Russian Squat Routine Advice

Bigger Stronger Leaner Powerlifting & Strength Sports
21

[quote]Paperclip wrote:
I wanna try this program to raise my front squat number but I can only increase the weight by 5kg in the gym. This means that my FS max number isn’t suitable but my BS is. Will doing RSR BS raise my FS max number by approximately the same amount (5% according to exrx)? Oh and my FS max (90kg) is approx 90% of my BS max (100kg).[/quote]

I think you could always round off to the nearest 5kg…and as your FS improves, the rounding difference would have less and less effect. If you said your FS max was 60kg or below, then that might be a problem.

I’ll let the other seasoned Oly lifters answer your question about BS and FS correlation. My gut feel says there would be some carryover from BS to FS.

22

I think you won’t see much of an improvement right away when you finish the cycle but it will catch up quickly. Thats how it goes with my squats at least

23

A lot of OL/PL cycles seem to bring mixed results to different people and work in 50% cases.
For this cycle, I’ve read nothing but good stuff (A LOT of people on various russian PL forums posted their results). Seems to work for everybody. You may gain 2.5kg, but you WILL gain. Makes Medvedev a real genius.

I really tried to complete this cycle several times, but it’s way too boring for me. (first few weeks you don’t feel like you’re training) :frowning:

24

[quote]Thy. wrote:
A lot of OL/PL cycles seem to bring mixed results to different people and work in 50% cases.
For this cycle, I’ve read nothing but good stuff (A LOT of people on various russian PL forums posted their results). Seems to work for everybody. You may gain 2.5kg, but you WILL gain. Makes Medvedev a real genius.

I really tried to complete this cycle several times, but it’s way too boring for me. (first few weeks you don’t feel like you’re training) :([/quote]

im almost 100% sure that the RSR was NOT designed by Medvedev

25

Didn’t the RSR first appear in some Russian encyclopedia for weightlifting in the late 1970s? (too lazy to look it up)

Anyhow, today’s session (week 5, day 2):

Squat
95%: 132.5kg x 3/3/3

Incline reverse crunches (include bench set to 2nd lowest pin)
BW x 15/15/15

Weight felt quite heavy on the back, but decent drive out of the hole on all reps, a bit slow through the middle (hey it’s 95%) but no slow grinders. Spent a total of about 7 to 8 hrs on a bus yesterday due to a cherry picking excursion with the wife. Did this workout first thing in the morning after a protein shake and a coffee. Felt quite stiff so took a longer warmup.

Wednesday will be a lighter 6 sets of 2 day, then on Saturday 2x2 with 100%. Gonna make sure I stretch every day and I’ll cut out all accessory work except for abs until the end of the cycle.

26

It was written by Medvedev in a magazine for weightlifters “Tyazelaya Atletika” (“Heavy Athletics” - that’s what Weightlifting is called in Russian) in the late 1970s indeed.

27

[quote]dan81 wrote:
Didn’t the RSR first appear in some Russian encyclopedia for weightlifting in the late 1970s? (too lazy to look it up)

Anyhow, today’s session (week 5, day 2):

Squat
95%: 132.5kg x 3/3/3

Incline reverse crunches (include bench set to 2nd lowest pin)
BW x 15/15/15

Weight felt quite heavy on the back, but decent drive out of the hole on all reps, a bit slow through the middle (hey it’s 95%) but no slow grinders. Spent a total of about 7 to 8 hrs on a bus yesterday due to a cherry picking excursion with the wife. Did this workout first thing in the morning after a protein shake and a coffee. Felt quite stiff so took a longer warmup.

Wednesday will be a lighter 6 sets of 2 day, then on Saturday 2x2 with 100%. Gonna make sure I stretch every day and I’ll cut out all accessory work except for abs until the end of the cycle.

[/quote]

SOLID effort! More so becauase of the morning! I’m f0cking useless in the mornings…

[quote]Paperclip wrote:
I wanna try this program to raise my front squat number but I can only increase the weight by 5kg in the gym. This means that my FS max number isn’t suitable but my BS is. Will doing RSR BS raise my FS max number by approximately the same amount (5% according to exrx)? Oh and my FS max (90kg) is approx 90% of my BS max (100kg).[/quote]

It’ll take a bit then it should carry over to your front squat, IF AND ONLY IF your trunk is strong. If your trunk is weak your trunk bending will be the weak link in you putting up a fatty front squat.

187 → 201 back squat
160 → 170 front squat and that was after maxing out my C&J. I’m sure I could have done 175 had I not maxed out my C&J. I haven’t done the front squat in the RSR, that would be BRUTAL, my bro and a mate have done so. It’s a lot harder to do on front squats. I do it on my back and it carries over to my front squat so I’m fine.

