How much can you guys squat?

I wish people wouldn't squat and they certainly shouldn't boast about how much they can do.

You should use the seat, not squat over it. I hate folk that do that and make a mess all over the seat.

Disgusting.
 
But it is a good time management tool.

You get to workout for leg day, and have a poo at the same time... Genius!
 
yep, this is where diet is very important... high fibre gives you a quick workout, whereas crap like pizza and white bread can have me squatting for ages...
 
Toilet humour is great.

It is the highest form of wit.

Toilet humour enhances the intellectual discourse of any forum and raises its monetised value.
 
Hey, first post, go easy on me. I started lifting in January. Felt like it was time I actually did something about my lack of fitness/weight. I started on the Stronglifts 5x5 as a complete novice and made pretty good progress. In 4 months I'd got my Squats from 60kg up to 130kg, Deadlift from 60kg to 140kg and Bench to 65kg.

I changed my routine a few weeks back to a pyramid workout. I squatted 145kg for the first time last night and deadlifted 150kg last week. Bench is up to 75kg.
 
Good work mate, that's fantastic progress!
 
Well after about 6 weeks off I was back in last week for 4 days (mon, tues, thurs and fri) getting back into the swing of things. Highlight was a single deadlift at 170kg which felt good considering I hadn't done deads for about 3 months.

Roll into this week. The aim is to do 4 days a week, and after a great shoulder workout on Monday I took Tuesday off and had to go in tonight with a sort of double shift doing deads and bench.

Deads topped out at 180kg, but my hands were soo sweaty, I almost lost my grip through slippage. So need to address that. On the plus side the bar slid up my legs nice and smoothly with my sweaty shins :D

Think I am going to go back to alternating deadlifts and squats. One week for one, next week for the other. My lower back simply can't take it :(

Bench is still my weakest area, topped out tonight at a few sets of 5 at 80kg. I wish I could rep much higher, but it's a massive grind.

Won't be in tomorrow due to family arrangements, so will try and get an arms session in on Saturday and then get back to a 4 day split next week.
 
great stuff, yeah, I've had to stop doing heavy deadlifts and squats these days as my lower back can't handle it...
 
I didn't do deads for ages then 50@50kg. Didn't actually find it too taxing and had 60s rest after each set of 10.


But then the next two days, I was walking like I'd snapped the banjo string...
 
Back in tonight for my shoulder blast session along with a little bit of light chest stuff (just to get me benching twice a week).

There are some huge guys in there now, all with massive arms and I look a little out of place tbh. Need to get more size.

Warm up to start with on the running machine and then:

OHP (warm up) 20x5, 30x5, 40x3
(main set) 50x3, 55x3, 60x3+ (managed 4 and a half).
Then 30kgx10 reps x 5sets for the assistance stuff.

70kg barbel shrugs for 10-12 reps for 5 sets (nothing too heavy here, rather have good form)

14kg Dumbbells for Arnold Presses for 8 reps, then straight down into 8 reps of dumbbell bench X 5 sets

5 sets X 10-12 reps of barbell bench press @ 40kg (this is the light assistant bench stuff I am trying to get in on a Monday)

Then breathe.

The face pulls on the machine - 5 sets at 10-12 reps (increasing resistance)

Then finally a shit load of cable machine straight arm pull down to just try and finish the shoulders off slightly.

Dead now. Need some food. Going to have to be eggs and toast I think.
 
Great workout mate, get some more protein inside you asap!
 
Ended up having 5 scrambled egg and two slices of multi seed toast with a load of peanut butter.

Didn't last long lol
 
great stuff, yeah, I've had to stop doing heavy deadlifts and squats these days as my lower back can't handle it...
without sounding like a know it all or rude could it not be argued your form isn't right? you shouldnt lifting using your lower back, the power comes from your hamstrings and glutes, would a belt help perhaps?
 
without sounding like a know it all or rude could it not be argued your form isn't right? you shouldnt lifting using your lower back, the power comes from your hamstrings and glutes, would a belt help perhaps?


old age... :D
 
Back in for shoulders tonight - after watching a few of George Leeman's most recent videos I tried to mix it up a little.

15 min treadmill warm up and stretch (5 min walk and then trying to "sprint" for 1min at 15-16kmph and then walk at 4.5kmph for 45 seconds, and do that 3 times, that is killing me, then walk/jog the rest)

OHP - (warm up) 20kg X 5, 30x5, 40x3
(Main set) 50x5, 60x3 (felt like I could have done more but was following the program) and 65x1+ (managed to eek out a single. Amazing how much harder those additional 5kg felt).

