I’ve never liked squats. They are hard, I have concerns about my knees and back, and quite frankly I’ve never had much of a reason to do them. Then about 3 months ago my younger brother Chris kicked my ass in a Crossfit workout involving “Thrusters”. A thruster is a deep squat with a bar resting on the front of your shoulders, and after you stand up you press the bar overhead.
In this competition with my brother we were thrusting with 95 pounds. Those that drink the “Crossfit Kool-Aid” say 95# is light. After 21 reps I was spent, and I was only 25% of the way through the workout. Knowing I would not be able to complete the program with the regular weight, I went down to the “ladies weight” of 65 pounds. As a 25-year fitness professional who is still a competitive athlete, I felt confident I would cruise through the rest of the workout. Not so. In addition to my spent legs and lungs, now my wrists were aching.
I looked over at Chris, who was crushing it. That bastard. We are just 1 year apart in age and have always competed against each other. Normally, when it comes to a fitness challenge, I win. Not that day. Instead I stopped the workout feeling humbled.
That same day I made the decision to shift my training focus. I will compete in the 2017 Crossfit Open and hopefully regain my status at the dominant athlete in the family. Of the many things I’d need to start doping to improve my performance, the number one was squatting. I’ve had on and off back and knee problems for many years and needed to find a way to get stronger without getting jacked up. My brother suggested this 20-rep squat program, which at first I resisted. (I’m the trainer, I don’t need his advice). But the more I thought about it, I realized the structure of the program made sense for me. The layout is pretty basic:
Choose a weight you that you can comfortably squat 20 times. Each consecutive workout, add 5 pounds.
Pretty simple. But when I shared the concept with some friends, I realized there is a lot more to the program. So I’ll share what I’ve done and perhaps this will give you some guidelines that may help you.
Workout 1 Warm up-run 4 miles
Squat: bodyweight x 10, 45# bar x 10, 65# x 20.
Stretch
Note: I’m training for an elite Obstacle race so I still have a lot of attention to my running.
Workout 2 Warm-up-hike 3.3 miles, do some core
Squat: bodyweight x 10, 45# bar x 10, 70# x 20.
Foam roll, stretch
Workout 3 Easy bike ride
Squat: bodyweight x 10, 45# bar x 10, 75# x 20.
Foam roll, stretch
Workout 4 Elliptical 5 minutes
Squat: bodyweight x 10, 45# bar x 10, 80# x 20.
Stretch
Note: as these workouts started getting harder, I did less intense activities prior to the squatting.
Workout 5 Elliptical 5 minutes
Squat: bodyweight x 10, 45# bar x 10, 85# x 20.
Stretch
Workout 6 Elliptical 5 minutes
Squat: bodyweight x 10, 45# bar x 10, 90# x 20.
Stretch
Workout 7 Elliptical 5 minutes
Squat: bodyweight x 10, 45# bar x 10, 95# x 20, 115# x 5, 5.
Stretch
Note: having gotten a base, I felt I could start using some heavier weights at the end to build more strength
Workout 8 Elliptical 2 minutes
Squat: bodyweight x 10, 45# bar x 10, 65# x 10, 100# x 20, 115# x 5, 5.
Stretch
Note: I felt there was too much of a jump in weight from the 45# bar to my workout weight, so I added a set in between.
Workout 9 Elliptical 6 minutes
Squat: bodyweight x 10, 45# bar x 10, 75# x 10, 105# x 20, 135# x 5, 5, 5.
Stretch
Workout 10 Elliptical 2 minutes
Squat: bodyweight x 10, 45# bar x 10, 75# x 10, 110# x 20.
Leg Press: 4 heavy sets
Note: without a squat rack, I used a machine for my strength work.
Workout 11 Elliptical 10 minutes
Jump Rope: singles x 200, doubles x 50, 50, 50
Squat: bodyweight x 10, 45# bar x 10, 95# x 10, 115# x 20, 145# x 5.
Roll and Stretch
Note: Instead of me just hopping in a doing my 20 reps, this squat program has become its own routine that I look forward to. I get my music set up, towel, water… Dare I say fun?
Workout 12 Elliptical 5 minutes
Squat: bodyweight x 10, 45# bar x 10, 95# x 8, 120# x 20, 155# x 8, 165# x 3.
Roll and Stretch
Workout 13 Run 1 mile easy
Squat: bodyweight x 10, 45# bar x 10, 95# x 10, 125# x 20, 175# x 3, 2.
Roll and Stretch
I take 3-7 days off between squat workouts. Since I do lots of other training in between squat days, I have to be sure to get enough rest. Ideally I take 3 full rest days between workouts. I finish each workout with a green protein smoothie (see other blogs for the recipe).
I plan to continue the program until I can do 225 pounds for 20 reps and squat over 300 pounds once. My knees and back have been doing great and I notice my volleyball jumping and hill running are improving.
Having shared some of my knowledge, I’ll finish with a shameless plug. I have the best job in the world. I take groups of people on luxury vacations to Costa Rica. We hike, paddle board, eat great food, relax, get a massage, zip line…. The accommodations are deluxe. See www.CostaRicaRetreats.com for more info.
Rich Roe
Certified Personal Trainer
www.RichRoe.com
www.CostaRicaRetreats.com
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