UNAUTHORIZED REPRODUCTION OR DISTRIBUTION OF THIS PROGRAM, OR ANY

PORTION OF IT, MAY RESULT IN SEVERE CIVIL AND CRIMINAL PENALTIES, AND
WILL BE PROSECUTED TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT OF THE LAW
 Squat Cycle
 On Heavy days, don’t wear yourself out on warm ups. After 50% of your max you
should be doing singles approaching your top set! Give yourself as much time as you
need between sets. There is no set resting time between your sets. You are only
working up to 1 top set for max reps on your heavy days.

 On Heavy days use a Belt or Knee sleeves/Knee wraps if you wear them. On Light
days, no belt, no wraps (knee sleeves are okay!).

 For the first week of heavy training, you will need to use your current 1 rep max as
the number you will use for your percentages. You’re not using your best PR’s, you’re
using your current maxes, what your true strength is at right now. Every heavy week
after this (Which is every 2 weeks) I will have you bump the weight up by 10-15lbs on
that number you're using for the percentage. It will all depend on how the previous
workout goes to determine how much you should increase by. But it will be kept in the
10-15lb range. If you don’t reach the goal amount of reps, then you will not increase
your training max up at all.

 You will alternate your Squats every other week, one week you will go heavy, one
week you will go light back and forth until the end of the training cycle. This allows you
to MAXIMIZE your strength gains by giving yourself plenty of time (2 weeks) between
your heavy Squat workouts. This is IDENTICLE to how I train!

 On your heavy Squat weeks, you will Deadlift light, on your light Squat weeks, you
will Deadlift heavy.

 Accessory Exercises to do after every Squat day- Leg press 5 sets of 15-20 reps,
Leg Extensions: 5 sets of 15-20 reps, Standing Calf Raises on a machine (seated is okay
too!) 5 sets of 15-20 reps

 After week 12, you will test your 1 rep max either in the gym or at a competition.
Give yourself 2 full weeks afterwards to recover.
 WEEK ONE
Week 1 - (Heavy Day): Top set - 87% x max reps (Goal 5 reps) ONE
TOP SET ONLY FOR MAX REPS!

 Use belt and knee wraps/knee sleeves if you wear them

 Increase your training max up by 10-15lbs if you reached the

goal amount of reps with your top set* (Do not increase if you
missed the goal reps)

 Do all accessory work after your top set

Week One Notes :
 WEEK TWO
Week 2 - (Light Day): Paused Squats up to 56% x 5 reps for
3 sets, 1 second pause on each rep No belt, no knee wraps
(Knee sleeves are okay to wear)

 All warm up sets are for sets of 5 reps leading up to

your top 3 sets of 5

 Do all accessory work after your top sets

UNAUTHORIZED REPRODUCTION OR DISTRIBUTION OF THIS PROGRAM, OR ANY

PORTION OF IT, MAY RESULT IN SEVERE CIVIL AND CRIMINAL PENALTIES, AND
WILL BE PROSECUTED TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT OF THE LAW
Week Two Notes :
 WEEK THREE
Week 3 - (Heavy Day): Top set - 90% x max reps (Goal 4 reps) ONE
TOP SET ONLY FOR MAX REPS!

 Use belt and knee wraps/knee sleeves if you wear them

 Increase your training max up by 10-15lbs if you reached the

goal amount of reps with your top set (Do not increase if you
missed the goal reps)

 Do all accessory work after your top set

Week Three Notes
 WEEK FOUR
Week 4 - (Light Day): Paused Squats up to 58% x 5 reps for 3
sets, 1 second pause on each rep No belt, no knee wraps (Knee
sleeves are okay to wear)

 All warm up sets are for sets of 5 reps leading up to your

top 3 sets of 5

 Do all accessory work after your top sets

Week Four Notes :
 WEEK FIVE
Week 5 - (Heavy Day): Top set - 92% x max reps (Goal 3 reps) ONE
TOP SET ONLY FOR MAX REPS!

 Use belt and knee wraps/knee sleeves if you wear them

 Increase your training max up by 10-15lbs if you reached the

goal amount of reps with your top set* (Do not increase if you
missed the goal reps)

 Do all accessory work after your top set

Week Five Notes :
 WEEK SIX
Week 6 - (Light Day): Paused Squats up to 60% x 5 reps for 3 sets,
1 second pause on each rep No belt, no knee wraps (Knee
sleeves are okay to wear)

 All warm up sets are for sets of 5 reps leading up to your top
3 sets of 5

 Do all accessory work after your top sets

Week Six Notes :
 WEEK SEVEN
Week 7 - (Heavy Day): Top set - 94% x max reps (Goal 2 reps)
ONE TOP SET ONLY FOR MAX REPS!

