# smolov routine



## Bulldozer (Nov 24, 2006)

Any body tried this method, feedback??

Thinking of giving it a bash in the future.


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## Captain Hero (Jun 13, 2004)

have heard of it but dont know what it is, could you give us an overview bully?


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## Bulldozer (Nov 24, 2006)

Google it capster, plenty of stuff on there.


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## big (Sep 14, 2004)

Fill in the details on one of the smolov calculators and read the weights you have to lift in your first week... no way lol

I think it would be interesting to do if you take 10% off of your maxes and put the numbers in. Those seem like more logical numbers.

But then, who am I to argue with Mr. Smolov


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## Bulldozer (Nov 24, 2006)

big said:


> Fill in the details on one of the smolov calculators and read the weights you have to lift in your first week... no way lol
> 
> I think it would be interesting to do if you take 10% off of your maxes and put the numbers in. Those seem like more logical numbers.
> 
> But then, who am I to argue with Mr. Smolov


I have used the calculator. It does look brutal for sure!! Thats why i liked the look of it 

It probably would be burn out time if im honest, but would be cool to hear from anybody that has survived the program.


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## big (Sep 14, 2004)

Guinea pig it dude

I've been wanting to try it for about 2 years now but have never got round to it unfortunately

I do know that everyone who has ever posted about it on an internet board has got massive gains. But then again, everyone who posts on an internet board has a 12 inch c0ck, 20" guns and a 180 IQ, so who knows 

There is a cut down version of it kicking around somewhere too, if you're not man enough for the real one


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## Bulldozer (Nov 24, 2006)

big said:


> Guinea pig it dude
> 
> I've been wanting to try it for about 2 years now but have never got round to it unfortunately
> 
> ...


Hahahaha, aint that the truth bud !!

Yeah i think there is a 6 week routine, the baby version!! Probably a more sensible option to try.

Im happy as is for the moment, but when my training goes stale perhaps ill give it a bash!


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## Wee G1436114539 (Oct 6, 2007)

Been there done that...lol. I've had a look through my old diary's etc and found a few times I've done it exactly as writtne, plus a cut down one and a few other variations. I'll repost the original plus notes for aiding survival, then a 2 / week cut back cycle with assists.

----------------------------

Here's the cycle...

10 week Soviet style Macrocycle.

Mesocycle 1.

Week Mon Wed Fri Sat

1 70% 4x9 75% 5x7 80% 7x5 85% 10x3

2 Same reps, add 10 Kg to all weights from week 1.

3 Same reps, add 5 kg to all weights from week 2.

4 Rest Rest 1R Max 1R Max

2 Week Microcycle.

Weeks 5 and 6. Westside dynamic style, everything fast, 55- 65% weights, training every 2nd day, Squats, speed lunge, jumps, power cleans, snatch, long pulls, jerks etc. Once a week take a moderately heavy (90% or so of your week 4 max) single in the main lift in addition to the speed / power output stuff.

% from here on are based on the NEW 1RM that you hit in week 4, NOT on your week 1 1RM

Week 7.

Monday : 65% x 3, 70% x 4, 80% x 4x3, 85% x 5

Wed: 65% x 3, 70% x3, 80% x4, 85% x3, 90% x 2x5.

Sat: 65% x 4, 70% x 4, 75% x 4x5.

Week 8.

Monday: 60% x 4, 70% x 4, 80%x4, 90% x3, 90% x 2x4.

Wed: 65%x3, 75%x3, 85%x3, 90% x 3x3, 95% x3

Sat: 65%x3, 75% x3, 85% x 4, 90% x 4 x 5.

Week 9.

Monday 60% x3, 70% x3, 80% x3, 90% x 5 x 5.

Wed: 60% x3, 70% x3, 80% x 3, 95% x 3 x 2.

Sat: 65%x3, 75% x3, 85% x 3, 95% x 4 x 3

Week 10.

Monday 70% x3, 80% x4, 90% x 5 x5.

