Super Squats
Thursday - 04 January 2024
Workout: Active recovery, 1555-1620 (25 minutes)
Alpha Male - about 1130
Bike@120-140 bpm - 15 minutes
Been running a bit hot all day, I think my body’s still in “repair mode.” But… I’m done for today and setup for tomorrow!
Hell yeah! You are going to smash the final session!
@freshyfresh - Thanks, my dude! I’ll reflect eventually but at this point, I’m just glad it’s done.
Super Squats
Friday - 05 January 2024
Workout: 18 of 18, 0745-0915 (90 minutes)
Indigo-3G - 0725
Alpha Male - 0630
Surge - 0755-0852
Warm-up
Begin: 0757; End: 0911; Duration: 74 minutes
BTN press - 110 lbs - 10, 10, 7 + 2 + 1
Bench press - 190 lbs - 12, 12, 11 + 1
BB row - 150 lbs - 15, 15
BB curl - 85 lbs - 10, 8 + 2
Breathing squat - 305 lbs - 15 + 7
DB pullover - 25 lbs - 20
Straight-leg deadlift - 230 lbs - 15
DB pullover - 25 lbs - 20
Donkey calf raise - 60 lbs - 20, 20, 20
Ab mat crunch - 10 lbs - 13, 8, 4
I gave it all I had today, but it just wasn’t enough.
@anna_5588 - You asked about how I was finding the low volume/high intensity of Super Squats when I was just 3 workouts in.
Now that I’m on the other side of it, I can say this: I hated every minute of it!
I say that only partially tongue-in-cheek.
But you asked a serious question, so here’s a serious answer: It was awesome to see my own growth from workout to workout, both mentally and physically.
After so much time under JW’s “progress slowly” principle in 5/3/1, the ridiculously rapid pace at which all of the lifts progressed in Super Squats blew my mind. There was always so much self-doubt coming into each workout, but I overcame that doubt more often than not.
And that’s a lesson you really can’t learn any other way.
Super Squats
Friday - 05 January 2024
Workout: Active recovery, 1645-1725 (40 minutes)
Alpha Male - about 1330
Bike@120-140 bpm - 15 minutes
That’s a wrap! Took the time to clean-up the weight room, too. And oh man! It feel so, SO good not to have to setup for tomorrow!
Amazing run of super squats Sven!! You just made me not want to run it, ever, all over again!!
305 for that amount of reps is very impressive!
Great job completing it! Kicked ass man!
Awesome job @SvenG ! Very inspiring.
@boilerman, @Koestrizer, @shaneinga, @Dinsanity28 - Thank you, guys!
Oh, and @boilerman:
You are a wise man, my friend. Very wise!
Saturday - 06 January 2024
Workout: No training
I convinced myself that I had somehow “earned” a day off, haha.
Deload
Sunday - 07 January 2024
Workout: Active recovery, 1235-1255 (20 minutes)
Assault bike - 15 minutes
We’re calling this “active recovery,” but really I just wanted to mess around with my Christmas present, which I’ve finally moved into the weight room:
I intended to do the typical 15 minutes at 120-140 bpm as a sort of calibration ride, but my HR monitor flaked out, so I don’t know what my HR was actually like.
That said, I didn’t feel like the work was really any harder (or easier ) than usual—the arm involvement was different, to be sure, and not altogether unpleasant—and I came in at 158 calories and 8.66 km, averaging 242 W, 34.5 km/h, and 56 RPM, whatever all that means…
Anyway, it’s going to be cool to integrate this into some WODs and whatnot as I start to ramp my conditioning back up now that Super Squats is over.
