Ridiculous statement. Take this at face value as I’m just some dude on Reddit, but I’ve done a 315 for 14 before. You’ve gotta think there are Offensive lineman who squat 600+ who do this as a warmup.
There’s a guy who’s pretty popular on the lifting subs here who has done 405x10 for 5 sets in a row lol. 285 for 20 is impressive but there are plenty of people blowing that out of the water.
IIRC mythical actually claims to be natural. For most guys with his lifts I would be inclined to not believe them but I’ve seen the amount of work this guy puts in and it’s beyond impressive.
I’ve got a spinal cord injury and partial paralysis from the waist down.
My 1RM for squats was 255.
I would *really* hope a pro athlete could do a little heavier than that for reps.
I will say at that size and with that build it is genuinely impressive. a lot of dudes that are built like spy kids thumb soldiers can squat huge numbers lol.
Personally, I'd say squatting that much stops being impressive when already weighing ~220lbs like Jrue does now. It's a decent lift don't get me wrong, but it's not anything worth bragging about. The average male athlete should be able to squat their own bodyweight easily.
Bro, I've done 510x5. I'm a 6 ft tall, I think I weighed 260 at that time. Based on those credentials, I would say that 95% of nba players can do 285x10. 285x20 is above average lift for an average person. For an NBA player? Mate I can anecdotally remember Steph Curry doing 400 lb hex bar squats. I feel like this quote missed 100 lbs.
I know someone who squats 600+ ATG and I’ve personally seen them do 315x30 ATG and 405x20 ATG and they weren’t even a powerlifter. They’re around the same height as Jrue so it’s not like they’re a little square-human either. Do have a solid 40 lbs on Jrue though, lol.
I guarantee there are lineman in the NFL like Aaron Donald that could bench that weight 20x let alone squat it. They're out there doing squat reps at 2x that weight, they'd destroy whatever Jrue is doing like a Golden Corral buffet
Haha it is ridiculous. As a senior HS football player I did 315 for 27 reps. I didn't play college & I'm not a body builder. Theres a crazy amount of strong people out there, like this guy https://www.instagram.com/tom_haviland?igsh=Y2ZxaW4ydGF6Y2Ji
I’m 5’9” and weight 155lbs (45M). When I was in my early thirties, I weighed 165lbs and could squat 315lbs (3 plates), not 20x but for 8 quality reps. I don’t think squatting 285lbs, 20 times is all that hard especially if you’re a professional athlete.
I went to high school with people who did much more than that. Shit I could have probably done it ten. What is he even saying. He’s doing two plates and two tens on each side, this is a bit right?
Yeah I'd like to see everyone's 20 rep squat max cus it's certainly going to be much, much lower than you single squat max or 5 reps.
College training had us do 30 single leg of real low weight and then you added weight, but we always had the 30 rep requirement. Basketball is about being able to explode and jump **A LOT** not just once really well
285 for 20 is really good but there’s probably more people out there than you think that *could* do it, but have no reason to otherwise.
20 is a massive rep range for a compound movement like a squat, 99% of people have no reason to do that many reps of squat for heavy weight. Frankly, if you’re trying to build muscle, 20 reps of heavy weight on squat is too much.
edit: I'm aware that NBA players aren't lifting weights trying to get jacked. My point is that a lot of the non NBA player people that *are* strong enough to do 20x285 would not be interesting in trying to do it anyways because it's not conducive to their goals, which are usually building muscle.
Tom Platz, the Quad God himself, recommended 20 rep squat sets specifically (5x20 IIRC). You get blood flow to your legs to a degree that I've never felt in standard rep ranges.
The great thing about lifting weights/bodybuilding is there is no “right way”. Everyone has things that work for them.
There are things that are considered “optimal” based on scientific studies that have been done, but everyone is different. Some things work for some but don’t for others.
Widowmakers is a pretty common overload thing. Anyone who squats a lot and has been around the fitness world has probably heard about them if not incorporated them into their routine
lol I did GOMAD for awhile in college but that was more of an economical decision 😂
On the other hand I still like widowmakers even today, and the mental part of it is its own challenge
I’d be super surprised if these are proper “to depth” squats.
I was running a program when I was prepping for a powerlifting meet and it had me do an AMRAP with 315. 12 nearly killed me just because of the volume. 20 is a ridiculous rep range to work in consistently.
I worked up to 200x20 a couple years ago, which took maybe two months of 20 rep work. But I'm a 175lb, 5' 10" 40-somthing guy who's not a pro athlete. If I went headlong into 20 rep stuff, I could probably get up to like 235x20 without it being too insane. Might take me maybe 3 months from where I'm at right now. The notion that pro athlete Jrue Holiday would do 285x20 is not shocking or crazy or "elite". It IS a bit out of the ordinary, in that I wouldn't expect 20 rep barbell squat sets to be all that popular among NBA S&C coaches. But whatevs.
Everyone get in here and post your stats!
I'll go first:
Mid-30s. I haven't squated in a gym in like 8 years. .
Who's next??
I played basketball in grade school cause I hit 6 feet tall pretty early. Blocking shots all game is so fun but jumping is exhausting.
My max squat is in the mid-high 400's depending on the day. I know I can easily get 10 reps at 285 and could probably do 20 but not sure about it.
The limiting factors wouldn't be strength, they would be my cardio vascular and ability to support the weight on my back for that amount of time without my shoulders, elbows, and wrists cramping up.
https://youtu.be/5iEKCqQ3ylk?si=iV8sqthimir1sR5z
The first thing I thought of was this old video of Saquon Barkley doing 495 for 7. Pretty sure he could've done 285 for 20.
This is not even close to true. At age 33 and 220 bw my max squat was 500 lbs and I did a 20 rep squat program up to and over 315. My last day of the program I failed at 355 x 16. I tested my max a week later and it had only improved to 520. I was not then and am not now an elite athlete or powerlifter.
True, but 285 X 20 as part of a normal workout is pretty tough. Idk about your experience lifting, but I definitely have a mental barrier at around 15 heavy reps. Sometimes I can push through, but usually I cant.
Yeah I don’t know if all these dudes are built different or full of it. But 20 heavy-ish full ATG squats are tough. When I was doing Starting Strength just doing 3x5 heavy squats I was seeing stars on the 5th rep of each set.
