Squats?

[canuck kid]

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

[danne__]

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 ,

[Douglas]

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.

[Easto]

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.

[danne__]

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

[johnsebastianmiran]

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.

[canuck kid]

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

[Joe_Ice]

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!

[Dizaster]

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..

[Dizaster]

^^^ 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 ;-) ( 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 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...

[Douglas]

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.

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.

[Joe_Ice]

^^^ 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 ;-) ( 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 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...

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.

[Mr.B]

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....

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

And you call yourself a weight lifter. :

[Hornfinger]

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.

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.

[Hornfinger]

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....

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

And you call yourself a weight lifter. :

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.