Two Squat Programs by Tommy Kono

If you’ve never been taught the correct way to squat, you’ll find the following instructions extremely valuable. Incorrect squatting technique not only wastes your time and energy, but it also taxes the wrong muscles other than those of the legs while developing bad habits that you’ll find hard to overcome later.

During the first few weeks of learning to squat properly lifters will want to work on stretching their soleus muscles and either stretching or strengthening their iliopsoas muscles. These two groups of muscles (the former lie under the calf muscles and are activated when the knees are bent, and the latter are attached to your lumbar vertebrae and keeps your back arched when you go into your deep squat) have to be ‘re-educated’, so you achieve the correct body position when you go into the bottom position of your squats.

You must concentrate on very deliberately squatting correctly until the right squatting technique becomes natural. Do not sacrifice form for heavy weights. If you perform the squats correctly, the muscles right above the knees will be sore from the extra stretch of your quad muscles, and your calf muscles will be tender too from the stretch they get because your upper body is upright when you go into the deep squat. (See illustration)

Remember that your knees must travel in the same direction your feet are pointing.

Stand sideways to a mirror to study the profile of yourself performing the squat. Your torso should be as upright as possible with a strong back arch (chest held high). This means your knees have to flex completely for your torso to travel straight down.

Attempt to place your buttocks between your heels without your back buckling. Practice this style of squats regularly even without weights. Perform it daily at home without weights so you gradually stretch the soleus muscles and learn to keep your body upright in squatting. Remember, press down on the floor to come out of the deep squats while maintaining an upright upper body position.

THE SQUAT PROGRAM

This squat program is based on the premise of taxing the muscles and then giving them sufficient time to recover. This means that you cannot max out on 3 reps more than once a week in your training. There is also a way of “maxing out” which you must understand to achieve the fastest improvement.

1. No single attempts at any time. In other words, no testing yourself for a single or even doubles.

2. Once a week you push yourself for three reps.

3. No “nerving up” of employing adrenaline on your heavy day!

4. No more than eight sets on the heavy day when you push yourself.

5. No more than eight sets including your warmup sets.

6. No more than six sets on the other two days of training where lighter weights are employed.

7. Avoid “pumping” the muscles up. Try to relax the muscles completely between sets so you are “fresh” when you begin each new set. With the warmup weights you can perform the sets much faster, but when optimum weights are used, make certain you have enough rest between sets to recover.

8. Always take a deep, deep breath and hold high your chest before going into the squat. Start with your balance on your heels. As you go into your deep squat you can shift some of the pressure toward the balls of our feet but make certain you are taxing the legs and not transferring the load to your back.

9. Control your downward movement and retain only a small bounce at the bottom of your squat. Concentrate on pushing the floor down when you are coming out of your squats.

Make your leg muscles work . . . not your back.

10. All squatting movements are done with a “feel.” By that, I mean your thoughts must be in performing the movements smoothly and with deliberate concentration. You must be focused on the exact movement, whether it be a warmup weight of with heavy weights. The purpose is to work the leg muscles . . . from the hip down.

Make your legs work!

The following is an example with 170 for 3 reps being near your max effort:

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8*
Heavy Day	90 x 5	120 x 3	140 x 3	160 x 3	170 x 3	170 x 3	170 x 3	170 x 3
Light Day	60 x 3	100 x 3	125 x 3	145 x 3	145 x 3	145x3*
Medium Day	80 x 5	110 x 3	140 x 3	160 x 3	160 x 3	160x3*

Note: *means you do not need to perform this set if you are having a difficult time performing all the sets. Stress is a necessity on the muscles but over-extending yourself can tax your recuperative power and this can affect your next workout.

Heavy/rest day/Light/rest day/Medium/two rest days

This program is designed to make your muscles work so they become strong without the nervous stimulus being called in. In other words, you are not trying to work yourself up as if you life depends on its performance or to win a bet. You are performing the reps and sets with proper weights that you can handle to stimulate development of power.

Understand that you are performing the exercise the hardest way possible and not the easiest way possible. You can always find ways and means of “cheating” to improve your squatting record but that is not the purpose of this program. You are working on the legs to gain basic power so you can transfer this power to your Clean & Jerk.

The program is a systematic, progressive method of increasing your strength over 6 to weeks. Even an increase of 2.5 kilos every other week will mean 7.5 to 10 kgs. improvement from this program period that would definitely improve your Clean & Jerk.

FRONT SQUAT PROGRAM

When this period is over, a good follow-up program would be 4 to 6 weeks of the Front Squat Program. An example of the Front Squat program follows:

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7*
Heavy Day	60 x 3	90 x 3	120 x 3	140 x 3	140 x 3	140 x 3	140 x 3
Light Day	60 x 3	90 x 3	110 x 3	120 x 3	120 x 3	120x3*
Medium Day	60 x 5	90 x 3	120 x 3	130 x 3	130 x 3	130x3*

Always remember, it is quality you seek and not quantity of exercises.

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