I am planning on high frequency squatting and I was wondering what approaches have worked for other people. I am planning on front squatting between 4-6 times per week (I cannot back squat as it has given me issues with my shoulder) and performing assistance and upper body work after squatting.
I have previously experimented with squatting 4 times per week to a daily max with 1 or 2 back off sets of low reps and had fairly good results. When researching high frequency strength methods I saw many options with some working up to a daily max, some having heavier days, lighter days, and volume days while some simply involve performing the lift between 50% and 80% of 1RM sub maximally like in this article:
In addition, I noticed that some high frequency squatting approaches involve implementing many squatting variations. I was considering using zercher squats to add variation.
For those of you that have experience with high frequency squatting, what has worked for you and what could you recommend? How often/how much variation would you recommend? Which loading methods have worked for you and would these methods have any different results?
Any advice, experience or information is greatly appreciated!
I predominantly Front Squat as well due to back issues. If you’re a beginner (relative term here) Starting Strength worked wonders for me. Now i moved to Texas Method. They’re both x3 a week & no squat variation. SS has a linear progression (you add 5 pounds every workout) and Texas has Volume/Recovery/Max days.
Also I haven’t seen a PL program which make you squat more than 4 a week, so maybe the Olympic lifters might help you with that. I’m guessing they squat more, especially the front.
Yeah you can do shit like this if you want, you just have to make sure you’re not taking your sets anywhere near failure. No grinding reps, missed reps, etc.
If you make sure all your reps are done with good form and you’re not destroying yourself with the volume you’ll be alright.
Why? What’s the goal you’re shooting hoping to reach by front squatting 4-6 times per week? Bigger quads? A stronger front squat? Something else?
There are a few different ways to lay out a plan that works a movement with high frequency, and your particular goal will dictate the details of daily volume, intensity, and exercise variation.
My goal is building a stronger front squat but I would also hope that building a stronger front squat will help build my quads and carry over to other lower body lifts. Although strength is my goal, I am not competing so I simply want to build strength in the 1-6 rep range rather than solely working on singles.
I had a month last year where i didn’t have to work while living around the corner from an awesome 24/hr powerlifting gym, so i ran a “Bulgarian-ish” program based on an e-book written by Greg Nuckols just for fun.
Brief summary: Bench and Squat 5-6 days a week. I worked up to a “daily minimum”, a weight i could do for a solid single even on little sleep, hungover, etc. (about 85% for me) If i felt good, i’d work up a little higher to a daily max. I did moderate speed Deadlift singles one day a week. No back off sets but i wouldve used them eventually if i had done it longer. I also did some pullups or rows most days for balance.
I think the biggest benefit i got from training like this is that it really habituates you to the stress response of heavy weights. I used to get nervous for heavy squat attempts, by the second week of lifting like that this was basically completely gone. Get in, do the singles, go home. Very Zen. Keep in mind the daily max is not a vein popping, life or death absolute max. The big downside was my joints started to get achy. People that have trained like this longer say the body adapts and it goes away but i wonder if my technique was solid enough. Or maybe i could solve this with rotating lifts or varying sets/reps?