WEEK 105 :: What Is The Best Workout To Improve Your Squat?

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* Note: How can I win? Answer all questions in the order that they are asked.

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TOPIC: What Is The Best Workout To Improve Your Squat?

For the week of: 10/30-11/04
Sunday @ Midnight Is The Final Cut (Mountain Time, US & Canada).

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Squats are amongst the big 3 lifts (bench press, deadlift, squat). Some say that squats are the king of all the exercises.

What is the best workout to improve your squat? Be specific.

How much of a weight increase to your squat can you expect from this workout?

How important are squats to one?s workout routine?

Bonus Question: Who would benefit from this type of workout and would you recommend it to others? Explain why.

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you aint squat til you squat

front squats............this is because it forces the trainer to use a lighter weight resulting in making him/her go deeper

One Leg Squat
[url]http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/exercises.php?Name=One+Leg+Barbell+Squat[/url]

Do continuous reps from 12, 11, 10 all the way until you hit 1 (switch between left and right with no rest)

No weight is used for this exercise because of the high intensity but it all depends on your ability to perform.


Light weight with high reps help you build strong joints especially for this exercise is the joints in your knee and ankle, also prevent back injury. And using only one leg helps you control your balance.
Those are very useful if you want to lift heavier on original squat.

Highly beneficial for sports activities involving running such as football, soccer, basketball, etc.

Im sure that one legged squats are great for you .,..but that really looks like a face plaint just waiting to happen....lol

The best workout to improve your squat would be a barbell full squat using a 4 second ecentric(lowering motion) with a 6 sec pause at the bottom of the motion with a 2 sec concentric(upward motion) with 60-90 second rest using 5x5 method this can be done with 70% of 1 rep max. Perform 3x8 of lunges, and front squats with a ligter wieght to improve form. I would say you can do this once a week becuase it gives your muslces time to repair themselves.

By having a longer ecentric phase you have to focus on your form through the motion. Aslo your muscles work harder through the ecentric phase. Isometeric contrations are known for improving strength during the pause you are perfroming a isometric contration. You should see about 10-20 pound increase in your squat max after 4-6 weeks of training.

Squating is very important to a person's routine because in my assement squating is a super compound movement. In the squat you improve your entire lower body, as well developing some core strength as the muslces in the abdominals and the lower back work to stablize the wieght during the squating motion. More importantly what good is a big truck with some busted wheels. You have to have good strength in the things that carry you around everyday.

This workout would mostly bennfit your power athletes like linemen in football as they are exploding out of the postion all the time. However I would recomend it to anyone trying to gain strength and mass. I say this because this work is more about strength gains but you will no doubt increase the volume of your muscle doing this workout

[b]What is the best workout to improve your squat? Be specific.[/b]
Though there are many workouts out there, I prefer to only squat once a week on Mondays when I am fresh. Squat is the most taxing lift you can put your body through. You must remember to give it your all in the gym, no matter what. You can associate many things into your squat routine; such as resistance bands and squat suits. These will all help build up your squat. It is important not to abandon other muscles worked during squat that you may not usually think of. An example would be abs. Squat is a core lift, and your abdominals act as stabilizer muscles while squatting, so they become essential for increasing your squat.

Workout:
Back Squat: 12(50% of 1 rep max), 8(65% of 1 rep max), 6(75% of 1 rep max), 4(85% of 1 rep max), 2(95% of 1 rep max)
Front Squat or Leg Press: 4x8
Lunges: 4x8
Leg Extensions: 5x8
Leg Curls: 5x8
Donkey Calf Raises: 4x12
Weighted Sit Ups: 4x12

[b]How much of a weight increase to your squat can you expect from this workout?[/b]
This depends solely on you. I could give you the best workout in the world, but if you do not train hard, you will not see results. Diet and rest are also so crucial in developing strength. When you step into the gym, you should give it everything you have. Also, genetics are going to play a big part in determining your strength. However, with a good work ethic and diet, you can take your genetics to a whole different level.

