DWhite2741
New Member
When I first did squats I started with 200 pounds I believe. I did five reps with it then racked the weight. Is that a decent weight to begin with?
What is a good weight to start with on squats?
- Thread starter DWhite2741
- Start date
My suggestion:
Start with an empty bar. Add weight as you get the feel and depth. When your form begins to suffer, that's a good starting weight to limit to for a beginning. Nobody has good form at first and that's more important than the weight.
If you go bad in form, you will limit what you can do later and can become susceptible to injury. It's about forming good habits. Also, with proper form, things are a bit harder at first, so it's similar in effort to higher weight, but pays off later by allowing you to progress more.
Start with an empty bar. Add weight as you get the feel and depth. When your form begins to suffer, that's a good starting weight to limit to for a beginning. Nobody has good form at first and that's more important than the weight.
If you go bad in form, you will limit what you can do later and can become susceptible to injury. It's about forming good habits. Also, with proper form, things are a bit harder at first, so it's similar in effort to higher weight, but pays off later by allowing you to progress more.
DWhite2741
New Member
Well yeah that was a long time ago when I did that I was just curious. I do full squats now and I'm in my 15s so my weight isn't nearly as high as what I used for half squats now. With full squats I can feel my legs being worked pretty well. Now I don't get extremely sore quads anymore. I am hoping to work up to the former weight I was half squating but in a full squat fashion.
scientific muscle
New Member
<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">When I first did squats I started with 200 pounds I believe. I did five reps with it then racked the weight. Is that a decent weight to begin with?</div>
495 lb.s is about the right place to start. If you have trouble adding it up, just remember to put 5 of the big plates on each side of the bar. Most guys get 10 full ass-to-grass reps on their first try, give it a go.
Just kidding, Quad's answer was about perfect.
495 lb.s is about the right place to start. If you have trouble adding it up, just remember to put 5 of the big plates on each side of the bar. Most guys get 10 full ass-to-grass reps on their first try, give it a go.
Just kidding, Quad's answer was about perfect.
Fausto
HST Expert
<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">495 lb.s is about the right place to start. If you have trouble adding it up, just remember to put 5 of the big plates on each side of the bar. Most guys get 10 full ass-to-grass reps on their first try, give it a go.</div>
Beware...that is reazlly a joke...do not try this at home...you may get "cemented" to the floor in a permanent fashion
.
I'd say if you have done what Quad suggests, and you can then squat your body weight, you're getting there, a taget? Well aim for twice your body weight, if you get that right you really "in the groove" by then.
I'd still say for a begginer Quads advice is pretty much the standard to go for, start with the bar and add on till your form suffers...stop there and practice with that weight till your form is good then start adding on 5 - 10 % at a time and practice on.
Beware...that is reazlly a joke...do not try this at home...you may get "cemented" to the floor in a permanent fashion
I'd say if you have done what Quad suggests, and you can then squat your body weight, you're getting there, a taget? Well aim for twice your body weight, if you get that right you really "in the groove" by then.
I'd still say for a begginer Quads advice is pretty much the standard to go for, start with the bar and add on till your form suffers...stop there and practice with that weight till your form is good then start adding on 5 - 10 % at a time and practice on.
<div>
(quadancer @ Dec. 16 2007,22:32)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Start with an empty bar. Add weight as you get the feel and depth. When your form begins to suffer, that's a good starting weight for a beginning. Nobody has good form at first and that's more important than the weight.</div>
Fully agree on this!
There are two things to make your squat healthier and safer.
When you stand up with the weight on your shoulders grab the floor with your toes. This will improve your posture and the setup in your legs and thighs.
Try this before you comment
if you have not tried already!
Another thing to note is that after every three reps look up, pull your shoulder blades together, streighten your spine and tell the thighs to lift the weight.
This will prevent you from "collapsing" and tilting forward.
Have fun!
(quadancer @ Dec. 16 2007,22:32)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Start with an empty bar. Add weight as you get the feel and depth. When your form begins to suffer, that's a good starting weight for a beginning. Nobody has good form at first and that's more important than the weight.</div>
Fully agree on this!
There are two things to make your squat healthier and safer.
When you stand up with the weight on your shoulders grab the floor with your toes. This will improve your posture and the setup in your legs and thighs.
Try this before you comment
Another thing to note is that after every three reps look up, pull your shoulder blades together, streighten your spine and tell the thighs to lift the weight.
