# Squat 3 x A Week - Overtraining or Not?



## Squeeeze (Oct 2, 2007)

To give myself a change of scenery I'm looking at switching to one of the strength routines, something like Rippetoe's starting strength.

I'm in my forties and wondering if anyone of a similar age has tried the squating three times a week. Does it just lead to overtraining?

I know people are just gonna say 'suck it and see' but wanted to know if anyone had any experience of squating 3 x per week.


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## gumballdom (Dec 14, 2008)

a lot of strength routines involve squatting multiple times a week. mikex101 on here followed the smolov squat routine and gained very well of it


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## Cam93 (May 20, 2010)

im currently on madcows squatting 3x a week, my legs have definatly gotten alot stronger and bigger! L)


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## Ak_88 (Nov 9, 2008)

You can squat everyday if you want, twice everyday infact, but it all comes down to the volume and intensity you place on your CNS more than anything.


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## damon86 (Aug 7, 2010)

I just think if you hit your legs hard enough they need a week to recover and grow.


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## Greyphantom (Oct 23, 2003)

I am in my late 30s and have just started Madcows 5x5 routine and squat 3x a week and love it... it provides adequate recovery and rest time and I think my legs are responding well...


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## Chris17 (Sep 1, 2009)

IMO it is fine to squat 3 x a week :thumbup1:

However build up the intensity slowly so your body gets used to it. That's what I would do anyway.


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## gumballdom (Dec 14, 2008)

damon86 said:


> I just think if you hit your legs hard enough they need a week to recover and grow.


depends what your training for though. a lot of olympic weightlifters squat twice a day everyday and frequently work upto a 1rm. just depends what your body is used to

for example if you start a job as a labourer you would finish your first day at work you would be really tired and the following morning you would be really aching. However you dont call in sick saying you need the rest of teh week to recover, instead you go to work and get on with it. by end of second you will probably be even more tired and achey but eventually your body will start to get used to the continous workload and you will feel fine again. Same principle applies to lifting imo.


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## Chris17 (Sep 1, 2009)

gumballdom said:


> depends what your training for though. a lot of olympic weightlifters squat twice a day everyday and frequently work upto a 1rm. just depends what your body is used to
> 
> for example if you start a job as a labourer you would finish your first day at work you would be really tired and the following morning you would be really aching. However you dont call in sick saying you need the rest of teh week to recover, instead you go to work and get on with it. by end of second you will probably be even more tired and achey but eventually your body will start to get used to the continous workload and you will feel fine again. Same principle applies to lifting imo.


Yeah I agree, the body needs time to adapt to stress.


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## Will101 (Apr 14, 2009)

I find it takes a week for my legs to get over a squats session. Like others have said though, I guess it depends how you structure your training.


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## Greyphantom (Oct 23, 2003)

Will101 said:


> I find it takes a week for my legs to get over a squats session. Like others have said though, I guess it depends how you structure your training.


In my old routine I would agree... no way could I squat like that more than once a week... not unless the next squat session was light... but on this 5x5 routine I am finding it allows for plenty of recovery and its not a problem...


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## glen danbury (May 23, 2006)

if you chnage one variable 9i.e frequency) then you need to change another (intensity, volume etc)

but I have done a smolov style routine of squatting heavy and hard four times a week and it worked great

in fact i did it for benching and it was the first time i could get through a plataeu which benching once a week had me stuck on for around two years

well structured strength routines would easily allow working a movement or muscle mutliple times per week

the bodybuilder styled routine of killing a bodypart tends to casue problems with doing this - which is better is subjective but i think the more frequent you can train a bodypart and make strength gains the better IMO


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## Squeeeze (Oct 2, 2007)

Glen / Grey,

Cheers lads, always good to get an experienced opinion.


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## BLUTOS (Mar 5, 2005)

I'm 39, did about a year of starting strength when 37, I had to read n re read the correct form and get loose enough in the shoulders to place bar in right place and how to squat, but you get strong quick, you just have to remember your focusing on strength and not body building.

Its great though, you keep adding weekly and with 8 months your form is 100% better than ever and your adding iron to the bar to the point you haveto set the pins lower cos the bar bends so much when you step out!


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## Jake1436114563 (May 9, 2008)

Russian Olypmic lifters squat multiple times a day, multiple times per week.

Granted they are the elite, but it shows you what we are capable of.

At 40 you will just have to build up more conservatively. I would also probably suggest monday and friday being 3x5 and weds being a light 2x10 (possibly front squat).

There is no question in my mind though that strength based routines like SS are the absolute best for a newb to the iron game.


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## Andy Dee (Jun 1, 2008)

damon86 said:


> I just think if you hit your legs hard enough they need a week to recover and grow.


Only if your bodybuilding and your only goal is to get bigger.

to the OP ive done squatting 3 x a week for many months ann i am currecntly doing it again and it does not lead to overtraining which is why the volume is so low.

if it is done at the correct starting weight, progressed at a slow and reasonable pace, you eat enough food to support your size and strength, you will never overtrain squatting 3x per week.


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## Guest (Aug 25, 2010)

gumballdom said:


> a lot of strength routines involve squatting multiple times a week. mikex101 on here followed the smolov squat routine and gained very well of it


Certainly did. Legs exploded too.

Will say though, if your going to give it a try, dont think about doing anything other than squatting. Its serious.


