Set volume for lower-body strength

[Tunafisher]

I just read http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22158142, which essentially concluded 8 sets would be better for 1RM squat strength than 1 or 4 in trainees that could already squat 130%+ bodyweight.

I can't find it anywhere in the study, but I assume they only squatted once a week.
Am I right to assume doing 8 sets instead of 3 wouldn't work for a program like SS as we're squatting 3 times a week versus the assumed 1 in the study?

[Rob Waskis]

Did you actually read the study, or just the abstract? Because the abstract tells us nothing useful about what they did.

[Tunafisher]

I read the entire study.
The trainees followed a 2 split and they only trained legs with squats, so squatting twice a week. The 1RM was recalculated after each week to ensure the training is progressive and they did each set to positive failure with 3 minutes pause inbetween each set. Edit: All squat repetitions were performed to a depth of 90° knee flexion, and repetition cadence was set at 2-second descent and 1-second ascent.

Here's an illustration of the average reps each group managed per set and the results:



Essentially the conclusion seems to be that with 8 sets the strength increase percentage is bigger after 3 weeks compared to the other two groups.

I don't often read studies like these, so I'm not sure if I've misunderstood parts of it or its conclusion, though.

[Rob Waskis]

All squat repetitions were performed to a depth of 90° knee flexion.

Oh, they did half squats.

after 3 weeks

That's it? Three weeks?

Not a whole lot of time to reach a conclusion of statistical significance.

[Tunafisher]

Oh damn, my bad, it's 6 weeks, with an additional 4 weeks (T3) afterwards to accommodate for overreaching.
And the half squats explain how they managed to go up ~20kg in just a few weeks.

[IndividualThoughtPatterns]

They should also include a group doing just one max set (doubles/ 1 reps) of squats everyday. I believe doing it this way is most beneficial to increase 1RM.

[MikeC1]

and repetition cadence was set at 2-second descent and 1-second ascent.

This is odd, since 1rm squat attempts typically take longer than 1s on the way up.

[Tunafisher]

This is odd, since 1rm squat attempts typically take longer than 1s on the way up.

I believe the 2-second descent and 1-second ascent applies to their workset reps and not the 1RM attempts.

[frosty-g]

I believe the 2-second descent and 1-second ascent applies to their workset reps and not the 1RM attempts.

even so...
1s ascent for a "half-squat", well yeah anything is possible there.

[Philbert]

Squats near 10 rm are not very similar to sets of 5 across, and would never be my choice for increasing 1 rm.