Smolov Advice Needed

N

Nicky

Full Member
As per previous threads...my squat is dire! I've had someone I trust analyse it and we have made corrections. Unfortunately my squat is now the same as my bench (is this a first?! :whistling: )

So...has anyone tried to bring up their squat with Smolov? How did you find it? What advice could you offer?

I would be attempting the base mesocycle of three weeks first. Do you think this could be incorporated in with 5/3/1? Or would it kill me? I was thinking squat first, then 5/3/1 then minimal assistance (one to two exercises). Then on squat day, just Smolov followed by front or narrow squats to develop my quads. I have to reset all my lifts for 5/3/1 so I know that the weights will be light/medium for at least six to eight weeks hence suggesting combining the two!
 
If you're doing Smolov, I would NOT try to do it with 5/3/1.

Do the full Smolov squat routine, maybe do a little moderate deadlift once a week or speed deadlifts.

Bench after your squats


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Thanks Liam and Andy.

Liam...how will you work the rest of your training around this? Will you still deadlift and squat? If so, what rep ranges? Also, will you be including assistance? Asking because I've only ever done 5/3/1 so I'm not sure how to structure a program around the Smolov Jnr.
 
Nicky said:
Thanks Liam and Andy.

Liam...how will you work the rest of your training around this? Will you still deadlift and squat? If so, what rep ranges? Also, will you be including assistance? Asking because I've only ever done 5/3/1 so I'm not sure how to structure a program around the Smolov Jnr.
Click to expand...

So I competed last weekend and have had a full week off training. Dave Tate (Elite FTS) recommends at least a month off squatting fter a comp to give your back time to recover.

I intend to bench only - I wont be squatting or deadlifitng for the next 3 weeks. That will give me 4 weeks - (closer to 5 by the time programming kicks in of 5/3/1) of time not having a barbell on my back.

In terms of assistance stuff, I wont be doing any thing that is weighted. I will be doing mobuility abd prehab stuff with bands. This will include band pull aparts, face pulls, rotator cuff work and chins/dips. Week 1 will be the decider on rep ranges etc. Im thinking of 5 sets of 3 - 6 reps for bw stuff and 3 sets of 8 - 12 for banded stuff

Hope that helps - I realised this is very specific to my bench only goals.

From what i have seen on the web, full smolov squat cycle means tha you put deadlift on hold for the duration, and bench as assitance. Maybe run a smoloc bench and squat cycle together so you bench and squat on both days. Recovery is paramount here. Eat/sleep/drink as much as possible to keep your glycogen levels and revovery rate high.
 
Really like the look of that Smolov Jr Liam!

I was thinking something along the lines of the following...
Day 1: Squat/military press/Facepulls
Day 2: Squat/chins/biceps
Day 3: Squat/bench/close grip bench press
Day 4: Squat/dips/shrugs
Keeping the reps low for the militrary/chins/bench/dips. Is this too much?
 
Nicky said:
Really like the look of that Smolov Jr Liam!

I was thinking something along the lines of the following...
Day 1: Squat/military press/Facepulls
Day 2: Squat/chins/biceps
Day 3: Squat/bench/close grip bench press
Day 4: Squat/dips/shrugs
Keeping the reps low for the militrary/chins/bench/dips. Is this too much?
Click to expand...

Yeah looks good. I'd do 1 weighted movement after squats and then 2/3 bw or banded assistance stuff to see how you deal with the work load. You can add in movements/up weigh as you work out how you deal with it.

If you don't do any other lifts you won't get weaker in them though!
 
You are a peach Liam :rolleyes:

I'm going to have the weekend off in preparation for this. I hope you hammer your bench goal!
 
Feck...just gone to calculate my numbers for next week and the Smolov Jr calculator has disappeared. Does anyone have a different link as I can't find it!!!
 
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