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The original was posted on /r/weightroom by /u/gzcl on 2024-01-12 20:55:02.
Tom Platz is a retired American professional bodybuilder who was active during the 1970s and 1980s. Platz is renowned for his impressive leg development and is often considered to have the best legs in the history of bodybuilding. Platz's intense training style, often consisting of insanely high rep squats, produced remarkable leg development in an era where many competitors prioritized leg training far less. His legs are iconic, establishing Platz as one of the greatest bodybuilders of all time.
To improve my legs, the squat itself, and most importantly – to see if I could – I figured why not adopt the Platz approach of high rep squatting. It started off by creating a list of squat sets that, once completed, would result in personal records from a 1RM to a 100RM. Some of these sets were records by many reps, others by just a few, and in the case of the 1RM, less than two pounds.
Completing this list of squats was my second priority, next to training daily, which I managed to continue doing. The last squat set from the list that I completed was 185x75, completed in my 1,729th consecutive workout without a rest day.
Each of these sets is a lifetime personal record:
135x102 (Wanted 100)
185x76 (Wanted 75)
225x51 (Wanted 50)
275x37 (Wanted 35)
315x26 (Wanted 25)
365x15 (Wanted 15)
405x10 (Wanted 10)
455x5 (Wanted 5)
500x3 (Wanted 3)
525x1 Lifetime 1RM PR.
Those sets were not completed in order from lightest to heaviest. Rather, I strategized my progression to work my way through the lighter weight, higher rep sets while also pursuing the heavier weight, lower rep sets. The first set completed was on December 23rd, 2022, as that is my birthday and 225x50 was the closest to my loosely practiced tradition of doing birthday squats (bodyweight x age). I weighed under 200 pounds at that time and then turned 37 years old.
I had 500x2 in mind when first discussing this list. That was later updated to a 3RM because I realized that I had once before squatted 500x2. Also, when discussing the list I did not mention going after a 1RM personal record, as I felt it would be best to keep that one to myself, perhaps because of superstition.
Now knowing the results, and before I get into the how, the why should be explained.
Why do high rep squats?
The grueling nature of high rep squatting is a forge of sorts. Surviving it is something worth writing about, evidenced by the many questions people have asked me in the last year. The most common question is why?
There is no scientific reason that makes high rep squats better for size or strength gains. Some, including Platz himself, may object to this. Objections aside, my reason for doing high rep squats was not to merely grow my legs, or to get a stronger squat, though I was sure both would happen. The primary reason I wanted to complete those sets was to see if I could, as each set was daunting. In this way I departed from Tom Platz who used high volume work to excel at his profession of bodybuilding. But for me, the challenge itself was the goal. Did my legs grow? Yes. They are now bigger than ever before. Did my squat get stronger than ever before? Yes. However, each of those things individually could be achieved more easily with a different approach. But it was the approach itself, and the numbers themselves, that motivated me and carried me through the pain of a set to the writhing pleasure of its completion.
The thought of doing 225x50 terrified me. As did 275x35, 365x15, 405x10, and every other set on the list. Perhaps in that way Platz and I now share a thread of kinship. Albeit his weights are far higher than my own. I would like to believe that he also trembled before approaching the squat rack on days where the bar would not be racked until several minutes of squats had passed. Maybe he didn’t. Maybe that’s why he has the greatest legs in the history of bodybuilding. Maybe he was unafraid. Maybe that’s what it takes. Something I don’t have.
Knowing the pain these sets would inflict generated fear. That fear validated the reason why I should train for and complete these high rep squat sets. There is a connection between being afraid of something and how much you value it, or respect it, or recognize its dominion over you. I grew fearful the moment I thought up the list of squats. Immediately I realized that I must complete them, or at the very least try my best. Otherwise the regret of not trying would hurt more than the sets themselves… and the training for them, which hurt worse than almost anything I’ve ever done in the gym. By completing these sets fear would be replaced by joy and I would gain dominion over the squat. The lift that intimidated me most.
I would be remiss if I did not mention having watched on several occasions training videos of Tom Platz, simply to see that he did such things; knowing that what one man can do, another can do. So, I tried to be like Tom, and in the process, I managed to become a faint shadow, a mortal emulation, a blurred reflection, a vestige of the Golden Eagle, a demigod of Bodybuilding. Forever will high rep squats be his ghost, that under the bar, and in such pain, can you be emptied of yourself and possessed by Platz.
How I trained for high rep squats
Rather than just take a weight and go to failure week in and week out, I followed a more gradual and structured approach. Because of this, my approach was far less aggressive than what Tom Platz would likely promote. That is fine by me. I merely followed a different path to the same goal: squatting a ton of reps. Perhaps my methodology is the fox’s way while Platz’s the lion’s. If so, I hope the shrewd reader finds the following details helpful. The courageous need not read further, for their hearts need nothing else.
The reason behind my gradual and structured progression was because remaining injury free was at the top of my list. I managed to do exactly that by limiting my exposure to failure. As a result, I was able to train every day (despite some very hard squat workouts), ensuring that I achieved my primary goal: to train daily. And my secondary goal: to PR my squat from 1RM to 100RM.
General and Specific Conditioning.
For the last five years I’ve been using my General Gainz training framework. This is a flexible and intuitive approach to structuring and progressing workouts. That said, not every workout while training for these high rep sets followed the intensity and volume limits of my General Gainz model. There were many conditioning focused workouts that were done according to more traditional methods of improving work capacity, for both cardiovascular fitness and the specific fitness needed to complete an obscene number of squats.
My conditioning focused workouts were built around Every Minute on the Minute (EMOM), or As Many Rounds (or sets) As Possible (AMRAP), or a certain number of reps and sets completed As Fast As Possible (AFAP). When it comes to conditioning, I had a general component and a specific component. General conditioning is geared towards overall fitness and work capacity, especially aerobic, whereas specific conditioning is aimed at improving the strength and endurance of the legs, particularly the anaerobic pathway. Early in the year I included much more traditional forms of cardio like rowing, stationary biking, and occasionally the treadmill. Later in the year, as my general conditioning had improved enough to get the work done, I shifted my focus towards more specific conditioning workouts that were based on the squat itself.
I also included kettlebell swings and step ups as forms of general conditioning work. Those would help prepare me for more challenging specific conditioning sessions where squatting itself was the main course. When doing general conditioning sessions I would pair rowing with something like sit-ups, leg lifts, other abdominal exercises, and/or pressing of some sort; bench or overhead (as that also served to benefit those lifts as well). An example of these kinds of sessions would be something like a 20-minute AMRAP of 250m row, 10 leg lifts, and 10 kettlebell presses. These would typically be done 1x a week, alternating weeks with a specific conditioning session built around the squat.
The specific conditioning sessions would be something like a 60-minute EMOM of squatting a weight for 3 reps, for example. These kinds of sessions were not always 60-minutes. That is given as the maximum time I would go for in a specific squat conditioning workout. For such a long duration I would typically only be doing singles. This worked great for developing the strength and stamina for weights from 275 to 365. The reason why I like these kinds of approaches (EMOM, AMRAP, AFAP) to conditioning are that they have different variabl...
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