How 'super fun, intense' Squat Fest energizes Wisconsin despite its critics (2024)

Brady Collins brought the group of University of Wisconsin football players in the weight room into a tight huddle Friday morning.

The players’ warmup hadn’t been what Collins wanted and he wanted to snap them out of it before truly kicking off a morning that adds spectacle to a difficult workout. The Badgers hosted reporters at Squat Fest, the name for the final day of the first phase of summer workouts before the second phase begins after Independence Day. The program brought in lights and additional speakers from Studio Gear, an audio/visual services rental company in Fitchburg, to create the blend of nightclub and weight room that Collins minted while at Cincinnati under Wisconsin coach Luke Fickell.

One strength and conditioning staffer had his body painted green like The Hulk and completed the look with cutoff purple sweatpants, while another wore a mask and sweatshirt to become the Spider-Man villain Venom. One staffer wore a tactical vest over his shirtless torso and another had on imperial armor. It’s a unique atmosphere, to say the least.

“It was super fun,” running back Tawee Walker said. “Super intense, super competitive and man, we were working, from freshmen to seniors, everybody put the work in.”

Walker, who transferred from Oklahoma, squatted 545 pounds on his one-rep weight and was one of more than a dozen Badgers who squatted more than 500 pounds.

This was Wisconsin’s second taste of Squat Fest under Collins, who serves as the lead energy-injector and players take after his lead when surrounding teammates’ racks as they attempt their maximum weights. Knowing from last year the challenge awaiting them helped players, senior receiver Bryson Green said. They also know what may happen again in the coming days.

Wisconsin’s proud to show off Squat Fest on social media, but that did lead to some criticism from outsiders who called into question the hype around it. It’s unwise to put too much stock into Twitter criticism, but senior offensive lineman Riley Mahlman concedes Squat Fest isn’t for everyone.

“Some people think too much about things,” Mahlman said. “I think we’re just lifting a lot of weight and having a good time. We have a few lights — sometimes I agree there might be too many cameras there — but it’s always a fun time, guys love it.”

“I love it, I feed off of it.” he said. “I genuinely don’t care what anybody outside this room says about my guys. I mean that because … my staff, this coaching staff, the kids in that locker room, that’s why we do what we do. From the outside, you don’t understand it and you never will unless you’re totally ingrained in it every single day.

“I learned a long time ago that if you don’t have critics in life, you’re not doing something right.”

Collins’ pep talk before players went to their racks focused on the importance of pushing one another and supporting each other during the difficulty of the workout. That’s something that resonates with Green, who laughed off detractors when speaking with reporters.

“You have to have fun when you lift all the time,” Green said. “So having fun as a group like that is something you need in a weight room, especially with guys like coach Brady just lifting you up and telling to have fun, it’s not a chore. It’s go out there, attack everything you do and have fun, and that’s what we do in there.

“And if people hate on that, that’s OK, because as long as we’re having fun together and getting ready for the season, it’s just us vs. everybody.”