Squats are the one exercise that I absolutely can’t stand.
Every now and then I’ll get excited to hit a PR, but nearly every time I do squats I think, “I don’t know if I can do this forever”.
What are your thoughts? I know I sound like a pussy here but I fucking hate squats unless I’m heading for a PR.
grilledcheesaroo 2y ago
Squats are pussy exercise, and many lifters like it because there is a metric ton of gay dudes that lift. I do not squat nor do I believe guys who talk about testosterone boost or whatever. Sprinting and leg press machines is all you really need, maybe a couple of other leg exercises included but that is it. As a man, you only squat because you need to. Your ancestors would laugh at you putting 100+kg on your body and squatting down like you're about to take the biggest blackest dick.
Look around next time at dudes women are fucking and ask yourself if they squat. Guys will talk shit about chicken legs but top heavy men get ALLLL the pussy. Nobody cares about squats or male thighs/ass than gay dudes and gym obsessed men. By the way, I have thick legs so it is not like this is coming from the chicken leg perspective. Top heavy beats bottom heavy, and squats is a dumb exercise.
nfc66 2y ago
That's a terribly stupid thing to be saying
For one thing you shouldn't be training so that girls will like you. Train so that you will like you. You like having chicken legs and a disproportionate physique that screams I never do what feels hard? Knock yourself out
That aside squats are a terrific exercise that works out the largest muscles of the body and trains you to not be a pussy. When you're under 100kgs (which is an amateur weight by the way to be struggling with) you have to go up, it's the only way
grilledcheesaroo 2y ago
That's cool and all but it's bullshit. People train part because they want women to like them, and part because they want men to respect them. Denying this means you're either gay or naive. Why do you think so many guys focus on aesthetics over strength? It's like when women say they put makeup on themselves because they like looking pretty to themselves. Give me a fucking break, lol. They do it for OTHER people, same as men.
And don't give me that "people train to be better in fights". No, people who want to do that sign up for a martial arts class. Guys who are regular fitness dudes work to look good for men or women (idgaf) but I'm tired of pretending it's a stupid thing.
Literally nobody gives a fuck except lifters like you who are obsessed, and men who are seething with jealousy. It doesn't take much to build nice legs to support your godly upper half. And like I said....
"By the way, I have thick legs so it is not like this is coming from the chicken leg perspective."
Hanscheezburger 2y ago
i fucking hate squats too. try substituting it with other exercises like quad extension, machine leg press, deadlift, calf extension etc... it's a good exercise but it doesn't mean you can't do without it. I still do it as a way to discipline myself, although leg day is the most dreadful day of all
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RedPill115 2y ago
I fucked up my leg and most of the right side of my body "pushing though" the discomfort, ignoring minor injuries from squats, etc.
Your brain is telling you that what you're doing is a bad idea. Wish I had listened to what it was telling me.
The other thing is I realized I was being moved backwards in attractiveness.
It was just a whole ball of stupid in retrospect.
NeoSpartan 2y ago
Lifting shouldn't cause actual pain. Your brain was correct. Right about legs too, it's not something girls care about that much. As long as you are strong enough to carry them around anything more than that is wasted effort imo.
RedPill115 2y ago
That's a spot-on way to put it. Thanks.
ChadifiedAsian 2y ago
Breathe. Seriously. Get that under control as you lift. I breathe out for the squat, breathe in when coming back up. Your body will start to coordinate all it's systems to support the lift. Working out should also be a form of mediation and mindfulness.
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illusivepigeon 2y ago
This is bullshit. You shouldn't be breathing in/out during the rep if you're lifting heavy. Ignore this advice.
ChadifiedAsian 2y ago
It works for me, man. I squat 450, got there by focusing on breathing. I used to feel lightheaded and sick after my lift when I wouldn’t control my breathing.
illusivepigeon 2y ago
You can't brace fully if you are breathing in/out during the rep. 450 is good, especially if you're not even bracing fully, but you could do more if you braced properly, e.g take a big breath into your stomach before you do the rep and brace your abs hard, then don't let your breath out until the rep is done.
Vermillion-Rx Admin 2y ago
I never have this issue and I don't even like squats whatsoever.
How many sets and reps are you doing? My personal regiment is 3x (8-12). So it's not very dreadful.
If it's not the amount of squats that's dreadful, try imagining that it's less than a minute of squats per set. Only several minutes total. Listen to your favorite gym song or something that makes those few minutes tolerable.
