Destroy the Opposition: Programming for Powerlifting

by Jamie Lewis

  Anderson was also the godfather of partial squats, though he utilized an unsurprisingly unique method of doing partials. Inside his squat rack, Anderson dug a hole in the ground. Over time, he would gradually refill the hole with dirt to enable him to squat with a greater range of motion, and eventually hit 1120 for a high single. (Willoughby 112)

  Anderson’s typical workout week for squatting looked like this:

  T/TH/S

  Full Squat

  2x10x600

  1x2x825

  1x2x845

  1x2x900

  Half Squat

  1x2x1200

  Quarter Squat

  1x2x1800

  Phil “Squatzilla” Harrington

  Known affectionately by Westsiders as “Squatzilla”, Phil Harrington is a shredded 198 lber who currently holds the wrapped raw world record at 198 with a 760 squat. Harrington trains with Westside and uses their protocol to crush shit in meets, with his addition of a tremendous amount of general physical preparation (GPP) and overall conditional, a predilection that has earned him a second nickname- “Mr. GPP”. According to Louie Simmons,

  “Phil Harrington has broken several world records in the squat. His best is 905 pounds in the 181-pound class, before Mike Cartinian raised it to 930 pounds lifting for Big Iron. Phil set a goal to break Tony Fratto’s raw record at 198 set in 1972, 749 pounds, and in March 2011 Phil did 755 pounds. He was concentrating on jumping exercises of all types and not doing a lot of squatting. Here is a list of jumping exercises Phil used to break the raw squat record. First, to prepare himself for jumping, he started by doing presses with a barbell and dumbbells while sitting on the floor. They are used to condition all muscles involved in jumping. First while on his knees, he did several repetitions of jumping to his feet. Next, Phil added a barbell on his back while jumping to his feet. Then, he did the following over several weeks. First, he held a bar on his thighs while kneeling and jumped to a power clean. Next, from a kneeling position with the bar on his thighs, he jumped into a power snatch. After mastering the mentioned movements, he held a bar on his thighs and jumped into a split clean and then split snatch. After this, he set records in the kneeling squat up onto a box or from a kneeling position into a long jump. These jumps build explosive power. For strength, jump onto boxes with ankle weights or a weight vest. Hold dumbbells and jump onto boxes for record heights with a certain amount of weight or combinations of weight. Switch the resistance often and do 10-30 jumps per workout. Two or three jump workouts a week works well. About once every month try a body weight jump record. This may look like a sports workout, but it will serve to condition a lifter as well as making his legs very explosive” (Simmons).

  If that sounds positively godawful to you, you’re not alone. I can personally attest to the efficacy of weighted jumping squats, but jumping from my knees onto anything sounds like a trip to the hospital and an even more broken face than I’ve already got. In any event, Phil’s weighted squat protocol follows Westside’s template, which is as follows:

  Monday- Max effort day for squat and deadlift

  Max Effort Exercise– choose one exercise, work to a one rep max, do not perform exercise two weeks in a row. All exercises can be enhanced with the use of bands or chains.

  Zercher Squats

  Pin Lockouts (at different heights)

  Safety Bar Squats (off a low box)

  High Box Squats

  Deficit Deadlifts

  Arch-Backed Good Mornings

  Stiff Legged Deadlifts

  Belt Squats

  Sumo Deadlifts

  Leg Curls or Glute Ham Raises- 3-4 x 5-7

  Lower Back Movement— switch this every three weeks.

