Squatting advice/help

demolitionman

5' 6''
66 kg.
23

started squatting, deadlifting, benching, overhead pressing, back at the end of august/ start of september. added chins and dips then in december.

at first i wasnt too good at any of it,
deadlifting 40.
squatting 40.
benching 40.
overhead 30.
dips i could do about 8 reps of 3 sets.
chins were very bad, had to do weight assisted ones but slowly worked my way up to non assisted ones and am doing around 3 reps x 3 sets

i was probably only going bout 2 times a week on average,
never really adding an extra weights on at all.

however a few weeks back just before christmas i had a look at stronglifts 5 x 5 program and decided to try it out adding 2.5 kgs each time i completed a my sets.
this has being going ok
my bench is currently 62.5
overhead 42.5
deadlift 70

with these lifts i feel i am doing ok, i feel im sort of plateauing out a bit tbh, ive had two sessions of 62.5 on the bench, and reached 5,4,4,4,3 the last day.
o/head went onto 42.5 the last day and got 5,4,4,4,4.
deadlift i moved up to 70 the last day and completed my 5 of 5.

my problem recently has been with the squatting.

new years eve i went to 75 kg's for the first time.
i felt it noticeably heavy on my body, as if my body was really under strain.
i got 5, 5, 5, 4 and then failed wehn going for my last rep on th fourth set.
i then had a touch of that horrible christmas flu and didnt make the gym again until last wednesday the 5th.
this time i got 5,5,5,4,2 and then failed on my third rep of the last set.
i must say i was lucky both these times as the first time i wasnt using any safety bars, and the second time i had the safety bars too low, so i just had to drop it off my back so was lucky i didnt do any damage to my spine.

last friday i got 5,5,5,4, and for the last set got my mate to spot me. i got 5 on the last set but my mate did assist me a bit for the last two reps.
then i went to the gym the next day saturday, (only did upper body weights)
then went on sunday again but this time my squatting was very bad.
i got 5,4,3 and didnt attempt my final two sets.

i went on tuesday again and got 5,5,5,4,2. however my form wasnt the best and i wasnt squatting as deep. im not sure if its psychological now (where per
haps because i know im struggling with it, its playing on my mind, hence impacting on my lifting - maybe more anxious about failing again as i keep being unable to complete, hence not squatting as deep anymore etc etc ) or maybe ive just reached a real limit. (i only weigh 66 kgs so i am squatting more than my body weight in that sense)

its really annoying me.
when i first started the stronglifts adding the weight, i was able to move up quickly always able to add my 2.5 kgs and complete and move up the next time.
but ive been stuck on 75 now for a while and im definitely struggling with it. i just feel like im pushing my body to the max each time i do it.

one thing to consider is my diet which is absolutely cat.
i dont follow it, but i know that last saturday i had three bottles of lucozade, two mars ice creams, a takeaway curry and bag of chips.

sunday i had a mars ice cream a bottle of lucozade and a bowl of two weetabix biscuits with full fat milk before going to the gym.
that evening i had a take away curry and bag of chips again for dinner.

they were probably excessively bad days

today i had a wispa, bottle of lucozade, pack of eclairs, three swizler cola lollies, a roll with four chicken goujons, relish and sweetcorn. then dinner i cooked burger and chip and beans. went to the pub and had three lucozades and a pack of salted peanuts.

basically i eat a ****load of junk!which im sure ill get slated for lol
the only positive move ive made about my diet in recent times has been my alcohol intake, which was about twice a week there at least for the last few years, but has cut back big time now. have only gone drinking five times in the last 12 weeks, the last time was three weeks ago, and dont really plan on doing much of it anymore. the odd night every now and again, once a month or something.

i dont take any protein shakes, or really eat that much protein i suppose.


Im very slim build and in quite good shape for the amount of crap i eat tbh.
ive definitely put on a bit of muscle since i started but still nowehere near as big as i want to be.
would like to get to about 11.5/12 stone and be fairly built and then rip down.


anyway what should i do about my squatting?
cut back the amount of times im doing it, currently three times a week, to give my legs more recovery time ?
or cut back the weights to maybe 70 kg?

Thanks for the advice

kevpants

Very thorough post on what you're doing.

I wouldn't get too beat up about it. You've had a period of ilnes and time off and that can leave you off your game for quite a while, or sometimes you come back stronger than ever, this isn't an exact science.

One thing I believe about these 5x5 programs every beginner does is that they're boring as hell. It takes quite a while to do the reps and it's real donkeywork. If you're browned off at the thoughts of the sets it's not good.

You've a few options here, none is the "right" one. You can reduce ther weight and build back up hopefully easily breezing by your current sticking point. You could also change the reps x sets scheme to something of your own choice, a bit heavier some days for sets of 2 or 3 reps or maybe lighter for higher reps. Maybe alternating them on days.

There's 1000 ways to progress as a beginner, but the rule that you have to keep progressing, tweaking and altering applies to all levels.

What I'm saying here in a roundabout way is that you just have to keep putting in the work.

