Assistance Volume and Leg Day

Hey guys, just looking for some advice. Generally speaking I’ve taken a liking to the following rep scheme:

Work Up to a top set of X reps
Backdown, AMRAP, 10, 10

Or more specifically:

Worked up to a top set of 335 x 5 on squats
Backed down to 275.
AMRAP (got 13), 8 reps, 8 reps.

It’s something I picked on doing Darkhorse forever ago, and while the giant sets can die in a fire, I really like how the rep scheme allows you to self regulate, while still getting all the volume you can handle. And for the most part, has been tremendously productive to my training.

However, on leg day, and only leg day, by the time I’m done with squats, I can barely stand, let alone do lunges, or any other unilateral leg movement. Which I consider to be a large weakness of mine. (However, not enough to forego squats in favor of them) is this a common occurance? What are some workarounds? Or am I just being weak minded, and need to give my balls a tug? Thanks!

How many times do you train legs per week?

It sounds like you are getting plenty of work with your squatting routine.

If you want to do other leg movements your either going to dial back the AMRAP, or work in the other movements on a separate day. 2 sets if pushed really hard can be very taxing, and training that way for legs especially will limit your ability to volume in that session.

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I only train squats once per week, but I do have a dedicated deadlift day, that I usually throw some leg assistance on. I guess in a round about way I was just asking if the squat volume was sufficient. I have just always have a hard time grasping how much squats really take out of you, combined with the fact that the assistance for squats is generally… just other variations of squats. I guess I might fumble around with leg assistance on deadlift day, and posterior chain work on squat day, or something. And if I cant get comfortable I’ll reevaluate.

I like doing three sets of twenty, that’s been working pretty good for me so far/recently.

3 sets of 20 squats? I think I would literally die. Anytime I’ve done a -single- widowmaker on squats or deads, I have to stop briefly and reaffirm what the hell I’m doing and why lol.

I’d stray on the side of minimum effective dose and listening to your body. Got hurt in the past overdoing it.

Squats are a great movement but take a lot out of you maybe overly so given the stimulus you get vs other movements. One or two hard sets is plenty.

Depending on your goals it could be useful to maybe skip the third set of squats and use the resources that frees up to hit other movements.

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I’ve somehow managed to avoid any lower body injuries to this point, and I’d certainly like to keep that record going lol.

This is a good point. I might play around with it. Or at the very least, on days where I just really dont want to squat I bunch I can use it as an excuse to hammer in some unilateral movements.