@hecallsmehisown Ok I wouldn't give up on squat just yet.
Sometimes it's ok to go off plan and if you can do it in the right way it works wonders. I really can't imagine doing the main lifts for 5s, 3 times a week. My 5 rep sets are hard, I need at least 4 days to recover, and 5 or 6 is better. I think it would be draining and unproductive. You have to think, read and try at this point. Gains aren't free.
I think somewhere you need to get in some 10-12+ sets of squats. You can also start experimenting with form. After a while a pure high bar squat just became too difficult to progress and I switched to something I like to call hybrid, where you are low bar on the top but still close stance knee dominant at bottom (works for me). Diagnosing your weak points and being strategic will help. Understanding the synergy between squat and deadlift will help. Properly periodised blocks will help. Recovery, cardio and more carbs will help.
Form matters, there can be an ocean of difference between a good squat and a great squat. Squatting is an art and at some point you need to put your own flair on it, understand the role of each muscles, every form cue etc. Are you dracula squatting, is your upper back tight enough, where are your elbows pointing, are your lats engaged, do you have the shoulder/wrist mobility to get tight, are your ankles mobile? You need to start figuring this stuff out.
Personally, I find front squat harder than back squat. Yes it hits the quads more directly, but most people cannot do the form well enough to get the serious poundages you need to get big legs. Double kettlebell front squat is great and easier to rack, but KBs only go up to 32kg in my gym, so 2 of those would be a load of 64kg. Even if these were super quad targeted perfect forms sets of 15, at some point you would need the barbell/machines to make progress.
Weight and rep progressions are great, but what has always worked best for me are escalating sets over the mesocycle, followed by a deload to less volume (not less weight), new targets and possible exercise modification (feet closer, back to high bar, more deadlift volume, quad/glute/erectors focus). This lets me control my fatigue without sacrificing intensity.
Personally my leg routine looks something like this, I'm proud of my quads, my focus is size, but I want a big squat number:
Legs 1
- Squat - Escalating warm ups set towards working weight, top set of 3-6 (315lbs), progression of 1-3 sets, sessions to session. Similar progression style to you but just also adding sets and reps, if I can hit 6 on first set I move up and aim for a 3 which is my new working weight. Then 2-3 back off sets of 8-12 (amrap if possible) at around 70-80% of the top set. These are the builders, the sets that matter. Possible pause work if I felt depth is a weak spot. Total 4-5 working sets.
- Leg Press/Hack squat - Work up to 2-3 top sets of 8-12, usually with a nasty finisher drop set, and/or 5 accumulation sets (10-20 secs rest for every 10-20 reps) at around 40-50% of working weight. Total 3-5 working sets. If you aren't near collapse at the end of the top sets you didn't go hard enough, but it will take practice to be able to take yourself to that point.
- Leg extension - By this point im fried so really just work up to a top set of 12-15+, and then do a plate stripping drop set of 15 reps per set to the bottom of the stack roughly 20 secs rest between each set. More for blood flow and detail, your main work is done.
- RDL/hamstring - Work up to 2-3 sets of 10-12, aiming to match my squat weight for same number of reps.
- Calves, glutes etc.
Legs 2
SLDL - Not bothered about conventional deads so these are bouncy touch and go glute ham focused SDLS, work to top set of 6-8, 5 if i'm lazy. I tend to do a glute/hamstring primer before these (think monster walks, glute kickbacks, standing hamstring curl (on leg extension machine)). Sometimes do a plate stripping dropset to finish, try to get at least 6 on each set, down. I do more volume on these if I feel that my back/torso is weak on squat.
Quads - Can do unilateral here, though I often just do something like leg press/extension superset, lightweight for hypertrophy more just recovery bloodflow that trying to push it. Walking Lunges also good, bodyweight will suffice. Try to get a burn/pump in the quads, work on feeling and activating things, do them slow and controlled. More squats is good, but a bit more demanding after DL, but i would aim for just 3 sets of 10 if i do them.
Weak-points - I'll do some work here to just fix any problems I might have, might be extra glute work, mobility, skill/movement patterns, sometimes even plyometrics (jumping, landing, explosive, squat mobility etc).
I started out by doing some internet PPL which I ran for a few years, it slowly morphed into this, which I now do 5 day with, push, pull and extra upper day added in. Routines are great and necessary for beginners, but the big secret is sometimes you need to be prepared to take risk and do more to achieve your goal and fix your problem. Main mistake lot of people think is adding or switching exercises or changing routine, whereas usually best course of action is to just do more sets and reps. Work hard, use every trick in the book. Sets of 10, build strength and size and I would say are the real base of my leg progress. Moving from 5s to 10s helped a lot, but as you can see I'm still getting 5s in.
I have had a lot of squat dread over time, before I would just back off for a session, but now I do this; I go in and say you just going to work up to your top set, do one set and go home. Of course when you get to that set and do it without the pressure of the rest of the workout, it dissipates. If it doesn't, working up to that set was probably enough to maintain so at least your worst case scenario isn't all that bad.
Once you start to pass 1xBW then 1.5xbw, maybe even 2xbw on the major lifts, then CNS demand is so high that if you are really doing working sets of 5 you will need longer to recover and some sessions (especially a third session) just has to be lighter, especially at your age. Caffeine, if you can tolerate it, helps alot for big lifts.
Mobility is also important, it's not all about hips and groin, calves and ankles are where I find a lot of people neglect and proper ankle mobility helps keep the bar centered as the knee can travel forward unhampered. Good calf and ankle stretch (lean into a wall) is key, I wouldn't squat without doing it, Upper back and shoulder flexibility helps you stay upright and drive out of the whole, without folding over.
