Last night I was supposed to have a heavy squat day, but I could tell that it wasn’t going to go very well since I’d been sick for three days and I’d been in the sun hiking for the previous 2 1/2 hours with a baby on my back and carrying another kid on and off about half of the way.
So rather than just going through the motions I figured why not give this a try. My rationale was I’d be more likely to stick to something like this than my current session plan. I also figured my squat form could use some practice and singles are the best way to do it.
So I started just before 10:00pm working with 225lbs. My squat really sucks at this point, so this was about 75%-80% of my 285 lbs max. The first 10 or so seemed difficult as I was trying to find a groove. I was only at about 20 reps by 10:30pm, however I also managed to hose down the stroller, sort the recycling, put out the garbage and get the lawn sprinkler set up for the morning in this time (in case you haven’t guessed, I train in my garage).
With all the chores out of the way I found a groove and hit 50 just before 11:00 pm. I should mention, I didn’t have any time goals but I was hoping to finish by midnight so I could get to bed.
I then decided to see what was taking me so long so I took out a timer and I determined that I’d only take 30 seconds between reps since my set-up/squat/and rerack was taking about 30 seconds (remember one main goal was to work on my technique).
This strategy worked really well and I kept the pace until I hit 90, then I took about 3-4 minute break and did the last ten with 30 second breaks. I must say these ten were very difficult. The weight didn’t seem heavy, so much as my body was just really feeling it.
After it was over my wrists and shoulders were so sore that I could barely carry the plates after taking them off the bar. This may not be a problem for most, but I’ve had a number of shoulder and wrist problems over the years and the squat position can be… well painful.
I also noticed that DOMS was setting in about 10 minutes after I finished. So if anyone is planning this, do not take breaks.
Overall, it went pretty well. I learned a few things about my technique such as my weight is shifting forward on my feet as I come out of the hole and around rep 40 I realized that I wasn’t leading with my head and driving it into the bar. I also realized at rep 90 that I couldn’t give a rats ass if I was driving my head into the bar as long as the damn thing was going up!
I would encourage others to try this 100 singles. Use it on a day when your not really into your workout. The best thing about it being a “challenge”, if you say after 60 reps that it was a good session and stop, well you know that you’ve quit, so you’ll keep going.
PS- As for the morning after, my shoulder and wrist pain has mostly subsided, but I’m starting to feel my lower back and glutes. I’m also feeling it in my quads, which is weird because back squats have never really done anything for my quads.