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Squats and Hills

by Jim Steel | December 27, 2023

hill with a well-traveled path

Bobby had just finished up his junior year of high school, and he was looking forward to summer. For most kids Bobby’s age, summertime meant going to the beach, hanging out with friends and partying. Not for Bobby. Oh sure, he went swimming and crabbing in the Choptank River on Sundays after church let out, but for the other 6 days of the week, Bobby trained for football.

He had been trained for football the previous two summers by his Uncle Randy and Randy’s best friend, Mongo, and he was planning on sticking to that annual schedule. Both Randy and Mongo had played college football and knew what it took to get ready for the season. Although they were both in their 50s, they could still lift heavy weights and still had a few sprints left in them.

The afternoon that his junior year of high school ended, Bobby drove to Mongo’s Gym on Main Street in Bayville, Maryland. He knew that his Uncle Randy would be in the gym, finishing up his Muay Thai lesson with Ronald, his teacher. Every Friday, Randy worked Muay Thai for an hour, starting at 2:30 pm.

It was 3:25 pm when Bobby walked into the gym and headed back towards the MMA area of the gym. He saw his Uncle Randy performing kicks on the heavy bag, focused intently on roundhouse kicks. After a few minutes of non-stop kicks, alternating right and left legs, Randy was done with the lesson. When he stopped, he looked over at his nephew. “How many did you do?” Bobby asked.

“100 kicks every training day with the right, and with the left. It’s a great finisher.” Randy answered.

“What's going on with you?” Randy asked, as he toweled off his face and head.

“Well, today was the last day of school of my junior year, and I was hoping you and Mongo would train me for football again this summer,” Bobby said.

“Ah, I don't know,” Randy said, smiling. “I'm pretty busy, you know. Guy like me can't just stop and help a kid.” Bobby's face fell, and then Randy said, “Of course we're gonna train you. Mongo and I were just going over the training schedule this morning.”

“That’s great,” Bobby said, “When do we start?”

“Be here at 6:00 tomorrow morning. We'll review the program and then we'll train. Saturdays will be our squat days this summer. Then we'll do a little conditioning,” Randy said.

“I’m looking forward to it," Bobby said, "It's my senior year.”

“I know,” Randy said, “You'll be ready to go just like always, but even better if you put in the work.”

The morning came soon for Bobby, and he was glad. Although he did okay in school, with a few As, and a few Bs and Cs, he loved summer training with Randy and Mongo more than anything, and he was always glad when the school year was done and he could get started.

Bobby’s high school football team had a summer lifting program, but the players didn't really train very hard. Bobby did train with the team, “To be a good teammate” his Uncle had told him, but the sessions were mostly circuit training. The other players didn’t seem to push themselves.

And not much lower body work was performed. It was more the “showy” muscles, like biceps and chest that were trained the most. Bobby knew, through Randy and Mongo and by his own experience, that power on the field came from the lower body and was best worked with power cleans and squats and deadlifts. Those were the exercises that he felt helped him the most on the field.

He didn't understand why other kid’s parents hired expensive personal trainers to train them with fancy, gimmicky exercises instead of having them perform basic exercises that made them big and very strong. Bobby asked his uncle why some kids did the easy stuff and he said, “Because their parents are always looking for something different, the 'latest' training programs and 'styles' to set their kids apart from other kids, like some kind of secret is out there.”

“What they don’t realize is that there is no secret, it is all about gut-busting work on the basics that give the most bang for your buck. And nobody who is relatively 'normal' wants to go through the hell that we put you through. It's hard, you get lightheaded and dizzy sometimes, and you get nauseous and may even vomit. Very few people are willing to pay that kind of price to be great.”

Bobby nodded in agreement. He loved to push himself. He had noticed how when the coach had them perform sprints as a team, that some of the players acted like they were running hard, but they weren't really trying. They would save their energy for a big finish, and then they would run the last few sprints very hard and the coaches would praise them. Randy always told Bobby to go as hard as he could on every sprint and to never save himself. And that is what Bobby did and he was proud of that fact. And in the weight room, some players skipped sets of exercises or even skipped performing whole exercises. It irritated him that other players did that, but his uncle told him just to focus on himself, and that he couldn’t control the other players actions.

When Bobby arrived at the gym at 5:50 AM the next morning, Uncle Randy and Mongo were already there, standing at the front counter drinking large cups of black coffee. They both drank their coffee black, and they drank Death Wish Coffee, because it had the most caffeine. Randy poured a cup from his Thermos for Bobby as soon as he saw him and handed it to him. “A little rocket fuel for ya,” Randy said.

Bobby took the mug of steaming coffee and took a sip. “Strong,” Bobby said, smiling. “Just like I like it.”

Randy said, “That’s right. Now let’s talk about today. Since you have been squatting on my program for awhile, we'll continue with it. You have to hit a top set of 405 for 5 today. If my records are correct, that will be a new PR for you.”

“Yessir,” Bobby said, "My best is 395x5.”

“Good,” Mongo said, “Let’s start the summer off right!”

They set their coffee cups on the counter. Randy asked, “You ready, son?”

“Yessir,” Bobby answered, “I am ready.”

They headed towards the back of the gym to a power rack that they always used. Painted on the crossbar at the top of the rack were the words, “Will Over Hope” – Randy’s personal axiom for everything in life. He believed in making things happen with action, not just sitting around and hoping stuff gets done.

