Commit to the Descent

by: Josh Bryant

Now, picture this: a 20-year-old model for the legendary Low Rider Magazine comes struttin’ in the gym. She sets her sights on a young, Latino stud with a bedroom physique. 

But, guess what? 

Mr. Stud Muffin was too timid to make a move. 

Pacheco, an old geezer who looks like he fell out of the ugly tree and hit every damn branch on the way down, fearlessly approaches the lady, and bam! She becomes his girlfriend. How did that happen, you ask?

Confidence, my friend. 

Pacheco committed to his mission just like the way he attacked his squat descent – fast and aggressive.

Pacheco was a real classic, excommunicated from the priesthood, a former brown beret who had quite the eventful life and trained at the now defunct Body Shaping Gym in Oxnard, Ca. 

This dude was nuts and had coconuts for cojones.

Every Saturday, Pacheco would journey down to Tijuana. 

And what awaited him there?

Well, it was none other than an outlandish doctor sporting a cowboy hat. Correct, a cowboy hat in a medical setting. 

From what Pacheco described, this cowboy doctor had a distinct odor about him as he reeked of a liquor cabinet. If that wasn’t enough, the man swayed like the wind, probably because he was always three sheets to the wind.

Dr. Booze, from Pacheco’s first-hand account, would give Pacheco a shot of sustanon 250 in each shoulder, both butt cheeks, and even each thigh. This was crazy and excessive, but Pacheco was a reckless daredevil.  

Pacheco, with enough testosterone running through his veins to make a bull jealous, a cocky swagger in his step, a twinkle in his eye, and a whole lot of confidence would come into to wreck shop on squats every Sunday at Body Shaping, like clockwork.

Pacheco’s squat sessions were legendary. 

While his routines were whacky, each squat rep looked the exact same.  He descended fast, dive-bomb style, like the great Shane Hammond.  Pacheco said the key to his squat was to hit the hole fast, hard and completely commit to the descent.

So, there you have it, folks. 

Pacheco might have been a disaster in most aspects of his life, but his fearlessness in the face of romance and squats was something to behold. If there was one thing I learned from Pacheco, it was commit to the descent!

Let’s take a look at this lesson in detail.

Commit 

Squats are reversible muscle actions that require perfect form to properly execute the stretching-and-shortening cycle that includes an eccentric phase (squatting down), an amortization phase (transition from eccentric to concentric), and a concentric phase (standing up). Practically applied, when you perform the eccentric phase, you’re storing up elastic-like energy that, when correctly released from your legs in the bottom position, can propel you upward. Often, when great squatters miss maximum attempts, they don’t get stuck in the bottom, but rather at a few inches above parallel. This is because, while they may not be strong enough to squat the weight, they’re skilled enough to use the pent-up elastic energy in their legs to get out of the hole.

The way you build up the maximum amount of stored energy is by committing to the descent! 

Far too many lifters warm up by squatting lighter weights with a different descent speed and depth than they do with heavy weight. Great squatters, on the other hand, descend with the same speed and to the same depth every time, no matter how much weight is on the bar. Great examples include Fred “Dr. Squat” Hatfield, PhD, and Ed Coan. Both were champion powerlifters.

The fact is that you can’t optimally take advantage of the stretch reflex unless you practice squatting to the same depth with the same speed over and over. When you’ve learned how to capture and release that pent-up energy, you’re ready to maximize your power coming out of the hole.

The best descent speed for you is the exact same speed every single set and rep to optimize the motor pattern, i.e., grease the groove. Assuming you are injury free, this is as fast as you can descend while holding optimal position, so it will be different for everyone. Never increase speed at the expense of position, no matter how fast you descend, make it that exact same speed every single set and rep.

Final Thoughts

So, here’s to you, Pacheco, the brown beret, the excommunicated priest, and the sustanon-swigging squat enthusiast, thanks for the lesson!

Build your squat with one of Josh’s programs available HERE.