Wed: 70% x3, 80% x3, 95% x 3 x4.

Sat: 75% x 3, 90% x4, 80% x 4 x3.

Taper over 6 - 10 days (or more) then try a new max, should be around 110% of week 4 1RM or around 120% of week 1 1RM depending on your training experience. I don't know you so I cant say what taper will suit you best, what works for me is moderate lifts with longer and longer breaks between them for a total of about 11 days, hitting the new max on the 11th day having not lifted at all since day 6, like this.

Day 1) 90% x 1 .

Day 2 ) OFF

Day 3) 95% x 1

Day 4) OFF

Day 5) OFF

Day 6) 100% to 105% x 1

Day 7) OFF

Day 8) OFF

Day 9) OFF

Day 10) OFF

Day 11) New Max, starting at 100% and judging the increases from there on how easy it is.

NOTES.

If you put this in place make your other main lift a press and keep track of your recuperation. If you juice then I'd run this while "on" , not whilst "off" as you will need all the help you can get to keep up the training frequency.

Our Russian friend Smolov is a big believer in high volume loading phases followed by relatively short tapers. The difficult part is getting through the loading weeks without falling apart / having your form break down. Mentally it is v. taxing to deadlift or squat this heavy this often, but if you can push through it and get any notions of "overtraining" out of your head you will be fine. Yes you will be "over-reaching" , yes you will feel wiped out ALL the time, but when you taper down and take your rest in weeks 5 / 6 and again in week 10 you will be freaked out by how light your 90% etc weights actually feel. You will have to be VERY motivated and psychologically strong to get through weeks 9 and 10. Frankly they are nearly impossible to get through as notated (95% for 4 sets of 3 / 90% for 5 sets of 5) unless you have everything else in place e.g.

Restoration. (Hydrotherapy, massage, pine / salt baths, sauna, steam, progressive relaxation," extra" workouts to enhance blood flow, ice after every workout whether you are sore or not, regular sleep patterns etc).

Mental. (Internal / external visualisation, meditation, use of performance / arousal cues).

Emotional. (Avoid conflict situations, don't schedule to run this cycle through a period in which you move home, start a new job / school, get married or anything else stressful. Avoid assholes at all costs.)

Nutritive. (Calorie surplus, plenty protein, whey, glutamine, creatine, vits / minerals including high dose vits E, C and other mixed antioxidants several times a day to reduce inflammation and soreness. Use of CLA / GLA, fish oil etc might be helpful here also.)

As noted above, this period of peaking would usually in the old East have been scheduled concurrently with periods of drug use as well as the above-mentioned factors. I got through this cycle without any drug use whatsoever so I know it can be done but believe me I had everything else PERFECT all day every day, perhaps for you the situation is different and drug use would be a valuable addition to such a cycle.

If you lift equipped then add in the suit / shirt, tight belt, knee wraps etc in Week 4 for the first maximums and then lift unequipped again till Wednesday of week 7 or 8, depending on how much your equipment throws you out of your groove and how long you take to adjust. I lift raw so I put my belt on in week 8, prior to that I was completely unequipped. In retrospect I would have got the belt on earlier, for the heavy parts of the first mesocycle. Only other thing is that i think this cycle would work best for squats for a lifter who squats wide and deadlifts sumo. No deadlifts would be done during this cycle if that was the case, so you would have more chance of getting through it alive.

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6 Week OL Box Squat Cycle based on 140Kg max squat.

All squats off a 12" block. Light warm-ups to precede listed sets.

Monday : 65% x 3, 70% x 4, 80% x 4x3, 85% x 5

Friday: 65% x 3, 70% x3, 80% x4, 198kg x3, 90% x 2x5.

Monday: 65% x 4, 70% x 4, 75% x 4x5.

Friday: 60% x 4, 70% x 4, 80%x4, 90% x3, 90% x 2x4.

