How To Squat To Maximum Everyday (And Not Die)

This post is a continuation of this video from my YouTube channel: How To Add 50lbs To Your Squat In 8 Weeks.  You should watch the video before reading this post or it won't make very much sense.

I'm simply going to detail in chart format the 8 week buildup to maxing out the squat everyday for the two hypothetical 400lbs squatters that I talked about in the video. It should be noted that in both of these scenarios (which should cover pretty much all recreational lifters) the lifter will not have truly reached a point of "maxing out" everyday at the end of the 8 weeks. However, for someone so unaccustomed to such high percentages being utilized so frequently, the gains will be enormous anyway.


Lifter A (already squats 3x a week, usually does 3-5 sets of 3-5 reps @ 80-90% of maximum)

	Session 1	Session 2	Session 3	Session 4	Session 5	Session 6
Week 1	380x1 330x3x3	380x1 330x3x3	380x1 330x3x3x3	X	X	X
Week 2	380x1 335x3x3	380x1 335x3x3	380x1 335x3x3x3	X	X	X
Week 3	380x1 340x2x2	380x1 340x2x2x2	380x1	380x1 340x3x2x2	X	X
Week 4	380x1 340x3x3x2	380x1 340x3x3x3	380x1	380x1 340x3x3	X	X
Week 5	380x1 345x2x2	385x1	380x1 345x2x2x2	390x1	380x1 345x3x2x2	X
Week 6	380x1 345x3x3	400x1	380x1 350x2xx2	410x1	380x1 350x3	X
Week 7	380x1 350x3x3	405x1	380x1 355x2x2	415x1	380x1 355x3	425x1
Week 8	380x1 355x3x3	435x1	380x1 365x3	440x1	380x1 375x3	450x1

Lifter B (squats once a week, does 5 sets of 5 reps at about 85% of maximum)

	Session 1	Session 2	Session 3	Session 4	Session 5	Session 6
Week 1	380x1 330x3x3	380x1 330x3x3x3	X	X	X	X
Week 2	380x1 335x3x3	380x1 335x3x3x3	X	X	X	X
Week 3	380x1 340x2x2	380x1 340x2x2x2	380x1 340x3x2	X	X	X
Week 4	380x1 340x3x3	380x1 340x3x3x2	380x1 340x3x3x3	X	X	X
Week 5	380x1 345x2x2	380x1 345x2x2	390x1	380x1 345x2x2x2	X	X
Week 6	380x1 345x3x2	380x1 345x3x3	400x1	380x1 345x3x3x2	X	X
Week 7	380x1 350x2x2	380x1 350x3x2	410x1	380x1 350x3x3	415x1	X
Week 8	380x1 355x2x2	380x1 355x3x3	425x1	380x1 365x3	435x1	X

Remember, these numbers are purely hypothetical. I'm simply taking guesses at how things may go based on my past experiences. Your results may be better or they may be worse. The important thing to remember is to learn what you are capable of on a given day based on how the ramp up lifts feel, and then to learn what you can do in terms of back off work based on how the maximum lift feels. Some days will be better and some will be worse, but by the end of the program you will see huge jumps in your 1RM the way I outline in these charts. The most important thing though is to learn your body. You have to be able to auto-regulate with training like this or it won't work for you long term. I can only outline so many hypotheticals, but eventually you will have to learn how your body responds to the stresses you are placing on it.

At the end of the 8 weeks I recommend dropping the frequency back down to 2-3x a week and continuing to squat to a heavy single with back off work in each session depending on how you feel. Once your numbers have stabilized and you have built your strength back up to what it was at its peak then you can consider daily squatting again. At this point you will probably know enough about your body as well as be conditioned enough to high frequency/high intensity squatting to simply jump right back in to squatting 6-7x a week.

One last thing, while you're doing this your legs are going to hurt. They will "feel" tired pretty much all the time and if you accidentally flex a quad too hard it will cramp. But do not be disheartened by this. You may think your legs are tired, but all you have to do is suck it up for a little while and they will soon become stronger than ever. Good luck!