sup bros of T-Nation,
im doing heavy squats to stop being a a kid with stork-legs.
So today i did 8x3 at 185 and increased by 5 lbs until i hit 205 on my last set (which i failed on the very last rep).
so my question is, would it be better to do this (increase the load until failure on the last set), or start with a heavier load and if i fail start to de-load the weight accordingly.
much appreciated guys,
A-town
Well apparently you should peace up and A-town down.
[quote]Sarev0k wrote:
Well apparently you should peace up and A-town down.[/quote]
That wasn’t forced. Not at all. haha
OP:
I don’t really understand what you did last time. 8 sets of 185x3 followed by 5lb jumps to 205? And you failed on the last rep… of how many reps? lol
IDK what you did, but I prefer to ramp up to a max set/s. Since you aren’t squatting that much weight yet make sure you get in enough quality work. For instance, I wouldn’t consider 135x10 185x8 205x4 to be sufficient.
Options:
make the jumps small (10-20lbs)
go for multiple top sets
do a drop set to failure
superset
second/third power exercise (front squat, deadlift variations, lunges, et cetera)
If it were me I would do most of the above. What is your typical leg day besides squatting? Frequency is… once per week? If you did what I think you did, 8x3 followed by 5lb incremental jumps to 205 to failure, I guess you’re getting the volume in, I just think you could get the same volume in more effectively. Of course, it’s really up to you and how you enjoy working out.
Most important thing to learn at your stage is proper form. You should be squatting deep, back arched, stable feet, pain free. I rarely see anyone squatting below 225 with proper form unless they are warming up or something. Nothing to be ashamed of but it’s important. Don’t be afraid to drop weight; you’ll get stronger and bigger doing it correctly.
I like to do my power movements first, some people like to do leg extensions first to warm the quad up. See what you like, just don’t start squatting heavy without some sort of warm-up. Body-weight squats are good.
Although my squats may not be considered ‘heavy’ by many, I think I’ve made decent improvements by slowly increasing the weights till a max set of 3 reps then doing sticking to that weight for another 1/2 more sets. As well, after my completing my ‘heavy’ squat sets, I usually lower the weights and do 1 set of 20/25 reps. Not sure if this would work for you, but it’s worked for me.
[quote]basily wrote:
Although my squats may not be considered ‘heavy’ by many, I think I’ve made decent improvements by slowly increasing the weights till a max set of 3 reps then doing sticking to that weight for another 1/2 more sets. As well, after my completing my ‘heavy’ squat sets, I usually lower the weights and do 1 set of 20/25 reps. Not sure if this would work for you, but it’s worked for me. [/quote]
i havent been able to squat for awhile due to an injury, but this is a pretty awesome way to train the squat in my opinion, one heavy “top” set, then one high rep back off set. This approach has worked for many people
thanks for the replies
leg day usually consists of squats supersetted with hamstring curls to stretch my muscles out, rucruit more motor-units, neural drive, more poliquin talk lol.
my squats are ATG, i think my form is decent. i wouldnt even call it pain but the only “pain” i get is in my lower back (it feels tight like after a set of deadlifts)
then after squats and hammy curls, i do deads (sometimes snatch pulls) supersetted with calf work.
and im lifting heavy on everything 8x3.
so i guess i was wondering if that was an acceptable or decent way to overload my legs doing squats.
and lunges wreck my shit and i wanna start doing them, where could i work them in on my leg day?
Why don’t you just run a Starting Strength-type program and get up to a 3 plate Squat in 6 months time? The program is proven to work, well laid out, and there are a lot of resources available.
Just a thought.
If you want bigger legs, start doing higher rep(8-15) compound lower body movements.
i do my unilateral work immediately after squatting. works nicely. then do my big ham/glute exercises after that