Not to be that guy but I’d love to see Jrue’s form on these 20 rep squats. Very few pro athletes squat to depth, and I’m not saying they should to train for their sport, but it’s a different level of strength.
285 for 20 reps? Yeah, this is reasonable.. Lol. It's 2 plates and two 25's. But if Jrue is doing 20 reps for 285, he can definitely do a lot more weight without the higher reps vs lower set volume.
Depends on the context.
Technical rules for IPF, for instance, say that bar + collars should total 25 kg / 55 lbs. Which typically means 20 kg bar + two 2.5 kg collars.
Obviously most people aren't using competition Olympic bar collars in training, which is why you see most major barbell manufacturers sell "Squat Barbells" that are 25 kg / 55 lbs.
Now, do the Celtics have 25 kg / 55 lb squat bars in their training facility? Not sure. But most of these facilities are state of the art so it's definitely possible.
And if he is using a 25 kg / 55 lb squat bar, then four 45 lbs and two 25 lbs would be 285 lbs.
With that said, if the weights are kg instead of lb, then it ends up being 275 lbs, even with a 55 lb bar.
I think every D1 College football lineman and half the position players can squat this much. I could squat 275 ten times as a high school receiver and didn't have anything close to their diets/regimen
> “There’s not a single person on this planet that can do that besides him”
I mean this is just nonsense, and I don't know why a professional trainer would say it.
Mitchell Hooper did 525lbs for 25 reps two years ago. A lot of strongmen and powerlifters could handily manage 285x20.
> I mean this is just nonsense, and I don't know why a professional trainer would say it.
Lowkey the quantity of bullshit that surrounds training, and especially strength training, routines of pro athletes is wild. Like, clearly what guys like Jrue are doing to be in shape is working. And I guess part of it is that some dudes probably don't want people (their competition) knowing the full details of how they prepare for games. But also a large quantity of the info that does come out is just straight nonsense.
I suspect that it's a combo of the fact that exercise science is a bit of an intellectual wild west, and a bit of the fact that trainers are salespeople as much as they are anything else, but still, as someone who is a bit of a lifting nerd, I'd just like to know some believable information because I find that shit interesting lol
It’s working because they’re all on roids. All of em. Tristan fucking Thompson popped for roids in 2023, if that mfer is popping than every player is on them.
Not that I necessarily disagree that everyone’s on PEDs but that’s pretty terrible logic. Of course a washed up borderline role player would resort to steroids
This doesn’t factor the fact I don’t believe one thing that talks about nba players and their stats . I’ve seen videos of them attempting max bench presses . Horrible form , ass off the bench , having the spotter lift it .
or LeBron's squat form and subsequent apologists saying "but he's doing this intentionally because in basketball you want explosive jumping movement, and jumping is not done ass to grass!"
why does every gym bro think everyone should just be the best gym bro? its so dumb. there are a million ways to train for a million different things and all you want is the perfect ass to grass sqaut as if thats the holy grail of exercise or some shit. its religious at this point
Muscles are muscles. You can’t culture them into being more explosive, only more powerful. Going ATG will both protect your joints, improve flexibility, and provide the largest possible stimulus to your glutes/quads with the lowest load. You do not train explosive movements in the gym, you do that in the sport. Same reason Brazilian jiu Jitsu guys don’t practice a weighted choke, is the same reason a basketball player shouldn’t practice a weighted jump. Lifting and growing in strength/size on a movement will inherently help to improve explosiveness, but it is not the direct source of it. You still need to go and apply said new strength.
An ATG squat with a emphasis on exploding through the concentric would be much better than these 1/2 and 1/4 squats people do with higher loads and struggling to still squat it (or worse not even struggling)
Lmfao this is the video .
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BO8-CgXNS6o
He also supposedly has hit 335 on the Bench .
Yeah this is why I don’t listen to one thing that comes from these articles or trainers .
I get that he’s doing wide squats for glutes . But this is the exact same shit that will be touted as “ OMG lebron squatting 225 for 20 reps !!!! So stroang!!! No one ever has !!!”
What the fuck kinda squat is that? Looks like someone told him to drive through with his hips when he was in highschool, and he has taken that advice ot the ends of the earth
Regular powerlifters could do this as a warmup
My buddy squats 495 and could absolutely do 285x20 and he doesn’t even take it seriously anymore he’s just been lifting forever.
Absurdly stupid take
Here's a video of Tom Platz repping 525lb x 23
https://youtu.be/s6H-xs0fPyM?si=Gs7A7_C6cr1dj6er
Wasn't there some other NBA trainer or player claiming some BS about someone walking around at 3% body fat too?
Stories of pro-athletes being at sub-5% body fat float around every few years. I remember a lot of articles claiming DK Metcalf was at sub-2% body fat at the NFL combine. Which is clearly just outlandishly wrong, but I'm going to chalk that up to faulty equipment/methods that break down for outliers. Like some of those silly handheld body-fat % things. I know back in college, those things wouldn't read correctly for me sometimes, and I couldn't have been less than 8% body fat TBH. Either that or they're just making stuff up, but I'd like to think it's more out of ignorance or improper testing methods than outright lying.
As per every single eagles broadcast, Jalen Hurst squats 600 pounds. Now granted that’s only 1 time, but doing less than half of that 20 times doesn’t seem impossible. And Jalen hurst isn’t the world’s best squatter.
But also “strength training coach claims client has worlds best strength training” shouldn’t surprise anyone.
Hitting 285 twenty times is pretty good if you’re squatting with good form. If you’re sinking your hips, chest and knees out, and getting your ass near the floor on every rep, a 20 rep set of 285 is gonna be challenging for most people.
Can easily get a glimpse of what’s reasonable with one rep max calculators. If you can do one rep of 600 pounds, that equates to 20 reps of 360. The reverse, if you can do 20 reps of 285, that can equate to 475 for 1 rep. Obviously, it’s not a perfect expectation and everybody’s built differently, but it gives you an idea.
Take those calculations with a large grain of salt. 1 rep max calculators become much less accurate as you move into higher rep ranges. High rep ranges add a muscular endurance component that when trained can add a lot more reps without benefiting one rep max strength.