[b]How important are squats to one?s workout routine?[/b]
Squat is possibly the most important workout you can do in the gym. Squat is crucial for developing, not only the lower body, but the upper body as well. Squats will add size and strength to almost your whole body, because it is a core lift. Squat will help add to your total speed and vertical, if playing a sport. Your body will also grow in proportion, so squatting will even help your upper body grow as well.
[b]Bonus Question: Who would benefit from this type of workout and would you recommend it to others? Explain why.[/b]

I believe powerlifters, bodybuilders, and athletes can all benefit from this type of workout. This workout will not only provide a tremendous amount of strength, but it will also add size. Also, this workout will help improve someones athletic performance greatly. I would recommend this workout to anyone who is ready to take their lifting to a whole nother level.

What is the best workout to improve your squat? Be specific.

The best type of workout to improve squats is a wholistic one. As some say, squats are the king of all exercises, and is practically a full body exercise. Why, when the squat involves so many muscles, would you not work out those muscles separately to help your squat.

Let's start by analyzing what gets worked out when squatting. Obviously your legs are supposed to take the large brunt of the weight, that?s a given. Both your quads, hamstrings, and glutes will work a lot if you correctly execute your squat. But let?s not forget what?s keeping you from falling over. Your abdominals and lower back. Both of them are helping to stabilize you throughout the entire motion. Any imbalance, and they work to keep you upright. Next, your shoulders and traps take a large load directly off your bones. They provide a cushion that keeps the bar from grinding against your bones. Not to mention, they act as stabilizers for the bar.

So, a workout that is designed to help improve your squat would have to include all of these muscles.

Starting with the obvious, you have to squat to improve your squat. There are no two ways about it. It is important to put your muscles through a range of motion that is similar to what you are trying to accomplish in order for them to learn how to work efficiently and effectively through that range of motion. Secondly, squatting must be done through as full of a range of motion as you can physically/medically accomplish. This doesn?t mean hurt yourself going too low, but you should definitely be past a 90 degree knee bend. Some people even go all the way to a squat position where they are almost touching their butts to the floor.

A good squatting routine should start with warm-up sets, move into a working rep range, and then usually have 1 cool down set just to keep things loose. And assuming you are trying to improve strength, your working sets should be between 4-6 reps.

Example.

Squats
1 x 12
1 x 8
3 x 6
1 x 4
2 x 15 body weight

This should allow you to work in the optimal zone for power, and the 2 sets of body weight squats, while they may look awkward in the gym will feel good the next morning when your legs aren?t as stiff as boards.

Note: if you are new to squatting, please ensure that you have 100% correct form before moving into heavy loads. Improper form can lead to serious injuries, or just extra wear and tear on your joints that will lead to complications down the road.

For abdominal work, it is important to have strong abs that can stabilize a lot of weight, but that can also keep you stabile for a long time. An example abdominal work out could be.

Weighted sit-ups 3 x 30
Flutter kicks 3 x 40 (at a 4 count)
Side crunches 2 x 40 (each side)

This way, your main abs, as well as your obliques should improve in their ability to stabilize a lot, as well as for a long time.

For your shoulders and traps, you are looking at mostly just the rear shoulder, and middle back. Rows are excellent for hitting this area. They incorporate the rear deltoid and middle back/traps quite well. Also, we?re looking primarily for mass in this exercise, so we?ll pick a rep range that tends to work that well.

Cable rows 3 x 6-10
One arm DB rows 2 x 8-12 (each arm)

For the lower back, one can take two approaches. Assuming we are all power lifters/bodybuilders, I?m going to go into what we all want to hear. DEADLIFTS! Now here it is important to realize that dead lifts are near as intense, sometimes more so, than squats, and it is important to make sure that you do not burn yourself out doing too high a volume of both. But dead lifts really strengthen the lower back, hamstrings, and glutes. And that is another thing to be careful of, overdoing it on your hamstrings and glutes when doing a lot of deadlifts and squats. An alternative for dead lifts can be hyperextensions with moderate amounts of weights held at your chest or above your head. With dead lifts, it is usually best to not do more than 4-5 sets, as the lower back muscles are some of the slowest recovering muscles in the body. Hyper extensions can, however be done for many more sets, and even be combined with deadlifts. Typically 12-18 is a good rep range for hyperextensions. A minimum of 4 should be performed with a ceiling of about 8 depending on your level.

