Squats and Weight Loss

Nutrition Q&A [Moderated]
1

Hi Dr. Feigenbaum, hope all is well. Are squats more dependent on body weight or being in a calorie surplus than other lifts?

I have been on a mini cut, down 10lbs in 12 weeks. During this time, I have new PRs in deadlifts, Weighted Pull-Ups (I am a rock climber so I track this), and Bench and Press are trending up. My squats on the other hand are getting harder and harder. Some weeks I hit the reps/sets I was able to do before next week it is down, next week back to where I was … Squats have also always been my achilles heel, maybe it is just a reflection of that.

Thanks for your time.

2

I don’t think I could say that squats are more bodyweight dependent than any other lift, especially when considering increased performance in other strength tests.

I’d be looking more at attitudes towards squat training as well as fatigue surrounding your squatting sessions over calories.

3

Thanks that makes sense, I probably am noceboing myself a bit over them. All started back with my High School gym teacher 40+ yr ago …