How I Learned to Love Squats Again

It's one thing to squat and another to do it properly. And there’s nothing more embarrassing than watching Leangains practitioners squat with bad form. Specifically, poor depth. 

I’ve seen lots. One of the worst squats in recent memory was from someone thanking me for curing them of fuckarounditis. Oh, the irony. And straw that broke the camel's back. 

While embarrassing, this came as no surprise. With great shame, I've admittedly been blinded by my own presumptions. It's happened before - with clients even. Serves me right for not addressing this issue earlier. But now, my eyes are open. Time to set the record straight on squats. 

Wake-Up Call

Not squatting to depth is a sign of mediocrity. Look around, everyone’s doing it. You’ll blend right in. So will your physique and unassuming strength. 

However. Not squatting to depth after throwing the Leangains flag around is a sign of failure. Failure to communicate on my part and failure to set  priorities straight on your’s. 

Not squatting to depth while talking up a storm about BCAAs, macros, keto and optimal training frequency - what many here do - is like my fat aunt hyping detox teas and energy bracelets while refusing to count calories. 

It's the hundreds of dollars spent on supplements while training like a bitch. The distracting hunt for exotic new diets when the real problem is a cupboard full of Oreos.

I don’t seek perfection, I resent unambition. 90% of everyone claiming they can’t hit depth aren’t trying. 75% of those claiming they can, don’t. This routine's for you. 

Because you don’t have the I-can’t-hit-parallel-gene. You have the lazy gene - all humans do. It’s our duty to fight it. And your duty to squat more. Let’s go. 

Glory Days

Short background. 3 years ago, my quadriceps tendonitis went from manageable to intolerable. The result of several factors, genetics, training, and who knows what.

Last set before the long long backslide, I high-bar squatted 200 kg x 10. Which essentially means squatting my 6-7RM for 10 reps, a la breathing squats. It would be months before I could squat again. 

When I finally did, switched to low-bar. At first, ashamed how weak I felt, then disappointed by the lack of carryover from the deadlift. "With that kind of lower back strength, your low-bar squat is going to be monstrous," they said. Nope. But I'll take it. What mattered to me was I could finally squat again. One day, I hope to surpass my previous numbers. 

Years later and I’m still not there. My best low-bar squat to date is 195 kg x 3 in knee sleeves, weighing 95 kg (June, 2017). Following this, my tendonitis once again made itself known and put me out of commission for another 10 weeks. 

Now back in the rack, I discovered another obstacle. My bum left shoulder, acquired through heavy paused benching, made it impossible to bring my grip in right. Reaching depth was just a matter of performing enough warm-up sets. But getting my shoulders flexible enough took ages of tedious and painful massage. 

I’d press a hard ball here, a hard ball there. Flexing and straining against the wall, anguished look on my face. Then trying to squat, grimacing in pain as I un-racked the bar, and then back to repeat the process again. 45 minutes of this shit and I could finally bring my hands in enough to do a decent squat. 

At this point, I’d grown to hate Fridays. Because Friday meant squatting and squatting meant pain, humiliation and discomfort. Fast forward three months and I look back on all this knowing it could have been avoided. 

The Why

Three months ago, I had to endure 45 minutes of torture before being able to squat. Today, I can squat to good depth first warm-up set and ass to grass second. The secret? Nowadays, I squat thrice a week - and that's made all the difference.

Squatting thrice a week has done more for my shoulder than Lacrosse balls, stretching sticks and mobility drills ever did. No need to work my grip in quarter inch by quarter inch. Now, I'll land my grip from the get go - with zero pain or discomfort. Safe to say, squatting thrice a week has rekindled my love for squats. 

But the $64000-question is, should you do it? As I alluded earlier, many should. Questionable depth? Great, here’s the solution. Poor shoulder mobility? Ditch the rubber ball and give this a try - worked wonders for me. 

What about those not suffering poor depth or mobility? Well, do you want to get better at squatting? Then this will add much needed grease to your rusty motor pattern. And it comes with the added benefit of greater potential for muscle hypertrophy. It's been theorised, better motor control equals more muscle growth.

So what do you have to lose except a little bit of time? Nothing. The LG Squat Protocol is something you do in addition to your current routine. It does not interfere with the rest of it - if anything, it helps by getting you warmed up for deadlifts, for example. 

Tracking Progress

If you’re like most, the LG Squat Protocol will resolve your “mobility problem” and make you a capable squatter. Because there's nothing wrong with your mobility, just your expectations. 

The squat is by far the most complex lift in a weight trainer's arsenal. It comes with demands not met by squatting once a week. What makes you think squatting to depth is given? You’re on your ass seven days a week, more or less. Think 3 sets of 8 or 3 lousy minutes of squatting once a week makes a decent squat? For some, yes, but they're the minority. 

