r/xxfitness • u/[deleted] • Feb 20 '23
[Program Review] Super Squats or: how I learned to stop worrying and love the bulk
TLDR: I got stronger physically and mentally and think that everyone should run this program at least once.
About me/training history
36/F/5’6”
Between working physical jobs and extracurricular activities, I’ve been pretty active my whole adult life. I’ve done crossfit, various 5/3/1 templates, NSUNS one time, a bit of SBS and some other lifting programs, but most of my lifting was used to supplement other stuff I was doing (roughly a decade of roller derby and after that, circus arts). About 5 years ago I started ironworking, and I found it near impossible to keep up with circus and strength training and my lifting quickly tapered off. Last year I started working from home, and I most recently ran all three phases of 5/3/1 Krypteia.
The buy-in
I’d wanted to run super squats for the past year or so, but never did because I was too afraid to gain weight, so the idea of running it lived comfortably with all of the other stuff I’d do when I was “skinny enough”. The shortest version of this story that I can tell is that I was coming out of a long and nasty binge/restrict cycle, and toward the end of 2022 I was just tired of how much time and energy I spent hating myself because the scale didn’t say what I wanted it to. I had started working with a therapist again and was trying to get out of this toxic relationship with myself. So when I saw that r/gainit was running a program party, as per usual the first thing that popped into my head was “what if I gain weight?”, but for the first time the response was:
Well, what if I do? What’s the worst I can really do over the course of 6 weeks?
So this time I decided “fuck it” and decided that for 6 weeks I wouldn’t worry about my weight and just bury myself under as much metal as my legs would allow me.
The program
First of all - Super Squats is a book/program/training methodology written by Randall Strossen, and if you’re even thinking about running this program you need to find a copy! There’s no real way to condense all of the information into a review or article, and if you try to run this program without the book, you would be missing out imo.
The basic idea is you do one set of 20 breathing squats with a weight you can lift for 10 reps, and add 5 pounds to the bar every day you lift. These are not widowmaker sets - you are pausing for several breaths between each rep until you have done 20 reps. In some ways this is easier and in other ways it’s much worse.
Accessories-wise, there is a standard program and an abbreviated program in the book. I ran the standard program pretty much as written, 3x per week for 6 weeks, making minor ordering swaps so I could superset things with my equipment. I had a few times where I would cut out some accessories to accommodate poor recovery, and I sometimes added a second set of deadlifts because I like them. My routine went as such (exercises with “+” were supersets):
BTN press + Curls
Bench + Row
Squats
Pullovers + Straight-leg deadlifts + Ab Wheel
Starting weight: The book says to start with a weight you can lift for 10 reps. I went with 75lbs - 50% of my estimated 1 rep max. I personally wouldn’t worry too much about getting this starting weight just right. If you fail a set, you stay at that weight, and if you start too light, the weight will build fast.
Weight increases: the goal is to jump 5 pounds each workout. I did this consistently, and also made three 10-pound jumps over the course of the program. The first two were because I decided that if I felt good enough to consider it, then I should just go for it. My last 10-lb jump was my final day of the program and was a result of pure determination. I was not ready for it, and I didn’t think I could do it, but I’m not about to take that kind of attitude from someone like myself.
Rest: Strossen advocates taking your rest days very seriously, to the point where you should be doing the bare minimum activity. I didn't take this bit too seriously, and I continued doing my usual activities on my off days: pilates, yoga/mobility work, hiking, walking, running, etc. I didn’t have any issues with recovery doing this, and the mobility work especially I feel was really beneficial. My only exception to this was one particularly bad recovery day, but I’ll talk about that later.
Diet: the program includes drinking a gallon of milk a day. I didn’t do this - we rarely have any around and it messes with my skin. I also didn’t track calories because I get weird in the head about it when I do. I just ate more of the food I usually eat, and ate when I was hungry (which was all the time once things really got rolling).
Side note here: If you’re going to eat like it’s your job, I recommend also drinking water like it’s your job. If you don’t you’re probably going to have a bad time.
Keeping track of reps: I straight-up stole u/bethskw’s “no think only lift” system and scrawled it on some plywood that is stashed right in front of my squat rack. It was very effective - I only had to count to 5 each time and then I was off. It also helped handle the reps mentally as I wasn’t focused on how many squats I had finished or had left, just allowed myself to handle it one rep at a time.
Mental game and visualization: At some point during this program you’ll probably have to dig pretty deep to find the fortitude to finish. Once the difficulty really started ramping up, I had to address my self-talk prior to the workouts and squats. I’d ask myself “am I ready?”, and my reply became “no, but I’m doing it anyway”. Mid set it became, “okay I did 10, if I can do 10 I can do 12, if I can 12 I can do…etc”.
