Heavy Squats

Today something happened that bothers me. The plan was to do 4-6 reps with 405 on the squat, but I knew I could do more. So, I went up to 430 and did 4 easy reps. Of course I wanted to try more, so I went up to 465 and only managed to get 1! I tried again and the same thing happened. I just couldn't get the mental psyche to give it my all.

Tony

-----

I know you didn't ask for advice, but here's an idea which I think will get you 6 reps with 465:

1. Skip one regularly scheduled squat session.
2. The next squat session, dedicate to doing an experiment. The experiment is simple. After your warm up sets, pick a good heavy weight you know you can do ten reps with. Now, do one set of 20 reps with it, all in one heavy breathing set if you can. If you can't, do rest-pauses. That's where you put the weight on the rack, rest 5-10 seconds, take it up again and gut out another rep until you get your 20 reps.
3. Skip one more regularly scheduled squat session.
4. Resume your sets of 4-6 next squat session. You will get 6 reps with 465. I'd bet two pounds of Dave and Laree's new protein on it!

Raise the bar, dude,
John Oneschak

<Please explain the difference between low rep squats and lighter squats.>

Generally, people have one of three goals when approaching weight training: to gain strength OR to gain size OR to gain size and strength. One of the most common misconceptions about weight training is that as strength increases, muscle size (hypertrophy) will automatically follow. While there is an obvious correlation, strength can be developed independent of hypertrophy (ask any powerlifter or Olympic weightlifter) and hypertrophy can be developed somewhat independent of strength.

Training should be tailored according to your goal. The number of repetitions and overall volume of your leg workout are important variables to be considered. A rep range of 8-15 is generally more suited towards the goal of hypertrophy. If I did not want to increase leg/muscle size (hypertrophy) and solely wanted to focus on strength gains, I would increase the weight, increase rest between sets, and definitely keep my reps under 6. So, it is not so much the amount of weight used but the number of reps that are the more important influence on hypertrophy, although it's best to keep these hand in hand.

Also, keep in mind that the "sting" or burn that one experiences in a high-rep (hypertrophy) workout does not commonly occur in a workout with low reps / heavy weight. This should NOT be an indicator of the intensity or the effectiveness of a "strength" workout.

Millard
Mesomorphosis

<We have a squat rack and it has safety bars but my inexperience with heavy weight makes me leary. I've neve had a back injury and I don't want one now. I do lift sets of ten - 10X135 10X265 10X355 10X355 10X 265 10X225 when I do squats.>

Back in '96, when I had back surgery, my chiropractor instructed me to avoid higher reps for the exact same reason: safety. His reasoning was that the para-spinal muscles, the big ones that get so well-worked in squats and deadlift's, tire at different rates. In other words, the left side or the right will begin to exhaust before the muscles on the opposite side of the spine. This, he said, would result in unavoidable degrading of good form as I repped-out, throwing stress on the spine.

Steve W.

Click here to go back to the IOL Leg Training Discussion Contents