Super Squats Workout Program

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{"program":{"vtype":"program","id":"super-squats","name":"Super Squats","url":"https://www.ironmind.com/product/super-squats-how-to-gain-30-pounds-of-muscle-in-6-weeks/","author":"Randall J. Strossen","shortDescription":"One brutal set of 20 breathing squats with your 10-rep max, plus 5lb every workout - the classic 6-week \"squats and milk\" mass program.","description":"Super Squats is the 20-rep \"breathing squat\" program from Randall Strossen's 1989 book. You take the weight you can squat for 10 reps and do 20 reps with it, in one set, taking deep breaths between reps. Then you add 5lb to the bar every single workout, three times a week, for six weeks. A light pullover follows right after the squat. The rest of the session is a short list of basic barbell lifts - behind the neck press, bench press, bent over row, barbell curl and stiff leg deadlift. Eat a lot and drink milk - the program only works in a big calorie surplus.","nextDay":1,"weeks":[],"isMultiweek":false,"days":[{"id":"zoriedez","name":"Day 1","exercises":[]}],"exercises":[],"tags":[],"clonedAt":1792643601791,"planner":{"vtype":"planner","name":"Super Squats","weeks":[{"name":"Week 1","days":[{"name":"Day 1","exerciseText":"Behind The Neck Press / 3x10 / 65lb / 120s / progress: lp(5lb)\nBench Press / 3x12 / 95lb / 120s / progress: lp(5lb)\nBent Over Row / 2x15 / 75lb / 90s / progress: lp(5lb)\nBicep Curl, Barbell / 2x10 / 45lb / 90s / warmup: none / progress: lp(5lb)\n// **Breathing squat** - your 10-rep max for 20 reps, one set. Do NOT rack the bar until rep 20.\n// - Reps 1-10: normal pace\n// - Reps 11-20: stand with the bar on your back, take **at least 3 big deep breaths** before each rep. By rep 15 it may be 5-10 breaths\n// - No belt - it limits breathing\n// - Go straight to pullovers after the set\nSquat / 1x20 / 115lb / 30s / superset: squat / progress: lp(5lb, 1, 0, 15lb, 2, 0)\n// Light stretch while you're still breathing hard after the squat. Deep breath in, lower the weight far behind your head, exhale on the way up. Keep it light - 15-20lb. A Rader chest pull works too.\nPullover / 1x20 / 20lb / 120s / warmup: none / superset: squat\nStiff Leg Deadlift / 1x15 / 95lb / 30s / progress: lp(5lb) / superset: sldl\n// ...Pullover\nsecond: Pullover / 1x20 / 20lb / 120s / warmup: none / superset: sldl\nStanding Calf Raise, Barbell / 3x20 / 95lb / 60s / warmup: none / progress: lp(10lb)\nCrunch / 1x25 / 0lb / 60s / warmup: none"}]}]}},"fullDescription":"## Origin & Philosophy\n\nThe 20-rep squat is almost 100 years old. In the 1930s Mark Berry promoted heavy squats in his *Strength* magazine, and Joseph Curtis Hise turned them into a recipe: high-rep squats with forced deep breathing between reps, pullovers right after, lots of food and milk. Hise claimed he gained 29 pounds in one month. Peary Rader, the founder of *Iron Man* magazine, built his early issues around the method. John McCallum kept it alive in his \"Keys to Progress\" columns in the 1960s.\n\nIn 1968 Randall Strossen read the old *Iron Man* issues and noticed that almost every lifter who made big gains had built his routine around the 20-rep squat. He tried it and reported gaining 30 pounds in six weeks. In 1989 he wrote it all down in *Super Squats: How to Gain 30 Pounds of Muscle in 6 Weeks*.\n\nThe philosophy fits in one sentence: one set of squats that is \"the hardest work you've ever done\", and everything else kept small enough that you can recover and grow from it. The book is blunt about it - \"If you can even think of a second set, then you're loafing.\"\n\nThe weight gain claims were never measured independently. Modern research supports the core mechanism - a set taken very close to failure, progressive overload, and a calorie surplus build muscle. The old theories around it (squats releasing hormones that grow your arms, pullovers expanding the ribcage) do not hold up.