Squat Plateu

[BulkCity]

how do you get passed when you plateu on squats??

I have been stuck on 5 reps of 107.5kg for easily a month now, I cant do no more than 5 reps, and i can't do 5 reps on 110kg
any ideas???

[kronik420]

keep squating lol

i tend to gain strength in stages, ie: get stuck on the same weight for months, and then all of a sudden one day my strength just increases...

if you try and up the weight every week, you will very soon injure yourself. just my $0.02

[kronik420]

also try working on your ham strings, calves, and glutes more..

[krugerr]

how do you get passed when you plateu on squats??

I have been stuck on 5 reps of 107.5kg for easily a month now, I cant do no more than 5 reps, and i can't do 5 reps on 110kg
any ideas???

Try alternating your weeks.
Week1: try 105kg for 5 as usual.
Week2: drop to a weight where you can get 8-10reps. And stick at this rep range.

Then go back to trying a 5-rep max on week 3 etc, rinse repeat.

[krugerr]

The week where you drop the weight but increase the weight gives your CNS time to recover fully. I was reading this in another thread about a month ago. I applied this to my deadlifting and I've increased my lifts by nearly 20kg in 5 weeks.

[ma_fighter]

Overtraining perhaps?
Hard to say without knowing your training regimen and general nutrition.

Things that have helped me get past a plateu in the past are

#1 Getting enough nutrition? - If you're lean, and staying lean, you're probably not eating enough to support your workouts. This goes a bit hand in hand with #2, if you're not eating enough you'll get overtrained, but there's a point when eating more wont help and you'll still get overtrained.
#2 Rest a week - if overtrained this really does the trick
#3 Switching my rep/set range up - when getting stuck at a weight for a while I would drop the weights by quite a bit, increase my reps to the 12-15 range, and train at a *much* lower intensity for a week or so, then hit some heavy weights, close to or at 1RM, doing some very thorough warming up first, and keep doing as many sets as I can manage, continuing with negative resistance training, and ending with a dropset. That usually works.

Negative training when doing squats however is not something I'd do, but put a bench under your bum, so that if it gets to heavy you can always just sit down, and make sure to have a good spotter, and just go from 1RM as many times as you can, resting 30s or so inbetween, less if you can manage, then drop the weight a tiny bit, and do a few more sets, drop, more sets. All in all a total of perhaps 8'ish reps (some people recover much quicker then others, if you're one of those, and are not utterly exhausted at 8, do more total reps), as heavy as you can make 'em, and end with a dropset.

1 week with lighter loads, more reps. LOWER intensity. Don't exhaust yourself.
2 weeks super heavy weights, finishing with a dropset,
then another week like the first one. I personally need this fourth week to be kinda low intensity, 'cause I'm bloody broken by the end of my second heavy week.
Havent trained like this in a LONG while however, and back then my nutrition wasn't exactly spot on, so this might be different for you.

These are just my personal experiences, and things I've picked up by trial and error. If any of the vets here recommend against it, I'd listen to them.
If you try my way however, it is really REALLY important that you do proper warm-ups, and that you go SLOW and use proper form when lifting heavy, I cant stress this part enough.

Good luck with busting that plateu mate!

/Maf

[baseline_9]

You need to periodize your routine so that once you plateau you either deload and take a break from legs or you change the routine... Try 3 weeks of heavy full depth leg press in a similar rep range to what your aiming for... Deload and then heat back on the squats and build it up again but break the plateau

[marcus300]

Reduce the weight by 20% and rep as many as possible, don't keep pushing for strength increases just try and pull back and do more reps with a light weight for around 2-3 weeks. You can't constantly increase your strength every week it comes in phase's and your body will just need hitting from a different angle while it gets ready for the next strength phase.

[songdog]

I started a squat routine ment for just that.The guy started out at 185x20x1 he did this 3 x a week.Every workout he increased by 5lbs.This was really making my legs explode.I got up to 320 then my yearly break came.9Deer season ) So I will start over in Dec.

[ppwc1985]

There is do many ways, alot of them already mentioned. Do you work your glutes on a glute machine? Try it up my squat this way. Sometimes when I hit a spot like that, say I get stuck at 405, then for next 4 workouts ill just do 10 sets of 5 reps with 25% less weight even though I don't go to positive failure. Then come back the next week and start where I left off at 405. But there are alot different ways to work through plateaus.

[600@50]

Do pause squats. Drop the weight 25 kgs and hold the pause for 3-5 seconds at the bottom. 1 or 2 sets max after your regular squats. You may only get 3 or 4 reps but it will build your stability and strength out of the hole. You can adjust the weight to get 5-6 reps. Key is to hold the pause for 3-5 secs minimum.

[kelkel]

Good advice above. Doing the same thing over and over again as you are now will get you no where. Your body is expecting it and is only giving you what you need to achieve the same old thing. Keep trying different tactics and shock your body into better growth / strength.