Intresting comment at Gym and than discussion !

[21infantry]

Today it was my leg day, wasn't feeling altogether energetic about my workout, after my last set of squats, I made a off handed comment saying I feel weak. Well a personal trainer came along and asked me why did I feel weak, I said it todays squat just seem so heavy, only 255. He basically told me I see you in hear Squating twice a week of course your getting weaker, your not giving your body enough time to recover. I was like what in my head, basically I have 72 hours recovery between working out body parts and I am at the intermediate level by definition. He said that at your age, you need at least 6-7 days rest between body parts.

I know that squating is taxing on the body, but twice a week isn't out of the norm I think for the OV35 crowd, what you guys think? I assume most people would think that I am right about this.

[Kiennor]

I squat twice a week. Once a week is too far between squat sessions for me. It may be great for others though. And everybody has good, normal, and bad days at the gym. Just the way it goes.

[Jtbny]

Everyone regardless of age recovers differently. For myself I squat twice a week and sometimes three times a week mixing up intensity and volume.

[InternetTuffGuy]

This trainer must not have heard of Stronglifts 5x5 when he took his online course. 3x a week baby! Honestly though it probably varies from person to person. I really wouldn't sweat it as long as it works for YOU and you continue to progress.

[michail71]

Today it was my leg day, wasn't feeling altogether energetic about my workout, after my last set of squats, I made a off handed comment saying I feel weak. Well a personal trainer came along and asked me why did I feel weak, I said it todays squat just seem so heavy, only 255. He basically told me I see you in hear Squating twice a week of course your getting weaker, your not giving your body enough time to recover. I was like what in my head, basically I have 72 hours recovery between working out body parts and I am at the intermediate level by definition. He said that at your age, you need at least 6-7 days rest between body parts.

I know that squating is taxing on the body, but twice a week isn't out of the norm I think for the OV35 crowd, what you guys think? I assume most people would think that I am right about this.

Twice a week should be fine. The real question is how much time did you give yourself between sets? Was it enough for ATP cycle recovery?

[21infantry]

Twice a week should be fine. The real question is how much time did you give yourself between sets? Was it enough for ATP cycle recovery?

I give myself plenty of time, on lighter sets probably 2-3 minutes, My heavy triple set about 5 minutes. I feel fine, the toughest sets are actually my first work sets, at the light weights.

[RestoringTally]

I am doing StrongLifts 5x5 and squat 3 times a week. The trainer sounds like someone to ignore.

More than likely you were just having an off day. I have them. There are days where doing anything is tough. Then there are days I want to keep going. At 59 I've learned to listen to my body. I have plenty of good days to make up for the few bad ones.

[Aesthetics4Dayz]

Switch up your intensity, and make sure your nutrition is on track.

What does your leg days look like?
I start every workout normally with squats or dead lifts 5 days a week and I have no fatigue problems.

[Old-Time-Lifter]

Personally, I wouldn't do squats twice a week. I do however train legs twice a week I just use leg presses as my primary movement on one night.

Each of us trains at different intensities and asking one without knowing how intense they train or what their diet or supplement regime is, isn't going to help you much.

[JerryB]

There is no one way of weight training
I have trained a muscle group once a week since my forties.
I squat once a week.
In the long run I think I saved my joints and the week recoveries minimized the risk of over training in the long run.
Plus I have no desire to be working out 6 days a week. Can't imagine doing that for 25 years even with periodic breaks.

[21infantry]

Thanks for the Reply guys, and JerryB after I am happy where I am at, I will most likely just enter a maintenance phase of lifting 3 times a week (I say that now) for most of the year. And only ramp it up for a few months if I think Im loosing gains earned before. But I do have place where I want to be, and no a six pack isn't in the plans. But I regress, to sum it up, he just gave me just enough of his opinion to make me interested in what the rest of you thought as older guys and gals.

Personally I feel fine with what I am doing for every bad day I have, I have five days I feel good to great. So I am going to keep on trucking with what I am doing, until the body really starts telling me to slow down.

[peacesells]

Your results will tell you if it's too much. If you are getting good sleep and eating enough to sustain growth and you fail on your prescribed set..then you may be over trained. If you felt it was heavy today..but normally it doesn't then it sounds like you just had a rough day.

Those saying the trainer doesn't know what he is talking about because you guys are doing SL 5x5 are off the mark. That is a beginner routine. 21Infantry stated he is intermediate. The recovery times are very different for him than they are for you.

I started off doing 3x5 squats 3 times a week but now squat once a week as it's much easier on my joints. They don't recover otherwise.

Your body will tell you what is right.

[Edman316]

I believe 72 hours is plenty of time. I do a 3 days on, 1 off program that hits everything 2 times per week. No problems with it. A bad night's sleep is enough to make you feel weaker than normal. Another possibility is that you are starting to come down with a cold. I felt weak on a Wednesday a few weeks ago. I started having cold symptoms the next day. The final thing it could be in my mind is your mental attitude. Some days we feel like we could pick up the gym and hurl it into the sun. Other days we don't feel it.

[NorwichGrad]

Everybody is different..

Regardless of one's training goals, the quality of nutritional intake is just as important as training program.. Bodybuilders have no issue integrating nutrition and training into their lifestyle, but for the rest of us we seem to neglect nutrition more than we'd like to admit. Rest is another issue.

You might have to take an honest look at your food. I squat 3 times a week, but it was not an overnight thing. I gradually built up the frequency and volume and intensity. And I also cycle my programs to allow for recovery.

