I’ve done smolov and had great gains with it. I feel that for my squats, I need to do them multiple times a week to keep myself in the groove. However, I feel with a program like smolov I loose that explosiveness. Anyone think of anyway’s to ad a DE into a smolov-type routine? I’ve thought about replacing the first day of smolov as a DE, and spreading the days out more
If you were going to do this, I would think the best option would be to pare down the frequency some (perhaps to 3x/week) and add some box jumping in before squatting.
[quote]Stronghold wrote:
If you were going to do this, I would think the best option would be to pare down the frequency some (perhaps to 3x/week) and add some box jumping in before squatting.[/quote]
I’m thinking of replacing the first day of 4x9 with a DE day. How long is the typical rest time between DE and the next day?
This is not going to work. You are working on way too many skills at once. With the volume and frequency required for Smolov, there is no way in hell you are going to be rested enough to properly do DE work. If you want to continue the way you are training but put some speed into your lifts, I would make several suggestions:
-Block your training- Keep doing your normal smolov stuff until you get a couple weeks out from the meet. Drop the higher reps and volumes and work strictly on speed with singles. The last three weeks or so of your training could now be a “westside” template. Now you have completely seperated the sport skills you are training for. There are residual training effects that will carryover into the meet from all of the previous strength work you have done. Switching over to pure speed work will enhance the training effects of your previous skill emphasis (strength) and maximize your ability to display your motor potential at the competition while performing the competition exercises (squat, bench, and deadlift). This final speed development phase is also called a “Realization Block.”
-Limit the eccentric stress of all your squats and benches- Basically dive bomb your squats/benches and push them to completion as fast as possible. If you go to slow, you are not targeting the proper working mechanisms for developing strength. Basically, the slower you go, the more time you have under tensions, the more you work the mechanisms that trigger hypertrophy. Which is not a bad thing and will make you stronger. But, the faster you move the weight, the more you develop the elastic and friction (contractile) mechanisms of muscles which is how maximum strength is developed.
This is the only way any of these high frequency and volume programs could possibly work.
[quote]StormTheBeach wrote:
This is not going to work. You are working on way too many skills at once. With the volume and frequency required for Smolov, there is no way in hell you are going to be rested enough to properly do DE work. If you want to continue the way you are training but put some speed into your lifts, I would make several suggestions:
-Block your training- Keep doing your normal smolov stuff until you get a couple weeks out from the meet. Drop the higher reps and volumes and work strictly on speed with singles. The last three weeks or so of your training could now be a “westside” template. Now you have completely seperated the sport skills you are training for. There are residual training effects that will carryover into the meet from all of the previous strength work you have done. Switching over to pure speed work will enhance the training effects of your previous skill emphasis (strength) and maximize your ability to display your motor potential at the competition while performing the competition exercises (squat, bench, and deadlift). This final speed development phase is also called a “Realization Block.”
-Limit the eccentric stress of all your squats and benches- Basically dive bomb your squats/benches and push them to completion as fast as possible. If you go to slow, you are not targeting the proper working mechanisms for developing strength. Basically, the slower you go, the more time you have under tensions, the more you work the mechanisms that trigger hypertrophy. Which is not a bad thing and will make you stronger. But, the faster you move the weight, the more you develop the elastic and friction (contractile) mechanisms of muscles which is how maximum strength is developed.
This is the only way any of these high frequency and volume programs could possibly work.[/quote]
This is the advice I would have given had I had the patience.