The Low-Down on the Squat: Full Squats for Full Leg Development
Many young lifters jump into weightlifting with the goal of attaining a big chest and arms. If you stick with it long enough, you soon realize that most overall muscle mass comes from heavy back and leg training. After implementing this and being consistent with it, you notice a drastic increase in strength. Then you start getting a rush from stacking multiple 45 pound plates on the bar. What is often left behind though is proper form. And form is especially important when performing the ultimate leg exercise, the squat.
When I really started hitting my legs hard, the initial growth came quickly which made me look forward to leg day. However, even though I could squat some heavy weight (heavy is a relative term, as one’s max could be light to someone else) my leg development got to a certain point and came to a halt. Naturally, I kept adding weight to the squat bar thinking this would increase the size of my leg muscles. Well, someone stole my lunch one day when they were watching me squat four plates on each side telling me that I wasn’t going down far enough. Taking in the criticism, I ask him to watch my form for a couple more sets, and I decreased the weight so I could go deeper. But all I heard was ‘That’s still not far down enough, you’re not even parallel; you need to go all the way down.’
I sucked it up and began working on my form. It was like starting all over with the weight, but my quest was for bigger legs, not necessarily more weight. I started doing something completely different; not even going parallel. I started doing full squats, rear-end to the ground. My legs still aren’t be my best feature, but let me tell you, they grew substantially and it also wasn’t long before I started doing a decent amount of weight with full squats.
There’s that part in the minds of those who just love the weights that says we have to go heavier. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a true advocate of heavy weights for growth too. In fact, I personally have never gotten much out of light weights and higher reps. The bottom line is that you have to overload the muscle in order for the muscle to grow, and heavy weight is the key to doing that. So to secure that part, I started incorporating both full squats and parallel squats in my leg routine.
The below is an example of the first exercise, squats, for leg day:
When I really started hitting my legs hard, the initial growth came quickly which made me look forward to leg day. However, even though I could squat some heavy weight (heavy is a relative term, as one’s max could be light to someone else) my leg development got to a certain point and came to a halt. Naturally, I kept adding weight to the squat bar thinking this would increase the size of my leg muscles. Well, someone stole my lunch one day when they were watching me squat four plates on each side telling me that I wasn’t going down far enough. Taking in the criticism, I ask him to watch my form for a couple more sets, and I decreased the weight so I could go deeper. But all I heard was ‘That’s still not far down enough, you’re not even parallel; you need to go all the way down.’
I sucked it up and began working on my form. It was like starting all over with the weight, but my quest was for bigger legs, not necessarily more weight. I started doing something completely different; not even going parallel. I started doing full squats, rear-end to the ground. My legs still aren’t be my best feature, but let me tell you, they grew substantially and it also wasn’t long before I started doing a decent amount of weight with full squats.
There’s that part in the minds of those who just love the weights that says we have to go heavier. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a true advocate of heavy weights for growth too. In fact, I personally have never gotten much out of light weights and higher reps. The bottom line is that you have to overload the muscle in order for the muscle to grow, and heavy weight is the key to doing that. So to secure that part, I started incorporating both full squats and parallel squats in my leg routine.
The below is an example of the first exercise, squats, for leg day:
2 warm up sets x 15 reps - full squats
2 working sets x 12, 10 - full squats
2 working sets x 6, 5 - parallel squats
This routine will allow you to attain the full leg development you’ll get from going all the way down as well as complete muscle overload as the final two sets are done at parallel with heavier weight. What I’ve also found is that full squats force your body into the proper position, leaving less chance for injury. With that being said, you have to be extra careful on the heavier parallel sets. If you find yourself not going down at least parallel, you need to lighten the weight because all you’re doing is putting undue strain on your lower back.
Start doing the above exercise routine on your leg days as your first exercise and watch your legs grow!
2 working sets x 12, 10 - full squats
2 working sets x 6, 5 - parallel squats
This routine will allow you to attain the full leg development you’ll get from going all the way down as well as complete muscle overload as the final two sets are done at parallel with heavier weight. What I’ve also found is that full squats force your body into the proper position, leaving less chance for injury. With that being said, you have to be extra careful on the heavier parallel sets. If you find yourself not going down at least parallel, you need to lighten the weight because all you’re doing is putting undue strain on your lower back.
Start doing the above exercise routine on your leg days as your first exercise and watch your legs grow!
Squat Routine: Mixture of Full and Parallel Squats
by Jason M. Stallworth, posted on March 10th, 2010
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