The 20-Rep Squat Method with Scott Charland, Doug Larson, Travis Mash & Dr. Mike Lane #841
Barbell Shrugged
Doug Larson
4.7 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 25 March 2026
⏱️ 57 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this episode, Doug Larson, Coach Travis Mash, and Dr. Mike Lane sit down with longtime strength coach Scott Charland to unpack what it really takes to build athletes and build a sustainable career in strength and conditioning. Scott shares his path from collegiate strength coach to leading one of the most unusual and impressive sports performance models in the country at Parkview Sports Medicine, where a team of 24 strength coaches works alongside athletic trainers, physical therapists, nutritionists, and mental performance coaches to serve high schools, colleges, and youth athletes. The conversation highlights a major theme early: the high school setting is not the bottom of the profession, it may be the place that most needs elite coaches, clear boundaries, and a better quality of life.
From there, the group digs into one of Scott's signature training methods: a brutal but highly effective high-volume squat progression built around sets of 12, 15, 17, and eventually 20 reps in the back squat. Rather than rushing young athletes into heavy percentages, Charland argues that most high school and college athletes need more practice, more muscle, and more time under the bar before they ever need max-effort work. The crew breaks down why high-rep squatting can build technique, hypertrophy, work capacity, bracing, confidence, and mental toughness all at once. They also explain why so many coaches make the mistake of chasing record boards, maxes, and flashy methods too early, when what most athletes really need is development.
Finally, the conversation broadens into a bigger critique of the strength profession itself. Scott makes the case that many of the profession's problems come from poor boundaries, ego-driven career decisions, and a culture that glorifies burnout. Instead, he argues for clearly defined roles, better pay floors, healthier schedules, and more realistic career paths, especially at the high school and private-sector levels. If you care about athlete development, coaching careers, or how to build stronger athletes without skipping the foundation, this episode is a direct and practical reminder that more muscle, better movement, and smarter systems still win.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Shrug family, Doug Larson here. |
| 0:01.9 | And today, I'm Barb Bell Shrug. |
| 0:03.0 | We're joined by Scott Charland. |
| 0:04.5 | He's a long time collegiate strength conditioning coach who now leads one of the most impressive high school and sports performance systems in the country. |
| 0:11.4 | We get into why high rep back squats are one of the best tools for building muscle and ingraining high quality technique. |
| 0:16.4 | And we also talk specifics regarding Scott's brutal but highly effective 20 rep back squat progression |
| 0:20.8 | and why hypertrophy is the number one priority, especially for young athletes. |
| 0:25.0 | And so if you coach athletes, especially high school athletes and want a better framework for |
| 0:28.5 | developing strength and athleticism, this show is for you. Enjoy the show. |
| 0:33.9 | Welcome to Barbara Shrug. I'm Doug Larsen here with coach Travis Mash and Dr. Mike Lane. I'm here with longtime strength coach Scott Charlin. And Scott, we were talking before the show, you've been having that you have a program that you've been doing for many years on 20 rep back squats, which I definitely want to dig into. I have my own history with 20 rep back squats. And I know Mass does as well. Then Mike, I'm assuming you do too because you guys had worked together at one point which we'll hear out here in a second |
| 0:57.9 | what's your background and how did you get into the world of strength and conditioning |
| 1:01.5 | sure so my background primarily is as a collegiate strength and conditioning coach so I was a |
| 1:07.1 | collegiate strength and conditioning coach for 20 years actually got my undergraduate degree at Florida State in the early 90s. |
| 1:14.1 | And as not a student athlete of any kind, I really didn't even know about the profession. |
| 1:19.1 | So my career kind of took me into corporate fitness. |
| 1:22.5 | So for the first couple of years in my career, I was, you know, teaching aerobus classes |
| 1:26.3 | and putting ladies through the |
| 1:28.4 | Kaiser circuit and all that kind of stuff. And then this is pre-Internet days. As the internet |
| 1:35.0 | became available, stumbled across the NSA and was like, now this is this is really what I want |
| 1:40.7 | to do. So did my graduate assistant strength and conditioning work at the |
| 1:44.5 | University of Alabama, Birmingham under Stacey Torman, who is still there. She's been there for 30 |
| 1:50.5 | years. She was the first female master strength and conditioning coach in the Collegiate Strength and |
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