Breathing Squats

[strong island]

I have seemed to hit a plateau in my leg training. I have decided to try an 8 week "breathing squats" routine. For those that don't know too much about them I recommend researching them. Most trainers love them.

Basically you do one HARDCORE set. You are supposed to take a weight you usually do ten reps with and do twenty. But you take deep breaths between them.

Reps 1-10: 1 deep breath
Reps 11-15: 2 deep breaths
Reps 16-20: 3 deep breaths

Another way to pick a starting weight is as followsfrom the Sports Supplement Review 4th Ed.)

After 8 weeks you should be able to do 20 reps with your current 5 Rep max. Since you will be doing them twice a week that will be 16 workout. We will use 15 to give some slack. Plan to add 5 lbs. per workout.

5 x 15 = 75 lbs

take your 5 rep max and subtract 75 to get your starting weight.

My 5 rep max is about 350 (below parallel) so I decided to use 275. I did these yesterday and I almost threw up. It is also a psychological workout.

I will be doing these Mondays and Fridays along with some hamstring work. And I might throw in some leg extensions on Wednesday.

I will post my results after a few weeks.

Here is a good link:

http://www.geocities.com/scufc/20repsquats.html

I used the "glimpse" technique. This is when you load the bar with more weight than you will use so the weight "feels" lighter and more manageable.

 

[strong island]

I am amazed on how sore I am from one set. Expecially my quads.

 

[edgecrusher]

Just be careful, a lot of lowwer back injuries have occured from indviduals who lose their form while training.

 

[strong island]

Bad form is definately a major problem. I would say 80% of people in my gym have poor form.

And when it comes to squatting about 95% of people don't do them properly.

Most people actually do half squats. They fail to go low and get the full benefit of the squat.

Personally my from is perfect. I am always controlled and I warm up properly.

 

[kunta]

i think i'm gonna add this to my routine...kind of like yours but a little bit different on mon i alternate b/w 5x3 and 5x5 for squats and then on fri 20 rep breathing squats

 

[edgecrusher]

Bad form is definately a major problem. I would say 80% of people in my gym have poor form.

And when it comes to squatting about 95% of people don't do them properly.

Most people actually do half squats. They fail to go low and get the full benefit of the squat.

Personally my from is perfect. I am always controlled and I warm up properly.

Don't take that last post the wrong way, I was not saying anything about your form being incorrect. Just, during a set of breathing squats, people often begin to fatigue mentally and physically then their form goes down the tubes.

 

[ZZuluZ]

I can't imagine going 10 reps PAST failure and still be using perfect form.

[Usually people use their 10RM]

-Zulu

 

[bignate73]

I can't imagine going 10 reps PAST failure and still be using perfect form.

[Usually people use their 10RM]

-Zulu

yep.

 

[Doktor Bollix]

You can do twenty reps of your ten rep max because you are pausing at the top for a deep breath and after rep 12 or so getting as many breaths as you need to continue, basically every rep is a single. They are safe to do as long as you maintain core tension, once that goes shaky you are done. Twenty reps squats are awesome. They do make you sore though, in a too sore kind of way. Most people have no idea what failure is for squats, you can nearly always do two reps more than your brain tells you is possible.

 

[ZZuluZ]

"You can do twenty reps of your ten rep max because you are pausing at the top for a deep breath and after rep 12 or so
"

Exactly....if you start pausing after 12 reps, then it's your 12RM not your 10RM!

-Zulu