I’ve been training well over 35 years now, tried everything, and IMHO the 20 rep squat porogram, PROPERLY done, is one of the most effective mass builders you’re ever going to find, at least it was for me. I tried this program right out of high school and made some of the best gains of my life. I grew everywhere, putting on close to 20 lbs in 6 weeks. The only supplements I used were milk and protein powder, by the end of each workout I was usually puking in the washtubs.
An anerobic foundation was laid that carried me for years. It was THE most balls busting routine I’ve ever done and taught me what hard work was. I’m a big believer in this program and highly recommend it. In recent years a version I’d use would be to finish off each quad workout with one set and max out with between 20 and 35 reps.
Be careful though. I sustained one of the most significant injuries of my training career when I separated the cartilage surrounding my rib cage during one of these sets. It happened around the 30th rep in 1995 when I was in a zone and determined to continue beyond the point of exhaustion. I was left with a nagging injury that I periodically re-aggravate to this day, such that I no longer do max attempts but tend to concentrate on overall fitness and pump.
Breathing squats are great. I have used them myself and i have used them with a few of the guys i have coached (some of who, by the way, doubled their squat max in a few weeks). Its great for quad development, but first and foremost it teaches you to quit being pussy. This competence is very useful for every other endeavour in the wheight room.
Remember the whole milk! Itll screw up your bloodvalues (which i personally counter using fish oil and fiber), but it increases testosterone and bulks you up.
[quote]Mikael LS wrote:
Remember the whole milk! Itll screw up your bloodvalues (which i personally counter using fish oil and fiber), but it increases testosterone and bulks you up.[/quote]
What evidence do you have for this statement?
While I can see someone with a low fat/calories diet seeing T increase, I cannot see it for all.
Equally how can you pinpoint this at the milk and not the squats?
My best was 315 fr 30 reps, which has been a goal of mine since starting lifting in '07. I was very happy when I made it, but MY GOD, was it brutal. I worked up from 275 to 315 over a 5 week period. Twice in that time I burst the blood vessels around both eyes. My diet at the time was low fat, medium protien, high carb, with a focus on rice and/or potatoes. Everything blew up. I was as big as I’ve been.
Remember the whole milk! Itll screw up your bloodvalues (which i personally counter using fish oil and fiber), but it increases testosterone and bulks you up.[/quote]
Is there a recommended optimal time of day to consume the 2-3 glasses of milk to maximize size gains?
[quote]hungry4more wrote:
My latest 20 rep squat conquest was with 315(actually 21 reps, I digress); if you’d tried telling me that was less TUT than a complex I would’ve ripped your spine out, if I could muster up the energy to get off the floor. [/quote]
Thats very impressive, in the ‘hows this for mass?’ thread I believe some one said 20 rep squats are no good unless your using 400lbs plus, what rubbish.
OP, why don’t you try 20 rep squats, you don’t know how you’ll respond unless you do, I use the belt squat for them now due to low back problems.
If you don’t get all 20 reps dont despair, the point is to push yourself, if you get 15 reps, complete the 20 by doing 5 more singles or whatever works, the danger of 20 rep squats is people pushing themselves past technical failure and injuring themselves, dont do this.
20 rep squats are great for a beginner (competent enough to squat properly) to bulk up or for more experienced trainees looking to shake up their workout, remember 20 is just the common number, 15 will work or 25, the principle is that your using 66% approx of the bodies muscle in one exercise (between the knee and hip is the largest group of muscles in the body) and working it very hard. I think they’re great for people pushed for time, work as hard as you need to and you’ll only need one leg day a week thats for sure, remember you grow when your resting
good luck
[quote]Mikael LS wrote:
Remember the whole milk! Itll screw up your bloodvalues (which i personally counter using fish oil and fiber), but it increases testosterone and bulks you up.[/quote]
What evidence do you have for this statement?
While I can see someone with a low fat/calories diet seeing T increase, I cannot see it for all.
Equally how can you pinpoint this at the milk and not the squats?[/quote]
Now, this wasnt said in all seriousness, but i do believe it to have some truth to it. If you look at Dorgan 96, youll se that an 8week intervention with 40E% fat instead of 20 increases test by some 15%. I know that there are conflicting reports on the matter, but it gets interesting when you look at studies like Elliot 05, which shows an increase in anabolism with whole milk compared to skimmed milk after a workout. Im not saying that whole milk or just a lot of fat is all you need, but I do find it interesting. In fact, i tried it myself, gorging on whole milk, fatty pork and bananas (I had just learned of quite af few food allergies) while doing a sheiko. Moved my bench 30 pounds.
I dont believe i have pinpointed anything on either squats or milk, so i will refrain from answering the last question.
Stylinnprofilin: I wouldnt know. I have myself a few tall glasses during my workout and after. As i said, I dont think whole milk is a miracle worker, but the added calories and probably the fat has a definate benefit.
I’ve had good results from using 20 rep squats in the past. Maybe part of the reason they work is because you’re doing rest/pause singles with near maximum loads for the last few reps (if you selected the load correctly and are pushing yourself).
There’s also possibly a ‘grease the groove’ type of effect just from doing a lot of consecutive reps with a challenging load.
And you can reach a level of intensity that can be hard to reach with ‘straight sets’ if you do it correctly.
I think like anything, you can hit the wall on progress… maybe sooner than with other routines, depending on your training level etc. I wouldn’t do a 20 reps squat routine for more than a couple of months at a time… even a couple weeks could be plenty. I think pyramiding your weights and mixing up your reps is too important not to rely heavily on that (for me anyway). But as a regular change of pace, the 20 reps squat can be good.