The title of this blog is misleading. I don’t really have an update. I completely lost track. I was doing my squats on a daily basis. I hit 202 on most days, fell short sometimes. I quit journalling them and lost track of what day I was on. I stopped when I thought it had been about 30 days. End results: My pants feel like they fit better, but I don’t see a visual difference.
202 Squats Week Two Update
Wednesday, September 4th, Day Eight: I did one set of 77 in the morning before I left for work. I did a set of 75 on first break, and a set of 50 at lunch. I was done by 1:30pm.
Thursday, September 5th, Day Nine: I didn’t do any before I left for work. I couldn’t find the time. It was a hectic morning. I snuck in a set of 52 and a set of 50 before first break using the private phone rooms. A set of 50 on break, and another on lunch, I was again done by 1:30.
Friday, September 6th, Day Ten: See Day Eight. Exact repeat.
Saturday, September 7th, Day Eleven: Oops. This was a super-busy day. I went to a horror convention, watched some good independent horror, completely forgot to do any squats. Fail.
Sunday, September 8th, Day Twelve: After an accidental day of rest I was able to complete today’s reps in a set of 102 followed by a set of 100.
Monday, September 9th, Day Thirteen: I didn’t do any reps before work. I did a set of 52 before first break, a set of 50 on break, at lunch, and last break.
Tuesday, September 10th, Day Fourteen: I did a set of 102 before I left the house. Well, it was kind of a staggered set. I had to pause around rep 15 or so because I was doing squats on my front porch and some guy was walking down the alley looking at me like I was some kind of freak. So I waited for him to pass. Then, I had to pause again around 27 or so as a prostitute walked the other direction down the alley yelling at someone through her cellphone. But I did 102 squats on my porch before I left for work. I did 50 at lunch and 50 at last break.
Wednesday, September 11th, Day Fifteen: Being able to do sets of 100 at a time and not being sore the next day has led me to push a little harder. I’m sticking to the 202 squats a day, but today I shortened my reps per set to 25 (27 for the first), and have extended the squat all the way down. Previous squats have been primarily to the seated chair position, then back up. All of today’s reps were full, butt-to-heel squats. I did my first set at 11:30am and my final set at 8:30pm. I feel like there’s something I’m forgetting … Anywho, I also did side leg lifts — 102 on each side with straightened legs, followed immediately by 27 on each side with bended knees —and weighted hip thrusts. The backpack I bought to hold my weights had a black and white American Flag patch attached with Velcro. I acquired a new patch at Horror Hound Weekend. It’s a skeleton hand making the Metal Horns, or fucking Devil Symbol, whatever you want it to be. I mean, for most people who make the symbol, me included, it means: “YEAH! ROCK N’ FUCKIN’ ROLL!!!!” with no less than four exclamation points. But, hey, if you want to bring the devil into it, that’s cool, I guess. The Devil is pretty dope, for a totally fictional and unrealistic Mega-Villain.
Anyway, I had some Velcro tape left over from a door screen and I stuck it on that new patch I got and I put it on my weighted pack in place of the one it came with.
202 Squats Week One Update
Thursday, August 29th, Day Two: I did one set of 20 before work, my thighs were still pretty this morning. I did several more sets of 20 throughout the workday. My thighs started getting really sore once I passed a hundred reps. All full squats today, no weights. I hit 202 by 6:00pm and I’m going to enjoy resting up for the night until morning. The last set was murder on my thighs. Still nothing in the Glutes.
Friday, August 30th, Day Three: My thighs screamed as I swung my legs out of bed this morning. Ignoring them, I did a set of 30 and a set of 20 before work. Throughout the day, I did sets of 25 and a single set of 32. I had my 202 reps in by 4:30pm. I did not do any more squats, but I did do some lunges and some stretches, held a yoga “Warrior II” pose on each leg for several minutes, and that seemed to sooth and soften my thigh muscles, which were beginning to feel like stones under my skin.
Saturday, August 31st, Day Four: Again, my thighs were very sore upon waking. Still no pain or even slight burn in the glutes at this point. I did a set of 30 in the morning, against the protest of my thigh muscles. For my second set of the day, I managed a set of 42 by shifting my balance. I’d been balancing mostly on the balls of my feet. By shifting my balance to my heels, it alleviated some of the stress on my thighs and I could feel more pull in my glutes. I did a third set of 40 reps.
