20-rep squats - The workout

RobRegish · Post by **RobRegish** » Sun Mar 01, 2009 5:18 am

I list this in the Blueprint as a classic, and for good reason. I really struggled with "giving it away for free", being respectful of auther Randall Strossen's work. As such, I provide a link there to buy the book. And I still believe it IS important to buy that book to grasp the full gravity of the program. In the interest of helping Blueprint customers out though, I provide the guts of it here:

Here it is:

Bench press or Dips - 2 sets of 12
Squat - 1 set of 20 supersetted with
Pullovers - 1 set of 20
Bent rows - 2 sets of 15

Don't let the simplicity fool you. Those 20 rep squats are done with a weight you usually use for 10 reps, performed with deep breaths in between each rep, followed immediately by a light set of breathing pullovers.

The devil is in the details though, and Strossen brilliantly walks you through the execution, rep by rep. Such abbreviated, full body routines are way undersold today and exactly what's needed for many lifters. Sorely needed in some cases.

If one set doesn't feel like enough to you, please look at the weight you're using. Properly done, this should border on a religious experience. The LAST thing you should be thinking about is doing another set. Strossen recommends peforming this workout up to 3 days a week, adding 5lbs a session. Younger trainees may be able to do it, but plan on lowering that frequency as your Feast phase progresses. I've found if you can hack it, that 3x a week frequency quickly moves to 2x a week and finally 1x a week in the final week of a 4 week feast phase.

If you're concerned about your lower back given the time it takes to execute the squats (over 3 minutes for all 20 reps, in some cases), look into the Ironmind hip belt or Spud Squat Belt I detail in the Poll: 20 rep squats thread in this part of the forum.

Hard work, lots of milk and a true test of your inner strength.

YouTube · Post by **askmass** » Sun Mar 01, 2009 2:11 pm

That's it!

Although, I do not advocate store brand milk in this day and age, myself.

BrainSquirt · Post by **BrainSquirt** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 2:48 pm

askmass wrote:That's it!

Although, I do not advocate store brand milk in this day and age, myself.

askmass,
What about substituting store brand yogart and cottage cheese in this day and age? thx

YouTube · Post by **askmass** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 5:18 pm

They are essentially produced from the same sorry milk supply.

I should clarify, however, that by "store brand" I'm referring to non-organic.

Raw milk products rank far and away best assimilated and most nutritious, followed by pasteurized organic (as good as you're allowed to legally buy in many states, unfortunately), with "store brand" (even if it's a so-called big name brand) a very distant last place.

MonkeyWrench · Post by **MonkeyWrench** » Sat May 16, 2009 8:11 pm

Wow, there was this older dude in my gym who used to talk all the time about 20 reps squats. I thought be was crazy talking about such high reps, but he was still big and strong. OK. I'm listening.

RobRegish · Post by **RobRegish** » Sun May 17, 2009 5:33 am

MonkeyWrench wrote:Wow, there was this older dude in my gym who used to talk all the time about 20 reps squats. I thought be was crazy talking about such high reps, but he was still big and strong. OK. I'm listening.

Highly recommended you buy the book. And no, I don't sell it

Those old timers knew their stuff and this is a great example. We use 20-rep squats in the context of The Blueprint to maximize overall "bulking" cycles. Especially helpful to those that are underweight/ectomorphs looking to slap on many pounds of muscle.

I like it because it has stood the test of time.