|
Admit it, you've got a problem. Your desire to move heavy iron has waned, replaced by a compulsive obsession to engorge your quads with warm blood every time you step into the gym. Numbed by set after high-rep set of leg presses, leg extensions and hamstring curls, your muscles have slipped into a pump-induced coma.
If your high-volume, moderate-intensity bodybuilding routine has you so heavily sedated that you can't remember the last time you stepped under a barbell loaded with more than twice your bodyweight, it's definitely time for a serious squat intervention. Forget about Smith, sissy and hack for a while. It's time to go big, or go home.
Don't let anyone get you hooked on cheap substitutes for leg training - the squat is king when it comes to stimulating maximum muscle growth. This four-week, strength-building, max squat program will have you putting up some serious numbers in the squat rack, while adding considerable power and mass.
A big squat will not only provide the stimulus required to push your body to new levels of mass and strength but you'll reap psychological benefits that will make you a more confident, more successful athlete. Just ask Tony Conyers, a 165-pound former bodybuilder turned powerlifter who routinely squats in excess of 750 pounds in drug-free competition and holds countless world records. `As a bodybuilder, I'd use powerlifting and heavy squatting to help me put on mass," he says.
But there's more to heavy squatting than just the physical strength required to move several times your bodyweight. "You also have to tap into your inner strength when lifting heavy," adds Conyers. "By focusing, you get yourself prepared mentally for every lift, every set." This attention to detail and mental focus that must be practiced when squatting will translate into success in bodybuilding. You can't just go through the motions during a heavy squat workout, and when the same intense focus you develop through squatting is applied to every other exercise you perform, you can't help but grow.
In addition to the mental focus and psychological mastery that max squatting requires, success is deeply rooted in a coordinated effort involving every segment of your body. This is where you'll see some big-time benefits from squat training. Heavy squatting amplifies your anabolic hormone levels as it overloads the muscles in your legs, hips, core, shoulder girdle and torso. In addition, your stabilizers must fire at all times during the movement so that you'll maintain balance.
In a max lift, your nervous system is forced to alter the recruitment of your muscle fibers, firing a larger percentage of fast-twitch fibers quickly to move the heavier load. If the load is submaximal, as in regular bodybuilding training, your nervous system activates fewer explosive fibers and more endurance fibers. So, in order to train our most powerful muscle cells (with the most growth potential), we must cross that threshold into near-max lifts on occasion to draw those fibers into action.
Over the years, Bill Allerheiligen, MS, CSCS, fitness director at McHenry County College in Crystal Lake, Illinois, has helped many elite-level college and professional football players improve their max strength and explosive power. His seven-workout max strength cycle will push any bodybuilder beyond his or her previous best in the squat.
The problem with most squat programs is they're built around a powerlifting workout split. That's fine if you're a powerlifter who competes in three strength events - bench press, squat and deadlift. But since bodybuilding is aimed at building size and staying lean, you'll want to include a little more volume on the assistance lifts even while you're working on building up your maximal strength in the squat. This program provides a structure that will help you max out your squat, without sacrificing any of your hard-earned muscle.
Basically, you can just incorporate this workout into your regular split. Start your legs day off with a highquality warm-up: 10 minutes of cardio and a couple of light warm-up sets, stretching between each set of squats. If you're training on a three-day split (push muscles one day, pull muscles on another, and legs on the third), you'll be able to get through one cycle every month. That's a new max every 30 days. Better tell your gym to order some 100-- pound plates - those 45s just aren't going to be enough to satisfy your new addiction. Use the following tips to help you in your quest for maximum squat strength: - KEEP THE BAR PULLED TIGHT AGAINST YOUR TRAPS THROUGHOUT THE LIFT. A lower bar position will allow you to move a little more weight than a high-bar position.
- USE A BELT ON YOUR HEAVIEST SETS ONLY, not on sub-max warm-ups. You want to build as much strength as possible in your core muscles through squatting.
- Powerlifter Tony Conyers suggests that you TRAIN YOUR CALVES HARD IF YOU WANT TO SQUAT BIG. "Your calves are very important. When you walk the weight out from the rack, and to keep the weight stable and centered at all times, you need really strong calves."
- When you're playing with the big iron, USE A POWER RACK WITH PINS SET AT THE BOTTOM OF YOUR RANGE OF MOTION, AND AT LEAST ONE SPOTTER. Never fight to save a lift if you feel like you're not going to make it; allow the pins tocatch the bar while you drop to the floor. Fighting max weights when you're out of position or fatigued will only lead to injury.
- STAY TIGHT THROUGH YOUR ENTIRE BODY from the time you remove the bar from the rack until you put it back. Inhale - and hold your breath just before you descend. Exhale when you reach the finish position. This breathing technique, called the Valsalva maneuver, creates intraabdominal pressure and increases the stability of your core, allowing you to handle heavy weights safely. (This move should be avoided if you have high blood pressure or cardiovascular problems. Ask your doctor.)
- BUILD UP TO MAX SLOWLY; don't try to hit it every workout. Conyers believes this is the biggest mistake that most trainees make. Every max lift you miss erodes your confidence levels, making it more difficult to hit it next time. "Fear of the weight and injuries will definitely slow your progress, so work up to your max over time."
How to Determining Your One-Rep Max You can determine your one-rep max (1 RM) several ways. Consideration must also be given to whether you're a beginner or an advanced lifter. Trying to reach a 1 RM as a beginner may result in injury from lifting (muscle, tendon or ligament) or losing control of the weight and dropping it on yourself. Use the following guides to estimating a 1 RM.
A BEGINNER TO POWERLIFTING (Never worked consistently in the 1-5-rep range): Perform 1-3 sets to estimate or reach a 1 RepMax. Select a minimal warmup set of 10 repetitions. If you can't complete even 10 reps, don't proceed. Use the "One-Rep Max" table to estimate 1 RM. If the first set was very easy, add weight for the second set. If this set was almost maximal and 10 repetitions were performed, use that weight to estimate your 1 RM; if not, try a third set with more weight, doing the calculation based on the number of reps you do complete (if it's not 10 or fewer, you'll need to go to a fourth set). ADVANCED LIFTER (Regularly handling squat loads in excess of 90% of 1 RM): Either use the process for the beginning lifter, or warm up and increase weight until a 1 RM is achieved (you reach a weight you can do one rep with and no more).
Tired of little or no results?
Join the thousands of people who have discovered how my Permanent Muscle program gives you every tool required including; workouts, meal plans, exercises and more to achieve stunning muscle building results over the next 6 months. 
Even more leg training information!
|
