need advice about squats

[bawang]

hi, i recently plateaued on my squats, ive been lifting for 1 year.

i been doing 5 reps and my butt muscles are small. im thinking i need to decrease weight and increase reps. is that right? does anyone have any experience about this, thx.

(i weigh 130 and squat 200)

[Frost]

experince with small buttocks... nope sorry cant help there!

for a small donation i can help you out

[Frost]

ok seriously how many times a week are you squatting, how many sets and reps

[Scott R. Brown]

hi, i recently plateaued on my squats, ive been lifting for 1 year.

i been doing 5 reps. im thinking i need to decrease weight and increase reps. is that right? does anyone have any experience about this, thx.

Ask your mom!

Actually you can do any number of things:

1) Increase weight and drop reps to 1-3,
2) Lower weight and increase reps to 8-12,
3) Keep the same weight and increase days per week lifted,
4) Keep the same weight and increase the reps up to 10 reps per set, then increase the weight and drop the reps back down to 5,
5) Change to front squats for a while,
6) Change to cleans for a while,
7) Change to wide grip deadlifts from a deficit for a while.

Pick something and do a 4-8 week cycle then cycle back to squats again. The after 4-8 weeks pick another variation for 4-8 weeks, and so on....

Then ask your mom......

[bawang]

ok seriously how many times a week are you squatting, how many sets and reps

i squat 2 times a week . i have to walk around 8 hours a day at work so cant do 3 times. i do 5 reps 2 times , explosively and ass to grass.

[Frost]

Firstly don’t say ass to grass, only weak people use that term as a cover for not being able to lift heavy!
Ok firstly drop the reps to 3 so you can go slightly heavier and shock your system.
After the two heavy sets drop the weight to 60% of your 1 rep Max and do sets of3 very explosively, fast fast fast. Do 5 sets of these explosive squats with 1 minute rest. Follow this with 2 sets of 5 reps with 55% of your 1 rep max, these last 2 sets are dead stop so squat to the bottom stop count to 1 then stand up, this eliminates the stretch reflex and allows you to work on your strength out of the hole.

Do the above for 8 weeks, try to increase the weight on the two heavy sets each week by 10 pounds, with the explosive stuff add more sets each week until you get to 10 total sets then increase the weight by 5% and start again with 5 sets
With the pause/dead stop squats add a little weight each week, only 5 pounds at most

[Scott R. Brown]

i squat 2 times a week . i have to walk around 8 hours a day at work so cant do 3 times. i do 5 reps 2 times , explosively and ass to grass.

Yes! Increase reps and sets, for example either 5 sets of ten or 10 sets of 10!

You can actually do your 2 sets of 5 and then add 5 sets of ten.

I did that in high school. The only problem was I couldn't get pants that fit my waist AND my thighs!

When I learned to tumble a couple of years later, I had to learn the standing back flip before I learned the backhand spring because my legs were so strong I kept jumping too high. Most tumblers start with the backhand spring and then the back flip.

Are you doing full squats?

[bawang]

Firstly don’t say ass to grass, only weak people use that term as a cover for not being able to lift heavy!
Ok firstly drop the reps to 3 so you can go slightly heavier and shock your system.

bro, when i do 3 reps and walk around for 8 hours at work i literally become crippled.

Yes! Increase reps and sets, for example either 5 sets of ten or 10 sets of 10!

i think thats what i should do. i barely gained muscle mass, i neglected squats in high school, and now my ass is smaller than my pecs.


sorry for the confusion, im asking because my ass muscle hasnt grown for months despite increasing my lifts. its the same size as when i started. im thinking if i increase reps it will increase muscle size then i can lift more. i just wanna ask if this is correct thinking, because i dont know anything about sports science.

[Scott R. Brown]

i think thats what i should do. i barely gained muscle mass, i neglected squats in high school, and now my ass is smaller than my pecs. i think if i increase reps to gain mass i should be able to lift more.