Monday: 65%x3, 75%x3, 85%x3, 90% x 3x3, 95% x3

Friday: 65%x3, 75% x3, 85% x 4, 90% x 4 x 5.

Monday: 60% x3, 70% x3, 80% x3, 90% x 5 x 5.

Friday: 60% x3, 70% x3, 80% x 3, 95% x 3 x 2.

Monday: 65%x3, 75% x3, 85% x 3, 95% x 4 x 3

Friday: 70% x3, 80% x4, 90% x 5 x5.

Monday: 70% x3, 80% x3, 95% x 3 x4.

Friday: 75% x 3, 90% x4, 80% x 4 x3.

Taper over 6 - 10 days then try a new max.

Assistance Work.

Monday

3 sets glute ham raises

3 sets back raises

4 sets abs / hips (situps etc).

Wednesday

Bench to 3RM

4 sets DB Inc Bench

4 sets overhead

4 sets chins / pulldowns

4 sets triceps pushdowns

Friday

Speed Deadlifts 60% x 10 x 2

4 sets Shrugs

4 sets abs / hips

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Cheers,

G.


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## Wee G1436114539 (Oct 6, 2007)

Another cycle, this time for snatch, clean and squat. Similar frequency but leap loading a bit more.

1.

Snatch

Max incline press

TB Clean and press 5 x 5

Sq 5 x 5

Light hypers / Rev hypers.

2.

Sq 4 x 4

Chins 5 x 5

Abs, biceps, stretching, technique.

3.

Clean

Sq 3 x 3

Hams - GHR and bench push

Percentage

80% 6 x 2

85% 3 x 3

80% 6 x 2

90% 3 x 2

80% 6 x 2

95% 2 x 2

80% 6 x 2

95% 3 x 2

80% 6 x 2

100% 2 x 2

New Max

The Cycle.

Training Day 1.

(a)Power Snatch *

Max incline press

(b)Clean and press from hang 5 x 5

Sq 5 x 5

Light hypers / Rev hypers.

Training Day 2.

(a) Sq 3 x 3

Chins 5 x 5

( B) Abs, biceps, stretching, technique work on snatch if required.

Training Day 3.

(a) Power Clean or High Pull *

Sq 2 x 2

Hams - GHR and bench push.

No ( B) session.

(A) Sessions are morning, ( B) sessions are afternoon.

To begin with the squat cycle will be very light e.g. 50% max squat. The volume of cleans / snatches never gets very high so training them this often will not be a problem until later in the cycle.

Notes are as follows.

Days off are taken as and when depending on the stage of the cycle. In the early days of such a routine I usually train every day until the Squat weights get up to about 65% of a max for 5 x 5 and then start lowering frequency by taking (a) and ( B) workouts on seperate days instead of in the (am) then (pm) of the same day. (The squat progression scheme is explained later.)

After another couple of weeks I would add in more days off, on an "as and when required" basis. This is cybernetic periodisation. You alter the structure of the program in accordance with your work capacity and feelings on a daily / weekly / monthly basis as the volume or intensity of the cycle increases.

Squat cycle - start with 50% of a 1 RM. Squat 5 sets of 5 reps. Day 2 55% of a max for 3 sets of 3. Day 3 60% of a max for 2 sets of 2 and so on...

Squatting Day. % max. Sets 'n' Reps.

1 50% 5x5

2 55% 3X3

3 60% 2x2

4 55% 5x5

5 60% 3x3

6 65% 2x2

7 60% 5x5

8 65% 3x3

9 70% 2x2

At this point I have to stop daily squatting and change the am and pm sessions to occur on seperate days and put in a day off. Therefore I squat every 2nd day from here on.

After 4 more rotations as above the squat will reach 90% x 2 x 2. At this point rather than go to 85% for 5 x 5 go to 82.5 % for 5 x 5 and so on. IE add 2.5% to the bar each time instead of 5 %.

The tail end of the squat cycle looks like this:

82.5% 5x5

85% 3x3

87.5% 2x2 (The back off week...a little!)

