How often for squats?

Just curious how often other people do/recommend doing squats. Obviously an important lift, I've had some people tell me they do them almost every other day (3x/week), and others I know take a 2-3 day break to recover each time.

Thoughts?

 

As often as the program you are following calls for.

 

OK thanks

 

It depends on a lot of things, mostly your experience level and how intensely you're squatting. If you're going super heavy, then doing them 3x a week might be too much on top of everything. Beginners usually see a lot of improvement with a high squatting frequency, but as the weight increases, the intensity gets too much and they need more time to recover from a brutal squat session.

I'm by no means an expert or great at squatting (its actually my worst powerlifting lift, so take that with a grain of salt) but I squat 1-2 times a week. I like to go heavy one day, and then have higher rep front squats on another. Now I'm toying with doing heavy back squats and mid rep front squats on a different day one week, and alternating that with high rep back squats the next week.

 

I squat one day, deadlift another, and do a shit ton of BJJ and Judo. If you're training to be good at lifting then 2x a week is probably fine, but don't overdo it if you're primarily training to help you in another sport.

 

Thanks (and I actually mean it this time). Just curious to get other people's take on it.

 

You're welcome

 

Starting strength basically calls for squats/deadlifts ~2x per week. I think that's not a bad place to start.

 

1-3x a week, depending on program. If you are doing heavy deadlifts weekly it's going to be more difficult to do heavy squats more than once a week. You can easily squat 2x a week and deadlift 1x a week though, just gotta think about the programming and schedule.

 

The original Starting Strength program calls for Squats 3 times/week and deadlifts 3 times every two weeks.

The answer to the TS's question depends on other factors. A new lifter can squat heavy three times/week while a more experienced lifter will have to vary the intensity or reduce the number of days they squat. Generally speaking, most people find that they need/like to squat at least twice/week.

 

i find it very difficult to squat more the twice a week, especially if you are deadlifting heavy as well and doing a heavy 5x5 program

 

It'll depend on a number of factors, including how you train the lifts, age, other activities, etc. However, To give a general starting point, 2-3 times a week. Most people seem to benefit strongly from squatting more often than once a week, and while many people are successful squatting more than 3x a week, there's no need to try and squat that often initially.

Plus 2-3 times a week fits with great many beginner and intermediate programs.

 

I squat every time I lift. Variety of regular heavy, regular light, front squats, and over head squats but always squatting.

 

If you don't know then just do your program as it was written and start learning how your body reacts before tweaking it.

I like squatting every time I lift.

 

2-3 times a week is usually what I aim for. One day being heavy weights with low reps and the other one/two being lighter days with a bit more volume.

 

Yup. You will adapt to whatever frequency this ends up being. Olympic weightlifters do squats as a lift and as part of the snatch and clean every day, which ends up totaling a high volume. They seem to do just fine.

 

SS and 3 times a week is the bomb for noob gains.
But as everything, it all depends on how you feel. Just don't get demotivated by a couple days of DOMS, it will all go away in a week and never come back.

 

What else do you do in terms of physical preparation (speed/agility, energy systems)?

What sport do you play, or do you just lift?

What macro cycle are you on in terms of strength and/or sport?

What is your athletic age?

Questions like these are not black and white...

 

I've been Squatting heavy three times a week for the last couple of months. I've made good gains but recovery is starting to become an issue. So I will soon either drop down to two Squat sessions per week - one Olympic and the other SS Bar - or replace one of the heavy SS Bar sessions with a much lighter session.

But unless I have to deal with significant injuries, I prefer to Squat at least twice per week.

 

I dont get how you could squat only once a week. Wouldnt you get painfully sore every single time? I guess your body could get used to that low frequency as well?