3 Keys to Help Increase Your Squat Strength
Mar 11, 2022 mindpumpThe squat is one of the most staple lifts in everyone’s program. It is also one of the compound movements that is the most technical. Because of this, we can either propel or limit ourselves from seeing progress. Far too often, lifters will try to muscle their way through a squat to get more weight up, when that is the worst thing you can do.
Today I’d like to go over 3 keys to help increase your squat strength.
Increase Your Frequency
Just like any move in a sport, if you want to get better at something you need to practice it more. I’ve had clients complain their squat hasn’t gone anywhere, and when I ask what their current lifting regimen looks like they tell me they are essentially doing a bro split. If your squat strength is a priority for you, then you need to be training it more than once a week.
This doesn’t mean you should be going all out 3 days a week. If anything you want to air on the lighter side or at the very least, vary the intensity each day. You should probably space it out every other day to give your legs and central nervous system ample time to rest. What this might look like is:
Day 1 – Heavy – usually at the beginning of your week, you can shoot for a rep range of 3-6 to focus on overall strength. This is where you take your technique work from the week before and put it into action. You aren’t throwing form out the window. Treat this almost as a weekly check-in to see if you can maintain perfect form when under heavier loads.
Day 2 – Lighter – Since you already went heavier, we now want to back off and get back into practice. Use this time to address weaker areas, and use lighter weights to groove movements patterns you saw lacking on day one. You may be using as much as 50% of your heavy day of weights to practice speed, or isometrics.
Day 3 – Moderate – This can be seen as more of a higher volume day where you want to get a weight in with 65-70% of your 1RM. This will further continue your practice with more volume. You are now focusing on getting more reps in so your central nervous system can adapt to proper movement patterns.
Practice Your Weakness
As you are working towards improving your strength, you may notice sticking points. These are parts of the squat you find you are most vulnerable. This can be trying to come out of the bottom of a squat, or struggling to get back to the top. You can use the less intense days to focus on targeting those areas specifically.
Getting stuck at the bottom – if you find yourself getting caught here, you can try isometrics. This could be using an empty barbell and setting secure safety bars on a squat rack in a place that allows you to fight against it at the bottom. By pushing against it for a certain amount of time, you are teaching your body to brace and squeeze against that resistance while maintaining form.
Not finishing at the top – Some people struggle to lock out. This may involve using bands set up from the bottom of the rack which provide less resistance at the bottom, and get more challenging as you come to a standing position.
Strengthening Your Core
The final tip could be overall weakness in the core. At any point during the lift, if you find your body starting to lean forward, or not able to keep your torso upright and back tight, it may be due to a lack of keeping the core tight.
For some, using a belt may help. By incorporating a squat belt, you give yourself a tactile cue to brace and push your core against the belt keeping it rigid. The one thing to keep in mind is that using a belt is very different from not using a belt. When you aren’t using a belt, you are training your body to squeeze the abs tight, not push out. So you need to decide which method you prefer and train for that. I personally recommend trying to spend as much time not using a belt so that you train keeping that core tight and braced.
If you’d like more help on perfecting your squat make sure to check out our free guide on squatting like a pro.
