My first squats

After three months of weight training, I finally 'took the plunge' today and tried squatting. I've known that it's an excellent exercise, but always have felt a bit intimidated by it. I guess I must've been in a particularly bold mood today. Though not too bold - I used one of those safety cages with an automatic stop and started with only 50 pounds on the bar. After doing 10 reps, I increased the weight to 100 pounds (still pathetic, I know, but it was my first time) and did two sets of 10 reps each. No sooner was I finished than I realized that all the hoopla about the squat is the real deal. It's hard to put into words without sounding cliched, but I felt the effects all over my body. It was somehow tiring but energizing. The squat being the last part of today's weight routine, I then did my usual daily hafl-hour of cardio on an elliptical trainer and felt more energetic than anytime I can remember. Right now, about nine hours later, my quads are sore, but in a *good* way, and I still have a lot of energy. From now on, I most definitely plan to add squats to my workout routine ... and yes, I'll work hard on increasing the weight to a non-humiliating amount

Welcome to the club! Hey, about the weight, no worries. You are set to grow at low weights because you are new to it, whereas others have to continually use heavier and heavier weight. Take it slow. increase it every time, but in little amounts. Don't hurry to the 3 wheels club. It matters so very little. Try putting it nearer the start of your routine.

Work on making your depth non-mockable first. That's a better goal. Seeing someone load up a bunch of plates then curtsy it is just plain sad, but seeing someone do a nice range of motion with any weight is lovely.

Congrats on trying it out!

Krista

P.S. Today your quads will probably be sore in a non-good way. It's not always like that.

Indeed, it's now about 24 hours since I performed the squats, and my quads feel like they've been used for batting practice by all of Major League Baseball. But hey, I'm not complaining, no pain no gain and all that, although I may have to keep tonight's cardio workout a bit shorter than usual. I'll probably wait until tomorrow or the next day to try squatting again.

No no no, there is no need to increase the weight every time. Try to increase either the weight or the reps every time but *KNOW* that you won't and that's OK.

I agree that squats should be done early in your routine.

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Compares with my experience. Hot baths help, pulling each foot toward your rump to stretch. It /will/ burn, but stretching will get you ready for the next workout.

My first squatting was on a Thursday, and I was /sure/ it would take a week to recover. I stretched numerous times during the day. By Monday, workout day, I could barely feel any residual soreness.

Monday's workout, at higher weight, barely made me sore.

All this came as a surprise to me

<snip> This, like almost everything else in training, depends. All of the following squat schemes and their variants work for one thing or another.

More frequent squat sessions with varying intensity are common in PLing programs. Heavy day, light day, day off, medium day, two days off and back to day one is typical.

Daily squats (and twice daily, and more frequent) of varying intensity are common in OLing.

Squat variation programs can be useful when trying to work on weak areas, and switching from variant to variant between workouts as a way to avoid boredom and practice multiple movements is valid.

Daily low rep low intensity squats building up eventually to low rep high intensity squats are advocated by a few trainers (thinking here of Tatsouline but I've seen similar programs before and since).

Given adequate rest and nutrition almost any squat program will result in some muscle growth, especially in a novice trainee. The 'don't work any muscle more than X per week' myth came about in part because it's easier than saying 'Carefully monitor your bodies response to your program, adjusting intensity, rest, diet, training volume, training frequency and other factors where necessary in order to maximize growth and/or strength increases, depending on your needs and goals'. Also, it gives people a sense of when they've done 'enough'. But it's still nonsense.

The other side, 'lies to children' or no, is that novice and low intermediate trainees generally won't want or be able to go to the effort of tracking their performance, diet, rest, general health, etc. and then make appropriate changes, as that requires a level of commitment (to training, record keeping and research) beyond what most people are willing to give. Pre-packaged programs and their attendant myths make things much easier on casual trainees.

So (a) the 'don't squat more than once or twice per week' rule is a myth and (b) I need coffee. I'm off to take care of (b) right now.

Peter if you take any advise to heart on squats, this is the one to go with. I got this same advice; form and depth, but allowed myself to get caught up with the wieght. 335 lbs is the were I hurt myself, nothing major thank goodness but it got my attention. It does not take much of a form break at that wieght to screw up something. Now I go deeper, slower, much lighter and I plan on being more patient in working up to wieght.

A powerlifter at our gym who is a 680 lb squatter tweaked his back with 308 lbs a couple of weeks ago. It can happen any time so you have to concentrate on the light weights as well as the heavy ones.

That's good evidence that lifting heavy is safer than lifting light. If 308 is light for you it can be tough to 'respect' it as you should. Recently while DLing I tweaked my low back on a set of 5 with a weight I can do for 10+ just because I didn't go through the safety routine I do for heavy weights... It still smarts...

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And you deserve it, after that informative exposition. Of course, your 'need' for it is probably a myth. You probably just myth it.

Perhaps my statement would have been better put as: '/Most/ people seem to be recommending squats once or twice weekly, max. 'They need time to recover and grow.' Wait a few minutes and other views will be presented.'