get the point though.

    Ilovedeadlifts: agreed. You can't run Smolov for ever but it also cycles intensity and frequency but it's in weekly blocks not during a week like the Westside method. Don't get me wrong I also incorporate Westside style stuff into my own routine and I think it works well. Focussing assistance work on you're weaknesses should benefit the main exercise for sure. But there is something about just getting under the bar and doing it frequently that certainly worked for me and many others too.

    Also, what about olympic lifters? Most of the stuff I've read on their training is all about high frequency. Of course you need to work up to that level though.
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