Daily Archives: August 21, 2014

We are 4 weeks in to some new squat programming at my gym and frankly it is killing my will to walk.

It’s called the Hatch Squat Program and it’s a 12 week cycle that basically includes 2 days a week of A WHOLE LOT OF HEAVY SQUATTING with bonus spreadsheets! I’m serious about the spreadsheet, you can find it here if you endeavor to do this on your own, you crazy squatting beast!

A month in, I think it just might be working mostly because my legs feel mostly immobile about 4 days per week. I have to pep talk myself at least once a day to take the stairs at work. It must be because my legs are getting stronger, right? TELL ME THEY ARE GETTING STRONGER. It’s the kind of workout programming that makes you ask yourself the following day “Do I really need to go to bathroom right this second, or can it wait?” because sitting down is requires reinforcement.

One of the other things kind of blowing my mind is that one of our coaches was somewhat pregnant when we started this cycle, but when we are done with Hatch she very well might no longer be pregnant and will have a real, live baby. A new squat PR? A human baby that you’ve grown with YOUR OWN BODY? So much can be accomplished in just 12 weeks.

Measuring progress is one of my favorite things and for some reason I always find it more enjoyable to work toward something new that has a finite end up ahead. I think that is why I enjoy AMRAP workouts in CrossFit so much more than Rounds For Time workouts. Sure things are going to be hard and get ugly, but when I know it’s only going to be ugly for 10 minutes, or 12 weeks, or just until “Race Day” I somehow tap into this fount of available energy that otherwise seems unreachable. I should probably chew on that a little bit more before figuring out what I want to accomplish next. Bite size pieces, for the win.

Anyway, when we started Hatch my Squat 1 Rep Max was 235. I’ll let you know where it is in 8 weeks. Any of you ever survived a 12 week Hatch cycle? Talk to me…and my jello legs. 🙂