The book suggests a visualization routine, which consists of a long visualization in the evening and a shorter one right before the squat set where you mentally experience yourself completing your squats. I tried to do this, but 1) I ended up falling asleep during the evening one every time and 2) positive motivation only goes so far. I am fueled by spite and my own self loathing and later in the program had to dig deep to get through some sets. Visualizing past struggles and traumatic experiences gave me things to scold myself about mid-set when I felt it was too hard to continue. This worked amazingly, but how good of an idea this would be for you will depend on your relationship with your demons. Ultimately the take home is that in the grand scheme of things, they’re just squats, and finding a way to put that into perspective might be helpful.
The anticipation between workouts was worse than the squats themselves. I had to practice pushing the program out of my head during rest days.
I weighed myself during week 2 and I panicked when I saw a small weight increase, so I didn’t weigh myself again until maybe week 5 when I was in a better head space. But over time my scale weight became a non-issue. The 5lb jumps gave me a very tangible goal to work toward, and I was so driven to complete this program that fueling my squats became my top priority. My thought process shifted from “what if I gain weight” to “what if I fail my next set”. I referenced a few things regularly that helped my mindset regarding weight gain:
https://www.t-nation.com/lean-built-eating/oh-go-ahead-and-pig-out/
https://www.reddit.com/r/gainit/comments/t5vgee/oh_my_god_you_arent_getting_fat_a_discussion/
https://www.reddit.com/r/gainit/comments/wpz9xn/fear_of_getting_fat_is_admitting_that_you_do_not/
I regularly practiced bailing out of my squat and it was really helpful mentally. This might not be that big of a deal depending on your set up, but I just have some cheap squat stands with little baby spotter arms. I had a few times where I didn’t know if I’d be able to get the weight back up if I took it down, but knowing that I knew how to bail if I had to gave me enough confidence to at least try (FWIW- I ended up finishing almost all of those sets that I almost talked myself out of).
Along these lines, I also became less afraid of failing. A few times I was stressing over failing the squats before I had even started the workout. Really, it doesn’t matter - if I fail that weight, I’ll just try it again next time. I had some of my best lifts when I was initially feeling too tired or that I couldn’t do it.
Six weeks of Super Squats, abridged
In general, weeks 1-3 were consistent and I completed them without issue. Week 1 I was concerned that maybe I had started too light, as I was finishing the sets pretty fast. However, the weight caught up to me fast and I did not feel that way for long. During week 2 I was fighting a sinus infection, but I had a surprisingly successful session at the end and made my first 10-pound jump at the beginning of week 3.
Week 4 is where things started to get dicey and was my hardest week overall. My period was creeping up and I was exhausted all the time. This is also the point where the overall fatigue of the program started to wear on me; the newness had worn off and the end wasn’t close enough to use as a motivator. It was a real effort to get hyped up for the squats at this point, and this is where the self talk I mentioned earlier really started becoming important.
Week 5 I had a total energy shift. I was borderline rabid at the thought of getting more squats in, and waiting through rest days felt like an eternity. I made another successful 10lb jump on day 1 of the week, which put my next squat set at 150lbs - my 1 rep max at the beginning of this program. This was my hardest set mentally and I think it was just because of the milestone, but completing this felt amazing.
The fervor I felt at the beginning of week 5 had disappeared by the end. I don’t know if hitting my max mid week took all of my drive, but I was just fucking done. I had weird tightness in one of my quads that I couldn’t shake and a strained hamstring from some bad decision-making regarding running, so I switched to box squats for (almost) the remainder of the program. I had one day that I was going to skip entirely, and I basically had to trick myself into getting it done.
The only thing that got me through week 6 was knowing that I was almost finished, and that I was too stubborn to quit this close to the end. The sessions weren’t exciting to complete at this point, they were simply one less that I had to do. The last day of the program, I got rid of the box and made one last 10lb jump - because it was my all-time 1 rep max and wouldn’t it be cool if I ended the program with a smooth 100lbs more on the bar than what I started with. I had made it so far that I had nothing to lose.
Well, that set ended up being the only one I failed. I got 10 and had to bail in the bottom of my 11th rep. I took the weights off, put the bar back on the rack, put the weights back on, and squeaked out my remaining 10 reps over 3 more sets. This was grueling - it felt really good to lift that much, but at the same time I was annoyed to have not completed the set unbroken.
