Drop Off After Smolov

Something I’ve noticed and heard about on other forums as well: Do people here who’ve done the smolov or just the base meso experience a huge drop off after they’ve completed the cycle?

A few moths later I’m still around the same max, and though my training isn’t consistent, I’ve noticed weights I did for 7 reps are now my 3 or 4rm. Anyone else had this?

I’ve recently finished the base cycle using the front squat. Now that i’ve returned to squatting only once a week I feel notably weaker when i do. I presume this is due to CNS stimulation?

Squatting 4 times per week in the base cycle must increase neural efficiency, which is lost somewhat as squat volume lowers.

Well, that’s what I tell myself it is. I don’t want to believe i’ve turned into a squatting ponce :wink:

Smolov peaks your squat right?

You can’t hold a peak forever. There’s gonna be some drop off, when you can hold your “peak” weight then you’re not really maxing anymore…

Whats important is whether or not you can repeak with the same or more weight than what you finished Smolov with.

If your not stronger, you probably were not ready for smolov and probably cut your depth on a lot of the lifts didn’t eat enough ext.

Usually you will have a slight drop, but you will for the most part be much stronger.

[quote]shizen wrote:
If your not stronger, you probably were not ready for smolov and probably cut your depth on a lot of the lifts didn’t eat enough ext.

Usually you will have a slight drop, but you will for the most part be much stronger. [/quote]

I went rock bottom on all my squats. I squat close to 400 lbs…

[quote]arnoud verschoor wrote:
shizen wrote:
If your not stronger, you probably were not ready for smolov and probably cut your depth on a lot of the lifts didn’t eat enough ext.

Usually you will have a slight drop, but you will for the most part be much stronger.

I went rock bottom on all my squats. I squat close to 400 lbs…[/quote]

so you did smolov and were weaker afterwards is that what your saying? It doesn’t work for everyone, some people make best strength gains just doing heavy days once or twice a week focusing mostly on singles.

It depends on what you do after Smolov. If you train seriously you should not get weaker, but if you slack in the gym expect to don’t have the same level.

I peaked, then had a drop off a month or so later after the last time I completed smolov. This is probably mainly because I did a lot less squatting.

That was three months ago and after working on my squat a bit more over the last month its coming back up fast. I’m doing the week 3 workouts from that previous smolov base cycle far more easily now (I never fully completed the adv cycle).

When I did Smolov 2 yrs ago, I not only maintained my peak, I pushed the weight up even more over the course of 4-6 months.

Then I was thrown into an accelerated workup/deployment cycle, and haven’t gotten that high since.