Squats are the best leg growers out there! And the barbell squat is the king of all the squat variations. Many people do not enjoy them because they are hard to increase, but that in itself may be the reason it is so hard to progress the lift! Squats help a ton with leg development, mental toughness and injury prevention. Given those benefits you may be thinking to yourself.. “How can i squat more?”

When trying to increase any movement you need to ensure you are using proper form!  Doing the movement often and eating enough will lead you to make progress, but the first step is always to get your form down correctly! With good form it will be much easier to increase your strength! There are two ways to execute a barbell back squat. You have the Lowbar and Highbar bar placements. Starting off most people will rely on highbar squats, give both a try, and see what works best for you!

Once you have good form the next thing to think about is frequency, squatting and hitting legs twice a week is usually a great number. You are able to train and recover optimally! Now that you have decided on the number of days to squat, you can think about variations.. Squatting heavy weight, low reps one day, and lighter weight, high reps the other day, is a great way to mix both rep ranges together.

One thing that is often overlooked when trying to squat more weight, is the accessory movements you select following your squat sets. Sure leg press and other squat variations are great, they allow you to move a lot of weight. People fail to realize that unilateral movements such as; bulgairan split squats often have a nice carry over to squat execution.
These unilateral movements allow us to work each leg one at a time, allowing little room for muscle imbalances to occur.

Make sure you ease into squatting if you are new to it! Going too hard without being prepared may lead to injury, and/or burnout. Look into knee sleeves as well to protect your joints, and always have a spotter or two to ensure your safety! Get ready to squat, embrace the grind!