How to Squats every day to improve strength and increase muscle mass: madness or sanity

Can I do squats every day? Should I do squats every day? When we want to learn a language or a quality, it is necessary to repeat it every day. Can that translate to strength and muscle gains in the same muscle group? Yes and no, since it depends on what we do each of those days, but increasing the frequency of a movement will make us specialists in it. Increased frequency of squats over the years When planning our strength training program, we select the days that we are going to train, and what we are going to do on those days. A squat every-day protocol, as the name suggests, consists of introducing different types of squats each day of strength training. Traditional training in the gym consists of training a muscle and letting it rest for a few days until you train it again. This model has been changing a lot in recent years, betting more on a high frequency of the same muscle group. Programs based on elite bodybuilders used to work for one muscle group each day and not repeat it until the following week. Science has shown that it is better to train the same muscle group two or three times a week, rather than just once. Training squats every day is a maximum frequency training in which we perform this exercise every 24 hours. To you and me, that may sound crazy because we are used to introducing a lot of volume per session, but strength athletes often train in the same movement every day. The Bulgarian method was the beginning of this type of planning, Ivan Abadjiev was already using a method that included squats every day in the 1960s: the Bulgarian method. With him, several athletes got the Olympic gold medal. Just as in fashion some clothes from the past reappear, the same thing happens with strength training. Does it make sense to train in squats every day? Squats every day to improve strength Frequency is a primary variable in strength and muscle hypertrophy planning. Several meta-analyses have observed how higher frequencies favor increased strength. The conclusion was clear: the more often, the better. In other investigations, differences have not been seen with a higher frequency, as long as the volume is the same. However, a higher frequency allows for a higher volume, within limits. Also, dividing the volume over more days allows us to perform the squats with more intensity each day. Can you perform the same intensity on your fifth set as on your second? Surely there is a difference, and knowing that intensity is the main variable of strength, this must be taken into account. Squats every day to improve hypertrophy The increase in muscle mass depends on protein synthesis, which in turn depends on training and diet. The rate of protein synthesis rises with training, and after about 24 hours it declines rapidly. This is one of the main reasons why training each muscle group one day a week is not the best option. By increasing the frequency, we increase the rate of protein synthesis that helps muscle growth. Once again, the scientific evidence shows that if the volume remains constant, an increase in frequency does not generate significant benefits. What does allow us to squat more frequently is to introduce more volume, and that increase in volume does correlate with greater muscle hypertrophy Squats Every Day: Yes or No? The ultra frequency in the squat, as well as in another marked objective, allows us to give more quality to the training in the form of intensity and volume. Each series we perform accumulates fatigue compared to the previous one. You just have to see the difference between doing 10 sets of squats a day or doing 2 sets for five days. In both cases, we have performed 10 series, but there will be a significant difference in intensity. That will positively affect muscle strength. The volume can be increased since if we train many more days it will be feasible to introduce more series, rather than adding volume in fewer days. Returning to the example of the 10 series, if we train two days a week, we will have a volume of 20 weekly series. If instead, we train for six days, we will have to do between three and four series for that same volume. By doing four series per day, we will have already gone from 20 weekly series to 24. That's how simply we managed to increase the weekly volume, the main variable for the increase in muscle mass. How to put this ultra-frequency method into practice? One of the basic premises of ultra-frequency training is that the planning must be intelligent. We changed the "no pain, no gain" (no pain, no gain) to "no brain, no gain" (no brain, no gain). The fatigue of each day must be negligible because otherwise, we will not be able to train well the next day. We must stimulate the muscles, not damage them. In this way, we can achieve great advances, especially in squat strength. An example of this, though, is a series of cases in which advanced athletes trained their squats for 37 days in a row, working their maximum repetition each day. They all improved between 5% - 10%, which is a very significant advance in that time for advanced athletes. Each level and each person can plan differently, but the trend leads us to think that training squats every day is a valid strategy to improve strength and muscle mass. Introduce squats and variations As in our traditional training, we will do back squats, but we will add all its variations to further enrich the training. Some options are the torcher, squat, goblet squat, safety bar squat, front squat, etc. Depending on your level, you may require more variations on the machine to relieve your trunk stabilizing muscles. Also, split squats like the Bulgarian squat allow us to continue working our movement without that load on the back. Plan and per iodize: volume and intensity in A very high frequency require very precise planning. The most interesting thing is to per iodize the sessions, making one more intense, another intermediate, and another low. In this way, we will undulate the intensity throughout the week. We will do the same with the volume, so that, whatever we do, we always do not overdo it. If we do more than our fair share day after day, we may not reach two weeks of ultra frequency. In two or three series of squats per session, doing about six to 12 repetitions per series, we can already increase our muscle mass. We must change the perspective of the structure that we did before, since now we have many more days to distribute the volume. The intensity must also be regulated. It is common to think that if we want to gain strength we have to train very hard, above 90% in many series. However, those lifters who complete almost all of their repetitions with loads below 90% make the best strength gains. Schedule a start and end These types of programs are very demanding, so they should not be carried out for more than a few weeks. The better it is planned, the longer it can be, but in any case, we must propose a closed time in the planning. One way to do this is to design each month for high-frequency training of one muscle group, well separated from the previous one. In this way, we focus on a muscle group thoroughly and give some respite to those who have already gone through that process. A cycle can be squats, bench presses, and pull-ups. Although that will depend on each personal goal. An officer preparing for a physical pull-up test will focus more on that move. The ultra frequency is another tool to keep in the backpack and use if we think it's convenient.