20 Rep Squat Routine

[ironmaster73]

Lol virtually identical weight/reps at same bodyweight many moons ago. Built mental stamina more than anything else I had ever experienced up until then.

Squats are off the table for me anymore so it's all leg press now that i do just to maintain some semblance of a leg day without further back or knee trauma, but I'm convinced the leg power that i still have to this day comes from that period of my training yrs ago. 20 rep squats were without equal in so many ways.

The brutality of this workout and depths to which you must reach down inside yourself just to complete that 20 rep set week after week can only be explained by having someone go through it themselves, it could never be explained with words.

Too true my brother.

 

[EliteWolfPak]

Adding to routine this week

 

[mexbeast]

Best thing i ever did for my mental toughness! I started reading iron Man mag in 95 or so, so i got most of my training routines from it. Good memories.

 

[Lifter2009]

Loved doing those . Was the only Olympic weightlifter in our gym that would go that high a rep range, most OL are 1-2-3 and 5’s were high volume. Did 182.5k (400) for 17-18 reps ONCE. Think best 20 was legit 165k-ish (365). Always collapse and suck wind for like 10m after.

 

[buck]

As has been mentioned the mental aspect was where the good likley came for me. Same as when i used the German 10x10 when squatting.

 

[pesty4077]

As has been mentioned the mental aspect was where the good likley came for me. Same as when i used the German 10x10 when squatting.

I did that routine was I was younger. That was brutal.

 

[akajavman]

Did sets of 20 back in the day and started with 3 sets worked my way up until I could do 10 sets nothing else once I hit 5 sets as it was exhausting. Added like 3" to my quads in a couple of months. In my later years I was able to do sets of 20 with 405. Ah the good old days! At 63 only dream of it lol

 

[Alpha246]

I've done a program built around 20 rep squats before when I was younger. It was brutal!

 

[qbkilla]

Looks similar to supersquats, been seeing alot of talk lately on social media about 20 rep squats

 

[AlexDavis43]

Did sets of 20 back in the day and started with 3 sets worked my way up until I could do 10 sets nothing else once I hit 5 sets as it was exhausting. Added like 3" to my quads in a couple of months. In my later years I was able to do sets of 20 with 405. Ah the good old days! At 63 only dream of it lol

Jesus. 20 x 405?? That's a lot of work man

 

[Celt123456]

Did sets of 20 back in the day and started with 3 sets worked my way up until I could do 10 sets nothing else once I hit 5 sets as it was exhausting. Added like 3" to my quads in a couple of months. In my later years I was able to do sets of 20 with 405. Ah the good old days! At 63 only dream of it lol

Respect, that's some old school mental grit

 

[akajavman]

Jesus. 20 x 405?? That's a lot of work man

Yes it was and pushes your limits!

 

[Fa Seeshus]

The late great Dave Draper website Iron Online had a bunch of cool old-school routines.

Bodybuilding, Weight Training, Nutrition and Diet Guidelines from Mr. Universe Dave Draper

www.davedraper.com

Dave and Laree used to always answer questions. Dave was the real deal.

 

[MoMOz]

This is an altered article showing a Stuart McRobert interpretation of the classic routine for adding size in a hurry, a simple enough version of the 20 rep squat routine:

1.) Situp
2.) Squat, followed immediately by
3.) Light Breathing Pullover
4.) Calf Raise
5.) Bench Press
6.) Stiff Legged Deadlift (once a week only) followed immediately by
7.) Light Breathing Pullover
8.) Pulldown, Bent Row or Chin
9.) Barbell Curl
10.) Close Grip Bench Press


The squat has been placed second in the routine because in the later going it’s so tough that it needs all your energy and motivational reserves. Some people prefer to leave it till the end of the routine, but we recommend you do the squat early and take a good 15 to 20 minute breather following the accompanying pullovers. Take as long as you like, as long it takes to do justice to the rest of the routine.

Squat in good form, use heavy weights with lots of breathing, and add weight every workout. Eat lots of high-protein foods, rest and relax as much as you can and maintain a positive outlook.

You’ll be doing ONE TOP SET for each exercise. Precede this with a warmup set or two.

The cycle lasts nine weeks. For the first three workouts you’ll be training within your limits. Don’t just jump into the hard stuff immediately, get some momentum going. Start out using easily managed poundages and add to them so that by the 4th workout you’re pushing hard to get the required reps. The next seven weeks will test you and your desire to attain.

Keep the reps at 20 for the squat, pullover and calf raise. 12 for the deadlift and 6 to 10 for everything else. The idea is to time things so that you are starting the full bore effort in the 4th workout. At this point, don’t stop a set because you’ve reached the repetition goal. One set each, no holding back, increase your poundages each workout.

Of course, you’ll also be increasing your consumption of food and drink during this period, if you want to make gains. There are just 10 exercises in the program. Crunches are not done to the limit and pullovers are done with a light bar for the stretch, breathing and ribcage expanding benefits. You have only 8 hard sets each workout. Add nothing. Maintain the workout by workout squat increases at all costs, even if that means dropping other exercises near the end of the cycle.

The routine is to be done twice a week. Take an extra day off if you really need it.

Rest.
Lots.
Eat.
Lots.

Simple.

After the 4th workout you’ll have to psych yourself to add 10 pounds every week to the deadlift and 5 to the squat. You can do it if you want it.
Easy on paper, hard under the bar.

Give it all you’ve got and be amazed.

You're absolutely right, it's really hard to add weight, I feel like I'm going to meet God every time I do it