SQUATS & MILK

Starting Strength program + Gallon of Milk a day = HUGE STRENGTH & SIZE

Why milk?

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Yo

So I did the Reset and lost 4 lbs. I feel a little more energetic and maybe that combined with the butterfly kips have helped me make personal bests in 5+ workouts. Sucky part is that I moved and am currently not eating as healthy as I can/should be.

Tonight I decided to completely re-do the 20 Rep Squat program because I slacked over and over and would miss weeks and try to make it up in weight which would mentally make me fail. SO I'm now doing "20-REP TUESDAYS". Every Tuesday my workout will be a 20-rep squat day, hopefully with a 5lbs increase every week until September 9th (the day before my 23rd birthday).

That gives me 10 weeks (including today) to stay accountable. By the 9th I should be squatting 235lbs for 20 reps, meaning my 1RM should be around 350lbs. And by then my deadlift should be over 400lbs. Both would put me between Advanced and Elite Levels of Strength according to this. It's going to be awesome.

After 30 minutes or so after doing the squats I decided to join the class in doing a CrossFit benchmark WOD

"ANGIE"
100 pullups
100 pushups
100 situps
100 squats

14:29 (PR by 2:30)

YEAAAAA. Laid the f*(& out!

And you know when you've ripped too much when a callus rips only to reveal another callus!

This was dope. No blood, no pain.

Do full squats!

many professionals in the industry advise against full squats

millions of people all over the world disagree.

"Partial squats are never good. They neglect the hips and hamstrings. When an athlete stops above parallel, his knee joints are forced to halt the downward momentum, but once the athlete goes below parallel that stress is transfered to the more powerful group in the hips, hamstrings, and adductors. Full squats keep all these muscle groups proportionately strong."

Bill Starr - Strength Coach John Hopkins University Sept. 1997

The Quest for 315

I have a goal to squat 315 lbs by the last week of June.


The other day Dwinson and I were chatting online and he sent me a link to some training program about a 20-rep squat program. The main gist of it (as I understand) is that you get your 10-rep max on the bar and do ten reps. Then one more. Then another. Then another until you get to 20. They're also known as breathing squats because you end up breathing more and more in between reps. It is more of mental challenge than anything, but it separates the boys from the men.

Yesterday I tried it out, without knowing any of my maxes (because I've never attempted anything other than a 1RM). I ended up doing my real 20-rep set with 185 lbs. It was hard and I definitely became slower in those later reps and was screaming like a mofo, but I could've gone and done 10+ reps if I wanted to. I'm a little sore in the legs and glutes today, but I'm going to attempt a bigger one tonight with Adrian. If I do the math correctly it should go like this:

Starting today, I have 10 weeks until the last week of June/first week of July to hit a 1RM of 315 lbs. Let's say that the normal programming with this method calls for 6 weeks of training. If I do these workouts 3x/week then I should have 18 workouts ahead of me. If I am adding 5 lbs per workout then I will be moving a complete 90 lbs within those six weeks. If I start off the program with 195 lbs then by the end of the six weeks I should be squatting 285 lbs. Would four weeks be enough for me to jump another 30 lbs? I think that would be attainable given that I survive the first six weeks training mostly with the 20-rep squats. Apparently this program also builds a lot of mass. Hopefully I stay around where I'm currently at. I don't wanna outgrow my clothes and/or look funnier (short guy, big body)

Further Reading:

• 20-Rep Squat Routine [CrossFit.com Message Boards]
  
• 20-Rep Squats: The Brutal Path to Massive Gains! [Bodybuilding.com]
• Super Squats (Book Excerpt) [Dave Draper]
  
• High Rep Squats [Dave Draper]

Sucking at Squats

I was not in the right mood yesterday for a squat workout. Not even with our new rack.

Our new squat rack!

Regardless, Mike and I headed at it. I missed a lot of lifts and didn't feel strong at all. Mike persisted through and did very well for his first time going heavy. Halfway through my sets I decided to go with heavy Overhead Squats (article by Dan John), so I did.

Mike's butt-winking squat

Squatting 116kg/255lbs

OHS 5xBW (66kg/145lbs)

Now if I could get to Overhead Squatting my bodyweight 15 reps, I'd be in Level 4. But I had a very crappy time.

[video] Squats

as most know, I swear by the squat. it IS the king of all exercises.

watch this CF video about air (bodyweight) squats.

there is no discussion about toe-to-knee relation, but the more advanced you become, the more your knee can approach your toe. you have adequate strength in the knee joint to compensate for.

Play:
Windows Media Player or Quicktime

click to play or right-click to download