\n\n## Who It's For\n\n- **Experience**: Beginner to intermediate. Strossen says the Basic Routine suits both people just starting out and people who already respond well to training. You need to squat to parallel with a flat back before you start - you'll be doing it at the edge of failure\n- **Goal**: Mass. This is a weight-gaining program first. Strength goes up too, but less than on a low-rep program\n- **Cut/bulk**: Bulk only. The book asks for 2 quarts (about 1.9 liters) of milk a day as a minimum, a gallon as a goal, on top of three big meals and snacks. The sample diet is about 4,750 calories and 253g of protein. Running this program in a calorie deficit means adding 90lb to a 20-rep squat with nothing to build from\n- **Hard gainers**: If you always struggle to gain weight, the book tells you to skip the Basic Routine and use the shorter Abbreviated Program (see Common Modifications)\n\n## Pros & Cons\n\n**Pros**\n\n- One clear goal per session - get all 20 squat reps. Everything else is secondary, so you always know what matters\n- Squat weight goes up 5lb every session - about 90lb over 18 workouts. Few programs move that fast\n- Needs only a barbell, plates, a bench and squat racks. It was built for home training, and the book lists people who squatted in their kitchen with bar stools as racks\n- The 20-rep set teaches you to push close to failure. Many people who run it say this mental lesson stayed with them longer than the size\n- Upper body work is short and basic - pressing, rowing and curling for 2-3 sets each\n\n**Cons**\n\n- The squat set is brutally hard, three times a week. The last 5 reps can take minutes, and most people dread every session by week 4\n- Progress depends on eating a lot. Without the milk and calories, the 5lb jumps stall in 2-3 weeks\n- You will gain fat too. A 4,750-calorie diet and a gallon of milk do not build only muscle\n- No real plan for failure. The book says \"make all twenty repetitions each time\" and gives no deload or reset\n- Squatting a heavy bar 3x/week for high reps can hurt elbows and wrists for low-bar squatters - a common complaint from people who ran it\n- Lower back and hamstrings get worked by both the squat and the [{Stiff Leg Deadlift}] in the same session, on top of rows\n\n## Program Structure\n\n- **Split**: Full body. Every session is the same workout\n- **Periodization**: Strict linear progression. Add weight every session on every lift\n- **Schedule**: Fixed weekly, three times a week on alternate days - for example Monday, Wednesday, Friday\n- **Session order**: Upper body pressing and pulling first, then the squat, then the pullover right after it, then [{Stiff Leg Deadlift}] with another pullover, then calves and abs\n\nThe squat comes fifth, after the upper body work. The book doesn't explain the order. In practice the light upper body sets work as a warm-up, and you don't have to train anything heavy after the squat set except the deadlift.\n\n## Exercise Selection & Rationale\n\nThe book only uses compound \"basic\" exercises, because one compound lift builds more mass than a series of isolation exercises. Flyes, lateral raises, pressdowns and machines are left out on purpose - \"leave them for later\".\n\n- [{Squat}] - the center of the whole program. Parallel depth, flat back, no belt. The book says a belt limits your breathing, and most of the men who pioneered the program never used one\n- [{Pullover}] - right after the squat, with a light weight (15-20lb), while you are still breathing hard. The old-timers believed this stretched the ribcage from inside and outside. Research does not support that - treat it as a light stretch and a breather. The book's first choice is the Rader chest pull: grab something fixed at head height (a rack upright, a door frame), take a deep breath, and pull down and in. You should feel a pull in the breastbone\n- [{Behind The Neck Press}] - seated, to take the strain off the lower back. [{Overhead Press}] works just as well, and the book suggests switching between them when one goes stale\n- [{Bench Press}] - the main chest exercise. [{Chest Dip}] with added weight is the book's alternative\n- [{Bent Over Row}] - for the upper back, biceps and forearms. [{Chin Up}] is the alternative\n- [{Bicep Curl, Barbell}] - the only isolation exercise. Strossen includes it as a concession, because \"most people are stuck on the biceps\"\n- [{Stiff Leg Deadlift}] - lower back and hamstrings. The book's long-term goal is to keep it even with your squat weight\n- [{Standing Calf Raise, Barbell}] and [{Crunch}] - optional extras. The book says most people skip calves on a bulk, and abs only need a set or two\n\n## Set & Rep Scheme\n\n**The squat**: 1 set of 20 reps with your 10-rep max. The first reps go at a normal pace. From around rep 10, you stand with the bar on your back and take at least 3 big, deep breaths before each rep. By the last 5 reps it may be 5-10 breaths. You do not rack the bar until all 20 reps are done. Average at least 3 breaths per rep across the whole set.\n\nThe pauses turn the second half of the set into something close to a rest-pause or cluster set. This is how a 10-rep weight moves for 20.\n\n**Upper body and deadlift**: 10-15 reps for 2-3 sets, at a weight you can do in strict form \"without busting a gut\". These are not to failure.