There are too many things that are more dreadful to care about squats I suppose.
Also, your legs have the largest muscle group concentration of testosterone, so keeping that in mind might feel more rewarding doing them knowing you're releasing more of it from legs
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Vermillion-Rx Admin 2y ago
Ah that makes more sense now, are you doing strength training? 3-6 reps at a heavier weight is generally regarded as strength training, whereas 8-12 is generally hypertrophy.
Doing heavier reps in the strength range does suck way more than hypertrophy weight even though it's less reps
Oh God that music raped my ears, I did not consent to that, why did I click it. I can see why you hate squats now, dear lord.
100% yes. I love myself the heavy songs from Motionless in White and A Day to Remember. Makes me want to lift
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Vermillion-Rx Admin 2y ago
If this weight is around 80% of your one-rep max and as much as you can do in around 5 reps it might be strength training, I'm not sure what your one-rep max is.
Nothing wrong with strength training, it's just going to be more unpleasant physically than hypertrophy from the weight load.
The catch-up period from losing some gainz always feels lame, that probably adds to the dread.
He's jacked but he's not dumb, he knows women will flock to his gym if he plays Zumba music. Same reason gyms have that stupid vagina leg fly machine, it draws in women despite having no real benefits.
Nice, the top gym songs I have from them are Queen for Queen, Death March, Soft, and Undead Ahead 2
ADTR is a bit too screamo in my opinion but I like the crunchy bass in their guitars on Life Lessons, 2nd Sucks, and Violence
hannulv 2y ago
I fucking hate squats, and I've seriously injured myself a few times. The first step is to absolutely master form. Do it with light weight... 135ish. Practice the fuck out your form. Do 10 sets of 10 instead of your regular routine, until your form is effortless and perfect. Make sure hands are always in the same spot and elbows are always braced the same. I put the bar on the meat of my upper back, but some people lower to the top of the shoulder blades. There is different form based on bar placement. You may need to stretch your hips and lower back quite a bit before you can do them without your spine winking at the bottom. You may also need to stretch out you calves and heels to keep from rocking forward. You need to take a deep breath before you descend and fully brace your core, hardening your abs, so that you never roll forward. Make sure you go below 90 degrees. Stopping at 90 wrecks your knees. Exhale after you start back up, and breathe in again before your next drop. Deep fucking breaths. Play the angriest thrash metal you own.
Between each squat set, I do sets of back extensions or reverse hypers. This warms up and stretches out my lower back so I can squat while keeping my back straight.
Once you're solid on form and you do it the same each time, find your 1RM and do your normal routine.
whytehorse2021 2y ago
Use resistance bands. Your muscles are strongest near full extension and weakest at when you start the squat. The resistance bands have progressive resistance to account for this and give you much better progress and more safety. Another option is to just do the squats in the area where the muscle is strongest and avoid the weak spot. I dramatically increased my weight and reps doing this.
RedPill115 2y ago
I fucked up my leg doing squats. I've spent at least $20k on medical bills that provided no help trying to fix it. You want to kill women's interest? Injure yourself like I did in a way that's visible and their interest will drop off like a rock.
I'd saying doing heavy lifting with squats and deadlifts is the dumbest thing I've ever done in my entire life, and I highly recommend not doing them.
grilledcheesaroo 2y ago
Thanks for this comment. Squats and Deadlifts are by far the dumbest exercises in the gym. So many guys literally had their careers ended because of this shit, or at the very best put on a hold for a veryyyy long time. All you need is common sense to tell you that lifting 300+kgs in a janky position for your back and putting the equivalent of two fucking average people on you as you squat is a stupid idea. Boys will be boys tho, obsessed with numbers and not thinking long-term. I see so many guys heading for a permanent injury just so they can look good for about 5 whole seconds. Oh well.
illusivepigeon 2y ago
Sorry that happened to you, but your form must have been absolute dogshit if you hurt yourself that badly.
RedPill115 2y ago
Marketers ran these ads that ax body spray ran these ads where if you sprayed yourself with it women would throw themselves at you uncontrollably. Guys found that actually drenching yourself in ax body spray drove girls away.
Marketers ran these ideas that squats would do the same thing, and now these people who don't know what they're doing bought into the ads and push squats like they're ax body spray.
That's all it is is dumb marketing by people who don't know what they're talking about at other people who don't know what they're talking about. about a product that makes things worse vs if you didn't use it at all.
illusivepigeon 2y ago
Sure, blame the exercise and don't take responsibility.
