06/12/2026
New Blog post - 20 Rep Squat Program Hatfield Edition
If you've spent any real time in a weight room, you've probably heard about the 20-rep squat program. It goes by many names — Breathing Squats, Super Squats, The Widow Maker — but the idea is simple: load a bar with a weight you can squat for 10 reps, then do 20. The gap between those two numbers is filled with willpower, deep breathing, and the kind of gut-check that can't be faked.
The program dates back to the 1930s and '40s, when a lifter named Joseph Curtis Hise began doing high-rep squats and reported huge gains in muscle and bodyweight. His results spread through the strength community and were later advanced by Peary Rader, the founder of Iron Man magazine, who used the method to completely transform his own body. The program got its biggest boost in 1989, when Dr. Randall Strossen published Super Squats: How to Gain 30 Pounds of Muscle in 6 Weeks.
Find out how the Hatfield variation makes this classic program more accessible — and brutal — than ever:
20 Rep Squat Lore If you've spent any real time in a weight room, you've probably heard about the 20 rep squat program. It goes by many names — Breathing Squats , Super Squats , The Widow Maker — but the idea is simple: load a bar with a weight you can squat for 10 reps in a row, then do 20. Th