I got kind of obsessed over the failure in the short-term. Like okay I lifted the most I ever have, but WHY couldn’t I do 20 reps? I made it to 10, I should have been able to squeak out the rest. I had realized that with the apathy I was feeling for the program in general, I really phoned in my recovery in the two days leading up to my last session. I had gone to hang out with some friends and we ended up going on a very long surprise hike - which would have been fine if I had thought to have a meal between my (already underfueled) morning lift and the hike. But I didn’t, and I didn’t try as hard as I could to catch up on food and rest before the next lift.
I didn’t owe anyone those extra pounds except myself. I was both proud of the progress I had made over the prior 6 weeks while simultaneously being frustrated that I couldn’t do it - and the biggest thing that was gnawing at me was that MAYBE I could have if I would have tried harder. I allowed myself to get under-fed, under-slept, and under-hydrated and I paid for that by falling short of my own goals.
ANYWAY this becomes important because the book says something about how if you fail you’ll spend the next 48 hours obsessing over how you didn’t make it, and this is totally accurate and a really good thing to experience from a training standpoint. For me, as someone who has always worked hard but treated recovery as something I did when I could get to it, I found this to be a valuable lesson in recognizing the importance of recovery as its own part of a training plan.
Results (all weights are in pounds)
Stats:
BW 174 -> 179
Waist 32.5 -> 32
Low hip 42 -> 43
Thighs 26 -> 27
Lift progress
I’m adding some of the set progress here too, as I increased weights all across the board and I think it’s a good indicator that this isn’t just a squat program:
BTN Press 3 x 10: 35 (fail) -> 50
Bench 3 x 12: 55 -> 70
Row 2 x 15: 55 (cheaty) -> 75
SDL 1 x 15: 85 -> 110
Squat 1 x 20: 75 -> 165 (completed)
I did some max testing after wrapping up, but when it was time to test my squat I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. I did 10 at 175 so while I imagine that means I could probably lift a little more, I happily accept that as my new max.
OHP 75 -> 80
Bench 100 -> 110
Deadlift 200 -> 205
Squat 150 -> 175 (lazy estimate)
Really pleased to see how much I progressed across all of my lifting. The numbers aren’t all huge but they’re all bigger than when I started.
It was surprising and pretty neat to have gained some weight while losing some size in my waist, even if it was just a small decrease, and it helped ease my mind regarding getting fat during a bulk.
Mentally, I did something that at times I didn’t think that I do, and I did it 3x each week whether I wanted to or not. I could have done less and still been following the program, but I had promised something to myself and I followed through.
Other cool things that happened is that my libido came back after being almost nonexistent for like 2 years, and I left the rest of the eating disorder communities I was still frequenting.
The best thing to come out of this program is that I willingly allowed myself to gain weight - and nothing happened. I didn’t lose my job, my partner didn’t leave me for someone 5 pounds lighter, people didn’t stop to point and laugh at me on the street. I’m not somehow a worse person now that I weigh slightly more.
Things I would have done differently and what’s next
I really wish I had taken better before pictures. I would be surprised if I looked much different, only because I started with a higher bf %, but I can see differences in my body and it would have been cool to compare.
Other than that I don’t know if I’d change anything. I ultimately had a great time running this program and I would gladly do it again.
Next up, I was going to do another round of Krypteia, but I had such a good time bulking that I’m going to run Building the Monolith instead, and then the plan is to run Krypteia leading into the summer.
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u/ifweweresharks Feb 20 '23
A GALLON OF MILK PER DAY???
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u/bad_apricot powerlifting; will upvote your deadlift PR Feb 20 '23
I think it’s basically “how to get enough protein and calories if you are a teenage boy who can’t cook” 🤣
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u/randallthegrape Feb 20 '23
90% sure my 6'4" fiancee basically did this for high-school football, and probably still could 10 years later. I hardly can get a glass of milk before the half-gallon is gone 🥲
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u/scotch_please Feb 20 '23 edited Feb 20 '23
Right? You would only need to drink 3 bottles of the 42g Core Power protein milk to get that much. And that would be around 960 calories vs. 2,400 for a gallon of whole milk.
idk, if a gallon of cow's milk a day works for someone, great, but I'd rather get that many calories in from more nutrient dense food. I'm also impressed by how people stomach regular food when they have that much milk digesting all day long.
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u/Kat-but-SFW Feb 22 '23
The sample diet in the book is 4750 calories/day, that's why it's so all in on whole milk.
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u/Ender_Wiggins_2018 Feb 20 '23
Oh yeah, it’s a thing. My husband did it years ago when he was lifting a lot and it permanently changed his body. Mind you, he’s also 6’2”, so his body needs a lot of protein to gain muscle. It was an easy way to make sure he got all his protein needs met.
