squats and deads 3x a week?

[dieselripped]

i was talking to some guy at my gym that seems to be one of the biggest members, and he told me he got big by adding in 2-3 sets of squats and deads in at the beginning my workouts 3 times a week. he advised me to do it if i want to gain the most size, but will it cause me to overtrain? i was thinking i would do squats on leg day, chest day and arm day. deadlifts on back day, leg day and shoulder day. will this work in my favor or will it cause me to be overtraining and slow my growth?

[GoJu]

I squat 3x a week as a bare mimimum, deadlifts are lower frequency because your lower back recovers much slower than your legs, so maybe have 2 days where you squat medium heavy and a day to go lighter and that day you can do deads, that's actually how madcow 5 x 5 or advanced strating strength or the texas method has it done every week.

[jgreystoke]

i was talking to some guy at my gym that seems to be one of the biggest members, and he told me he got big by adding in 2-3 sets of squats and deads in at the beginning my workouts 3 times a week. he advised me to do it if i want to gain the most size, but will it cause me to overtrain? i was thinking i would do squats on leg day, chest day and arm day. deadlifts on back day, leg day and shoulder day. will this work in my favor or will it cause me to be overtraining and slow my growth?

The way that reads is you are proposing to:

Mon squat

Tue dead

Wed squat

Thu dead

Fri squat

Sat dead

etc

Now in the days before steroids, people didn't "hit a muscle group only once a week to avoid overtraining".

But when they squatted two or three times a week, only one of them was really heavy. Nothing was ever worked to failure, except when testing strength, every month or so to measure progress, or in a competition.

As GoJu pointed out, deads are so fatiguing to the low back, that hardly anyone does them several times a week. The great Bob Peoples used to. But he was an exception. Broke every rule in the book, even lifted roundbacked, and didn't injure himself.

Since squat and dead hit the same leg/hip/low back structure, there is too much overlap, so sticking in a deadlift session after a squat is your best bet, and not three times week for the dead.

So GoJu's suggestion is best if you want to hit leg/hip/low back three times a week.


If you are an iron descendent of Bob Peoples, and your lumbars recover quickly:

You could do something like

Mon squat

Wed dead

Fri squat

Mon dead

Wed squat

Fri dead

etc

There is enough overlap that you would be hitting the same leg/hip/low back structure driving mass gains three times a week.

Notice that the big guy in the gym said 2-3 (work) sets! No German Volume Training!

If I were you, I'd incorporate the big guy's suggestion into a fullbody program like the ones GoJu mentioned for about three months to see how it works out.

[Steven08]

I squat 3X a week and deadlift 1X. I haven't had any trouble with my body recuperating with that much squatting. I have been thinking about deadlifting 2X a week also. Don't know if I would do it 3X though.

[jgreystoke]

I squat 3X a week and deadlift 1X. I haven't had any trouble with my body recuperating with that much squatting. I have been thinking about deadlifting 2X a week also. Don't know if I would do it 3X though.

I'm sure some deadlift specialists do. But those guys are hardly mere mortals like us!

I managed to deadlift twice a week for much of a very long cycle lasting two years. But wasn't able to squat at all due to knee injuries, and the dead was stiff leg style for the same reason. This reduced the poundage potential. The fact that I could hardly do anything else because of shoulder issues meant that most of the energy could be put into the deads.

When the poundage became serious however, the frequency gradually reduced to about once per 4-5 days, like monday, friday, following wednesday, mon, fri, wed etc, and eventually only once per week.

[pshan10]

one summer for soccer camp we'd squat 3x a week and run on the days we didnt squat. i didnt really do too much deadlifts though. i know that squatting 3x's a week shouldnt hurt you if your legs are in good shape.

[BBKid7101]

I squat 3x a week as a bare mimimum, deadlifts are lower frequency because your lower back recovers much slower than your legs, so maybe have 2 days where you squat medium heavy and a day to go lighter and that day you can do deads, that's actually how madcow 5 x 5 or advanced strating strength or the texas method has it done every week.

x2, i wud squat 3x week but def not deadlift more then twice a week.

[Real00]

I would be very leary of squatting 3 times a week.If there's 1 exercise that you need good form on,its the Squat.In my opinion its a recipe for possible serious Back injury.Although with good form and good concentration I can see it working for some people.It depends solely on the individual.

[sstroh]

I would be very leary of squatting 3 times a week.If there's 1 exercise that you need good form on,its the Squat.In my opinion its a recipe for possible serious Back injury.Although with good form and good concentration I can see it working for some people.It depends solely on the individual.

eh not sure where this comes from. If your form sucks 3x a week it sucks 3x a week too. Virtually every beginner that comes around here is directed to do Starting Strength, which has squats 3x weekly. As does madcow's 5x5, texas method, any Starr derived program, and virtually every strength training program.

That said, deadlifting 3x a week seems like an awful lot to recover from. Maybe doable if you have a very light day in the middle, or perhaps sub SLDL. I certainly wouldn't jump right into 5RM DLs 3x weekly without ramping towards it to determine your recovery ability.

[Real00]

I could have done squat's 3 times a week in my 20's but not now in my late 30's.I need time for recuperation.If you have a strong core that helps.My core has always been my weak point.

[jgreystoke]

I would be very leary of squatting 3 times a week.If there's 1 exercise that you need good form on,its the Squat.In my opinion its a recipe for possible serious Back injury.Although with good form and good concentration I can see it working for some people.It depends solely on the individual.

Going to failure is what causes breakdown of form in the squat and other exercises.

In any fullbody where you squat three times a week, you have only one heavy day.....and that IS NOT TO FAILURE.

Plenty of guys who only squat once a week hurt themselves due to bad form, because they push for another set or rep when their lumbars are fatigued. Might even happen from something as simple as bad planning. Like if they did dead/stiff leg dead/goodmorning before squats.

Guys who don't go to failure, and squat fairly high frequency, say at least twice a week, become squatting machines. Every rep is the same. Form stays very good. If you are not into HIT, then the form in every rep of every set of every exercise is pretty much the same. If the next rep ain't going up IN GOOD FORM, you terminate the set.

Then you can deload, take several deep breaths and finish the set rest pause style, ala Dante or Vince Gironda.

Or you can keep the effort for the next session.

In either case, you try to get every scheduled rep next time....in good form. If that is not working, time to reset poundages.

You could squat every day with an empty bar whenever you were near one. Even if you only lifted heavy once per week, that practice would make you a squatting machine.

An olympic lifter might hit the same exercise 6 days a week. But only once heavy. So why bother with all the other way below maximum stuff? Perfect form, that is why.