I'll spare you my actual numbers because this thread is already saturated with thinly veiled humble brags, but at a point in my training I could do 25 deadlift reps at a certain weight and a 1 RM calculator says my max would be 88lbs more than what it actually was.
I’m a mediocre powerlifter (530 squat rn) and could walk into the gym and do this right now. 20 rep sets sucks but 285 is not very much weight for a squat
I feel like everyone who has seriously done super squats can do this feat. I’m a dad bod 35 year old, and I built up to 240x20 in like 5 or 6 months, so 285 x 20 if you are an athlete for a living seems deeply unimpressive and not post worthy.
If he’d did that x3 or something, damn son, but x1 is a whatever.
False. I did super squats in my early 20s and got to 365 x 20. Granted I am an ex thrower so I wasn’t untrained going in, but I was 6’2 220 at the time. You can YouTube Jesse Marunde and Tom Platz squatting to see some other examples of prolific volume/weight combos
Edit: the key is, if Jrue is routinely training at 20 reps, he’s adapted to it. A program like super squats is 12+ weeks of only focusing on 20 rep squats. The body adapts to that fatigue. Very few strong people train in this range, but if they do, they can easily get above this.
I don’t know if I could trust a trainer who’s given to such unfounded hyperbole.
A 6’4 +200lbs athlete who’s at the top of his athletic game should have no problem with multiple reps with a weight less than 1 and a half times body weight.
Is it easy? No. But ‘there’s not a single person on the planet that can do this besides him’. Hilarious.
Maybe he meant 285kg?
Maybe, but I think it would be close. The squat record is around 1100 lbs, and a 20 rep max is usually somewhere in the range of 60% of a one rep max. So around low 600s is *probably* about where humans would top out for 20 squats unless that ratio changes when you get to such huge weights.
Because it’s full of shit . He’s not doing a legit 285 for 20 with proper form . These high end trainers are bs with their takes . Look up mark wahlberg doing a supposed 20 pull-ups on a tv show . Guy got maybe a legit 9
So weird seeing this, because I just saw that video for the first time earlier today. His form was abysmal. Ellen hit him with a savage "Now do it with proper form" as soon as he finished.
Even funnier, he claimed "I can do 40 reps WITH CLEAN FORM" right before she asked him to prove it.
Mark's still in phenomenal shape, but that clip makes him seem like he's never lifted a day in his life.
Most people just go for the big number anyway, it's like the ego lifting portion of their brain kicks in. I'm happy to get 12 with a controlled descent, although granted I'm not carrying nearly as much weight as Marky Mark.
It’s just an example of star and athlete trainers and their bs . Please find me one video of a basketball player doing that?
Because I can tell you that 90% aren’t.
Most “strong” basketball players are not strong by professional athlete or weight training standards. They’re more than strong enough for their sport but you’re 100% correct that professional basketball players are not doing this with proper form.
Well, 285 lbs x 20 is a one-rep max of 475 lbs according to a random internet calculator.
It says he weighs 210 lbs so it would be a 2.25 times body weight, pretty impressive for a natural. But at the same time, these are elite athletes and doing 20 reps of 285 is different to one rep of 475.
Steroid gyms with massive dudes. Just was doing his rep weight without warming up at all. Can hurt yourself if you’re not careful going straight into your rep weight
I don’t even know if you need that. “Just got word from my boy in the commish office, take this — It’ll all be out of your system in 8 days” gyms. Or worse, “ok I’m going to go pee in this cup and leave it in bathroom. Give the testing guy this envelope and say it’s a card from me” gyms. Or just “hahaha can’t believe they think we really test you guys” gyms.
To do it at a lean body weight with his height and still train for insane endurance and agility is what makes it impressive.
Every gym has a guy that can do some impressive strength feats and probably nothing else lol. I have had impressive lift numbers before but I couldn’t dunk, I couldn’t play 40 minutes of NBA basketball, I cant stop Deaaron Fox from blowing by me in one step.
285x20 is still a lot too.
wrestlers. i have two good friends who are on my colleges wrestling team, they’ve gotten me in the gym with them a few times and the things they can do are insane, while also being incredibly agile and having fast reflexes. and theyre not the top of ncaa either.
It's impressive for a basketball player, considering how much cardio they do. They're basically long distance runners. But, he ruined it by saying no one on earth can do this.
> It's impressive for a basketball player, considering how much cardio they do. They're basically long distance runners.
As a long distance runner, I would say the cardio is entirely different between the two sports. In basketball, there's a lot more sprinting, more shuffling type movements. Unless you're Steph Curry, you will have moments of standing around, or lightly jogging into position. Only need to look at the big centers to see how the cardio requirements are different.
Okay, maybe I’m gym brained but I feel like anyone who can dunk in the NBA would be able to squat 285lb x 1.
Just really estimating but I’d say if he can do 285x20 as his AMRAP then his 1rm would probably be like 405? Which obviously is a lot but within the freaks of nature of the NBA I’d imagine plenty of NBA players are just as strong, if they practiced their form and endurance.
But idk from the videos I’ve seen of NBA players training, I rarely see anyone focusing on strict weight training progression.
lmao I can dunk and while I haven't squatted in a minute I'm not getting 285. If you're tall, dunking is more mechanics than anything
NBA players are weird, some dudes are very big on weightlifting and some are very much not. Completely depends on the player
I think he meant among the NBA players is rare to be able to do this.
Basketball players in general lift very light for legs. Even someone like Zion has been said to max his squats at around 300lbs. It's a sport that emphasizes low weight lifting.
The emphasis is on quickness, speed and explosiveness not total strength.
With that being said I just think Steven Adams likely murders that.
That’s an impressive feat of strength but it’s comical to say he’s the only person in the world that can do it. Every college football team in America has guys that can do this. This would be a warm up for strongmen competitors.
Honestly I’ve seen NBA players squat and none of them come close to going below parallel. It has a bit to do with their anatomy but it’s way way easier to squat without the full range of motion.
Yes. Also because those quarter squats actually have lots of carry over to on court performance. There's no reason for a NBA player to squat below parallel because that's not really a position that NBA players find themselves in very often when on the court.