The crap diet shouldn't be holding you back at this stage, I'd just urge you to eat "enough". What it's made up of is your own choice.

cmyk

I'd echo most of what kevpants has said.

I'd also ask what sort of schedule you're using, you mention heavy work on 3 consecutive days? What's your technique like?

Also by your own admittance your diet is woeful, even you're good days are terrible and certainly won't help you.

ironballsmcgee

eat lots more meat and vegetables, cut out the crap food, you know what i mean, drop the weight 10kgs and get your form perfect, then move the weight up and squat no more than twice a week, its very taxing on the body.

jasonf9ace

To be honest i think its mainly your diet you have to sort out because by the look of what you eat its not fueling your body for the workouts.But thats up to you,when you hit a plateau on your squats or whatever workout you drop back down in weight by 5kg and work your way back up with 2.5kg each workout.Make sure theres a rest day aswell between each workout

deadlybuzzman

jasonf9ace wrote: »

To be honest i think its mainly your diet you have to sort out because by the look of what you eat its not fueling your body for the workouts.But thats up to you,when you hit a plateau on your squats or whatever workout you drop back down in weight by 5kg and work your way back up with 2.5kg each workout.Make sure theres a rest day aswell between each workout

Definitely do this-if youve been sick with that flu thats going its going to knock you back a fair bit and theres no point ignoring it-its taken my mrs 3 weeks to get almost back to herself. youre trying to continue with your heaviest weight when your bodys gone backwards so let it catch up.
Back off the weight enough that you can safely do all the reps unassisted and fairly explosively and youll be squatting 80 in no time! :pac:

dartstothesea

It's just your diet. Eat way, way more. Make sure you're getting at *least* a certain amount of protein day in, day out. Be consistent about that and about lifting heavy on the squats i.e. Upping the weight slightly at every opportunity, even when you're thinking "oh I dunno, last session had me pretty maxed out..."

At this stage there's so much adaption there for your body to undergo right now you'll make crazy fast progress on squats if you do them right, eat enough, eat right.

Oh but like otters have said, if youve got yourself to a point of not being able to do your squats fully/properly, back off the weight temporarily, yeah.
Otters. They know.

darsar

OP is it me or you reading SL 5x5 programme wrong? I thought it was the same weight each set only upping 2.5kg each time you enter the gym??

Mellor

darsar wrote: »

OP is it me or you reading SL 5x5 programme wrong? I thought it was the same weight each set only upping 2.5kg each time you enter the gym??

What maks you think that?

demolitionman wrote: »

however a few weeks back just before christmas i had a look at stronglifts 5 x 5 program and decided to try it out adding 2.5 kgs each time i completed a my sets.

You up the weight everytime you finish a 5x5, say you barely miss by a rep or two you repeat the weight.

sounds spot on

darsar

Mellor wrote: »

What maks you think that?



You up the weight everytime you finish a 5x5, say you barely miss by a rep or two you repeat the weight.

sounds spot on

On the stronglifts website it says "So here’s the Program. 5×5 stands for 5 sets of 5 reps with the same weight. Start with the empty Olympic Bar (45lbs) on all exercises then add 5lbs per workout. On Deadlifts start with 90lbs and add 10lbs per workout (1 set of 5 only!). I warn you, SL5x5 is harder than it looks."

Add lbs per workout not per rep thats saying. Confused now because I have being going up 2.5 each days and 5kg on deadlift each day not up in reps.

Mellor

I have no idea why you are confused, as everyone appears to be doing it right????
you add it each workout, what is confusing about that

darsar

Mellor wrote: »

I have no idea why you are confused, as everyone appears to be doing it right????
you add it each workout, what is confusing about that

The OP is saying he adds 2.5 per set. Eg 1x5 at 40kg, 1x5 at 42.5kg, 1x5 at 45kg, 1x5 at 47.5kg and 1x5 at 50kg. Not 5x5 of 40kg on Wednesday and 5x5 of 42.5kg on Friday fir example.

darsar

demolitionman wrote: »

.
i had a look at stronglifts 5 x 5 program and decided to try it out adding 2.5 kgs each time i completed a my sets.

.

Mellor

Sets, plural.

Everytime he completes a 5 sets at a given weight he adds 2.5
If he doesn't complete them, ie fails reps towards the end, he repeats that weight.

the rough "a" in there doesn't help, but reading the nest line is clear about 5,5,5,5,4 @ 42.5kg

dario28

Ya could try changing your workout -

I only got into doing legs in October last year , just wasnt bothered about it , did all other body parts loads , then read all the info on how good squats are etc and decided to start so did the following with following results

8 weeks of 10 x 10's
Exercises were Squats , hamstring curls and leg extension machine

- Week 1 had 60kgs squatting - could barely walk after the 7th set , legs were jelly

2 more weeks until i cleanly got 10 x 10 @ 60

then upped it

Fininished after 8 weeks of upping it at 10 x 10 @80 kgs

Since then have been doing 4 x 4's and increasing every week starting at 100kgs and am at 125 x 4

Maybe give that a go, its deffo a complete shock to the system every week and you can see the results quite quickly

kevpants