The Mega Squat Challenge

Sometimes I feel like people can’t figure it out.

Do they want to be really strong or really well conditioned.

If you ask them, they would probably tell you both.

The problem is if people are thinking about elite strength or conditioning, you can’t have it both! However, for most of us, having powerful levels of both is and SHOULD be possible!

The problem is though when people train to improve their strength, it feels like their conditioning drops through the floor. They rationalize that strength fixes everything, but the truth of the matter is that it doesn’t!

On the other hand, the people that want to focus on their conditioning only see their strength become a distant memory. The difference between what they can do for 15 reps isn’t much different than what they could for 3 (btw, there should be a rather significant difference).

The conditioning crew tries to rationalize the idea that they will “outwork” every body else. Sorry, if you are weak as a fly, you can work as hard as you want, the strength you have isn’t going to impact anything!

The truth is that you want good levels of both.

One thing we are very fortunate to have at DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training is access to some of the top fitness and strength coaches in the world! One is particular, Robert Dos Remedios (who was the NCAA Strength Coach of the Year), has really had a profound impact on our training and concepts.

Coach Dos doing some serious work on the DVRT Squat Challenge!

In speaking with “Coach Dos”, I quickly realized what we really need in both fitness and sports is not just great strength or great conditioning, but “power-endurance”.

What is “power-endurance”? It is the ability to perform a strong, powerful movement with repeated efforts. Many people might assume that is performing high repetition Olympic lifts or plyometrics over and over. Not so!

Coach Dos and I have spoken at length about using density training. This style of training requires doing really powerful efforts, for short periods of time, but with short rest intervals. There are many ways to do this, such as “on the minute” training as we have talked about at length in the past.

These types of qualities is why the DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training Clean and Press Challenge has become such a standard of fitness. It requires everything we have talked about. Not just strength, not just power, not just conditioning, but technical proficiency, body awareness, and mental fortitude.

This thought process though gave me rise to another great way of measuring the power of DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training. That is our Ultimate Sandbag Squat Challenge!

I’ve given squatting a bit of a hard time in the past, but really only to get people to really branch out to other powerful lower body drills. However, one of my favorite DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training drills I think gets overlooked and/or abused.

The DVRT Front Loaded Squat might be the perfect whole body squat. Many in the fitness industry have moved away from back squats because of the amount of spinal compression. This especially makes sense considering the research has shown that the Front Squat can be just as beneficial as the back squat even though lighter weight is used.

The DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Front Loaded Squat takes this type of squatting to a whole new level! The Front Loaded Squat stresses the core, upper back, AND legs like nothing else can.

Hmmm, is this like a Zercher squat with a barbell? Not at all! In fact, upon completing and crushing our DVRT squat challenge, Coach Dos remarked, “comparing the Front Loaded Squat and Zercher Squat isn’t like comparing apples to apples at all!”. The subtle change in where the weight of the Ultimate Sandbag is placed upon the body changes a lot! Add in the fact that as Ultimate Sandbags get heavier they become larger in dimension. This continues to add more work to the body, something the barbell can not do!

Okay, so what is this so called DVRT Squat Challenge? Very simply it is 50 FULL Front Loaded Squats in 4 minutes! Yea, that works out to sets of 13, 13, 12, 12. Doesn’t sound so bad? Here is the kicker, the weight and size of Ultimate Sandbag you must use! Let me share the standards….

Men: Under 170: 90 pound Burly Ultimate Sandbag
171-200: 110 pound Burly Ultimate Sandbag
201+: 130 pound Burly Ultimate Sandbag

Women: Under 150: 60 pound Strength Ultimate Sandbag
150+ 75 pound Strength Ultimate Sandbag

Yea, this is not about moving a tiny weight really fast, or moving a huge weight once! We want you to build that power endurance that makes an average athlete, a great athlete! What we believe is a much better test of fitness!

In the upcoming posts we will talk how to accomplish these lofty goals. However, be the first guy or lady to post you passing the standards (yes a video like Coach Dos) on our Facebook Fan Page HERE and don’t miss the chance to save 20% on our Burly Ultimate Sandbag with FREE Filler with coupon code “burly” HERE