I find it hard to believe that you can do squats more than one day a week. It takes a while for large muscles to recover, especially when you're doing heavy weight.
I've had much more trouble consistently increasing weight on bench presses.
In fairness, I probably have a mechanical advantage for squats.
I'm a relatively experienced lifter - heavy squats 3x per week is brutal for the first week or so and then your body adapts to it.
I've found that I'll actually stick with a ~hourlong workout, 3-5x a week that I believe in and have goals for over anything quick with no discernible aim. And it's amazing how time magically appears to actually show up at the gym when you prioritize it.
A "scientific" 7 minute workout with no discernible goals is an admirable thing but honestly it's a cheap novelty at best - I've never heard of anybody actually sticking to one, "doing the bare minimum" is just not motivating at all. Scientific according to whom? To what end? Why am I doing this?
Exercise science is inherently a little bit voodoo. Motivation and consistency are much more important than the time requirement.
If somebody's had any success with vague goalless 7-minute workouts, or has even stuck with them consistently, I'd love to hear differing opinions.
I think you're right that the biggest problem with this is that there are "no discernible goals" associated with this "scientific" workout. For noticeable strength and physique improvements, the lowest I've found to be effective are 40 minute workouts 3 times per cycle with a cycle length of 7-10 days depending on the types of workouts done.
1. Leave one rep in the tank for every set you do. 5 reps means 5 picture-perfect repetitions. As soon as form starts to break down, you are doing it wrong.
2. Start light.
3. Eat like a horse. At least 10% above you maintenance levels in training days.
4. Deload every 4 weeks.
Note that I am 40+ years old. I have been squatting twice per week more than 3 years now.
The theory is that because the large areas (ex: leg, back) are actually composed of many muscles, you can hit them more frequently with slight variations (working different parts/ranges/etc.) and still recover.
In particular, the GP was talking about Stronglifts, which has you doing the same old back squats 3 times a week, variations strongly discouraged.
Stronglifts is one, but there are programs from Glenn Pendlay, Bill Starr, Mark Rippetoe, etc. and they're all good for beginner to intermediate lifters - and they all feature two or three days a week of the same-old squats.
A beginning lifter should make gains in the squat even while doing it three times a week, sometimes for many months. After you hit the wall, programs will drop the number of squat days, replace a day of back squats with the front squat, or replace all-heavy days with a light-heavy-medium rotation.
It's true - you'll eventually plateau. But a 3x week squat program works for a lot of people, especially when starting out.
- Recovery doesn't take seven days.
- Squats target the biggest muscles.
- The biggest muscles produce the most testosterone, enabling you to make gains in other muscle groups more easily.
Ex. http://breakingmuscle.com/strength-conditioning/new-study-pi.... The muscle may not produce the testosterone, but it is produced by working the muscle.
That's all I know.
You're right though that more experienced trainees who have built up a base level of strength take more like a week to recover. Intermediate powerlifting/Olympic weightlifting programs (see Texas Method, Bill Starr 5x5) usually still recommend squatting three days a week, but only one of these days is a heavy day.
SL5x5 starts out with the unloaded bar, SS with a _lightly_ weighted bar. The whole idea is that you're initially _well_ below your actual potential.
You're increasing the weight fairly aggressively (10# per week for squats), but it'll take you a few months before you're up to significantly challenging weights.
You'll also re-set a few times, and eventually switch to a different progression.
If you're not going balls-to-the-wall, you can squat twice a week. If you're going heavy, 1x is more viable.
Sometimes less is more.