If you're 5'11 or above (>180 cm), >30 years of age or simply not gifted in the squat department, you belong in the group this routine's written for. The solution's simple. Squat more often. 

By squatting thrice a week, you’ll get immediate feedback from incremental improvements in flexibility and technique, one session to another. Stay patient and you’ll see it reflect on the bar as well.

If you want a tangible way of tracking your progress as far as depth goes, I suggest to settle for nothing less than ass to grass (ATG). Which in reality means going beyond parallel - there should be no second guessing here. Track the number of warm-up sets needed before you can hit ATG; you should see them reduced week to week, if not day to day. 

LG Squat Protocol

1. Split goes A -Monday, B - Wednesday, C - Friday or similar. (e.g. A - Wednesday, B - Friday, C - Sunday)

2. Routine is done in addition to your regular routine minus squats. Meaning, all squatting in your current routine is displaced by this one. 

3. If your routine consists of any other leg movements, squat first.

4. Medium and Light sets can be performed in between other movements to save time. That's how I do them. I warm-up to the workload (40-60% of C), do a set, then something else (e.g. deadlift, bench, etc), back to squatting, and repeat 'till finished. 

A - Medium (M)

M: Warm-up to 3-5 x 4-6 with 60% of top set on C.

If you squatted 150 x 6-10 in your work set (C), warm-up to 3-5 x 4-6 with 90. 

B - Medium OR Light (M/L)

Repeat Medium OR do a Light session. 

L: 4-6 x 4-6 with 40-50% of top set on C. 

If you squatted 150 x 6-10 in your work set (C), warm-up to 4-6 x 4-6 with 60-75. You may do these sets in between other sets as previously described.  

When to squat Light?

Choose this over M if squatting feels off - if legs ache, knees feel rusty or whatever else. Don’t ask me to define off, because I’m bad at it. On numerous occasions, I’ve fucked myself over on the Heavy session two days later, because I squatted Medium when I should’ve squatted light. 

I need to squat L if squats don’t feel fluid and smooth - like they should - or if I feel my tendonitis acting up. If you’re below 6’, there’s probably no need for a Light session here. But if you’re 6’ and above, or have a history of knee problems, stay mindful of how everything looks and feels. Always choose Light if in doubt. 

C - Heavy (H)

H: 2-3 x 8-10 if dieting or maintaining, 3-4 x 8-10 if bulking (RPT).

The only session where you should strive to perform. L/M is for practice and mobility; H is for performance. That's how to think about all this. 

Volume Progression

It’s important to adapt and adjust the protocol on an individual basis. That’s your job and responsibility. My advice is to start at the lower end of the intervals given and gradually increase volume from week to week. Example below.

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Week 1

A - M

90 x 4 x 3 (3 sets of 4 with 90)

B - M

90 x 4 x 3

C - H

150: AMRAP

Week 2

A - M

90 x 4 x 4 (4 sets of 4 with 90)

B - M

90 x 4 x 4

C - H

150-155: AMRAP

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You may also experiment by increasing volume each M-session. Instead of doing the same A and B, you can do 90 x 4 x 4 on A and 90 x 5 x 4 on B. Alternatively 90 x 4 x 5. 

Word of caution. Personally, this often backfires and leaves me with sore knees. That said, I tolerate squatting poorly due to tendonitis and a squat-unfriendly build. Your mileage may vary, but it's probably better than mine. 

Bonus

Recorded last squat session to show my progress as far as mobility and depth goes. Intent was to show evolution of depth from set to set. Looking at it now, my depth is more or less good from the get go. 

If squatting comes naturally to you, this might not seem like a big deal, but for me it it. You should have seen me 3 months prior to this. Complete horror show. Keep in mind that no sets were performed previous to these.  

Also: regular flat shoes, no belt, no sleeves. Liberating. Loading up the gym bag like you’re about to hike through the Appalachian mountain range thrice a week ain’t fun. And I’ll take 45 lbs less on the bar over stinky ass knee sleeves and squat shoes any day of the week. 

Note: Was looking forward to 165 kg x 8-10 after 160 kg x 10 last Friday. Unfortunately, I overdid the second M-session earlier this week. In the video, you clearly hear cartilage crunching in the first set and that's a sign I need to play it safe. So I settled for an easy triple with 140, because something's better than nothing, hoping I'm able to squat heavy next week instead. 

Good thing is, when squatting thrice a week, you can afford to skip a session here and there. Squatting once a week, you can’t. Because two weeks without squatting results in quite severe regression of form, mobility and performance - in my experience. 

P.S. Decided to put the routine in the article rather than having two different posts. Figured it better to have all questions in one place.