Feeling Undiminished, Blut Attempts Restoration

[blut wump]

Squat 20s - W3 D3

Another squats-only workout. I was increasingly anxious as this workout wore on that the 20-repper would be impossible. It's infeasably hot here despite hitting the weights mid-morning. The 210Kg walkout felt heavy and I had no temptation to squat it, in case you might be wondering.

When I came to the 20-repper, I loaded 135 and then chickened out, dropping it down to 132.5 + collars (292 lbs). Suddenly, the weight seemed reasonable. The mind is a strange thing.

I took it steady from the start and, just as I started to think that I could do this all day, I realised that I was running out of time. My lower back was starting to tell me it wasn't happy bearing this weight for so long. I made it to the end, racked the weight and then just lay on the floor panting.

It's been an interesting three weeks. I still can't get over the strange feeling that hits during these to quit the set. It's in no way akin to a pump that makes you want to stop. There's just a voice in your head telling you that you don't need this crap; that you can call a halt to it by shrugging your shoulders or walking forwards and racking the bar. It tells you that nobody is going to blame you for stopping and it's a stupid thing to be doing. All you can do is ignore it or take it into yourself and smother it. If you try to ignore it, it keeps harping right to the end. It's very much a case of "Get thee behind me, Satan". It's different but similar to the feeling you get when doing static holds for time or farmers' walk type exercises for distance.

Next week. I'll drop the squats down to triples. I'm not sure what to do with presses and pulls. It's time to bring deadlifts back, though.

Thanks, again, to BiggT for the suggestion. I didn't think at the start that I could have taken it this far.


All weight in Kilos, +.5Kg unless just the bar. Previous weeks in orange
Squats
20x10, 30x10, 60x5, 80x3, 90x3, 60x20
20x10, 30x10, 60x5, 85x3, 95x3, 70x20
20x10, 30x10, 60x5, 80x3, 100x3, 80x20
20x10, 30x10, 60x5, 85x3, 110x3, 90x20
20x10, 30x10, 60x5, 90x3, 120x3, 100x20
20x10, 30x10, 60x5, 80x3, 90x3, 110x3, 130x3, 107.5x20, 107.5x1
20x10, 30x10, 60x5, 90x3, 110x3, 150 - 10s walkout, 115x20
20x10, 30x10, 60x5, 90x3, 120x3, 180 - 10s walkout, 125x20
20x10, 30x10, 60x5, 80x3, 110x2, 130x2, 210 - 10s walkout 132.5x20

 

[solarclimax]

133kg x 20 way to go, next time squat that 210

 

[BiggT]

Great work BW, if you go the route of 5's or 3's next week, be aggressive with them, you'll be primed and ready, and I really feel you will blow away that 375x3 PR about 3 weeks from now.

You just did 9 20-rep squat workouts in 3 weeks, thats a great accomplishment.

 

[Protobuilder]

Awesome progression, BW. People say 20-reppers are a way to learn the true meaning of hard work. It sounds like a grueling journey. Your description of the mental battle is instructive. I'm interested to see what the long-term benefits of the last 3 weeks turn out to be.

How much progress have you made on the 20-reppers? IOW, what was your starting 20RM?

 

[blut wump]

Thanks, BiggT, much appreciated. I was thinking the same while mulling on the numbers in bed last night. Do squats twice per week and add 5Kg or 7.5Kg per session. That should put me back into old PR range in three to four weeks.

Proto, I have absolutely no idea. I mean, who in their right mind does a set of 20 reps? There's also the aspect that a set of 20 breathing squats isn't really a set of 20 reps, as such. I had a brief thought today that you might be able to hack out a set of these at your 2RM or 3RM until my lower back told me to hurry up. I think on the 6-week runs it's commonly suggested to work down to your 5RM.

 

[Cynical Simian]

Really good stuff. This has been a lot of fun to follow (easy to throw the word "fun" around when I'm not the one doing 20-reppers ).

 

[anotherbutters]

Congrats on finishing. 125x20 looked pretty tough the other day, so 132.5 today must have really tested your mettle. You'll be thinking 'is that it?' for the next few workouts.

 

[blut wump]

Cheers.

It didn't really feel harder doing the reps than last time. I was doing singles by choice from about rep 3, intending to coast through the 20 reps. Getting a 'hurry up' from my back was a bit of a shock. My wife, who was in one of the other stables, said I got a bit noisy.

I told her before I started that if she heard a big crash she should just call an ambulance and then come to check how I was. While I was on the floor afterwards, she shouted out to ask whether I was OK so I guess I was panting quite noisily too with the odd noisy gasp thrown in. She said she was wondering what the neighbours must think.

This is the first time when I've finished and not really remembered the set. The whole thing was a bit of a blur.

 

[H_T_]

Cheers.

It didn't really feel harder doing the reps than last time. I was doing singles by choice from about rep 3, intending to coast through the 20 reps. Getting a 'hurry up' from my back was a bit of a shock. My wife, who was in one of the other stables, said I got a bit noisy.

I told her before I started that if she heard a big crash she should just call an ambulance and then come to check how I was. While I was on the floor afterwards, she shouted out to ask whether I was OK so I guess I was panting quite noisily too with the odd noisy gasp thrown in. She said she was wondering what the neighbours must think.

This is the first time when I've finished and not really remembered the set. The whole thing was a bit of a blur.

i did a set of 20 yesterday for the first time in years. leg day was over with that set and i had to kill an hour with GM's and pull throughs.

 

[blut wump]

i did a set of 20 yesterday for the first time in years. leg day was over with that set and i had to kill an hour with GM's and pull throughs.

I can relate to that. Good choice of assistance exercises.