Russian Squat Journal

[John19]

I've decided to have a go at the Russian Squat Program, a few people have expressed an interest so I'll be keeping a journal for the next 6 weeks and see how I go.

Background
20 yo
80kg
Bodyfat 17%
I've been weight training for about 9 months

Bench: 98.5kg
Deadlift: 149.5kg
Squat: 116kg (not for too long I hope)


For the past couple of weeks I've just been testing some of my maxes and before that I did the 20 rep squat routine for about a week, lol. Anyway, the 6 week format for the Russian Squat Program is:

Day 1 Day 2 Day 3
Week 1 80% 6 sets of 2 80% 6 sets of 3 80% 6 sets of 2
Week 2 80% 6 sets of 4 80% 6 sets of 2 80% 6 sets of 5
Week 3 80% 6 sets of 2 80% 6 sets of 6 80% 6 sets of 2
Week 4 85% 5 sets of 5 80% 6 sets of 2 90% 4 sets of 4
Week 5 80% 6 sets of 2 95% 3 sets of 3 80% 6 sets of 2
Week 6 100% 2 sets of 2 80% 6 sets of 2 105% new max

I have a fair bit of room for improvement in the squat department so I'm hoping that i can expected a bigger gain than 5%.

WEEK 1 DAY 1

Squats: 93kg x 6 x 2
Power cleans: 66kgx3, 81kgx1, 83kgx1
Sit ups: 40 x 2

The squats were too easy so I threw in a couple of power cleans just for fun but I probably won't be doing this later on (From the looks of things week 2 will be a lot tougher). I haven't done any ab work for god knows how long so I just did a couple of sets of situps to see where Im at.

 

[asdfzxcv]

Another aussie on the boards with similiar stats to me,I look forward to following this.What are your plans for accessory lifts during the 6 weeks or are you just going to see how it goes?

 

[John19]

Another aussie on the boards with similiar stats to me,I look forward to following this.What are your plans for accessory lifts during the 6 weeks or are you just going to see how it goes?

I'd really like to keep doing power cleans but if things get too tough I might be forced to take them out. I'll also be doing military press (or push press), pullups and dips. So it will look something like this:

Workout 1
Squats
Power cleans
Military press or Push press
Abs

Workout 2
Squats
Dips
Pullups
Abs

Can you think of anything I should add or take out?

 

[blut wump]

Good luck.

 

[BiggT]

Good luck, I'm sibscribed.

 

[Jim Ouini]

Good luck with it. I'd like to try it sometime myself. Maybe when I retire lol.

Anyway, I believe this is one of the toughest programs around. Both Blut Wump and I (that I know of) have run Korte and I heard this one makes it seem like a walk in the park.

 

[Cynical Simian]

Thanks for taking the time to do a journal...subscribed.

 

[anotherbutters]

I hate to spoil the party, since nobody's run a journal on the Smolov before, but am I the only one wondering why you're attempting this at this point in your training?

Good luck anyway, I'll be watching too!

 

[Cynical Simian]

but am I the only one wondering why you're attempting this at this point in your training?

Nope. I was thinking the same thing, but, as you said, didn't want to "spoil the party".

AB has a good point: you could probably be adding 5% to your squat every two weeks with any reasonable linear program.

 

[blut wump]

Rather than an unreasonable linear program, you mean. Of those who attack the Smolov, many stop after the brutal first half rather than deloading and then diving into the brutal second half.

Actually, I just looked at his projected squatting. I'm not acquainted with this version of the program. The one I know starts with sets of 9 reps on the first day at 70% intensity.

Here's this one:
http://www.pitt.edu/~fmy1/weightlifting/routine-russian.html

and a calculator for it:
http://www.exrx.net/WeightTraining/RussianSquatProgramGenerator.html