Koing

28

[quote]Koing wrote:

[quote]dan81 wrote:
Didn’t the RSR first appear in some Russian encyclopedia for weightlifting in the late 1970s? (too lazy to look it up)

Anyhow, today’s session (week 5, day 2):

Squat
95%: 132.5kg x 3/3/3

Incline reverse crunches (include bench set to 2nd lowest pin)
BW x 15/15/15

Weight felt quite heavy on the back, but decent drive out of the hole on all reps, a bit slow through the middle (hey it’s 95%) but no slow grinders. Spent a total of about 7 to 8 hrs on a bus yesterday due to a cherry picking excursion with the wife. Did this workout first thing in the morning after a protein shake and a coffee. Felt quite stiff so took a longer warmup.

Wednesday will be a lighter 6 sets of 2 day, then on Saturday 2x2 with 100%. Gonna make sure I stretch every day and I’ll cut out all accessory work except for abs until the end of the cycle.

[/quote]

SOLID effort! More so becauase of the morning! I’m f0cking useless in the mornings…

[quote]Paperclip wrote:
I wanna try this program to raise my front squat number but I can only increase the weight by 5kg in the gym. This means that my FS max number isn’t suitable but my BS is. Will doing RSR BS raise my FS max number by approximately the same amount (5% according to exrx)? Oh and my FS max (90kg) is approx 90% of my BS max (100kg).[/quote]

It’ll take a bit then it should carry over to your front squat, IF AND ONLY IF your trunk is strong. If your trunk is weak your trunk bending will be the weak link in you putting up a fatty front squat.

187 → 201 back squat
160 → 170 front squat and that was after maxing out my C&J. I’m sure I could have done 175 had I not maxed out my C&J. I haven’t done the front squat in the RSR, that would be BRUTAL, my bro and a mate have done so. It’s a lot harder to do on front squats. I do it on my back and it carries over to my front squat so I’m fine.

Koing[/quote]

5:30am wakeup is hard at the best of times, but I find the morning protein shake and coffee sets me right for the morning lifting. I’m not a big coffee drinker so I’m quite sensitive to it still - cheap stimulants ftw!

For the Saturday sessions, I usually lift around lunchtime after 3hrs or so being awake- I definitely do notice that the weight feels marginally lighter on my back and the weight does go up faster.

29

5:30am wake up use to my routine :stuck_out_tongue: now I’m at a much more leisurely 6:25am :stuck_out_tongue:

My Saturday morning sessions are my worst as I don’t have much time from wake up to the gym, purely because I lie in and I should go to bed earlier on a Friday…

Koing

30

[quote]Koing wrote:
5:30am wake up use to my routine :stuck_out_tongue: now I’m at a much more leisurely 6:25am :stuck_out_tongue:

My Saturday morning sessions are my worst as I don’t have much time from wake up to the gym, purely because I lie in and I should go to bed earlier on a Friday…

Koing[/quote]

Getting to bed before 10pm makes a world of difference the next day for sure man - how does that saying go: each hr of sleep before midnight is worth 2 hrs after?

Anyway, today’s session

RSR week 5, day 3

Squat
80%: 112.5kg x 2/2/2/2/2/2 easy peezy

Swiss ball crunches
15kg x 15/15/15

One more week to go!

31

I heard that somewhere. Each hr of sleep before midnight is worth 2hrs after.

Easy 2reps x 6sets! :slight_smile:

Koing

32

Wasn’t supposed to lift today, but woke up at 5am naturally and felt alert and refreshed, so I said what the heck, let’s squat!

Morning protein shake + coffee as usual, then did some light stretching, then a short walk. Came home feeling amped up as hell, strapped on my Do-Wins and got to work…

RSR week 6, day 1 (1 day early)

Squat
warm up then:
80%: 112.5kg x 1/1
85%: 120kg x 1/1
93%: 130kg x 1 (not a prescribed weight, but I felt jumping from 120kg to 140kg is too large of a jump)
100%: 140kg x 2/2 (hell yeh!)

Abs - hanging leg raise (feet to bar)
BW x 15/15/15 (easy, need to up the reps next time)

Pretty happy with that, just did my previous max for two sets of doubles early in the morning. This workout was scheduled for tomorrow, but felt fkn awesome upon waking. The 140kg felt lighter than the 130kg on my back. Although I’m scheduled to do the max test this Wednesday, might push that back to the Saturday so have all the cards stacked in my favour :slight_smile:

The heavy weights feel lighter on my back now, thanks to working abs 3x per week - nice tip Neo. 150kg+ will be mine next week!

33

[quote]dan81 wrote:
…

The heavy weights feel lighter on my back now, thanks to working abs 3x per week - nice tip Neo. 150kg+ will be mine next week!
[/quote]

you are welcome

34

[quote]dan81 wrote:
Wasn’t supposed to lift today, but woke up at 5am naturally and felt alert and refreshed, so I said what the heck, let’s squat!

Morning protein shake + coffee as usual, then did some light stretching, then a short walk. Came home feeling amped up as hell, strapped on my Do-Wins and got to work…

RSR week 6, day 1 (1 day early)

Squat
warm up then:
80%: 112.5kg x 1/1
85%: 120kg x 1/1
93%: 130kg x 1 (not a prescribed weight, but I felt jumping from 120kg to 140kg is too large of a jump)
100%: 140kg x 2/2 (hell yeh!)

