How would intermittent fasting and high repetition breathing squats effect body composition?
Well, it’s about time we found out.
Breathing squats have long been touted as a heavenly saint for gaining mass. Intermittent fasting à la Leangains supposedly facilitates mass gain without fat gain. Is it love at first sight?
Before I catch hell, let me say that I’m not an ideal candidate for this program. Since recovering from a broken foot, I gravitated towards minimalism. This past summer was nothing but deadlifts, dumbbell floor presses, chin-ups, push-ups, and assorted carries. I was perfect for me at the time.
But since venturing into heavy loading in November, the nerve pain in my foot has grown. I hold no interested in having 315+ on my back. So lowe(er) load high repetition squat work is ideal. Come March, I play many sports making it impossible to run this program then. So now is the perfect imperfect time.
A quick disclaimer: despite often spewing athletic nonsense, this quest has no athletic bearing. I’m in it solely for the guns y’all.
IMPORTANT LIFESTYLE NOTES
- Some weeks, I use John Romaniello’s Feast-Fast system. Others, Brad Pilon‘s Eat Stop Eat. Part of me enjoys prolonged fasts, so I tailor my lifestyle to them.
Sunday I usually eat whatever I want in unlimited quantity. Sometimes it’s as innocent as wine, spaghetti, meatballs, and calzones. Othertimes it’s as naughty as nachos and Newcastle Brown Ale. Following this “feast” day, I fast. The fast lasts either 24 or 40ish hours, depending on how terrible I feel.
All other days I follow a Leangains-esque intermittent fasting template. Wake up is at 6-7AM followed by a couple cups of coffee. Training goes down from 12PM – 2PM (round about). Following that is my first meal: a huge bowl of oats, chicken, sporadic vegetables, and my very own super special protein pudding (three scoops of protein and cinnamon mixed with a tiny bit of water). But there’s a universal law: an oatmeal volcano must be architected to house to protein pudding. Oatmeal volcano’s make me very happy.
I don’t normally measure servings, but curiosity got the better of me one day. My volcano was constructed upon 1000-or-so kcals worth of oats. The second bowl in the picture of above houses couscous, chicken, and vegetables.
Later on I eat more meat, vegetables, chicken, and mucho eggs—it’s very Precision Nutrition inspired. So I don’t 100% carb load on training days. Assuming successful oatmeal volcano creation and consumption, further carbs make me gassy. Sometimes, however, I’ll indulge and suffer (as with the couscous example above, or the wheat berry example below). On off days, it’s all meats, eggs, cheeses, and vegetables.
- My upper body lifts are pathetic. Just more proof that getting strong in barbell lifts isn’t always the only way to look semi-respectably muscled. Long live chin-ups and deadlifts.
- I’m not at the stage of training advancement I should be. Ideally, I would have already busted through linear progression with the rows and incline press. But, as mentioned, this will serve as that. And if there are hormonal benefits from 20 rep squats, it will make it more meaningful, as my lower body strength is “good” enough to benefit from the 20 reppers.
- Most traditional twenty rep squat programs call for three training session per week. Because I’m an idiot, asshole, and jackass, I will be training four days per week. But the program is rooted in a high-low central nervous system activation scheme. Therefore—outside of shoulder presses—recovery shouldn’t be much of an issue given my body’s current level of adaptation.
- Did I mention my upper body strength is pathetic?
- Warm ups start with dynamic stretching and transition to 6 round of: 10 jumping jacks, 5 pull-ups, 5 squats, and 5 push-ups with some hanging leg raises mixed in. It may seem excessive, but I’ve built tolerance for these movements.
- Some front squats are done before the breathing squats. Idiotic, I know, but it will serve future-me better because they are my primary squat lift.
- My journey will be chronicled on Twitter under the hashtag #20REPEXP. So if you search twitter for “20repexp,” you will find a sporadic log with pictures (I already posted before pictures). Detailed updates will be posted weekly on this here blog.
