Low Motivation Leg Days and Relearning to Squat Effectively

A friend didn’t want to train legs. And starting over with squats.

Don’t want to train legs? Try this

The other day, a friend of mine was already warming up for his lower-body training day. I saw the anguish on his face. He simply wasn’t in the mood for a leg day, least not on a Monday.

I asked what was wrong, and he started into his lack of motivation and willingness to tackle squats, leg presses, and other heavy leg movements.

He just wasn’t into it.

I told him that I understood, as we “older” dudes don’t see leg training the same way as we did in our twenties. I, in particular, had weak legs and, as a competitive bodybuilder, always viewed them as a weak point. So, annihilating them at each workout was not only required but expected.

Fast forward to just last week, and one could easily show empathy for a lack of gusto to train legs with a high level of intensity.

I immediately thought of two plug-and-play solutions for my friend:

1. Perform a more functional leg routine without the use of the big, heavy compound movements. This could include lunges, step-ups, jump squats, and Bulgarian split squats to avoid the pounding of heavy loads.
2. Perform a simple, no-brainer superset of leg extensions and leg curls for 4, 5, or 6 supersets. Stay in the 10 to 20 rep range and just move back and forth from one to the other at your own pace.

These two routines are simple and aren’t exhausting to your overall nervous system. It leaves you with a sense of accomplishment on those “off days” when you don’t feel like going all out on your leg training.

How to start over with squats with cranky knees

My knees aren’t perfect, but I do something when they act up or I just want to clean up my squat form.

I start over from ground zero.

Here’s a quick rundown of my process:

1. Quit squatting. I completely stop squatting and rely on more machine work and other things that won’t aggravate my knees; leg presses, single-leg extensions, lunges, etc. This gives my knees a chance to breathe and heal up a bit.
2. After around a couple of weeks to a month, I start to add in 3 sets of about 10 to 15 reps of body weight squats. I make sure my form is textbook; knees in line with feet, sitting back into the descent, and going down until my hamstrings touch my calves.
3. For the next two weeks, I will squat with only the bar on my back. I perform the same sets and reps as before. Again, I must perform these with perfect form, as that is the entire purpose of this process. To improve form and function.
4. If I feel like my performance is good enough with the bar, I will slightly increase the weight by placing two 25-pound plates on the bar. The object is to perfect my form before ever thinking about increasing the weight. This is the most important point: perfect form is the requirement. I’m not squatting to build muscle and strength, I’m trying to relearn the squat motion in order to build a solid foundation of function.
5. After those two weeks, I may increase to 135 pounds. Again, form is imperative. I am retraining my entire body to be comfortable with squats so when I do decide to increase the load, I can in a confident way.

If you struggle with leg day or maybe even just squatting correctly, give those two techniques a try. Let me know how you do in the comments below.

Happy lifting!