So far all my reps have been into a seated position, as if there were an invisible chair behind me. For the last 60 reps I did full squats, into a crouch, my ass nearly touching the floor at the lowest point. I did these reps slowly in a set of 25, one of 20, and the final set of 15.
Sunday, September 1st, Day Five: My thighs weren’t sore when I got out of bed, but they protested immediately when I did my first squat of the day. I did small sets spaced far apart. Every single rep was a chore. I barely got my 202 in before bed.
Monday, September 2nd, Labor Day, Day Six: Lazy day. Paid, off work, I just wanted to crash on the couch and watch movies I’d already seen ten times all day. I waited until 4:00pm to do my first set, and I did a set of 52. I did another 50 at 4:30, 7:00, and 8:00.
Tuesday, September 3rd, Day Seven: First day back at work after a three day weekend. I did a set of 50 in the morning, a set of 50 on first and last break, and a set of 52 sandwiched in the middle at lunch. I had my 202 in by 3:30pm, before I’d done my first rep as compared to the previous day. When I got home from work, I did some additional leg exercises, but no squats, and no lunges, because my thighs just wouldn’t have it. I did some weighted toe lifts, single and dual leg with the 40lb pack. I did hip thrusts, lifting the pack off the floor and holding it at an arch with my pelvis, and some non-weighted side-lying leg lifts, in sets of 50 repetitions on each leg, up to 200 per leg.
I don’t see any drastic changes the way I did with my chest on the push-up challenge. I have gained another five pounds in the past week and my pants aren’t fitting any tighter. I actually want them to, I’d like to build up the musculature around my waist so I don’t have to wear a belt to keep my size 30 jeans from falling down past my lack of an ass. My thighs feel more solid, to the touch, and also just in general. While I can’t see my muscles growing, or the shape of my legs changing, I can feel strength in my legs that wasn’t there before.
Physically, it feels … weird. My musculature, I mean. The best way I can describe it is that it feels like I’m having a seat inside of myself. Like I’m sitting down inside of a robotic exoskeleton. Yes, yes, I know. Please forgive the dramatic description. I don’t think I’m becoming super-human, or part robot. But I’m a writer, first, before everything else. So I’m using the robotic exoskeleton as a metaphor for the way I feel now, versus the way I felt previously. I would obviously lose badly in a fight with someone wearing an actual robotic exoskeleton. Especially now, with how sore I am and all.
202 Squats A Day!
Okay, so, my left arm is out of commission effectively putting my entire upper body out of commission when it comes to weight work, unless I’m going for the Belial from Basket Case look, one side bulked up and the other scrawny. Heh. Sure would make people cross to the other side of the sidewalk. People hate freaks. Hmm. Perhaps I should! “My name ain’t Quasimodo, but I still got a hunch ….” Nah. That’s extreme body modification, and I’m not into that.
So, anyway, since my upper body is temporarily out of the muscle growth game, I suppose that’s a good excuse to do a prolonged leg day. A leg month. Heh. Hence, the 202 Squats A Day Challenge! Ahem. Anyway.
So, I decided to start now. I decided at around 5:45 pm and did my first set. I can currently do about 20, no weights, just yet, simple body-weight squats, some, so-far, aren’t as deep as they need to be, yet. They will improve. Learning from past mistakes, even when 202 feels easy, I’m going to stick to it. There are other exercises I can do, if I have energy that needs burned at the end of the day. When they get too easy, I’ll add on the weight, but stick to the 202 per day total count.
I did two more sets of 20 within the hour and got up to 60. I have to fit another 142 into the next three and a half hours or so until I go to bed.
By 6:40, I have 100 squats in the bag. I also threw on some Hollywood Undead, Party by Myself, and danced like a fucking idiot lunatic.
I got my 202 in by 9:00. The last two sets were ten each. As I lay down to sleep, my thighs are feeling a little sore. So far I feel nothing in my glutes. I hope that changes. I really want to build my glutes for one really simple reason: I just want my fucking pants to fit right.
