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Strength proportion help

Pipes

Active member
Ive been really working on my legs a lot lately, and I finally enjoy leg workouts now, whereas before I dreaded them. My max bench is 275, and max squat is 300. I feel like I should be able to max out much higher on legs than chest. Is that true, is it situational, is there a formula like squats should be 1.5x the bench? I have really shifted my lifting focus here as of lately. Got any thoughts?
 
Situational.

How long have you been squatting?

300 is more than I see in a lot of guys at the gym. Just stay at it, like you've been doing, and you'll see progress.

Recently I've been pre-exhausting my hammie's with leg curls prior to squats. Surprisingly, it has made my squat a lot stronger, and depending on my goal for squats my curl weight varies. If numbers are your goal maybe a few sets of light x15 on the curls to get the blood flowing.

Just a thought.

If you feel you're plateauing, change something up.
 
The gym I go to, just got a free standing rack. I've been stuck using the smith machine for squats. How long on squats? Since the free rack, once a week for the last 8 weeks or so, before that, maybe once every 3 weeks on the stupid smith machine.
 
Pipes said:
The gym I go to, just got a free standing rack. I've been stuck using the smith machine for squats. How long on squats? Since the free rack, once a week for the last 8 weeks or so, before that, maybe once every 3 weeks on the stupid smith machine.
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Stay at it and you'll improve.

I was in your same spot this time last year. A year from now you'll be pushing 400 or more.

That's if you are not on gear...
 
I do about 2 cycles a year. Mostly anabolic, I pin about once every two years. I do it mostly for the boost, to get past a plateau. Thanks for the replies man.
 
Pipes said:
I do about 2 cycles a year. Mostly anabolic, I pin about once every two years. I do it mostly for the boost, to get past a plateau. Thanks for the replies man.
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Ah. Well, you may hit that sooner than you think.
 
Don't use the smith machine. 1) It's terrible 2) It doesn't translate to a raw squat

I would imagine you are squatting incorrectly and/or those muscle groups are lacking.
 
Stuart McRobert comes to mind, and his "for an average male build @ 5'10" maybe" is 300BP, 400Sqt , 500DL. Of course there can be variances as this is a guideline. Still quite good numbers for a natty average structured lifter.
 
Sean1332 said:
Don't use the smith machine. 1) It's terrible 2) It doesn't translate to a raw squat

I would imagine you are squatting incorrectly and/or those muscle groups are lacking.
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Cannot emphasize this enough. If you are squatting 300 in a smith machine, you likely can pull 50-75lbs off that once you move to a free barbell. You need to allow proper development of all stabilizing muscles and the smith compensates for you.
 
kisaj said:
Cannot emphasize this enough. If you are squatting 300 in a smith machine, you likely can pull 50-75lbs off that once you move to a free barbell. You need to allow proper development of all stabilizing muscles and the smith compensates for you.
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I believe he now has access to a rack that he didn't before.
 
I know, that is why I was emphasizing to get out of the smith since he has an option. I see people just get comfortable in it and then never progress.
 
kisaj said:
I know, that is why I was emphasizing to get out of the smith since he has an option. I see people just get comfortable in it and then never progress.
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I do too. I see plenty of people using the smith for lifts they shouldn't. Pad included...
 
No those were with the new rack. 300x2 was my max with the freestanding. I agree with smith sucking for squats, but I did them once every three weeks or so just for sake of doing, keeping as proper form as you can with the lack of control. I didn't go up nearly that high tho, I think I stayed at a total of around 185 with the smith.
 
If you are doing 300 X 2, I would drop down to 250-275 and try to get around 12 reps with it. Some people like doing 10-15 reps for legs, I find that once I hit about 10 reps it is time to move up in weight. With the lighter weights and higher reps, I can see constant progress. I may add 2 reps every workout and then bump up 10 pounds or so once I hit 10-12 reps.

How much do you deadlift? The fact is that most people focus on bench presses and get big numbers, but deadlifts and squats, IMO, translate in to real life strength much better. How often do you have to push 300 pounds away from you? I can't think of a time I did it. But I can name times where being able to pick 300 pounds up off the floor was very helpful...
 
I recently read the article on here about squats, and for size its recommending front squats. I may give them a whirl for a while. For dl, I do about 225. I do a lift, then reset, do a lift, reset, etc. I do sets of 5-7reps of those. Im guessing that should be a little higher as well.
 
It's not that front squats are going to build bigger legs than back squats, but it helps if your form is not correct as it will require a more upright position and therefore more emphasis on your legs/quads. You can achieve the same thing with back squats by slightly narrowing your stance and not using as much hip.

Don't get me wrong, I love front squats, I am just saying that you can get all the growth in the world with back squats.
 
Pipes said:
I recently read the article on here about squats, and for size its recommending front squats. I may give them a whirl for a while. For dl, I do about 225. I do a lift, then reset, do a lift, reset, etc. I do sets of 5-7reps of those. Im guessing that should be a little higher as well.
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It sounds like you need to just bang away on your squats and deadlifts. You probably focused on your upper body for a long while and neglected these exercises. Now, you have graduated and have become "one of those guys" who will soon be wishing people asked how much you deadlift rather than how much you bench.

Add some weight to the bar on those two exercises, but focus on form above all else. You will be surprised at how quickly your DL goes to 300-350-400 pounds. You will get there before you know it.
 
Agreed with the majority of comments above. I've lifted for about 6 years, however the majority of that time I was doing things wrong. I started seriously dead lifting last year and squatting this year. I've seen awesome gains in both lifts over a relatively short period of time. Leg days are now my favorite days of the week, simply because I am "seeing" gains so quickly. My dead lift currently sits at 455 and my squat some where around 325.

With big compound movements like these, a lot of the initial "strength" gains simply comes from proper form and mobility. Continue to hit it hard (and smartly) and you'll see progressive gains.
 
I absolutely was neglecting legs and back for upper body. And your right I only do minimal upper now, just to maintain, and focus on all aspects of lower. I had a guy watch me as I was doing 250 reps squatting. He said the lower I got the more I bent my back. So I decided I should drop the weight down and just bang out reps keeping my back in more of a vertical position. For deadlifts I can pretty much keep the form w/o 'hunching' my back over. Ive also done a lot of adductor work over the last 6 months as well. Thanks for all the replies.
 
A few comments...
It is easy to train the body that most of us see in the mirror like the shoulders, chest and arms, but those groups are more or less the smaller parts of the body and less leverages and propensity for size than the large amounts of weight, that say the legs, back and hips can support or develop to lift.
Getting the largest structures of the body trained (legs, hips, back) will powerize the entire structural system and only add to better lifts in all areas IMO. Most guys who can OH press a good bit have pretty good hip, leg and back strength to back it up and support it.

I also never really think in terms of squats, being lower body specifically, since I thing good sets of squats, train a good bit of the entire body or at least up the back, spine and erectors along with lung capacity and cardio work. Same with deadlifts. They absolutely train more than lower back.

Take your time. Add weight slowly and steadily and don't sacrifice form for weight. You may be surprised how much you can eventually do for good solid reps.
Most guys have a good bit of room in the leg hip and back area, because there is a lot more room to get stronger for one, and heavy leg hip and back work can be uncomfortable for many to push hard.
 
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