I Made It To Body Weight For My Twenty Rep Squats
I did my twenty rep squats today and couldn’t be more ecstatic with how it’s gone the past few weeks. Normally I do it Mondays but I am not going to bullshit myself or anyone else. With the potential snow storm I am going to probably be up all night tonight so I thought it would be smart to o the squats while I am well rested.
The first month or so was a struggle with the leg burn and breath but breath still runs out. It’s getting easier and the squats are getting easier and smoother.
I have never done well at high rep stuff. My muscles burn out pretty quickly with that type of thing but last summer just for shits I worked up to a ten rep heavy set and I stopped either. around 225 or 235 but can’t remember for sure where I got with that. I was stronger then really focusing on strength more than general fitness as I am currently.
When I began this squat journey I started very light at 95 pounds hoping I’d make it to 185. and dreaming of going higher than that but was prepared not to be too disappointed if I didn’t. I really just thought the whole weekly 20 rep squat program would be something fun to do over the winter while we weren’t out hiking and stuff like that. I thought starting very light would help me adapt a bit to the high reps after all I just wanted a fun and interesting challenge. My knee was angry back then too from walking full speed into the bench. Did you know the edge of the bench just happens to meet my leg just below my knee?
In this fun squat journey so far I’d say 180 was the hardest for me. I don’t know why but I really struggled with that weight. I think it was more mental than anything else. It just felt heavy as hell on my back.
Today’s two hundred pounds might have been the easiest day for me. Don’t get me wrong, it felt heavy and was heavy but I was mentally there and able to control my breathing the best in a while. The reps were all fast and explosive. I’d go so far as to say the last rep looked like the first rep with nice straight bar path and not letting the weight drift forward on the way up like I can do at times when squatting. I lost count and ended up actually doing an extra rep to be safe so it was 21 instead of 20 today but a little extra work hasn’t hurt anyone.
Right now I’m hopeful I can make it up to 225 pounds. I don’t know how realistic that possibility is but I am still hopeful. I have a feeling these squat s are going to go fine now until they don’t with no warning. Of course safety and proper form will be more important than anything as the weight increases and I’ll continue to record to make sure I don’t see anything wrong that I didn’t feel. Eventually something will break with these just like any other progressive thing like this but I won’t push through poor technique and risk being put out of commission due to stupidity. I am actually content with where I am at now with these but I can’t quit if it’s going well.