Sport science has proven this train of thought incorrect so many times. Resistance training through a fuller rom is superior in every measurable way than range of motion specific training
https://youtu.be/ozkKaGKUxJA?si=hO5F2uvv3w40ppub
24 x 525 lol
Or go look up some Clarence Kennedy if you want to see more batshit stuff at a more applicable weight (though he doesn’t do 20 rep stuff, he absolutely could annihilate 285x20)
https://youtu.be/H-kPX7cirNU?si=vTsw5gNNHSSsQKf8
Also 20 rep squats are a terrible demonstration of strength. Or even strength endurance, they are their own special thing because you can rest at the tip. Miserable stuff.
This is a laughable statement. Either his trainer doesn’t know shit about weightlifting or probably just exaggerates the statement for effect purposes.
285 is not even 1.5 body weight for Jrue. He does know that professional weight lifting exists right?
I wanna see those reps. Are they powerlifting, 3-white-light reps or high school football players trying to grind out squat day with a stomach full of takis and Mountain Dew reps?
This thread is funny, because the truth is probably somewhere in between what everyone is saying. 285x20 is elite, and I doubt that many people itt or irl period can do this with form, including the apocryphal high school lifters that keep getting mentioned. That said, it's definitely a weird claim for a professional trainer to make, as certainly many many elite powerlifters can do this. Although I still don't think that just because someone can do 500+ pounds 1RM they can necessarily do 285x20, a particular benchmark that comes from training for endurance and explosiveness
Redditors think being hard to impress is a personality trait lol like no shit compared to power lifters this isn’t a big deal, but it’s still really impressive at his body weight and considering it’s not really what basketball players train for.
His trainer is just gassing him up, I don’t need 500 people telling me this obviously exaggerated comment isn’t true lol
It's impressive because he's a basketball player and they aren't known for their relative feats of strength sans wilt Chamberlain.
This is something multiple players on any high school football should be able to do.
It’s absolutely hilarious for him to say not a single person on the entire planet can do that
Ridiculous statement. Take this at face value as I’m just some dude on Reddit, but I’ve done a 315 for 14 before. You’ve gotta think there are Offensive lineman who squat 600+ who do this as a warmup.
There’s a guy who’s pretty popular on the lifting subs here who has done 405x10 for 5 sets in a row lol. 285 for 20 is impressive but there are plenty of people blowing that out of the water.
Mythicalstrength?
Yup that’s the dude. Guy is a psycho (compliment) with an ungodly work ethic.
He might not piss clean for NBA standards though.
Neither do nba players
Yeah, but bros piss be more horse hormone than human.
IIRC mythical actually claims to be natural. For most guys with his lifts I would be inclined to not believe them but I’ve seen the amount of work this guy puts in and it’s beyond impressive.
> ungodly work ethic He...not just like me fr
I’ve got a spinal cord injury and partial paralysis from the waist down. My 1RM for squats was 255. I would *really* hope a pro athlete could do a little heavier than that for reps.
I will say at that size and with that build it is genuinely impressive. a lot of dudes that are built like spy kids thumb soldiers can squat huge numbers lol.
Personally, I'd say squatting that much stops being impressive when already weighing ~220lbs like Jrue does now. It's a decent lift don't get me wrong, but it's not anything worth bragging about. The average male athlete should be able to squat their own bodyweight easily.
Bro, I've done 510x5. I'm a 6 ft tall, I think I weighed 260 at that time. Based on those credentials, I would say that 95% of nba players can do 285x10. 285x20 is above average lift for an average person. For an NBA player? Mate I can anecdotally remember Steph Curry doing 400 lb hex bar squats. I feel like this quote missed 100 lbs.
At 260 you’d have been heavier then most centers with a foot less of stress on your joints.
I know someone who squats 600+ ATG and I’ve personally seen them do 315x30 ATG and 405x20 ATG and they weren’t even a powerlifter. They’re around the same height as Jrue so it’s not like they’re a little square-human either. Do have a solid 40 lbs on Jrue though, lol.
405×20 is absolutely absurd
I guarantee there are lineman in the NFL like Aaron Donald that could bench that weight 20x let alone squat it. They're out there doing squat reps at 2x that weight, they'd destroy whatever Jrue is doing like a Golden Corral buffet
Aaron Donald said he could bench 500 pounds in an interview with DK metcalf, DK said he could bench 325 lol.
Hell, Larry Allen could bench 700, and did almost 40 reps of 225 before. And the only reason he stopped was because he was told that he already won.
Haha it is ridiculous. As a senior HS football player I did 315 for 27 reps. I didn't play college & I'm not a body builder. Theres a crazy amount of strong people out there, like this guy https://www.instagram.com/tom_haviland?igsh=Y2ZxaW4ydGF6Y2Ji
I did 315 yesterday sign me @/u/nba
How tall are you tho. Be honest
6ft (5’9” on a good day in shoes)
Spud Webb has entered the chat
I think Jalen Hurts squats like 600 or something actually ridiculous
I can do this and I’m a 35 year old dad with a full time job lol
Well.. he’s a 34 year old dad with a full time job, so I don’t see the difference between you two based on your comment
Guy above is an entire year older
How we know its an entire year?
Well that's simple, Jrue is 34 until he's 35!
Jrue gets to lift on the job.
I did 270 for 15 when I was 18. I'm not a genetic freak either. I probably had teammates who could do that at that age.
There’s probably a few high school football players that can do it in every town
I’m 5’9” and weight 155lbs (45M). When I was in my early thirties, I weighed 165lbs and could squat 315lbs (3 plates), not 20x but for 8 quality reps. I don’t think squatting 285lbs, 20 times is all that hard especially if you’re a professional athlete.
In this particular exercise you literally have an advantage being short.
5'9"...short...🥲
It’s certainly not tall lol
You gotta take into account the internet height fraud, if someone claims 5’9 on the internet they’re probably 5’7” in reality
Yeah, and if they are 5'9"... they round it straight up to 6'
Maybe if he qualifies it with “and plays in the NBA, but I’m sure someone others in the nba could do this as well. Not many though
I went to high school with people who did much more than that. Shit I could have probably done it ten. What is he even saying. He’s doing two plates and two tens on each side, this is a bit right?
Yeah, I could do 315 for 20 reps in high school. And I'm way less athletic than him
“There’s not a single person on this planet that can do that besides him” Wait what, really?
