Death by Smolov

Week 2 workout 3 complete. 8x4 w/125kg. This was probably the easiest workout so far, even thought it started kind of slow. I completed all 8 well within 45min. I know I could have taken less rest, but i waited till my breathing returned to normal and listened to a little Sepultura between sets. I think I scared the old people with that, but they will be ok.

I worked in front of the mirror today, after what I saw on my video from my Wednesday workout. Also, I moved my hands out to 1-inch outside the rings and my wrist were a lot more relaxed. With that, I was able to get the bar down about another inch, for a good low-bar squat.

Things to work on still: quads, hammies, and hip girdle are still fairly tight. The tightness is making it tougher for me to hit below parallel, so I’m going to have to work on that.

Five more sessions before the 1rm test and I am going to start thinking about how much of a “break” I am going to take between the Smolov Jr and Sr sessions. I’m thinking two weeks, so I can do some upper back and bench work and start the new year off right ;-).

Week 2 wOrkout 4 complete! 10x3 w/131.5. The weight felt good, but my form is still a little off. I have to keep my upper body more upright now, cause it could turn into an issue when the weight gets heavy in the second phase.

Overall, I’m happy with where I am and am looking forward to this last week on the Jr. I am thinking I will give myself two weeks between the 1rm max test and starting the full Smolov. During those 2 weeks, I am thinking about doing full-body 3 times a week, squatting each day. But, I haven’t really made up my mind on the 2 week routine I will follow.

[quote]undesired08 wrote:
Week 2 wOrkout 4 complete! 10x3 w/131.5. The weight felt good, but my form is still a little off. I have to keep my upper body more upright now, cause it could turn into an issue when the weight gets heavy in the second phase.

[/quote]

When I try to set a new 1 rep max I tend to bend over more as I’m coming out of the hole. What do you do to keep your upper body more upright? Is it a set-up issue, a mechanical issue? I got my hands a little closer together and squeezed the shit out of my shoulder blades, that seemed to make a difference.

Best of luck on the Smolov, keep kicking ass.

[quote]mrodock wrote:
undesired08 wrote:

When I try to set a new 1 rep max I tend to bend over more as I’m coming out of the hole. What do you do to keep your upper body more upright? Is it a set-up issue, a mechanical issue? I got my hands a little closer together and squeezed the shit out of my shoulder blades, that seemed to make a difference.

Best of luck on the Smolov, keep kicking ass.
[/quote]

It’s more of a mechanical issue, but it stems from “laziness” at this point. My core is ok and should be good at the lower weight, but the volume is forcing me to bend at the waist to hit parallel. This gets to be more apparent the deeper into the sessions I am getting.

So, the closer I get to the end, the more I start to good morning the weight down, hit parallel, then good morning back up. It is not THAT extreme, but it is enough to catch my eye and is a flaw that needs to be corrected.

My pos is quite a bit in front of my quads and abs as far as strength, so I have a tendency to “double over” any way. This vid is of me doing 450 for a single and you can see the doubling over at the bottom.

I was doing a TON of box squats at this time and would usually do between 420 and 430 for doubles for multiple sets, so I was pretty satisfied with my stance and I stayed back on my heels pretty well. I have never squatted with great speed due to my height and this was before I was able to control the weight well enough with a low-bar hold.

Also, I have a tendency to tuck my chin into my chest harder to drive thru the weight, instead of driving my head back thru the bar. Lastly, on the ascent, you can see the sway in my hips (back and forth), that was me seeking the “groove” and is a dangerous thing to do in the middle of a squat.

These are all things I need to clean up to get to the next level. Sorry for the music, I had to change the sound cause I get kinda loud on max efforts and this was all I had on my phone.

.

[quote]undesired08 wrote:

It’s more of a mechanical issue, but it stems from “laziness” at this point. My core is ok and should be good at the lower weight, but the volume is forcing me to bend at the waist to hit parallel. This gets to be more apparent the deeper into the sessions I am getting.

So, the closer I get to the end, the more I start to good morning the weight down, hit parallel, then good morning back up. It is not THAT extreme, but it is enough to catch my eye and is a flaw that needs to be corrected.

My pos is quite a bit in front of my quads and abs as far as strength, so I have a tendency to “double over” any way. This vid is of me doing 450 for a single and you can see the doubling over at the bottom.

