Well, minus having any hair left, that’s accurate… except Crom is begging me to stop conquering at this point.
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That was a pretty amusing rendition
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Fantastic dialog here. There’s definitely something to be said about the value of frequent overcoming of adversity, but I also think this new generation is fortunate in how quickly they can get introduced to it. I didn’t find Super Squats until I had been training for about 5-6 years already: if I had started it in year ONE, lord knows what I could have done. Same with Deep Water for that matter.
But also interesting enough, my current run with it is completely without fear, unlike the first time. I’ve “been then/done that” so much that it’s hard to get super jazzed about a set of 20 breathing squats. It’s almost as though life decided to throw it’s own challenge mode at me by giving my RSV and dorking up my hamstring, because I just plain wasn’t overcoming enough.
PM WORKOUT (1600)
21 ABCs in 5 minutes w/24kg bells
Notes:
- Weaker showing for me, but I’m still hurting from illness and injury, so I’m moving slow and sucking wind and just leaning into effort. Had a meatlovers keto pizza tonight and it was fantastic. Mrs hit me with the “you’re looking huge” comment, so really, everything is in a good spot.
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I don’t now if there is anything better than this other than maybe when my kids tell me I am so strong.
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Once… my wife told me I was right. Beat that
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Mine tells me i am right all the time:
A right dick
A right A$$hole
A righteous idiot
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I just wanted you to know I have ordered myself a new copy of the Super Squat book. Thank you for persuading me to read that book. It should be nominated for the trainer’s bible. (I already had the pdf, but appreciate a physical product more). I intend to put the program to practice in some shape or form. The spark was lit after having introduced a powerlifting day a week to (as) my training schedule.
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@simo74 It’s always high praise to hear from the ones you love, especially the ones that will be honest.
@pettersson Hell yeah dude! You absolutely nailed it. There’s a reason I recommend THE BOOK so much. People think I’m just selling 20 rep squats, but the book, in WHOLE, is the whole package. A few solid programs, a stellar nutritional plan, exercise instruction, history AND psychology all packaged in like 90 pages that can be read in the span of an afternoon? It’s THE keys to the kingdom, and only $10…and people STILL won’t go for it, haha.
AM WORKOUT (0335 Natural Wake up)
SUPER SQUATS Workout 5
Axle clean and strict press away/band pull apart superset
3x10x146/50 reps total
Weighted dips/axle row superset
3x12x65/2x15x203
Squats/pull overs
20x335/20x20lbs
Wonder why I am so stupid for 1 minute
Axle SLDLs
15x253
Poundstone Curls
156xAxle
POST WORKOUT SHAKE
ASSISTANCE/CONDITIONING
20 standing ab wheels
40x90 Reverse hyper
25 pushdowns
Neck work
Tabata burpee chins w/24kg DKB clean and press between rounds
Notes:
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The meds I’m taking to help me sleep through the next with this illness make it very difficult to get up to train in the morning. This was the last thing I wanted to do, but with Tang Soo Do tonight I knew I had zero wiggleroom for my schedule. I’m glad I did it, and it went better than expected. My hamstring hurts more during the day to day stuff, but was actually doing better through the squat. No bulging around the injured area this time. My right abdominal corner flared up a touch, almost hernia-esque, but I imagine I’m just compensating in all sorts of weird ways.
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Talking more about the squats, my breathing is shallower than I’d like, but with RSV that’s about as good as it will get. I’m enjoying my time training beltless (let’s not be stupid about my floppy strongman belt here), as it’s been a good reminder of fundamentals. I had room for a little more depth, and once my hamstring is less touchy I’ll shoot for it, but it’s obvious by the state I’m in at the end of the squats that it’s having the desired training effect. I need to get a little smarter about where on my back I’m holding the bar, as this is the second workout where my hands started going numb at the end and it became a question on if I would lose the bar before I ran out of squats.
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There’s a total absence of fear compared to the first time I ran this program. There’s a slight degree of dread, but more in the “I have to wait in line at the post office” style vs “oh my god this might kill me” style. I know I have to suffer through the squats, but the suffering is subtle. But I’m still young in the program.
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With the absence of the gallon of milk a day, I’m just letting the calories flow free from other high quality sources. It’s been liberating.
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Weight on the dips may need to accelerate even faster. The press is exactly dialed in. Rows are basically Malcolm X to get the reps, and the SLDLs and Curls are in a post destroyed state, so I’m just holding on to survive. My conditioning is still pretty rough with the sinus infection, but I’m doing what I can.
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Had this too and moved to a wider grip towards the end. Although this seemed to make me less braced through the upper back and introduced its own challenges.
This may grow by week 5, but nothing can stop the juggernaut
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@simo74 I am hoping to experience that fear again. Thats the pressure that makes diamonds.
Got in 22 ABCs in 5 minutes. Earned every single one of them. Legit felt like I was going to die. Cardio is getting back, but its not a pretty process.