  Stiff Legged Deadlifts (not to be done when using as a max effort exercise),

  Pull Throughs

  Hyperextensions

  Reverse Hypers

  Upper Back Movement— 3 x 5-7

  Biceps

  Abs

  Friday- Speed Day For Squat

  Box Squats- 6-10 x 2 with 50-60% 1RM, one minute rest between sets

  Leg Curls- 3 x 10

  Lower Back Movement- same exercise as Mondays but lighter and more reps

  Shrugs- 3 x 10-15

  Biceps

  Abs

  “Captain” Kirk Karwoski

  Karwoski dominated the squatting scene in the 1990s the way that Ron Jeremy dominated porn in the 1980s- big, mean and ugly, only way fucking leaner, bereft of 1970s throwback porn mustache, and with a hell of a lot more yelling. As such, I suppose he doesn't share all that much in common with Ron Jeremy. Nevertheless, Karwoski likely banged a bunch of broads due to his massive success in the wildly popular mainstream sport of powerlifting, and thus shares that in common with Jeremy.

  Bullshitting aside, Karwoski was the real fucking deal. He squatted so far ahead of his time in the 1990s that his record of 1003 lbs in the 275lb weightclass stood for over 20 years. Over his career, Karwoski pulled down 3 teenage and 3 junior world titles in addition to 7 national and 6 straight world championships (Parillo). After all of that, Karwoski reentered competition for shits and giggles in 2005, ten years after he'd left the podium previously with the world record, and got himself ranked 19th All Time amongst unequipped squatters with an 826lb squat at 240 lbs and still holds the world record with that weight in that class (Powerliftingwatch).

  Karwoski, unlike most of the other great squatters in history, only did the lift once a week, but he did it with all of the intensity that Vlad the Impaler used to slaughter homeless people and Muslims in droves. Monday was squat day, and woe betide the hapless sonofabitch who found himself occupying Karwoski’s rack when he arrived. Were Karwoski to find someone in the rack on Monday night at 5:30, he 'd throw the guy's shit on the ground in front of the rack, look at the guy, and yell "Five minutes!" at the top of his lungs. If the guy was still there in five minutes, Karwoski would strip the weights, throw them on the floor, grab the guy's shit and throw it across the room, and scream at the dude that he "better never see that motherfucker in the gym again on a Monday night. Ever." Proving once more that assholes finish first, that story also shows how deadly serious Karwoski was about his squat workouts- no one and nothing were going to keep him from squatting on Monday nights.

  "Most power lifters share some common defects, as a whole for whatever reason, LOVE to punish, beat and torture ourselves beyond the limits of mind and body. It is our spirit that prevails. This defect of intelligence and sensibility pushes us onto the next level, makes us better and stronger. We all have lifted sick and badly hurt,, When this subject comes up with normal people and other meatheads, we all have the prideful smile when we talk about lifting with a 100 degree temperature or a torn groin. Thank God that therapy doesn't work on us." - Captain Kirk

  I have two versions of Karwoski's typical training week. The first comes from a Parrillo mag dating to 2005, and the second (pre-competition routine) comes from Marty Gallagher's Purposeful Primitive. They have the same structure, but different execution.

  Monday (Off Season)

  Squat: 135x8, 455x5, 655x3, 735x1, 825x1, 905x5 (with gear)

  Leg press: work up to 1,500 for reps

  Leg extensions: whole stack+

  Calf raise: three sets to failure, whole stack plus 100’s

  Lying leg curls: three sets with whole stack+

  (Pre-Contest)

  Squat- 7-10 x 2-8 (his last set would be a balls out, beltless, 80% 1RM 8 rep set.)

  Leg curl- 2-3 x 5

  Leg extensions- 2-3 x 5

  According to Karwoski, he usually did a primary movement and four assistance exercises each workout, a couple of which were mainstays. (Critical Bench) He, like his fellow superhuman Ed Coan, felt that sets of 5 on everything were the best way to get brutally fucking strong, so they focused most of their effort within that rep range in the offseason. (Gallagher) . Precontest, however, Karwoski ratcheted up the intensity to ensure he’d be ready to handle the lunatic p
oundages for which he was famous. Irrespective of the rep range, Captain Kirk was famous (and infamous) for his intensity, which was apparently unparalleled. Perhaps due in part to the mental toll those workouts took, Karwoski walked away from powerlifting after slapping all of this competition in the proverbial face with his dick, “sick of powerlifting” when it was apparent that he no longer had anything to prove or anyone of worth against whom to compete (Gallagher)

