Strength

Optimizing Your Squatting Frequency for Maximum Gains

Okay, that's a great question. As often as you can recover to do it again effectively, as often as you can recover again to keep moving forward within your program goals, and as often as you can to recover completely as your energy system depletes. So for example, if you keep hitting PRs, PRs, PRs, PRs, at some point you're going to have to break down as a human being because you can't keep training at that amount of volume, so you taper back. If you don't do it as often and your weight training is not getting stronger, then you're probably not doing anything. So the idea is to find a medium that is taking you upwards in your KPIs. You have to have KPIs. Key performance indicators will allow you to know whether you need to squat heavy more often or less. And that is according to your local fatigue, which is the legs. If they're too sore, probably not want to squat heavy again the next day or the day where you have that. Or you have local fatigue, you have energy, like as far as systemic fatigue, so if you're too tired and you barely can do your work and you can't function in your everyday life because of fatigue, then you're probably squatting too heavy too often. And then the third one would be axial fatigue. Like if your lower back is tore up, your axial fatigue is way too much, you probably did it too much. So you kind of want to have a medium to where it's working and it's giving you good results in your KPIs and not on the negative ones. All right?

Recovery should be done as often as needed to keep progressing with your program goals, and to make sure you're not overtraining. You should also pay attention to fatigue indicators such as local fatigue (legs), systemic fatigue (overall tiredness), and actual fatigue (lower back).

https://assets.anyquestion.com/raw/upload/qxnark40vqk7pwyxnj8n.vtt

How often you should squat heavy depends on your ability to recover effectively, move forward in your program goals, and fully replenish your energy. The frequency should be determined by factors such as hitting personal records (PRs) consistently without breaking down physically from excessive training volume. Finding a balance that allows for progress in key performance indicators (KPIs) is crucial. It's important to listen to the signals from your body, such as local fatigue in the legs, systemic fatigue affecting overall energy levels, and axial fatigue in the lower back. If your legs are too sore or you're experiencing excessive fatigue that impairs daily functioning, it may indicate squatting heavy too frequently. The goal is to find a moderate frequency that yields positive results in KPIs without negative consequences.

For weight loss, would you recommend cardio or weights?

Maximize Weight Loss: The Perfect Combination of Cardio and Weights

For weight loss, I'm assuming fat loss, I'm gonna go with a mixture of weights and cardio. Just enough cardio so that you're not gassing yourself out too much as far as your energy levels. And for weight training, just enough weight training to sustain your cardio. You gotta be a little bit sore, but not too much because you're gonna be in a caloric deficit with your nutrition. So if you're eating less than what you need, you're gonna be tired. If you tire yourself out way too much and you demand your muscles to grow, it's not gonna happen if you're in a deficit. So just be careful balancing both, but it is a mixture of cardio and weights.

Balance your weight training and cardio to make sure you're not over-exerting yourself while in a caloric deficit.

https://assets.anyquestion.com/raw/upload/y8q0yfm5jdzdnvoxmxp2.vtt

For weight loss, specifically fat loss, I would recommend a combination of cardio and weight training. It's important to include enough cardio to burn calories without exhausting yourself and impacting your energy levels. Similarly, with weight training, aim for a level that allows you to sustain your cardio efforts. You want to experience some muscle soreness but avoid overexertion since you'll likely be in a caloric deficit due to your nutrition. If you push yourself too much with intense workouts and expect muscle growth while in a deficit, it may not happen as desired. Find a balance between both forms of exercise, but remember that it's primarily a mixture of cardio and weights that can contribute to effective weight loss.

If you are doing weight and cardio on the same day which one should you do first?

Unlock Optimal Workout Results: Which Comes First - Weight or Cardio?

This is a great question. So there's three ways of doing this. Before we do that, we pre-frame the fact that cardio has different levels. We can work on our lactate threshold, we can work on lactate clearance, or we can work on oxidative cardio. There's different ways of doing that and the training is different. So I would say if you're looking for getting stronger and then keep the cardio as your health factor, then do your weight training first and then do your cardio. So you can get the results that you want out of your training first. All the energy goes into your training. Now if you're trying to get a mixed hybrid of both, then do some days weight training first, some days you do cardio first. If you're trying to have your cardio and your health levels, or if you're working on lactate threshold or lactate clearance, I would do that cardio first before doing the weight training because you won't have energy for that after weight training. Alright, let's go.

If you're looking to get stronger and keep cardio as a health factor, weight training should be done first. If you're looking for a hybrid of both, do some days with weight training first and some days with cardio first. For working on lactate threshold or lactate clearance, cardio should be done first before weight training.

https://assets.anyquestion.com/raw/upload/xvvnbin8rfmb837fhadd.vtt

When it comes to doing weight and cardio on the same day, there are three approaches to consider. It's important to note that cardio training can focus on different aspects such as lactate threshold, lactate clearance, or oxidative cardio, each with their own training methods. If your primary goal is strength improvement and you view cardio as a secondary health factor, it's recommended to prioritize weight training first. This allows you to dedicate your energy towards achieving your desired results in training. However, if you aim for a balanced combination of both weight and cardio training, you can alternate between doing weight training first on some days and cardio first on others. On the other hand, if your main focus is on cardio levels, lactate threshold, or lactate clearance, it is advisable to perform the cardio session before weight training. This ensures that you have sufficient energy for optimal performance during the cardio workout.

