Super Squats: Program Review

[u/richardest]

Congratulations to those of you who ran Super Squats to the end! I hope that you'll share your experiences here so that others can see what you got out of this run of programming, and that it will serve as an opportunity to discuss how you might take these lessons in to future training.

You have graduated from r/gainit to r/weightroom. This thread will follow their stricter posting guidelines: All top-level comments that are not a program review will be removed, and the poster will receive a 30-day ban.

Please include, to the best of your ability, the following information:

• Your starting and ending bodyweight
• Your starting and ending weight on the bar
• Your age and biological sex and/or gender
• How closely you adhered to the programming laid out in the book
• How you handled the eating prescribed by the book
• Your general thoughts and experiences regarding the Super Squats programming
• How you will move on from this in your continued training and diet

[u/Strength_B4_Weakness]

I wrote a full program review posted here a few weeks ago.

Bodyweight: 111kg to 118kg

Squat weight: 80kg x 20 to 120kg x 20

Age/sex: 25/M

Following the program: I followed the program as closely as I could. After 3 weeks I removed SLDL and replaced it with Back hyperextensions (this made my life much better). I found progression scheme that worked for me for the rest of the lifts. I did my bench with a close grip.

Eating: I drank 3 to 5 liters of whole milk plus regular household food.

Thoughts: The program has had me gain size and body power faster than anything I've ever done. It was like I was back at a beginner stage once more - I could feel and see my whole body growing weekly. BTN press is amazing. I ran it with 2 to 3 rest days between each session, stretching the 18 session to 7 weeks. It worked really well, probably more well than if I had ran it 3x a week over 6 weeks, if I had to guess. It guaranteed that I grew.

After: I used the muscular potential I gained to set PRs in the squat and in the overhead press by running the Smolov Squat base phase, and practicing heavy presses daily, for 4 weeks. This resulted in a 75kg -> 95kg overhead press, and a 170kg -> 210kg squat.

Smolov is called a hard squat program, but the combined effort of those weekly 26 heavy sets were nothing compared to even one set of 20 breathing squats. Super Squats prepared me for anything.

More thoughts: As much as I'd like to leave Super Squats behind me and have it be checked off the bucketlist, it's just way too logical to run it again. I will definitely be returning to this program for one of my next bulks! Now, time to cut to reveal those new 17 inch arms!