(Assistance work) 30kg X 20, 30x10, 30x10, 30x15.

Barbell shrugs - 80kg X 10-12 reps for 5 sets

Upright barbell row - 30kg X 8 reps for 5 sets

Then superset of cable face pulls and behind head shoulder press for 5 sets. Face pulls increasing in weight on the machine, behind head press was at 30kg.

Then cable rear delt fly for 5 sets. Only light stuff.

Then I tried some smith machine Haney Shrugs - which I just couldn't get the hang of at all. Watching George in the video and they looked pretty good, but I just felt all kinds of awkward doing them. (See 1:58 onwards in this video

Finished off with 5 sets of bench. 20kg X 20, 40x10, 40x10, 60x8, 60x8 just as some lighter assistance stuff to help progress my bench.

I have also kept my calorie intake low today as I am fed up with being a fat bastard now - I was 15stone 9 last summer, lightest I have been in years and felt great, and now I have gone back up to 17stone and a few pounds, so desperately want to get back down to the 100kg mark.

Today's food intake was

Breakfast - nothing (I very rarely have breakfast anyway)
Lunch - half a tin of tuna mayo on 2 ryvitas and a can of Pepsi Max
Dinner/pre gym meal - other half of the tuna on 2 ryvitas and 3 scrambled eggs, one slice of bread and 200g of baked beans.

That comes in somewhere around 850-900 calories according to My Fitness Pal.

I am still hungry now, but not nearly as much as I thought I would be.

Deadlifts and arms tomorrow.
 
so how does this work.

yesterday morning i was 16 stone 9 - the lowest i have been for a while.
this morning i have put on a lb and am up to 16 stone 10.

yet i only ate about 1300 calories yesterday and had my workout (which would have burnt off a couple of hundred i suppose).

all i had to eat yesterday was a 200g french baton with scrambled egg and a can of pepsi max for lunch and then dinner was 3 scrambled eggs and 200g of baked beans. i had an apple on the way to the gym.

that was it, i am logging it all in My Fitness Pal.

don't understand how i have put on weight.
 
on the plus side, another single last night at 180kg in deadlifts. i am, however, really struggling at the moment for grip, even when using the versa grip straps i have. sweaty palms aren't helping and i could feel it almost go on the 3rd rep of 160kg.

think i might have to get some liquid chalk to use.
 
so how does this work.

yesterday morning i was 16 stone 9 - the lowest i have been for a while.
this morning i have put on a lb and am up to 16 stone 10.

yet i only ate about 1300 calories yesterday and had my workout (which would have burnt off a couple of hundred i suppose).

all i had to eat yesterday was a 200g french baton with scrambled egg and a can of pepsi max for lunch and then dinner was 3 scrambled eggs and 200g of baked beans. i had an apple on the way to the gym.

that was it, i am logging it all in My Fitness Pal.

don't understand how i have put on weight.

Lol you sound like my wife! :)

Lots things can have an impact on your weight. Not limited to:
Time of day
Surface
Accuracy of equipment
Bodily functions
Menstrual (women)
Water retention
Digestive rate of food consumed

These are just off the top of my head and I'm not an expert.. :)

I'd say if you're conscious of it and hoping to make changes one way or the other, you really shouldn't weigh yourself more than once a month at most, so you don't get frustrated with small fluctuations.

Plus if you are heavy lifting and building strength you should expect to gain weight not lose it.

Keep this image in mind:

ImageUploadedByAVForums1468406483.730224.jpg


How your clothes feel should be more important to how much you weigh.

Great lifts by the way! :)
 
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so how does this work.

yesterday morning i was 16 stone 9 - the lowest i have been for a while.
this morning i have put on a lb and am up to 16 stone 10.

yet i only ate about 1300 calories yesterday and had my workout (which would have burnt off a couple of hundred i suppose).

all i had to eat yesterday was a 200g french baton with scrambled egg and a can of pepsi max for lunch and then dinner was 3 scrambled eggs and 200g of baked beans. i had an apple on the way to the gym.

that was it, i am logging it all in My Fitness Pal.

don't understand how i have put on weight.
Mate, your body thinks you're are starving it! That extra pound if probably water.

You need to keep up the water intake, probably nearer 3 litres a day for a big fella like you, and cute back your calories 500 at a time.