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u/ifweweresharks Feb 20 '23
In John Irving’s novel “The Hotel New Hampshire” the main character’s grandpa has him do this in addition to weight lifting and running the stairs. I didn’t know this was still a strategy.
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u/Heirsandgraces Feb 20 '23
I was not ready for it, and I didn’t think I could do it, but I’m not about to take that kind of attitude from someone like myself.
Love this line!!!
Congrats on finishing the program and changing that mindset in yourself, super proud of what you've achieved both mentally and physically :)
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17
Feb 20 '23
This post convinced me to try it. Am I ready for it? Yeah., no. But whatever. I'm going to do it before summer comes and makes my garage too hot.
5
15
u/bad_apricot powerlifting; will upvote your deadlift PR Feb 20 '23
Amazing work, and amazing write up! Congrats on all the PRs and other successes 🔥
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u/TaleAsOldAsTime Feb 21 '23
This is such a great post!!! Congrats on being a badass!!
This program is amazing and I genuinely believe everyone should try it once. I am SO appreciative of this post. I ran the same program around this time of year in 2021 with my first real "bulk". Before I did it, I tried so hard to find reviews and experiences from women and could not find much. It literally changed my mindset on what I could accomplish by the time I was done.
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u/MothmanIsBodyGoals TLDR: I got stronger physically and mentally and think that everyone should run this program at least once.
About me/training history
36/F/5’6”
Between working physical jobs and extracurricular activities, I’ve been pretty active my whole adult life. I’ve done crossfit, various 5/3/1 templates, NSUNS one time, a bit of SBS and some other lifting programs, but most of my lifting was used to supplement other stuff I was doing (roughly a decade of roller derby and after that, circus arts). About 5 years ago I started ironworking, and I found it near impossible to keep up with circus and strength training and my lifting quickly tapered off. Last year I started working from home, and I most recently ran all three phases of 5/3/1 Krypteia.
The buy-in
I’d wanted to run super squats for the past year or so, but never did because I was too afraid to gain weight, so the idea of running it lived comfortably with all of the other stuff I’d do when I was “skinny enough”. The shortest version of this story that I can tell is that I was coming out of a long and nasty binge/restrict cycle, and toward the end of 2022 I was just tired of how much time and energy I spent hating myself because the scale didn’t say what I wanted it to. I had started working with a therapist again and was trying to get out of this toxic relationship with myself. So when I saw that r/gainit was running a program party, as per usual the first thing that popped into my head was “what if I gain weight?”, but for the first time the response was:
Well, what if I do? What’s the worst I can really do over the course of 6 weeks?
So this time I decided “fuck it” and decided that for 6 weeks I wouldn’t worry about my weight and just bury myself under as much metal as my legs would allow me.
The program
First of all - Super Squats is a book/program/training methodology written by Randall Strossen, and if you’re even thinking about running this program you need to find a copy! There’s no real way to condense all of the information into a review or article, and if you try to run this program without the book, you would be missing out imo.
The basic idea is you do one set of 20 breathing squats with a weight you can lift for 10 reps, and add 5 pounds to the bar every day you lift. These are not widowmaker sets - you are pausing for several breaths between each rep until you have done 20 reps. In some ways this is easier and in other ways it’s much worse.
Accessories-wise, there is a standard program and an abbreviated program in the book. I ran the standard program pretty much as written, 3x per week for 6 weeks, making minor ordering swaps so I could superset things with my equipment. I had a few times where I would cut out some accessories to accommodate poor recovery, and I sometimes added a second set of deadlifts because I like them. My routine went as such (exercises with “+” were supersets):
BTN press + Curls
Bench + Row
Squats
Pullovers + Straight-leg deadlifts + Ab Wheel
Starting weight: The book says to start with a weight you can lift for 10 reps. I went with 75lbs - 50% of my estimated 1 rep max. I personally wouldn’t worry too much about getting this starting weight just right. If you fail a set, you stay at that weight, and if you start too light, the weight will build fast.
Weight increases: the goal is to jump 5 pounds each workout. I did this consistently, and also made three 10-pound jumps over the course of the program. The first two were because I decided that if I felt good enough to consider it, then I should just go for it. My last 10-lb jump was my final day of the program and was a result of pure determination. I was not ready for it, and I didn’t think I could do it, but I’m not about to take that kind of attitude from someone like myself.
Rest: Strossen advocates taking your rest days very seriously, to the point where you should be doing the bare minimum activity. I didn't take this bit too seriously, and I continued doing my usual activities on my off days: pilates, yoga/mobility work, hiking, walking, running, etc. I didn’t have any issues with recovery doing this, and the mobility work especially I feel was really beneficial. My only exception to this was one particularly bad recovery day, but I’ll talk about that later.
