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Squat Accessories

Dustin07

Dustin07

Legend
What are your go to squat accessory movements?

Pause squats, front squats, lunges, something else?
I feel like I get great results when training my deads and it could be my structure or it could be history in olympic lifting/and better dead lift accessory work, but my squat always struggles the most so I need to figure out some stuff to throw in.
 
I am a 55 yr old powerlifter. These are my staples in order of importance (in case one was only going to choose 1 or 2 movements): McGill Big Three, Glute Ham Rises (I rarely see this done correctly), walking lunges, one arm carries / upper carries, sled pulling and pushing. I sqiuat twice every eight days - one of them being a really light squat which is usually front squats used as a stretch and to regain ROM.
 
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Resolve10 said:
It really depends on your weaknesses this can be pretty case dependent on the person.

Also interesting that weightlifting seems to benefit your deads versus squats that doesn't seem to be the case too often.

Unless a specific deficit is the issue I like just increasing the frequency for squats and varying the intensity, rep range, and accessory squat movement depending on the individual.
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Here's an example; when my volume was through the roof (xfit competing) my deadlift reached 450, backsquat like 320, bodyweight sub 180lbs.

my power clean and jerk reached 270. My squat clean never passed 245... explain that? LOL. My power snatch hit 185+ at that bodyweight and my full snatch was like 205. so I've always had a pull that far surpassed my squat capabilities. Which is normal to some degree, nobody squats more than they pull, but my differential has always been a lot higher...
 
botk1161 said:
I am a 55 yr old powerlifter. These are my staples in order of importance (in case one was only going to choose 1 or 2 movements): McGill Big Three, Glute Ham Rises (I rarely see this done correctly), walking lunges, one arm carries / upper carries, sled pulling and pushing. I sqiuat twice every eight days - one of them being a really light squat which is usually front squats used as a stretch and to regain ROM.
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Funny you mention that. I have recently brought lunges back into my routine....
 
Resolve10 said:
Ya I am going to try and not diagnose that too much in regards to purely weightlifting metrics, but my first thought is that if you can't clean more than you can power clean you either lack proper mobility, comfort in the front rack, or some sort of stability/imbalance issue. Your clean and jerk is pretty inline with your backsquat (outside of the fact that it is power), but your deadlift is far outpacing your clean and your squat by a solid margin.

Again though that wasn't really your main question so I don't want to spend a ton of time diagnosing weightlifting imbalances, it is just an interesting tid bit since good weightlifters tend to be great squatters.

It does possibly open up some potential reasons that could help start you on a path for what could help your squat. I'd probably look at things like front squats, mixing high bar in (unless you already do that predominantly) and pause variations (of regular or even in combination of the before like paused front paused high bar...).
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Typically I follow up my working back squats with front as an accessory, although the past couple weeks I didn't so much so perhaps that's explaining the approaching plateau I'm at. I far prefer lowbar squats, but am willing to throw in high bar as an accessory of course. Pause squats really are great. I think last week I did

low bar working set 5 reps at 280lbs
low bar pause squats at 225lbs with 3 second count in the hole.

I was up until the past few weeks going:

lowbar working set
cleans sets of 3-5 working up to maximal weight
finishing with fronts.

lately I have also worked in good mornings, rdl's, and lunges.
I think those are having solid carryover to the deads but you're probably right. maybe I need to focus on more front squats to build my back squat.
 
Now that I think of it. Friday is my 'bonus' day where i usually focus on bench and squat accessories. Maybe I should use that day to press and front squat.

mon - squat
tues - bench
weds rest/cardio
thurs - deadlift
fri - OH press + Front squats. <-- both are lower weight and I'll recover well by monday/tuesday.
 
I used to love lunges until I herniated a disc in my back. Now if I lunge it feels like a sharp tailbone is going to come out of my back. Awful.
 
back problems are ripe with fuckery and incredibly hard to dial in as far as recovery goes. My understanding is that while stress can cause back issues, back issues can cause stress, and that when we have a back injury we can create a neurological issues which hypersensitizes the previous injury leading us to believe later the injury is still there. I say "can" because after years of research post torn ligament in back, I can not decipher if back science is real or pseudo.

something like 60-80% of random people without back pain were given MRI's and found to have "injuries" which would justify surgery. yet none had pain. Another something like 66-80% of individuals post back surgery have the same pain again later.

my DL crashed from 450lbs to wanting to puke at 135lbs within about 8 months time.
ironically I found that high rep RDL's at 95lbs (sets of 20) "fixed" my back.
Its been a long road, but any time my back hurts now, I deadlift.

I feel for you man. back injuries are the dark magic. no bueno and hard to figure out if it's real or psychological
Hell mine was so bad I about fell down in pain one day just playing catch with my son when I stepped wrong!
 
Dustin07 said:
back problems are ripe with fuckery and incredibly hard to dial in as far as recovery goes. My understanding is that while stress can cause back issues, back issues can cause stress, and that when we have a back injury we can create a neurological issues which hypersensitizes the previous injury leading us to believe later the injury is still there. I say "can" because after years of research post torn ligament in back, I can not decipher if back science is real or pseudo.

something like 60-80% of random people without back pain were given MRI's and found to have "injuries" which would justify surgery. yet none had pain. Another something like 66-80% of individuals post back surgery have the same pain again later.

my DL crashed from 450lbs to wanting to puke at 135lbs within about 8 months time.
ironically I found that high rep RDL's at 95lbs (sets of 20) "fixed" my back.
Its been a long road, but any time my back hurts now, I deadlift.

I feel for you man. back injuries are the dark magic. no bueno and hard to figure out if it's real or psychological
Hell mine was so bad I about fell down in pain one day just playing catch with my son when I stepped wrong!
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I’m sure some dull pains that come and go are psychological but no way the sharp stab pain is psychological. Ug and the way the VA rates back injuries is pseudoscience for sure lmao. I found a brace and low dosed THC keeps the dull and achy pains away but if I aggregate it enough, nothing helps except tramadol which is probably the worst thing I have ever put into my body and avoid doing so as much as possible
 
A few years ago, I fell into a trap of “minimalist” training for a good year…Had some initial progress on the big 3, but they stalled…also developed muscle imbalances.

Anyway…seated hamstring curls (I like laying but my gym don’t have that) …Lots of volume and a few drop sets…

Rdls 6-12 rep range with dumbbells or barbell.

Leg press, high reps with one leg at a time.

Outer and inner thigh abductors
 
Rad83 said:
Weird porn machine! Lol

At least at my gym they have them facing a wall, so no one looks at you in the eye lmao
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dude they literally set them up facing the dip bar and the fly machine. so you can do your peck flies while the dude or chick in front of you is doing the abductor machine lol
 
Been sorta shocked how much dumbbell lunges have destroyed my legs the last two weeks, makes me think I should be doing these more, and heavier. Might bring back front rack position barbell lunges too.
 
I might missed but it depends on your weakness in the squat but what I started to experience with is long paused squats, like 20-30 sec pause in the bottom. Long pauses like that will make all kind of muscles fire (especially when it gets heavy) and it will get you sore in muscles you normally wouldn’t. It will make you stronger.
 
What has helped me the most over the years because I've always struggled with opening my hips and mobility have been front squats and split squats. On my HIIT days I do kettlebell swings which have also helped with my depth.
 
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