Oh Noes...Readership Increases to Four!

A fitness question floats its way to the Zoidberg from one of his old college buddies ButAss. ButAss has started doing rugby (awesome) and wants to figure out new ways to get his legs more tree-like for the pummeling (even more awesome) and he figures the way to do this is with plyometrics, intervals, and smith machine squats (uh oh).

All kidding aside, let us determine where the problem is here...
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My four day split w/ a full day for legs was going well, at least I thought, until I realized I wasn't going deep enough with my squats and I'm still questioning my form on the deadlifts. I've noticed my legs do fine until I start to get to the bottom of the squat, where I have now noticed I am having trouble getting to even w/o any weights. Any suggestions to improve that? I've been doing squats on the smith machine and lunges in the mean time, even on the smith I have problems getting low w/ just a plate on each side. Any recommendations on how to strengthen that so I can start doing squats properly?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Approach

Ok, let's break down the situation. It seems that you are vexed at a lack of progress in legs. If you only have time to hit the weights twice a week, make sure you are doing some legs first on both days. I would suggest this:

Day 1: Squats, Deadlift, Chest, Arms

Day 2: Lunges, Step-up, Back, Shoulders

You have to tackle the problem at the source, something I avoided for a long time by trying to do other leg exercises without realizing that if your problem is squats...the solution is squats. Break out of that rat-bastard smith machine. It is most likely restricting your form and keeping you from moving around naturally at the bottom of your lift, forcing you to work against the machines assembly on the drive. Next, start doing these leg exercises deep, slow, and heavy.

A huge problem with lifters who are struggling with lighter weights, knowing they are strong enough to lift more is that they refuse to go for higher weight! If you are struggling to get your three sets of 6 reps at 185 on deadlift, go for broke one week and try and get three sets of 3-4 reps at 225! You'll be better off, I promise.

J-tox and I were doing heavy deadlift Sunday when some dude next to us asked us how often we go for heavy (or near maximal) lifts for legs...

EVERY TIME!

You need to go maximal a couple times EVERY WORKOUT. So this guy had been struggling to get his three or four sets of 6-8 reps at 225 on deadlift. We told him to quit babying himself and push the envelope.
He then proceeded to crank 2 sets at 275 (50 more lbs) for 4-5 reps. Far out man!

Why am I such a genius?

Lifts

Keep doing lunges, they are an excellent addition to a leg workout if done properly, which is deep with your back mostly straight. Use dumbbells only until you have mastered the form and aren't wobbly like a freshman after punch night at ATO.

Deadlifting is an oft-screwed up lift, and without seeing you in person I cannot tell you what you are doing wrong (or right), but I can tell you three simple things you should do in order to facilitate a good lift.

1) Make sure the bar starts out touching your shins.
2) Pull straight up, transferring the weight to your lower back simultaneous to you squeezing your ass together and straightening your legs.
3) Keep your back flat while sticking your ass out.

I can also pass on this brilliant three part article from the boys at T-Nation.

Part I:
Part II:
Part III:

Squat heavy, low, and determined. Not necessarily slow, but don't rush. For the longest time, Zoidberg dropped to what he assumed was essentially parallel. FUCKING WRONG. Parallel is obvious, I just refused to acknowledge truly how painful and deep parallel truly is. ButAss, squat down until you abs are laying on your quads...go below parallel...touch your ass to the ground. Shelve the ego for a while and just squat so low that you feel like you are dropping a load in China. You'll be better off. The gym is full of guys loading up the rack with 315 who go down 30-45 degrees.

Be the guy that squats 185 until his ass touches the ground. You'll be 10 times stronger.

Step-up involves grabbing a steady platform (I use the aerobics platform with 6-7 of those blocks under it, every gym is different though). The idea is that you want to put one leg up and have the bottom of your thigh be parallel with the ground. This is usually somewhere around 15-20 inches. Anyway, load up the barbell and just take turns stepping up, one leg at a time, making sure to fully step up and contract the leg before bringing the other leg to the platform.

It will surely kill you.

Start with dumbbells until you get the form down.

Good luck ButAss, murder some people on the rugby field for me.