I was doing a TON of box squats at this time and would usually do between 420 and 430 for doubles for multiple sets, so I was pretty satisfied with my stance and I stayed back on my heels pretty well. I have never squatted with great speed due to my height and this was before I was able to control the weight well enough with a low-bar hold.

Also, I have a tendency to tuck my chin into my chest harder to drive thru the weight, instead of driving my head back thru the bar. Lastly, on the ascent, you can see the sway in my hips (back and forth), that was me seeking the “groove” and is a dangerous thing to do in the middle of a squat.

These are all things I need to clean up to get to the next level. Sorry for the music, I had to change the sound cause I get kinda loud on max efforts and this was all I had on my phone.

[/quote]

Thanks a lot man, really appreciate the detailed response and video. When I try to come out of the hole with maximum weights my ass moves backward and my torso bends over more. I’m not real bent over going down, just as I start coming up. Not really sure what the issue is yet, but I’m searching.

[quote]mrodock wrote:
undesired08 wrote

Thanks a lot man, really appreciate the detailed response and video. When I try to come out of the hole with maximum weights my ass moves backward and my torso bends over more. I’m not real bent over going down, just as I start coming up. Not really sure what the issue is yet, but I’m searching.

[/quote]

The main reason most people do it is because their hammies and glutes are stronger. It’s like a “survival of the fittest”. You will rely on the strongest muscles to move the weight. For me, it’s a matter of needing stronger quads, hip flexors, and abs. Box squats is a really good tool to help with this, but the key is not play touch and go. It is to sit, relax the hip flexors, then move the weight without bending over too much.

And use boxes of different heights. I personally go from a 14" box to a 20". If you start to bend too much, you are using too much weight and making the muscles you are trying to balance even stronger.

Since I was a genius and started Smolov Jr after a 6 month layoff, my form is a little off. I do my warmup off of the box, but do my work sets free-squat to help correct my imbalances.

[quote]undesired08 wrote:

The main reason most people do it is because their hammies and glutes are stronger. It’s like a “survival of the fittest”. You will rely on the strongest muscles to move the weight. For me, it’s a matter of needing stronger quads, hip flexors, and abs. Box squats is a really good tool to help with this, but the key is not play touch and go. It is to sit, relax the hip flexors, then move the weight without bending over too much.

And use boxes of different heights. I personally go from a 14" box to a 20". If you start to bend too much, you are using too much weight and making the muscles you are trying to balance even stronger.

[/quote]

Could front squats be a solution too? The idea of going real heavy on box squats still scares the shit out of me. I would have to have 2 really attentive spotters to not be worried about failing on an attempt.

You can never go wrong with front squats. It is a good alternative to help you stay upright, but getting used to the weight on your back is the biggest part.

And, yeah, I missed a box squat with 450. I got about 4 inches off the 16" box, coming out of the hole and I just couldn’t drive it the rest of the way. Of course, I had two of the worst spotters in the world that day and I almost “bit it” pretty bad. At that point, I bought the gym a full cage so that I didn’t have to worry about that happening again. I workout at a tennis and racquetball club that has a decent gym and there aren’t too many of us, so I can get in and out and not have to wait on equipment. The down side is that there are only 2, maybe 3 people there that I trust to spot me doing ANYTHING.

Week 3 workout 1 is complete. 6x6 w/122.5kg. First off, I am a dumbass. After my squat session on saturday, I decided to do some seated rows. Of course, I am paying for that idiocy now. I was 2 sets in before my back loosened enough for me to feel comfortable under the weight. The first set was an absolute grind. Once I hit the 3rd set, it was a breeze. When doing my sets, I was working on keeping my upper abs pointed at the mirror and I felt my hips go on fire. This is one of the issues I will focus on between the Jr and Sr Smolov’s.

Only 3 more sessions left on the Jr. The more I think about it, the more satisfied I am with the weight I chose. Even at peak condition, I had to start belting and wrapping up once I hit 350 in warmups due to knee and core issues. So, starting at a 1rm of 320 for a fully raw Smolov Jr. is actually a little high when the 6 month layoff is taken into account. Once I get thru the workout on Christmas Eve, I will start looking at the workouts I will do between the Smolov’s more seriously and if I will wear briefs or not. I am really psyched about the end being this close.

