Training For Muscle And Size - The 20-Rep Squat Programme

Hello All,

I have been so busy developing Altered Images (watch this space) that I have not sent out a newsletter recently. However, a particularly motivated client training well outside his comfort zone and frankly exceeding himself this morning reminded me (not that I really needed it) that my existing clients deserve something now not promises for the future.

Given the manner of this clients training, this newsletter is aimed at the more ‘hardcore’ trainee. The programme suggested can indeed be used for fat loss (if you are interested please ask me and it may form the basis of another newsletter) but has traditionally been used successfully by those aspiring to build muscle. With deference to those of you who have a different focus and may be offended by such ‘bodybuilding verbiage’ the next newsletter will be a discussion on Carbohydrates.

TRAINING FOR MUSCLE AND SIZE - THE 20-REP SQUAT PROGRAMME

If you’re bored of your normal run of the mill training programme, here’s a new one to shake up your training and kick start your muscle growth. Some of you may have heard of the 20-rep squat programme at some point along your training life, if not, it’s an old-school approach to putting on size that was common a few decades ago when men were men and drugs were unavailable.

You do one set of 20 reps of the squat, plus a few other exercises.

Every successive training session you add 5-10 lbs to your squat weight. It has been touted as one of the most effective programmes ever designed for adding muscular size and strength in a short period of time, and with good reason; it works!

High rep squats work wonders for building muscular bulk and strength, not just for the legs, but for the entire body. The programme is ridiculously simple to follow, brutally hard to do, and extremely productive. It’s so productive, in fact, that I have never ever heard of anyone who did a version of this programme correctly and didn’t gain muscle size and strength.

Whenever I have a client who wants to get big in as little time as possible, this is where we begin. I am going to outline a 6-week programme that has put muscle on everyone who has ever done it.

Get into the right mental focus

Before discussing the actual programme, you must understand the psychology of 20-rep squatting. You can’t just go to the gym, put some plates on the bar, start squatting and hope for the best. This programme is as much about focus and mental toughness as it is physical exercise - probably more.

You have to be mentally prepared or you will not make it. Pain and fear will be there with you, tempting you to stop, telling you to give up. Your body will be screaming for you to listen to them, and the little voice in your head will be begging you to do cease and desist. Tell them to shut up. You’ve got some growing to do!

Squatting a heavy weight for 20 reps will not feel natural for your body. It will hurt. You will feel dizzy and light-headed. You will probably want to vomit. Go ahead. Your body may decide to completely shut down and leave you in the bottom of a squat, unable to rise.

Obviously, safety is of primary concern. DO NOT attempt a 20-rep squat programme without a power rack, safety pins or a spotter. Being stuck under a heavy barbell in the bottom of a squat with no place to go while you are gasping for air is not a good scenario.

The Training Programme

Let’s jump right into it. The heart and soul of this programme is the barbell squat, done for 20 reps.

Please notice I didn’t say the “Smith machine squat,” or any other machine squat, for that matter. There are tons of gimmicky machines that promise to deliver a “safer” squat. You’ll be plenty safe as long as you are in a power cage or have sturdy safety pins for your squat rack or a trusty strong spotter. Moreover, your technique will always be your greatest safety.

Proper form is vital:

A straight (not to be confused with upright) back is core to a good squat. Keep a fairly close grip on the bar and squeeze your shoulder blades together. Push up on the bar slightly as if you were going to do a behind-the-neck press. Do this before you ever lift the bar clear of the pins. The purpose of this is two-fold: it will create a “shelf” just below the traps for the bar to rest on and the tension in the shoulders and upper back will stimulate the upper body while keeping it rigid and safe.

The feet should turn out slightly for most people and the knees should track over the toes. Do not allow the knees to buckle in at any time. If they do, you will die.

Your gaze should be forward or slightly upward. Looking down will round your back and compromise your structure. This increases the chance of injury. Your body tends to follow your head. Rolling a bar over the back of your head in the middle of a squat set does not make for productive training.

Keep the abdomen tight and keep the anus contracted, especially in the bottom position. It sounds strange, I know, but there are horror stories throughout the iron community about people who neglected this important point.

Load the bar, get under it, tense up, and lift it clear of the pins. Step back, take a deep breath and begin. Squat all the way down, at least to parallel. Come back up, take a few deep breaths, and squat again. The further you get into the set, the more of an issue breath becomes. In fact, old-timers sometimes called them “breathing squats”. By the time you get to the last few agonizing reps, you will be doing more breathing than squatting.

One of the reasons so much growth is stimulated on this programme is that the muscles of the upper body are constantly working to support the weight and to fill the lungs with air. Take as many deep breaths as necessary between reps.

You must keep complete focus throughout the entire set. Convince yourself before you even get under the bar that you WILL NOT quit. The only reason to stop short of 20 reps is going into the hole and being physically unable to stand back up. It is going to happen at some point; you will get into the bottom position and your legs will simply stop working. That’s okay; next time you simply load the bar to the same weight and attack it again.

The length of the cycle is six weeks. This is a good amount of time for building size and strength without going into overtraining and burnout. Longer than six weeks usually amounts to diminishing returns.