Abs - hanging leg raise (feet to bar)
BW x 15/15/15 (easy, need to up the reps next time)

Pretty happy with that, just did my previous max for two sets of doubles early in the morning. This workout was scheduled for tomorrow, but felt fkn awesome upon waking. The 140kg felt lighter than the 130kg on my back. Although I’m scheduled to do the max test this Wednesday, might push that back to the Saturday so have all the cards stacked in my favour :slight_smile:

The heavy weights feel lighter on my back now, thanks to working abs 3x per week - nice tip Neo. 150kg+ will be mine next week!
[/quote]

Nice mate!

Always bad ass that you can double your 1RM and do 2sets :smiley:

Koing

35

I have never actually ran the "squat only’ version of RSR, but i have done the RSR extended version, which is a 9 week version that covers the big 3.

I didn’t do a lot of assistance work when i ran it. it’s been about 3 years since i ran it, but if memory serves me correctly, i think i did 3 sets of db rows on fridays, after the squatting and pressing, 3 sets of ab wheel on wednesdays after the deadlifts, and I think i did some random stuff on mondays… calf raises, rotator cuff work using the shoulder horn device, and some light db snatches and db swings.

36

[quote]Spence Spitzman wrote:
I have never actually ran the "squat only’ version of RSR, but i have done the RSR extended version, which is a 9 week version that covers the big 3.

I didn’t do a lot of assistance work when i ran it. it’s been about 3 years since i ran it, but if memory serves me correctly, i think i did 3 sets of db rows on fridays, after the squatting and pressing, 3 sets of ab wheel on wednesdays after the deadlifts, and I think i did some random stuff on mondays… calf raises, rotator cuff work using the shoulder horn device, and some light db snatches and db swings.

[/quote]

What results did you get from this routine?

I didn’t know there was an extended version of the RSR…

37

RSR week 6, day 2

Squat
70%: 97.5kg x 1/1
75%: 105kg x 1/1
80%: 112.5kg x 2/2/2/2/2/2

Push press (learning)
worked up to 60kg x 3/3

Incline rev crunch (2nd pin)
BW x 15/15/15

Felt a bit off today during squats, weights felt heavier than usual, first few sets didn’t feel good. Last set felt light and fast though. Had a few beers last night and got to bed late so I blame the beers :slight_smile: Interesting experience with the push presses, still learning the movement I found the rack position a little uncomfortable on the collar bones and actually hit my jaw a couple of times with the bar - felt like such a novice doing these…

Soooo, final RSR session scheduled for Wednesday, but I’m gonna try the instinctive approach and hit it when I feel “on”.

38

http://www.joeskopec.com/ruspeak.html

the above link is to a calculator for the extended version of RSR. Just plug in your numbers for the big 3, and it will spit out a 9 week routine for you.

To answer your question, I got some pretty good results with it. My deadlift dramatically increased, which was kind of ironic, because I was mostly doing the routine to increase my bench and squat. The routine is draining from a mental perspective, but if you can make it all 9 weeks, you will see some good numbers.

39

[quote]Spence Spitzman wrote:
http://www.joeskopec.com/ruspeak.html

the above link is to a calculator for the extended version of RSR. Just plug in your numbers for the big 3, and it will spit out a 9 week routine for you.

To answer your question, I got some pretty good results with it. My deadlift dramatically increased, which was kind of ironic, because I was mostly doing the routine to increase my bench and squat. The routine is draining from a mental perspective, but if you can make it all 9 weeks, you will see some good numbers. [/quote]

Looks interesting!

But I don’t think an OLifter would spend that much time BP though but it may be different for a mix up for their normal training routine? I BP once a week to max last year and got from 112 to 134 in about 6 weeks LOL. Mainly because I rarely do BP and that I can do a fair amount of dips and push ups.

Koing

Koing

40

[quote]Koing wrote:

[quote]Spence Spitzman wrote:
http://www.joeskopec.com/ruspeak.html

the above link is to a calculator for the extended version of RSR. Just plug in your numbers for the big 3, and it will spit out a 9 week routine for you.

To answer your question, I got some pretty good results with it. My deadlift dramatically increased, which was kind of ironic, because I was mostly doing the routine to increase my bench and squat. The routine is draining from a mental perspective, but if you can make it all 9 weeks, you will see some good numbers. [/quote]

Looks interesting!

But I don’t think an OLifter would spend that much time BP though but it may be different for a mix up for their normal training routine? I BP once a week to max last year and got from 112 to 134 in about 6 weeks LOL. Mainly because I rarely do BP and that I can do a fair amount of dips and push ups.

Koing

Koing[/quote]

Yeah, I agree with you, an Olifter would probably not bench that much. Obviously, the routine is ideal for a powerlifter, cause it focuses on the big 3.

I have often thought it might cool to give the extended RSR version a try using different lifts.

I would be interested in hearing people’s opinions about which exercises they would use. If i was going to use something other than the big 3, i would probably use front squats, push presses, and power cleans.

But I digress… doing 6 sets of 6 at 80% on power cleans would probably be really really brutal!