Squat

Provided by the Crossfit Journal and written by Chris Moore.

A bit long for a post, but enjoy. 

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Squat Heavy and Often

By Chris Moore

CrossFit Memphis August 2011

Powerlifting affiliate owner Chris Moore challenges the

CrossFit community to train strength way more often.

“Adapt or perish, now as ever, is nature’s inexorable imperative.” —H.G. Wells

Some of my favorite childhood memories come from watching movies during late summer nights.

Mike Warkentin

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My dad always worked hard second shifts. By the time he

got home, he didn’t mind that I was still awake and running

around the house in an ADD-fueled frenzy. I think he looked

forward to those moments. It was a chance for us to spend

some time together, basking in the late-night novelty.

Our ritual was always the same.

First, you had to have a big wedge of fresh-cut watermelon.

You couldn’t sit down to a movie without that. Second,

we always seemed to watch whatever HBO had to offer.

Usually it was the stereotypical 1980s action flick.

For some reason, I recently recalled a memory of watching

“Kickboxer,” the old Jean-Claude Van Damme fight-fest. I

don’t remember much about the plot, and I really don’t care

to. The movie’s probably as terrible now as it was then. But

I’ll tell you what was great about it: the training montage.

I’m a sucker for a good montage.

Some of the details escape me, but I can still see a young,

shirtless (always shirtless) Jean-Claude moving slowly

through a misty Thai jungle. He was eager to train. Sure of

himself. Maybe too sure.

Frequent, hard, highly

novel training leads to

rapid improvements in

performance. … There is

perhaps no exercise better

suited to this approach

than the squat.

Mindy Bush

Doug Larson demonstrates perfect position with the cambered squat bar.

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It wasn’t long before his wise old master started laying into

him. First, there was kicking. Lots of kicking. He kicked fast.

He kicked slow. He kicked in dramatic slow-motion while

underwater. You could tell this was all terribly important to

the training.

I made note.

Action-movie lesson No. 1: Repetition is key.

Next, I can see a grimacing J.C. being forcibly stretched by

the ankles between two palms. This guy wasn’t going to

be happy until full anal prolapse was achieved. It could be

that this was the very first mobility WOD I ever witnessed—

my first glimpse at a true supple leopard.

But the pain didn’t stop there. No. There were high-altitude

coconut drops to the abdomen. Repeated leg strikes to a

tree trunk. It was all quite intense.

Action-movie lesson No. 2: You’re not going to defeat Tong

Po without laying your weakness upon the altar.

Slowly, you begin to see method to all the madness.

Repetition ensured proper technique during the stress

of the fight. Knuckles and shins grew hardened. Soon

overconfident, shirtless J.C. was replaced by a highly

trained, resolved, shirtless J.C.

The final action movie lesson: Extraordinary training leads

to extraordinary, fast results.

Of course, we all recognize these montage moments are

entertainment. But these scenes also allude to a damn

effective training strategy: frequent, hard, highly novel

training leads to rapid improvements in performance.

Maybe it doesn’t happen as fast as it does in the movies,

but it can certainly happen sooner than we expect.

There is perhaps no exercise better suited to this approach

than the squat. The heavy barbell compresses and gnarls.

Repeated, heavy eccentric loading commands systemic

adaptation. Every completed rep is a small taste of victory

and affirmation.

You might dread the squat. You might be hopelessly

stuck at the same weight. You might think you’re strong

enough already. Well, I think it might be time for a bit of an

experiment. Maybe you just need a little time in the jungle.

Here are three squat lessons for your consideration.

Squat Lesson No. 1: You’re Probably Not

Squatting Enough

A few months back, one of our new lifters shared a

bit of news with me. He had recently paid a visit to his

former gym. From what I gathered, this was a typical

commercial gym.

It turns out, he ran into the reigning meathead alpha male

of the joint while there. I don’t recall the name of this guy,

so let’s just call him “Meat.”

“Did I tell you? I ran into Meat at my old gym the other day,”

Jordan said.

“Oh, yeah?” I replied, as I busily prepared for the day’s

training. I did recognize the name. We’d talked about him

before. As far as I could tell, this was the typical pharmacologically

enhanced local bodybuilding hero. His primary

hobby appeared to be the intimidation of pubescent

high-school-aged males. I suppose everybody needs an

audience.

“Yeah, I told him about our training, about my progress. He

didn’t believe me, though.”

“Didn’t believe you? And why is that?” I asked.

“He said there was no way I could be squatting three days

a week and still be getting stronger.”

“Is that right?” I said, smiling. “Well, we better get you back

on the leg press ASAP!”

