The Daily Squat
As some of you may know, I am a big fan of John Broz's work as a strength coach. One of his more controversial recommendations is that his lifters squat to a max single, or maybe triple, every time they train, which just happens to be everyday. Once they are proficient enough, they even regularly squat twice a day.
Now this concept of daily squatting flies in the face of everything you read in strength and conditioning, but Olympic lifters have been doing this for decades with great success. The frequency of grinding through squats builds tremendous power and work capacity.
It's just so crazy it just might work, right?
Well I am going to find out for myself. Yesterday I started my "daily squat" program for strongman training. Here is the template:
1. Squat Variation (back squat, front squat, box squat, etc)
2. Strongman Event (farmers walk, log press, etc)
3. Accessory Drill (anything goes)
4. Accessory Drill (anything goes)
On days I can't make it to the gym, I will do a kettlebell rack squats. I don't have a squat rack because I live in a condo.
Also, in the daily squat program there are no programmed "off" days. The closes I will come to a rest day is a kettlebell workout. The idea is to give myself as many opportunities to get strong as possible and force my body to adapt to the work load.
If you want to try this at home, here are the rules:
- Squat every day
- Squat every workout
- Never take a day off on purpose, and don't bitch out either
- Squat up to a max weight everytime
- Feel free to vary the types of squats, but squat
- Squat, squat and squat
- Try to walk for an hour a day to work the kinks out
You will either become He-Man or break down and become She-Ra. Either way, it is so crazy it just might work!
Here are my last two training sessions, to give some more insight.
Thursday
- Back Squats with mini bands
added to the bar
- worked up to a max single
- did a set between sets of squats
- Barbell Clean and Press
- 4 x 3 plus warm-up sets
- Weighted Pull-ups
- 4 x 3
- Reverse Hypers
- 1 x 20 to loosen up the back
Friday, usually an off day, but not anymore!
- Safety Bar
Box Squat
- worked up to max single
- Farmers Walk
- worked up to 4 sets with a challenging but not crazy weight
- Biceps Rows
- 4 x 10
- Dumbbell JM Press
- 4 x 6
So there you have it. The Daily Squat has begun! If you want are crazy enough to join me on this journey into the depths of hell feel free to comment below. Now it's off to bed to start recovering for the next beating.
For some inspiration, here is a great article by Charles Poliquin on how to beef up your squat.
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Best of luck with your experiment, Nathan. I was also inspired by John Broz and the discussion of his methods recently. However, I'm easing into it a bit slower - I've increased my squat days from 2x a week to 3x a week. I'm going to see how that goes first before going up to 4x etc. I can report that after 4 weeks, I have improved as much as I would have done in 6 weeks previously. So far, so good...
BTW, are you doing rack squats so you can use more weight? Rather than goblet squats, I mean.
Thanks for the comment Chris. I have been competiting in powerlifting and more recently strongman for years, so I started like you with squats 2x and even up to 5x a week. As you progress in the squat, you often need to squat more often. Although, I used the Westside Method for years with great success too.
I am doing all kinds of squats. 90-95% will be barbell squat variations. When I train at home it will probably always be rack squats at first, then if I am dying, maybe some goblet squats.
Goblet Squats are great for building technique and conditioning, not so much for strength.