100-days of squats: challenge and experiments

[Kit_L]

As the title suggests, this is a challenge to everyone: 100 continuous days (so, specifically, no rest days!) of some form of squats.

I am on day 4; I have found I have become noticeably (to me) weaker all around, so about six weeks or so ago, started resistance training again. More on this below.

Today was day 4 of my personal challenge; this is what it looked like. I am alternating heavier and lighter days (all relative, of course); numbers below.

10 x empty bar

10 x 30Kg

10 x 35

10 x 40

As you can see, no records being broken here. Yesterday:

10 x empty bar

5 x 30

5 x 40

5 x 45

But, interestingly, by keeping the loads to light (perceived) no DOMS, and this is very unusual for me. I have an Olympic barbell set and a decent squat rack on the back deck, so no excuse for no squats. I do have a few more workshops to do before the end of the year (Perth, Sydney, and Cairns) so on the travel days, will have to improvise. Stay tuned for what that looks like.

The rest of the playing looks like this:

Vertical pushing (Wall HS Pups) and Vertical pulling (chins, pull-ups, mixed grip)

The other day is horizontal pulls/chins (sometimes called "Australian pull-ups), and pseudo planche push-ups.

This may be my last change to get strong again, so am playing with intensity! Making it public to reduce what Martin Berkhans calls "fuckarounditis"; the article is spot on, in my view—read it here:

https://leangains.com/fuckarounditis/

[jaja]

Take before and after pictures! I never do and I usually end up regretting it.

[Nathan]

I will take you up on this when I get back home from the workshop  Unless you make me squat while I'm at GP  I think I'll make mine more of a skill-based challenge by playing with lots of varieties and perhaps perfecting the dragon squat or something 

[Kit_L]

@Nathan: The squat rack is on the back deck...

[Kit_L]

@jaja: Nah, the numbers will speak for themselves, if I can get this to work.

[Kit_L]

Day 5

5 x empty bar

5 x 30

Something to ponder: I have always trained squats hard, in the sense that I always go close to failure (which for me is always the lower back). Because I have been having some lower back problems recently, I decided to change that approach, and to work in the "it feels easy" zone, and do more sets instead. 

So, 5 x 40, really easy. In an earlier session, I did three sets of 5 x 40, because that felt right for the same reason.

5 x 45, definitely feeling that keeping the perfect groove, with no forward inclination of the body, is easier. Maybe this is the wisdom of more, lighter sets: getting the form right.

5 x 50, harder, but perfect form. No heavier today.

(5 x 45) x 2, perfect form. I can feel the body re-learning this movement; feels really exciting! Almost failed on the third-last rep of second set, but form stayed perfect, so no a twinge in the lower back. Keeping elbows high is the secret.

[MarkusO]

Nice Kit, looking forward to this! Focusing on good form is the way to go for me too and has proven to be very beneficial. A nice book to complement this challenge is Matt Perryman's Squat Every Day: Thoughts on Overtraining and Recovery in Strength Training.

[Kit_L]

Bought this just now. ¢99??? What a bargain!

10 x empty bar

10 x 30, even this tiny weight feels heavy today! Let's see how the next set goes.

10 x 30! Legs and glutes feel pumped, even on this pathetic weight! Yesterday's workout must have taken more out of me than I thought.

10 x 30. Kg. Felt heavy! Form perfect, though, and if I am going to be true to the "it feels easy" approach, then no heavier and no more. Day one of Part A teacher intensive begins today, and "muster" is 08:30.

*muster: a Marine Rescue/military term, meaning have to be ready to head out at 08:30, and not a second later! Liv implemented this nomenclature earlier this year, to avoid any wiggle room!

[Kit_L]

V. quick post today (Part A in session)

5 x empty bar

3 x 30

3 x 40

2 x 45

2 x 50

(1 x 55) x 3

((3 x 45 1/1/2s) + 2 x 45). All together means one set; 1/1/2 are go to bottom position, lift up past sticking point, drop back down, lift up and count as "1" by three, then two complete reps, so five reps in all). Working the one-and-a-halfs is a great way to improve power out of the bottom position, and to make sure your position and alignment are perfect. 

[Kit_L]

Day 8 (I think)

10 x empty bar

10 x 30

(10 x 40) x 3 The last five in each set took effort, but if I were asked to estimate this, I'd say around 75%, and because I have decided that controlling form is priority #1, this is fine.

