For all you guys that do predominately Olympic lifting, what squat routines in your experience have given you the best gains?
Texas Method? 5/3/1? SS/SL? Russian Squat Routine? Squat Everyday? Etc?
Just curious to see how everyone else responds to certain training routines.
My squat really started increasing once I started a hybrid Texas Method/Squat Everyday type template. It seems the more I squat, the more my squat increases.
A Low Volume Squat Routine from Monsieur Literary Lifter
First of all: Do your squats first.
Secondly: Do them three times a week.
Thirdly: Try for a max single, double or triple each workout.
Fourthly: Warm up with a few reps, then a few more reps with a slightly heavier weight.
Fifthly: Rest a lot between sets.
Sixthly: Never exceed 20 total reps including warmup.
Seventhly: Go all the way down and pause. Each rep has to be perfect.
Eigthly: Once a week put 50 pounds over your max on the bar and do a few sets of however many reps you can safely get. Do whatever: parallel squats, quarter squats. Go as low as you can safely. You may want to do this just every two weeks.
Ninethly: Squat for three weeks and then don’t squat for a week.
Tenthly: Do this for three months and be amazed.
TM is fine.
Squat four times per week.
9-12 weeks out, three back, 8,5,3 one front, 3s. Those sets should be heavy, not necessarily death sets, but difficult.
7-8 weeks out, back 5,5,3, front 3. The top set is hard.
5-6 weeks out, 5,3,2 for back, 3 for front. Again, the top set should be close to your best, go for PRs when they are there.
2-4 weeks out, 3,2 backs, 2s or 3s front, i.e. you may only get two with your heavy triple.
7 days out, heavy double back, 5 days out 90% single front, 3 days out 75% single front.
Keep in mind, with the above, there are heavy cleans and snatches two to three times per week, plus pulls. As a weightlifter, you should put the skill lifts first, technique lifts, pulls, overhead, then squat. You could pick a priority squat day and squat first, but that should not be followed by the classic lifts on the same day. Sometimes we would squat first, then go off the rack overhead, then finish with a pull from blocks.
I like doing an Olympic lift variation and a squat variation every day I go to the gym, but always do the O lift first because I don’t want to jerk around muscles that are already tired. I could write an entire post about the month it took me to recover from pulled back muscles I got from squatting first and then Olympic lifting.
Best ever results were from doing daily (6 times a week) squats working up to a single for the day every day… I was young and could recover. It worked like magic for about 3 months then niggling injuries began so I cooled it. Best gains I’ve ver made though.
I would highly recommend the Russian squat program though for 3/week squatting.