Monday will start a new back squat program. This is two 6 week programs back to back. The first 6 weeks are fairly familiar territory for CFO, but weeks 7-12 will take us into the deep waters of “drop sets.” But first things first.

This program comes from Ben Smith. Smith won the 2015 CrossFit Games and appeared 11 times over his career. He literally grew up in the sport and his training evolved along with it. I always recommend videos of Ben Smith moving the barbell – I feel like he is a genetically gifted “regular dude” as opposed to a physical freak of nature. He trained hard, then he had to learn to train smart.

So, training smart. This program is beefy – it will take time, but it will build up really nasty. We will back squat twice a week – and we will be doing other stuff. So, use the working 1RM. What is the working 1RM you say? Simple – it’s 90% of your 1 rep max. Take your 1RM, multiply it by .9. Then take all numbers and and work out that number. For example. My back squat is 350. My working 1RM is 315. My first set of 10 is 95, my set at 50% is 165, my set at 60% is 185, and my working sets of 70% are 215. These are not exact numbers – I’ve rounded down in most cases for ease of barbell math. I hate fucking around with 2.5s…

I’ve written down a bunch of stuff on the chalkboard – the reps schemes, percentages, even recommended warm up weights – for the most part, each session will start with very similar sets for the first 3 warm up sets.

Take these sets seriously. Focus on speed, being tight through your ribcage. I was surprised that the warm up sets were 95 pounds and not 135 – 135 is the universal warmup for dudes. That’s like a naked barbell. So thing about these squats like you are doing wall ball or thrusters.

Back Squat for load:
#1: 10 reps @ 30%
#2: 10 reps @ 30%
#3: 8 reps @ 50%
#4: 4 reps @ 60%
#5: 4 reps @ 70%
#6: 4 reps @ 70%
#7: 4 reps @ 70%
#8: 4 reps @ 70%

AMRAP 5
KB Hang Clean and Jerk
KB Thruster
53/35
Switch hands after every set