Squatting 3x a Week: Too taxing on the body?

[brundylop]

Hello,

This is my first post on the forum, and I'd like to say hi to everyone! I hope you can answer whether squats 3x a week is a good thing to do. Is 3 squat sessions a week too hard on the body? Or is it a "beginner vs. advanced" issue?

I have been a weakling all my life, despite going to the gym often. After using those weight machines and noticing minimal gain, I eventually concluded that I was genetically unable to get big. It was only recently until I learned that weight machines are hugely ineffective, and that barbell training is the way to go!

It's only been a week or so since I started the SS beginner workout of ABA, BAB but I've already noticed it's WAY better than what I did before.

I've started asking my buffer friends to help me with my workouts (especially with form on Squats and Deadlifts) and each one has told me that Squats 3x a week is WAY too hard on the body. Many even suggested that 2x a week is still too much. These are people I respect, and they seem to be able to lift quite a bit.

So, are 3x squats a week too taxing on the body? I was wondering whether it was an issue between Beginners and Advanced lifters. That is, 3x squats a week is fine for a totally newbie like me, but once you start getting high in weights (like my friends), 3 squats a week will destroy you.

[Note, I'm 5'11 and about 160 lbs. I'm squatting about 95 right now, keeping the weight low until I can get my form in shape]

[stolpsTDI]

You did buy the book, right?

[John Taylor]

Hello,

This is my first post on the forum, and I'd like to say hi to everyone! I hope you can answer whether squats 3x a week is a good thing to do. Is 3 squat sessions a week too hard on the body? Or is it a "beginner vs. advanced" issue?

I have been a weakling all my life, despite going to the gym often. After using those weight machines and noticing minimal gain, I eventually concluded that I was genetically unable to get big. It was only recently until I learned that weight machines are hugely ineffective, and that barbell training is the way to go!

It's only been a week or so since I started the SS beginner workout of ABA, BAB but I've already noticed it's WAY better than what I did before.

I've started asking my buffer friends to help me with my workouts (especially with form on Squats and Deadlifts) and each one has told me that Squats 3x a week is WAY too hard on the body. Many even suggested that 2x a week is still too much. These are people I respect, and they seem to be able to lift quite a bit.

So, are 3x squats a week too taxing on the body? I was wondering whether it was an issue between Beginners and Advanced lifters. That is, 3x squats a week is fine for a totally newbie like me, but once you start getting high in weights (like my friends), 3 squats a week will destroy you.

[Note, I'm 5'11 and about 160 lbs. I'm squatting about 95 right now, keeping the weight low until I can get my form in shape]

I'm gonna have to go with no. Many people have squatted three days a week until well after simple linear progression stops. I, myself, have done this with no problems. In fact, I STILL squat three days a week.

I think, and no offense intended, that you are hanging out with some bros who are applying what some here call 'broscience'. Yes, squats are hard. Yes, sometimes they suck. This means they must be bad for you.

WTF?

I don't think you'll find many people on here who agree with your 'buffer' friends. I'm assuming they are bodybuilders, yes? Bodybuilders often choose to do lots of isolation work (leg curls, leg press, more leg presses, calf raises, etc) rather than compound movements (squats) for hypertrophy of their muscles rather than an increase in functional strength.

Do you want to look strong or be strong?

[brundylop]

You did buy the book, right?

Thanks for replying.

Yeah, I did buy Starting Strength recently after reading this article in mens health which recommended it (http://www.mensjournal.com/everythin...tness-is-a-lie). My friend has the Programming Guide that I may borrow if I decide to keep lifting.

Does the book address this? I know it recommends the Squats 3x a week in the Programming Chapter, and Mark talks about how wonderful the Squat is, but I'm not sure what Rip says in response to the critique that so many squats a week isn't good on your body (especially in terms of recovery).

What would you say?

[brundylop]

I'm gonna have to go with no. Many people have squatted three days a week until well after simple linear progression stops. I, myself, have done this with no problems. In fact, I STILL squat three days a week.

...
Do you want to look strong or be strong?

Thanks so much for responding John!

Regarding your bros comment, I definitely know what you are referring to by that, but I'd like to think these people are a little better about that. I know one's a physical therapist/physical training whose job is to mend the bodies of sports injuries. Another one of my friends is a training whose career started after reading Starting Strength some years ago. Granted, there are a lot of terrible trainers out there, but these are guys I respect.

Their concerns came not out of a "it hurts / it's hard; thus it must be bad" but what I thought was a well-reasoned argument that squatting that much is just too taxing on your body for you to recover in just 1 day before your next workout.

I've tried to find some answers, but I really don't trust 99% of the workout stuff I find online (which is why I came here, to where I think there's a lot of credibility)

Regarding your last question, I've started barbell training because I've been tired of being a weakling my whole life (some 22 years). Not only is there a practical inconvenience (life involves a lot of lifting, which is hard when you are little girl weak), but I'm tired of the degraded sense of self esteem that naturally comes with being weak.

Plus, I've had lower back pain as a teenager! Apparently my muscles are so weak that at I'm already having back pain in my early twenties. It's gone away now, but I think weight training is a great way to strengthen my body and prevent such nonsense in the future.

[brundylop]

John,

I also forgot to thank you for your very helpful comment!

[cpbellavia]

Have you ever played a sport where you sprint 5-6 times a week? Soccer/rugby/am.football teams? Track? Hockey, basketball would qualify. Wrestling is also explosive enough. These team sports regularly work in the same anaerobic range. 5 days in a row. Man people never recover from that stuff though...

You could squat everyday if you wanted to. The difference here is that you take days off in between so that you can recover and increase the weight the next time.

[brundylop]

Have you ever played a sport where you sprint 5-6 times a week? Soccer/rugby/am.football teams? Track? Hockey, basketball would qualify. Wrestling is also explosive enough. These team sports regularly work in the same anaerobic range. 5 days in a row. Man people never recover from that stuff though...

You could squat everyday if you wanted to. The difference here is that you take days off in between so that you can recover and increase the weight the next time.

Hey cpbellavia, thanks for your input. I'm guessing from your answer that you think 3x squats a week is fine. I think the issue here is whether that 1 day off between workouts is enough time to recover. Also, I don't think it's fair to compare sprinting to weight-lifting because you aren't stressing your body with extra weight comparable to your body size.

My friend brought up another point I forgot to mention: danger of overtraining. He says that unless you do a perfect squat (which is, he notes, practically impossible), you are going to overtrain and favor one part of the body over the other. Continuing this imbalance over a long time, especially when your weights get heavy, is dangerous.

Do you think that has any merits?

[newguy32]

I'll just answer your question without equivocation so the answer is more clear....

According to Rip, who has probably contributed to the training of more novices that just about anyone, 3x per week is not OK, its the OPTIMAL amount for a novice to squat.

Novices recover in 24-48 hours from these types of workouts, making 3x per week exactly what the doctor ordered. Intermediate and advanced lifters can and will vary their programming based on their needs and goals.

Nearly everyone on this forum squats 3x per week. There are people here squatting the bar all the way up to 500+ lbs with most doing some kind of squatting 3X per week. At some point you will probably lower the intensity of one of the workouts, but in the beginning most of us started with basically setting squat PR's 3x each week or a number of months.

[ZKP]

You could squat everyday if you wanted to.

This is true. I squatted at least 405 every day last week.....I find that type of frequency suits me. It's not SS though, and as a novice lifter, I'd strongly recommend you follow the program as written in the book until you get some more experience.

You get used to whatever you do.....3 times a week is in no way too much. Good luck!