Rugby players must do squats because of dumb marketing right? Not because they make your legs bigger and stronger.
RedPill115 2y ago
That's hilarious. Things that work well don't need all these excuses to as cover.
illusivepigeon 2y ago
You seem to be in denial. Are you suggesting that squats in fact don't make your legs bigger and stronger?
Like I said, I'm sorry you fucked yourself up, but plenty of people squat heavy with no issues.
RedPill115 2y ago
Same thing again, someone selling a bad product gets lots of practice with skeezy sales tactics because they nothing else to push their crappy product with.
"You seem to be in denial that ax body spray causes women to go nuts and throw themselves at you. Are you suggesting that ax body spray in fact change how you smell? Like I said, I'm sorry you aren't getting laid, but plenty of people soaked themselves in ax body spray and were successful with it."
On a good day squats make muscles stronger - that women don't care about at all and don't help you get laid.
On a slightly bad day squats build massive leg muscles - that force you to stop wearing your stylish jeans and start wearing fat guy pants because they're the only ones that fit. You actually get less attractive.
On a particularly bad day, squats leave you with serious injuries, and it's fairly common for this to happen eventually - the less athletic you were to begin with the higher the odds it will fuck you up.
Squats are pushed by fat old guys who see a chance to sell their books to nieve newcomers who don't know what they're doing.
https://allthingsgym.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Mark-Rippetoe2.jpg
You know why he has an arm out and is starting into the distance in this photo? It's because he can't stand straight upright without pain, a result of messing up his body with shitty lifting techniques and advice.
https://legionathletics.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/mark-rippetoe-featured-new.jpg
illusivepigeon 2y ago
Ah. So taking a step back; you are trying to say that the primary purpose of squats is to get women to throw themselves at you, and they do not do that, therefore they are bad.
You do agree that they make your legs bigger and stronger, but you do not believe that this is their main purpose, which is to get women to throw themselves at you, therefore they are bad.
You bought in to the idea that squats main purpose is to get women to throw themselves at you, injured yourself doing it, didn't get women from doing it, and are now bitter about it.
I am extremely sorry that no one told you that the main purpose of squats is not to get women to throw themselves at you. I will tell you now what their purpose is:
A. You want a bigger/stronger lower body B. You want a bigger/stronger lower body
What you want a bigger/stronger lower body for is up to you - most often for sports. I can tell you that in relation to women, being able to fuck much harder is a nice bonus.
You also realise that if you only wanted to put on a bit of leg muscle to stay proportional to your upper body (because there is no denying that a big upper body with twig legs looks fucking stupid), you didn't have to push extremely heavy weights. High intensity/low reps is specific to strength related sports, so there is no reason to train like that if you have no reason to.
You could have just built some muscle and then maintained, without having to go anywhere near the point of injury. Or you could've not done squats at all, just done lunges/leg press or whatever to a point where you were happy.
By the way, you chose one of the biggest jokes in strength sports to make your point. Mark Rippetoe is a meme.
illusivepigeon 2y ago
Squats are hard. Embrace it, keep doing it and pushing yourself, and you will start to enjoy it, especially when you start seeing real progress and hitting bigger numbers.
Also, realise that every training session is 'heading for a PR'. The more focused you are in the current workout, the sooner you will hit that PR. Every workout is important.
coolsocks00 1 2y ago
Are you eating and sleeping well? Increasing strength on a calory deficit feels pretty bad.
My advice is to start training for size instead of strength after a while. Doing 3x5 or 5x5 with a linear program is great for beginners. But it's suboptimal for both powerlifting and bodybuilding.
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coolsocks00 1 2y ago
Sleep is a fucking huge factor in how you perform. Get 7,5 - 9 hours of sleep per night for good results and to stay healthy. Sub 7 hours of sleep is detrimental to your health overall. Lots of people claim to be fine with less, but they're fooling themselves.
The general advice is to just get strong. It's about building a foundation and how to handle the compound lifts. But the numbers are arbitrary really, as long as you dont have some goal to be a powerlifter or are very interested in pushing numbers. I realised i just wanted to be strong, healthy and look good, so i now focus more on volume instead of load.
I dont wanna give you specific advice without knowing your program. Feel free to post it here or dm me.
mattyanon Admin 2y ago
Do more reps, or less reps, whhatever your body prefers.