Lastly, let?s refocus on the legs. Providing the most force will be your legs, hands down, and even with the best back, shoulders, and abs, you won?t be able to move a thing if you don?t have legs. So it is important to give a little extra emphasis on these via simpler exercises like leg extensions, hamstring curls, and leg press. Hitting each one of those exercises for 2 or 3 sets on leg day should really do a number on your muscle fibers and provide a lot of damage for good growth.

While all the above exercises could be done in a single routine, it would probably be best to isolate them on to their own days for whichever respective muscle group they fit into.

How much of a weight increase to your squat can you expect from this workout?

Over the course of a few weeks, you could see a relatively good return on investment if you are putting in the time and effort to perform each and every exercise correctly and intensely enough. Numbers will vary drastically from person to person and someone taking creatine or a natural test booster, for example, will likely see a larger gain than someone not taking supplements. But by making sure to put more emphasis on all the muscles involved in squatting, you will definitely see an increase beyond what you would have gotten otherwise.

How important are squats to one?s workout routine?

Like stated above, squats are pivotal in someone?s routine. They are a very wholistic exercise that, some studies have show, can promote the body?s natural release of extra growth hormone. Aside from that, squats can single handedly keep your upper body from seriously outpacing your lower body in size as well as strength gains. Nobody wants to by the big muscular guy with chicken legs down below.

Bonus Question: Who would benefit from this type of workout and would you recommend it to others? Explain why.

Anyone looking for serious strength gains and looking at improving their posture could really benefit from this workout. I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for the above, or who has a hard time with squats or has chicken legs. The main reason is, they will be able to benefit from it a lot and will appreciate the gains the most.

I would not, however recommend squatting individuals with disk problems or scoliosis without consulting a physician. Squatting too heavy can compress the spine, and with spinal conditions your spine may be unable to safely handle the load.

here we are

I know I ain't the strongest bloke out there, but I have read many articles on this to help improve my own numbers.

I believe you need to work in the standard 5x5 range for both front and back squats to get your numbers up.

Also throw in 5 sets of walking lunges with a weight that is challenging for 10 metres and do 15 metres with it.

Also, take a good multi-vitamin, or protein at maximum 30minutes after your workout.

With squats, choose a weight you can get for 5 challenging or a weight you can get for 3 and get 5.

Increase weight by 2.5kg - 5kg each week. Or try to get at least one more rep with the same weight.

Go Heavy Or Go Home!

Squat 3x per week. Sample:
Mondays
Squat 7x2 heavy. Max at 95 of 1RM
Wednesdays
Squat 5x7 moderate. Max at 80 of 1RM
Fridays
Squat 5x11 light. Max at 55-60 of 1RM
Eat..Sleep...and train insane

[QUOTE=ItalianDemon;93329993]

Also, take a good multi-vitamin, or protein at maximum 30minutes after your workout.

[/QUOTE]

Gotta love that anabolic window broscience...

What is the best workout to improve your squat? Be specific.

For me the very best squat routine is one you can only do when you are at the very peak of your fitness as well as strenfth. Obviously the weights i give can be altered to your capabilities however i find the following a great target for all comers!

So it is 3 supersets on the squat to start!

100kg 20reps
120kg 12rep

And as i say thats 1superset - after 5min rest do it again for a total of 3 supersets

Then follow with 3sets of 40reps on hack squat with appropiate weight

then top it off with a mile run

How much of a weight increase to your squat can you expect from this workout?

Build up to this so start off with one set/superset. At least 40kg gain.. and lots of cv fitness over approx 3months

How important are squats to one?s workout routine?

in the words of lee haney they are the bread and butter exercise

Bonus Question: Who would benefit from this type of workout and would you recommend it to others? Explain why.
everyone be they competitive powerlifter bodybuilder or a new guy.. just lower the weight till you can achieve it and build up tovthe weight i recommend. Would deffo recommend to everyone but first build up your cv fitness as you need this as well as strength. Its great for ripping fat losing wayer but builds strength providing your diet is spot o with loadz of carbs before and after