Russian Squat Routine

As any good gym rat, I was eager to get back into the gym during the COVID Shutdown, A little over 3-weeks ago that finally happened in my area. My younger son, Luke, and I jumped into things with both feet and all gusto. An approach that has historically landed me in injuries. Not this time, I am happy to say.

I went back to the gym with a solid plan from years past. I cycled several times over the years since I learned it at a YMCA in Ambler, PA. It was the Russian Squat routine. As Luke is 15, I was hesitant to put him on that. All four of my kids are hesitant to follow directly in my footsteps while training, so he stuck with the tried and true 3x10. I did the 1x20 and adding 5 to 10 pounds each session.

It occurs that some of you may not know the Russian Squat protocol. It is a very rough routine, both mentally and physically. If you have never tried it, I suggest that you do at least one 6-week cycle of it in your lifting career. It will add pounds to your lift in super-fast time as well as show you that you are more than you thought you were.

First, you take the weight which you are squatting for 3x10 reps. A good solid, hard 10 reps. This is the weight you will use for your starting squat weight for one set of 20. The breathing pattern is unique. It’s called breathing squats for a distinctly good reason. Your body will need O2.

For the first five reps, just breathe and squat normally. Squats six through 10 take one breath at the top of each squat. For squats 11 through 15 your breathing between squats should now be three to five breaths. For 15 to 20 just breathe as much as you need to. Take the time you need between squats for these last repetitions.

Here is the kick. You do NOT put that bar on the rack until you complete the 20^th squat. I don’t care if your foot is curling up into a ball due to cramps, you keep squatting until you hit 20 repetitions.

You got your 20. You racked the weight. You even put a checkmark in your logbook. Fantastic! Next workout, you add 5 to 10 pounds on that squat and do it again.

Say you squat on Monday and you do 265 for 20 reps. Wednesday will be 270, at least.

This is what the routine looks like, overall:

Shoulder Press       3x12

Bench Press           3X10

Squat                      1x20

Pullover                 1x20

The pullover is done with a lightweight, I use a 50-pound curl bar. Lie down on a bench, hold the weight at arm’s length, and lower it as far as you comfortably can behind your head. Then, pull it back to its starting point above you. You will feel this stretching your chest cavity out. I don’t know what it does physically other than feel real good after the squats. The lifting coach who introduced me to this program back in the early 1990s said that, by expanding the chest cavity this way, you are forcing the body to grow. I do not know enough to say yes or no, but it sounds kind of strange. I will say it again, it feels good and I still do it.

After the main portion is done, I continue with shrugs, triceps extensions, and curls. You know, the ego-boosting exercises. I also train abs and those muscles along the spine every workout. Those muscles, the erector spinae, are vital in this routine. If you mess those up you are done. I do bodyweight back extensions as the last exercise. Doing this last allows me to hit them directly when already exhausted and warmed up. I can also focus on every repetition while doing them to keep my form perfect.

That’s the Russian Squat routine in a nutshell. I highly recommend that you give it a go once you’ve checked in with your doctor. Be forewarned, though, you will notice that your appetite increases while doing this. Your body size is going to grow, even if you are older, like me. I am 50 as of this writing. Three weeks in and I am seeing growth in my legs and arms.

While this is a 6-week cycle, I am stopping early. Luke, mentioned above, is getting ready for high school football and wrestling. He has the same slender build I did when I was his age. He wants to bulk up some. So, we are switching gears to a 5x5 routine for powerlifting.

I will keep you all updated on what that looks like and how it’s going for us.

Thank you.

Live well!

Live Strong!

2017 January Tabata Challenge Day 3

Wendy Repovich of Eastern Washington University writes in the abstract of her report on short term, short duration, HIIT and Tabata-style exercises that the Tabata protocol of 20 seconds of give-it-all-you-have followed by 10 seconds of I-gotta-be-crazy for eight rounds is an effective training model.

Her study looked at this method for a short duration of testing. That is, the test period lasted for three weeks. Exercise days were Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. This study was aimed at specifically intra-abdominal fat, IAF. IAF is the fat deep inside the body cavity. This is the stuff that is packed around our internal organs. Yes, we need some, but not anywhere near the extent that far too many people have. This is the stuff that gives us that big ol’ “beer belly” look. Who wants that? Really? No way.

We already know that increasing VO2 max, improving body composition and strength, as well as numerous other benefits come from this style of training. A great extra which Dr. Repovich found was that cognitive function improves, too.

Yes, getting moving, getting the heart beating, having some time outside in the fresh air all help. Were you aware that exercising also helps your brain create new brain cells? It sure does. There is an exhibit at the Maryland Science Center, a fantastic place to go if you’re in that area, which demonstrates this very nicely. I saw it several years ago and was told that the exhibit was one of the Center’s permanent displays. At any rate, strenuous activity actually makes you smarter. It builds your brain while building your body.

Some of the points Dr. Repovich et al left unanswered include doing Tabata protocol workouts on consecutive days and for more than three weeks. Folks, if you are doing this with me, you are part of science! Well, maybe not, but you are darned sure getting a great workout.

As for the 2017 January Tabata Challenge, the repetitions are increasing in both numbers and my capacity to perform is getting better. This is only, only, day three.

Post your comments. I want to see your results and how you feel with these changes to your life and person.

Links:

http://dc.ewu.edu/srcw_2014/10/?utm_source=dc.ewu.edu%2Fsrcw_2014%2F10&utm_medium=PDF&utm_campaign=PDFCoverPages

http://dc.ewu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1009&context=srcw_2014

Positive Thinking For Health

      How much of what we say to ourselves is negative? How does that impact us? Our family? Our children?

