20 Rep Squats and Milk

I know a hundred threads like this exist but I’m still going to post.

My first day of this program I only used 165 1bs. on the bar, 245 is my max.
I didn’t think I would finish. By the end I almost passed out and I was breathing like I had just run a marathon. My inner legs are very sorry, which I find strange, but everything else is starting to get sore too.

Next work-out 170lbs x 20 wish me luck.

Whats your thinking behind one set of 20 reps?

and to the inner leg soreness, its most likely because your stance is a bit wider than your accustomed to and the inside of your legs are having to work harder than normal. I squat fairly wide and deadlift sumo and i know that when i made the change from closer stances to wide it took a lot of workouts with sore inner legs for the rest of the week, before I grew comfortable in the new stances.

good luck mate but i dont really know why you’re using 20 rep squats with a 245 max…Just though it was for more advanced people :wink:

[quote]ajcicconi15 wrote:
Whats your thinking behind one set of 20 reps?

[/quote]

Never tried it, have you?

[quote]kaoticz wrote:
good luck mate but i dont really know why you’re using 20 rep squats with a 245 max…Just though it was for more advanced people :wink:
[/quote]

it’ll give him a great size base and plenty of time under the bar. As long as his technique is sound and he doesnt hurt himself

20 rep squats are actually better for beginners imo. I put a lot of weight on doing 20 rep squats back in the day. Like posted above, technique needs to be sound. I believe the 20 rep squat took me from 215 to 225 in 4 weeks and my leg size increased 2 inches. They work well.

[quote]brownab wrote:
ajcicconi15 wrote:
Whats your thinking behind one set of 20 reps?

Never tried it, have you?[/quote]

No I havent ever tried it, but I also havent been training for an incredible expansive amount of time. Ive only been training for about 6 years so Im still learning all the different styles and the advantages, thats why I ask what the thinking is behind 1 set of 20 reps. In my own experiences of doing 10-12 reps at a high percentage weight after 2-4 sets at lower weight/reps, after about 6-8 reps it becomes more of a cardio and breathing excercise than anything else. IMO if you can squat a given weight 8 times, as long as your getting good full breathes at the top of the lift, your good for 2-4 more.

[quote]ajcicconi15 wrote:
brownab wrote:
ajcicconi15 wrote:
Whats your thinking behind one set of 20 reps?

Never tried it, have you?

No I havent ever tried it, but I also havent been training for an incredible expansive amount of time. Ive only been training for about 6 years so Im still learning all the different styles and the advantages, thats why I ask what the thinking is behind 1 set of 20 reps.

In my own experiences of doing 10-12 reps at a high percentage weight after 2-4 sets at lower weight/reps, after about 6-8 reps it becomes more of a cardio and breathing excercise than anything else. IMO if you can squat a given weight 8 times, as long as your getting good full breathes at the top of the lift, your good for 2-4 more. [/quote]

With this program you are taking what is essentially your 10 rep max and doing 20 reps. The trick is to take big breaths between reps and grind out one more rep at a time. 20 reps with your 10rm sounds impossible, but by taking 3-4 breaths between each rep, especially the last 5-8 reps, you will be surprised at what you can do. A true 20 reps set is brutal, and will teach you a lot about yourself.

dmunro, good luck with these. It’s always fun to watch others suffer.

Note to anyone else wanting to try squats and milk:

Be ready for gas. I think I could have fuel a large truck with the sulfurous discharge coming from my ass.

[quote]Modi wrote:
dmunro, good luck with these. It’s always fun to watch others suffer.[/quote]

qft.

especially when your rehabbing. muahah!!

dmunro - i am new to this and was just wondering what your program looks like. do you do one set of 20 once a week? any other exercises with that? its a gallon of milk a day right? thank you

There was a site outlining the whole program in detail but for some reason its been down the past couple days.

bulkingup.moonfruit.com/20repsquats/4513061285

I’ll do my best to describe it.

First, this is a copy/paste of my excel sheet on the program:

BTN Press Med Grip 3x12
Squat 1x20
Pull over 1x20
Bench 3x10
Barbell or Dumbell Row 3x15
Stiff Leg Deadlift 1x15
Shrug to failure
Pull over 1x20

BTN Press is self explanatory.
For the squats you take your estimated 10RM and do it 20 times. The idea is to take it slow, take a few big breaths every rep. I do this from rep 1 to 20. You really have to take your time, and this is supposed to be HARD. The last 5 reps should be doubtful.

The pull-overs I use a light dumbell, like 15lbs and focus on the stretch of the rib cage. Really fill your self with air every rep.

The program calls for barbell rows, but my back and hamstrings couldn’t stay static with a weight that would actually challenge my lats, so I switched to dumbbell rows.

After the SLDL, you don’t put the bar down, but do the shrugs until your grip or traps fail. Whichever is first.

Finish off with another set of pull-overs.

This program is to be done 2-3 times a week, upping the weight wherever possible with the most emphasis put on squat weight.

Also, drink a gallon or 4 liters of milk a day, in addition to your regular meals. This is important. It ups your calories, and protein in-take and “Milk does the body good.”

These are all the details I can remember. There is a text only version of the site/program cached on google with some more information and anecdotes if you search for “squats and milk moonfruit” or something similiar.

My younger brother has been doing this program for 4 weeks and put on 10 pounds.
I started with Starting Strength, then fooled around on 5x5’s my short training career and while I gained some strength I have never gained a lot of weight.

For the record, I know my squat of 245 is pathetic, but I started with a squat of 95lbs at a bodyweight of 135.

Yo man goodluck with these. i’ve used them a couple a times and there awesome. Maybe I’m a bit of a sadomasacist but i liked the pain! oh yeah my old lad coulda killed me because of my gas.

by the way you should be doing it three days a week and adding 5pds to the squat every workout until you get to your 5RM. thats what makes them difficult. The constant up in challenge. Don’t worry as much with the rest of the exercises just get the 20 on squats! that should be your focus. as i got higher in the weights i backed off on the extra exercises until i just did the 20 rep squat, 20 pullovers, 2 sets of bench, and 2 sets of bent rows.

[quote]brownab wrote:
ajcicconi15 wrote:
Whats your thinking behind one set of 20 reps?

Never tried it, have you?[/quote]

Ha. Fella hasn’t read the recent articles either, I’m guessing.

Dmunro, make sure you let us know when you’re weighing around 175 by August. Good luck with it.

Thanks for the great advice and encouragement everyone, I’ll post my progress in this thread.

On the subject of milk and gas - you might want to double check the freshness of your milk. I drink raw milk and have found that it won’t normally make for stinky farts, but once the milk starts to go bad (you might not notice because it still tastes fine, but you can smell the change) I get baby-murdering gas.

Of course, if you’re drinking a gallon a day, it doesn’t seem like the milk would be sitting around open too much and going bad.

I’ve always gotten gas when I drink milk, think I’m just a little intolerant to it.

Almost finish half a gallon today so far. This is hard. I think the drinking milk is as hard as the squats.

If your thinking that then your not squating enough!!! lol