Mrs got a photo of the bruise spreading
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You ever wonder if someone ever attempted 20 rep breathing zercher squats?
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I donāt, no, but I am fairly certain I have seen it before
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AM WORKOUT (0340 wake up via alarm)
SUPER SQUATS Workout 11
Axle clean and strict press away/band pull apart superset (1 min rest)
2x10x161, 1x9x161/50 reps total (continentaled the first set)
Weighted dip/axle row superset
3x12x85/2x15x218
Breathing Squats/pull overs
23x315/20x20lbs
Try to stop the spin from rooming.
Axle SLDL
15x268
Poundstone curls
159xAxle
POST WORKOUT SHAKE
ASSISTANCE
20 standing ab wheels
40x90 reverse hypers
25 pushdowns
30 GHRs
Notes:
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I really dig where Iām taking this. I am going far into the red on these squats despite the weight not moving up. When you have to get to 20 reps just to START the hard work, youāre in a good way. And having my leg wrapped up like that is almost like bloodflow restriction training. Didnāt have too much issue with hands going numb: bar placement seems good. Hamstring is feeling a lot more stable and pain is very tolerable. I feel like, by the end of the program, I should be able to squat without wrapping it, which might actually allow me to go even further along. But thereās no question Iām hitting the intensity intent on these squats. Rep 23 was a stretch, and I barely had enough in me to rack the bar when it was over.
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Was moving a little slow on the cleans this morning. My shoulders are feeling nuked from yesterdayās 30 minute insanity. Decided to live to fight another day so I could come back and crush 161 next workout. My rows have been super rest-pause up until this point anyway, so itās good to spend more time with the weight.
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Doing ANYTHING after those squats is really becoming interesting. Those SLDLs about took a year off my life, the Poundstone curls were another form of Hell, and when my assistance work was all done I went to do some conditioning and literally just had nothing left in me. Incredible to just leave it all out there like that.
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RSV and sinus infection are about 99% healed. I get an occasional phlegmy cough and thatās about it.
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I cut out the start of my videos, but I saw my back while I was getting set up for squats and I look like a goddamn shaved gorilla. This program is working amazingly.
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I am just nodding and smiling over here.
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How long are these workouts taking?
Here is a full one
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Got in TABEARTA when I got home, and then Tang Soo Do. Lotta work on the basics. Iām really trying to focus on not dropping my hands when I kick. Started noticing that bad habit picking up.
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All that damn muay thai.
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@simo74 You and I keep leading the charge on the Super Squat train. If we can do it: thereās no excuse!
@kdjohn Hah! If only I could use the excuse that I was trying to generate power with it. Itās been more laziness, and most likely getting back to my TKD roots where I never needed to guard my head. Took to gluing at least ONE hand to my face while kicking.
AM WORKOUT (0437 natural wake up) FASTED
7 rounds in 20 minutes of
- 25 KB swings w/40kg bell
- 3 ABCs w/24kg bells
- 3 burpee chins
50 pull aparts
20 standing ab wheel
25 pushdowns
20 band curls
20 chins
Notes:
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I may just start calling these Ennui workouts, because itās really how it goes. Something Iāve noticed about Super Squats: I get so keyed in on the lifting that nothing else really matters. āBlast and Dustā ala Dave Tate. But I feel like thatās been what has made this so successful. I accumulated a TON of volume and, with it, fatigue, leading up to this. Now Iām āsoftening upā ala John McCallum, and itās been letting me grow almost unrestricted, and thatās WITH all these stupid injuries and illnesses.
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Swings just sounded right. I most likely need more hip hinging with this program. I apparently jacked up something in my left shoulder at Tang Soo Do last night, as I went for that first burpee chin and snagged something. Just a weird sensation.
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This did the trick of getting the metabolism firing in the morning and getting me on point. Still wanna grab something like TABEARTA later. Glad to get in some of that daily work as well.
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On the treatment front, things just continue to improve. Itās hard to tell whatās real and whatās placebo, but Iāll take what I can. I feel like everything I eat is just becoming muscle. Typically, by this point in a gaining block, I tended to get on the doughy side. Iām definitely adding some fluff, but the proportion of it to muscle seems much more favorable. It also seems distribution is better. Less around the love handles/hips and more evenly distributed.
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I think as more people get on board and have a go at it, it shows that really anyone who is prepared to work hard can do it. I also love seeing how it translates to people of different strength levels, age and mileage.