 Use belt and knee wraps/knee sleeves if you wear them

 Increase your training max up by 10-15lbs if you

reached the goal amount of reps with your top set* (Do
not increase if you missed the goal reps)

 Do all accessory work after your top set

Week Seven Notes :
 WEEK EIGHT
Week 8 - (Light Day): Paused Squats up to 62% x 5 reps for 3
sets, 1 second pause on each rep. No belt, no knee wraps
(Knee sleeves are okay to wear)

 All warm up sets are for sets of 5 reps leading up to your

top 3 sets of 5

 Do all accessory work after your top set

Week Eight Notes :
 WEEK NINE
Week 9 - (Heavy Day): Top set- 96% x 1 x 2 sets (2 sets of 1 rep)

 Use belt and knee wraps/knee sleeves if you wear them

 You can increase your training max up by 10-15lbs here if you

are able to achieve both sets of 1 rep with more left in the
tank. This is your last day to increase your training max up

 Do all accessory work after your top set

Week Nine Notes :
 WEEK TEN
Week 10 - (Light Day): Paused Squats up to 64% x 5 reps for 3
sets, 1 second pause on each rep No belt, no knee wraps (Knee
sleeves are okay to wear)

 All warm up sets are for sets of 5 reps leading up to your top
3 sets of 5

 Do all accessory work after your top sets

Week Ten Notes :
 WEEK ELEVEN
Week 11 - (Heavy Day): Top set - 98% x 1 rep (Only 1 rep at your top
set)

 Use belt and knee wraps/knee sleeves if you wear them

 Do all accessory work after your top set

Week Eleven Notes :
 WEEK TWELVE
Week 12 - (Light Day): Paused Squats up to 66% x 5 reps for 3 sets
No belt, no knee wraps (Knee sleeves are okay to wear)

 All warm up sets are for sets of 5 reps leading up to your top 3
sets of 5

 Do all accessory work after your top sets

Week Twelve Notes :
 Additonal Guidance

If you are planning on competing, you will need to add in 2 extra

weeks after week 12. You will need a week 13 and week 14 to de
load and rest properly before you compete. You will need to
back track 14 weeks out from your competition and that’s when
you would get started on week 1. Week 13 is a de load week,
working up to planned openers for 1 rep to get a feel for it. Week
14 is a full rest week leading up to your meet, no training at all.

If you are interested in doing this program exactly how I do it for

myself, this is my training routine/split for the week, every week

- Monday: Rest
- Tuesday: Extra Accessory work day
- Wednesday: Rest
- Thursday: Bench + Bench Accessory work
- Friday: Rest
- Saturday: Rest
- Sunday: Squats & Deadlifts + All Squat/Deadlift Accessory work

You can split up the Squat & Deadlift days into separate days if
you want. I personally have always preferred to train them
together in the same training session and have made the best
gains and progress doing so.
 Bar Placement

It’s important to understand that everyone’s bar placement is

going to be different. What it really comes down to is what feels
best for you. I started out as a high bar squatter for 10+ years and
switched over to low bar. For a high bar position, you want the
bar to sit directly on top of your traps. That is what makes a high
bar position, a true high bar position. With high bar, you’re going
to be more quad dominant during the lift. With a low bar position,
it can be anywhere below your traps. Some people can get away
with having the bar very low almost on their shoulder blades, but
that takes a lot of flexibility. The best position for low bar is to let
the bar sit right below your trap line but right on top of your rear
delts.
 Bar Placement
With a low bar position, you’re going to be more dominant in your
hips, glutes and hamstrings because it changes your leverages just by
simply moving the bar lower. Most people can squat a lot more with a
low bar position simply because of that reason, better leverages and
puts you in a better position to handle heavier weights. The weight is
displaced more across your upper back vs high bar and you’re getting
more muscle groups working harder during the lift. Whichever one
you think fits you best, I highly advise all high bar squatters to at least
try low bar once and practice with it to see if it might be better for
you.
 HAND PLACEMENT

