Doing squats without weights

[kh_s]

Ehh, do you guys benefit anything from this ? I thought it was pointless to do them without weights.

[jcolvin]

not as good as doing them with weights, but better than doing them without weights. If you are going to do them without weights you will have to do alot of them to make sure you get the burn out of you legs. This is a good way to perfect your form.

[kh_s]

Thxs but, do you know any sites the give information on doing them without weights, with a pic or anything, cause I only do Lunges in my workout.

[RBFC]

Try www.trainforstrength.com. Scrapper is a former NHB competitor and trains recruits, etc. at the Navy base in Pearl Harbor. Good stuff!

Lee

[Pretzel Boy]

Try doing squat jumps for working the legs without weight. Squat down as deep as is comfortable and jump as high as possible, when you land try to smoothly lower yourself into the squat position in one fluid motion and power back into the air.

The advantage is that you can put maximum force into the entire movement or range of motion. You can't do that with a barbell across your back or you might lose your balance and possibly injure your self.

When you get to the point that you're jumping around and no longer tiring out your legs move to one leg squats. Curl your left foot up close to your butt, squat down on one leg until your left knee just touches the ground then return to a standing position. Do as many reps as you wish then swap to the other leg. If you can't maintain your balance, try holding the back of a chair during the movement.

When THAT becomes easy or the reps are getting higher, try squat jumping with one leg. Squat jumping (1 leg or 2) will improve your calf strength, leg speed and vertical leap.

Chuck

[Builderofmuscle]

wow, these are some really nice exercises.

[kh_s]

Pretzel Boy, so how many reps and sets do you think I should do these Squat Jumps or just one whole big set ?

[Pretzel Boy]

khs, for reps I would suggest just trying out a couple sets of 15-20 jump squats and see how that goes. If you can, do more or do leg squats as the first exercise and as you tire move to the jump squats.

Play around with it and see where your limits are. You're not working with weight so there's little chance of injury. Have fun.

[terry]

Another benefit to doing weightless squats as opposed to squats with weights is that you and your spotter don't have to worry about passing out under heavy loads.

[Builderofmuscle]

Try something called density training. Set a goal for yourself, such as 100 squats. Than, do the 100 squats, and see how long it takes you. You can do the squat with as much rest as you need with as many sets as you need. Once you get to a point where you can do 100 squats without stopping, that's when you've reached phase one. Now, lets say 100 squats takes you 15 minutes, than, continue the 100 squats, but the goal is to be able to do it in a shorter period of time. Once you get to 5 minutes, than go back and try to do more squats, lets say 125.

[kh_s]

what the hell, 100 squats in 15 minutse withotu weights ? Do you guys do your squats fast or slow ?

[Pretzel Boy]

I do jump squats pretty fast. Put as much power into it as possible and jump as high as you can, then try to drop back into the squat position in one fluid motion.

Have you tried them yet kh_s, what do you think?

When I squat with weight I do it considerably slower.

Chuck

[terry]

I do cherry pickers in jujutsu and sissy squats (w/ 45 lb weight) in circuit training and squat jumps in Muay Thai. I tend to run out of cardio vascular gas on these before I run out of legs. So, I see these more in the cardio category.

I'm scratching my head at builder's suggestion of doing 100 squats in 15 minutes. That's 9 seconds per squat, so for a tempo it is like 504. AT that rate non-weighted squats wouldn't be explosive and may not even put you in your target heart zone for cardio vascular conditioning. Um, I think I would just as soon go do separate workouts for cardio and then do a real leg workout, or alternatively up the octane for a combined workout. A combined leg/cardio workout might be dragging a sled or hill climbing on a bicycle. Both of those can get real intense and leave your legs shaking from exertion.

Regarding tempo for squats: my thinking is that the lighter the weight the faster you go on your downstroke. In any case, the upstroke should be as fast and explosive as possible.

Weight.......Tempo
0................10X (good idea to get airborne)
225............10X (fast descent w/ no slowdown prior)
455............31X (slow descent)
585............41X (slow, controlled descent while staying tight--you'll never make it if you're not explosive)

Terry

[kh_s]

Pretzel Boy, I haven`t actually added the squat jumps in my little small routine yet, but before I posted it I tried 3 It doesn`t seem right when I do it, is it just trying to jump as high as possible or does form have to be right ? Because when I was doing them, I did started as a lower squat position ( like sitting down on an ordinary chair but lower) Then I jumped my highest...

[Builderofmuscle]

terry, this idea was founded by charles staley, and is also used by many other coaches, You're supposed to use weights, and have a certain goal, like I said, 100 squat. Time yourself, than try to decrease the time until you get to a really low time, such as fiv eminutes, or lower. Than, increase the reps, or increase the weight. But, since khs has no weights, than increasing the reps is my suggestion.

Wait a sec is 9 sec per squat, a good, or bad thing?