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@simo74 Like a good chili: the base is there, but we all bring our own spices!
Got in TABEARTA when I got home, alongside 30 GHRs. Hamstring still hurts, but Iām gaining degrees of movement each day.
It dawned on me that I tore my hamstring on the 20th rep of my Super Squat set and still completed the rep and racked the bar, and I realize thatās probably a pretty good example of the necessary degree of intensity that needs to be brought into the program. People constantly wonder āwhat should I do if I failā and I keep saying āDonāt failā and THAT Is what I mean.
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This deserved more than just a like, especially given all the chili i eat. LOL
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I chose that metaphor with great intention, haha.
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Like a Good Neighbor, State Farm is There
AM WORKOUT (0340 wake up via alarm)
SUPER SQUATS Workout 12
(3)Incline Bench press/weighted chin superset (1 min rest)
3x12x95s/2x15x22.5 (10 unbroken in first set)
BtN Press/Band pull apart superset
3x10x120/50 total reps
Breathing Squats/DB pull overs
24x315/20x20lbs
Pause to allow brain to attempt to reinvent language: all that comes out is agony
Kroc rows
20x115
Axle shrugs against strong short bands
1x30
POST WORKOUT SHAKE
ASSISTANCE/CONDITIONING
30 GHRs
52x180 Reverse hypers (holy cow that was AWFUL, I need to do it more)
20 standing ab wheels
25 pushdowns
20 band curls
100 KB swings w/40kg, 5 push ups every time I set the bell down
Total time: 3:05
Notes:
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I started this morning feeling really strong and solid, and Iāve learned enough from this program that those are my most DANGEROUS days. I caught myself in the middle of that squat set getting cute, and the hamstring was sending me little warning signs. I didnāt wrap things as tight as Iāve been doing, which is part of my healing process, but it also means I need to be VERY intentional with every rep I do. I approached today with a plan for 25, but 24 is progression, and it is abundantly clear from how exhausted I am at the end that this was max effort. I DO imagine I could have gotten a 25th rep, but not with the kind of technique I needed to keep my hamstring safe.
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I am such a fan of how this run of Super Squats has turned out, because I have learned SO much. Dipping past the 20 reps, Iāve learned that fatigue within a set of breathing squats is EXPONENTIAL rather than linear. I was honestly feeling pretty good until about rep 18, and then each rep after that was like having to do the previous 18+ reps all over again. Between rep 23 and 24 I aged about 100 years. Along with this, itās an interesting balancing act at the start, because you want to get set up well so youāre strong for all 20+ reps, but you donāt want to waste a second more than necessary ON the set-up because you want that goddamn bar off your back.
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All the other lifts continue to improve. The Mrs has commented on how much my chest has grown, as she uses it as a pillow. And given I havenāt flat benched in a few months now, thatās pretty dandy.
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Mobility is up and pain is down in the hamstring. Still not 100%, but very workable. Guts are a mess from RSV, but seem to be trending in the right way.
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Tang Soo Do tonight, with some stupid conditioning to follow Iām sure. My left shoulder is jacked up from a drill we did the other night, such that getting it into position to shampoo my hair is tricky, to say nothing of squatting and pressing.
11 Likes
I may have missed this, but how much of the exercise rotation youāre employing on this run is planned, and how much is just going by what you feel like that day?
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Good question! To put the bottom line up front: conditioning is the only thing left up to chaos: everything else is intentional.
Iām keeping the base of the program the same, using movements the author recommended in the book.
The original program was recently posted on an article here
Iām keeping the format of pressing overhead, pressing horizontally, row or chin, and the squats and pull overs. I have the SLDLs on one day, and on another, in their place, Iām doing the Kroc rows, shrugs and reverse hypers, just because frequent deadlifts can beat me up a touch. On the day I do SLDLs I also do poundstone curls.
Beyond that, I have my daily work that I try to include either in the workout or somewhere else in the day
50 pull aparts
50 chins
50 dips
40 reverse hypers
30 GHRs
20 standing ab wheels
25 pushdowns
Some manner of curls and neck work
Beyond THAT is conditioning, and that is always chaos.
Iām doing an A and B structure 3 days a week, so some weeks Iāll do DB bench 2x and some weeks Iāll do weighted dips 2x, for example.
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Is that from the book ā365 days of brutal challengesā?
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365 days of Brutality, yeah.
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