I've been working out hardcore for five years, though I just started squating recently. My knees are kind of fucked up from years of sports (especially soccer), but I hit a personal record Monday with 205 lbs. Yeah, not crazy but I'm making prorgess, albeit slowly. Any tips for squats? I'm gradually trying to add more weight as my body gets acclimated. I heard most people squat 2-3 times per week ...I know there are some who go almost every day and I'm not about that life
I squat about 2-3 times a week, that is plenty. Make sure you keep your abs tight, your back and spine comfortable, slowly go down (ass to the grass) and... EXPLODE UP!!!! The body is powerful, the weight is just mental. Keep working hard and you will get into the 300s in no time1
Go slow and do a full repetition, no quarter or half squats. Stick your butt out, pretend you are a chicken laying an egg. Flat feet on the ground, body steady and move up and down
Working out for 5 years and no squats?! I would start doing them at least twice a week and you will start seeing some nice gains. Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum mobile app
Look up Starting Strength by Rippetoe. You can download the PDF or just go on the Wiki. Pretty much covers everything you could possibly think of, from technique to what to do when you stall, to when to move on to another program.
Honestly ass to grass isn't that great for beginners, they might not have the flexibility, and it makes it harder to learn proper form. IMO it's better to go to parallel only at first, then when they've got some base strength built up and learned a bit more then they can make the ass to grass call. It's just easier to injure yourself when you're doing the linear progression going A to G.
Ehh thats a double edged sword. Yeah it will be easier starting out but what happens when youre ready to go ATG just with heavier weight? Youre right back where you started. Just start atg from the start
recently added squats back into my routine, typically i'll do 135 5x4 and maybe add weight a little at a time until it catches up with bench. No need to rush into higher weights, it's a process
If you're doing squats you really should be adding a small amount of weight every workout, especially since you're at pretty light weight right now. I wouldn't stop adding weight once it starts passing your bench either, once your strength develops you're going to be able to squat much more than you bench.
I agree with Blazed. If you check out programs like Starting strength and stronglifts they utilize progressive overload to quickly increase strength. They have you adding 5lbs per workout to squats and deadlifts. This makes for quick progress.
Yeah you can even add 10 ibs to deadlift and squats in the early stages, although once you get past that "beginner gains" stage you should slow up to 5 ibs per workout because it gets really hard. As a novice there's no reason to stay at the same weight for multiple workouts, you're basically stagnating like that. Once you get more advanced you'll have to switch over to weekly increases, but that shouldn't be happening until you can deadlift twice your body weight and squat 1.5x body weight.