I’m terrified of squats, i tried to do one yesterday, and with a janky chair-table setup, and it was not working out. when i finally semi-safely got the bar on my back, in a comfortable position, and just could not in any way get the squat on the way down without lifting my heels off of the ground. i looked at a lot of guides and maybe it’s my body type or something, it just wouldn’t work. especially not at my current strength and with the weight that i’d be using. so, at least for now, i’d like to find an exercise that is more approachable for a beginner and can bit similar muscles. do you have any recommendations, chapos? thanks in advance!

  • Assian_Candor [comrade/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
    15·
    10 months ago

    Flexibility issue. You can do body weight squats for reps, depth doesn’t matter too much just go as low as you can and stretch after every session.

    I definitely wouldn’t barbell squat without a proper rack, if you need to add load you can do resistance bands or something like a goblet squat

    • Assian_Candor [comrade/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
      4·
      10 months ago

      Piggybacking on this comment: my lower body is imbalanced, I am on a high volume hypertrophy program and my front squat is nearly 100 lbs behind my deadlift. I could add some accessory work on my cardio days to really target the quads but don’t want to cannibalize my already weak front squats. I could also stop doing front squats and go for the leg press plus an accessory lift, sacrificing the core benefit for being able to push more weight with my quads specifically. Any thoughts?

      Edit: graphs— note the volume difference as well as the slowing down of progression on the squats. Drops are when I get to 5x12 and up weight