“I was built to squat.”
– Tom Platz
Purpose.The White Belt Squat Program is our beginner squat program. It is designed to get you used to squatting on a daily basis. At the end of this program, you should be able to complete the squat rep schemes found in The Nemesis WODs .
Structure.This is a 12-week program, which is broken into multiple phases. It assumes that you are training a MINIMUM of 3x per week. You may be training as often as 6x per week. In all cases, you will rotate through the daily workouts (A, B, & C) on a weekly basis and reset at workout A at the beginning of every week. Please note: If you have some experience squatting but aren’t quite ready for The Nemesis WODs, then you may not need to complete all 12 weeks of the program. You may decide to jump ahead to a week that is in line with your current level of proficiency.
Definitions.
- Sets and reps. Sets and reps will always be written as SETS x REPS x WEIGHT. So, 3 x 5 x 50 kg means 3 SETS of 5 REPS all at 50 kg.
- Sets across. This means all sets are at the SAME weight. So, 3 x 5 x 50 kg means that all 3 sets are done at 50 kg.
- Ascending sets. This means that you add weight to each set. So, 3 x 5 ascending sets means that you might do 5 x 50 kg, 5 x 55 kg, and 5 x 60 kg. You did 3 sets of 5 reps with more weight on the bar each set.
Week 1
DAY A
Samurai Warmup Routine
Front squat
5 x 10 @ empty bar
Week 2
DAY A
Samurai Warmup Routine
Front squat
5 x 5 sets across @ bar + minimal amount of weight where all 5 reps of all 5 sets are easy and as “perfect” as possible
DAY B
Samurai Warmup Routine
Back squat
5 x 10 @ empty bar
Week 3
DAY A
Samurai Warmup Routine
Front squat
5 x 5 ascending sets where you add a small amount of weight to the bar for each set with the goal of working up to a challenging set of 5 without breaking from excellent form
DAY B
Samurai Warmup Routine
Back squat
5 x 5 sets across @ bar + minimal amount of weight where all 5 reps of all 5 sets are easy and as “perfect” as possible
Weeks 4-6
DAY A
Samurai Warmup Routine
Front squat
5 x 3 ascending sets where you add a small amount of weight to the bar for each set with the goal of working up to a challenging set of 3 without breaking from excellent form
DAY B
Samurai Warmup Routine
Back squat
5 x 5 ascending sets where you add a small amount of weight to the bar for each set with the goal of working up to a challenging set of 5 without breaking from excellent form
Weeks 7-9
DAY A
Samurai Warmup Routine
Front squat
5 x 3 ascending sets where you make small jumps in weight but try to push yourself on the last two sets so that they feel heavy
DAY B
Samurai Warmup Routine
Back squat
5 x 5 ascending sets where you make small jumps in weight but try to push yourself on the last two sets so that they feel heavy
Weeks 10-12
DAY A
Samurai Warmup Routine
Front squat
8 x 3 ascending sets where you make small jumps in weight but try to push yourself on the last two sets so that they feel heavy
DAY B
Samurai Warmup Routine
Back squat
10 x 2 ascending sets where you make small jumps in weight but try to push yourself on the last two sets so that they feel heavy
DAY C
Samurai Warmup Routine
Front squat
To a 1 rep max using our Volcano template from The Nemesis WODs. Do sets of 3 reps every set, working up slowly, until you get to a weight where doing the 3rd rep seems impossible. Then add weight and do the same with sets of 2 until finishing the 2nd rep seems impossible. Then keep going in singles (sets of 1) until you miss.
