Squatting 3 times a week is too much? Lol, what the hell?


I squat 125kg (stopped there intentionally) for reps every day I work out. I never got hurt (thank God), and I am not using any supplements. Not even creatine or pre workout (banana and home made honey 2 times a day will beat any pre workout, period).


Being sore and tired is normal at this stage - you are still a n00b (no offense). As you progress, you won't be as tired and sore as you now, since your body had adapted to this workout routine. In my case, I only feel sore and tired after a workout. The day after, I am rested, and ready to roll.


Don't over complicate things, stick to the basics. Millions gained serious gainz on SS, SL 5x5 and Reg Park's program (3x5 basically). Many famous body builders use those programs (Reg Park was Arnold's mentor). You can't get a better proof than that!

I would love to continue SS, but am not sure what to do with my injury. I couldn't finish my squat work sets today because of it.

What happened?

Sorry, didn't realize I didn't talked about it. You can read on previous pages about how I corrected my form during squat (with or without belt) and how my posture was a bit wrong. Before that (a week or so) my form "broke" down a couple of times because of my errors and weight progressing each time. Basically I hurt right hip joint or somewhere around there. That healed gradually over time. Working in the woods on hilly terrain, driving bicycle, walking, and continuing to squat, which are all leg activities reactivated that pain again in the past week.

Consult a specialist. I would like to help, but I do not want to be held responsible for any further injuries down the road.


All I can say is that you stay clear of squats (and even deadlifts), and focus on your upper body until the pain goes away. After that, watch your technique (90% of injuries happen due to poor technique).

(05-28-2018 04:49 AM)sterling_archer Wrote:  

(05-28-2018 01:49 AM)Truth Teller Wrote:  How much do you weigh and how long are you resting between sets?

I weigh 70 kg (154 lb) and am resting about up to 2 and a half minutes between work sets.

Rest 3-5 minutes.

I decided to lower weight on squat by 10% and work the weight up to one I did on Friday. I think it will help with further progress and be easier on joints. I will be basically pushed backward in progress for 2 weeks and I don't think that is a big deal in the long run. After 2 weeks I will probably be at the same weight as recently and be stronger. That is how deload works isn't it?

(05-28-2018 12:04 PM)sterling_archer Wrote:  I decided to lower weight on squat by 10% and work the weight up to one I did on Friday. I think it will help with further progress and be easier on joints. I will be basically pushed backward in progress for 2 weeks and I don't think that is a big deal in the long run. After 2 weeks I will probably be at the same weight as recently and be stronger. That is how deload works isn't it?

Sort of. What you should do is lower the weight 10% and then add a set, so do 4x5. Alternatively, you can do 1x5, 1x5, then 1x5+ (until form breakdown). The added volume of the last set may be enough to get you over the plateau.

SS/SL do not know how to deal with stalls.

As a newbie, you probably should only squat about twice a week, 1 heavy, 1 light. The light session is for form practice, and also an active recovery. You'd be surprised how a light movement actually helps you recover from the same one with heavier weights.

When you get stronger, say intermediate-advanced, you can do 3 times: heavy, light, medium. That's a classic American method too.

Newbies do not have the skills to train really hard. This goes for any sport, not just lifting. If they go too hard, they burn out, pick up bad habits (can't keep good form under pressure / high load) and get injured.

My other sport is boxing. Newbies don't work on the heavy bags 3 times a week, they don't go full contact sparring either, for the same reason as above.

It is not useful to say they should just toughen up and grind through everything. They need to earn the right to work that hard. I say this as someone who's squatted well over 2.5x BW and who's done 6-7 days a week daily max squatting for 7 months in a row.

Never try to lift too heavy at the expense of form. You need to move smoothly and fast throughout all of your sets. If you're not yet ready to add more weights, just add more sets. Weight is not the only thing you can improve on: sets, reps and speed all help you to get stronger and closer to your fitness or physique goals.

@Truth Teller
So you are advocating for either another set or greyskull method. When do I revert back to original 3x5?

@StrikeBack
That makes sense but that is how SS is done, each day heavier day. I don't want to change too much really. I will try methods Truth Teller described to get over my stall.

(05-25-2018 04:08 AM)randomA Wrote:  

(05-25-2018 01:41 AM)General Stalin Wrote:  ^what if someone peaks on SS's 5x5 linear progression after only 4 months. Would you call them an intermediate lifter because they have plateaued?

Absolutely.
Being a novice = making a use of noob gainz.
Noob gainz = the fastest period of time where you'll put the most absolute weight on the bar (e.g. 100kg in 3 months). That's why it's such a short period.

SS or SL5x5 or greyskull etc. are not designed , in fact, to last more than 12-16 weeks because thats when the "general population" will stop being a novice and become an intermediate = no more noob gainz.

Intermediate = vast majority of the population who lifts (provided they've gone through a stable novice linear progression: if one has never tried doing that, then they should do that and exhaust their noob gainz first; that might even last less than 12 weeks if they already have somewhat of a lifting/varsity sport background).

I don't agree with you because this standard of measurement only applies do individuals that train using a linear-progression strength program.

I also don't agree that just because someone who is using a linear-progression plateaus, that they are now an intermediate level lifter. This is because there are other "standards of experience" that may not be met regardless of someone's progress. For example, as I mentioned earlier, the Wilks score:



Above that, on the other end of the spectrum, someone with good genetics may be able to ride linear progression all the way to a 400 lbs. bench, 500 lbs. squat, and 600 lbs. deadlift. Would that person still be a novice lifter?

Like I said, there is more than one way to determine someone is "intermediate" or any experience-level of training.

Personal example: I have never trained a linear progression program so I have zero reference as to whether or not I would have plateaued with such a training style. So am I still a novice because I have never plateaued on a linear-progression style training program?

That said, I have been lifting for almost 2.5 years, bench 270, squat 355, and deadlift 425. My Wilks score is ~293 (intermediate).

I did my first powerlifting mock meet last week and hit 510/275/515 for a 1300 total at 203 bodyweight. I'm thinking I might do my first competition later this summer if I can find a good time for one. I've always been happy just lifting for myself but everyone tells me I'd be doing myself a disservice if I didn't at least try competing once.

I wish my bench didn't suck so much. I'm starting to become somewhat of an anomaly when you compare my bench to my other lifts. I basically haven't made any progress in 1.5 years. High volume, low volume, high frequency, low frequency, lots of variations, less variations...I've tried it all but just can't get the damn thing up. One thing I haven't tried yet is to incorporate a bunch of bodybuilding-style assistance movements for all the little muscles, but I hate doing that shit. Probably just going to sack up and start doing them.

Killer total and your squat and deadlift are advance-level numbers for sure. Awesome work man!

(05-29-2018 11:59 AM)redonion Wrote:  I did my first powerlifting mock meet last week and hit 510/275/515 for a 1300 total at 203 bodyweight. I'm thinking I might do my first competition later this summer if I can find a good time for one. I've always been happy just lifting for myself but everyone tells me I'd be doing myself a disservice if I didn't at least try competing once.

I wish my bench didn't suck so much. I'm starting to become somewhat of an anomaly when you compare my bench to my other lifts. I basically haven't made any progress in 1.5 years. High volume, low volume, high frequency, low frequency, lots of variations, less variations...I've tried it all but just can't get the damn thing up. One thing I haven't tried yet is to incorporate a bunch of bodybuilding-style assistance movements for all the little muscles, but I hate doing that shit. Probably just going to sack up and start doing them.

Have you tried doing negatives with a higher weight, such as 315, with spotters to bring it up and then you just try to control the fall as best you can?

(05-29-2018 01:20 AM)sterling_archer Wrote:  @Truth Teller
So you are advocating for either another set or greyskull method. When do I revert back to original 3x5?

@StrikeBack
That makes sense but that is how SS is done, each day heavier day. I don't want to change too much really. I will try methods Truth Teller described to get over my stall.

You don't, at least not voluntarily. On the 1x5+ set, you go one rep short of technical breakdown.

As training age/strength increase, volume has to increase. A good amount of volume increase is related to warmup sets, of course. A 405 squat requires more warmup sets than a 135 squat.

(05-29-2018 06:53 PM)Repo Wrote:  Have you tried doing negatives with a higher weight, such as 315, with spotters to bring it up and then you just try to control the fall as best you can?

Good idea man! Things fall apart for me when it gets to 90%+ of my max and I start losing tightness and control when I bring the bar down. Overloading the negative portion of the lift seems like it might help for sure.

Squatted today with 10% lower weight with no pain and with improved form. I watched a lot of tutorials past few days and identified some minor issues. Also I watched some tutorials for better stretching and I think it helped me with my hip issues which are not really continuous pain/unease but more of a come and go issues.

Regarding my deadlift question from previous page, here is something I noticed today. Looking at the mirror from the front while in the lowest deadlift position seemed to me that I was very near horizontal position. This is an optic illusion. Those mirrors, same nuisance as with squat some time ago.

When I let go of barbell, took same stance and turned myself to the side and looked at the mirror, I noticed that I am actually at angle, but not the one SS advocates.
Reason is actually very simple, both me and my coach have torso/arms/legs length in such way that our deadlift bottom position is at the lower angle than some other guys out there, including illustrations in the SS book. That actually makes sense. Three different people can utilize same technique to lift barbell from the floor, but if they are different in body composition, they will look different during lifting.

You could try hook grip. It can be uncomfortable for many but it's worth a shot to check it out.

If you don't plan to compete in powerlifting, I think there's no shame to use straps for your work sets.

Hit 10 reps with 35 lbs strapped to my waist on the chin up today . I do descending weight reps for about 30-40 reps. I'm hoping to hit 45 lbs before the end of the year. Only thing that might stop it is my joints.

Thanks for the feed back guys. I think I’ll start using my straps while i slowly introduce hook grip into my warm up. Although I alternate my mixed grip every workout straps seem to be the smarter choice.

@Lermontov - even if you do compete in PL you don't need to use mixed grip when training. Maybe for heavy singles just to replicate "competition conditions" and to get familiar with the grip, but you only have to pull 3 singles in a meet.

(09-30-2018 10:02 PM)Moses_ Wrote:  Thanks for the feed back guys. I think I’ll start using my straps while i slowly introduce hook grip into my warm up. Although I alternate my mixed grip every workout straps seem to be the smarter choice.

Take it slow with hook grip.

You're unlikely to injure yourself, but it hurts like fuck when you're building up the weights. After a few weeks there will be much less pain post-training.

(09-13-2018 02:45 PM)kaotic Wrote:  

@2:52 is me.

Anyone follow Berkhan's instagram? I wanted to check it out today and I was really surprised about his persona. He is pretty much bully douchebag as far as it gets whose staple is insulting other guys mothers. Unbelievable how someone this popular in the fitness industry can be so unpleasant.