Don’t know if anyone would find it useful, but I’d like to give my own review of super squats.
I know I have committed Super Squats blasphemy, so please guys. Flame me gently lol.
I didn’t really do it “traditionally”, so to speak. In that I had almost a completely opposite approach diet wise. Those of us who have at least read the book already know what’s expected in terms of that. I kept to the prescribed movements as closely as I could, and substituted movements depending on injury mostly.
But the name of the game for me was maintenance.
Off the bat, around maybe week 3 or so I realized that adding weight on the bar with each session wasn’t really going to be a linear thing. Overall I crept upwards of 230-240 starting from 200 even. I wasn’t thinking much of it, but I’d consider those 30ish pounds a good measure of strength retention. I didn’t consistently hit the upper numbers. If I stayed mid, that was more than enough for me.
There wasn’t a time where I could say I had the breathing down. Like at all. If I got it one session, I’d be dying the next. Granted that’s small, but to actually repeat the same breathing tempo is a challenge all it’s own. I also took this as opportunity to fine tune my squatting since I’m highly addicted to squatting. I had 20 times each session to pay attention to most things I let fall by the wayside given my usual rep/set scheme in the past. Outside of expected fatigue, and all that.
I also noticed my bench did fairly well with the amount of volume prescribed in the training. I’ve gone from the usual 5x5, 6x2, or 10x2, rep/set as per many typical powerlifting layouts, so to go from that to straight sets of 15-20 was a nice challenge. As with squatting I also took the liberty to play around with grip width and become mildly proficient using whichever one. From 135, I managed to add 10 good pounds throughout the duration.
I think the main thing id like to say is that you can use this program both ways. Key word is “can” and by no means “should”. In its untainted glory, please eat to grow. To gain, or to lose, I’d even wager if you ABSOLUTELY wanted to, you could run this one program for whatever time of the year you’d want. Of course you’d adjust for the end goal(s) as well.
I also noticed that my scale weight did not budge whatsoever. Once one and one clicked to make two, I realized that’s mostly a good thing, given my clothes have been fitting differently. Come morning, I can also give a comparison photo from when I first started till now, if it’s requested.
****Advice/Personal stuff for if you go the weight loss/cutting route:
•You still have to push yourself hard, if not even harder to maintain squatting volume.
•If you miss even 1 rep, whatever weight you’re pushing, that is your friend until you get all 20. If you miss half, aim to add a rep each time, versus adding weight.
•obviously water, but like double (or triple) whatever it is you’re already drinking
•Salt is your friend
•Put your carbs as close as possible to your session
•If it feels like you’re struggling from the first to the last rep, that’s fine, so long as you finish
•If you feel like you’ve mostly got everything down, including breathing, consider making small changes before throwing more weight on the bar. If you squat wide, try squatting narrow, if you squat high bar, try low. Get as proficient as you can with squatting, under heavy loads…….then put more weight on. Rinse and repeat.
****The Emotional/Mental stuffs:
•Pardon if I sound slightly deranged, but I liked this program because it sucked so much, that I had no room to loathe my other mental battles. I would come to the gym so mad, or on the brink of tears because of what I had to get done. When I got home, it was like someone cleared a frat party out of my head. Silence. And I very much enjoyed that.
•If you’re like me, and struggle to let go of your other powerlifting side, this program definitely in many ways, will soothe the 1RM itch that begs to be scratched. Or…you can take a page from the medium-tech chapter and torture yourself with the cambered bar. Granted that’s not exclusive to powerlifting.
•I have absolutely no advice as to what can help when you get to rep 12-15. It’s different for everyone, but the more quiet my inner self got, the more I focused on getting that last rep out.
•”You are what you believe.” Probably the most influential part of the entire book. It didn’t matter whatever day I had, or If I had a random water works episode, it didn’t matter what time it was, or whatever I felt I hadn’t done or accomplished In my life. I don’t think I’m really anything as much as being a person goes, but I believed, that for the greater part of six weeks, 2-3 times a week, I was gonna squat a median baseline of 225, 20 freaking times. Sans for one session, that’s what I did. And I’m better for it.
“Should you run this while trying to cut?” No. Can you? Yes.