Squat Heavy, Squat Consciously

JT Scott | 10/27/2019 | 5

We’re doing front squats for the strength and the WOD today! The strengthy squats are where we’ll spend most of our time, focusing on being very conscious in our choices the whole way up and down. In particular, we’re asking you to move slowly on the way down, pause for one second at the bottom, explode up as fast as possible, and then wait NO MORE than one second before heading back down into the next rep.

This will definitely make the reps more challenging, but those of us who have trained with tempo squats can assure you that the extra mental focus and effort really pays off in results – more strength gains, more control, more transferrable ability to maintain good form under a variety of loads.

For the workout, it’s a classic 21-15-9. If you did the scaled version of Open 20.3 on Friday, you’ll know what this is supposed to feel like: blisteringly fast, heart ready to explode. This is an ideal day to rebound those box jumps, plow through them fast, and get the bar back up onto your shoulders to go unbroken in the next set of front squats. There’s really no place to rest in this. The faster you go the faster it’s over with… and the more you’ll get out of it.

STRENGTH:
Front Squats (Tempo: 21×1)
5-5-5-5-5

WOD:
21-15-9
Front Squat (95/65)
Box Jumps (24/20)