Anyone here attempted a 20-rep squat program? How'd it go?

[redaxe]

So, being unable to press or deadlift for a while due to a hand injury, i decided to focus all my attention on my squats.

After doing some reading I found the basic 20-rep squat program which in a nutshell consists of:

Warm up
Squat 20 reps for one set
Do various light accessory lifts

Start 90 lbs lighter than your 5-rep max. Repeat twice a week for nine weeks, adding 5 lbs to the bar each workout. By the end of the nine weeks you are squatting your old 5-rep max for 20.

Anyone here actually tried this? I hear it's brutal. Did you make it to week nine or were you crushed into a quivering, sobbing heap before then? If you made it, did it pay significant size and strength dividends going forward? Any tips on how to make it through (other than "eat a lot")?

My old 5-rep max was 275 so I started at 185x20. I've now worked my way up to 210x20, so far so good...

 

[LitteringAnd]

Never done it but it's on my list of s&c things I would like to do at some point in my life.

I would be interested in hearing your comments on it after you were done with it if you wanted to make a thread about it.

It seems like I remember JacketWrestler (or maybe it was someone else) saying that he had done it before and gained some mass but his 1RM actually went down.

 

[PowerHungry]

I still do 20+ rep squats at least once a week in my training week. I don't think it's carried over to my max hardly any, so it's just more of a cool, gutcheck inclusion than anything else. If I weren't training lower reps, my max wouldn't be going up concurrently.

Best piece of advice I can give is not to stand too long with the weight on your back. Every few seconds is another rep you could be squeezing out. Obviously you will need to catch your breath from time to time and you don't want your form to go to shit, but just drop down and get to another rep ASAP.

Also, I've found that my limiting factor is form breakdown more than leg DOMS or anything of that nature. If I could keep my lower back tight the whole time, I could probably do another 5 reps easy for any particular set.

 

[Oblivian]

I never did the actual routine, but I did run a routine twice with 20 rep squats once a week increasing by 5 lbs each week. They are brutal.

 

[averagejoex9000]

Check this guy out. He is a powerlifter and he does 20 rep squats sometimes. high rep squat sets are very hard...makes me want to puke just watching the vid.

 

[PowerHungry]

Check this guy out. He is a powerlifter and he does 20 rep squats sometimes. high rep squat sets are very hard...makes me want to puke just watching the vid.

He use to post here.

Sherdog Mixed Martial Arts Forums - View Profile: Blenderate

He had an exchange or two with Cratos.

 

[redaxe]

Check this guy out. He is a powerlifter and he does 20 rep squats sometimes. high rep squat sets are very hard...makes me want to puke just watching the vid.

Holy shit! This guy is a beastmaster.

 

[redaxe]

He use to post here.

Sherdog Mixed Martial Arts Forums - View Profile: Blenderate

He had an exchange or two with Cratos.

OK, I found another thread on the same topic that both Blenderate and Rhadi Ferguson posted in. Guess I should have tried the search function!
Your experience with 20 rep squats? - Sherdog Mixed Martial Arts Forums

 

[TeddyRoosevelt]

He had an exchange or two with Cratos.

 

[PLftw]

He use to post here.

Sherdog Mixed Martial Arts Forums - View Profile: Blenderate

He had an exchange or two with Cratos.

man he hasnt posted here in a long time now

 

[Keosawa]

WitchCraft just started a 20-rep squat program today, I think.

 

[Artigo]

He had an exchange or two with Cratos.

Sounds like a good film

 

[JauntyAngle]

OK, I found another thread on the same topic that both Blenderate and Rhadi Ferguson posted in. Guess I should have tried the search function!
Your experience with 20 rep squats? - Sherdog Mixed Martial Arts Forums

I like how impressed everyone is that Rhadi Ferguson posted there... a couple of years later, he is hounded out of S&C for squatting high and being perceived as being arrogant.

 

[redaxe]

I like how impressed everyone is that Rhadi Ferguson posted there... a couple of years later, he is hounded out of S&C for squatting high and being perceived as being arrogant.

He also used to post in f12 but was probably hounded out of there for his double leg not being technical enough for the resident experts.

 

[Horus]

Sounds like another person of experience gone.

 

[JauntyAngle]

Sounds like another person of experience gone.

As far as I know, he only posted a couple of times over the years. It would have been nice to have him around to post in threads where people say that strength is non use in fighting, though.

 

[Eric Brown]

Did it. Contributed not at all to my 1RM.

 

[belph]

I like how impressed everyone is that Rhadi Ferguson posted there... a couple of years later, he is hounded out of S&C for squatting high and being perceived as being arrogant.

From what I remember he was acting like a c**t waffle. Not that we were acting better, so eh.

Sounds like another person of experience gone.

He wasn't contributing much here.Rhadi more than likely didn't have the time to anyways.

He also used to post in f12 but was probably hounded out of there for his double leg not being technical enough for the resident experts.

Oh, haha funny.

 

[WitchCraft]

WitchCraft just started a 20-rep squat program today, I think.

lol, hush you.

After doing a set of 20 squats for the first time, I can't imagine doing a program based on it. I felt nauseous and overheated for the rest of the time I was in the gym.

 

[Oblivian]

OK, I found another thread on the same topic that both Blenderate and Rhadi Ferguson posted in. Guess I should have tried the search function!
Your experience with 20 rep squats? - Sherdog Mixed Martial Arts Forums

I highly agree with this statement in the other thread:

IMO 20 rep squats are a great gut check and good to throw in once in awhile to grow some monster quads and hair on your balls. But basing an entire routine around them is stupid for anyone of any level, and I don't think highly of the Super Squats routine.