Good shit man, almost done with this cycle, keep it up. How long do you plan on taking betwen after you finish the jr cycle and the regular smolov. I know after I did just the base mesocycle for back squats i was real burnt out on squatting. Also, do ya plan on following it up with the intense phase?

Right now, I’m thinking between 3 and 4 weeks and that would include the Intro cycle. I will squat 3 days a week, but will mix it with zerchers (my personal favorite for correcting form and the sheer “manliness” of the pain it causes), front, back, and hack squats.

All the back squats will probably be box squats, but we will see how I feel that day. Also, I will keep the reps high, because 4x9 is a LOT differenst than 6x6.

As far as the Intense phase, I am going to make a run at it. The way the reps and sets fall are more in line with what I have done in the past, but with an added session a week. If I didn’t try to do both programs in full and I died, it wouldn’t truly be a death by smolov.

Btw, great job on those front squats, man. Keep up the hard work, next season comes soon enough!

Hey, I’m doing the smolov base phase right now(just did week 3, workout 1). I’m looking forward to see what sort of gains I can get on my raw squat from this(I’m just doing the base phase), current raw squat is 170kg.

With the video you posted, I noticed one thing - you don’t lock your legs, any reason for this? It’s just a small technical thing, just know this won’t pass in a meet.

With the GMing of the weights, I believe it is a technical issue for most - just keeping the chest up, and pulling the elbows forward and under the bar, and focusing on this every rep will improve it alot, and over a bit of time pretty much correct it.

You are right, in most feds it would not pass. But, you learn what you can get away with in the briefing. In the NASA events around here, if you have your legs wrapped, they dont have to be “locked out”.

SPF is a little more strict on that one, imo. A slight bend at the knee joint is tolerated. At meets, prior to giving the “nod” I will straighten (but not lock) my legs more prior to descent.

The pulling of the elbows is a good trick. It is something that I have heard and read, but have never tried… Since I don’t have any training partners I tend to forget the little things.

Good luck with the last 3 days and thanks for the tip.

Thanks man, I’m really starting to enjoy doing front squats. Sounds like you’ve got your work cut out for you in the next month or so ,Good luck. 4x9 is the devil and the worst set/rep scheme ever…atleast during the smolov cycle.

I loved fronts, until I switched to a clean grip for it. I am still working my my wrist flexibility to make it more comfortable for higher reps. An uppercut to the forehead of a prop kinda did more damage to my wrist than it did to his head. Luckily, he was out cold cause I would have gotten my ass kicked again. I can do 14 against 1, but 15 against 1 is a little too many for me. LMAO!

Holy crap! I am such an idiot. Tonight was supposed to be 7x5 w/129kg. But since I am not very bright, it was slightly modified. I lost count of the sets performed at set 4 or 5, I couldn’t remember which one, so I went back thru the video. Once I saw set 4 I realized I had been doing 4 reps, instead of 5 and I was on set 5. So, what I had to do was hit 5 reps on sets 6, 7, and I added an 8th set to hit my reps for the night. The worst part was that the whole night was a grind to start with, anyway. My hips and shoulders are fried, but I hit the last 3x5. What an f-ing moron I am for doing that. It makes me almost feel like I “cheated”.

So, tonight was 5x4 and 3x5 w/129kg. This is what I do on Christmas eve, forget how to count. I am disappointed in myself, to say the least…

Sounds like a fun match. I prefer crossing my arms as I don’t have that much flexibility in my wrists either. Don’t worry about that little mess up. The third week of my first smolov cycle instead of adding an additional 5kg I misread and added 15kg…

Yeah, I’m pretty anal and everything has to be just so. Screwing up 4 sets out of 75 isn’t big deal in the long run, but it still gets to me.

I couldn’t imagine using a clean grip for fronts four days a week. But, I’m a big sissy like that.

Week 3 workout 3 complete with ease! 8x4 w/136kg. I stretched and brought the vibrating massager, because my lower back was still feeling the last workout. After the warmups, I put the massager between my lower back and the chair after every work set, and I did not feel a twinge.

I closed up my stance a little as well, to take some pressure off of my hips. after the first set, felt like a million bucks. And, there is something about the friday night workouts that get me pumped. I had to check the weight cause it felt so much lighter than the Christmas Eve workout.

I even took shorter breaks than usual, but was hungry for more. That more comes in less than 24hrs with my last friggin session on this death march from hell.

And to think, this is just the first month of 4. WTF was I thinking?!? LOL!