I completely understand Meat’s point of view. I shared that

mentality for years and years. During my high-school and

college-football days, I absolutely hated to squat. It hurt my

back every time. My performance in the lift was not nearly

as good as, say, my bench press (yes, I could easily bench

more than I squatted as a Division 1 college-football player).

Strength is a skill, and just like

with any other skill, practice

makes perfect. Squat more

and you will become really

strong, really fast.

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That didn’t change until I started competing in powerlifting.

For the first time in my life, I recognized the indisputable

benefits of squatting heavy. I understood my troubled

history with the exercise was linked to shitty coaching, not

to the exercise itself.

Rapid progress was easy. I never missed my weekly speedsquat

session. Once or twice a month, I would take a heavy

squat on a max-effort day. But I was careful. You had to

make sure you didn’t exceed three total lifts at or above

90 percent during any four-week period. If you made that

fatal mistake, as sport science had told us, you would

suffer the irreversible effects of the infamous overtraining

syndrome, right?

No. It turns out that was bullshit.

I am a man. And as a man, I have to stand up and admit

when I am wrong. So, here I am rubbing my own nose in

shit. For pretty much the entirety of my powerlifting career,

I was wrong. There, it’s done. I feel better.

It was stupid to ignore the advice of all the Olympic

weightlifters I trained with for years. It was wrong to ignore

my better judgment. Strength is a skill, and just like with

any other skill, practice makes perfect. Squat more and you

will become really strong, really fast.

Today in our crew, I consider squatting three days per week

to be the absolute minimum. Anything less is a waste of

time. In my own training, I’m slowly working my way up

to squatting six days per week. Consequently, I’ve never

felt better.

Now, if I could only convince Meat to come out to the gym

for open-house Saturdays.

I have a hunch that many

CrossFitters are happy with

their strength simply because

they haven’t surrounded

themselves with strong

people. They haven’t really

ever seen a big squat.

Mindy Bush

Jordan Carroll struggles to complete a max-effort squat under heavy chain.

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Squat Lesson No. 2: Heavy Relativity

There’s a simple truth: If you want to squat more, you must

squat heavy. Notice that I did not say, “You must squat

what you think is heavy.”

I have a hunch that many CrossFitters are happy with

their strength simply because they haven’t surrounded

themselves with strong people. They haven’t really ever

seen a big squat.

No, YouTube doesn’t count. We’ve all watched videos of

huge lifts—powerlifters, weightlifters and strongmen

crushing weight we can only dream of lifting. Those types

of lifts are so far removed from our ability it really doesn’t

have much of an effect. They’re really not that motivating.

Do you want to know what is motivating? How about

being out-squatted by a strong, good-looking girl? One

who weighs less than you, even. No matter how you slice

it, dude, that shit ain’t cool. It happens more than you think.

Remember, there are no hidden Soviet strength secrets.

No magical combination of sets, reps and percent loading

will get you the results you are after. You just need to

surround yourself with lifters who will bring the best out of

you—people who will challenge you.

The best example I can think of to illustrate this point just

occurred in our gym.

My crew was performing box squats with the safety-squat

bar, and about 200 lb. of chain added for good measure.

This is a lot of chain, I can assure you. Our goal for the day

was to do work up to a heavy single.

The weights all felt pretty easy, so I was confident I would

hit a good lift. After 5 or 6 quick sets, I arrived at 450 lb. Now

it was time to focus. I huffed and puffed, growled a bit, then

grabbed the bar out of the rack. Arching hard, I popped my

hips back, then sat down onto the box. Fighting to keep

position, I flexed my hips as hard as possible and drove the

bar slowly, but surely, to lockout.

The bar flew back into the rack.

“That’s all for me!” I shouted out, satisfied.

To my surprise, one of my training partners, Dave, stepped

up to the bar and slapped on another 50 lb.

The thing you need to know about Dave is that he is very

game—quick to step up to any challenge. He’s also about

100 lb. lighter than me. I was sure he would be buried.

That’s not what happened.

Mindy Bush

Matt Baird grinds through a heavy box squat.

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He took the massive weight out of the rack, sat down, and

then started the grind. I’ll never forget that rep, ever. Dave

fought the bar so hard that about two-thirds of the way

up, he began convulsing and pretty much blacked out. But

the crazy thing? The bar kept hovering towards lockout. His

unconscious body kept fighting for every inch of that rep!

After a moment of shock and inaction, we finally took the

weight from him. Unloaded, he fell back to the box.

We rushed in to make sure he was all right. All Dave did

was smile.

Dave Passing Out:

.mov .wmv

In an instant I was recalibrated. The feeling of satisfaction

vanished in vapor. That weight I had amped up for no

longer seemed worthy of such theater. These are the

moments that make us stronger.