Hand placement can vary between the lifter. The one thing I’ve noticed
with hand placement is most lifters that have bad mobility in their
shoulders tend to have their hands further out on the bar. The guys
with better mobility can get their hands in closer. But as always, you
should always go with what feels best for you. I personally think the
closer you can get your hands in, the better. Simply because it will give
you a lot of upper back tightness which is very crucial for heavy squats.
The guys that have their hands all the way out to the end of the bar,
tend to have issues with rounding forward due to the lack of upper
back tightness. If you are one of these guys, I would highly recommend
getting work done on your shoulders to help with mobility. Some guys
like to use a full grip on the bar, some guys like to use a thumb less
grip, and some guys like to only have 2 or 3 fingers around the bar. I’ve
found that using a full grip has worked a lot better for me and I feel a
lot safer and better control using a full grip vs a thumb less grip.
Wearing wrist wraps is going to help those guys that use a closer hand
placement and especially the guys that go low bar. It helps take a lot of
pressure off your wrists and overall just makes it feel a lot better.
 Stance
Finding the right stance can be tricky for
a lot of people. For myself, I’ve changed
my stance around so many times, I’ve
lost count by now. The main reason for
this is that as I got bigger and gained
more weight, I felt like I needed to open
up my stance to hit depth better. It was
a slow process gradually moving my
stance out every so often to help build
up my hip strength. If you use a fairly
narrow stance, trying to go right to a
wide stance is probably going to feel
awkward and might cause some pain
and discomfort in your hips. The best
stance to start with is a shoulder width
stance. From there you should go by
feel and see if going with a closer stance
feels better, or if widening up your
stance feels better for you. At first, a wide stance didn’t feel right for
me, but as time went on and I kept practicing, it started to feel better
and better. Now I’m a few inches outside of a shoulder width stance
on both legs. You have to be open to trying to new things and always
trying to better yourself. If you’re stuck on using one stance and never
changing, you never know where your lift could actually be if you tried
to perfect it and make it better for yourself.
 LIFTING BELTS/POSITIONNG
When it comes to lifting belts, there’s only a few different variations to
choose from. You’re looking at either a prong belt, or a lever belt.
10mm in thickness or 13mm in thickness. Those are your basic
options to choose from. For myself, I started out using a prong belt for
squats and eventually switched over to using a lever belt (13mm). I
feel like the lever belts offer a lot more support and they’re also much
easier to put on after you’ve just got done possibly wrapping your own
knees and putting wrist wraps on. It’s also much easier to get your
preferred tightness because you can move the lever piece forward or
backwards to make the belt fit looser or tighter. For positioning, this
will vary between lifters. I have always preferred to put the belt up
higher because I didn’t feel like it gave me much support when I would
wear it lower. Having the belt up higher helps create a lot of upper
abdominal pressure and can also help your back stay more erect
during the lift having that pressure to push against. If you are one of
those guys that likes to wear it lower, I would highly recommend just
giving this a try to see how it feels for you. Try moving your belt up
above your naval. The bottom of your belt should be just above your
naval to start with. I wear my belt about an inch or so above my naval,
any higher I feel like it hurts my breathing and I can’t get in a big
enough air. You have to play around with it to find your sweet spot.
You should notice a big difference right away with the amount of
pressure it creates up top for you. You’d be surprised how much just
moving the belt up can help. This may not work for everyone, but you
never know until you try.
 Knee Wraps
Lastly, a very important one that many lifters are clueless about. How
to wrap your knees properly. The “standard” length for knee wraps is
2.5 meters. Very few federations only allow 2 meter wraps, for the
most part the majority of federations allow 2.5 meter wraps. The type
of wrap you should use is all depending on you. Whether you like
having a stretchy wrap that gives good rebound, or having a stiff
wrap that gives you stopping power. It all comes down to what you
prefer and what feels best for you. There’s so many different types of
knee wraps out there, until you’ve experimented with a variety of
different pairs, you’ll never know what is best for you. When it comes
to wrapping your knees, you should make sure that both wraps are
identical. Many times I see lifters have wraps on and both wraps look
completely different. The pattern of the wrap looks different and
where the end of the wrap gets tied off is different. This should
NEVER happen. Having one wrap tighter than the other or having one
wrap spaced out differently can completely throw off your form and
technique. If you wrap your knees yourself, it should be fairly easy for
you to catch on with how to wrap both of your knees identical. If you
always have someone wrap your knees, then your knee wrapper
needs more practice on how to make both wraps exactly the same.
For myself, I like to start the knee wrap up top, about 2 inches above
my knee cap. The wrap is being wrapped outwards, away from my
body. This helps force your knees out at the bottom. I typically will go
down 4 revolutions, overlapping each one by half. So after the first
revolution, the next one goes over the first one but only covering half
of the wrap. I follow this pattern down 4 revolutions and then I make
an “X” around the knee to help secure the wrap.
 Knee Wraps
(continued...)

The “X” helps to offer support from top to bottom, side to side and also
helps prevent your first set of revolutions from opening up during the
lift and coming loose. After the “X” has been placed around the 4
revolutions, I finish off the wrap around my knee cap with 1-2 more
revolutions depending on if it’s a warm up set or a top set. The wraps
gradually get tighter as I approach my top set. They’re never wrapped
with the exact same tightness. Always start out with a loose wrap and
gradually make them tighter on your warm up sets approaching your
top set.

UNAUTHORIZED REPRODUCTION OR DISTRIBUTION OF THIS PROGRAM, OR ANY

PORTION OF IT, MAY RESULT IN SEVERE CIVIL AND CRIMINAL PENALTIES, AND
WILL BE PROSECUTED TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT OF THE LAW