Effective muscle building through squats with rest

There's a reason why squats with a break are among the most strenuous and painful exercises you can subject your thighs to. These exercises are not only painful to perform, but they also hurt for a few days after the exercises. Even if you have a lot of experience with building muscle, these exercises will demand a lot from you.Is it worth torturing yourself like that? The answer is clearly yes. If you only take a break of one or two seconds during squats, you send new impulses to your thigh muscles, so that muscle building progresses even faster.

Squats with a break: Practical tips for performing them

The name of the exercise says it all: it's simply about doing a normal squat. Instead of completing it quickly, however, you pause at the lowest point and only finish it after a slight delay. Two factors are crucial for success:

Break length

You shouldn't overdo the breaks. It's enough if they're one or two seconds long at most. Since you easily lose track of time during the exercise, it's better to say 21 and 22 in your head. After that, the two seconds are up and you can finish the squat. After a longer period of practice, the breaks can be extended a little. In some cases, it's certainly better to increase the weight.

The correct posture

When doing the exercises, you need to maintain a certain amount of body tension, as this will relieve the strain on your spine and prevent you from falling forward. Most people find it very difficult to maintain an upright posture, especially during breaks.

Training plans for different goals

Here you will find a few exercises for different muscle groups and suggestions as to which days you should exercise. Of course, you don't have to stick to the suggestions and can put together your own, individual training program.

Squats with a break for the whole body

For this exercise, you train twice a week, but only once the painful squat with a break, then you train a normal squat and on the third day another leg exercise (here: deadlift). The training plan could look like this: Monday: Do three or four sets of squats with a rest, repeating 6 to 8 times. Wednesday: Today is deadlift time Friday: The same exercise as on Monday, only the squats this time without a break

Squats with rest and upper body training

These exercises are about training the lower body with squats and then about building muscle. This time you will train the lower body with squats four days a week, alternating between them, doing 3-4 sets and up to 10 repetitions each time. Monday: Monday is a good day for squats with a break and so that is on the agenda again today Tuesday: Upper body exercises Friday: Normal squats Saturday: Upper body exercises

Intensive leg training

If you divide your training between different muscle groups, this has the advantage that you can only concentrate on one muscle group on a given day. Since you don't train the muscle as often, it is possible to place greater strain on it. Here are some strenuous leg exercises: 1. 2 sets of squats with five repetitions 2. 3 squats with a break (repeat up to 8 times) 3. 20 simple squats 4. For a change, try the leg press (4 sets, up to 20 repetitions) 5. The Hackenschmidt squat: 3 sets, repeat up to 12 times. 6. 3 sets of deadlifts with straight legs (between 6 and 12 repetitions each) 7. Leg curls: 5 sets and repeat up to 15 times 8. Seated calf raises: 5 sets and repeat up to 15 times Caution: These exercises are intended for advanced users only.

Squats for strength building

If your primary goal is to build strength and only train once a week, try this plan: Four sets of squats, repeating two or three times Then squat with rest (four sets and repeat up to 8 times) 3 to 5 sets of deadlifts, repeating each set 6 to 8 times Finally, 5 sets of abdominal training

Conclusion

Squats with a break are very suitable if you want to build muscle in your thighs in a short period of time. Before you increase the exercises, it makes more sense to first increase the training weight.