High Rep Squats can help you gain muscle mass fast

Most everyone associated with weight training knows the value of the squat, regardless of the equipment you have available.

In my opinion the squat is the single best exercise for building strength and muscle mass gains in the legs, hips, and back. The squat also produces a metabolic effect that can stimulate growth in the upper body. There is nothing revolutionary or new when it comes to the squat. The Greeks utilized the squat in their physical training protocols thousands of years ago. Japanese Sumo Wrestlers use the squat as their primary strength training exercise to gain muscle mass faster.

Today the squat is used in a competitive sport called power-lifting but for our purpose we are advocating the use of the squat for several reasons:

#1-Increased over all strength and power

#2-Increased lung capacity

#3-Elevated pulse rate

#4-Increased bone density

#5-Reduction in lower body injuries

#6-Increased in overall gains in muscle mass

#7-Improved balance

#8-Increases or decreases in body weight

#9-Improved functional ability

So why do most people avoid the squat? They avoid the squat because it is the hardest strength training exercise to perform and that is why it is so productive-because of it is hard to perform!

I recently read an article in one of those muscle magazines touting “high rep squats” and I actually found myself agreeing with most of the article. However, the protocol suggested that when the trainee fails, he or she is to stop the exercise and take several deep breaths and then continue the exercise until “the magic number of twenty reps is accomplished”. This will produce great results and muscle mass gains because if the squat is performed hard in high intensity strength training. However, I suggest for you the trainee to try increasing the intensity of the exercise with a weight that will allow you to work to momentary muscular failure in which the last rep is the hardest rep to complete! When you can complete twenty reps I advise you to increase the weight by 5%. One 20 rep set per week will be all you need to build muscle fast and probably all you can withstand.

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Tags: build leg muscles, High Intensity Stregth Training, high intensity strength training, High Intensity Strength Training Legs, squats