20 Rep Deads/Squats

[Skilla_Staz]

What makes these effective? What exactly do they do?

I thought high rep sets (20 counts as high IMO) were more for endurace rather than strength or hypertrophy.

I did a 20 rep squat the other day and felt like jello afterwards....

Is it reasonable to do a 20 rep bench?

 

[Warboss Alex]

What makes these effective? What exactly do they do?

I thought high rep sets (20 counts as high IMO) were more for endurace rather than strength or hypertrophy.

I did a 20 rep squat the other day and felt like jello afterwards....

Is it reasonable to do a 20 rep bench?

a 20 rep squat is for overall hypetrophy as is a high rep deadlift but I wouldn't recommend this. and no, it not reasonable to do a 20 rep bench. ONLY your legs and back can take this sort of pounding. just stick with 20 rep squats!

basically, the lower body needs rep work to grow best.

 

[Skilla_Staz]

They suck. Big time. In a good way, of course.


185x20 after hitting 315x3.

Oh dear lord by 11 I was gone. By 15 I was out of breath. By 19 my legs were quitting...that 20th rep took a LOT to get up.

 

[Warboss Alex]

They suck. Big time. In a good way, of course.


185x20 after hitting 315x3.

Oh dear lord by 11 I was gone. By 15 I was out of breath. By 19 my legs were quitting...that 20th rep took a LOT to get up.

315 x 20 is even funner..

 

[spesmilitis]

do 20 reps is not for deadlifts? How often should I do 20 rep squats?

 

[md3sign]

I do 20 rep squat sets maybe once a month. They're not ideal for growth, but they do contribute to it and improve your overall physical conditioning. Your heart will be pounding like a hummingbird when (if) you finish. Plus you feel like a badass afterwards.

 

[A-Unit]

Re:

A word of caution on 20-reppers, esp for the newbs...your stabilized muscles blow out WAY before you hit 20 reps, normally by 5-8 if you're doing a weight this heavy. If it was a lighter weight, then they'd blow out later. But the theory underlying the 20-reppers is Rest Pausing. You do a weight you can only do consistently for 10 reps, rest pause at 10, then keep going with the weight on your back, pausing (not racking), until you hit 20. I'm not specificially advocating this for anyone, and they should consult a DR, and if you're new to squatting, have a squat spotter, because most fitness gyms aren't built for safety toward squats.

I mention the stabilizers blowing out because they will, and when they do, you risk serious injury. Keep that in mind. Safety first, or your training days will be short and limited and growth will be stagnant and long-winded.

That's all.



A-Unit

 

[BudLight85]

20 reppers are a *****. I've done 200 for 25 on squats and a few weeks ago 300 for 25 on deads, and it kicked my ass all over the place. Its a great tool to implement in your workouts every now and then, but personally I only use them once in a while. Good way to mix things up though!

Jay

 

[md3sign]

Good point about newbs not doing them. I squatted for 5 months straight (3x/week) before attempting my first set. You have to have your form NAILED before you try this. As you get tired, you lose form and increase your risk of injury. If it's not solid to begin with, you're making it all the more likely.

 

[Warboss Alex]

They're not ideal for growth

I really can't believe I'm hearing this. Your overall size will ALWAYS correspond to the weight you use for a 20 rep squat. I'm sorry to be blunt, but if you or anyone else truly thinks that, you don't have a clue.

 

[Warboss Alex]

spes, do not attempt a 20 rep deadlift - it's very easy to hurt yourself. stick with 20 rep squats.

 

[md3sign]

I think you completely misunderstood what I wrote.

Just because your size corresponds to some weight you use for a certain number of reps doesn't make it ideal for GROWTH. All it means is you can squat X weight for X reps. I can curl 10lbs 100 times but it's not going to make my muscles grow. Maybe a LITTLE, but certainly far from ideal.

If it was, the only thing I'd be doing would be 20 rep squat sets. Your legs grow primarily from lower rep, heavy weight squats. And I certainly didn't GET to 20 reppers but practicing them. I did 5 rep heavy sets, day in and day out.

 

[Warboss Alex]

Your legs grow primarily from lower rep, heavy weight squats.

You get very little leg growth from low rep squats. 90% of your lower body development will be down to 20 rep squats.

And doing a 20 rep squat and a 20 rep curl are on totally different planets!!

edit: also, you have a LOT of growing to do. You are aided by good genetics and newbie gains and I'm NOT dissing your hard work, but past a certain point you'll find you NEED 20 reppers to grow.

 

[md3sign]

I understand about the muscle groups requiring different stimulation to grow. I believe you should train every muscle in every rep range, though some favor certain ranges (calves for example need heavy, high rep work due to their extreme resistance to fatique).

That may be, yet my legs have grown significantly from nothing but 5 rep sets, genetics or not. If/when I come to a point I need to do a lot of 20 rep work, I'll go from there. If you frequent BB and talk to any of the huge guys there though, few of them do 20 reppers on a normal basis. I just can't see how it could possibly make up the backbone of a squat program, when all the pre-written tried-and-true ones don't include them (rippetoe, 5x5, wsb, all upper/lowers, russian powerlifting routines, etc etc). I'm just going by what I've learned from experience and those with decades more experience than myself (rippetoe, starr, et al).

 

[donjuanjovi]

20 rep squats are not for 20 reps!!!!!!!!!!!!

You do not pound out 20 reps, you pound out about 8 or 10 and than stand there like a moron with a bent bar over your back while you gain the courage to put your ass down once again, and repeat that until you hit 20. If you can go to 20 without taking a break you need to add more weight.

So basically a "20 rep" squat set would be broken up into many sets. The only thing is that instead of racking the bar you keep it on your shoulders until you recover enough to do another rep.

 

[Warboss Alex]

So basically a "20 rep" squat set would be broken up into many sets. The only thing is that instead of racking the bar you keep it on your shoulders until you recover enough to do another rep.

no, it's not a series of sets, it's one very long set. either way you look at it, it's damn hard.

 

[Skilla_Staz]

I just pumped out 20. I paused for a second after #15 to make sure I didn't kill myself...but then went about my business of pumping them out.

Also, to say that low rep squats don't help with growth, I'm not sure how this could be. This is the FIRST time I've EVER gone over 10 reps in a squat, and I've had some decent size gains. My first couple months lifting, I gained about an inch or two on my thighs. When I started again this October, until now, my quads have become more "defined" and seemingly thicker...