The standard protocol in the beginning is to train three times per week on non-consecutive days. For example, the classic Monday, Wednesday, Friday schedule works perfectly. If you are not recovering well, you may train twice per week. The first time I tried this routine, I did well with MWF. A few months later, after I had done a couple of 20-rep cycles, I had great results training only on Tuesday and Friday. By this time, I had learned to focus better and was using fairly heavy weights, so the extra recovery was more warranted and well appreciated for me.

I have heard many different ideas concerning weight selection, and I believe that it is good to begin with the end in mind, especially for a first-timer on this programme. Most people can reasonably expect to be squatting their 5-rep max (5RM) for 20 by the 6-week mark.

To determine your starting weight, take your current 5RM and subtract 5 lbs for each scheduled workout. So, if your current 5RM is 315 lbs and you are planning to train three times per week for 6 weeks (18 workouts), you should begin with 225 lbs, as 18 workouts x 5lbs per workout = 90lbs. Subtract 90 from 315 and you get 225. Simple enough.

After your squats, do a light set of pullovers for about 20-25 reps. I recommend using a 25lb plate and doing them across a bench, but you can use a dumbbell if you like. Think of this as a recovery aid more than an exercise. Stick with the same light weight for the duration of the cycle.

Other exercises are added based on your recovery ability. You should include at least one pressing movement and a pulling movement but you can add more if you feel like you can adequately recovery from the additional volume. Listen to your body; if it gets to be too much, you can always drop a set or two later.

A sample programme for someone with good recovery ability might look like this:

Squat: 1 x 20

Pullovers: 1 x 20

Incline Bench Press: 3 x 6 - 10

Chins (alternative: Close Grip Lat Pulldown Body Weight): 2 x as many as possible

Bent Over Barbell Row: 2 x 6 - 10

Shoulder Press: 2 x 6 - 10

Barbell Curl: 2 x 6 - 10

Close Grip Bench Press: 2 x 6 - 10

Abdominal Exercise: 1 x 20 - 25

I personally am not a fan of single-joint movements such as curls and calf raises in spite of the fact that they show up in most of the “classic” 20-rep squatting programmes. I believe that you get enough stimulation through the compound exercises. If your ego simple can’t get by without doing a set or two of curls, add them as shown at the end together with some close grip bench pressing.

For those who tend to recover poorly, here is a more abbreviated programme that has worked for everyone with whom I have ever used it:

Squat: 1×20

Pullovers: 1×20

Deadlift: 1×15

Bench Press: 2-3 x 10

Seated row: 2-3×12

Shoulder press: 2-3 x 12

After six weeks of this, switch to something else such as the classic 5×5 routine or a ‘conventional’ bodybuilding routine. Wait at least six weeks before giving the 20-rep squats another go-round.

Recommended nutritional requirements

To get big, you must eat big. Meat, cheese, fruits, and vegetables are in order. Even though you are purposely consuming lots of calories, don’t fill up on bad calories, such as; pizza, donuts, cookies, crisps, etc… You need quality in your calories as well as quantity. The nutritional “secret weapon” of the original programme was milk, but now that has been replaced by whey protein. Milk was a huge component of the original 20-rep programmes years ago - so big a component, in fact, that it was sometimes called the “Squats and Milk Programme.” It worked then, but today you can expect even better results with whey protein, which has even better research than the casein found in milk. For maximum results on this type of protein expect to consume at least 2 grams per kg of body weight, ie: an 80kg male would need 160 grams of protein per day on a bulking cycle from food and protein powders combined. Stick to quality whey proteins with low lactose levels to ensure you keep good digestion and stay wind free.

Typical menu:

Breakfast
3-4 eggs with cheese
2 slices of toast
1 glass of milk/whey protein shake

AM Snack
whey protein powder or weight gainer (depends on calorie requirements)

Lunch
Sandwich (i.e. meat, cheese, tuna, etc.)
Fruit
Salad
1 glass of milk/whey protein shake

Afternoon Snack
Piece of fruit
1 glass of milk/whey protein shake

Dinner
Steak, chicken, or fish
Pasta, rice, or potatoes
Steamed veggies and/or Salad

PM Snack
Whey protein shake mixed with milk (to slow digestion)

This is just a suggestion. Customize your food intake to suit your personal tastes, but make sure you eat plenty of food, keep protein intake high and eat often, at least every 2-3 hours to prevent hunger and your body from losing its positive nitrogen balance and slipping into a catabolic state. Drink plenty of water throughout the day. To make the old-school approach a little more modern, add a good EFA supplements to insure you are getting enough healthy fat. This is a good programme for loading up on Creatine too and I strongly recommend taking a good supplement.

Take care not to eat for at least 1.5 hours before your workout to minimize the chance of being sick in the gym; most gym owner’s frown on such things.

What to do when you’re not in the Gym

On none training days, undertake some active recovery such as walking or swimming, as doing so will help reduce soreness and flush lactic acid out of the body. Daily stretching is also a good idea and if you can afford it a sports massage each week or two will aid recovery.

Strenuous activity such as intense cardio or hard sports should be avoided since you want all available energy and recovery to go into building muscle. Get lots of sleep: 8-9 hours per night and sneak a nap in whenever you can, this will keep natural testosterone and growth hormone levels high, which will increase muscle growth.

If you follow the guidelines I have set forth for you, you can realistically expect to gain 10-15lbs in the next six weeks, although lots of people will gain even more than that. Either way start saving up for new clothes, because by the end of the programme, you will need them.

Yours in Health and Fitness

Adrian Lowther