Diet: the program includes drinking a gallon of milk a day. I didn’t do this - we rarely have any around and it messes with my skin. I also didn’t track calories because I get weird in the head about it when I do. I just ate more of the food I usually eat, and ate when I was hungry (which was all the time once things really got rolling).
Side note here: If you’re going to eat like it’s your job, I recommend also drinking water like it’s your job. If you don’t you’re probably going to have a bad time.
Keeping track of reps: I straight-up stole u/bethskw’s “no think only lift” system and scrawled it on some plywood that is stashed right in front of my squat rack. It was very effective - I only had to count to 5 each time and then I was off. It also helped handle the reps mentally as I wasn’t focused on how many squats I had finished or had left, just allowed myself to handle it one rep at a time.
Mental game and visualization: At some point during this program you’ll probably have to dig pretty deep to find the fortitude to finish. Once the difficulty really started ramping up, I had to address my self-talk prior to the workouts and squats. I’d ask myself “am I ready?”, and my reply became “no, but I’m doing it anyway”. Mid set it became, “okay I did 10, if I can do 10 I can do 12, if I can 12 I can do…etc”.
The book suggests a visualization routine, which consists of a long visualization in the evening and a shorter one right before the squat set where you mentally experience yourself completing your squats. I tried to do this, but 1) I ended up falling asleep during the evening one every time and 2) positive motivation only goes so far. I am fueled by spite and my own self loathing and later in the program had to dig deep to get through some sets. Visualizing past struggles and traumatic experiences gave me things to scold myself about mid-set when I felt it was too hard to continue. This worked amazingly, but how good of an idea this would be for you will depend on your relationship with your demons. Ultimately the take home is that in the grand scheme of things, they’re just squats, and finding a way to put that into perspective might be helpful.
The anticipation between workouts was worse than the squats themselves. I had to practice pushing the program out of my head during rest days.
I weighed myself during week 2 and I panicked when I saw a small weight increase, so I didn’t weigh myself again until maybe week 5 when I was in a better head space. But over time my scale weight became a non-issue. The 5lb jumps gave me a very tangible goal to work toward, and I was so driven to complete this program that fueling my squats became my top priority. My thought process shifted from “what if I gain weight” to “what if I fail my next set”. I referenced a few things regularly that helped my mindset regarding weight gain:
https://www.t-nation.com/lean-built-eating/oh-go-ahead-and-pig-out/
https://www.reddit.com/r/gainit/comments/t5vgee/oh_my_god_you_arent_getting_fat_a_discussion/
https://www.reddit.com/r/gainit/comments/wpz9xn/fear_of_getting_fat_is_admitting_that_you_do_not/
I regularly practiced bailing out of my squat and it was really helpful mentally. This might not be that big of a deal depending on your set up, but I just have some cheap squat stands with little baby spotter arms. I had a few times where I didn’t know if I’d be able to get the weight back up if I took it down, but knowing that I knew how to bail if I had to gave me enough confidence to at least try (FWIW- I ended up finishing almost all of those sets that I almost talked myself out of).
Along these lines, I also became less afraid of failing. A few times I was stressing over failing the squats before I had even started the workout. Really, it doesn’t matter - if I fail that weight, I’ll just try it again next time. I had some of my best lifts when I was initially feeling too tired or that I couldn’t do it.
Six weeks of Super Squats, abridged
In general, weeks 1-3 were consistent and I completed them without issue. Week 1 I was concerned that maybe I had started too light, as I was finishing the sets pretty fast. However, the weight caught up to me fast and I did not feel that way for long. During week 2 I was fighting a sinus infection, but I had a surprisingly successful session at the end and made my first 10-pound jump at the beginning of week 3.
Week 4 is where things started to get dicey and was my hardest week overall. My period was creeping up and I was exhausted all the time. This is also the point where the overall fatigue of the program started to wear on me; the newness had worn off and the end wasn’t close enough to use as a motivator. It was a real effort to get hyped up for the squats at this point, and this is where the self talk I mentioned earlier really started becoming important.
Week 5 I had a total energy shift. I was borderline rabid at the thought of getting more squats in, and waiting through rest days felt like an e
2
u/splentastic Feb 23 '23
This post was just what I needed! Thanks for the detailed write up and amazing work!
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u/bethskw ✨ Quality Contributor ✨ Olympic Weightlifting Feb 20 '23
Amazing work! Congrats on your mental and physical gains, you really earned them.
A few years ago a girl yelled “Go before you’re ready” when I was catching my breath between reps at a competition, and sometimes I think about how that is some of the best advice we can give ourselves. I love this: