The Death Set

OK. I'm adding a new aspect to my workouts. I'm starting to do single, heavy sets in certain exercises. The single set consists of 20 reps of a very heavy weight. It is intended to push you past your limits and force your body into thinking that you are putting so much stress on it that it must grow stronger or die. Today I did a set of squats, press, and deadlifts. Here is basically how it went:

I step under the bar to begin my 20 reps of squats. I get my mind ready and lift the weight off the rack. The first four reps are heavy, but manageable. By rep five I'm starting to think there is a chance I won't make it to 20. I hit rep 10 and my legs are shaking. My body is telling me to stop and that there is no way I can drop into a full squat without falling over. I start to believe my body is right at about rep 13. I'm getting stuck at the bottom of the lift. Each rep becomes a drop into the full squat and then a 6-7 second battle to get the bar moving up again. My face is purple. I'm fighting hard to keep good form, but I'm losing control of my body. My grunts become full growls at about 16 reps. People are probably looking at me funny, but my peripheral vision is beginning to black out and I can't see anything but the wall in front of me. The last two reps seem like they take minutes each. When all is said and done the bar is back on the rack, but crooked. I don't have enough energy to fix it. I'm laying on my back looking at the ceiling tiles. My vision starts to refocus and after a few minutes on the floor my breathing is back to normal.

Needless to say I took about a 10 minute break before moving on to my next exercise. The press and deadlift sets were hard, but not compared to the squat. The funny thing is that I don't think I pushed myself as hard as I could have on the squats. I took a few seconds here and there to rest during the 20 reps. The hardest aspect of the set was overcoming my own body's desire to stop.

20 rep squats suck. They are agonizingly painful and mentally more demanding than any other workout I've ever done. I hate them. I absolutely despise them. I can't wait to try again next week.