This will prevent you from "collapsing" and tilting forward.
Have fun!
<div>
(DWhite2741 @ Dec. 17 2007,03:22)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">When I first did squats I started with 200 pounds I believe. I did five reps with it then racked the weight. Is that a decent weight to begin with?</div>
I don't think anyone has really addressed the OP question (unless I am being a bit thick today?). The answer depends what you mean by decent and whether you are doing an HST cycle or not? Assuming you have your form down and you want to do a standard HST progression over six workouts per mesocycle, a good rule of thumb is to start your cycle (be sure to SD first) with 75% of your 15RM and increment in 5% steps each workout up to your 15RM. Then use 75% of your 10RM and work up to your 10RM and finally 75% of your 5RM working up to your 5RM. Once you reach your 5RM load you can stick with that for a few more weeks or continue to increment, say once a week, until you reach your 3RM. Just be careful that you only increment if you can keep your form consistent. There is no point in pushing up the load if you end up doing a half-squat or, if your form suffers badly, you could end up with an injury.
If you don't know your RMs then you can always start your cycle with a load that you know you could probably get 25 reps with and work from there. You don't have to do 25 reps but you could do 2 sets of 15 reps. Then increment the load each workout by 10 lbs (for squats) and try to get 15 reps each time. When you hit a load that would cause you to fail on your 16th rep, make a note of it for next cycle. Keep that load for your next session but only try for 10 reps. Do two or three sets with that load. Increment again the next session and keep doing this until you know you would fail at 11 reps. Write that load down as your 10RM for next cycle. Next session, stay with that load but only try for 5 reps and try for 3 sets. Keep incrementing each session until you reach a load that would cause you to fail on your 6th rep. Write that down as your 5RM for next cycle. As I said above, from that point on just continue with the 5RM load for a few weeks or carry on incrementing on a weekly basis until you reach your 3RM. You can string the 5s out for quite a few weeks but eventually you will stop making progress and then it is a good idea to SD again (for 9 days min) before starting on your next cycle.
At that point you will have 15, 10 and 5RMs to work towards. You can add 5lbs to each for your next cycle. When you arrive at them, make a note of how easy or hard it is to get your RM loads and then increase them on the following cycle as you see fit. Do try to add load each cycle.
(DWhite2741 @ Dec. 17 2007,03:22)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">When I first did squats I started with 200 pounds I believe. I did five reps with it then racked the weight. Is that a decent weight to begin with?</div>
I don't think anyone has really addressed the OP question (unless I am being a bit thick today?). The answer depends what you mean by decent and whether you are doing an HST cycle or not? Assuming you have your form down and you want to do a standard HST progression over six workouts per mesocycle, a good rule of thumb is to start your cycle (be sure to SD first) with 75% of your 15RM and increment in 5% steps each workout up to your 15RM. Then use 75% of your 10RM and work up to your 10RM and finally 75% of your 5RM working up to your 5RM. Once you reach your 5RM load you can stick with that for a few more weeks or continue to increment, say once a week, until you reach your 3RM. Just be careful that you only increment if you can keep your form consistent. There is no point in pushing up the load if you end up doing a half-squat or, if your form suffers badly, you could end up with an injury.
If you don't know your RMs then you can always start your cycle with a load that you know you could probably get 25 reps with and work from there. You don't have to do 25 reps but you could do 2 sets of 15 reps. Then increment the load each workout by 10 lbs (for squats) and try to get 15 reps each time. When you hit a load that would cause you to fail on your 16th rep, make a note of it for next cycle. Keep that load for your next session but only try for 10 reps. Do two or three sets with that load. Increment again the next session and keep doing this until you know you would fail at 11 reps. Write that load down as your 10RM for next cycle. Next session, stay with that load but only try for 5 reps and try for 3 sets. Keep incrementing each session until you reach a load that would cause you to fail on your 6th rep. Write that down as your 5RM for next cycle. As I said above, from that point on just continue with the 5RM load for a few weeks or carry on incrementing on a weekly basis until you reach your 3RM. You can string the 5s out for quite a few weeks but eventually you will stop making progress and then it is a good idea to SD again (for 9 days min) before starting on your next cycle.
At that point you will have 15, 10 and 5RMs to work towards. You can add 5lbs to each for your next cycle. When you arrive at them, make a note of how easy or hard it is to get your RM loads and then increase them on the following cycle as you see fit. Do try to add load each cycle.