Squat Substitutes

[Barkadion]

Every few blocks,I'll swap out back squats for Zercher Airborne lunges a la Max Shank's Ultimate Athleticism.

I had to google it and I watched Max's video. That looks awesomely insane Max Shank is great.

[Dot hop]

Yeah, he's a beast! Those Zercher Airborne Lunges have replaced pistol squats for my single leg work. They're easy to load once you get to that point.

[Blackmetalbunny]

Every few blocks,I'll swap out back squats for Zercher Airborne lunges a la Max Shank's Ultimate Athleticism.

Dude, can you give a review of the Ultimate Athleticism, what exercises does it focus on, and is it something that would work well with TB?

[lennarn]

I started out with box front squat, evolved into full ROM front squat, and now I'm doing goblet squat. For all the variations the main difference to me is less hamstring strain. I would get painful cramps in my hamstrings doing back squats before, not sure if it has improved.

Zercher Airborne lunge

I'd actually call that a Zercher shrimp squat, because it's more of a shrimp squat than a lunge. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dpgn6eRtsdw

[Barkadion]

I started out with box front squat, evolved into full ROM front squat, and now I'm doing goblet squat. For all the variations the main difference to me is less hamstring strain. I would get painful cramps in my hamstrings doing back squats before, not sure if it has improved.

Zercher Airborne lunge

I'd actually call that a Zercher shrimp squat, because it's more of a shrimp squat than a lunge. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dpgn6eRtsdw

Hamstring pain is a pain on the neck also. It takes forever to heal. Watch out for your hammies. Coming form painful experience..

[lennarn]

In my experience, hip hinge patterning helped a ton with hamstring everything.

[NathanC77]

Every few blocks,I'll swap out back squats for Zercher Airborne lunges a la Max Shank's Ultimate Athleticism.

Dude, can you give a review of the Ultimate Athleticism, what exercises does it focus on, and is it something that would work well with TB?

I read it and used it back when it first came out. It focuses on progressions leading to 4 exercises: LSit to handstand, airborne lunge, deadlift, and front lever. It also has some scheme to integrate some assistance exercised helping achieve those, as well as sprints and mobility. I liked it a lot, but it is a very different approach than TB. It emphasizes just picking loads that keep you short of failure depending on how you feel that day, and performing that exercise for blocks of time rather than sets and reps. I'd say it's worth getting, the progressions are great and well thought out. I think it could actually work well with a minimalist Zulu cluster. Something like

Workout A: LSit to Handstand progressions; TB Deadlift;
Workout B: TB Bench; Front Lever progression; airborne lunge progression

I only used it for a couple months before my training ADD got the best of me, but my shoulders felt great and I didn't lose much if any strength. I think I lose some size compared to traditional barbell foundations, but that probably could have been rectified by adding in some of the assistance work detailed in the program, or even just moving farther along with the progressions. Overall, great book, and I think you'd get something from it even if you don't run it as written.

[Dot hop]

NathanC77 beat me to the punch and my experience was the same. I used it along with TB2 Black Pro for a couple months last spring. I think it's worth a purchase. There's a paperback edition now I believe. I never used the videos tutorial video access that came with the PDF.
In the end, training OCD took over and I couldn't stand not heavy pressing. However, I'll use the program again for a couple blocks whenever things are getting stale and I need a short break from training as usual.
As for the ZALs/ shrimp squats, they're not for everybody and Shank provides progressive steps along the way. I'm probably a freak, but they don't bother my knees or hamstrings in the slightest. I'll remain cautious as my 35th birthday comes up, though. My older teammates wince I do them...

[lennarn]

I only used it for a couple months before my training ADD got the best of me

Did you ever get the L to handstand? That's a skill I've dreamed of but never understood how to train for.

[NathanC77]

I only used it for a couple months before my training ADD got the best of me

Did you ever get the L to handstand? That's a skill I've dreamed of but never understood how to train for.

Unfortunately not. However, I did manage to do handstand pushups for the first time this program(barely, and I've subsequently lost this ability). L-Sits have always been hard but I definitely improved those as well. I think if I had really stayed on the program for the long term (6 months+) I would've continued to see great progress. My biggest issue was time: most of his sample programs had 4 days a week of ~1 hour long workouts which was tough for me. Although I think you could probably split some of the workouts into multiple sessions or extend your week a couple days and the program would still work.