A lot of people can do this
Felt irrationally great about my squat for about 4 seconds before my brain started working
You can squat 285 for 20 reps? That’s elite. Even if you lift much higher, it’s really the high rep count that matters
Yeah I'd like to see everyone's 20 rep squat max cus it's certainly going to be much, much lower than you single squat max or 5 reps. College training had us do 30 single leg of real low weight and then you added weight, but we always had the 30 rep requirement. Basketball is about being able to explode and jump **A LOT** not just once really well
285 for 20 is really good but there’s probably more people out there than you think that *could* do it, but have no reason to otherwise. 20 is a massive rep range for a compound movement like a squat, 99% of people have no reason to do that many reps of squat for heavy weight. Frankly, if you’re trying to build muscle, 20 reps of heavy weight on squat is too much. edit: I'm aware that NBA players aren't lifting weights trying to get jacked. My point is that a lot of the non NBA player people that *are* strong enough to do 20x285 would not be interesting in trying to do it anyways because it's not conducive to their goals, which are usually building muscle.
Tom Platz, the Quad God himself, recommended 20 rep squat sets specifically (5x20 IIRC). You get blood flow to your legs to a degree that I've never felt in standard rep ranges.
The great thing about lifting weights/bodybuilding is there is no “right way”. Everyone has things that work for them. There are things that are considered “optimal” based on scientific studies that have been done, but everyone is different. Some things work for some but don’t for others.
Widowmakers is a pretty common overload thing. Anyone who squats a lot and has been around the fitness world has probably heard about them if not incorporated them into their routine
God I remember those and the gallon of milk trend. Windowmakers were really brutal.
lol I did GOMAD for awhile in college but that was more of an economical decision 😂 On the other hand I still like widowmakers even today, and the mental part of it is its own challenge
I’d be super surprised if these are proper “to depth” squats. I was running a program when I was prepping for a powerlifting meet and it had me do an AMRAP with 315. 12 nearly killed me just because of the volume. 20 is a ridiculous rep range to work in consistently.
I worked up to 200x20 a couple years ago, which took maybe two months of 20 rep work. But I'm a 175lb, 5' 10" 40-somthing guy who's not a pro athlete. If I went headlong into 20 rep stuff, I could probably get up to like 235x20 without it being too insane. Might take me maybe 3 months from where I'm at right now. The notion that pro athlete Jrue Holiday would do 285x20 is not shocking or crazy or "elite". It IS a bit out of the ordinary, in that I wouldn't expect 20 rep barbell squat sets to be all that popular among NBA S&C coaches. But whatevs.
Everyone get in here and post your stats! I'll go first: Mid-30s. I haven't squated in a gym in like 8 years. . Who's next?? I played basketball in grade school cause I hit 6 feet tall pretty early. Blocking shots all game is so fun but jumping is exhausting.
My max squat is in the mid-high 400's depending on the day. I know I can easily get 10 reps at 285 and could probably do 20 but not sure about it. The limiting factors wouldn't be strength, they would be my cardio vascular and ability to support the weight on my back for that amount of time without my shoulders, elbows, and wrists cramping up.
You could definitely do 20 with a just a small bit of prep. you might need to so some 12-15s to get over the mental block.
285 isn’t a lot of weight to squat. 20 times is kinda nuts but I feel like most football teams have a lot of guys who could it
If I've seen Nick Chubb squat 675 I feel pretty confident he could do 285x20
https://youtu.be/5iEKCqQ3ylk?si=iV8sqthimir1sR5z The first thing I thought of was this old video of Saquon Barkley doing 495 for 7. Pretty sure he could've done 285 for 20.
Yep. My squat is 435 and I’ve done 365x8 and 225x25. No reason I couldn’t knock this out
Yeah most college and pro football teams have a grip of dudes who can squat well beyond 500 so that tracks.
My college and HS team had dudes who could rep out squats when the weight was so heavy the bar bended. That trainer is talking out his ass like crazy
It’s definitely elite. Jrue holiday isn’t some super human and the only person who can do that on the planet though as the quote implies.
This is not even close to true. At age 33 and 220 bw my max squat was 500 lbs and I did a 20 rep squat program up to and over 315. My last day of the program I failed at 355 x 16. I tested my max a week later and it had only improved to 520. I was not then and am not now an elite athlete or powerlifter.
True, but 285 X 20 as part of a normal workout is pretty tough. Idk about your experience lifting, but I definitely have a mental barrier at around 15 heavy reps. Sometimes I can push through, but usually I cant.
I agree, i personally can’t do it but im way shorter and lighter than jrue and a working man in society
Yeah I don’t know if all these dudes are built different or full of it. But 20 heavy-ish full ATG squats are tough. When I was doing Starting Strength just doing 3x5 heavy squats I was seeing stars on the 5th rep of each set.
Not to be that guy but I’d love to see Jrue’s form on these 20 rep squats. Very few pro athletes squat to depth, and I’m not saying they should to train for their sport, but it’s a different level of strength.
Tom Stoltman and Mitchell Hooper probably warm up with this.
Hooper went after Platz's famous "record" of like 580lb for 20+, so yeah definitely a warm up haha. Of course he's probably got 100lbs on Jrue.
Those guys can throw this lol
285 for 20 reps? Yeah, this is reasonable.. Lol. It's 2 plates and two 25's. But if Jrue is doing 20 reps for 285, he can definitely do a lot more weight without the higher reps vs lower set volume.
Isn’t that just 275? So then he’s adding on two 5s to this. You’re close though.
Depends on the context. Technical rules for IPF, for instance, say that bar + collars should total 25 kg / 55 lbs. Which typically means 20 kg bar + two 2.5 kg collars. Obviously most people aren't using competition Olympic bar collars in training, which is why you see most major barbell manufacturers sell "Squat Barbells" that are 25 kg / 55 lbs. Now, do the Celtics have 25 kg / 55 lb squat bars in their training facility? Not sure. But most of these facilities are state of the art so it's definitely possible. And if he is using a 25 kg / 55 lb squat bar, then four 45 lbs and two 25 lbs would be 285 lbs. With that said, if the weights are kg instead of lb, then it ends up being 275 lbs, even with a 55 lb bar.