Size is not necessarily related to maximum strength. Overall volume will increase your size, whether it is 10 sets of 3 or 5-10 sets of ten.

Be careful to work up to the increased volume over a couple of weeks though or you will end up over training and you will be even more tired walking around for 8 hours a day!

[sanjuro_ronin]

There is a rep range for a specific goal you are trying for.
When you are using close to maximum weight (90%+) and working the 1-3 range, you are building strength and regardless of how many sets, your muscle mass increase will be minimal.
Legs tend to have more slo-twitch muscles fibres because that are more "endurance oriented' than arms of chest, etc.
Because of that, they TEND to need a higher rep scheme to cause muscle growth for mass (hypertrophy).
Typically recommended are the 10+ range ( 10-12 being more popular) BUt you do tend to sacrifice some strength in that.
So many who want the "best of both" work in the 8-10 rep range ( or the 6-8 if they prefer to focus on strength but also want some mass).
All these is relative in the sense that you can only get bigger by getting bigger ( eating more to put on mass).
Genetics will dictate how much you can put on and what shape your legs will be and, through trial and error, which rep range is best for you.

I think that an ideal method is to focus on strength and get to a good number and then focus on mass.
SO you would, for example, do the 3-5 range till you get to 2X your BW for 3 reps and then take a week off and focus on mass building in which you would work the 8-10 rep range.
As for set, I have to be honest here:
I have worked on different protocol and found that ALL of them work to an extent.
BUT, if you do more sets you will get better at doing squats ( indispensable for power lifting and olympic lifts).
I have worked the various HIT protocol out there and say this:
Unless you really CAN go to failure, you should stick to something else.
If you can go, there are very few protocols that works as well (IMO).

[bawang]

thanks for the advice man, i really appreciate it.

[wenshu]

If you just want to look like Kim Kardashian then eat more dairy. Having a big ass isn't going to help your squat.

You could try dropping everything else and focusing only on the lift you want to improve for 4 - 6 weeks. A little conditioning once a week is ok but really zero in on just the squat, no more bicep curls and horse stance. High reps, low reps, whatever, mix it up, everybody responds differently, as long as you're focused you'll improve. The important point is to set aside all your recovery ability just for this. Even if you only improve by a tiny amount you'll be closer to figuring out what you respond to.

Plateauing after a year at 200 sounds more psychological than anything. Are you stuck in a routine? Do you always warm up with the same weight, incrementing by the same amount until your work set? Switch it up, skip your set at 200 and just try 225 or 210 and don't pysch yourself out, if you drop the weight so what? Don't be a pussy. You might surprise yourself. You might hurt yourself too, but at this point if you're stuck at 200 and fishing for tips on the forums. . .

[bawang]

im not embarrased to lift baby weights. i come from background where everybody from my parents to my gym teacher to my sifus discouraged me from lifting weights. it took nerves of steel just to get in the gym after so many years. im very happy to lift 200, thats a good achievement for me. i want to progress more and i cant get good advice in my gym. i trust people on this internet forum so im asking. what swrong with that?

[WangBazi]

Get a good leg massage and then have the massage girls perform King Kong Shoots the Airplane. This will sooth your liver qi.

Shake your legs or do qi gong.

Many people do qi gong with only hands, but you can also use the legs. Let them heal. If you reach a plateau that is what post heaven qi gong is for, to lift you over the plateau by opening the yang ming vessel.

I also suggest you drink alcohol like red wine or bai jiu and eat lots of meat to increase your testosterone.

Change it up. Do slow squats without weight going all the way to the ground and back up to single leg stance slowly. This will force your mighty aggressive.

[wenshu]

i trust people on this internet forum so im asking. what swrong with that?

Nothing at all. My point was more that if you are frustrated enough to seek advice after such a long time don't be afraid to risk weight (within reason) that you believe you can't lift. Even if it might cripple you.