\n\n**Pullovers**: 1x20, light. The book uses a light weight on purpose, so the muscles don't contract and the movement stays a stretch.\n\n**Calves and abs**: 3x20 calves, 1x25 crunches.\n\n## Progressive Overload\n\n**Squat**: Add 5lb to the bar every single workout and make all 20 reps. The book allows 5 or 10lb - 5lb is the standard choice. Over 6 weeks (18 sessions) that is about 85-90lb on top of your starting 10-rep max.\n\n**Everything else**: Add 5lb each time you complete all your reps (10lb for calf raises). When you can't make all reps after an increase, stay at the new weight until you can, then add weight again.\n\nThe app does exactly this with linear progression - weight goes up only after a fully successful session, and stays the same otherwise.\n\n**When you fail a squat set**: The book has no failure protocol - Strossen's answer is to eat more, rest more and want it more. The app uses the common community fix:\n\n- If you miss reps once, the app keeps the same weight next session\n- If you miss twice in a row, the app drops the squat by 15lb (3 sessions of progress) and you build back up\n- Some lifters finish the missing reps in a second set and only add weight when the first set hits 20\n- If you fail early in the program (week 1-2), your starting weight was too heavy\n\n**Deload**: None within the 6 weeks.\n\n## How Long to Run It / What Next\n\nRun it for **6 weeks** (18 sessions). That's the length in the book's title, and most people can't keep adding 5lb to a 20-rep squat much longer than that.\n\n**Signs it's time to stop**: You've failed the squat set 2-3 times, you dread the bar enough that you approach it doubting you can finish, or joint pain starts to change how you train.\n\n**What next**: The book suggests alternating 6 weeks of Super Squats with 6 weeks of a low-rep 5x5 \"power\" program, then back to 20s. [Ice Cream Fitness 5x5](/programs/ice-cream-fitness-5x5), [Madcow 5x5](/programs/madcow) and [Texas Method](/programs/texasmethod) fill that role. If you liked the 20-rep set, [5/3/1: Building the Monolith](/programs/monolith531) keeps one squat set of 20 per week, and [DoggCrapp](/programs/doggcrapp) uses a 20-rep \"widowmaker\" after a heavy set.\n\n## Equipment Needed\n\n- Barbell and plenty of plates - you'll add 90lb to the squat in 6 weeks\n- Squat racks or a power rack with safety pins. The book insists: never do heavy squats without spotters or safeties\n- A flat bench with uprights, and a way to spot the bench press\n- A light dumbbell or plate for pullovers. For the Rader chest pull you need nothing but a door frame\n- A step or block for calf raises\n\nEverything is free weights. No machine substitutions needed.\n\n## Rest Times\n\n- **Squat set**: no racking. The \"rest\" happens between reps, as breaths with the bar on your back\n- **Squat to pullover**: go straight to the pullover while still breathing hard. The app supersets them with a 30s gap\n- **Upper body sets**: 1.5-2 minutes. The book wants the whole session done in under an hour, so don't stretch rests\n- **Calves and abs**: about 1 minute\n\n## How to Pick Starting Weights\n\n- **Squat**: Use the weight you can squat for 10 reps with good form, without grinding. Use a normal set of 10, not a calculated 10-rep max from a 1RM or 5RM formula. The book says to start with a \"moderate poundage\", and one lifter who started at a calculated 10RM failed within weeks because the 5lb jumps added up too fast\n- **Everything else**: A weight you can lift for all prescribed reps in strict form, \"without busting a gut\"\n- **Pullovers**: 15-20lb. Do not go heavier\n- **Common mistake**: Starting too heavy on the squat. You have 18 sessions of +5lb ahead. A first session that feels a little easy is fine - by week 3 it won't be\n- **Warm-ups**: The book recommends a few minutes of stretching, a general warm-up (a dozen power cleans or dumbbell swings), and a specific warm-up set or two before the squat\n\n## Common Modifications\n\n- **Abbreviated Program**: For hard gainers. Do only [{Bench Press}] 2x12, [{Squat}] 1x20, a Rader chest pull or [{Pullover}] 1x20, and [{Bent Over Row}] 2x15. Add weight to bench and rows every workout, \"exactly as in the squats\". The book says this version \"has worked some absolute miracles\"\n- **Training twice a week**: If you can't recover, train on Monday and Thursday. Some people squat only every 5th or 6th day, or train 3x/week but squat on only 2 of those days\n- **Press variation**: [{Overhead Press}] or [{Overhead Press, Dumbbell}] instead of [{Behind The Neck Press}]. [{Chin Up}] instead of rows. [{Chest Dip}] instead of bench\n- **Squat variations**: The book mentions 2x15 (first set at your max, then drop 100lb for the second) and 3x10-12 with the same weight, or 1x30, as alternatives for later cycles. [{Safety Squat Bar Squat}] spares the elbows and shoulders, though lifters say breathing pauses feel easier with it\n- **No-plates version**: If you run out of plates, add reps instead - build from 20 up to 25-30, then add weight and drop back to 20","faq":"### How much weight do you gain on Super Squats?