Perfect form; zero strain in the lower back.

 

[Kit_L]

Day 9

10 x empty bar

10 x 30

10 x 35

2 x 40

2 x 50

Legs a bit tired today, and massive workshop commitments. 

[nick_kuchedav]

Sensei, I don't know whether you remember but I said you few times that you have to squat more often  :) (IMHO). Very happy to see you lifting weights again.

I did quite a similar thing at the beginning of 2015.

1set of 10 front squats every day for 90days. I started from 60kg and went up to 120kg. But my 1RM at Day1 was something like 140+.

I tried it with a couple of people after that and every one of them became way stronger at the end.

On 9/30/2018 at 2:57 PM, Nathan said:

 I think I'll make mine more of a skill-based challenge by playing with lots of varieties and perhaps perfecting the dragon squat or something 

 I think dragon pistol will be way to easier for you :)

[Nathan]

29 minutes ago, nick_kuchedav said:

 I think dragon pistol will be way to easier for you

Ha!  Yes, I've done it before. I have pretty good proportions for the movement, but perfecting it would still take some work  Maybe before I leave I will get Kit to give me some FS pointers. Then I can implement some of those too!

[Kit_L]

On 10/5/2018 at 10:10 PM, nick_kuchedav said:

Very happy to see you lifting weights again.

Day 10

"Very happy to see you lifting LITTLE weights again"!!!  Sorry, no more time today to comment on your post beyond that, but I will come back to it once Part A is over (tomorrow).

10 x empty bar

8 x 30

5 x 40

4 x 50

2 x 55

1 x 60

5 x 50

Whole body tired today but, still, getting stronger, albeit slowly. For some odd reason, I posted this yesterday, but it did not upload.

[Kit_L]

Day 11

10 x empty bar

10 x 30

8 x 40

5 x 50

Hard work today. Last day Part A now.

[Kit_L]

I taught a 90 minute class today—and I can feel my flexibility is improving. I expected the 'squat challenge' to tighten me up, but this has not happened, so far. I will keep reporting on this.

[nick_kuchedav]

8 hours ago, Kit_L said:

I taught a 90 minute class today—and I can feel my flexibility is improving. I expected the 'squat challenge' to tighten me up, but this has not happened, so far. I will keep reporting on this.

I even expect you to become more limber  Strength can be beneficial for flexibility, can't it?

[Kit_L]

On 10/8/2018 at 2:47 AM, nick_kuchedav said:

I even expect you to become more limber  Strength can be beneficial for flexibility, can't it?

Most definitely—but only if you are not exhausting the system (I always used to train to failure; but not this time around). Very interesting.

Day 12

10 by empty bar

10 x 30

8 x 40

(5 x 50) x 3

Even if I say it myself, excellent form. Using lighter weights means that I can concentrate on form; everything feels better.

[nick_kuchedav]

11 hours ago, Kit_L said:

Most definitely—but only if you are not exhausting the system

 

I believe the same is true for flexibility, too. Recently I have worked with a couple of yoga people that became way tighter when they do yoga, compare to the periods of time that they took a break.

[Kit_L]

Day 13

10 by empty bar

10 x 30

10 x 40

5 x 50, and done for today.

Systemically tired, but form maintained. 

Have a look at this interview with Firas Zahabi; I had not heard of him before yesterday, but what he says is interesting, and relevant to this thread. Still no DOMS.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fbCcWyYthQ

 

[nick_kuchedav]

13 hours ago, Kit_L said:

Have a look at this interview with Firas Zahabi; I had not heard of him before yesterday, but what he says is interesting, and relevant to this thread. Still no DOMS.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fbCcWyYthQ

 

 

I started to follow Zahabi something like 10years ago. He definitely has grown since then, but IMO he is way sharper in his MMA specific work than in doing strong and functional people. In this interview (I'm speaking about the whole episode) he mentioned a few topics which are mainstream, but total bull sh... for me. I believe he spoke about flexibility, too. 

Nevertheless, I'm also a big fan of gradually introducing volume, intensity, frequency and so on. But I think your experience and consciousness is your biggest plus here, not any formal theoretical concept.

