Smolov experience so far

[gunzandwheelz]

I will admit I entered Smolov being a skeptic. The volume seemed ridiculous and injury seemed inevitable. I went in with modest expectations. If I got a very solid 20lbs in the 3 week base I would be happy.

My best meet raw squat in the last year was 565 and it was a very close grinder. I looked @ the numbers and used 550 for a base. I was counting on lifters claims that the squats somehow got easier as you went along. If they didn't I would not complete the base regardless of the amount of effort I put in to it. The squats did get easier. I hit every rep to depth in every set until the last workout. I pulled a calf muscle on my 5th set and only did 8x3x500 versus 10 sets. The injury was not directly related to Smolov it has been nagging me for a couple months.

Test day, hit 550 nice and easy without my sleeves, 575 in sleeves nice and deep and kind of easy. Was tempted to go 600 but knowing my real max more important then ego. Felt 99% sure I could hit 585 and that was my goal. The 585 was nice and smooth, I thought I might have cut it short but the video showed it was definitely there. I debated on going 600 but my calf was a bit tweaked so I decided to be prudent, be happy and pack the bag.

I am very happy with the results, this was a 100% no doubt solid 20lb gain in 3 weeks. The 585 was deeper and easier then my meet 565 was. I am going to test my dead tomorrow. I was a 675 solid raw before Smolov. I am the type of guy that has to train hard all the time. I am a bit worried about not training my dead for 4 weeks. If I pull 650+ tomorrow I will do the intense phase. Does me no good to add 35 to my squat and lose 40 on my dead.

I am going to use 575 for the intense phase instead of 585. The 575 seems on the verge of undoable. I think knowing yourself is really important on this program. You have to look @ the numbers and be honest and that the same time know you have to push yourself beyond what you perceive as 100%. I am totally blowing off the switching phase. Seems like a waste of time. I need to lift, I do not want to lose any of the gains. Plus it delays me getting back to pulling for 2 weeks.

Things that surprised me: 1) Squats did get easier 2) The sets I thought would be the toughest, 4x9 were the easiest and the sets I thought would be the easiest, 10x3, were the most brutal. 3)The more you squat the deeper you squat. In the past there have been times thought for sure got to depth and the vid made it look very questionable. During Smolov there were times I thought I cut it a 1" short and the vid showed I was 1/2" below parallel. 4) Most surprised I completed it almost 100% and had what I consider a nice gain.

[MadDogMalesh]

20lbs in 3 weeks is very good and if you stik(my sea button doesn't work) with the intense phrase you should see even more progress!

[John Prophet]

nice work...

It would be interesting to work out a good compromise on the Smolov between squats and deads. I have an idea about it, im not sure if anyone has tried it or what other compromises have been worked out.

The basic idea is that it is easier to maintain something than to gain it in the first place. so after deadlift strength has been gained it can be maintained a lot easier etc

So there is this quote from Vorobyev's Russian "Textbook on Weightlifting."

"We consider that the volume of the load has less significance than its intensity, and that single lifts of high weight in the final stages of preparation for a contest are shown to be sufficient for the maintenance of definite levels of strength..."

So based on that principle, there must be a way to look at a Smolov cycle and fit in 1 dead workout per week where one just works up and hits 1-3 singles at, say, 90-92%

Just off the top of my head I would think the best way would be to pick one day a week that has the multiple squat sets. Warm up, do about half of the squat working sets. Then work up from there to the 1-3 singles at 90% of deads. It shouldnt take THAT many additional deadlift warmup sets because at that point all of those muscles are already going full blast.


So in that way you wouldnt be adding that much to the program and you wouldnt really be losing that much from the squat portion, but youd be keeping the deadlift tight at the same time

Could possibly come out the end of the program with a squat max AND a dead max

[PanzeR-]

john, from my own experience and my partners', the base meso-cycle increased my squat by 40 pounds, but my deadlift by 60 pounds.... One of my partner got a 20 pounds increase on his squat, but a 70 pounds increase on his dead.


I don't see how with 12 sessions of squats in 3 weeks one would need extra work for his deadlift.

[John Prophet]

john, from my own experience and my partners', the base meso-cycle increased my squat by 40 pounds, but my deadlift by 60 pounds.... One of my partner got a 20 pounds increase on his squat, but a 70 pounds increase on his dead.


I don't see how with 12 sessions of squats in 3 weeks one would need extra work for his deadlift.

well yeah, I was thinking of trying to make the whole 13 week cycle more practical



did you guys do any deadlifting? you dead sumo or conv?

[Liftamulti]

20lbs in 3 weeks is very good and if you stik(my sea button doesn't work) with the intense phrase you should see even more progress!

Lmao

Anyway, good job. Solid gains.

[PanzeR-]

well yeah, I was thinking of trying to make the whole 13 week cycle more practical



did you guys do any deadlifting? you dead sumo or conv?

all conv, only did db rows and chins once per week.

We didn't do the intense phase as we jumped on 5-3-1 with our new max but if we did, we would have done some pulling movements during the 3 weeks deload.

[John Prophet]

all conv, only did db rows and chins once per week.

We didn't do the intense phase as we jumped on 5-3-1 with our new max but if we did, we would have done some pulling movements during the 3 weeks deload.

have you been able to hold the gains as u went into other programs?

[gunzandwheelz]

Tested my dead yesterday and bench today. Definitely didn't gain anything on my dead but results could have been worse. The litmus test was 650. Anything less then absolutely not doing intense phase. The 650 was kind of easy but I reverted back to a form issue I had 95% resolved. Anyway, the 660 was heavy but an easy lockout. The 675, which is what I did 5 weeks ago before starting Smolov, was too much to finish off the last inch.

What I noticed most was my strength off the floor had noticeably diminished. I really pound BOR's and consequently I usually move the bar pretty quick off the floor. Not doing them for 5 weeks made that initial yank seem more like a tug than a rip. I guess I can live with this for now.

Bottomline is I will now go into the intense phase basing it on 575 vs the actual 585 max. I know myself well and basing it on 585 would be a for sure failure. The numbers @575 are intimidating but hopefully doable. Like I had mentioned in the prior post I am blowing off the switching phase. It just seems like a waste of time for me. I hope to put on a solid 15lbs on my squat.

I paused 385 for the bench and then did a rough T&G with 400 which is probably about where I was pre Smolv.

[Liftamulti]

Good stuff. I'm starting smolov tomorrow (the base and intense). I'm using my actual max of 320.

[corozco]

Smolov is awesome. I used my actual total for the intense phase and had great results. 40 pounds in 4 weeks and a 20lb increase in deadlifts.

[NaturalLoco]

I just finished Base Meso, gained a good 15kg on my squat, deeper squat too.. starting intense phase tomorrow