Hello guys,
Regarding paused squats, how many seconds do you think is an optimal pause? The most common time is 4 sec. but some go as long 7 seconds. Thanks in advance.
well what I do is
one week ill pause for 7 seconds
next week ill pause for 5
next weel ill pause for 3
and then start back again at 7 and hopefully add reps or whatever
It depends on why you’re doing them. Why are you doing them?
Purely to get stronger on my squats. I’m squatting everyday to a max, drop down some weight and do three singles - paused squats. Thing is, my paused squats are actually realy long, about 8, sometimes even 10 seconds, added to that, I do a slow negative phase, at least 5 seconds, where I realy fight the weight on the way down, I don’t just drop into a hole. So my 1 paused rep can take like 15 seconds to complete sometimes.
How much weight can you squat?
I think there are 2 things of value that can be derived from practicing paused squats. The first is core stability throughout the rep. If you’re having trouble with collapsing, or keeping your back rigid, then long paused squats like what you’re doing seem like a good idea. They can also help with grooving the bottom position, particularly if depth is an issue.
I think shorter pauses should be implemented if the goal is to work on strength out of the hole (avoiding the use of the stretch reflex, or rebound). A 1 to 2 second pause should be sufficient if that is your aim.
Optimal? I’m not really sure. I’ve found for myself that a pause with a two count works pretty well.
My max back squat - 200kg, paused squat 175 kg three singles
Max front squat - 180kg, paused squat 155kg three singles
It’s just that my impression was, the longer the pause, the better, but probably that’s not the case, because I might aswell load 60kg and sit there for 10 minutes 
Longer for training stability/tightness or positioning. Shorter for training strength and explosiveness out of the bottom.
I pause for about as long as you would a bench in most feds
I like 5 seconds held at just below depth and hold. I do not just sot down and sit there needs to be a actual force hold.
I normally hold a paused squat for a couple seconds. It can be more if I feel good that day and it doesn’t affect bar speed since I perform them on the main sets.