Alternate Rounds with a partner for
4 Rounds Each:
15 Wall Ball 20/14
10 Toes to Bar
5 Burpee Box Jump 24/20″
What if someone told you they knew a way to add 60# to your squat and deadlift and improve every one of your barbell and met con scores? What if they told you it would only take about 5-10 minutes a day? It’s not 7 Minute Abs, it’s Squat Club.
I didn’t start out with a goal of squatting every day for a year, it just sort of happened that way. It’s been a hell of a ride and I feel like a completely different athlete after a year. I got the idea to squat when I spotted an article about a gym that had its athletes squat every day for 60 days. The gym reported amazing improvements in everyone’s squat.
So, on October 15, 2012 Squat Club was born when I loaded my bar in my backyard and worked up to what I could handle that day: singles at 165-205-255-285-305. That was as heavy as I was comfortable doing without a spotter in regular shoes in my back yard that day. At that time, my 1 rep Max was a shaky 355#, 3 rep was 315#. For the next month, I squatted 5 singles as heavy as I felt comfortable and safe. I took them as “come as you are” squats, so no lifting shoes, no knee wraps or weight belts. I never thought I’d get to 30 days in a row, but I did and I hit 370#. So, I kept squatting every day and set my goal on squatting 400#. I got 400# for the first time about day 70, 405# on day 100, and 415# at the box about 10 months into Squat Club to take the top spot on the squat board.
Over the year, I squatted in the morning, at night, in the rain, in the heat, in a parka, on vacation, at the box, in globo gyms, in jeans, shorts, pajamas, in lifting shoes, in Converse, Vans, Toms and barefoot. I squatted when it felt good and when it felt bad. I squatted when I didn’t want to squat. I did back squats, front squats, bottoms up squats, pausing squats, goblet squats, KB squats, singles, dubs, triples and 20’s. Sometimes, I squatted at home after we squatted at the gym. I squatted every single day for 365 days.
Once my squat exceeded the amount of weight I owned, I had to buy more bumper plates… three times. I outgrew my shaky squat rack and picked up a BeastMetals Yoke/Rack/Sled. I even ripped the seat out of 3 or 4 pairs of shorts.
While my rep scheme varied quite a bit, about half of the days (179) my lifts were 5 back squat singles: 1-1-1-1-1. On my first day, my total weight lifted was 1215#, an average of 243# per squat. After 11 months, I hit 2000# for 5 singles, an average of 400# per squat. My PR’s stand at 415 x1, 405 x 2, 375 x 3, 355 x 5, 325 x 10 and 280 x 20.
In a year, I’ve squatted over one million pounds:
Back Squat: (323 posts) 2926 reps, 859,848#
Front Squat: (51 posts) 647 reps, 148,003#
Squat Club turned out to be about a lot more than just squats. There is something transformative about putting a heavy weight on your body every day. I gained 11 pounds since starting Squat Club, but my pull ups, muscle ups and HSPU are all improved. My deadlift went from 450# to the top of the leader board at 515#. My overhead lifts improved, too. Jerk from 235# to 265#. Overhead squat 237# to 255#. My Fran time went from 3:53 to 3:21. I also saw PR’s on Cindy, Grace, Karen, Annie, Elizabeth, Diane, Lynne and the 2K row. The ONLY barbell lift I have not set a new PR on is 1 rep max thruster (but only because we haven’t maxed out all year). I credit the improvement in other areas to the greatly improved core strength squatting has given me.
Yesterday, on day 366, I did not squat. I’ll probably still squat a bit this next year, but I am putting an end to this streak.
Hey, anyone want to join me for Squat Club 2.0 starting today?
-Matt P