  Mikhail Koklyaev

  Mikhail Koklyaev is a modern day Renaissance man, at least insofar as strength sports go. He’s won professional powerlifting and strongman competitions, placed in the top three of just about every strongman competition in which he has participated (and they are legion), and is the six time Russian National Champion in Olympic Weightlifting. Koklyaev squatted 805 raw in competition, though it seems he’s competed in powerlifting as more of a goof than anything else, since his focus is on strongman. Additionally, his current training partner is the world record holder in the squat at 275, Andrey Malanichev. Malanichev’s routine is not available anywhere I looked, or I would have included it, so I dug up a week in Koklyaev’s training to give us an idea of what they do. Incidentally, Koklyaev’s training seems to involve a considerable amount of fucking around, as there are videos of him overhead pressing two men hanging off a barbell, squatting 585 with no hands- just balancing the bar on his back, and other assorted zaniness. Koklyaev trains eight times a week, and squats four times a week, mixing in front squats, jump squats, and back squats for sets of 1-5. The rest of his workouts consist mostly of multiple sets of three reps of various permutations of the Olympic lifts.

  Day 1- Evening

  Front Squat- 1 x 5 x 308, 374, 462, 528 lbs.

  Day 2- Off

  Day 3- Evening

  Squat- 1 x 3 x 154, 264, 374, 484, 594, 671 lbs.

  Day 4

  Jump Squat- 1 x 5 x 198, 242, 286

  Day 5- Off.

  Day 6- Evening

  Front Squat- 1 x 5 x 198, 242, 308, 374, 418, 506; 3 x 5 x 576

  Day 7- Upper Body

  Day 8- Off

  Day 9- Evening

  Squat- 1 x 3 x 154, 242, 374, 484; 3 x 3 x 594; 1 x 10 x 594

  Day 10- Evening

  Jump Squat- 1 x 5 x 154, 198, 242, 282

  Day 11- Upper Body

  Day 12- Off

  Day 13- Evening

  Front Squat- 1 x 5 x 154, 262, 374, 484; 3 x 5 x 554; 1 x 5 x 598

  Between the poundages and the frequency, this has got to be in the running for the most insane squat program ever devised. Clearly, however, it works- brutal squats take brutal training, and Klokov and Malanichev are proof of that.

  "I just don't want to die without a few scars, I say. It's nothing anymore to have a beautiful stock body. You see those cars that are completely stock cherry, right out of a dealer's showroom in 1955, I always think, what a waste."- Tyler Durden

  Wrapping Up the Routines of the Greats

  Just as in the deadlift and the bench, there are a great many paths to glory in squat training. Though the lifters highlighted above don’t seem to agree on much in their squat routines, there are a few commonalities from which we can learn.

  Squat more. Volume is the name of the game here, and the more you squat, the better you’ll be at the lift. This does not necessarily mean you have to ape Kolkyaev’s manical daily squatting regimen, but rather that you will likely need to increase your total squat workload if you’re going to develop into a passable or elite squatter. For those who have chose to be deadlift specialists, your workload on the squat will be subsequently reduced, but you’re still going to have to squat.

  Go heavy. You’ll note on the preceding pages that all of the greats squatted primarily with very low rep ranges- a set of eight is fairly uncommon amongst great squatters. Thus, hard and heavy is the name of the game when squatting.

  My Method For Building a Badass Squat

  First and foremost, I’m of the opinion that your one rep max on the squat represents the sum total of all of the training you’ve done over your life. More so than any other lift, it is evidence of your unrelenting dedication to the development of physical strength and your continued efforts thereto. Thus, there is no quick fix for the squat. Certainly, tweaks to your form can help get your squat to change quickly, but those changes will be static without continued effort. Thus, there are three factors that I believe play heavily into building a squat that Milo of Croton would respect: persistence, frequency, and intensity.

