Squat Everyday Day 1
So for Day 1 of Squat Every Day, my boy @DevinFittt and I got together to get after it. Now, before we get started, let me be clear: Squat Everyday is not leg day.
Leg day involves a bunch of different exercises such as lunges, leg press, leg curls—the whole gambit. But squats is just squats, you know what I’m saying?
When I used to do this in the past, I was going full beast mode, and it was fucking me up. Now I work my way up to the heavy sets in a progression. This is better for longevity and overall health—just keeping it real with y’all if you’re trynna follow my lead on squatting every day.
Listen, squatting is hard. If you think about it for a second, you’re putting a ton of weight on your back (over your spine and central nervous system), and then you’re going down into your weakness position (below parallel) only to power that up on your own. It’s terrifying!
But it’ll make you stronger. Not only physically but also mentally. There are many mentally strong people who do hard shit all the time, and let me tell you, squatting is one of those things that mentally strong people tend to do.
The Elephant in The Room
Squats aren’t bad for your knees and back. It’s actually great! When people get injured, it’s usually due to an imbalance in their strength. But to be clear, when you’re executing a squat properly, there should be no pain.
That’s why when I started squatting every day, I would get started at 545 and would go up to 585 without hurting myself. When I have hurt my knees in the past, it hasn’t been due to working out.
For example, one time, I was in the sauna, slipped and hurt my knee. Many people will tell you differently, but the truth is that squatting is rehabilitating for your knees and your tendons.
Touching Your Top Set
The simple answer is every time. Listen, if I could, I would just come in and do my top set. But, that’s not realistic, and it’s not smart at all. You gotta prime your body before you attempt that. That’s why we work ourselves up on a progression. And, we’re not even doing that many reps on the progression.
You gotta do the whole thing. This is about conditioning your central nervous system, helping perfect form, and building strength. That’s exactly what this is. Your legs will get a little thicker, and your strength will go through the roof.
I’ve seen people hit their PR multiple times within the Squat Everyday series. And, that’s what this is all about! As you get after it, you’ll start getting stronger and feeling like you can increase the weight more and more. Trust me, go do it on your own, and you’ll see what happens.
After Squatting We Did This Stuff
Superset #1
After squatting we worked on triceps and back with a pull-up and single arm tricep extension superset.
When doing pull-ups, go down in a controlled manner and then be explosive on the way up. This will help you get stronger in a more efficient way than if you were to just let gravity pull you down.
I do this with my palm facing up instead of down because it works the interior part of your tricep and the middle head, which is the majority of your arm. If you want big arms, you gotta work the biggest muscle—not your biceps, but your triceps.
Superset #2
For our second superset after the squat progression, we did neutral grip lat pull-downs and row tricep extensions.
Superset #3
For our last part of the workout we did another super set. This time it was with Then T-bar Rows and Dips.
Final Word On Squat Everyday Day 1
This style of training is different. Listen, we’re not trying to be the biggest guys in the room with this type of training. I respect the guys that do it—y’all know that. But that’s not what we’re doing here. We’re not training in that capacity.
We’re doing athletic things. We’re training to be functional. You guys know I do bodyweight stuff, box, swim, etc. I’m always gonna hit heavy weights because I love it.
But, I’m not gonna be doing 5-10 sets of an exercise that just makes me big. I’ll do 10 sets of exercises that will make me strong, but not just big, you know what I’m saying?
I wanna leave you with what @DevinFittt said: “people tend to forget that functional training is meant to get your body moving the way it’s intended to move. We go through these movement patterns all the time. For example, just sitting on the toilet and getting up is a squat.”
But… there are people out there that injure their knees just from getting up because everything in their bodies is so weak. Also, what people don’t realize is that when you’re trying to be athletic, being strong can help you become more explosive. So, for instance, a strong squat can produce a fast sprinter because it’s all power.
Now, when you’re building your body to compete in bodybuilding, then that’s different. But, when you’re training to get powerful quads, hamstrings, and all-around strength, you’re also keeping your body agile and functional—you’re gonna run faster. In that case, the only thing that could slow you down is if you get heavier, but that’s a nutrition issue.
Alright, that’s it for Day 1. Now, onto Squat Everyday Day 2.