Squats?

how many squats sessions you should do per week, one or two? what weight should you squat at in the beginning, i’m close to 6 at 190 pounds

do it once a week let it fully recover and when u do it try to get a 90 degree angel from knee to butt.i started maxing with around 85 kilos u shoud start with lower weight and go up like a pyramid untill you can only do 2 reps in one set of maximum weight ,

I always do 3 to 4 sets of 15 once every 3 or 4 days. I’m tall and lanky, so it’s hard for me to do that low rep & high weight stuff. :wink:

Squat once per week.

Go ass to the ground. Your hamstrings should touch your calves at the bottom. This will put the least amount of stress on your knees, believe it or not.

DONT GO ALL way down never this will hurt u real bad trust me

Firstof all whoever said once a week on this topic, listen to him. The other thing is not to go all the way down if you can’t, remeber you are supplementing your boxing skills so don’t get hurt . Try to start low like another fellow suggested earlier and work your way up in weight. Three or four sets with one really low wieght warmup with a two to three minute rest break for recovery and you are done. If you feel tempted to overdue, just remeber that they call the squats the king of weight workout exercise. In other words don’t push it to the limit, you still have rope skipping and roadwork to do. As with the other excercises you should do weight training on a heavy, light, medium pace with two straight days off at the end. That’s three on with one day in between and the weekend off.

thanx for the info guys gonna do squats once a week and won’t go low, i will try again with lower weights, don’t wanna fook up my knees

For most trainees squats should be done once a week…

My max squat is 465 Lbs and I can rep 415 for 6

Want to gain 50+ lbs on your squat? try this

WIDOW MAKERS

Pick a weight that you can do for 10 reps…

Then as you reach your 10th rep, take a few breaths and squat again, take a few breaths and keep squatting til you hit 20 squats

Make sure you have a good spotter and WEAR the lifting belt!

by the 12th squat you will be HATING life… Don’t do anymore quad work that day, trust me , you wont need it!

yeah, going all the way down my save your knees a little (for some) but your back will suffer from it in a big way.. Also keep your back straight up, try not to arch it in or out, and try to keep it straight up and not lean forward or backward.. Have someone check your form from the side and tell you which way your leaning or bending.. You’ll be surprised how far your out when you think you’ve got it perfect… Also, concentrating on having perfect form may mean you can’t lift quite as much, but your reducing the risk of injury 10 fold and in the end you’ll probably be able to lift more..

^^^ Also using a lifting belt is a matter of preference.. It does have it’s pro’s and con’s though. It can help support the load your lifting and help with form and for people with a back it can make the squat a little more practical.. It’s the supporting of the load though that makes me steer away from lifting belts. Without it, more of your smaller supporting muscles have to work to keep your body straight and your form perfect. A belt can also assist you in lifting a little more weight, but unless your aim is to lift more as apposed to putting on weight, it shouldn’t matter what weight your lifting, as long as your KO’d by the 20th rep :wink: ( Joe_ice - that’s how I like my squats, I’ll only push myself once a fortnight like that.. But after I get that 20th rep out I have to lay on the floor for 2 minutes until I can move my legs again :wink: The joys of training hard!)
Anyway, that’s just my 2 cents on weight belts but i’ve used them in the past while i’ve been working through minor injuries and they have helped me steer clear of some major ones..
Good luck with your squats though.. They are probably the most beneficial exercise to gain all over body mass…

Dude, I’ve tried this before with just the bar and it hurt my knees! Perhaps it may have something to do with me being naturally stiff, but I wouldn’t suggest going down like this doing squats, powercleans, or anything else.

as far as the belt is concerned… if u’re doing 8+ reps… u dont need it… if you’re doing under 8 reps and dont use the belt u’re risking big injury here.

Belts are a bad idea. I see lots of people using them but if you think about what the belt is for, it’s just a bad idea.

A belt is there to support the muscles of the trunk to make sure you don’t hurt yourself when you’re lifting more weight then your midsection can properly control… MORE WEIGHT THAN YOUR MIDSECTION CAN PROPERLY CONTROL… doesn’t that send up a red flag? In essence, what a weight belt does is train you to hurt yourself. One day, you’ll need to use the muscles you spent so many hours developing and you’re gonna rip your torso in half because you’ve provided a “crutch” for the muscles in your lower back and abdomen for years all the while, building up legs that can support far more weight than you should ever handle safely. What’s the point of a squat? To get stronger and develop functional strength? Or to see how much weight you can pick up? If your only goal is to squat more than anyone else, a belt may help you do that. But I don’t know anyone who is in the gym for the sake of being able to squat a specific number of lbs.

And finally…

And you call yourself a weight lifter. ::slight_smile:

thats a little extreme.

For boxing I’d advise 3-4 sets of ten repetitions, start at once a week then when you get better go to twice a week.

go down so your thighs are parallel to the ground.

Don’t have the bar on your neck, try to move it down your back.

As soon as you can do 4 sets of ten with a weight make it heavier.

If you can use a belt use a belt. It’s there for safety. It’ll also help get your technique right. if you have bad style and your not using a belt you could seriously damage your vertabre. Seriously your spine could comke out of your back. Using a belt will NOT stop your back muscles working.

The belt will make sure you are lifting the weight with the muscle and not the spine.

Oh yeah I hate that feeling. People don’t do squats because they are hard and can be torture. they make you hard as nails though!

No… it’s there to help people squat more than they otherwise could. It’s there to support (and take the load off of) the stabilizing muscles in the abdomen and lower back. If you have bad style or bad form, you’ll end up hurting yourself anyway. At least if you’re not using a belt, it’ll happen when you’re getting started and using 200 pounds instead of a few years later when you’re using 500 pounds. The entire purpose of using the belt is to support the muscles in your back. But ask yourself… is that a good thing? Or on the other hand, wouldn’t it be better to learn proper form, and train the muscles in your abdomen and back to handle the weight on their own? Are you in the gym to give your belt a workout or your muscles a workout?

I’ve used a belt a few times, and the last time I spent any regular time in the gym, I was squatting around 420 in my sets. That was at 17 weight about 185. Belts are NOT necessary. A belt trains you to have a weakness and that’s just not good. Belt = Crutch :lifter:

feel free to not use a belt but if you splatter your vertabre up the wall behind you don’t come crying to me. A belt can help you lift more this is true. So what if your failing lifting a weight because of instability or back weakness but you have enough strength in your legs?

Use a belt

We’re squatting here so we want our legs and some lower back doing the the work. By using a belt you are taking strain off your spine and and putting it on to your legs which is what we are trying to build.

there are only 3 exercises I’d use a belt for in the gym. Squats, dead lifts and bent over rows. And i use it to protect my spine and hold it in place.

I would never do these exercise with the weights I use without a belt on.

i dont use belt im not at those high weights yet :>

well… if you think you need one, feel free to use one. But you’re not building functional strength. What good are legs that can squat 1000 pounds if your torso can’t carry more than a hundred? That’s an extreme but do you see what I’m getting at?

I’ve seen guys squatting over 600 pounds in their sets without a belt. How much weight are you using that you need a belt? Or is your form just not clean enough to safely perform the lift without a little help?