Super Squats Routine

[inflated]

If you are trying to gain mass but are stuck in a plateau, one the best routines is the super squats routine. Randall J. Strossen put together a mass building routine that if followed religiously will definitely put on the size. A few caveats; If you are lactose intolerant the diet plan won't work for you--lots of milk. Squats are difficult and if not done with excellent form can be very dangerous as well. Every person I know who has stuck to this routine has overdeveloped glutes one of the by products of lots of squats. The workouts are fairly brief but are really difficult when done correctly. Find this guys book and follow the program if you want to start growing.

[Mdlftr]

I have heard of this routine and have seen the book. Although I personally have not tried this particular routine, I have to say that squats should be a prime part of the workout routine of any one who is serious about getting big.

One thing I've personally observed is that deep leg work outs (as with squats) leave you breathing deeply and really work your body hard! With hard, targeted work, proper nutrition and rest, you WILL grow!

Mdlftr

[WhoDunIt]

Can this be found on the Internet somewhere? I'm getting back into squats at a max of only 185lbs (legs can take it, though the back still needs a little persuasion) for 5 reps and this sounds like it'll be worth it and I'm drinking alot of milk already.

[inflated]

Originally Posted by WhoDunIt

Can this be found on the Internet somewhere? I'm getting back into squats at a max of only 185lbs (legs can take it, though the back still needs a little persuasion) for 5 reps and this sounds like it'll be worth it and I'm drinking alot of milk already.

I have seen the book on Amazon and at used book stores as well--the workout is based on 20 rep squats---very difficult but the results are great.

[WhoDunIt]

20 reps per set?

[inflated]

Originally Posted by WhoDunIt

20 reps per set?

One set 20 reps and then the rest of the workout--20 reps at the weight you would normally do for 10. Not as easy as it sounds, many people vomit the first time they try this. A spotter is a good idea for the last few.

[WhoDunIt]

Ah, that wouldn't be too bad....just might have to give it a try this week!

Thanks yet again inflated!

[muscleboyil]

It works, I promise I've been doing the squats for a month, and I've succeeded in busting open my favorite jeans because my glutes and quads grew like crazy. The boost in natural testosterone levels and increased circulation will fuel a good overall muscle gain (finally, happened to me) if you're training well. My only question is how do I pause the quad/glute growth to let the rest catch up?

Woot!

[bulknola]

Yeah i was wondering about this routine myself. Has anyone done it with anything other than the 1/2 to a full gallon of whole milk a day? I'm dying to try it for the original six week program.

Muscleboyil, how much weight did you gain and how much do you think was fat?

[inflated]

Originally Posted by muscleboyil

It works, My only question is how do I pause the quad/glute growth to let the rest catch up?

If you keep to the diet and program, the rest of your body will grow as well. However, you will have overdeveloped quads and glutes, get used to buying custom made pants. My wife teases me that my butt has its own zipcode.

[muscleboyil]

I maintained a good diet, and my weight stayed the same. However, my body has been reshaped, as my measurement changes indicate. I lost alot of fat and have replaced it with vascular size. Oh, and I don't do milk. Quit that years ago

[WhoDunIt]

Man, I've been trying this with a variety of lifts this week......stairs have not been easy to negotiate of late either..................


I did manage to knock out a 20 rep set of leg presses at 845lbs though........and had trouble walking for about 10 minutes after that

[nj.]

And you do these squats every time? (e.g. 3 times a week?)


But if you have to do 20 reps with your 10 rep max, doesn't that make you a lazy, self-deceiving liar? Cos you could do much more than you were claiming.

I'm sure your hamstrings will respond to a work-out like that, but I'm not too sure if it's all that great.


Now, I haven't had a chance to look at the actual (rather old...) book, but, I'd be interested to hear more (very much, even, with a positive and open mind. Despite the scepticism)

[WhoDunIt]

I'm sticking with it just to see what happens, I do feel a little more solid already though!

[inflated]

If you want to benefit from this routine it must be followed religiously--no substitutions. Squats mean heavy deep squats with perfect form--not leg presses or anything else. The diet and the workout if followed strictly will definitely bring results. It is an old classic, I found my copy of the book used online.

[WhoDunIt]

Thanks Inflated, I'll keep that in mind.

[wolfotehmoon]

I want to try, but I don't think my knees are quite ready. :C I guess I'll stick to SS (subbing deadlifts for squats) until they're less broken.

[WhoDunIt]

My knees aren't overly thrilled with this decision either, but I'm doing it anyway.

[inflated]

Originally Posted by WhoDunIt

My knees aren't overly thrilled with this decision either, but I'm doing it anyway.

