Hey y’all. I am currently running Stronglifts 5x5, which has me squatting heavy 3x/week. I want to squat more often, though. I was thinking that two extra days a week, I could work up to a 1 rep max. I did that today (after squatting 5x5 yesterday) and it didn’t seem to tax me too badly.
I ice and stretch daily. On these 2 extra days, I also do pull-ups, core, and a heavy sled push (I will probably stop doing the sled push). Do you think this is a good idea?
I won’t overtrain. I used to spend those 2 extra days doing Olympic work, and I want to replace that with squat 1 rep maxes. My body is adapted to training legs 5 days/week.
Would this be beneficial or pointless? Another option I was thinking of was front squatting both days with moderate weight.
If your focus is getting a bigger squat, you can dedicate enough time to recovery, and you can eat enough, then go for it. I really enjoy high frequency squatting, personally. One draw back I’ve found is that when you cut the frequency out, you’ll get what some have called post-Smolov depression–you can’t hit weights that you were hitting easily when you were squatting more frequently.
Is it necessary to get stronger? No. Is it a bad idea? No.
The question you need to answer is whether or not it’s right for you at this point in your training. If you’re a relatively new lifter, it might not be the best idea for you right now, but really only you can know that.
I say give it a shot, and if you feel like you’re dying then stop doing it hahaha.
When it comes to programming, it really is trial and error a lot of the time. There are people who get insanely strong training 2 or 3 times a week, and there are people who get insanely strong training twice a day. Plus everything in between. Who knows if it will work for you, but if you think you will enjoy it than what’s stopping you? If you get weaker or feel like you are dying, back off. Otherwise, enjoy and keep records so you know how you respond to it.
This sounds like something you probably won’t want to do for a long period of time, like 1 month max. Just try it, if it goes horribly then you only waste a month no big deal.
Thanks. I’m gonna try it. The biggest potential problem with this is my joints and my lower back. High frequency really taxes these (for me, at least). I’ll ice them both 2 or 3 times a day
You could always take technical maxes instead of true maxes. It would far less taxing on your joints. Or take decide whether to take a technical max or true max based on feel. Like if your feeling great take a true max. If you got little and poor sleep and your joints feel a little beat up just take the technical max. Just an idea, you know your body better than I do.
There was a thread a little while back about squatting heavy every day (there’s probably been a few threads about that sort of thing). This is pretty much the same deal; squat heavy 5 days a week. There are many factors that can dictate your success with this, but I will give you my friend’s experience as an example. He did this in his early 20’s; squatted heavy every day Bulgarian style. He was diligent about proper caloric intake and sleep. His squat deteriorated for about 2 weeks, and then started building back up again. The net result of this training was the best gains on his squat that he’d ever had. He was not using anabolics or anything.
So there ya go. It will probably affect your squat negatively at first, but if you stick with it, you could possibly have great success. I’m fairly sure not everyone will though. I think some people would just kinda continue to get beat up and have their squat break down and never recover well enough to benefit. May be worth your time to see which kind of person you are.
[quote]infinite_shore wrote:
Dunno, there is Bulgarian light and there is Bulgarian hardcore. The latter will probably destroy most people.
@csulli: what did your friend squat before and after? Or was the guy from the article some time ago? [/quote]
His squat was in the 425 range I believe, and he ended up around 475-485 after running this style of training for several weeks.
I’m not so sure I would ice. I think you’d be better off doing more recovery type work. Ice stops inflammation. Inflammation is the body’s way of healing itself. All of the microtears and damage you do to your muscles that your body has to adapt to require low levels of inflammation to heal and build stronger (very very low levels). You need blood in order to recover and get nutrients to your muscles. Ice hinders all of that. Just saying you may want to rethink it. If your back and such bothers you, try heat. Just my opinion
squatted a heavy 5x5 on sunday, worked up to a moderate 1 rep max on monday (maybe 5 lbs below my true max), and squatted heavy for 5x5 tuesday (today). I finished off today with a heavy sled push, too. I feel great
I iced the back of my knees because my joints are feeling a little more sore than usual
[quote]infinite_shore wrote:
Dunno, there is Bulgarian light and there is Bulgarian hardcore. The latter will probably destroy most people.
@csulli: what did your friend squat before and after? Or was the guy from the article some time ago? [/quote]
His squat was in the 425 range I believe, and he ended up around 475-485 after running this style of training for several weeks.[/quote]
Good stuff. From my own experience and what I have seen other get out of it (“light” Bulgarian style), I have a feeling that it is a great way to “peak”/“display” once dormant strength potential, rather than “build” strength in the long term. That is probably why AverageBroz advocates a more hardcore Bulgarian style.
[quote]bigblockford wrote:
squatted a heavy 5x5 on sunday, worked up to a moderate 1 rep max on monday (maybe 5 lbs below my true max), and squatted heavy for 5x5 tuesday (today). I finished off today with a heavy sled push, too. I feel great
I iced the back of my knees because my joints are feeling a little more sore than usual[/quote]
What numbers do you hit? I assume you are a beginner, no?
[quote]bigblockford wrote:
squatted a heavy 5x5 on sunday, worked up to a moderate 1 rep max on monday (maybe 5 lbs below my true max), and squatted heavy for 5x5 tuesday (today). I finished off today with a heavy sled push, too. I feel great
I iced the back of my knees because my joints are feeling a little more sore than usual[/quote]
What numbers do you hit? I assume you are a beginner, no?[/quote]
correct–I’m a beginner. I (think) I have pretty good form, though. Per the recommendations of people on this forum, I bought weightlifting shoes and just recently bought knee sleeves because of the joint strain. 5 months ago, I barely squatted 225 lb (failed on 230 lb). Today, I squatted a very easy 285 (video below). Could’ve easily done 295-300, but I don’t want to do any TRUE maxes while I’m squatting 5x a week. I will easily reach 315 by the end of my freshman year (May 2013), and most likely 405 by the end of my sophomore year.
Was about to say good form, until I watched you come out of the hole and finish the lift.
BRO KNEES OUT
Seriously, this isnt to make you feel bad, your descent was perf. But you gotta push those knees out man, I cringed a little watching that right knee cave in. That will fuck your life. Start practicing it in your warm ups.
[quote]Achilles of war wrote:
Was about to say good form, until I watched you come out of the hole and finish the lift.
BRO KNEES OUT
Seriously, this isnt to make you feel bad, your descent was perf. But you gotta push those knees out man, I cringed a little watching that right knee cave in. That will fuck your life. Start practicing it in your warm ups. [/quote]
It always happens with the right knee! My left stays in position. I’ve started using the abductor machine twice a week to strengthen this. I’m going to make it my main focus during squats to push those knees far outside