My Deadlift is Strong, but my Squat is Weak.

Bigger Stronger Leaner Jim Wendler 5/3/1 Coaching
1

To give you an idea of what my template looks like:
Day 1- Chest and Back
Day 2- Squats

  • stiff leg deads
    -walking DB lunges
  • glute bridges (single leg- one foot elevated) or KB swings
  • calves
    Day 3- off
    Day 4- shoulders and some direct arm work
    Day 5- deadlifts
    -front squats
    … Was debating on adding hip thrusters or using the leg press ? This lower body day I was kind of unsure of for accessory leg work.

I recently deadlifted 545lb (without a belt) for one rep. Form was great, the lift went up fairly quick.

My squat is pretty terrible. I’d imagine at this point I could only squat 315x1 or 2 reps. I’ve had to deal with tendinitis in both knees for about two years and finally the pain has subsided. I’m trying to figure out how to build my legs. For my deadlift to be strong, and my squat to be weak as shit. I’m messing up somewhere…

Any help would be greatly appreciated guys. I need to get that “spark” back in my legs… Because right now it’s just not there.

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I doubt there is any absolutely egregious errors in your squat training and/or form. If you had some legit pain in your knees for an extended period of time that effected your squat, it’s makes sense that your mind may be holding you back even in the recent absence of pain. So, just keep going. Not everyone is completely balanced in their numbers from one lift to another.

If I was you, I would cut the front squats from the deadlift day, and put squats on your first day of training to put more focus on the squat. Also, let your deadlift training coast for a cycle or two to conserve energy. I would also throw some box jumps into your training. Squat down to a 1/4 squat, pause, then explode onto the box. The box jumps would come at the beginning of each session, regardless of what you train that day.

Can you post a vid of your squat? It’s probably not a form thing, but it couldn’t hurt to check.

I hope this gave you a couple of ideas to try. Just my first thoughts.

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i could squat much less than i could deadlift too . and yet i squatted more . let your bodyweight climb . and try box squats maybe . dépends of your morphology .

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[quote]JoeyWaters wrote:
I doubt there is any absolutely egregious errors in your squat training and/or form. If you had some legit pain in your knees for an extended period of time that effected your squat, it’s makes sense that your mind may be holding you back even in the recent absence of pain. So, just keep going. Not everyone is completely balanced in their numbers from one lift to another.

If I was you, I would cut the front squats from the deadlift day, and put squats on your first day of training to put more focus on the squat. Also, let your deadlift training coast for a cycle or two to conserve energy. I would also throw some box jumps into your training. Squat down to a 1/4 squat, pause, then explode onto the box. The box jumps would come at the beginning of each session, regardless of what you train that day.

Can you post a vid of your squat? It’s probably not a form thing, but it couldn’t hurt to check.

I hope this gave you a couple of ideas to try. Just my first thoughts. [/quote]

Thanks for that response bro, very informative, I appreciate it. I was a little nervous about incorporating box jumps because sometimes they can aggravate my knees a bit on the landing; but I could definitely try adding them in again.

I will try to get a video up of my squat ASAP. As far as taking front squats away from deadlift day, should I maybe add in paused squats (2-3 sets of 3-5 reps of first working set) after I do all three working sets of squats? And for deadlift day, which accessories should I aim for? I would rather use accessories that will spark new growth and strength gains.

Although I have been using this template for quite some time, I just absolutely love working chest and back together, and dedicating a day to deadlifts. It works great for me! I have debated on just adding shoulders in on deadlift day, and maybe not use too many lower body accessories that day (deadlifts, overhead press, side/rear delts, maybe add in split squats or KB swings or something?) and then do some direct arm work on Thursday or Friday (whichever day deadlifts and shoulders isn’t on) , or maybe just keep it the way it is and tweak things here and there like you mentioned?

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I am also considering adding hip thrusts to my template. I might throw them in after deadlifts… Not sure yet.

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My squat has been sucking for months also so today I tried moving my feet out well outside shoulder width. As a result I put on a 40 pound pr even though I had just got done doing deadlifts and close stance squats. Moral of the story is experiment with different widths and bar placement to see what works best for you.

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[quote]Aches89 wrote:

Although I have been using this template for quite some time, I just absolutely love working chest and back together, and dedicating a day to deadlifts. It works great for me! I have debated on just adding shoulders in on deadlift day, and maybe not use too many lower body accessories that day (deadlifts, overhead press, side/rear delts, maybe add in split squats or KB swings or something?) and then do some direct arm work on Thursday or Friday (whichever day deadlifts and shoulders isn’t on) , or maybe just keep it the way it is and tweak things here and there like you mentioned?[/quote]

Jim recommends doing deadlifts and press on the same day to get all 4 lifts in one week over 3 days if you so desire. That’s what I do. Just do FSL that day for both lifts, chins and/or rows, a couple sets of back raises and call it a day. Then all of your squatting is on one day, so you’ll be fired up for it and your knees will have the maximum amount of recovery time between squat days. I just throw in direct arm work whenever I have the energy to do so, and always at the end of the session.

Hopefully Jim will chime in here as well, but the above ideas have worked well for me and are sound in their principles.

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I don’t know where this obsession with making lifts “equal” came about. So weird to me - no one wants to be a freak.
Your bad squat could be any number of things and I doubt it’s programming. Your lack of hip thrusters certainly isn’t the problem.

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[quote]Jim Wendler wrote:
Your bad squat could be any number of things and I doubt it’s programming. [/quote]
If I could chime in here with some context (not trying to step on toes), this guy is 6’6" and 235ish.

I’m not saying height is an excuse or anything, but I do think it’s a legit factor that he keeps forgetting to mention in his threads.

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[quote]Chris Colucci wrote:

[quote]Jim Wendler wrote:
Your bad squat could be any number of things and I doubt it’s programming. [/quote]
If I could chime in here with some context (not trying to step on toes), this guy is 6’6" and 235ish.

I’m not saying height is an excuse or anything, but I do think it’s a legit factor that he keeps forgetting to mention in his threads.[/quote]

Thanks Chris. I should have mentioned that as well. Haha