When doing squats..

[ERDLifter]

do you guys pause between some reps ? like 2-3 seconds ?

[Xtr]

Yeah.

[Fowles]

si senior

[NorwegianGuy92]

Yup! Focus on technique, not on just doing them fast.

[nooblift]

If your training for size/mass you really shouldnt be pausing at the top to much.

Maybe pause for a couple seconds at 8 reps, then pound out 4 more.

You really want to keep that pump going throughout the whole lift.

I train for strength in m legs though so I usually go 1 rep at a time

[the1satanfears]

If your training for size/mass you really shouldnt be pausing at the top to much.

Maybe pause for a couple seconds at 8 reps, then pound out 4 more.

You really want to keep that pump going throughout the whole lift.

I train for strength in m legs though so I usually go 1 rep at a time

You're wrong. By stopping and breathing in between reps, you can get more reps out of yourself. You can push yourself to a greater muscle failure.

[ERDLifter]

If your training for size/mass you really shouldnt be pausing at the top to much.

Maybe pause for a couple seconds at 8 reps, then pound out 4 more.

You really want to keep that pump going throughout the whole lift.

I train for strength in m legs though so I usually go 1 rep at a time

You're wrong. By stopping and breathing in between reps, you can get more reps out of yourself. You can push yourself to a greater muscle failure.

i know who to believe...

[nooblift]

You're wrong. By stopping and breathing in between reps, you can get more reps out of yourself. You can push yourself to a greater muscle failure.

/fail

You might want to aware yourself on some bodybuilding. Or atleast not talk about stuff you don't know too much about.


No bodybuilder does 'pause squats' because there way to taxing on the CNS.
The only reason to do pause squats is if your burning out w/ them at the end of your workout, or if your doing the '20 rep' scheme where you only do 1 set of squats per workout.

On a lift like squats you should not be going to absolute failure on every single lift. If you do the rest of your workout is going to be sh#t, and you won't gain in size what you should.

Also you should know that bodybuilders do not go ATG on squats like many people on this forum seem to believe.
It is better for quad development to go w/ a closer stance and just a little below parallel, or in some cases not even parallel.


Of course there is a place and time to do ATG squats as well.
I do ATG, because it recruits more muscle fibers that involve athletic movements, and I'm an athlete.
However, If I were a bodybuilder I'd stick to paralell or a bit above paralell

[cheezuz]

The longer you're under tension the more your core is taxed. Only pause if you have to.

[lukeridnour08]

You're wrong. By stopping and breathing in between reps, you can get more reps out of yourself. You can push yourself to a greater muscle failure.

Lol strong fail on your part.

The 2 people above me are right

[walkinbazooka]

Also you should know that bodybuilders do not go ATG on squats like many people on this forum seem to believe.

Just saying.

[nooblift]

Just saying.

Obviously there is still gonna be some people who prefer ATG squats as it works better for them, but for the vast majority of people that is not the correct way to develop quads.
Now if your looking to impress people in the weight room, Going high weight ATG is definetly the way to go.
But if your looking to impress people outside the weightroom, there is much better ways to devolep quads then ATG

[cheezuz]

whats with the heels on the blocks? arnold doesnt have the flexibility for ATG?

[C.Roy]

I don't get why you wouldn't pause between some reps to push yourself to a greater muscle failure. I agree with what Satan said because isn't hypertrophy from putting a maximum amount of stress on your muscles? Idk, guess opinions differ from person to person. And it probably don't matter who's technically correct, because I'm sure we're all going to continue doing what we believe is right. :P

[Xtr]

Just saying.

This.

[SlimKid]

The block helps you to not fall on your bum. IMO

[NorwegianGuy92]

I do it, it helps me with the technique.

[allergic2rice]

the block is just a way a lot of BB'ers squatted back then. read an article sumwhere about it, but forgot. lel at the bending bar.

op: i'd say don't pause, but still get at least full RoM.
Pausing would be more of a overloading CNS motion, while just going at it would rip more fibers.

just from my observation though, no research behind it

[JerseyTriad]

Squats are taxing. You gotta breath. If you dont pause when you need to catch your breath youre really playing with injury

[LukeN.Good]

/fail

You might want to aware yourself on some bodybuilding. Or atleast not talk about stuff you don't know too much about.