\n\nThe book promises up to 30 pounds in 6 weeks, but that number was never independently measured. Lifters who report their runs on Reddit typically gain 8-17 pounds, with a big part of it coming from the high-calorie diet. Expect real strength and size gains, and some fat, if you eat as much as the book asks.\n\n### Do I really need to drink a gallon of milk on Super Squats?\n\nNo, but you need the calories and protein it provides. The book's minimum is 2 quarts of milk a day, with a gallon as the goal, on top of normal meals. Milk is just an easy way to drink 1,000-2,500 extra calories - any large calorie surplus with enough protein does the same job.\n\n### What do I do if I fail the 20-rep squat set?\n\nRepeat the same weight next session. If you miss again, drop 15lb and build back up. Failing in the first two weeks almost always means you started too heavy - restart with a weight you can squat for a comfortable 10.\n\n### Are the pullovers necessary on Super Squats?\n\nThe book treats them as part of the program, but the ribcage expansion theory behind them has no research support. They're light and take two minutes, so most people keep them as a stretch and a breather after the squat. Skipping them won't affect your gains.\n\n### Can a beginner do Super Squats?\n\nYes, if you can already squat to parallel with a flat back. The book says the Basic Routine works for people just starting out. Learn the squat on a simpler program first if your form breaks down at high reps - rep 18 of a 20-rep set is not the place to learn technique.\n\n### How many days a week is Super Squats?\n\nThree days a week on alternate days, for example Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Every session is the same workout. If you can't recover, the book says to train twice a week instead.\n\n### Should I wear a belt for 20-rep squats?\n\nThe book says no. A belt makes it harder to take the deep breaths between reps, and most of the men who pioneered the program never used one. If you have a back issue, follow your own judgment.\n\n### How long does a Super Squats workout take?\n\nThe book says under an hour. With warm-ups it's closer to 60-65 minutes, and the squat set alone can take 3-5 minutes because of the breathing pauses. The Abbreviated Program takes about 30 minutes.","userAgent":"Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; ClaudeBot/1.0; +claudebot@anthropic.com)","indexEntry":{"id":"super-squats","name":"Super Squats","author":"Randall J. Strossen","authorUrl":"","url":"https://www.ironmind.com/product/super-squats-how-to-gain-30-pounds-of-muscle-in-6-weeks/","shortDescription":"One brutal set of 20 breathing squats with your 10-rep max, plus 5lb every workout - the classic 6-week \"squats and milk\" mass program.","description":"Super Squats is the 20-rep \"breathing squat\" program from Randall Strossen's 1989 book. You take the weight you can squat for 10 reps and do 20 reps with it, in one set, taking deep breaths between reps. Then you add 5lb to the bar every single workout, three times a week, for six weeks. A light pullover follows right after the squat. The rest of the session is a short list of basic barbell lifts - behind the neck press, bench press, bent over row, barbell curl and stiff leg deadlift. Eat a lot and drink milk - the program only works in a big calorie surplus.","isMultiweek":false,"tags":[],"weeksCount":1,"exercises":[{"id":"behindTheNeckPress","equipment":"barbell"},{"id":"benchPress","equipment":"barbell"},{"id":"bentOverRow","equipment":"barbell"},{"id":"bicepCurl","equipment":"barbell"},{"id":"squat","equipment":"barbell"},{"id":"pullover","equipment":"dumbbell"},{"id":"stiffLegDeadlift","equipment":"barbell"},{"id":"standingCalfRaise","equipment":"barbell"},{"id":"crunch","equipment":"bodyweight"}],"equipment":["barbell","dumbbell"],"exercisesRange":[10,10],"frequency":3,"age":"less_than_3_months","duration":"60-90","goal":"hypertrophy","datePublished":"2026-10-21T21:10:16-05:00","dateModified":"2026-10-21T22:33:35-05:00"}}