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Am i slowly crippling myself from doing heavy squats?

Jswole220

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Get Shredded!
I enjoy squatting but after everytime i squat and go past 315 my lower back is fucked for days sometimes a week or more after. I used to just think this was something that comes with the territory but after watching Ronnie Coleman’s documentarie it really has me thinking. I don’t squat to the point where I break fourm but I do go what I consider really heavy to the point where I can only get 1 rep at the ends of my squats. Should I stop squatting? Is leg press good enough for lower leg mass? I hate thinking of the fact that it may be best for me to stop squatting but everytime I go heavy this happens to me. What’s y’all take on this?
 
If you pull squats heavy as fuck hacks hit and leg press

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I think it may be my best option but it’s just hard coming to terms with no longer doing heavy squats. On the flip side I’d rather to at least be able to do heavy leg press and not fuck myself up. I’ll be 30 in a few weeks and have been lifting weights since I was 12yo. The more I think of it I don’t ever see any older guys squatting. Is this just something I have to accept with age? The pain is not bad but I lose a little bit of mobility and it just feels off especially when bending .
 
You are not getting any younger and your body's telling you that. How often do you squat and deadlift? I can't really squat anymore due to balance issues after serious injury years ago so I use squat press, hack squat machines or use the smith machine for squats.
 
There's nothing like squats IMO. Stop going to 1 or 2 reps weight. Good for strength but not for muscle mass. When I back down I like to do 2-3 second isometric in the hole for sets of 5-8. Really allows for perfect form and you can concentrate on bracing your abs. You can also stick to higher continuous reps which are less taxing on the back.

I also like to do rest pause style as it allows for higher volume per set. One good hard set will fry you. Use the same weight for 3 sets with less then 30 seconds rest. Use a weight you can do 15 reps with. The second set you will likely get about 10-12 and the third for 4-6 reps. My goal is 30 total reps spread across 3 sets. Once you get 30 you will increase the weight by 5 or 10. Stick with this weight until you get 30 again. One workset is all you need. Follow up with a few sets of accessory exercises targeting quads and hamstrings and your good.

Do you squat high bar or low bar? I'm guessing high bar as most bodybuilders do. Try low bar squats and see the difference. I've been a strength coach for over 20 years and I've seen the most beat up, old school lifters continue to train squats well into their senior years. Besides deadlifts, nothing beats them for whole body strength and hypertrophy.

Check out Rippetoe and Starting Strength. He has great cues for setting up and performing a good low bar squat. IMO it is the best way to squat as you use a lot of hips and glutes. Hit the leg press for more volume on the quads. Hacks and sissy squats are great for quads too.

I hope this helps. Good luck.

BJ
 
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Nothing replaces barbell squats IMO. I am 57 yrs old and I still perform barbell squats, even with my herniated L-5 disc, and without a lifting belt. But I go much lighter than you do. I perform one set of 20 reps, and I'm toast! But both my knees and my back feel great. I merely do 10 reps of leg extensions for a warm up with moderate weight before I do the barbell squats, and my knees are good.

I see no reason nor advantage in training with weight that has you doing 2 to 3 reps per set, (unless you're prepping for a power lifting meet). You want to get the workout of your life? Find a weight with the barbell that you can only perform one set of 10 reps with. Now do ten more reps using the the rest/pause method between each of reps number 11 to 20. Do NOT rack the bar between those final ten reps. Instead, stand underneath it while breathing. The last five reps are murder, and on some days, you might not be able to grind them out without a training partner barking at you to talk you into each rep, one at a time. It is that intense! Every fiber in your body will be yelling: "Please stop! No more!"

I don't always turn up the intensity like that, but when I do, I have to talk to myself and talk myself into each one of the last 5 or 6 reps if/when I don't have a buddy talking at me. It actually becomes an exercise that's both aerobic as well as anerobic at the same time. You heart will be pounding out of your chest and your lungs will be burning. You can also turn down the intensity and still get a serious workout in by lightening the weight and use a poundage that you can do 15 reps with, and merely use the rest/pause-breathing thing between reps #15 thru 20. Your quads still get a great workout. It's a very old routine/method of performing barbell squats, but if you've never done it, you don't know what you're missing
 
You are not getting any younger and your body's telling you that. How often do you squat and deadlift? I can't really squat anymore due to balance issues after serious injury years ago so I use squat press, hack squat machines or use the smith machine for squats.
once a week.
 
Nothing replaces barbell squats IMO. I am 57 yrs old and I still perform barbell squats, even with my herniated L-5 disc, and without a lifting belt. But I go much lighter than you do. I perform one set of 20 reps, and I'm toast! But both my knees and my back feel great. I merely do 10 reps of leg extensions for a warm up with moderate weight before I do the barbell squats, and my knees are good.

I see no reason nor advantage in training with weight that has you doing 2 to 3 reps per set, (unless you're prepping for a power lifting meet). You want to get the workout of your life? Find a weight with the barbell that you can only perform one set of 10 reps with. Now do ten more reps using the the rest/pause method between each of reps number 11 to 20. Do NOT rack the bar between those final ten reps. Instead, stand underneath it while breathing. The last five reps are murder, and on some days, you might not be able to grind them out without a training partner barking at you to talk you into each rep, one at a time. It is that intense! Every fiber in your body will be yelling: "Please stop! No more!"

I don't always turn up the intensity like that, but when I do, I have to talk to myself and talk myself into each one of the last 5 or 6 reps if/when I don't have a buddy talking at me. It actually becomes an exercise that's both aerobic as well as anerobic at the same time. You heart will be pounding out of your chest and your lungs will be burning. You can also turn down the intensity and still get a serious workout in by lightening the weight and use a poundage that you can do 15 reps with, and merely use the rest/pause-breathing thing between reps #15 thru 20. Your quads still get a great workout. It's a very old routine/method of performing barbell squats, but if you've never done it, you don't know what you're missing
my first few sets are with weight I can get for 12-25 reps. Once I get to the point where I can’t bang out 12 in a row I do a few sets of pause squats where basically I stand there until I can reach that number then I’ll do maybe 2-3 sets of really heavy weight that I struggle for 1-3 reps depending on the day. I think my first approach will be to drop off thoes really heavy sets and maybe preform them on the leg press instead.
 
I enjoy squatting but after everytime i squat and go past 315 my lower back is fucked for days sometimes a week or more after. I used to just think this was something that comes with the territory but after watching Ronnie Coleman’s documentarie it really has me thinking. I don’t squat to the point where I break fourm but I do go what I consider really heavy to the point where I can only get 1 rep at the ends of my squats. Should I stop squatting? Is leg press good enough for lower leg mass? I hate thinking of the fact that it may be best for me to stop squatting but everytime I go heavy this happens to me. What’s y’all take on this?
First off, I woiuldnt compare yourself with Ronnie Coleman. I doubt you abuse your body by pushing it past its limits with drugs and super heavy loading of your joints like he did. That was and is a recipie for disaster.

As for quad strength, leg presses will definetly accomplish that. But there is a difference between squats and leg presses. Squats are a closed kinetic chain movement (where the distal end of doesnt move - your feet), while leg presses are an open kinetic chain movement (where the distal end moves - your feet).

Which one is more effective for building muscle? In squats vs leg presses think of the squat as using far more muscles than just the quads... the other muscles are acting as stabilizers and will result in overall more mass while leg presses are more of an isolation movement - focusing mainly on quad development. You could try to compensate with other isolation exercizes, which may or may not achieve your goals.

You could try doing both squats and leg presses... enough squats before it causes pain for overall mass and leg presses for isolation.... you could try periodization or you could lay off the squats for a period of time and then come back to them. I have done this with deadlifts and it has proven very effective.

The most important thing for older lifters is to loose the ego lifting syndrome. As others have said, you are getting older and your body is telling you something. That doesn't mean you stop the difficult stuff that builds or maintains muscle... you just program your training differently - and smarter.

Good luck!
 
Think about perhaps lunges... the bar would be loaded with half the weight thereby decreasing the load on the spine. And you still would be killing legs, just forcing them to work independently, which could be a really good thing.
 
Squats are not needed at all for leg development look at Dorian he use Smith machine hacks and leg presses no free weight squats.

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I agree with this. On my leg days theres usually a couple guys doing multiple sets of rack pulls and I never get to do squats anymore. However I have been toying with foot placement on leg press and leg extensions and have noticed a drastic change in my quads.
 
my first few sets are with weight I can get for 12-25 reps. Once I get to the point where I can’t bang out 12 in a row I do a few sets of pause squats where basically I stand there until I can reach that number then I’ll do maybe 2-3 sets of really heavy weight that I struggle for 1-3 reps depending on the day. I think my first approach will be to drop off thoes really heavy sets and maybe preform them on the leg press instead.
Hmmm.....maybe you just need to cut back a little bit on the volume. Perhaps you're being over trained with the number of sets you're performing with a heavy compound movement.

One other thing I forgot to mention, is that when my lower back hurts from the previous day's workout, I've learned that very often it's due to muscle cramping in that area. And I have found that if I avoid taking anything for pain, (Advil, Aleave, Tylenol) my back tends to heal better within the next day. But if I take those OTC pills for pain relief, the healing process is less complete, and I tend to have pain in that same area after the following workout. What works best for me is using a heating pad, and walking.

As far as squats go, I just think that they're a great exercise for overall body conditioning. Lots of muscle fibers are worked all at once with barbell squats, and I believe that it helps your body become more efficient in muscle building. It goes beyond just quad development. That isn't to say that lunges, and leg presses aren't good exercises though.
 
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I just can’t imagine not doing squats I really love the intensity of them and giving it everything. I guess I will just have to not go as heavy and do other exercises to make up for it
 
If you're doing squats, deads, bent barbell rows, heavy leg presses, and other movements that stress your lower back all in the same week, its just taking a beating and you're not giving it time to recover. Program your workouts so you give it time to recover. Squats and bent rows this week, deads and leg presses next week. Or squat every week but rotate the others. Or just cut the volume back on all of them so it's not over-stressed.

Whatever you decide but sounds like you're just hammering the lower back too much and not recovering properly.
 
Sounds stupid... but have to ask? How strong is your core?

Too obvious but if this is your weak link....


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Sounds stupid... but have to ask? How strong is your core?

Too obvious but if this is your weak link....


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I don’t suspect it to be the weak link I don’t do a ton of abb work but I do planks and a bunch of compound movements that my core is engaged in
 
There's no reason u shouldn't be able to smoke ur quads with leg press and hacks especially if u experiment with foot placement. Drop sets with the leg press should have u puking if the reps are high enough, or at least struggling to walk to the car. Sounds like it's time to experiment with other movements other than squats to get the most out of leg day
 
I don’t suspect it to be the weak link I don’t do a ton of abb work but I do planks and a bunch of compound movements that my core is engaged in

Look into multifidus muscles. And transverse abdominus.

Common cause of LBP.




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Have you tried pulling & pushing a sled? I just had double knee replacement back in Sept & I just started doing sled work & I got to say it smokes my legs without the undue stress on my knees and my lower back. What I do is start off with leg ext,leg curls & calf raises then hit the sled. That way you don't need a lot of weight to smoke them legs,hope this may help.
 
Get Shredded!
Think about perhaps lunges... the bar would be loaded with half the weight thereby decreasing the load on the spine. And you still would be killing legs, just forcing them to work independently, which could be a really good thing.

Lunges...

never done lunges until a couple yrs ago and they made a big difference.
 
Here's something I live by when it comes to life in general. So far it's worked well.

If it's hurts, don't do it!

There's always alternatives. Why risk injury?
 
I just can’t imagine not doing squats I really love the intensity of them and giving it everything. I guess I will just have to not go as heavy and do other exercises to make up for it
Try seeing what the intensity is like with 4-5 sets in the 15-20 rep range.

See how it affects your quad growth.

See how it affects your lower back.

I don't think that your low rep sets are building leg size, and they are probably the reason for your back pain.
 
I have a buldged disc and a shoulder injury, I now hold the bar on my chest and havent had any issues
 
For my last leg day I didn’t go past 275lbs for squats and did all my heavy sets on the leg press. I feel I had to do a lot more reps to get the desired affect but I’m not complaining because my back feels fine. It’s so hard not to squat heavy I really enjoy it but for now I’m going to tone it back and maybe try going all out with squats once a month or every third week
 
Try other exercises, vsquat, sissy squat, lunges, hacks. I'm 49 and still barbell squating, half the time with smith...rest free weight. I have back and knee injuries so sometimes it's tough, i have to always leave 2-3 reps in the tank to help prevent injury.

This from today, we did 6 sets free weight squats then moved over to leg press, didn't get a squat pic. Mr Big was repping 500, me only 315.
 

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Try belt squats. If your gym doesn't have a belt squat find one that does. Also do heavy ab work.
 
I don’t do much back squats. I use hack squats, leg extension, cap barbell squats.

I’ve never used the belted squats but want to try it out.


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This is all just a prime example of finding what works for you and not necessarily following the basics or the bro rules. I appreciate everyones input here. Some great suggestions
 
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