No bodybuilder does 'pause squats' because there way to taxing on the CNS.
The only reason to do pause squats is if your burning out w/ them at the end of your workout, or if your doing the '20 rep' scheme where you only do 1 set of squats per workout.

On a lift like squats you should not be going to absolute failure on every single lift. If you do the rest of your workout is going to be sh#t, and you won't gain in size what you should.

Also you should know that bodybuilders do not go ATG on squats like many people on this forum seem to believe.
It is better for quad development to go w/ a closer stance and just a little below parallel, or in some cases not even parallel.


Of course there is a place and time to do ATG squats as well.
I do ATG, because it recruits more muscle fibers that involve athletic movements, and I'm an athlete.
However, If I were a bodybuilder I'd stick to paralell or a bit above paralell

Your opening statement could be interpreted as ironic.
You need to at least provide some citations if you're going to speak on behalf of the bodybuilding community and make all these consecutive claims.

[Dm1337]

ppl who dnt do ATG just dont know proper technique....
its not cos they think ATG is bad

[walkinbazooka]

Obviously there is still gonna be some people who prefer ATG squats as it works better for them, but for the vast majority of people that is not the correct way to develop quads.
Now if your looking to impress people in the weight room, Going high weight ATG is definetly the way to go.
But if your looking to impress people outside the weightroom, there is much better ways to devolep quads then ATG

Quads are not the only muscles in the leg. Hams and glutes need to be built too. That's why variation is necessary, sometimes ATG, sometimes front squats, hack squats. Every exercise has its place.

[fat_chicks_rock]

EDIT: completely misread it. My bad.

[C.Roy]

How about we adda good 20-40 pounds on the bar, not pause, and squat some bigger weights? Just a suggestion, last time I checked 40 pounds for the same rom was pretty useful to growth and all.

The amount of misinformation sickens me, get to the bottom, and get the **** out of the bottom.

Don't beleive me? Believe results. Anyone telling you to pause at the bottom has legs around 25" and 3 plates a side. When you start playing with big weights you DON'T want to sit in the bottom.

What? I thought we were talking about pausing at the top of a rep this whole time? =/

[nooblift]

I don't get why you wouldn't pause between some reps to push yourself to a greater muscle failure. I agree with what Satan said because isn't hypertrophy from putting a maximum amount of stress on your muscles? Idk, guess opinions differ from person to person. And it probably don't matter who's technically correct, because I'm sure we're all going to continue doing what we believe is right. :P

The point is you don't want to go all out every single set.

For example, lets say you can max squat 225X20, and can squat 275X8 max.
Lets say you start of w/ 275X8, your going to need a full 5+ minutes of rest before you can even get that same weight back up more then 4-5 times, even w/ pausing. The point of Hypertrophy is to hit the muscles while the blood is still pumping strong through it.

But ya, so instead of hitting 275X8 and be fatigued the rest of your workout because you just did a Max Effort Lift, (which will tax your CNS for days), you should rather do 225X10 for 4-5 sets, with no more then 2-3 minutes rest in between. Only the last set is where you should be pausing.



Another point I might add, many bodybuilders don't even finish out a squat at the top of the motion. This keeps more stress on muscles and recruits more fast twitch muscle fibers which aids in builing muscle.

Example-

[ERDLifter]

The point is you don't want to go all out every single set.

For example, lets say you can max squat 225X20, and can squat 275X8 max.
Lets say you start of w/ 275X8, your going to need a full 5+ minutes of rest before you can even get that same weight back up more then 4-5 times, even w/ pausing. The point of Hypertrophy is to hit the muscles while the blood is still pumping strong through it.

But ya, so instead of hitting 275X8 and be fatigued the rest of your workout because you just did a Max Effort Lift, (which will tax your CNS for days), you should rather do 225X10 for 4-5 sets, with no more then 2-3 minutes rest in between. Only the last set is where you should be pausing.