Deload
Monday - 08 January 2024
Workout: Super Squats 1, 0450-0545 (55 minutes)
Indigo-3G - 0430
Alpha Male - 0430
Surge - 0500-0531
Warm-up
Begin: 0507; End: 0542; Duration: 35 minutes
BTN press - 55 lbs - 10, 10, 10
Bench press - 135 lbs - 12, 12, 12
BB row - 95 lbs - 15, 15
BB curl - 45 lbs - 10, 10
Breathing squat - 155 lbs - 20
DB pullover - 25 lbs - 20
Straight-leg deadlift - 155 lbs - 15
DB pullover - 25 lbs - 20
Seated calf raise - 140 lbs - 20, 20, 20
HLR - 12, 8, 5
This should look familiar.
And yes, I’m actually thinking of running the first 5 or 6 workouts of Super Squats this week…
Edit: I weighed 212.4 lbs this morning, before any coffee or Surge. That’s up almost 8 lbs over the “end of Super Squats” weigh-in on Friday afternoon, and up just over 3 lbs from last Monday morning. I’m still eating a fair amount—that will taper down over the next few weeks—but, wow! I did not expect that.
Deload
Monday - 08 January 2024
Workout: Conditioning, 1700-1725 (25 minutes)
Alpha Male - about 1130
Cindy Rides a Bike - 5 rounds, for time:
10 cal Assault bike
5 pull-ups (strict, various grips)
10 push-ups
15 air squats
Time: ???
I must need a new battery in my HR monitor or something, because today the stopwatch flaked out, so I don’t know how long that really took.
Anyway, I know I’ve not done any real conditioning for 6 weeks, so I expected it to be hard, but not THAT hard. Adding the bike here was a good little twist, though, and I’m actually kind of glad to find that I’m so de-conditioned: Maybe the fat will peel off a bit faster as I ramp up the intensity of the conditioning work?
Deload
Tuesday - 09 January 2024
Workout: Super Squats 2, 0450-0550 (60 minutes)
Indigo-3G - 0430
Alpha Male - 0430
Surge - 0500-0531
Warm-up
Begin: 0503; End: 0545; Duration: 42 minutes
BTN press - 60 lbs - 10, 10, 10
Bench press - 140 lbs - 12, 12, 12
BB row - 100 lbs - 15, 15
BB curl - 50 lbs - 10, 10
Breathing squat - 165 lbs - 20
DB pullover - 25 lbs - 20
Straight-leg deadlift - 160 lbs - 15
DB pullover - 25 lbs - 20
Standing calf raise - 45 lbs - 20, 20, 20
Ab wheel - ramp (19) - 12, 8, 5
That’s that. I was moving quickly this morning—main work was done within about 28 minutes—but the calf raises and ab wheel always seem to take for ever.
I find conditioning drops off faster than strength. Crazy fast, at least for me it does.
Good luck with the fat loss.
This tracks for sure. Simplest rule of physical transformation: that which is quickly gained is quickly lost, and vice versa. Strength and muscle take a long time to build, but they hang around quick. You can build up a solid base of conditioning in a matter of weeks: we see this with combat sports athletes that have “fight camps”. But there’s no fight camp for powerlifting, haha.
@SvenG any thoughts to trying out the 5x5 program in Super Squats as the follow on?
@shaneinga - Right on, my man. I’m expecting that ramping down my food intake alone will help with the fat loss, but when paired with ramping up my conditioning again, it should definitely go well.
@T3hPwnisher - Well I am now!
Seriously, though, I had considered it. But then I bought and read Dan John’s Easy Strength for Fat Loss and kind of talked myself into that, given that I was already far less lean than what I really like when I started Super Squats.
I’ve got the rest of this “deload” week and then a week of business travel to get through before I have to commit to whatever’s next, so I’d be interested in your thoughts on the Super Squats 5x5 (fully aware that I’m not asking you what I should do, but only what you would do).
Cheers, guys!
Totally forgot you had ES4FL on the agenda. I just saw you were re-running SS and thought THAT was the way forward, and if so I figured no need to reinvent the wheel.
I think those two programs in the book set up a trainee for a LONG time of progress, but I ALSO think you’re right on the money with Easy Strength. You just prioritized the squat for 6 weeks: now it can go away for 8.