THE PROGRAM
The program alternates two basic workouts, and is a modification of a program Aram Hamparian used to throw around.
Day One (Wednesday)
A1) Incline Press 2-3×12
A2) Romanian Deadlift 2×15
A3) Kip-Ups, Unilateral Shock Absorption Work
B) Barbell Row 2-3×15
C) Breathing Squats 1×20
D) Breathing Pullovers 1×20
Day Two (Thursday)
A1) Overhead Press 2×10
A2) Barbell Curl 2×10
B1) Dips 1 x as many
B2) Close Grip Chins 2 x as many
C1) Hanging Leg Raises 2 sets
C2) Calf Work 2 sets
D) Gymnastics and Tumbling Circuit
Day Three (Saturday)
Same as Wednesday
Day Four (Sunday)
Same as Thursday, except with Dumbbell Overhead Press
PROGRAM DETAILS
- Incline presses, romanian deadlifts, and barbell rows work up to a max rep set. If the rep range is hit on one of the sets, five pounds is added the following workout.
- Kip-ups and shock absorption work is for my foot (and because kip-ups are way cool).
- Breathing squats are done with 2-5 breaths per rep. If the reps are hit, ten pounds is added for next workout.
- Pullovers are done with twenty pounds, inhaling mega air and stretching the chest as much as possible.
- Dips and chins are rep progressions unless thirty is hit in one set.
- Gymnastics and tumbling: planche progression held for thirty seconds, some rolls, handstand progression held for thirty seconds, some rolls, front lever progression held for thirty seconds, and some rolls. This “circuit” is repeated twice, keeping the heart rate going.
WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS
Back to the original question: how would intermittent fasting and high repetition breathing squats effect body composition? Give me eight to ten weeks. I’ll let you know then.
Looking forward to following your progress. Back in the day (1980′s), I remember reading and doing those breathing squat routines. I did the pullovers too. I always wondered if the chest expanding was due to wearing a belt while doing the squats and being forced to try to breath into my chest since belly breathing was inhibited by the belt. Observationally, it always seemed like asthmatic kids had deep ribcages, something I thought might’ve occurred because of deep breathing attempts during asthma attacks. I never developed as deep a rib cage as in those pics of 1950′s era bodybuilders but it was fun trying.
Yeah, it’s an “old school” routine for sure. I’m not doing it for ribcage expansion though. Just overall size, as it supposedly does that too.
What sort of dynamic stretches do you do before the workouts?
Most hark back to my tricking days. Arm swings, trunk rotations, leg lifts. More martial arts based but my dynamic flexibility is the shiz from doing it for 10+ years.
Jealous of your rear delts and hams. Good luck with the program!
That’s from pulling from the floor with enormous frequency, and tons of chins.
I too wish you good luck. Man, this program excites me! Breathing pullovers sound very sexy haha. I love the concept. I wanna try the breathing stuff very badly now. I’m going to see if I can modify my current routine and give this a chance. Haha, it seems like I’m always diving after into all your experiments. I like the experimenting.
Oh and I don’t mean to be rude, but in Day Four (Sunday), I think you meant to say “Same as Thursday…”
Good luck again! I’ll be following your twitter to see how it goes!
Word, thanks man. I’ll take a look at that error. Maybe you should hang around and see how it works for me before taking the plunge. Just a thought.
Thanks for the suggestion. I’ll wait for sure. In the meantime, I’ll probably take the time to do some rehabilitation that will take eight weeks
.
Hi Anthony,
Do you think IF is ideal for athletes. I was thinking of doing the Leangains version of one pre workout meal and 2 post workout meals. I love reading about IF, I can’t believe how wrong I was about meal frequency, catabolism, etc.
Thanks,
Jay
Jay, it depends on the athlete. The problem with IF is that huge meals can be a bother to digest. So if you have a competition, eating any big meal in the immediate hours beforehand could be uncomfortable. But as far as the nutritional factors, there shouldn’t be a problem getting in the nutrients.