If you go very deep on squats your glutes will be the driving force well before the knees come into play. If you do half squats or football squats then its all knees. Deep squats are better for your knees because your glutes do most of the work.

[Mdlftr]

Originally Posted by inflated

If you go very deep on squats your glutes will be the driving force well before the knees come into play. If you do half squats or football squats then its all knees. Deep squats are better for your knees because your glutes do most of the work.

To chime in here:

I NEVER used to do squats because:
1. I didn't know what to do
2. I was scared of getting hurt
3. Working just about any other body part is more "fun"!

My trainer has showed me correct form on squats, and I have to say, it's made quite a difference!
1. I don't hurt after squats, EXCEPT where I'm supposed to be sore, which is in my glutes (butt) sides of my thighs and hamstrings (somewhat)
2. Form is EXTREMELY important. I find that I have to have my feet and knees lined up with each other as I go down. It initially felt like I was going to fall backwards on my ass, but that proved to not be the case, once I'd done the form enough times (with an empty bar) to get the feel of the exercise. What is amazing to me is that the angle of my feet and knees are crucial --do it correctly, and there is no knee pain. Be off form, even just a little bit, and it hurts!
3. The day after a work out, I always wake "UP" if you get my meaning (this is a "family" website, after all). It's GREAT!
4. My ass and thighs have really gotten bigger - in a good, muscular way, and my overall strength has increased.

Bottom line: Squats are hard, but, done correctly, are as good as they say for overall growth and strength. Being hard (and I'm talking heavy deep breathing from the effort as you come up during the rep) they take a lot out of you, but are definitely necessary to a growth routine!

Mdlftr
a recent squats convert

[WhoDunIt]

Right now my knees are all sound and no "fury" (they just pop from time to time without any pain) and usually it's my thighs and ass that are sore afterwards (stairs have been a royal PITA past couple night too) so I must be doing something right here. When I first tried them about a year ago, I just didn't seem to have the balance to do it right until going nuts on the leg presses, extensions, and curls.

[WhoDunIt]

Been at it for two weeks now and it's already noticeable, I have a couple pairs of jeans that just fit in the legs and waist and now the waist isn't really any worse, but they're actually uncomfortable to wear for work because they're getting too tight through the legs and ass! I dropped a tiny screw at work today and we couldn't find it on the floor at first so I tried to flop my pantleg around with my hand to see if it got caught in that or my shoe and the pantleg didn't want to move except below the curve of my calf Interestingly, my shirts have been feeling a little bit tighter than normal in the arms, back, shoulders, and chest than before too..................

I'm definately sticking with this program

[bulknola]

what're you doing for the other 4 or 5 exercises?

[WhoDunIt]

I've been doing the Squats 3 days a week out of 4. One day just those, one day with deadlifts, one day with leg extensions and curls, then the "off" day is leg presses and calves. The first week I did the lone squats and presses day one after the other and left the two later days for squats with the other leg work, but that was a bit screwed up last week because I forget my workout shoes at home and wasn't going back before hitting the gym (but still managed to kill those shoes in the process).

Otherwise I do my other lifts like bench (max at 185lbs but I want way more) and dumbell press (max 65lbs per arm), rows and pull downs (not as many, I'm pretty strong there, maybe around 220lbs and 240lbs respectively),

shrugs (315lbs) and shoulder presses (around 140-160lbs)

then I've dropped curls (about 60lbs for normal and max of 80 for hammer!) and tricept extensions about 95 with a cable machine, 70 laying down with a barbell over my head) down to one day a week.

Squats have been 45lbs warm up, 135-145lbs for the 20 rep set, 205lbs for the next set then about 225 for the rest of those lifts, but I'm bumping up to 155 tonight for the 20 rep set and might try to go higher for my max too. My squats always seemed kinda light on "paper", but I weigh in a just over 400lbs of fat and muscle, so I still do get one hell of a leg work out!

For the and calves I start at 270lbs for warm up, then go to 540 for 8 reps, and 720 for the last two sets, none of these the weight of the sled.

On leg presses, I warm up at the same 270lbs, the do 8 reps at 720 lbs then bump it up to 900, 990, or 1080 for the last couple sets. Lately it's been 990 not including the sled's weight which would push either of those first two up to 1000lbs+.

[inflated]

Your would get even greater results if you were more of a purist with this program and the diet plan that goes with it. Its much more difficult and there are not any leg presses or cable exercises, its just dumbells and weights. It works best when its a total body workout with one set of 20rep squats at a weight you would normally do for ten reps with impeccable form and attention to deep breathing. I found the book on the internet pretty cheap, its a great program if followed strictly.

