Smolov Squat Program

I just finished the Russian Squat routine and my back squat went up 30lbs. Personally, I thought the program was easy. I did this while training Oly lifts 4-6 days a week.

I am interested in trying the Smolov squat program. I know that it is a russian powerlifting routine but does it work for oly lifting?

Does anyone know a link to the full cycle? Thanks.

[quote]acncampo wrote:
I just finished the Russian Squat routine and my back squat went up 30lbs. Personally, I thought the program was easy. I did this while training Oly lifts 4-6 days a week.

I am interested in trying the Smolov squat program. I know that it is a russian powerlifting routine but does it work for oly lifting?

Does anyone know a link to the full cycle? Thanks.[/quote]

this may be of interest

http://stronglifts.com/how-to-add-100-pounds-to-your-squat-smolov/

http://stronglifts.com/my-experience-on-smolov-for-front-squats/

http://stronglifts.com/my-squat-experience-on-smolov/

This is something I have always wanted to do. I just don’t feel my GPP is there yet. I don’t think I have ever seen it done with Oly lifts

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

You can plug in your max on this link and it will give you weights, sets, etc. for the whole thing.

I did it, I like it, it was hard, and I wouldn’t advise doing a whole lot of other stuff during it.

I don’t know if it works for oly lifting, but it increases your squat max.

Wow! This program sounds intense! I want to try it. I am jsut not sure how I can fit in Oly lifts in there. I figure light cleans/snatches to practice technique is okay? Also, I have a pretty good squat, 2x bodyweight. Should I still embark on this journey?

was doing 10 sets of triples with my max today. Last day of mesocycle. Assisted yes, still impressive for me.

The start of week 3 will be absolute hell.

[quote]acncampo wrote:
Wow! This program sounds intense! I want to try it. I am jsut not sure how I can fit in Oly lifts in there. I figure light cleans/snatches to practice technique is okay? Also, I have a pretty good squat, 2x bodyweight. Should I still embark on this journey?[/quote]

I think that the Smolov program actually calls for light snatches (maybe power snatches? can’t remember) in the program. I powersnatched most days I squatted and tried to go in one other day a week to do a brief upper body push/pull. You could probably clean and press on an off day if you wanted. I would just suggest keeping any other volume low since the squats are intense.

Smolov is very intense. I made it through the base mesocycle and the switching phase, and just completed my first week of the intense mesocycle. If you can squat 2x your bodyweight, I would give it a try. On one of the websites mentioned above, it says to incorporate a protyazhka (a variation of the snatch) to warm up, no matter what cycle you are in. You can do other muscles like upper body on the days when you don’t squat, but I would recommend against working anything lower body, because a) you will be fatigued and b) this will take away from your next squat session.

However, I did have the urge to DL, so after I finished the base mesocycle, before entering the switching phase, I DL’ed and I got an 18 pound PR, without DL’ing at all during Smolov.

The chart that Martin Blank said to use is different from the chart that is found on the Strong Lifts site that The Dude Abides said to use. The former has days and percentages that are different from the Smolov program. For example, it says to squat M, W, F on the intense mesocycle while the Smolov program says to squat M, W, Sat in that cycle.

And just so you know–in the base mesocycle, Saturdays are hell, and in the intense mesocycle, Wednesdays are horrible.

So, overall, it will increase your squat like crazy and you will be able to pop out of the hole quicker but it will be hard to integrate Olympic lifts into the base and intense mesocycles.

…I think.

I did the smolov base, and had pr’s with power clean and power snatch. I just warmed up with progressively heavier singles, until I felt that it was enough. I switched between power snatch and power clean each session. I power cleaned a PR 140kg during the cycle, and power snatches a PR 95kg a few weeks later. I could’ve gotten the PR power snatch during the smolov, but my timing was off. Just maintain the lifts you want to maintain with a few singles. Oh, and I used the smolov junior for my incline press at the same time, was doable…