[Kit_L]

Day 14

@nick_kuchedav: I am sure you are right; I was offering his perspective only as a counter to my usual approach to resistance training, which is to go to failure, then drop some weight, and do more... And please email me on the parts of his interview that are total fluff from your perspective some time when you get a moment.

All squats today were done with a pause in the bottom position; so dead start from bottom in other words. This seems to develop real strength, for me.

5 x empty bar

5 x 30

5 x 40

3 x 50

(1 x 55) x 5, and after last single,

5 x 50

I felt I could have done my singles on 60, but decided not to; the form was not perfect on 50 and I have noticed this often before (perhaps it is true for most); the closer I get to 1RM, the easier it it to lose form, even if only subtly. In my case, if I lose it even slightly, it hurts (lower back). So: strong incentive to stay on form!

So, thinking about this, and the Zahabi interview (and @MarkusO) plus I have finished Matt Perryman's book. Summing across both, I will simply keep on going and see how the weights 'raise themselves' (by this I mean that knowing me, I will always want to lift heavier when I feel I can). Speaking generally, my whole body is feeling more comfortable and still no DOMS. This is a first for me.

 

 

[Kit_L]

Day 15

5 x empty bar

5 x 30

5 x 40

2 x 50

1 x 55

1 x 60

(3 x 50) x 5

Form tighter in bottom position today. Pause at bottom. Even with my significant LLD, felt both legs working and no lateral hip shift.

[nick_kuchedav]

On 10/10/2018 at 4:15 AM, Kit_L said:

@nick_kuchedav: I am sure you are right; I was offering his perspective only as a counter to my usual approach to resistance training, which is to go to failure, then drop some weight, and do more... And please email me on the parts of his interview that are total fluff from your perspective some time when you get a moment.

Sorry, Sensei, but I won't devote 3h30min to him again  . I way prefer to replay all your interviews (and actually started to do so a couple of days ago). But probably I could speak somewhere about the popular myths out there (from my perspective of course).

Quote

All squats today were done with a pause in the bottom position; so dead start from bottom in other words. This seems to develop real strength, for me.

I suspect that you do this because of the smaller relative weight you have to use to do it properly. I really want everyone to have a big paused squat, too (as a % from their normal squat). But in a period of time my best back squat and my best paused back squat were almost equal. And I think this is not good.

Also you know that intensity and volume adaptation are quite different. So if I were you after a while (something like a month) I would quit paused squat for some time.

Quote

I felt I could have done my singles on 60, but decided not to

?

Quote

In my case, if I lose it even slightly, it hurts (lower back). So: strong incentive to stay on form!

Do Liv's QL standing twisted stretch from "slow-flow 1" more often. ??? (the one that you have to make each arm longer than the other)

Quote

Even with my significant LLD

I remember you wrote about this in ONBP book, but would you remind me how big was the difference? And do you have longer tibia/femur? My difference was something like 15mm the first time I did the measurement from the book, but after 12months of partner HF stretch the situation has totally changed  (#ST_changed_my_life)

[Kit_L]

Day 16 (still no DOMS!)

@nick_kuchedav: about 18mm, I believe, equally distributed between tibia and femur (I think I showed you the tibia difference once on a workshop; it's about a 1cm difference). I have started wearing my lifting boots again (Adidas, 25 years old...) and they have a 5mm lift in the right heel, so lower back feels good.

Re. Firas: that interview I linked above to is only 20 minutes long, and it only concerns training intensity. I am not interested in his theories on thinking, or science! We might be talking about different interviews.

5 x empty bar

5 x 35

(5 x 45) x 5

Using a tiny 'double bounce' today. If readers are not sure what this is, it's a standard technique in Oly lifting: instead of pausing in dead bottom position, you rebound slightly (this is only millimetres, but the point is that the whole process then becomes dynamic, a bit like pulsing), relax, then use the second rebound to come out of the bottom position. 45Kg in perfect form is actually enough weight today. The numbers do not reflect this yet, but I feel that I am getting stronger and it's a whole-body effect. With this weight, I am able to adjust (by lifting elbows and chest) the exact balance point coming out of the bottom position, and this involves a tiny forward hip shift, too, resulting in a closer-to-vertical spine. All this is subtle, but I can feel it clearly—the net effect is to transfer the effort to legs and glutes only. This feel excellent in the lower back.

@nick_kuchedav: you wrote, "So I were you after a while (something like a month) I would quit paused squat for some time." That day is today!