Weight Lifting, Weight Training, Bench Press & Bodybuilding
October 9, 2024
Barbell Squat Workout Article
by Ben Tatar

barbell squat exercise The squat is suppose to be the overall king of all exercises. As it will break you into a faster sprint, a more explosive athlete and teach you what you really need to make gains. First let's start with technique..

SQUAT TECHNIQUE

Put the bar on your back, BRING YOUR FEET OUT WIDE, head up, butt back, turn your knees out and as you come up throw out your hips! Some exercises to help you teach proper form are box squats! Another important exercise to increase squatting power, are the use of chains and bands. Squatting also has speed days and maximum effort days. Some assistance exercises for the squat are good mornings! These will really increase your squat, as they hit your lower back, abs, hams, etc.

SQUAT ROUTINE

Here is an example of a leg routine with bands:

Week 1...box squats, bands hooked up to bottom up

Week 2- Front squats or high bar, close stance, bands the same way

Week 3. regular squats with the bands hooked from the top down.

Week 4- (deload phase) pick a completely different exercise that will give your back a break, IE....hack squats, leg press, etc...Do 3 sets of 20, and get a pump. Then start all over again without the bands. Your legs will not only get stronger, but will get huge

Lots of strength legends, and bodybuilders (pros) are using these training techniques now! The best way to get a muscle to grow, is to work all the fibers, in order to do this you need to train the speed (speed squats) absolute strength (Max Effort) and mid range reps (assistance work) Work up to a 3 rep max on the Max Effort exercise, then pick an assistance exercise ( high bar, close stance squats) or leg press and do sets of 8, pull the sled and speed squats on your other day.

SQUATTING WITH BANDS

Bands on the squat work the same way as the bench, but the exercise is different.If you use the reverse old school bands on squat for example, what you're actually doing is improving your squat in the squat suit. It teaches you to "outrun" the bands before the recoil in the bands give out. This is for explosion! The best way to hook them (if you're not using a squat suit), is from the bottom of the rack up! This will make the resistance heavier the higher you get. Only use the bands for 3 weeks, then off for three, or they will lose their effectiveness, according to the westside guru's. So try and pick 3 different Maximum Effort exercises, (Going all out for a 1-3 rep max) and switch it every week. This is what should generally work, if not then try something else.

Increase your protein intake and add plyometrics into your routine and this will help you with your squat as well. Finally, Remember, if you want to get downright strong, start squatting! In high school I was on a powerlifting team and we always dominated! There was nothing fancy about our routine. We just did squats, deadlifts and power cleans mostly like the Russians of old. Well, we had a number of 600+ squatters, my friend Zach put up a 350lbs power clean, because he kept his routine simple and trained hard! In fact he had an amazing story, he had a 300lbs powerclean and a 610 squat, but he wanted to get into the 1000lbs club in the worse way which included a 650lbs squat and a 350lbs power clean. The dilemma was that Zach only had one month to conquer this goal. Well, during these days I would scream and root Zach on with attitude to motivate Zach to conquer the weight! Zach was also playing tennis everyday in hot 105 degree weather over 320lbs. Well Zach somehow kept failing, he never gave up and he kept fighting. On the last day Zach performed a 650 deep squat and a 350 power clean!

It was truly amazing. Even to this day, Zach will consider those days some of the most rewarding days of his life. So Zach put everything on the line and took no prisoners! His routine was as simple as could be and he was one of the strongest mother f*ckers that I have ever seen!!! Hey, if you want to be hardcore, THINK squat! The rest of the lifts will follow! So, just remember the hardcore stuff is what makes the hardcore results and anything else is just a fad. The secret is in the pain, that is if you are tough enough to handle it.

 

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