Anybody ever think about dropping squats in favor of hill sprints?

Anybody ever just do Hill sprints instead of squats and just lift their posterior chain with weights. The quads only help you in the first 20 yards or so from what I have gathered. Hill sprints in place of squats give you that direct stimulation without fatiguing your cns as much. I would think that hill sprints twice a week and doing things like deadlifts,lunges and RDLS with heavy weights would be just as beneficial as squatting. It seems more practical and you know that each time you sprint you would be giving it your all because your legs would never feel that residual sluggishness from squats. I know you guys might think sprint first but it still seems like your legs would never quite be as sharp if you squatted more then once a week.

I am curious as well because when you are training for speed you want your legs to be as fresh as possible. Let's say you squat and sprint on a Monday and then want to sprint again later on in the week your legs will never quite be at their peak. By just doing hill sprints and dropping any quad dominating lifts I would think you could still develop acceleration by just doing hills. You are lifting your posterior chain still so you would be strengthening the muscles that are required for after 30-40 yards. I think you would be ok but as a basis you should already be in that 1.5-2x bodyweight squat area to really reap your efforts. I don't see a problem doing hill sprints let's say Mondays and Fridays and then having a heavy posterior day on Wednesday and Saturdays. You could go lift your upperbody after the sprints are done. What do you guys think?

[QUOTE=absolute10;575411231]Anybody ever just do Hill sprints instead of squats and just lift their posterior chain with weights.[B] The quads only help you in the first 20 yards or so from what I have gathered.[/B] Hill sprints in place of squats give you that direct stimulation without fatiguing your cns as much. I would think that hill sprints twice a week and doing things like deadlifts,lunges and RDLS with heavy weights would be just as beneficial as squatting. It seems more practical and you know that each time you sprint you would be giving it your all because your legs would never feel that residual sluggishness from squats. I know you guys might think sprint first but it still seems like your legs would never quite be as sharp if you squatted more then once a week.[/QUOTE]

theres your problem. squats work A LOT more than just quads. in fact if thats the major muscle worked youre doing them wrong.

squats work hip drive. building a strong powerful base to push off. we always sprint first then squat after. squatting and sprinting heavy on the same day. you shouldnt have more than 2 "hard" leg days in a week span anyways. youre right the legs wont recover.

[QUOTE=xxtwistedxx;575462911]theres your problem. squats work A LOT more than just quads. in fact if thats the major muscle worked youre doing them wrong.

squats work hip drive. building a strong powerful base to push off. we always sprint first then squat after. squatting and sprinting heavy on the same day. you shouldnt have more than 2 "hard" leg days in a week span anyways. youre right the legs wont recover.[/QUOTE]

That's good point.
Another very important thing is that you will recover faster from two low volume squat workouts than from one low volume DL workout.
After heavy DL workout you will recover longer then from squat workout.
And always sprint before weights.

Squats work on all your lower body muscles. If you do few variations you can greatly use posterior chain muscles. (box squats, full squats, pause squats etc.)

I use both squats and hill sprints (well, stair sprints) in my training. Both are very useful for my main sporting choices (Rugby, Shot Putt and Discus). But Squatting > Hill Sprints.

[QUOTE=xxtwistedxx;575462911]theres your problem. squats work A LOT more than just quads. in fact if thats the major muscle worked youre doing them wrong.

squats work hip drive. building a strong powerful base to push off. we always sprint first then squat after. squatting and sprinting heavy on the same day. you shouldnt have more than 2 "hard" leg days in a week span anyways. youre right the legs wont recover.[/QUOTE]

This is where I disagree because obviously squats target your whole lower body but it is mainly your quads. I am assuming OP is doing athletic squats where his feet are shoulder width apart and not to far spread out where he works his glutes. The quads are 2/3rds of your legs anyways so how can you dispute that doing a lift that requires you to squat down and push up with your legs is not predominatly quad usage. If someone were to solely work on hill sprints and lift their posterior chain I would take that person in a race to let's say 60 yards then someone who squats heavy often. The hills will act as your resistance and you are actually "running" twice a week efficiently where as when you sprint then squat one of the exercises will suffer. Basically whichever you do last whether it be squats or sprints. The next time you go and sprint I would imagine you would never be totally fresh because of the squatting you did earlier in the week. If one were to sprint hills twice a week and rest the following day then do posterior then rest then sprint again when it came down to it your quads would not be as beaten up. I understand the point being made about your posterior takes time to recover but I myself have done RDLS,Lunges,Hip thrusts,box jumps and the next day I was fresh as ever. After I do squats heavy I feel it for a couple/few days and if I had to sprint again I don't think I would really be as fresh. If your main goal is acceleration/speed I would say drop the squats(assuming you can squat 1.5-2x or more)bodyweight and run hills and work on your posterior.

Foolish idea is foolish.

I disagree with you madeira. Don't know what athletic squat is. If you do full squat you work all the muscles in your lower body. And if you want to sprint twice a week then do it on monday and thursday. Lift after sprinting.

If you do 2 squat workouts make them different. Look up texas method from rippetoe on that.
It says to do one volume workout 5X5 mostly and then at the end of the week intensity workout 1X5, 1X3 or 1X1. Recovery workout in between with front squats. Intensity workout can be substituted with speed sets.
If you can't recover then your problem is in other area, maybe sleep or diet.
3 days are enough with adequate rest to recover. As long as I remember you don't move any serious weight on squats so, try to find the source of your problem in rest or diet.

[QUOTE=xxtwistedxx;575462911]theres your problem. squats work A LOT more than just quads. in fact if thats the major muscle worked youre doing them wrong.

squats work hip drive. building a strong powerful base to push off. we always sprint first then squat after. squatting and sprinting heavy on the same day. you shouldnt have more than 2 "hard" leg days in a week span anyways. youre right the legs wont recover.[/QUOTE]
Yup .... and the deeper you go, the more your hamstrings will stretch.

Running will not NEVER replace lifting.