Another point I might add, many bodybuilders don't even finish out a squat at the top of the motion. This keeps more stress on muscles and recruits more fast twitch muscle fibers which aids in builing muscle.

Example-

might have a point, tueesday, i did squats, was the best ive ever done, i paused on some sets, and my legs are still sore

[allergic2rice]

ppl who dnt do ATG just dont know proper technique....
its not cos they think ATG is bad

1. a lot of misinformed people think ATG is bad. <--- there goes ur 2nd statement
2.I know proper technique and I break slightly under parallel <---- there goes ur 1st statement


I used to ATG, but just don't do it anymore. Your statements are waaay too generalized.

The point is you don't want to go all out every single set.

For example, lets say you can max squat 225X20, and can squat 275X8 max.
Lets say you start of w/ 275X8, your going to need a full 5+ minutes of rest before you can even get that same weight back up more then 4-5 times, even w/ pausing. The point of Hypertrophy is to hit the muscles while the blood is still pumping strong through it.

But ya, so instead of hitting 275X8 and be fatigued the rest of your workout because you just did a Max Effort Lift, (which will tax your CNS for days), you should rather do 225X10 for 4-5 sets, with no more then 2-3 minutes rest in between. Only the last set is where you should be pausing.



Another point I might add, many bodybuilders don't even finish out a squat at the top of the motion. This keeps more stress on muscles and recruits more fast twitch muscle fibers which aids in builing muscle.

Example-

[nooblift]

Squats are taxing. You gotta breath. If you dont pause when you need to catch your breath youre really playing with injury

You are completely correct.
You should be breathing at the top of each rep

Its when your standing there for 3-5 seconds after every rep looking for air is when it becomes a little detrimental. This should only be done if yo do squats at the end of your workout, or your last set

If your doing Max Effort squats for 5 sets at the start of your workout, then your other sets or going to be severely impaired.

Your opening statement is ironic.
You need to at least provide some citations if you're going to speak on behalf of the bodybuilding community and make all these consecutive claims.

My claims all come from observation through listening/watching professional bodybuilders workout.
There are many articles that back up my claims as well
If you are interested I suggest you read as much articles and watch as many interviews as you can

ppl who dnt do ATG just dont know proper technique....
its not cos they think ATG is bad

You are correct.
ATG w/ bad technique and flexibility is a recipe for disaster.

Quads are not the only muscles in the leg. Hams and glutes need to be built too. That's why variation is necessary, sometimes ATG, sometimes front squats, hack squats. Every exercise has its place.

This is the best post on the ATG subject so far.
You are right on
My point was that people that only do ATG may be a little mis-informed

[ERDLifter]

nooblift, keep giving advice, you dont seem noobish at all

strong 16 yo knowledge

[the1satanfears]

/fail

You might want to aware yourself on some bodybuilding. Or atleast not talk about stuff you don't know too much about.


No bodybuilder does 'pause squats' because there way to taxing on the CNS.
The only reason to do pause squats is if your burning out w/ them at the end of your workout, or if your doing the '20 rep' scheme where you only do 1 set of squats per workout.

On a lift like squats you should not be going to absolute failure on every single lift. If you do the rest of your workout is going to be sh#t, and you won't gain in size what you should.

Also you should know that bodybuilders do not go ATG on squats like many people on this forum seem to believe.
It is better for quad development to go w/ a closer stance and just a little below parallel, or in some cases not even parallel.


Of course there is a place and time to do ATG squats as well.
I do ATG, because it recruits more muscle fibers that involve athletic movements, and I'm an athlete.
However, If I were a bodybuilder I'd stick to paralell or a bit above paralell

Idiot. I'm tired of reading your posts. You don't know what you're talking about.

First of all, there is absolutely no perfect way to do squats. Some people will get better results from breathing in between reps (such as myself) and some will get better results from not doing that. Don't talk like there's only one way to do things.

Secondly, no one has said that every bodybuilder always goes ATG. Personally, I do. I hit my quads with other exercises later, I do squats for full lower body development. Not everyone does squats just for the quad impact, because...they'd be an idiot for doing so. There are several ways to hit your quads. If you just want quad impact, there are better ways to do that.