I have always been intrigued by the idea of doing a squat-every-day routine. It’s something I came across years ago and always tucked it in the back of my mind to try some day. Well on Friday, my massage therapist was telling me about her new routine that included squatting every day she went to the gym. That sparked the idea for me again, but of course I had to go psychotic on it.
Starting today, Monday February 17th, I will be doing squats every day for the next 50 days. And not just a nice, easy squat workout. Heavy squats. Every day. Squats won’t be the only thing I will be doing, I will keep my normal 6-day split. I will do my squat workout, followed by whatever I am doing that day (hamstrings on Monday, chest on Tuesday, back on Wednesday, quads on Thursday, arms on Friday and shoulders on Saturday, I will just squat on Sunday).
The squat workout I will do every day will consist of normal bodyweight and clean bar warmup sets, then two working sets of eight reps, two sets of five reps and three sets of three reps. Increasing the weight each set. Stretching will be of the utmost importance, as is walking. I plan to walk 20 minutes after each workout and then another 20 minutes in the evening.
Why am I doing this? Short answer is I’m a little crazy and I am bored. But I am very much interested in how the body handles it. I am not a young man (45 years old) or a small man (250 pounds). Squatting is one of the basic human movements, one we do dozens, if not hundreds, of times a day. I’m also curious to see what it does to my legs. I took a “before” shot of my quads and they each measured 26”. We’ll share those differences in 50 days. The mental side will also be interesting to note. I absolutely love leg day and love squats. But I also know the drain it will take on me physically and mentally. Waking up every morning at 4:30, and then doing squats every day at 6:30 will be an interesting test of will, for sure.
I also want to point out that I have been doing this for years. Not this exactly, but I am not new to the weightlifting world. I do NOT recommend trying something like this if you are a beginner.
Today was day one and I was overly excited about it. My left hamstring was more than a little tight and uncomfortable throughout the workout, but I did work up to 315 pounds for the 3 sets of 3. Following the squat workout, I did straight leg deadlifts, lying leg curls and seated leg curls to maintain balance in the legs. Overall it was a good workout, but this being day one it felt very much like a standard leg day. It will be the next couple days that will truly tell.
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