Topic: Higher rep squats

[Dustin Oranchuk]

Hey guys, im looking to increase total body power and leg strength while also adding a bit of muscle while leaning out a bit more before I make the plunge and move up to the 105s in 7 months time.

despite the fact that i dont do a lot of upper body and focus most of my energy on training the olympic lifts 5-6 times/week, i have relatively skinny legs compared to my back/chest etc...

to work on these things I was thinking about introducing a lot more volume in the squats. Front squat fairly heavy with lot of classic/lifts during the week, then on Saturday (because i can rest on Sunday) squat with high volume. (I would be doing classic training before the squats on Saturday)

I was thinking of a program something like this... (building up slow)

week 1: 120 (2 warm up sets, then 4 sets of 6 (did this yesterday fairly easily with no break in form)
week 2: 120 4 sets of 8
week 3: 120 4 sets of 10
week 4: 130 4 sets of 6
week 5: 130 4 sets of 8
week 6: 130 4 sets of 10
week 7: 137.5 4 sets of 6
etc...
etc...

this way the week can be devoted mostly to the speed and technique of the classic lifts, and Saturday can be more devoted to strength/endurance and hypertrophy of the legs. Then Sunday is for recovery to make sure my legs are in good shape for Mondays session.

Has anyone ever tried something like this?
How does it sound?

Thanks for any thoughts/feedback.

P.S. my best lifts are 120 and 145 at 94

[Shaun Le Conte]

Hi Dustin I have no personal experience that would be helpful in this situation, and nothing I am doing now could possibly be helpful, but I can tell you what I have seen a fellow club-member do. He's competed in your weight class the past 10 or so years with a best clean & jerk of 187 kg while working a labour intensive job.

There is not much to say: basically the plan is a 3 week version of the "Russian squat routine" and then followed by some other stuff depending on the amount of energy left over: pulls from blocks, jerks, and so on. The squat routine on the wall in the gym is not the 6 week plan that we often see but rather the 3 week plan that you might have seen in the Weightlifting Encyclopedia. Whether that program was actually used by Russians, or  should be used by weightlifters, I am just describing what my relatively successful lifting colleague has done when strength is the goal. It's a lot more "do" than plan.

Based on observing him train there might be little to fear from laying off the full snatch and clean & jerk for a while. Doing primarily squats and pulls from the floor or blocks, or power snatch for periods of time has never seemed to affect his technique negatively.

http://www.weightrainer.net/spreadsheets/1974notes.html


You might also find this a good read: http://www.cathletics.com/articles/article.php?articleID=109

[Arturo Gómez]

That system improves strengh of column and legs, but is very exigent in heat regulation. It needs have a bottleof cold water and good air circulation. Tip: wet your head to avoid headache in this class of training.

[Dustin Oranchuk]

That system improves strengh of column and legs, but is very exigent in heat regulation. It needs have a bottleof cold water and good air circulation. Tip: wet your head to avoid headache in this class of training.

thats very interesting!  so running my hands under cool water between sets would help with set to set recovery?

very interesting.

and thanks for your knowledge to shaun

[Arturo Gómez]

Basically, is important take atention to mantain cold the head

[Andy Dick]

I have done 2 methods.

Method 1 - find a weight you can do a set of 6 with.  Attempt 4x10 so basically to failure each set.  Once you hit 4x10 increase the weight again.

Method 2 - (more desirable becaue it focuses more on strength) 3-4x8-10.  First set the final reps should be about failure, second set same weight if you do not meet required reps decrease 5-10% for 3rd and 4th set.  If can do 8 or 10 for each set weight is too light.  Similar to but not the exact same as what they do at LSU I believe.  What I will do is if on the first set I get all the reps the next time I will increase weight.

Keep note that both of these methods are extremely hard on the body and you will be very sore and tired.  Also getting through the workout will take a lot of will power and you may feel sick post squatting.  I did, especially with method 2.

Take a contrast shower immediately after workout as well.  Eat a lot as well to meet the energy requirements to complete the workout and build muscle.

ADDITION: Both days I keep my rest between sets to 1-1.5 minutes.

Also, I do agree with Shaun's post the Russian program from the Weightlifting Encyclopedia is very good.

[Arturo Gómez]

And what about respiration? Ultimately, I´m against lift in apneia. I think that most people may have difficulties to free the respiration with limit weights. But in high repetitions I think is easier.