A thin volume of less than 100 pages, yet Super Squats, by Randall J. Strossen, Ph.D., is a tour de force of simplicity and intellect, which brings the reader back to reality, by reminding him/her of the necessity and effectiveness of the squat. The basic premise is that a routine of 20 squats will allow you to gain 30 pounds of muscle in 6 weeks, along with the attendant strength. The book goes into detail about the history of the 20 rep squat routine and the hormonal changes that your body goes through, but that is all secondary to the program.

Essentially, the program is this: In order to gain the neuroendocrine response which will give you muscle mass and strength, do your 10 rep back squat max 20 times without racking the weight a few times a week. Every time, try to increase the weight by 5 pounds. Absolute fire in your back, legs and stomach. Do it for six weeks. Drink a lot of milk and eat a lot of quality food. That’s it. It is so simple that it sounds like nonsense. I tried it and I almost vomited at rep 18. It will have you breathing like a 500 meter row with a pain you’re likely never to forget. Anything that makes you feel like Fran in the same amount of time, with half the exercises, has got to be legit.

If anything, it attests to the effectiveness of functional movements, high intensity and simplicity–all things that we aspire to–in your training.

When you perform the 20 rep squat routine, you realize the efficacy of the program–it is a functional, total body workout, and the gains in muscle mass you get are equally total-body and functional. From the obvious burning in your legs, up through your lower and upper back to the not-so-obvious arms and trapezius, the squat is unparalleled in creating a base of strength obviously applicable to CrossFit.

I’m not sure how many times I mentioned hip drive while coaching Fight Gone Bad, but it is obvious that hips are central to almost every movement in the human repertoire–and the squat is the premier movement to strengthen the hip drive. The more I do CrossFit and the more I understand athletic movement, it is increasingly clear to me that hip drive and mid-line stability are crucial to everything. The squat strengthens those two elements as well as, if not better than, most anything else I can think of.

–Nick