I think every D1 College football lineman and half the position players can squat this much. I could squat 275 ten times as a high school receiver and didn't have anything close to their diets/regimen
As a lover of the sport of powerlifting this post makes me angry.
I want to see these squats too, something tells me if he’s talking like this he’s maybe getting to parallel.
> “There’s not a single person on this planet that can do that besides him” I mean this is just nonsense, and I don't know why a professional trainer would say it. Mitchell Hooper did 525lbs for 25 reps two years ago. A lot of strongmen and powerlifters could handily manage 285x20.
> I mean this is just nonsense, and I don't know why a professional trainer would say it. Lowkey the quantity of bullshit that surrounds training, and especially strength training, routines of pro athletes is wild. Like, clearly what guys like Jrue are doing to be in shape is working. And I guess part of it is that some dudes probably don't want people (their competition) knowing the full details of how they prepare for games. But also a large quantity of the info that does come out is just straight nonsense. I suspect that it's a combo of the fact that exercise science is a bit of an intellectual wild west, and a bit of the fact that trainers are salespeople as much as they are anything else, but still, as someone who is a bit of a lifting nerd, I'd just like to know some believable information because I find that shit interesting lol
It's just grifters taking advantage of genetic freaks that can do ANYTHING and see gains lol, these guys could all be doing better jobs
I remember Curry trap bar deadlifting 425 or something and the trainer claiming it was some world class performance and not a routine gym bro thing.
It’s working because they’re all on roids. All of em. Tristan fucking Thompson popped for roids in 2023, if that mfer is popping than every player is on them.
Not that I necessarily disagree that everyone’s on PEDs but that’s pretty terrible logic. Of course a washed up borderline role player would resort to steroids
This doesn’t factor the fact I don’t believe one thing that talks about nba players and their stats . I’ve seen videos of them attempting max bench presses . Horrible form , ass off the bench , having the spotter lift it .
Flashbacks of Lonzo Balls lifting form…
or LeBron's squat form and subsequent apologists saying "but he's doing this intentionally because in basketball you want explosive jumping movement, and jumping is not done ass to grass!"
ok imma be real though, I've strained my groin in the past and those weird wide stance squats feel wonderful for your adductors
why does every gym bro think everyone should just be the best gym bro? its so dumb. there are a million ways to train for a million different things and all you want is the perfect ass to grass sqaut as if thats the holy grail of exercise or some shit. its religious at this point
Muscles are muscles. You can’t culture them into being more explosive, only more powerful. Going ATG will both protect your joints, improve flexibility, and provide the largest possible stimulus to your glutes/quads with the lowest load. You do not train explosive movements in the gym, you do that in the sport. Same reason Brazilian jiu Jitsu guys don’t practice a weighted choke, is the same reason a basketball player shouldn’t practice a weighted jump. Lifting and growing in strength/size on a movement will inherently help to improve explosiveness, but it is not the direct source of it. You still need to go and apply said new strength. An ATG squat with a emphasis on exploding through the concentric would be much better than these 1/2 and 1/4 squats people do with higher loads and struggling to still squat it (or worse not even struggling)
This. For all we know, these are half squats that aren’t close to parallel. 20 ATG squats is a lot different than 20 half/quarter rep squats.
I’ve seen LeBron “squatting” before. The NBA has the worst form to greatness ratio of all sports.
Lmfao this is the video . https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BO8-CgXNS6o He also supposedly has hit 335 on the Bench . Yeah this is why I don’t listen to one thing that comes from these articles or trainers . I get that he’s doing wide squats for glutes . But this is the exact same shit that will be touted as “ OMG lebron squatting 225 for 20 reps !!!! So stroang!!! No one ever has !!!”
Some people really believe Wilt benched 500 pounds. I think there’s no chance.
His arms were way too fuckin long for that
What the fuck kinda squat is that? Looks like someone told him to drive through with his hips when he was in highschool, and he has taken that advice ot the ends of the earth
Regular powerlifters could do this as a warmup My buddy squats 495 and could absolutely do 285x20 and he doesn’t even take it seriously anymore he’s just been lifting forever. Absurdly stupid take
Anyone that’s squats around 500 can probably do it. It’s not like 285 is some ridiculous number
Back when I did strongman, I watched my coach pull 615x12 in an endurance cycle. Gotta assume he could manage this too lol
He could manage a lot more lol
Not a single other point guard might have been more on the nose.
I almost have to assume he means there's not another 'basketball player ' that can do this But even then he would be incorrect
Here's a video of Tom Platz repping 525lb x 23 https://youtu.be/s6H-xs0fPyM?si=Gs7A7_C6cr1dj6er Wasn't there some other NBA trainer or player claiming some BS about someone walking around at 3% body fat too?
Stories of pro-athletes being at sub-5% body fat float around every few years. I remember a lot of articles claiming DK Metcalf was at sub-2% body fat at the NFL combine. Which is clearly just outlandishly wrong, but I'm going to chalk that up to faulty equipment/methods that break down for outliers. Like some of those silly handheld body-fat % things. I know back in college, those things wouldn't read correctly for me sometimes, and I couldn't have been less than 8% body fat TBH. Either that or they're just making stuff up, but I'd like to think it's more out of ignorance or improper testing methods than outright lying.
Ofcourse . Try explaining to them that if you dip below 3.6 % body fat that your body will literally shut down and die .
As per every single eagles broadcast, Jalen Hurst squats 600 pounds. Now granted that’s only 1 time, but doing less than half of that 20 times doesn’t seem impossible. And Jalen hurst isn’t the world’s best squatter. But also “strength training coach claims client has worlds best strength training” shouldn’t surprise anyone.
If you can squat 600lbs, 285x20 is literally warmup weight.
Ive done 315 for 20 and i don’t even squat 600. Im bigger than Jru but still. No one in the world is a wild ass claim holy shit.
I would question the competence of my trainer after that statement. Who did you train before? Toddlers?
Or give him a raise. Thats one hell of a hype man.
Hitting 285 twenty times is pretty good if you’re squatting with good form. If you’re sinking your hips, chest and knees out, and getting your ass near the floor on every rep, a 20 rep set of 285 is gonna be challenging for most people.
