[DEADn]

I got a question. I have hit a snag with my squats. I find that I can get up to about 320lbs for about 5 reps. Sometimes up to 340lbs for 3 reps. I have been at this plateau for several months. In the back of my mind I am wondering do I need to work on a little lighter weight and inch myself upward? I also wondered how do you know when you would need to use a squat suit? I was told by one powerlifter online that you use one when you find that you arent going upin weight anymore. So what is the verdict. On the days I do squats I dont feel it as much as when I am doing front squats and leg press. On front squats I go up to 200lbs right now for about 5 reps and for the leg press I do about what I do for the regular squat. I use an ironmaster half rack for this. It is similiar to a smith machine. I am pretty sore after doing this. I end it with bb lunges.

Just that when I do regular squats I also do leg ext, ham ext and calf raises. The ham ext I really feel the most. I am left scratching my head. Maybe I need to max out with say 280lbs and work up gradually? I am at a loss really.

JOhn

[tim290280]

Where do you fail in the lift? Identify this and you will know the weak points and can work on them. Don't use a squat suit unless you plan on competing in powerlifting.

[Nothin' but a peanut!!]

man if you're only doing front squats with 200lbs then use that for your main mass builder i can do 200lb front squat but only around 270 on the regular squat swap it around man leave them for a while and come back to them

[Rocky]

Both responses are right. Don't use suits - that's a powerlifting aid and won't really help you in a bodybuilding sense.
I think you made a good suggestion yourself in dropping back the weight a little and increasing the reps up to 8 -10 maybe even up to 12, and work your way up through that. Then when you get to the weight you are currently at for 3 - 4 reps, hopefully you'll be doing 8 - 10 reps and can up the weight and drop the reps again.
Or maybe try a few sessions of the 20 rep deep-breathing squat.
Still probably a good idea to alternate between front and regular squat each session. Good luck getting through the plateau.

[DEADn]

On my squats I use a wide stance because I have long legs. It is a little wider than shoulder width. I have a mark on the post on my rack that lets me know when my thighs are parallel to the ground. It is that last quarter to parallel that I have the most trouble with. Not sure it is the legs or if it could be my position.

I usually started wtih 180lbs then go up to 250 then to about 280-290 then to 320lbs twice or up to340lbs.

I also have some bands from ironwoody that I have thought about using to see if they will help.

with my legs I have 2 workouts. 1 week I will do legs ext, ham ext, squats and calf raises. The following week I do front squats, leg press, calf raises(on the leg press) and then finally BB lunges.

I will cut the weight back to 280 and work my way up by 10lbs working on form and the thigh muscle and see what I can get.

Thanks for the advice.

John

[tim290280]

Can see your problem right there!! Your glutes and hams are weak. That phase just around the thighs parrallel to the floor is where you get the most assistance from the hams and glutes. Also you have no posterior chain work to strengthen these.

You need a deadlift (romanian or stiff) and possibly consider a good morning in your program. Get rid of the leg ext and add in the deadlift variation of your choice.

[DEADn]

Tim

When you say chain work are you talking about the kind used in powerlifting? I have some bands that I got from ironwoody and I began using a joeaverage powerlifting scheme but after about 3 weeks on it I dropped it because it didnt seem to do anything for me.

At one time I did some stiff legged deadlifting and I got away from it. Same with good mornings. I looked at an example of a roman deadlift and see that the emphasis on it is in the hams and I can see where this can build up the hams.
I will incorporate that into my routine and see what happens.

JOhn