Sorry forgot to add, for someone looking to gain mass, can IF work for them, as in, still lead it good weight gain if calorie targets are met in order to do so.
Absolutely Jay. Total caloric intake is more important than frequency of meals. Many people thrive (including myself) on IF.
Hey Anthony,
Thanks for getting back to me. Don’t know if this is still on. One thing I read on leangains was about increased cognitive function during the fast. I am a fast bowler (cricket), do you think working on technique during the fast would be beneficial considering the above mentioned theory. I generally do bowling at <75%, and then medball throws at <75%, about 100 throws, so nothing too taxing.
Thanks,
Jay
I’d say it depends on how you feel. The cognitive benefits are more associated with tasks that require focus (ie: writing, math, etc…) and not much physical exertion. I’d say you can experiment with it.
Have you always lifted upper body lifts such as the presses with such high reps?
My prediction: Legs will become freakier (mostly in size), but I don’t see this having too much impact on your pressing strength.
That’s just my opinion,though, so good luck and kill it!
I honestly don’t focus much on upper body pressing or rowing, as mentioned in this post. So, no.
Anthony,on your off days you eat chiken with veggies.On you workout days you eat chiken with veggies and oatmeal.The fat is coming only from the eggs,don’t you think you should eat primarily fat and protein on your off days?
Alex,
I eat chicken because I can get it cheap. I also eat a lot of nuts, eat cheese, and use more oil and whatnot when I cook on “off” days. I make up for the calories somewhat. I also mix in red meat when I have the money, as you can see in the picture above with the hamburgers.
Good question. I was a little vague about that.
I eat home pork and eggs and lard.In Bulgaria chikens are full with hormones.I have followed diffеrent approaches with IF.Warrior diet is perfect for fat loss,but I cannot gain muscle on it.Now I am on leangain’s.I train fasted with 10 gr of BCAA.On workout days eat below maintaining and on off days eat protein and fat till I can’t anymore.I do 20 reps breathing squats and calf work on day 1,bench press and weighted dips on day 3,deadlift and weighted chin ups on day 5.As I am “skinny fat” I stay off from other excersize because I overtrain very easy.
Well, in my opinion, you’re only going to benefit from the squats if you’re doing 20×225. What kind of strength are you at right now?
I am doing deadlift with 325 for 5 reps in reverse pyramid style,chins – 40 lbs for 6-8 reps again RPS,bench – 180 lbs for 10-12 reps and squats with 180 lbs for 20 reps.I am at the begining of this program and the weights are up every workout with 5-10 pounds.What do you think I am doing wrong?
I just think you’d be much suited to do this a little down the line, but it’s personal preference. As you’ll see, my upper body is weak and I’m doing it so I don’t want to be contraindicating myself. But I’ve always believe in being able to do 20×225 for the first workout and working up from there.
Have you been reading Beyond Brawn? McRobert basically hails 20-rep squats as the best thing for over-all mass so I’m sure you’ll get great results with this program!
Eat up, and good luck brother!
I’ve heard of it. I know what other say. The results will show! …or will they?
Thanks for the comment sir Zewski.
After my last workout with 20 reps of squat,I felt my arms bigger and my chest wider than when I am doing upper body workout.These squats are beast.Do you think i can train only them every 3-4 days and stop the deads?These squats just made me pumped like a bodybuilder.
Well, I wouldn’t say those changes would happen that fast. But I’m glad you’re seeing results.
Hey Anthony! My brother and I did breathing squats a couple years ago. It definitely put some size on us, that is until it BROKE us! lol…. that was before I started doing mandatory deloads and stuff. Instead of backing off, we just kept adding weight! haha… live and learn. Keep us posted on your progress.
Hey Brandon. Thanks for the insight. I can totally see HOW and WHY that can happen haha. Hopefully I don’t suffer the same fate.
How did this go?
Sean, I just posted a reply —
My foot (broke in five places the previous year) got in the way of my progress and ultimately the continuation of the program.