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## Andy Dee (Jun 1, 2008)

mikex101 said:


> Certainly did. Legs exploded too.
> 
> Will say though, if your going to give it a try, dont think about doing anything other than squatting. Its serious.


your not wrong, ive heard of making gains before but jesus the gains i made from squatting 3x per week took the p1ss big time and im not taking just an inch either.

whatever anyone decides, no matter what you platue on or how you do it, never ever sacrifice the squat on these programs for anything, i would say dont even worry about any other bodyparts other than the squat, its the absoloute key on this type of program.


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## littlesimon (May 24, 2010)

Works wonders mate!

Squatted 500lbs within my first year of training by squatting 3 times a week.


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## MarkFranco (Aug 26, 2010)

when i first started training I did the stronglifts 5x5 starting strength routine which I think will be the same one you are talking about, squatting 3 times a week untill I was squatting 1.5x my own body weight


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## aj4 (Aug 16, 2010)

As many have said I can summarise as follows :-

*Bodybuilding*


Hit legs with everything once a week to failure.

*Strength training*


Starting Strength , Madcow etc 3x per week *not taken to failure*

Clearly you can see a guy who fries his legs with everything is going to take a long time to recover. The strength guy can train 3x per week and continue adding weight to the bar.


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## stone14 (Mar 24, 2005)

could someone quickly post the starting strentgth workout, i have the ebook but i dont have a comp now and theres nothing on this comp im using to view the ebook, thanks alot


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## dtlv (Jul 24, 2009)

I did a great routine once that bought my legs up very well using x3 per week squatting... monday did olympic style squats, wednesday was front squats, friday pl style squats. Nothing was to failure and volume just a few working sets.

Ironically the other best leg workout i've done was totally different and almost like GVT, with once a week going for pl style squats at 10x10 using a light-ish weight but keeping the rest periods very short.

When seeking strength gains over bodybuilding I like to squat every four days with low-moderate volume and going just below failure... seems to be what works best for me for that particular goal.


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## MarkFranco (Aug 26, 2010)

stone14 said:


> could someone quickly post the starting strentgth workout, i have the ebook but i dont have a comp now and theres nothing on this comp im using to view the ebook, thanks alot


Workout A

Squats 5x5

Bench 5x5

Invert row 3xfailure

Press ups 3xfailure

Prone bridges 3x45 seconds

workout B

Squats 5x5

deadlift 1x5

Mili press 5x5

Pullups/chin ups 3xfailure

reverse crunches 3x15

Alternate workout A and B each week for example

Week 1 mon-A, wed-B-, fri-A... Week 2 mon-B, wed-A, fri-B and so on

Add 2.5kg/5lbs each week to squat, bench, deadlift and mili press

Alternate chin ups and pull ups each workout.

And if your wondering the reason for doing 1 set of dead lifts its because using heavy weight it becomes alot harder to keep good form


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## MarkFranco (Aug 26, 2010)

I also replaced pushups for dips and then weighted dips evetually because doing about 100+ pushups got abit to much


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## treb92 (Jun 10, 2008)

Replace inverted rows for db/bb rows too.


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## MarkFranco (Aug 26, 2010)

lambert said:


> Replace inverted rows for db/bb rows too.


Yeah I replaced them for Bent over rows eventually, at the start i was only doing about 10 inverted rows so wasnt to bad


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## treb92 (Jun 10, 2008)

What did you do then MarkFranko when you hit the 1.5 bodyweight on squat. Did you plataeu at any stage through the routine?


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## MarkFranco (Aug 26, 2010)

lambert said:


> What did you do then MarkFranko when you hit the 1.5 bodyweight on squat. Did you plataeu at any stage through the routine?


When I hit the 1.5 bw which wasnt that long ago my training partner got me onto a split, that lasted 2 weeks before I went onto a 20 rep squat routine which im doing now for 6 weeks then i reckon ill be doing madcow

I didnt plataeu on squat, but did on bench.

My squat is currently 175kg x 4reps when i started the routine i was using around 80kg


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## treb92 (Jun 10, 2008)

Nice one. Did the failing 3 times then de-load break your bench plateu.


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## MarkFranco (Aug 26, 2010)

is it fail 3 times before deloading? oppps i failed once and delaoded 

I managed to break though it eventually, i did 3x5 with the weight i was failing on, and then the last two sets where i wasnt able to finish is where i deloaded, after 2 weeks i managed 5x5 with it, but by this time i ended the routine then did a 2 weeks of a 4 day a week split routine

split routines are crap imo


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## vulture (Jun 13, 2010)

MarkFranco said:


> Workout A
> 
> Squats 5x5
> 
> ...


for these sets do i do max weight then,so i can only do 5 reps?


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## MarkFranco (Aug 26, 2010)

vulture said:


> for these sets do i do max weight then,so i can only do 5 reps?


Depends on experience level stronglifts reccomends starting with empty bar unless you have good form, then i guess its all down to you, i didnt start with my 5 rep max, starting to high means youll stall quicker.

Also I replaced inverted row for Bent row but on there website it reccomends replacing inverted rows with 5×5 Power Cleans if your experienced enough


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## craftybutcher (Aug 10, 2009)

stone14 said:


> could someone quickly post the starting strentgth workout, i have the ebook but i dont have a comp now and theres nothing on this comp im using to view the ebook, thanks alot


Try this site http://view.samurajdata.se/


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