What are some of the early signs of over training and what, if any, recommendations do you have to avoid overtraining?

Recognizing the Early Signs of Overtraining: Listen to Your Joy

Early signs of overtraining are going to include fatigue in a way that you are not friendly, you don't have a lot of motivation for anything, you're not enjoying anything in life, those kind of things are starting to be a sign of you're doing way too much. So start to look at your joy, your personal joy, and things that are joyful in life around you and start to see, well, I may be tiring myself out way too much to the point where I'm tired in a sense that I don't even feel like anything in life is important or is joyful. That's pretty common because then you know you need to take a recovery week, which we call it in professional sports, a deload week, or sometimes two deload weeks. Some professional athletes maybe even a month of deload week. So you don't only have overtraining physically, but you could also have overtraining mentally. That's very important to look into. So I would say those are the beginning signs of you're training way too much. Your joy.

Signs of overtraining include fatigue and a lack of motivation or joy. It's important to take a recovery week or even a month to deload in order to prevent mental as well as physical overtraining.

https://assets.anyquestion.com/raw/upload/yg3z0jats5i1sl4ov6az.vtt

Some early signs of overtraining include experiencing fatigue that affects your motivation and enjoyment of life. If you find yourself lacking joy and not feeling enthusiastic about anything, it may be a sign that you're pushing yourself too hard. It's crucial to pay attention to your personal joy and the things that bring you happiness. If you're constantly exhausting yourself to the point where nothing feels important or joyful, it's time to consider taking a recovery week or even two deload weeks. Professional athletes sometimes require even longer periods of rest. Overtraining can also impact you mentally, so it's essential to be aware of both physical and mental signs. Recognizing these early signs is key to avoiding overtraining and maintaining a healthy balance in your training routine.

If I could only do one lift a day, what should that be?

Unlock Full-Body Fitness with the Ultimate Lift

I don't know for what. If you could do one lift a day, for what? For strength? For muscle building? For muscle building in the upper body, the lower body? For energy output? I'm going to assume if you have to do one lift just to stay healthy and in shape and be able to use your whole body in some way, would probably be a cleaning jerk. You could do muscle cleaning jerks, you could do hand cleaning jerks, squat cleaning jerks. There's so many ways to do that. But that would be the most amount of muscles worked in one single lift.

A clean and jerk is the best option for a single lift that works the most amount of muscles.

https://assets.anyquestion.com/raw/upload/gxdlgd7abtukfaxgr45u.vtt

If you could only do one lift a day, it would depend on the purpose. Are you aiming for strength, muscle building, or targeting specific areas like the upper or lower body? However, if the goal is to maintain overall health and fitness while engaging multiple muscle groups, I would suggest the clean and jerk. This lift allows for variations such as muscle cleaning jerks, hand cleaning jerks, and squat cleaning jerks. It engages a significant number of muscles in a single movement, making it an efficient choice.

What’s the best way to progressively overload for Hypertrophy?

The Key to Hypertrophy: Progressively Overload with Volume

The best way to do it, I tell all my athletes, is to log in the total volume that you did for the muscle group for the day and then add it up for the week. And then over time, add a little bit more to that volume. So for example, if I did three sets of ten pushups on Monday, that is going to be thirty pushups on Monday. And I did that again on Thursday, that is going to be thirty pushups on Thursday. That's going to be sixty pushups total for the week. The week after, I know because I logged it, I did sixty pushups that week and I want seventy pushups on the next week. So I will do thirty-five pushups on Monday, thirty-five pushups on Thursday, and then I can progressively overload that over time. If you're lifting a barbell, let's say for example I did ten overhead presses with a barbell, that's forty-five pounds on the barbell times ten, that's four hundred and fifty pounds. Now if I did four hundred and fifty pounds and I did that for three sets, you just add four hundred and fifty times three, or multiply, and then you get the total volume. If you add that total volume on Thursday, now you have the total volume for the week. And just progressively add volume to that week by week. There you go. Hope that helps.

Log the total volume for each muscle group for the day, then add them up for the week. Over time, add a little more to that volume and progressively overload it.

https://assets.anyquestion.com/raw/upload/o8hfbzi1sxtiku4c7w8d.vtt

The best way to progressively overload for hypertrophy is by logging the total volume of work done for a muscle group each day and accumulating it over the week. For example, if you do three sets of ten pushups on Monday, that's thirty pushups for the day. If you repeat this on Thursday, the total for the week becomes sixty pushups. The following week, aim to increase that volume by adding more pushups. So, you might do thirty-five pushups on Monday and thirty-five pushups on Thursday, gradually increasing the total volume over time. The same concept applies when using a barbell. For instance, if you perform ten overhead presses with a forty-five-pound barbell, the total volume would be four hundred and fifty pounds (forty-five pounds multiplied by ten). Multiply this by the number of sets to calculate the total volume for a specific day. By progressively adding volume week by week and tracking your progress, you can effectively overload for hypertrophy.

Neither AnyQuestion nor its Experts provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment or otherwise provide professional healthcare services.

Physician disclaimer

Lalo Vera answers your Strength questions. See all the advice Lalo Vera has and get answers to your own Strength questions.

Follow me on AnyQuestion

“That was the warmup”
🏋️‍♂️ Sports Performance Specialist
🏆 Educator/Master Trainer
🔥 Pro Athlete Trainer
💻 Online Coaching
🦍 @boredapeyachtclub #9797