      We all have our down times. Those moments, or days, when everything is dark. No matter what happens we see things negatively. Depression. Some of us look at the world through the eyes of doubt as a regular thing, the pessimist. “Well, Marc, one person's pessimist is another person's realist,” you might be tempted to say. But, I ask you, what impact does this life view have on your health? How does it impact your body? Can changing how you look at the world change your health?

      There are several studies that tell us positivity, optimism, can improve the quality and longevity of our lives. Let's look at that a little.

Live longer

      Rather than just falling apart, positive outlooks enable people to overcome and persevere in the darkest of situations; optimists look at what they can do and do that. This is a lesson taught at military survival schools. Look for what you can do and focus on that. This is resilience. It also manifests in our immunity system.

      If you can improve how you view the world and the circumstances you find yourself in, you can improve your body's immunity. These studies show those with positive emotions about how they are doing in important areas of their lives have better resistance to infections. Positivity actually strengthens our immune system while negativity weakens it. This is not a cure-all, but if it can help keep the flu away, it's worth smiling more.

      You can handle stress better and outperform negative attitudes. How is that? By being able to look at the situation and seeing what went right and how to change what went wrong you can readjust what is being done and move forward.

      Mark Divine, a former Navy SEAL writes, in his book The Way of the SEAL, described fast forward failure. Understand that failures happen. All the time. SEALS hit snags in every operation. Business leaders hit shags in every deal. None of those snags matter. What matters is how people deal with them. When the failure hits, these elites look at what went wrong and, rather than finding who to blame, they find the way to go forward and succeed. You will be better able to see the big picture and identify solutions as you move forward.

      As you get better at doing this fast forward failure you will make better decisions under pressure. It takes practice. Positivity takes practice. As you practice you will also find that you have happier long-term relationships.

      Optimism to positive self-esteem to success to optimism is a cycle of thought habit

. It really does not matter which way you take the cycle, just so long as you take it and begin. It is a learned habit. Start with small things and small successes and work your way up, building confidence. Mark Divine, a former Navy SEAL writes, in his book The Way of the SEAL, that every night as SEAL candidates went to bed they were taught to focus on their successes from that day. In so doing, they built a wellspring of confidence to draw upon when things became tougher. …

Use this as a triangle of good mental health

and self talk during a workout, during the day, or whenever you may need a gentle reminder. This is something that is both positive and healthy to model and teach to our children. I am using this triangle and the lessons from
Mark Divine in my house on a daily basis. They help me and my children.

Confidence to Achieve and Succeed

      We need to have confidence in that we are supposed to be happy, that we deserve to enjoy and benefit from what we have worked for. Otherwise, we are living a life of drudgery, slogging from one day to the next. This is the embodiment of low self-esteem.

      Low self-esteem leaves us vulnerable to negative thoughts and ideas such as not being good enough, self-distrust and leads to lower creativity and productivity. Those who live in this state, and I have been one, just go through the motions of life, doing what they have to do to get by. Just get by, nothing more.

High self-confidence brings empowerment, energy, motivation, the world is open and full of challenges and opportunities. Granted, these people are hard to handle until I have had some coffee in the morning, but it is better to be one than not.

Things Suck, Now What

      Life has just kicked you in the jewels. I don't know what this looks like, but you do. Your challenges are yours. But, what can we do to get out of that ditch?

Focus on the Good

      Not easy, believe me, I know how hard this is to do. Still it is extremely important. Remember some of those things that you are really grateful for when you are flying high? Yeah, those. Write some of them down. Look at that list of blessings and people that are all around you when you are in that dark place.

      It is natural to focus on the negative. Ignoring problems does not make them go away; however, dwelling on them does not make solutions appear.

      I am not going to lie to you, this is going to be difficult when you are down. But, it will also be well worth it. Perhaps there is a smell that you find particularly pleasant. Go find that. Scent is the most powerful memory stimulant. Find that scent and connect again to that happy memory and its joy.

      Write a Daily Blessing Journal. Each day you write down a few things that made your day really great, or even just a few moments of it splendid. Something to refer back to when you need it.

      Stop and do something that you really enjoy. Step away from the chaos, go to your favorite coffee shop or cafe, book nook, or whatever and indulge for 15 or 30 minutes. Take a few minutes to reset yourself.

      Focus on someone else. No, I am not saying that you should stalk anyone! But, perhaps, you should focus on someone else and make sure that they are having a pleasant time. By taking the focus off of yourself and putting onto someone outside you change your thoughts. Your actions also bring about the release of feel good hormones in your brain. So, this is a double tap on the feel good actions.

      Expressing gratitude. Just saying thank you and putting a smile on your face, even when you dont feel like it, will tell your brain that you must release something inside to change what you are feeling in your brain. The positive neurotransmitters, called serotonin, will be released in small amounts. Resulting in a slightly better mood.

      Positive affirmations do work. As goofy as it sounds, they work and you should use them. In Napoleon Hill's book, Think and Grow Rich, these are part of his plan. They have been used for more than 100 years and are still in use today because they work.

Final Thought

      Tigers, the most successful land hunter on the planet in the animal kingdom, has a kill rate of … 80%. Tigers, the deadliest land based killers, miss their meals 20 out of 100 times. 20 out of 100 times these 700+ pound magnificent beasts go hungry. Yet, they still go on. So will you.

Teach this to your children. Model this in your family and life. See how much healthier you will be for it.