85% 5x5

87.5% 3x3

90% 2x2

87.5% 5x5

90% 3x3

92.5% 2x2

90% 5x5 (Call your Mommy if you can do this)

92.5% 3x3

95% 2x2

END.

Snatch and clean.

Follow any decent periodisation schedule that rotates increasingly heavier sessions with a back off session at about 80% of a max. This means every 2nd rotation is a back off one which is nice after a while, especially when the squat weights get heavy ie

80% 6 x 2

85% 3 x 3

80% 6 x 2 etc

More rest comes in now. 1 session per day with a rest day added so you either squat every 2nd day or get a day completely off between the clean day and the snatch day. Again -alter to suit your own recovery ability.

On a side note you know your not OK when you miss lifts - I have made PRs whilst feeling half dead -unless feeling wiped effects your lifts you are NOT overtrained. You might be overreaching but you are not dead yet.

Onwards with clean and snatch weights..

90% 3 x 2

80% 6 x 2

95% 2 x 2

80% 6 x 2

More rest perhaps in here now? Squat weights are now 90% for 2 sets of 2. I have even dropped the cleans before altogether at this stage!! It became mentally too hard to hit 2 x 2 in the squat with increasingly heavy weights AND hit a 95% + clean on the same session so i dropped the cleans and kept the snatch cycle going just fine. You are now adding 2.5% to the squat weights each week instead of 5%. This means you get a week in which no progress is made. During this week you could drop the heavy squat altogether if you wish and really back off to prepare for the final push to new maxes. Again, decide based on how you feel your doing.

End of snatch / clean cycle weights..

95% 3 x 2

80% 6 x 2

100% 2 x 2

New Max.

The new max coincides with your end week of the squat cycle so it might be an idea to drop ALL the other work in the last week or even 2. Alternatively you could run whatever kind of taper you happen to like to use. You make the call on that one.

High Inclines - Pick one incline or overhead press and work towards a near max lift or triple. This serves to retain Fmax in the push press, overhead press etc without an overly high volume of work. Again, in the early days when training every day back off a little and hit easy singles unless you find you can hit true TFm maxes every 3 days.

Chins / Clean + press from hang.

Start moderate weights and just add a little chunk when you feel like it. This is just assist work to ensure some hypertrophy in the upper body. Strength gains are best retained when they occur in conjunction with hypertrophy so go about making some. I have listed a 5x5 scheme but if you want another one...Fiiiine. Do what you like. If you use higher reps, drop the clean from the hang and just do the press or push press - high rep cleans are not a nice thing.

GHR / Ham Push - Same deal as above. Whatever set and rep scheme works for you to provide some more strength in the hamstrings and some hypertrophy is just fine. The squats and pulls will of course take care the quads, glutes, erectors etc.

Rev Hypers / Hypers - Light light light. I only put this in to get some blood flow in to the lower back, rotate the sacrum etc and just encourage a little "easing off" from all the heavy work.

I want to go nuts and talk about what restoration to use etc etc but suffice to say you will need help on this cycle - massage, active release, hydrotherapy, salt baths, sauna, pine baths...remember to schedule more restorative measures in times of greater loading and to not overuse a single methodology or its effectiveness will lessen.

Cheers,

G


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## Bulldozer (Nov 24, 2006)

Holy sh*t thats what i call a reply !! 

Nice one wee g, i havent the time right now but will read all that later.

Thanks mate , reps for life


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## ParaManiac (Mar 20, 2007)

Agree with Bully,good man to have around,your posts are always very informative and your input is very welcome.


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## Wee G1436114539 (Oct 6, 2007)

err..thanks  I miss a lot of posts and good debates I'm sure so if there is ever anything you want me to look at just PM or email me or whatever.

Cheers again for the comments, appreciate it.

Gav


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## Tall (Aug 14, 2007)

Read it, but need to re-read it.

Quality posts.


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