5x5 squats

[brandowas]

I was planning on doing starting strength 5x5, but see that there is squats 3 times a week. Especially on a cut I don't see how I could possibly do squats 3 times a week. Do many people chance it to only squats on either workout A or workout B, to bring it to a more reasonable level?

 

[swan1209]

I read an article in Muscle and Fitness that said in an 8 week study participants who trained muscle groups 3 times a week saw significantly more growth than those training once or twice a week. However, I think heavy 5x5 squats three times a week would be too taxing for most people who also have to work, go to school, ect. Maybe twice a week with the middle workout being lunges or leg presses to let your CNS, spine and stabilizers a rest.

 

[brandowas]

I read an article in Muscle and Fitness that said in an 8 week study participants who trained muscle groups 3 times a week saw significantly more growth than those training once or twice a week. However, I think heavy 5x5 squats three times a week would be too taxing for most people who also have to work, go to school, ect. Maybe twice a week with the middle workout being lunges or leg presses to let your CNS, spine and stabilizers a rest.

Hmmm that sounds like a good idea. Yeah I definately know that if I go to failure on squats theres no way I'd be recovered to do that again 2 days later.

 

[SamuraiSid]

IMHO if you can 5x5 squat three times per week your not lifting enough weight.

Legs once per week is fine, and your always going to hear/ read that 'this' is the best way to train, or do 'that' to grow and explode. Its all relative. Just cuz HIIT is the 'best' cardio fat burner, doesnt mean its right for you. I get along just fine jogging 2-3x week, but I digress(sp?)

But to help with your question, squat once per week, and add in some deads on your back day, space them out as much as possible and you should see some good results.

If however you try 5x5 squats, 3x per week and it works for you the first week then I would highly suggest uping the weight so that you cant do it 3x per week.

 

[swan1209]

Mixing up the exercises is always a good idea for various reasons. Deadlifts and squats are both very taxing on the CNS. I do fine squatting on monday and deadlifting on friday (low reps 5-6 sets) and doing lunges, squat variations, leg presses or whatever you gotta do to keep it fresh for 3-4 sets of 8-10 reps. But as SamuraiSid says, its all dependent on you. 5x5 heavy squats three times a week will overtrain 95% of people IMO. However, saying your training legs once a week while squatting and deadlifting is not accurate as you can't deadlift without working your legs. True once a week leg training never proved effective for me and in the opinion of Chad Waterbury, who has a PhD in exercise science, training a muscle group 2-3 times per week is optimal.