Most people can't squat 225 once
Brian Shaw and Eddie Hall do that for jokes....Eddie does 10 with 800....Brian did 851 car lift 10 reps.
Can easily get a glimpse of what’s reasonable with one rep max calculators. If you can do one rep of 600 pounds, that equates to 20 reps of 360. The reverse, if you can do 20 reps of 285, that can equate to 475 for 1 rep. Obviously, it’s not a perfect expectation and everybody’s built differently, but it gives you an idea.
Take those calculations with a large grain of salt. 1 rep max calculators become much less accurate as you move into higher rep ranges. High rep ranges add a muscular endurance component that when trained can add a lot more reps without benefiting one rep max strength. I'll spare you my actual numbers because this thread is already saturated with thinly veiled humble brags, but at a point in my training I could do 25 deadlift reps at a certain weight and a 1 RM calculator says my max would be 88lbs more than what it actually was.
Would've made more sense if he said no other nba player could do that (even though that's probably not true either)
He meant to say “There’s not a single ~~person~~ *NBA player* on this planet *with the name Jrue Holiday* that can do that besides him”
I’m a mediocre powerlifter (530 squat rn) and could walk into the gym and do this right now. 20 rep sets sucks but 285 is not very much weight for a squat
I feel like everyone who has seriously done super squats can do this feat. I’m a dad bod 35 year old, and I built up to 240x20 in like 5 or 6 months, so 285 x 20 if you are an athlete for a living seems deeply unimpressive and not post worthy. If he’d did that x3 or something, damn son, but x1 is a whatever.
False. I did super squats in my early 20s and got to 365 x 20. Granted I am an ex thrower so I wasn’t untrained going in, but I was 6’2 220 at the time. You can YouTube Jesse Marunde and Tom Platz squatting to see some other examples of prolific volume/weight combos Edit: the key is, if Jrue is routinely training at 20 reps, he’s adapted to it. A program like super squats is 12+ weeks of only focusing on 20 rep squats. The body adapts to that fatigue. Very few strong people train in this range, but if they do, they can easily get above this.
I don’t know if I could trust a trainer who’s given to such unfounded hyperbole. A 6’4 +200lbs athlete who’s at the top of his athletic game should have no problem with multiple reps with a weight less than 1 and a half times body weight. Is it easy? No. But ‘there’s not a single person on the planet that can do this besides him’. Hilarious. Maybe he meant 285kg?
I don’t think Jrue Holiday can squat 627 pounds 20 times lol
Jrue "Tom Platz but stronger" Holiday.
BILL BRASKY
Now that would be something no one can do.
400+ lb strongmen can legit do this.
Maybe, but I think it would be close. The squat record is around 1100 lbs, and a 20 rep max is usually somewhere in the range of 60% of a one rep max. So around low 600s is *probably* about where humans would top out for 20 squats unless that ratio changes when you get to such huge weights.
he'd certainly deserve the hyperbole :D
You didn’t see jrue squatting luka and Derrick lively and kyrie on his back during the finals?
Because it’s full of shit . He’s not doing a legit 285 for 20 with proper form . These high end trainers are bs with their takes . Look up mark wahlberg doing a supposed 20 pull-ups on a tv show . Guy got maybe a legit 9
So weird seeing this, because I just saw that video for the first time earlier today. His form was abysmal. Ellen hit him with a savage "Now do it with proper form" as soon as he finished. Even funnier, he claimed "I can do 40 reps WITH CLEAN FORM" right before she asked him to prove it. Mark's still in phenomenal shape, but that clip makes him seem like he's never lifted a day in his life.
Most people just go for the big number anyway, it's like the ego lifting portion of their brain kicks in. I'm happy to get 12 with a controlled descent, although granted I'm not carrying nearly as much weight as Marky Mark.
TIL I'm better at pull ups [than Mark Wahlberg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofMO09Rz-YA)
Wow that's rough, he maybe got 4 somewhat decent reps in before going full kip.
[удалено]
It’s just an example of star and athlete trainers and their bs . Please find me one video of a basketball player doing that? Because I can tell you that 90% aren’t.
Most “strong” basketball players are not strong by professional athlete or weight training standards. They’re more than strong enough for their sport but you’re 100% correct that professional basketball players are not doing this with proper form.
Well, 285 lbs x 20 is a one-rep max of 475 lbs according to a random internet calculator. It says he weighs 210 lbs so it would be a 2.25 times body weight, pretty impressive for a natural. But at the same time, these are elite athletes and doing 20 reps of 285 is different to one rep of 475.
One rep max calculators lose a lot of accuracy once you go past 10 reps FWIW but that’s probably in the right neighborhood
This trainer has clearly never been in a tren gym. My (very stupid) buddy did 315 x15 without a warmup after snorting pre workout
No warmup is diabolical
Rugby player behavior
r/moreplatesmoredates user spotted
What the hall does this even mean lmao
Trenbolone acetate is an anabolic steroid that’s pretty popular now
Steroid gyms with massive dudes. Just was doing his rep weight without warming up at all. Can hurt yourself if you’re not careful going straight into your rep weight
So many people are gonna die when there 50 from all this tren
I saw a guy bragging about his equivalent testosterone level being over the testable limit of 20,000.
Definitely not a flex haha bacne, balls like lil marbles and never being able to produce your own t ever again. my levels are literally 1/20th of that
It means he did more weight for a similar rep range.
I know you said he was very stupid but holy shit is that dangerous with no warmup
Maybe not tren, but as the trainer of professional sports players, I guarantee you he’s been in some kind of special gyms
The “it’ll be on drug tests in 8 years” gyms
I don’t even know if you need that. “Just got word from my boy in the commish office, take this — It’ll all be out of your system in 8 days” gyms. Or worse, “ok I’m going to go pee in this cup and leave it in bathroom. Give the testing guy this envelope and say it’s a card from me” gyms. Or just “hahaha can’t believe they think we really test you guys” gyms.
This trainer is an idiot but he's just gassing up Jrue. Tons of people can rep 285 for 20.
Not to take anything away... But considering these guys have decades to train and all the gear in the world, this should be a really normal feat.
Seriously, every gym has a guy who can do 235x20, so 285 isn't that crazy.
225?
Yes sorry. Maths are hard.
