normal squats can use weights, or not, and are down then up - explicitly with no pause at the bottom (there are reasons for this but basically it's because doign them this way puts less strain on the joints and allows use of a stretch reflex to assist with the up movement)
an extended squat ie sitting in the bottom squat position is a different thing and isnt an exercise persay - however once mastered (which I havent incidentally) is supposed to be good for flexibility and general strength - the assertion being that the way most of us sit is actually bad for our bodies and the third world squat is, because it's the way we were "designed" to sit, corrective - given this assertion no wieght is required or desirable -a few seconds to a few hours doesnt matter as once mastered it's supposed to be a more natural (and presumably more comfortable) position for the body than sitting on a sofa - so far this is not my experience lol - if your goig to try it I'd suggest short duration (a few seconds) a few times a day, on the odd day, until it becomes comfortable - which could take a while
in short a squat and an extentended squat are different things, one is an exercise designed to build strength and muscle and the other is a sitting position that incidentally improves flexibility and may increase the strength of some muscles - or at least make them more in balance with oposing ones
the muscular discomfort/stiffness you may experience initially shouldnt be lactate burn - and unlike lactate burn it shouldnt occur whilst exercising - it's called delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) and will normally occur the next day or at least a few hours after exercising - it's not a result of toxic buildup in the muscle cells it's supposed to be caused by minor damage to the muscles basically because they arent used to the work - unless working out at high levels this should stop being a problem within a week or two - whilst in most cases DOMS arent a reason not to exercise (in fact exercise can actually help as exercise increases blood flow and more bloodflow should equal faster healing) obviously personal judgement needs to be used - little bit of discomfort fine, more than that or actual pain - different thing entirely
DOMS should not feel like PEM - the words used to describe it may be the same but it shouldnt feel the same - if it does it's probably PEM and should be treated as such - watch out for neurological issues increasing as these are a form of PEM and should eb treated as such - simply because physically you feel fine/better than you did doesnt necessarily mean you arent overdoing it and gettign PEM'd
if your getting lactate isssues caused then it might be a good idea to stop and reconsider/rejig how you do things to try and avoid them - because the damage you can cause can easily outweigh the benefits if this isnt done - a mild exercise induced crash will remove around 40% of my strength but almost all of my endurance until it's 'over' - yes I'm that stupid that I've measured it (ie where before I could lift a certain weight 3 or 5 sets of 5 and then move onto the next exercise when in a mild crash I can lift at best 60% of the previous weight once - and thats it - I'm done, no energy left, it's go lie down for quite a while time) - unless you can afford to lose 40% of your strength and reduce endurance to virtually nil then very cautiously learning what types of discomfort/pain/sensations mean back off and what means stop now - and what is uncomfortable/painful but is ok as far as ME is concerned - would be a good idea - from how you've described it your starting off from a postion that I wouldnt train at all in - so extreme caution should be taken
weight training isnt in general done for endurance purposes (although wieghts can be used in endurance routines thats not the same thing) - so 2-3 sets of 5-6 reps equals more work than 1 set of 10 - higher reps per set builds endurance, lower reps build strength - fair enough you are using light wieghts but the same principles apply - along with the fact that higher reps mean more lactate - which is bad lol (the pause between sets allows the lactate to be disappated - if it isnt rest longer - if it still isnt then stop and ebay the weights) - for pwME IMO lactate=bad, not being able to clear lactate from cells (in a reasonable timespan) = very bad
I've seen hypotheses for why overhead activity (any overhead activity) may be bad for pwME but I dont know - in my case it just is - I still do overhead lifts, and brush my teath, comb my hair (other dodgy/risky things) as I havent found an alterative - however I now do it explosively (ie no strainign at all) with comensurate weight - if I cant lift it like that then it;'s too heavy - and will cause issues - compared with my other lifts my OHP is pathetic but as I only do it for balance (to stop my shoulders having issues due to the muscle strength not being even push/pull wise) this isnt an issue for me.
