Stella's Adventures in Squatting Journal

The plan of attack

Stella writes to her coach, Bill Keyes:

I want to try heavier squatting. I am sick of high rep squats. I can't bear it any longer..it's all I have ever done on legs. Very rarely have I dipped below 12 reps..and probably NEVER, EVER below 10.

Just for curiosities sake, I would like to see what "heavy" squat would be for me. What do you suppose is a safe way to go about this? I thought about spending my 5 week challenge working on this. I don't care if I bust out of my jeans, LOL.

The other day I did a mini-test. I basically started light and just kept adding 5 or 10 pounds and shot for 10-12 deep squats. I stopped at 175 because I got kind of scared to do more without really knowing what I was trying to accomplish. If I remember right, I don't believe any of the longer rest periods exceeded 2 minutes.

Warm up: some light leg ext and empty bar squats
95x15
115x15
125x15
(I very infrequently go any heavier than this, I stick to ~15 full reps and lately have completed the sets with 3-5 half reps and then maybe one or two more full reps. Don't ask why. I don't know)
135x12
145x12
155x10
(began to lose some depth here and mental confidence but it still felt ok. My quads felt a new kind strain at this point that is hard for me to explain..but it wasn't the same burn as I am used to. The drive up just felt was like a working strain, not a burn)
175x10
(these were all 3/4 squats because I worried I wouldn't come out of the hole, I lost smoothness at about rep 7 but maybe had 11 reps in me.

I completed the remainder of my workout and felt a little surprised that I could have kept going if I lowered the rep range and realizing that I somehow have fallen into the "don't go too heavy or you'll get bigger" mentality in my leg training.

Have I inadvertently slowed my progression by perhaps not going heavy enough on my working sets? The number 200x6 pops out as a realistic goal if I don't prefatigue on the lighter sets. What do I do next trusted friend? How low should I go? ;-)

-Stella

Bill responds:

Stella, High rep anythings for an extended period of time is mentally fatiguing as you are discovering.

This is a squat specialization program. Using the 175 x 10 from above give this a shot twice a week. For the sake of this illustration, I'm going to figure a start date of Thursday 10/04, with the second squat workout Monday 10/08.

10/04: 3 x 8 with 175; 3 x 5 205; 5 x 3 235.

That's 11 total sets of squats. Follow with 4 x 10 of thigh curls; 2 x 12 leg extensions.

10/08: 3 x 8 175; 3 x 5 210; 5 x 3 245

10/11: 3 x 8 175; 3 x 5 215; 5 x 3 255

10/15: 3 x 8 180; 3 x 5 220; 5 x 3 260

10/18: ditto 10/15

10/22: 3 x 8 185; 3 x 5 225; 5 x 3 265

10/25: ditto 10/22

10/29: 3 x 8 190; 3 x 5 230; 5 x 3 270

11/01: ditto 10/29

11/05: 3 x 8 195; 3 x 5 235; 5 x 3 275

11/08: ditto 11/05

11/12: 3 x 8 200; 3 x 5 240; 5 x 3 280

This is 12 workouts over 40 days. Between the 8 rep and 5 rep sets rest 2 to 3 minutes but try to keep it closer to 2. On the 3 rep sets, rest between 3 to 4 minutes but try to stay close to 3.

Important note: even if you feel like it, don't drop the rest periods below 2 and 3 respectively. We're building strength here, not cardio fitness.

Stella, I strongly encourage you to give this a try. Everyone I've put on this program (including me) love it and get good long term results in terms of moving that strength level up dramatically.

If you do decide to do this, the only add'l thing I'd recommend is keeping me posted on how each squat workout goes so I can monitor it for you and provide feedback/adjustments if necessary. I've never had anyone on this 'remotely'.

Bill

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