Programme · Intermediate · 3 days a week
20-Rep Squat Programme
20-Rep Squat Programme is a common intermediate muscle-building programme. One brutal set of 20 breathing squats per session — a pre-war squat-specialisation tradition for size and strength. VALDA has it in its programme library: start it and VALDA sets up the sessions and starting weights, then adds weight when you complete every working set.
Free to start, 1 programme at a time. Already have the app? Open in VALDA takes you straight to it.
Is 20-Rep Squat Programme for you?
Intermediate lifters looking for structured progression beyond a simple novice LP, who can eat and sleep to match. It is a size programme first and it is not gentle.
At a glance
- Level
- Intermediate
- Goal
- Muscle size
- Time
- 3 days a week, ~60 min a session
- Length
- 6 weeks
One brutal set of 20 breathing squats per session — a pre-war squat-specialisation tradition for size and strength.
1 session
| Session | Exercises |
|---|---|
| Basic Routine |
|
One workout, three times a week on alternate days — the same session every time, not a rotation. Upper-body work comes first (press behind neck, bench, row, curl), then the single set of twenty squats, then a light pullover, a stiff-legged deadlift, a second pullover, calves and abdominal work. The pullovers stand in for Strossen's Rader chest pull, at the fifteen to twenty pounds he specifies, and are there to stretch the ribcage rather than to be trained.
How the weights move
The squat climbs every single session, whatever else happens — five or ten pounds, and you make all twenty reps. Everything else is double progression: hold the weight until you can drill the required reps, then add. There is no deload and no reset in the published programme, and VALDA does not add one. Strossen states "five or ten pounds" once and applies it to every exercise rather than splitting by lift, so the per-lift rates here are VALDA's own default: 2.5 kg a session on the barbell lifts, 2 kg on dumbbell work. Set your own rate per lift in programme management.
20-Rep Squat Programme, with the maths done
- Sessions set up from the programme, ready to log
- Starting weights worked out from the programme's own rules and your estimated maxes, with a default where VALDA has no history yet. You can change any of them
- Weight added when you complete every working set
- A missed session holds the weight until you make it
- Log sets from your phone, Apple Watch or Wear OS watch
20-Rep Squat Programme questions
Who is 20-Rep Squat Programme for?
Intermediate lifters looking for structured progression beyond a simple novice LP, who can eat and sleep to match. It is a size programme first and it is not gentle.
How many days a week is 20-Rep Squat Programme?
As VALDA runs it: 3 days a week, ~60 min a session.
How does progression work on 20-Rep Squat Programme?
The squat climbs every single session, whatever else happens — five or ten pounds, and you make all twenty reps. Everything else is double progression: hold the weight until you can drill the required reps, then add. There is no deload and no reset in the published programme, and VALDA does not add one. Strossen states "five or ten pounds" once and applies it to every exercise rather than splitting by lift, so the per-lift rates here are VALDA's own default: 2.5 kg a session on the barbell lifts, 2 kg on dumbbell work. Set your own rate per lift in programme management.
Can I run 20-Rep Squat Programme in VALDA?
Yes. It's in VALDA's programme library: start it and VALDA sets up the sessions and starting weights, then adds weight when you complete every working set. You can start it on the free plan, 1 programme at a time. Automatic progression: Free: 6 sessions · Pro: unlimited.
Where 20-Rep Squat Programme comes from
This page describes a common training programme for information. It isn't a personal prescription.