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As some of you know I'm a big advocate of 20-rep breathing squats. They are indisputably one of the most productive exercises in iron game history. Nothing, in my opinion, will force you to learn intensity and force of will like a set of these. Anyway, they're done by taking your 10 rep max, and doing 20 reps with it. Here is a nice description from Randall Strossen from the book "Super Squats":
"After the tenth rep, your body is done and your mind becomes the vehicle that either moves or stalls in the face of the challenge to reach the twentieth rep. At least three deep breaths, lots of positive self-instruction and the eleventh rep is history. More of the same for another rep or two and then the breathing and psyching become more serious. Maybe five to ten lung-bursting breaths in between each rep, your mind humming at psychedelic levels and your demeanor ferocious as a Ninja warrior, get you up to rep number fifteen. Now the game changes again because not only do the breathing and the pep talks become still more important, but each squat becomes an event performed ina dilated-time capsule where you, as you, fade, becoming more of an observer than an actor. If your mind falters, you are dead meat now, so you either get tough and grow, or cave in and stay small.
By rep sixteen the bar cuts deeply into your back and mashes your entire body into the floor, giving you a new sense of appreciation for Newton's analyses of gravity. Your breathing sounds like a steam engine and your legs are probably starting to shake. Sheer willpower is the only way to make that rep. You remember that everything else was just a warm-up for the last several reps-they're the ones that make you grow- and you are blind to everything but the pattern: breathe, squat, rise. By the time you finish the eigteenth rep, you are guaranteed of completing the set if you psyched up properly beforehand, becaue what has become the most important thing in the world to you- knocking off those twenty reps- is within sight. It doesn't matter if each of those last two reps takes ten deep breaths, drives you berserk, leaves you purple-faced and quivering as you fight your way back up, through the sticking point of each squat: You are not going to be denied victory. When you complete the twentieth rep and manage to get the bar back on the squat racks, reeling with fatigue-induced delirium, you collapse on a bench for a set of light pullovers to stretch your rib cage, expanding the framework for the slabs of muscle you are adding to your upper body. After the squats and pullovers are done, you might pass out, puke, think you have gone over the edge, or be incapable of walking up or down a flight of staris to save your life - but get some rest, drink your milk and go back at it in a few more days. The same thing all over again, but with five more pounds."
"After the tenth rep, your body is done and your mind becomes the vehicle that either moves or stalls in the face of the challenge to reach the twentieth rep. At least three deep breaths, lots of positive self-instruction and the eleventh rep is history. More of the same for another rep or two and then the breathing and psyching become more serious. Maybe five to ten lung-bursting breaths in between each rep, your mind humming at psychedelic levels and your demeanor ferocious as a Ninja warrior, get you up to rep number fifteen. Now the game changes again because not only do the breathing and the pep talks become still more important, but each squat becomes an event performed ina dilated-time capsule where you, as you, fade, becoming more of an observer than an actor. If your mind falters, you are dead meat now, so you either get tough and grow, or cave in and stay small.
By rep sixteen the bar cuts deeply into your back and mashes your entire body into the floor, giving you a new sense of appreciation for Newton's analyses of gravity. Your breathing sounds like a steam engine and your legs are probably starting to shake. Sheer willpower is the only way to make that rep. You remember that everything else was just a warm-up for the last several reps-they're the ones that make you grow- and you are blind to everything but the pattern: breathe, squat, rise. By the time you finish the eigteenth rep, you are guaranteed of completing the set if you psyched up properly beforehand, becaue what has become the most important thing in the world to you- knocking off those twenty reps- is within sight. It doesn't matter if each of those last two reps takes ten deep breaths, drives you berserk, leaves you purple-faced and quivering as you fight your way back up, through the sticking point of each squat: You are not going to be denied victory. When you complete the twentieth rep and manage to get the bar back on the squat racks, reeling with fatigue-induced delirium, you collapse on a bench for a set of light pullovers to stretch your rib cage, expanding the framework for the slabs of muscle you are adding to your upper body. After the squats and pullovers are done, you might pass out, puke, think you have gone over the edge, or be incapable of walking up or down a flight of staris to save your life - but get some rest, drink your milk and go back at it in a few more days. The same thing all over again, but with five more pounds."