Be driven.

Squat Lesson No. 3: Get Novel

I can hear your thoughts, dear reader.

“So, I’m supposed to just squat all the time? As much as

I can?”

Yes. I would say no less than three days per week.

“And I’m supposed to go heavy all the time?”

Yes. Not always to a max, but you need to have heavy

weight on your back often. You just won’t adapt without it,

no matter how many kettlebell swings you do.

“So, how do I keep from falling apart? I mean, I’m no

Bulgarian here, dude.”

Remember, there are no

hidden Soviet strength

secrets … . You just need

to surround yourself with

lifters who will bring the

best out of you.

Mindy Bush

Shepherd Tate fights to stay upright under the yolk of the safety squat bar.

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Ah, that’s where a little strategy comes in, my friend. I’ve

got just the twist you need.

By now, just about everyone has been exposed to chains

and bands. To a lesser extent, many lifters have also seen

specialty bars at one point or another. I could talk about

force curves, or about how accommodating resistance

triggers some sort of specific physiologic response in the

body. We could review complicated powerlifting waves,

where different types of bars are used with specific combinations

of bands and/or chain. But you know what? I think

that is all a bit convoluted.

I see it differently. All these tools are simply ways to keep

you squatting hard session to session. That’s all.

I know I do not have the discipline of a highly trained,

world-class Olympic weightlifter. I cannot come into the

gym and only front- and back-squat every day. I need to

have fun under the bar. That’s where all the variation and

toys come in.

Here’s an example of how we organize our training.

On the first squat day, we might choose to squat with a

standard squat bar with no additional band or chain. On

the second day, we’ll use a cambered squat bar with a little

band tension. On the final day, we’ll pick a third exercise,

usually the safety squat bar with a lot of chain.

The rotation does indeed keep the training fun and fresh.

But there’s a very important fatigue benefit as well.

Even though you’re squatting heavy three times a week,

each exercise is placing a different stress on your body.

For example, the cambered squat bar tends to put a large

stress on the hips and lower back. When you come back

into the gym a few days later to squat again, it would be

tough to repeat that same workout.

But you don’t.

By choosing the safety squat bar, for example, you move

the stress from the lower back to the upper back. That’s

just the way that bar works, much like a front squat. If you

add chain, the “folding” stress is even higher as you pick

more and more weight off the floor. By the way, if you

need to learn how to arch during heavy lifts, this is the

exercise for you.

If you add together all these benefits, you will be training

the squat very, very hard but will still allow room to recover

between sessions, week to week.

If your box doesn’t have some of these toys, no worries.

All you need is a regular barbell. A very good and simple

alternative would be to rotate the high-bar back squat,

front squat and low-bar box squat. That’ll hit every muscle

you have, guaranteed.

Try something different,

something that seems a

little extreme. Establish

the true limits of what

you can adapt to.

I need to have fun under

the bar. That’s where all the

variation and toys come in.

Mike Warkentin

Bands can add some spice to your squatting.

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Make all the progress you can on these exercises for three

to four weeks, then just switch around the order. Use a

band or chains on another exercise. Instead of a low-bar

box squat, you can try the front squat off a box. You’re only

limited by your imagination, grasshopper.

Look, in the end you must bust your ass, but you also must

have some fun while you do it. Without that, you just won’t

be able to keep putting in the work.

The Take Home

Every day, I see dozens of CrossFitters pushing their

conditioning to the max. It never fails to impress me. It’s

just that I don’t think they look at a heavy barbell the same

way. Many don’t know strength.

I say join the experiment.

Try something different, something that seems a little

extreme. Establish the true limits of what you can adapt to.

To paraphrase the late, great Hunter S. Thompson, the only

people who have ever really seen the edge are those who

have gone over.

I’ll leave you with a question. What are you really

capable of?

F

About the Author

Chris Moore is writer and powerlifting coach at

Memphis

football at the University of Memphis. During this time, he

began his study of human performance, eventually obtaining

a master’s degree in exercise and sport science. In 2007,

Chris joined Mike Bledsoe, Doug Larson and Rob Conner to

found Memphis’ first CrossFit gym. Today, CrossFit Memphis

has grown to include powerlifters, weightlifters and mixed

martial artists, all training and competing under the banner

of Faction Strength & Conditioning. As a drug-free lifter,

Chris’ best competitive lifts include a 975-lb. squat, a 675-lb.

bench press and 675-lb. deadlift. You can reach him at

CrossFit. Prior to his lifting career, Chris played Division 1

christophermoore57@gmail.com

, or visit FactionSC.com.CrossFit Memphis