recovery is tough especially whilst doing some cardio 3 days a week. Is once a week enough to progress?
I’m 43 and tall. For me I struggle with tons of volume on the squat. My hammys just will not handle the heavy weight for high volume.
If you break your heavy sets up I think you could get by with 3 working sets of 3-5.
But I would break it up a heavy and light day if I wanted to squat multiple times a week.
For example:
Work up to 70-85% of max and do a 3x3-5 reps for a heavy day.
Later in the week, do a 3x8-10 at 50-60% of max. See how you recover.
I’ve squatted every day for 3 weeks working from 50% up to 65% using a 25 rep set with out problems.
When I go heavy though my hammys let me know if I’m not recovered enough very quickly.
I currently squat 2 times a week.
Wednesdays
Back squats sets pyramiding up from 135-255. I have 5-7 working sets of 5 reps (have done as many as 8-10 but I don’t recover well from this week to week)
Then on Saturday
Front squats
3 sets of 8-10 reps
Working from 115-165 lbs.
Once a week is enough to progress however I’d try to progress over time towards a bit more maybe not every day but 3x a week isn’t unimaginable.
Even in your 50s and older the body still has plenty of ability to adapt to a training stimulus so even if you’re at a certain level right now you can still make gains. Just as you progress by upping the weight, volume/rep/sets so too can you progress by manipulating frequency.
If recovery is an issue you can try to optimise some factors e.g. training within your capabilities, sleep, diet etc.
If you mean recovery as in joint health probably reduce cardio or switch to forms that are less impactful on your joints of whichever structure you are worried about e.g. cycling, swimming etc. Squatting itself is relative chillaxed on the joints if you think about it the BW x impacts and forces at play in running are significantly more potentially injurious nevermind carrying a bit of extra weight on you.
Probably could write a book on training strategies that’d help you out e.g. sub max training, dividing up the weeks training over multiple days etc. but pretty much unless you are squatting 500+ for reps or something and accumulating lots of fatigue you really should be able to recovery plenty on twice or thrice a week squats
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I had problems that forced me to stop squatting for months.
Recently I am easing my way back into them with high-volume 36kg/80lb goblet squats,3x week.
Biggest benefit so far is that lower-back pains have been eliminated.
Not ‘improved’ , not ‘a bit bit better’ , but eliminated.
Everyone recovers at a different rate but I’m 60, been doing this for 32 years. The way my split works has me doing back squats every 4-5 days. I go as heavy as I can that day depending on how I feel. I’m short, 5’6", 165lbs and normally go up to 315x5. Sometimes my lower back will be tight and I’ll settle for 275x8. My back day is before my leg day so if I do them back to back I’m usually a little weaker at squats due to deadlifts the day before.
The best advice I can give is go by how you feel but always push yourself safely.
This thread is over a year old, but I figured I’d add that I’m only 25 and I’ve always had a terrible squat. My squat has been responding the best as of late by doing goblet squats once a week followed by a heavier squat day later in the week. Feeing great running it that way, so I fee like the answer is that it’s different for everyone. You can build a good strong squat with as many or as few sessions as you want.