Not entirely sure on the terminology, so far as air squats, I mean squats using some kind of heavy weight like the barbell on my squat rack. And clearly not a continuous 15mins of up and down but a number of sets between 5-10 reps and an appropriate recovery in between. Or a number of different exercises, 1 set of each, and however many takes up 15 mins of time including recovery.
I’d probably manage something like 4 sets of 8 reps (of something whether that’s squats, deadlifts, glute bridges etc) with 3 mins recovery between each set.
So 15mins, filled with heavy lifts, consecutive days rather than an hour with perhaps 48hrs recovery before the next lifting session.
The point I’m drawing out is that the answer to your question is in how hard these sessions are.
Air squats (no weights) or very light barbell work is just going to active and wake you up like your “20 press-ups every morning” example.
If you are squatting to failure then that’s a hard session that will impact your next workout so you might recover the rest of the day.
You need to think about what you’re trying to achieve with these sessions, what your over all goal is and what your other workouts will be to decide a course of action.
So my initial thoughts were to split my 1 hour session. Which is heavy weights, 5-8 reps with enough in the tank to do 1 or 2 more. Never to failure, but not just the equivalent of a light warm up. It takes me 15 mins to do 1 of my super set pairs of exercises (3 or 4 full sets), and I do perhaps 4 super sets of different pairs of exercises in an hour, why can’t I just split them into 4 x 15min sessions and cycle through them day after day.
Especially if one super set covers push, one covers pull, one hinge, one core. I’m not battering the same muscles in the same way if I do them in a single hour as opposed to doing them across 4 separate days.
Re. Press ups - someone who can’t do 20 press ups, then 20 press ups might well be a tough ask. And it might give some improvement over time, and you change it up, like you would any other exercise.
I actually changed my routine again at some point as I thought I could find something more effective.
I’ve now been doing 2 exercises 6 times a week 3x5 reps, 2 reps in reserve.
Mon off
Tue split squats, hamstring curls
Wed pull ups, dumbbell shoulder press
Thu side plank with rotation, forearm plank (3x1‘ each side / exercise)
Fri bench press, chest supported barbell row
Sat Romanian deadlifts, hyperextension with rotation (3x1‘)
Sun twists, dead bugs
I‘ve gained ca 5-7kg of muscle this way. The next step may be going down to 3 by 3 sets with one rep in reserve to stabilize weight, but I’m a bit afraid of the higher risk of injury with the smaller margin of error (reps in reserve).
This is not training advice for anyone but a report of my experiences.
Ah good stuff, this is the kind of regime I was thinking of. Short sessions most day rather than trying to carve out an hour in a single chunk, when I’ve already carved out a continuous chunk of time for a biking session.
Load the bar with whatever weight you would use for a set of 8 reps. Don’t stop at 8 do as many as you can. When you can’t do more stop, maintain the bar on your shoulders (do not rack it), take as little time as possible to catch your breath (maybe 2-3 seconds), do as many more as you can until you need to catch your breath, pause, repeat until you get to 20 reps. The last few will likely be singles as you catch your breath in between them. No cheating allowed via partial reps each must be your normal full range of motion. Hell of a leg workout especially if you elevate your heels.
It is a surprisingly painful cardio workout and yes it is horrendous. Rest intervals might start at 3 seconds but will likely take 6 sec or so toward the end. You will be wishing to trade with vo2 max intervals when you get to the 15th rep….
These are horrendous. At some point it might just be better to do 2 sets of 8 or something. It’s a case of “just because it’s harder doesn’t mean it’s better”. You might get more out of a short-ish rest period and having the energy to actually produce some bar speed.
Yep whether called milk squats, breathing squats, 20 rep squats they are basically the same thing. Best way to describe how it feels would be you are in a bike race going up a mile long 15% climb and your smallest gear is an overgeared 39x21. Your cadence grinds down under 70, you’re standing up, and your heart feels like it’s going to burst through your chest. You question why you don’t give up the bike for Xbox or Nintendo as you gasp for air but you make it to the top and think “Hell yeah that rocked!”