[WhoDunIt]

I dropped the other leg work this week and did the squats for 4 day instead of 3, and only have used cable machines for the leg extension and curls or thinks like shoulder press', back, triceps, and flies, everything alse has been free weights of one kind or another for a while now. I was able to bump my 20 rep set to 185lbs and have maxed out at 255lbs for 7 reps too. Also noticed a jump in bench and dumb bell presses too, been benching 185lbs for all but my warm up (still 135lbs) and have hit a 3 rep max of 205lbs. Dumb bell presses have been right around 65-70lbs for as much as 7 reps too. Haven't had the money to get the book, money's been really tight of late

[inflated]

Originally Posted by WhoDunIt

I dropped the other leg work this week and did the squats for 4 day instead of 3, and only have used cable machines for the leg extension and curls or thinks like shoulder press', back, triceps, and flies, everything alse has been free weights of one kind or another for a while now. I was able to bump my 20 rep set to 185lbs and have maxed out at 255lbs for 7 reps too. Also noticed a jump in bench and dumb bell presses too, been benching 185lbs for all but my warm up (still 135lbs) and have hit a 3 rep max of 205lbs. Dumb bell presses have been right around 65-70lbs for as much as 7 reps too. Haven't had the money to get the book, money's been really tight of late

The main secret is that the squats should only be one set of 20 heavy deep reps with perfect form in a well paced deliberate manner. They call them breathing squats because if done right you should be gasping for breath when you finish a set. The diet is also important and drinking up to a gallon of milk a day helps pack on the weight. Its the ultimate offseason program if followed religiously--look around the book should be available used for a few bucks.

[wolfotehmoon]

I thought they were called "breathing squats" because you were supposed to take several deep breaths in between reps? :P

[inflated]

Originally Posted by wolfotehmoon

I thought they were called "breathing squats" because you were supposed to take several deep breaths in between reps? :P

You are correct, and you will be gasping for breath as well because 20 reps with heavy weight and perfect form in a consistent even pace is not easy.

[WhoDunIt]

Originally Posted by inflated

You are correct, and you will be gasping for breath as well because 20 reps with heavy weight and perfect form in a consistent even pace is not easy.

No arguement from me there, before I shaved my beard and got my hair cut I looked like a drowned rat when I finished, had one friend jokingly ask me where the pool was at I have drank as much milk and eat as much protien as I can afford to (not as much this week though, had a big CC bill and had my cell phone bill to pay for on this last paycheck ) I've been pretty consistant about these squats too, pretty much nearly every night I go, I'm also doing them first thing when I get there unless the rack is being used already. Did notice something weird today though, I had to wear the jeans that were getting uncomfortable today and they seemed to fit a little better through the waist, but not as much through the legs. When I went to take them off I could drop them from my waist without unhooking them and normally can completely remove them that way, but today I got them down to my quads and they wouldn't budge............

[bigbob111]

I just started squatting again after reading this. also trying to include more milk in my diet. But can someone type out a clear explanation of this routine? I dont think I can manage even half a gallon of milk a day without force feeding myself, plus the whey protien, creatine, and meaty meals. Is there any way to get the milk dosage down to a managable size, maybe add protein from somewhere else?

How many sets are you meant to be doing? I started with a beginers load of 150lbs for 20 reps, and after a different workout finished with the same. am I supposed to just do one set of 20 every 2nd day, or am I supposed to get more sets than that?

[falseyedee]

Originally Posted by WhoDunIt

I had to wear the jeans that were getting uncomfortable today and they seemed to fit a little better through the waist, but not as much through the legs. When I went to take them off I could drop them from my waist without unhooking them and normally can completely remove them that way, but today I got them down to my quads and they wouldn't budge............

Now, that is just HOT. You're growing!

[WhoDunIt]

It's funny, when I did that and they just stopped, I was standing there thinking WTF and it still took me a couple seconds to realise why they had stopped! Once it hit me I knew this was atleast working a little


BTW, you haven't what I posted in the "When You Noticed" thread about the problem I'm now having with my right knee and my truck's 4wd lever wanting to occupy the same space when using 4wd, huh?

I agree this is a great program for building mass. I used it long ago. Basically an increase in your calories and training quads regularly is what gets the growth. I got growth that was reasonable and I was happy with that. As far as people suggesting you cant grow without squats....I disagree. You can use leg press in the same manner or smith machine squats and still get great results.

[WhoDunIt]

I've managed to grow with both free weight squats and leg press, but managed to pull a groin muscle trying to use a Smith Machine, only used it as a source for additional weights after that.