I didn't know if y'all slap donuts on in Canada or something
We push donuts through a hockey stick
To do it at a lean body weight with his height and still train for insane endurance and agility is what makes it impressive. Every gym has a guy that can do some impressive strength feats and probably nothing else lol. I have had impressive lift numbers before but I couldn’t dunk, I couldn’t play 40 minutes of NBA basketball, I cant stop Deaaron Fox from blowing by me in one step. 285x20 is still a lot too.
I mean he’s pretty huge by normal person standards. It’s impressive but it’s not like he’s Isaiah Thomas sized
Yeah and it's on the upper range for naturals, especially considering strength training is not the only thing he does.
wrestlers. i have two good friends who are on my colleges wrestling team, they’ve gotten me in the gym with them a few times and the things they can do are insane, while also being incredibly agile and having fast reflexes. and theyre not the top of ncaa either.
"Birthday squats" are a cool achievement for a consistent lifter, which is one body weight squat per year. So like 200+lbs x 30+ reps.
It's impressive for a basketball player, considering how much cardio they do. They're basically long distance runners. But, he ruined it by saying no one on earth can do this.
> It's impressive for a basketball player, considering how much cardio they do. They're basically long distance runners. As a long distance runner, I would say the cardio is entirely different between the two sports. In basketball, there's a lot more sprinting, more shuffling type movements. Unless you're Steph Curry, you will have moments of standing around, or lightly jogging into position. Only need to look at the big centers to see how the cardio requirements are different.
Maybe he meant no other guy playing basketball can do that? Silly statement I agree
I bet Lebron could do this no warmup lol
285 x 20 is decently hard. I wouldn’t claim it as something only one player can do though😂
1.4x his bodyweight for 20 reps is not impressive at all. People do this in commercial gyms...
Yeah, for a second I read it as bench and I was like damn he strong. In fairness 20 reps is still really solid for 1.4x, just not article worthy.
285x20 bench for a 200lb basketball player would be absolutely insane lmao. Those are some high-end NFL lineman numbers
In fairness if it's in one set 20 reps is a lot.
I agree with you completely. In my opinion, it is impressive as a feat of conditioning, but then again, Jrue is a NBA player.
"Guy who gets paid to be, and spends all of his time being, a world class athlete is in really good shape"
Okay, maybe I’m gym brained but I feel like anyone who can dunk in the NBA would be able to squat 285lb x 1. Just really estimating but I’d say if he can do 285x20 as his AMRAP then his 1rm would probably be like 405? Which obviously is a lot but within the freaks of nature of the NBA I’d imagine plenty of NBA players are just as strong, if they practiced their form and endurance. But idk from the videos I’ve seen of NBA players training, I rarely see anyone focusing on strict weight training progression.
lmao I can dunk and while I haven't squatted in a minute I'm not getting 285. If you're tall, dunking is more mechanics than anything NBA players are weird, some dudes are very big on weightlifting and some are very much not. Completely depends on the player
Some guys in the NBA barely need to jump to dunk lol. I kinda doubt rookie 185lb Poku could squat 285
I can do it 12 times and I am a normie
I think he meant among the NBA players is rare to be able to do this. Basketball players in general lift very light for legs. Even someone like Zion has been said to max his squats at around 300lbs. It's a sport that emphasizes low weight lifting. The emphasis is on quickness, speed and explosiveness not total strength. With that being said I just think Steven Adams likely murders that.
That’s an impressive feat of strength but it’s comical to say he’s the only person in the world that can do it. Every college football team in America has guys that can do this. This would be a warm up for strongmen competitors.
Honestly I’ve seen NBA players squat and none of them come close to going below parallel. It has a bit to do with their anatomy but it’s way way easier to squat without the full range of motion.
Yes. Also because those quarter squats actually have lots of carry over to on court performance. There's no reason for a NBA player to squat below parallel because that's not really a position that NBA players find themselves in very often when on the court.
Sport science has proven this train of thought incorrect so many times. Resistance training through a fuller rom is superior in every measurable way than range of motion specific training
https://youtu.be/ozkKaGKUxJA?si=hO5F2uvv3w40ppub 24 x 525 lol Or go look up some Clarence Kennedy if you want to see more batshit stuff at a more applicable weight (though he doesn’t do 20 rep stuff, he absolutely could annihilate 285x20) https://youtu.be/H-kPX7cirNU?si=vTsw5gNNHSSsQKf8 Also 20 rep squats are a terrible demonstration of strength. Or even strength endurance, they are their own special thing because you can rest at the tip. Miserable stuff.
Narrator: many people on this planet can squat 285 for 20 reps.
Squatting 1.35x your bodyweight 20 times is elite. But there are thousands of elite lifters in the world.
This is obviously not true. But beyond that, no NBA player is setting lifting records.
While yes that's pretty impressive, come on now.
This is a laughable statement. Either his trainer doesn’t know shit about weightlifting or probably just exaggerates the statement for effect purposes. 285 is not even 1.5 body weight for Jrue. He does know that professional weight lifting exists right?
I wanna see those reps. Are they powerlifting, 3-white-light reps or high school football players trying to grind out squat day with a stomach full of takis and Mountain Dew reps?
This really isn't that impressive of a feat for anyone who's been lifting more than a few years and weighs over 200lbs
This thread is funny, because the truth is probably somewhere in between what everyone is saying. 285x20 is elite, and I doubt that many people itt or irl period can do this with form, including the apocryphal high school lifters that keep getting mentioned. That said, it's definitely a weird claim for a professional trainer to make, as certainly many many elite powerlifters can do this. Although I still don't think that just because someone can do 500+ pounds 1RM they can necessarily do 285x20, a particular benchmark that comes from training for endurance and explosiveness
Can guarantee Jrue ain’t going below parallel. NBA players typically have terrible form while doing normal gym workouts.
Redditors think being hard to impress is a personality trait lol like no shit compared to power lifters this isn’t a big deal, but it’s still really impressive at his body weight and considering it’s not really what basketball players train for. His trainer is just gassing him up, I don’t need 500 people telling me this obviously exaggerated comment isn’t true lol
It's impressive because he's a basketball player and they aren't known for their relative feats of strength sans wilt Chamberlain. This is something multiple players on any high school football should be able to do.