The best exercise to tone up? The 20-rep squat could be the answer
Legal LawI love 20 rep squats! Without a doubt, they are the king of exercises, and their benefits are seemingly limitless. They seem to fit into any and all exercise systems out there, and the results they provide are far beyond what you’d expect for what, at first glance, is just a simple leg workout. Let’s dig a little deeper…
I first read about 20-rep squats in 1992 when I saw my first copy of Stuart McRobert’s Hardgainer magazine. It was a small and unassuming publication compared to the big glossy bodybuilding mags on the newsstands, but it contained far more real world wisdom than all the major steroid and supplement driven mags put together.
The abbreviated workouts extolled in Hardgainer revolutionized my weight training and the results I got from it, and little did I know that just a few years later I would own my own gym and be training people using these principles.
The success I’ve had with those brave enough to train properly has been spectacular, and the cornerstone of any abbreviated weight training routine is the 20-rep squat.
Now, I’m talking about free weight squats, no stack machines or Smith machines, which force the body through a plane of motion that can cause injury.
It’s not within the scope of this article to go into detail about squat form, but suffice it to say that you should get a very good trainer who knows exactly what he’s doing, or alternatively, and perhaps better, get a copy of Stuart McRobert. . book ‘Brawn’, the abbreviated weight training bible.
When I say high rep squats, I mean heavy! You may think that high reps equate to light weight, but once you’ve figured out the form, you can do more squats for 20 reps than you used to for much less. All you do is one set per week (not including warm-up sets), and if you gradually build up the weight by using cycling in your routines, you should be squatting 20 bodyweights pretty soon, and the results you’ll get will be spectacular. .
Traditionally, squatting one and a half times our bodyweight for 20 is the first goal, and at that point you’ll notice a huge difference in your body!
Okay, let’s take a look at the benefits of high rep squats that I’ve experienced, both first hand and from training numerous people…
They will tone you much faster than any other exercise, and the effect is not limited to the legs and back. I’ve had people train with a set of 20 rep squats exclusively for a cycle or two, put an inch or two on their arms without doing any arm work at all!
They release growth hormone in a way that speeds up the anabolic process, even making other exercises performed in the same workout more effective.
They’ll tone you up faster than anything else, so ladies, go ahead with them! No amount of half hearted cardio and “playing” with toy plastic dumbbells will have the same effect. Have courage and train properly!
They are satisfying! Once you get into it, the sheer satisfaction of lifting more weight each week than ever before is a reward in itself. The fact that you are building a stunning body is almost an afterthought!
They are magnificently good for cardiovascular fitness. The heart and lungs are trained very hard during a 20-rep set, and some say that’s all the cardio you need. Well, that’s debatable, but it certainly ties into the recent thinking that heavy efforts and sprints are preferable to hours of pounding pavement when it comes to burning fat and getting fit.
They are easier on the joints! Yes really! If you learn the form correctly, just so they’re safe, you can do one very strong set and then go home, whereas those people who do six medium sets of six to ten reps are actually lifting more total, putting more stress on themselves. his joints, but doing less well.
They greatly contribute to bone and ligament health, keeping all lifting and supporting structures in good repair. This is like a life insurance policy to keep your body working well for years to come.
They reduce training time! Who likes to spend hours and hours in the gym? Nobody really, especially those who train for hours, because they are usually very dissatisfied with their long overtraining routines because they don’t get results.
The only downside to 20-rep squat-based routines is that people accuse you of taking steroids because they think you’re not doing enough sets for the amazing results you’re getting. It happened to me!
So get on them now! Combine these with Ayurvedic exercise principles and three-phase training, and then stretch out all the issues with a relaxing somatic movement routine, and you have an exercise program that will boost your health!