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AM WORKOUT (0422 wake up via dog) FASTED
REMEDIAL KINDERGARTEN
5 min ABCs+PBJ+5 Min ABCs+.5PBJ
50 pull aparts
25 pushdowns
20 standing ab wheel
20 band curls
30 GHRs
Notes:
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I continue to prioritize sleep as I heal, and decided against a weighted vest walk this morning as a result. Wanted to make the most of the reduced training time and settled on kicking off Kindergarten with 5 minutes of ABCs. Still not 100% cardiowise, and you can see me coughing and spitting through the workout, but effort remains 100%. I was definitely dogging those burpee chins. Hamstring continues to mend well enough. Hitting this workout fasted first thing in the morning with no warm-up is eye opening as usual.
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To refresh, PBJs are TABEARTA+burpee chins+KB swings. For today, I didn’t have a solid 3 per round TABEARTA in me, so I went 3-2-1 respectively, which allowed me a bit of recovery but still had me redlined pretty hard come time for the swings.
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My bicep is 100% of whatever it’s going to be. Caught myself doing some sloppy cleans and didn’t get the normal twinge that came with it. Good sign.
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Tang Soo Do last night was a good refresher after missing 2 weeks of it. Lots of basics and combinations. Whole family has been invited to test for the next belt rank in early Dec, so that’s an exciting development.
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I’ve trained “enough” today at this point, but might get in some bodyweight stuff if I find the time. Super Squats has me focused on the primary goal, which is nice to have that sort of prioritization, but it’s also made these “in between” days a bit difficult to care about.
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Obviously the lifting is great, but this put a smile on my face. You guys are crushing it.
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Thanks man! The kid is super hard charging, and you played a significant role in that, so thank you. You can watch your lineage grow from a distance in that regard. They set a goal at the start of the year to get their green belt before 2023, and with this test they’ll get there. And in the interim, they’re SUCH a better martial artist than I ever was at that age, haha.
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I’d definitely be interested in hearing if hormone optimization improves your sleep (quantity, as I believe you mentioned your quality is pretty high) in the next 6 months or so.
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I am curious. It’s a chicken and egg thing for me, because my sleep quantity dropped sharply around the time that I lost a bunch of bodyweight and started experiencing some symptoms, and I wonder if low test was causing poor sleep or if poor sleep has led to low test.
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Now that’s a great question!
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High praise, amigo. I’m glad your kid found their motivation.
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AM WORKOUT (0345 wake up via alarm)
SUPER SQUATS Workout 6
(3) Incline DB Bench/weighted chin superset
3x12x85s/2x15x15
Behind the neck press/band pull apart superset
3x10x125/50 reps total
Squats/DB pull overs
20x340/20x20lb
Ran out of profanity and switched to blasphemy, followed by max rep Hail Marys to repent.
Kroc rows
17x115
Reverse hypers
40x360
Axle shrugs against strong short bands
1x24
POST WORKOUT SHAKE
CONDITIONING
5 rounds of
- 20 KB swings w/40kg bell
- 10 dips
- 4 standing ab wheels
Time: 7:58
25 band pushdowns
18 band curls
Notes:
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I am almost over my sinus infection/RSV. Last night was my first night without Mucinex Night Shift. I had a few coughing fits, but I woke up significantly less groggy, which was a win. I had to stifle some coughs early in the squat set, and I ended up having a small fit at the end of the pull-overs, but hopefully, by Monday, I’ll be 100% and able to really dig into the breathing portion of these breathing squats.
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I tried a slightly higher bar position and it actually ended up worse than last time. My left hand started going numb around rep 12, and by rep 17 I could feel both hands opening up. Had to rush a little toward the end to make sure I’d make it through in time. You can actually see me struggling to take the belt off when it’s done because I can’t manipulate my fingers enough to work the Velcro.
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The squats themselves are just plain going fantastic. I’m pleased with the depth I’m hitting, despite having to squat around my hamstring. My right lower abdominal is still burning a bit on these, which is partly a result of not having a real power belt, but in that regard I’m also honestly just tickled with how well I’m squatting without a belt. Coming into Super Squats this time around, with a bigger background in higher rep work, has served me well. 20 reps of squats is honestly not too big an undertaking when you’ve done a single set of 800 KB swings. Once I hit rep 10, there was no doubt I’d get through it.
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Keep forgetting to log it, but I’m only resting 1 minute between sets of the non-squat work. Before the squat, I rest for 2 minutes. I’m also not logging my squat warm-ups, but they’re really minimal. Typically, 3-5 reps with the bar, 2 reps with 195, 1 rep with 285 and 1 rep with the workset weight, just to make sure my hamstring is up to task. I’m not even warming up for anything else: jumped straight into the DBs this morning, and I start with the workweight for press on the other days.
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The conditioning at the end was a decent decision. Got in more hip hinging and cleaned up most of my daily work. Still would like to get in some GHRs and some sort of 3-5 minute conditioning blast. Also have Tang Soo Do tonight. Supposed to be “Wild card cardio”, which at least will get the heart rate up.
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squats looked smooth an depth looks good for super squats. Out of interest how much are you feeling them in your quads vs posterior chain and back ?
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