Randy and Mongo were also squatting that morning, and training with those two grown men always gave Bobby extra motivation to do well in his lifting. He never wanted to let those men down or to show any weakness.

Each of them warmed up, adding weight each set. Bobby could feel the intensity increase among them all as they got closer to their top set. Randy and Mongo were deadly serious. They were not talking much now, just changing plates and telling each other the weights to put on the bar along with small coaching points. During each warm up set, Mongo and Randy would critique each other's work and Bobby's, with cues such as “Sit back more” or “Drive out hard.”

Bobby was in his element now, at the squat rack, feeling the sweat break and his heart rate increase with two men who were very serious about getting big and strong. There was no place for whining or complaining, and no place for fooling around. None of them had their phones with them while they trained. It was a welcome respite from the technology that was always around them. Time to be a Berserker, not scroll through a phone.

Randy and Mongo both squatted their top sets with 515 for 5. Their sets were tough, but doable. When they finished their sets, the others patted them on the back and told them “Good job.”

Now, it was Bobby’s turn. Randy and Mongo loaded four 45-pound plates on each side.

“Okay, get your mind right,” advised Randy. “It’s 405. You have to get fired up for this set. Right now, go over your checklist in your head, the set up, the stance, where your eyes will be, the whole thing. And then get fired up, crazy fired up.”

Bobby sat on a bench in front of the rack and thought about it all, seeing himself get under the bar, setting up, squatting down, driving up and dominating the weight. When he was satisfied with his visualization of the upcoming set, he stood up and positioned himself under the bar. Standing up with the weight and walking back, he readied himself. With a huge breath, he descended with the weight. Rep number one was hard, and when he got back to the top he had some doubts about finishing the set. But Randy was in his ear. “You can do this! Get mad at it. Five reps no matter what!”

Those words triggered something inside of Bobby. He felt a surge of energy and confidence. Hearing Randy’s voice got him fired up. Reps two through four were hard, but Bobby completed them. The fourth rep was particularly tough but Bobby stood up with it. “One more! One more rep!” Randy yelled.

Bobby went down with the weight and when he was driving out of the hole, he felt the bar slow down slightly.

Drive!” Mongo yelled. And Bobby pushed as hard as he could. He felt the pressure build up in his head, but he kept pushing. He finished the last rep with a final burst of energy which came from deep down inside, locked out the weight, and racked it with relief.

“Great job!” Randy said, slapping Bobby on the back.

“Yeah man!” Mongo said, “Great work.”

“How do you feel?” Randy asked.

“I feel great,” Bobby said, out of breath and bent over, “I have never tried so hard at something in my life!”

“That's what it's all about,” Randy said. “That feeling. It’s what we all search for every workout. I can't even explain it, but you can only get it from pushing as hard as you freaking can. Great job. That is just the beginning for you this summer.”

Bobby said, “Sounds great. I appreciate you guys helping me out.”

Mongo answered, “We never mind helping anybody out when they work as hard as you do.”

“But don’t get a big head about it, because we're off to The Hill next,” Randy said, finishing helping Mongo rack the plates. Bobby knew what his uncle was talking about. Located about a mile from the gym, “the hill” was a part of an isolated paved road that went up from Crab Creek at the start and steadily rose until it leveled out at around 60 yards. It was brutal, and Bobby had become good friends with it the summer before.

After they had cleaned up the power rack and grabbed their gym bags, all 3 walked out of the front door of the gym and piled into Randy’s jacked up Toyota Tundra. Randy blared death metal music at top volume as they drove to their destination. Nobody said a word. Bobby was nervous, but excited at the same time. He knew what was in store for him.

When they arrived at the bottom of the hill, Randy parked the truck on the side of the road. “All right, jog around a little bit and get ready,” Randy said to Bobby. Neither Randy or Mongo warmed up, they just looked straight up the hill. After a few minutes, Bobby pronounced himself ready and they lined up behind a line in the road. “Behind the line, always behind the line,” Randy said to Mongo, who was creeping over the line to get a head start. Mongo looked at Randy with fierce determination in his eyes. These guys competed in everything, from beer drinking to being first in sprints. “Bobby, you say Go, since you are the slowest,” Randy said.

“3,2,1, go!” Bobby said, and they all took off. At 20 yards, Bobby was 5 yards ahead of both of the older men. At 40 yards, he began to falter, and the two older men gained the lead, both finishing in a dead tie at the end. Bobby brought up the rear, a good 10 yards behind.

“No rest, turn around and walk,” Mongo said, panting heavily. After 6 brutal reps on the hill, and with Bobby finishing last in each sprint, the torture was over.

“Day 1 of summer training,” Randy said, walking with his hands clasped behind his head as they descended down the hill after their last rep.

“Squats and hills,” Bobby said, walking down the hill on shaky legs. He wasn’t in shape yet, but he knew that it would come in time.

“Doing those two things right there,” Mongo said. “Doing those two things will get you ready for any sport.”

“By the end of the summer,” Randy said, “you will be up to 20 reps on the hill, and squatting 455 for 5 reps, at least. That is, if you can make it until then.”

Bobby knew not to say anything smart back to his uncle. Instead, he took his words as a challenge, one that he was hell-bent on meeting.  


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