  Persistence

  Unless you are mentally retarded, you should have a pretty clear understanding of what persistence is. Squatting is not something that comes easily to most, and it is grueling, taxing, and generally a bastard. As such, you really have to tap into your inner masochist, wrap your brain in a latex gimp suit, and whip your own ass to get it into the gym from time to time. This is not something to which elite lifters are immune, either— the more you train, the harder it’s going to be to fill yourself with the kind of ferocity you need for a successful workout. Thus, you’re going to have to accept that some of your squat workouts are just going to be washes— you’re not going to be Billy bad-ass in every workout, and some of your lifts are going to downright suck. It’s how the game goes. Your duty, in this case, is to look past it, take it as it comes, and just attack the next one. If that one sucks, attack the next one. I have had mental slumps that have last months, and I’ve had nagging injuries that dogged me for over a year. Around 2000, I attempted to do a one legged squat as a goof and lost my balance, pulling some muscles in my groin as I hopped around one-footed trying not to bust my ass. A couple of hours later, I squatted heavy, and suffered felt like the ghost of Albert Fish was haunting me by jamming red hot, 12” needles up through my groin and into my lower back for about a year after that every time I squatted or deadlifted. I continued performing those lifts, however, week in and week out, tweaking my form and my workouts as I went to minimize the discomfort as much as possible. That’s what I’m referring to when I state that persistence is key.

  If you’re not masochistically enjoying squatting for some reason, tinker with your rep ranges until you find one that’s tolerable. I personally despise doing more than 5 reps on squat, and would rather simply not squat than do six reps. Sam Byrd is the polar opposite.

  If squatting hurts your knees, try squatting with a significantly wider stance to reduce the strain.

  If your lower back hurts, try moving your stance in and working high bar Olympic style squats to minimize lower back loading.

  If you’re bored with full rep squats in the same rep range, alter the rep scheme or the exercise itself— there are plenty of alternatives with which to tinker, like front squats, jump squats, box jumps, low box squats, high box squats, Zercher squats… The list goes on and on. You’re only limited by your imagination here.

  Though it might seem like I’m joking about mentally donning a gimp suit, I’m not. Squatting is fucking brutal. Accept it and move on— it’s not a reason to avoid squatting, but rather a reason to attack and conquer squatting.

  Frequency and Intensity

  I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but unless you’re Kirk Karwoski, you’re likely not going to possess an elite squat unless you hammer that lift more than once a week. If you’ve chosen to make the deadlift your specialty, there’s nothing wrong with sticking to one squat day a week to increase the number of days you pull, but frankly you might be better served by adding some light squats on a pulling day than avoiding them. Pavel Tsatsouline’s theory of “greasing the groove”, also known as the Hebbian Rule, has become rather famous of late, and refers to the phenomenon wherein successful performance of an action will create and strengthen the neural pathways associated with that action (Tsatsouline 17). The key to harnessing the benefit of Hebbian Theory is the completion of the reps, however, as failed efforts don’t reinforce the neural pathway. This is why I rarely max out in the gym- I’ll do singles with near-max weights, or
triples with my 4 or 5 rep max, but I rarely train to failure. The “intensity multiplier” techniques of bodybuilders are focused on one thing- failure. In case you’re unaware, failure rarely leads to victory. Thus, you train for victory to achieve it.

  “Show me a good loser and I’ll show you a loser.”

  – Bill Belichek, head coach of the New England Patriots

  Beyond the “greasing the groove” of my sub-max poundages, there’s another biochemical reason you should avoid frequently training to failure- the utilization of intensity multipliers when working out increases one's levels of cortisol significantly, which reduces one's ability to recover for future workouts, protein synthesis, and one’s overall health. Additionally, training to failure reduces production of IGF-1, which has a negative impact on your ability to grow and retain skeletal muscle reduces your strength and power (Izquierdo et al). So, essentially, by training to failure, you're creating a metabolic shitshow from which you're not likely to recover prior to your next session. This means you cannot train as much, which means you’re limiting your subsequent workouts for no reason.