[OutOfStep]

I know that squating is taxing on the body, but twice a week isn't out of the norm I think for the OV35 crowd, what you guys think? I assume most people would think that I am right about this.

There's no right or wrong here. Your frequency will depend on your training volume and individual recovery.

[KillaKev001]

Your results will tell you if it's too much. If you are getting good sleep and eating enough to sustain growth and you fail on your prescribed set..then you may be over trained. If you felt it was heavy today..but normally it doesn't then it sounds like you just had a rough day.

Those saying the trainer doesn't know what he is talking about because you guys are doing SL 5x5 are off the mark. That is a beginner routine. 21Infantry stated he is intermediate. The recovery times are very different for him than they are for you.

I started off doing 3x5 squats 3 times a week but now squat once a week as it's much easier on my joints. They don't recover otherwise.

Your body will tell you what is right.

good stuff there.

Also, are you pushing heavy every time? It might be time for a deload. I followed SL5x5 added weight as prescribed until I hit about 340 or so. Then I started failing to the point I would hit the 5x5 once a week. Finally, I hit a wall at 365. Suddenly everything seemed very heavy. I tried deloading & it didn't even go very well. 315 became a struggle. I switched to 5/3/1 BBB program & dialed back the weight just a touch. I liked the idea of squatting a little less. I'd say it still took another 4wks or so before my legs felt quite right.

Important, listen to your body!

[Simpske]

I do squats and deads once a week. Though I bench and overhead press twice a week.

[cbm369]

There's no right or wrong here. Your frequency will depend on your training volume and individual recovery.

I agree with this ^^^^

I am currently on Smolov Squat program. Squat 4 days a week right now.......

[Mr. Someday]

There's no right or wrong here. Your frequency will depend on your training volume and individual recovery.

And his nutrient intake.

[anonymous]

Standard disclaimer 'everyone is a special snowflake' - these days I train legs every 4 days but I don't squat every session (in fact I don't back squat period but front squats still count)

I was at my strongest squatting every week and deadlifting once every 2 weeks (raw strength, 585 squat for reps below parallel and deadlifting 705 conventional)

I was also 28 and had recovery out the wazoo

'heavy' is relative I guess but it all depends on the load you're putting on your body.. under a certain threshold you can train more frequently, and people with better recovery (ie high level athletes) can hit it more frequently

but ask yourself this, are you squatting to 'squat' or to get bigger, stronger legs? Maximizing frequency with heavy squats (like the 'squat a max seven days a week' nonsense that was big on the misc a few years back) is going to eat your joints over the long haul. Imo the smart approach is to find the right balance that doesn't chew up connective tissue

[OzChops]

I'm far from an experienced lifter or pushing much weight, but I find that my recovery is actually improved by squatting more frequently than once per week.

[bodyhard]

I am squatting 3 times a week now Monday, Wednesday and Fridays. I have also squatted once a week on Mondays.

IMO its up to the individual needs, but the most important part is eating enough to fuel your body when you are hitting a body part 3x a week.

[x-trainer ben]

Today it was my leg day, wasn't feeling altogether energetic about my workout, after my last set of squats, I made a off handed comment saying I feel weak. Well a personal trainer came along and asked me why did I feel weak, I said it todays squat just seem so heavy, only 255. He basically told me I see you in hear Squating twice a week of course your getting weaker, your not giving your body enough time to recover. I was like what in my head, basically I have 72 hours recovery between working out body parts and I am at the intermediate level by definition. He said that at your age, you need at least 6-7 days rest between body parts.

I know that squating is taxing on the body, but twice a week isn't out of the norm I think for the OV35 crowd, what you guys think? I assume most people would think that I am right about this.

"but twice a week isn't out of the norm I think for the OV35 crowd, what you guys think"

I think it depends on how well you rest(sleep), how good your nutrition is, the volume/weight you use(10 sets vs 25), and your intensity. 2-3 times per week is cool if you take all the proper steps that you realize work for you.

[drudixon]

The biggest determinant of what kind of frequency I can tolerate is how much I'm eating at the time. I've tried insane volume and frequency programs on deficit and I ached and made marginal gains. Same programs with a nice 400 calorie surplus were night and day easier.

[TheScrawnyDude]

I definitely think that training a particular muscle set more than once a week is just fine. As others have noted, it does depend some on body type, but nutrition and rest also plays a big part in recovery. If you haven't gotten your regular amount of sleep during the week, you are going to feel weaker, etc.

I tend to do regular squats once a week and box squat as assistance work another day during the week. Often times there is only a day of rest between those exercises.

[Buzzbass]

I have a tendency to agree with the trainer. Especially as an older guy who's T levels have probably dropped a bit, you are probably overtraining your legs. Take a couple of weeks off, then come back with one brutal leg workout a week. Bet you start seeing gains then. Even as a young guy, 2x a week is probably a lot. Especially if your are training natural.

[Mr. Someday]

, you are probably overtraining your legs. .

I think the word "overtraining" gets used way too much around here (not picking on you in particular).....I suspect there is far more "under-eating" going on than "overtraining".

[KeithTheSnake]

"...you are probably overtraining your legs."

Probably not. I'd simply suggest eating more and resting more. I currently squat three times a week, to my great benefit.

[oldmanlifting]

Well I alternate an A-B-A workout with a B-A-B. So one week I squat and bench twice and the next week I squat and bench once. The B workout includes my deadlifts.

So, I essentially average 1-1/2 workouts/week for each of my three cores. It works for me, but then I'm not just over 35, I'm more than twice 35.