Heavy squats during football season?

[crossjfa]

Im running SS, and I squat around 250, and it takes literally everything i got. But now that football season is starting, i have to do it AFTER practice which will make me even more tired. After practice my legs feel sore plus I don't think I'll actually be able to squat my 5RM. Should I just continue on a lower weight squat, or not squat at all, or replace it with a different exercise.

[NewbieX2]

Starting Strength will be an aggressive program to try and continue during season, I think. As a football player your sport comes first and you have to be well rested and prepared for practices. If you can increase weight in the squat AND be well rested for practice, then continue. But if you find your abilities in practice are being compromised, then you need to take a different path.

[jdizzy21]

im in the same situation, i just lift 3x a week 3x5 reps on the big lifts so that i dont use my muscles up to much and can perform the next day. It sucks having reduce lifting but its just not possible for me to do both with our 5 hour practices my legs are dead already. Just go easy on the weights to maintain strength until the season is over than get back to strength.

[crossjfa]

Would it be fine to subsitute the squats with leg presses? Leg presses usually don't end with me not being able to walk haha


Edit: Also I'd be doing box jumps along with leg presses if I was to replace squats.

[DanielL94]

I was also wondering this.

[NewbieX2]

Would it be fine to subsitute the squats with leg presses? Leg presses usually don't end with me not being able to walk haha


Edit: Also I'd be doing box jumps along with leg presses if I was to replace squats.

You're going to want to continue squatting. You don't want to lose the strength you gained from it. You just have to either cut back the volume, intensity, or frequency of the lifts.

[Ravock]

I would continue to lift heavy, but keep the volume low. Lift twice a week to maintain your strength throughout the season.

[DCSpartan]

I would continue to lift heavy, but keep the volume low. Lift twice a week to maintain your strength throughout the season.

This. If you play a game on Friday, lift Saturday and take Sunday completely off. Do a low volume session on Tuesday or Wednesday, dont go over 90% of your 1 RM

[crossjfa]

Should i just try to maintain my squat? Instead of increasing it?

[DCSpartan]

Should i just try to maintain my squat? Instead of increasing it?

keep the bar speed up and dont worry about your 1RM in season.

[cthulhupun]

SS wasn't designed to be done during the season. Check out what Bill Starr (Mark Rippetoe's mentor) suggests as his workouts are specifically designed for the football player. He lays out his in-season workouts in The Strongest Shall Survive, which should be on every football player's bookshelf. To answer the squats, question, yes, you want to stick with squats. Check out Starr's book to see how to program them into your routine so you don't kill yourself and don't lose strength during the season.

[azstrengthcoach]

Im running SS, and I squat around 250, and it takes literally everything i got. But now that football season is starting, i have to do it AFTER practice which will make me even more tired. After practice my legs feel sore plus I don't think I'll actually be able to squat my 5RM. Should I just continue on a lower weight squat, or not squat at all, or replace it with a different exercise.

Ask your coaches what they want you to do.