re: Annual Squatober Thread - TigerDroppings Year 4: SEE YOU IN 2024!!!!

I agree, not that I feel cheated, the entire week together was a great bunch of workout sessions. I've done many tempo SQUAT! workouts, but I usually do sets of 2s, 3s, and 4s with tempo on the descent as well as the ascent, and often with a pause at the bottom. So doing 5s with only a tempo on the descent was new. Liked it, appreciate the opportunity to mix things up, just preferred these unbroken reps to those tempos.

Today felt like the easiest one of the bunch. No cardio. Probably a wise choice by design, week 1 of a 5 day a week SQUAT! intensive program, if you want people to be able to show up and attack week #2 it may be better to give them a break.

To someone like me, this is a BIG change from what I am accustomed to doing, I'm very surprised I've done as well as I have. I'm waiting for the hammer to fall on my head, or wake up and not be able to feel my arse, something. Maybe I'm just breaking through a barrier after many months and years of frustration with my training. Maybe my daily fasted walking has given me more of a cardio boost than I thought. Who knows. I'm enjoying my daily SQUATS! and pumpkin pie habit.

I may not make it. I love Squatober but after today my disc may be calling it. I’ll know by Sunday.

At least I’ve completed a couple of these before but just so disappointing to go from having the music blaring to start the week to just being able to skate by before my back would lock up to close out the week. Too much butt wink/not enough mobility. Age is finally catching up to me a bit.

So my son has been tagging along with me for the past couple of weeks and making him go through Squatober. The last superset kicked his arse but he is loving these workouts.

Side note: he is 16 and wants to get into shape since he is mostly a couch potato but I’ve been trying to make sure he maintains good form during his lifts.

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I’m thinking these unbroken sets may help me get past that.

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That's exactly what it will do. The proper coaching for beginners is to tell them to perform a vasalva, or tighten their trunk muscles, brace their core, etc, AND DON'T BREATHE WHILE THE BAR IS MOVING. Even Johnny Pain says it in the main Greyskull book, and it's not wrong.....but ......things get more complicated at later levels.

Once you throw in different SQUAT! variations and training styles with set/rep schemes that require you to break that rule, you have to figure out how to get some air, either while paused at the bottom(hey, the bar's not moving, I can breathe, right?), or sneaking little volumes of air through a tight gap in the epiglottal seal while you descend and ascend through a set of SQUAT! reps. Like anything, it takes practice, but eventually through trial and error you'll find your preferred rhythm of how to pull it all off in a coordinated manner. You'll know when you're there cuz it'll feel really damn good.

And I'm very happy to hear about fathers getting their sons (hopefully daughters and wives and everybody else too), into heavy barbell strength training. I've done a lot of shite wrong in my life, but for whatever reason, I was dedicated to heavy lifting with a barbell from the age of 14-21, in my opinion it laid the foundation of whatever health and vitality I have today that has pulled me through lots of bad shite and bad habits and long periods of sedentary/sloppy living. IF they stick with it for a solid 5ish years in their mid teens to early 20s, it'll pay dividends for life for them too.

Y’all need to go to YouTube and type Brian alshure breathing and bracing and watch first couple videos

His explanations were good, I've also used the soda can model as a way to explain trunk bracing. Ed Coan gives the best squat teaching and explanations for my money, but Brian Alsruhe hits the important points as well. I'm familiar with him, but had never watched any of his breathing/core bracing videos.

I will forever be in the minority with my personal breathing habits with SQUAT! Perhaps I should have said, big and bold, THIS WORKS FOR ME, but don't do as I do unless yer really really sure it works for you too.
As I've made it known in here in other threads, I've squatted over 3X bodyweight, never been injured, only missed 1 SQUAT! rep in my life out of thousands(and it was due to losing trunk stiffness, just like Alsruhe discusses in the 2nd video I watched, MY #1 TIP! BREATHING & BRACING REVISITED, so I know I know what I'm doing FOR ME. It may not work for anyone else.

My long standing issues with poor cardio capacity force me to find ways to breathe at times while I'm doing sets that take a longer period of time. Whether that be due to a higher rep range (e.g. >5 reps for me), or slower reps as in tempos or pauses. I will get light headed and have to either cut sets off early or risk getting dizzy/light headed, and potentially pass out or fall. Sets of 5 or less reps, no breathing during the set, until it gets really heavy (>85%), then I tend to need a reset and a new breath at the top after rep 2 or 3.

Dude it hurts to sit down.

I was sore Tuesday and a little on Wednesday, but overall I've not had many issues.

The first week supersets were pretty good. I couldn't do the bench press and chin up superset because I wasn't about to unload my barbell and move it before each set of chins.

The volume was pretty manageable. I expect next week to increase in weight and intensity.

Also, I remember cardio being tougher last year.

It’s posted but I can’t post the pic for some reason.

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420lbs

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Nice!

I'm no where near that. Only started squating in Jan and had to take 2.5 months off due to no gym access. I'm using a 255TM, so looking at 215 tomorrow. I haven't tested myself since March. I hit 2 reps at 255 at that time. Sleep hasn't been an issue for me. I've gotten more each night. Surprisingly, I'm not too sore right now. Only issue currently is just below my right kneecap periodically is a little tender. I took it fairly easy this weekend and limited myself to a 30 min walk and a 1 hr bike ride each day. I plan on using a sleeve on my knee tomorrow and getting after it like normal.