Hey guys, I’m new to all of this. I’ve decided to start smolov this week mainly because I am insane and I love heavy volume. I’m currently at a 280 1rm and would like to get to 325/335. I don’t really know how to eat for this program. I’d like to lean out more but pack on muscle. I could care less about the weight but more about having low body fat percentage. Any advice would be lovely
I’ve never run full Smolov, but I’ve run Smolov Jnr while losing weight and it was far less productive than it could have been. Yes, I got stronger, yes I got leaner, but it was a far from ideal situation.
If you are looking to lean out more than gain strength, then Smolov is not for you - unless by weight you meant your bodyweight. Even then, I would recommend eating clean and plenty of it. Don’t try to create a caloric deficit, or even Smolov Jr will bury you. If you are already on a solid eating plan, eating to maintain, I would either stay there or bump it up slightly. The extra calories will help with recovery, which is what you want.
[quote]boatguy wrote:
If you are looking to lean out more than gain strength, then Smolov is not for you - unless by weight you meant your bodyweight. Even then, I would recommend eating clean and plenty of it. Don’t try to create a caloric deficit, or even Smolov Jr will bury you. If you are already on a solid eating plan, eating to maintain, I would either stay there or bump it up slightly. The extra calories will help with recovery, which is what you want.[/quote]
This is it. I would almost never recommend smolov to anyone but if you are going to do it be in a calorie surplus or you may crash hard.
[quote]bunnieees94 wrote:
Hey guys, I’m new to all of this [/quote]
Quite possibly one of the best reasons not to do Smolov.
Like others have said, Smolov + caloric deficit = badness.
On a completely different note you could try clusters. That’s something I have found to be quite effective over short periods to quickly boost my max lift. How well they’d work with a caloric deficit is debatable, but I’m fairly sure it’d be less disastrous than Smolov.
For example, you could go for singles at 85% and do as many as you can with 30 second rests. Stop when the bar slows down significantly or you reach 10 reps. The week after do the same with 90%, then a week later with 95%.
I’m currently doing that with my deadlift.
There are some great articles on this site by Christian Thibaudeau about clusters. I’d recommend checking them out.
It seems like you have better options than smolov for your situation but if you’re really set on it, a reduced frequency would help. You would have better luck reducing frequency to 3x per week. The extra recovery time would help to offset the caloric deficit, although not completely.
If you enjoyed the 4x squatting frequency of smolov, maybe check out starting strength with 3x squatting. First few weeks are relatively easy as well for adaption.