20 Rep Squat Routine

Has anybody had any luck doing the 20 rep squat routine where you perform a 20 rep squat 3 times per week along with a few other exercises?

Didn’t do it 3 times a week, but it’s great for guys who are new to lifting. Teaches you to push yourself. Forces you to make progress. And there are probably a million threads on this, try searching for them.

What do you mean with 20 rep squats 3 times a week?

I can do 20 rep squats 3 times a week, but with what load?

Every once and a while I get bored of regular squatting and decide to see with what weight I can get 20 reps with.

supposed to be with a weight you can get ten with, i wouldnt suggest it unless you can squat 1.5 ish BW and have good form

I think Hungry4More has spent a lot of time doing high rep squats, and if I’m remembering right, even a program where he did 20-rep squats a few times a week… but I’m not sure of the specifics, or remember which thread, so maybe shoot him a PM

I followed that routine several times in the past. However, it’t didn’t work so well for me.

The best succes I had with very high volumes of squat work. Like 15-20 sets of 3 to 4 reps where I never reached failure. I didn’t progress well before I switched to a high volume approach. I squat around 580 today…

Cheers, Para

How old are you? Goals, body weight, strength, body fat?

Working infrequent high rep sets of squats into your routine is great and is a great ‘shocker’ to the system, but maxing the fuck out on squats three times a week? Think of the hardest squat workout you have ever done-do you think you could do that three times in a week? And WTF? if you squat your ten rep max twenty times it’s not really your ten rep max is it? Unless you don’t train that hard. Remember-never train past technical failure-or your asking for injury, take it from someone who has nearly out his chiropractors children through private school.

I always preferred to just do heavy sets under ten, finishing with heavy fives or three’s. When I do want to do loads of squats I just do multiple sets of ten. H4M talks about throwing the odd set of eighty on with 175 if I remember correctly, and when you look at those pictures of his legs you can see they work, but I don’t believe he trains like that all the time-but OP-he would be a good person to try and emulate.

[quote]buddaboy wrote:
if you squat your ten rep max twenty times it’s not really your ten rep max is it?[/quote]
You’re supposed to use a weight that you can do 10 times rest with the weight on your back and crank out 20. you can take as many rests as needed.

yeah I think its supposed to be like 10 non stop(not like rapid fire but like regular pace) and then once you get to 11ish reps you take more and more time between reps. And that’s the workout right? Done after those 20…

If I haven’t got time to do all my squat assistance work after 5/3/1 I’ll do a set of 20. I don’t think it completely makes up for missing multiple other sets, but it definitely leaves you sore and pumped. Don’t use your 10 rep max, use whatever weight you would comfortably do for 3 x 10 - maybe 65% of 1RM.
If that was the entire workout then yes you could do it 3 times a week. But I wouldn’t see the benefit compared to a proper workout unless you had very minimal time.

I do multiple rest-pause sets of 15-20 reps of Front Squats twice times a week. That with some hamstring exercises is my current leg routine, and it works wonders.

Platz was an advocate of high weight, high rep squats.

EDIT: Why my posts always get edited ?

High rep squats have done a lot for overall leg hypertrophy for ME; having said that…I’m built to squat. So some people will just get a huge ass from doing this, with minimal quad/hammie hypertrophy. I’ve done everything from 525x1, 405x13, 355x20, 225x50, 155x80, 135x100…If nothing else, crazy high reps build mental toughness, which makes lower reps seem like a breeze.

While my 1rm has probably suffered a little bit from focusing for a long time on high reps, my leg size would’ve suffered if I’d done the opposite. You can do well in both worlds, but you can’t have the BEST of both of them at the same time.

[quote]kakno wrote:
And there are probably a million threads on this, try searching for them.[/quote]
One thread from last year, where we discussed the idea in general:
http://tnation.T-Nation.com/free_online_forum/sports_body_training_performance_bodybuilding/its_time_to_20_rep_squat

[quote]lemonman456 wrote:

[quote]buddaboy wrote:
if you squat your ten rep max twenty times it’s not really your ten rep max is it?[/quote]
You’re supposed to use a weight that you can do 10 times rest with the weight on your back and crank out 20. you can take as many rests as needed.[/quote]
Originally, in the 1920s, it was actually more common to take a few breaths in between each rep, not just after hitting failure at 10. But the method you described is more common nowadays.

[quote]illgixxer wrote:
And that’s the workout right? Done after those 20…[/quote]
Yes and no, depending on who you ask.

Randall Strossen’s popular “Super Squats” routine from the '80s, and most of the earlier 20-rep squat-focused programs, recommend lower volume full-body training as part of the same workout (1-3 x 10-20, 1 exercise per bodypart). To say the program is challenging is putting it lightly, but that’s half the point.

[quote]ParagonA wrote:
I followed that routine several times in the past. However, it’t didn’t work so well for me.

The best succes I had with very high volumes of squat work. Like 15-20 sets of 3 to 4 reps where I never reached failure. I didn’t progress well before I switched to a high volume approach. I squat around 580 today…

Cheers, Para[/quote]

Do you ramp up CT Style or do you warm up then do 15-20 sets of 3-4 at say your 6-7rm?