I personally don't agree with counting calories but it is a good way to keep check.
Your body doesn't know the difference in calories from lean and clean food or sweets and take aways. All a calorie is, is a mathematical equation.

Maybe get a personnel trainer from your gym and all them to help you with the nutrition side of things.

If you're method to get to your goal is not realistic and manageable, you're won't get there and you'll give up or take short cuts. It's human nature.
 
i beat myself up massively though around food - i get almost obsessed with cutting calories. it isn't good i know, but i just think that less is better, when i know i need to eat enough to fuel myself.

i think my bodies natural weight is around 17 stone to 17 stone 3lbs. this was about as heavy as i seemed to get no matter what i was eating, and i wasn't at the gym much either prior to the past 2 weeks.

i do love my food, some good, some bad, but i get into an awful cycle where by i just want to cut the calories and lose weight, and lose track of the fact that my body is probably starving and storing what i do eat as fat.
 
but yeah, gym is going in the right direction. i am a little down on where i was at my "peak", but getting there.

max lifts ever are:
deadlift 190kg single (currently at 180kg single)
bench 105kg single (currently repping at about 80-90kg. managed 30kg dumbbell incline bench for the first time last week. don't normally do incline with dumbbells, normally load up a barbell, but was happy with 30kg DBs).
squat 140kg single (was repping at 100kg last week)
OHP 70kg x 3 (hit a 65kg single on monday).

just need to keep at it - bench is a massively weak area which i am trying to focus on fixing. am also loving the rear delt work too for bigger shoulders.

i took a photo from behind about a month ago, where i looked huge (compared to when i was "slimmer"), so will take a photo in a week or so and see how i compare.
 
Sorry for long winded post!
I'm new to this gym world - I have had chronic back problems for past few years (multiple torn discs in lower back) and have been slowly bringing myself back to "normal" it's the help of my Physio. I have been squatting without bar for a while and introduced a barbell approx one month ago.
I have been told Im free to do what I like in the gym within reason so want to start squatting.
I have experimented and have quickly got to 3x reps of 12 at 40kg.
I am squatting so that my hips are parallel with knees so quite deep squats.
I am a little unsure how much I should be working to and how many reps I should be doing?
Thought about a personal trainer and had a taster session but he was insisting I should start with just bar but admitted I have perfect form when squatting.
Anyone got any words of advice to safely push myself? I could go back to Physio as they have a private gym but this is quite expensive but at the same time worry about pushing too hard
 
First question that needs addressing is, what is your goal?

By that I mean why are you squatting? What do you hope to gain from it and why are you motivated to do it?

Different squat variations are good for glutes, quads and hamstrings but they aren't the best for it. It is a good all over body exercise but to give you more direction, we need to know what your destination is. (See what i did there Eh!).
 
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My goal is to strengthen my legs and start to add more movement into them. I had suffered from sciatica in my right leg and was told to start leg presses to build muscle - this apparently helps to pull and hold ligaments apart and has reduced the sciatic pain.
I have incredibly tight hamstrings and it's also causing problems with my hip, again have been told to try and work these areas more.
This is why it doing deeper squats but am also doing a lot of stretching and a Pilates class!
Hope this all makes sense - sometimes I think physio's don't want you to get 100% better as they will lose income but I guess this is a pessimistic view.
I'm by no means a gym fanatic but the more pain I have, the less i exercise, the worse I get - a vicious circle so it feels good to be able to push myself again!
 
Few problems here mate, squats can be bloody dangerous when done incorrectly even on a stoing back. Even sit ups can cause injury because your are loading the spine with weight and pressure then flexing it. With squats the idea is to keep it straight and neutral but it is so easy to allow it to flex and cause injury.

I'd suggest that you need to get to the cause of the sciatica and get that sorted before doing weighted squats.
And continue with the stretching and Pilates.
When we do squats, we work within our range of movement, so this is no good for stretching the legs as when we squat to the most stretched angle, the muscles etc tighten to protect the muscles and so they don't tend to stretch much.

Same for leg press too, plus it's easy when at the end of range and under weight to allow the pelvis to shift and bend the spine.

I'm not a doctor, but I do have 3 herniated discs and have previously suffered with sciatica for years.
So keep up the Pilates, stretching and yoga and add breast stroke swimming into the mix.
If you really want to continue doing squats etc with weights, get proper professional tuition on the technique and remember your are doing it for the movement, not for the value of the weight.
 

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