Squats and Leg Press

[workhard1]

Hello all. It has been a while since I have posted but something recently in the gym has been bothering me. I have a very hard time increasing the weight I squat with, but I am able to constantly improve the weight I leg press with. On days where I do quads my workout looks like this:

Back Squats 3x10
Leg Press 3x10
Good Mornings 3x10

I am only squatting 315lbs but I am able to leg press 710lbs for each set. I realize squats require you to use a lot more than leg press but it still seems odd to me that there is such a large disconnect between the two. For the past 3 weeks I have been able to up my leg press around 20lbs each week where my squats cannot move up even 5lbs without me losing technique. I thought maybe I had poor core strength but I find that hard to believe as I do a lot of core work and really focus on have a strong core.

I believe one problem I may be having is flexibility. In some areas I am very flexible but in other areas I am not. I have pretty powerful hip flexors, but I do believe their flexibility is lacking and that might what is holding back my squats. Also it could be tightness in the groin area.

If anyone has any advice on what I can do to help it would be greatly appreciated! Thanks

 

[FMJ]

If you can't up your squat weight, then up your squat reps/sets. If you can do 315 for 15, then you should be able to do 320 for 8 or 325 for 5, etc.

 

[gtbmed]

This is JMO, but I find it hard to increase the weight you use when you're trying to complete 10 reps. I think your nervous system will respond much better to sets of 5, triples, and singles.

Also, how do you squat, how often do you squat, and do you do any additional hamstring work?

 

[FMJ]

This is JMO, but I find it hard to increase the weight you use when you're trying to complete 10 reps.

That's a good point. Can you do a 5lb increase for 5 reps instead of 10?

 

[Spaullba]

Yup, thats pretty much what I would say too. Ten reps is kind of high for squats (and arguably GMs too). Perhaps try doing 5 reps instead of 10 for a couple weeks and see if you can up your weight that way.

 

[Gazhole]

Leg press is simply piss easy compared the the squat. You are sat on a stable machine, don't have to keep balance, the weight isn't on your back, there is far less technique, and it is a fixed plane of motion. They are incomparable.

If you want to get stronger train for strength. 3 reps, 5 reps, and periodize the hell out of your program. Do not discount the importance of hamstring strength in squatting, or the importance of explosive power and speed work in a strength building program.

Only focus on one or two movements you want to increase in any given program, aswell. Keep the rest as accessory work.

There are a lot of good program templates for increasing strength. Westside is fantastic, 5/3/1 is a program i've heard great things about, the Smolov Squat program is a brutal squat program that i used once and added around 50lbs to my 3 rep squat.

 

[T_man]

Yea squats & leg press are completely incomparable. All you are doing in leg press is pushing on a stabilised weight. Your upper body/balance/core isn't involved. Furthermore you don't have your upper body to push (a good 100lbs for alot of people) as well.

 

[workhard1]

I realize squats and leg presses are VERY VERY different, I just didn't think the weight difference would be so noticeable. Especially since I am able to up my leg press weight each week but not my squats.

I work on a 4 day split right now that (put very simple) looks like this:

Day 1: Horizontal Movements (3 push movement sets, 3 pull movement sets)
Day 2: Quads and Biceps (3 quad sets, 2 Bicep sets)
Day 3: Vertical Movements (3 push movement sets and pull movement sets)
Day 4: Hamstrings and Triceps (3 Hamstring sets, 2 triceps sets)

I do not feel as though I am neglecting my hamstrings as I have an entire day that focuses a lot on them.

I will look in to trying some lower rep things. I have done P/RR/S before and I did see some improvement in my squats throughout the six weeks on the program.

Thanks for the feedback!

 

[Malibu King]

Check out my log of IronMag 1-ANDRO RX here:

http://www.ironmagazineforums.com/su...ro-rx-log.html

Dude, what happend to your 1-Andro log. You only posted for about a week. What's the deal????

 

[FMJ]

Dude, what happend to your 1-Andro log. You only posted for about a week. What's the deal????

Yeah... whats that about?

 

[Malibu King]

Bump^^

 

[sprayherup]

Sounds like you have no difficulty doing 3 sets of 10 reps for squat.

Try doing heavier sets of 5 and for the last one add some weight and do a triple or even a single every once in a while.

Don't forget to LHJO in between sets though.

GICH!

 

[FMJ]

Don't forget to LHJO in between sets though.

A real energy booster huh Spray?

 

[sprayherup]

A real energy booster huh Spray?

Yes, it helps with form more than anything else.