Thursday - Day 1 of smolov
A. Front Squats
5 x 7 w. 120
Beltless
no sleeves
done.
Changed the plan a bit, found a groove on front squats and didnt want to fuck with it so I just rolled through for sets.
That should be a good training cycle. Starting at 150 does seem low but at least you won’t fail. Today I’ve come to the conclusion that my lower back always fails on squat and deadlift because my quads and glutes are too weak to help maintain a more upright back angle. My hamstrings are too strong in comparison. Going to run a smolov jr cycle for sumo deadlift and bench soon. I might start a log too.
[quote]lift206 wrote:
That should be a good training cycle. Starting at 150 does seem low but at least you won’t fail. Today I’ve come to the conclusion that my lower back always fails on squat and deadlift because my quads and glutes are too weak to help maintain a more upright back angle. My hamstrings are too strong in comparison. Going to run a smolov jr cycle for sumo deadlift and bench soon. I might start a log too.[/quote]
Yea I had to up my max for this last workout because the more I front squatted the quicker I found my technique and what I was doing wrong. Turns out I wasn’t locking my spine in properly and that is why I could never squat without pain, and now that I figured that out it changed my whole strength level.
It’s funny that is why I chose to run the smolov cycle for front squats, I came to the same conclusion about my squat weaknesses, weak quads and glutes. I definitely suggest you create a log for whatever cycle you run!
Day 2 - More Front Squats
A. Front Squats
45 x 3
95 x 2
7 x 5 w. 145
All sets were done beltless and finally learned how to squat! read the above reply to understand what I mean… too lazy to type it out again haha I am finding that after I am done front squatting I dont really want to do much else lol… oh well will eventually do my assistance work…
Thanks mate…
I think it will be effective…
Day 3 - Pause Squats
A. Front Squats
45 x 3
95 x 2
135 x 1
Well my back hurt too much today to do any more front squatting today and I was about to just scrap it and push back the workout…but after some thinking and reluctance to miss a squat day and change the program I decided to switch to doing pause squats and up the percentages appropriately…
B. High Bar Pause Squats
135 x 3
10 x 3 w. 185
All sets were done beltless and were done with a solid 2-3 sec pause… I am not gonna lie these sets got pretty damn hard around set 6… pretty happy with these though considering hitting 185 for 10 without a pause on high bar pause squats were pretty hard 6 months ago.
I’ve been absent again because I haven’t been training…at all. I hit a huge high bar PR than had to shut things down because my body was wrecked on the surface (knees, elbows, back) and worst of all internally (diabetes). I lost a ton of weight because of not being able to eat, drink, or sleep and in all honesty I thought I was going to die. But I am back, and all though I am as weak as a infant I am fighting my way back up…
Monday
A. Single-Arm DB Clean and Press (prob about 20 sec between sets)
15 x 5
35 x 5
55 x 5
B. Seated Behind the Neck Press
95 x 5
115 x 5, 5
C. Bench - 225 x 2
D. Close-Grip Bench - 2 x 4 w. 185
E. Spoto Bottom End Drives
155 x 15
135 x 20
95 x 35 (feet up in air)
F. Dips
25 x 10
bw x 15
G. Pushdowns - 4 x 15 w. 32.5
So dehydrated didn’t sweat a drop from start to finish…no pump either…
Tuesday
A. High Bar Cambered Bar Squats
130 x 5
160 x 4, 4
185 x 2, 2
B. Mace Swings - 3 x 15 per side
C. Ab Wheel rollouts - 3 x 5, ab walkouts on hands x 7
D. Hanging Leg Raises - bw x 10, 10, 10, 9
E. Plate Rows - 3 x 15 w. 35s
F. Pull ups - 2 x 12
Well it’s been awhile… but I’ve been consistently training enough that posting will make sense again and actually be useful so…
Monday - Bench
A. Chain Bench (80 lbs of chain)
Hit:
3 x 3 w. 175
B. Close-Grip Chain bench to a 2 board (Rest pause, 30 sec between mini sets)
160 x 5/2
145 x 8/3
C. Close-Grip 1 board Press (no chains)
145 x 20
Band pushdowns x 13 s/s 145 x 12
Band pushdowns x 20 s/s 145 x 10
D. Barbell Extensions
55 x 20
55 x 20
Band pushdowns x 20 s/s 55 x 20
Band Pushdowns x 20 s/s 55 x 15
E. Incline Chain Flyes
40 lbs of chain per hand x 15
40 x 12
40 x 10
40 x 10, 40 x 5 presses
Done
Tuesday - Arms and Shoulders Volume
A1. EZ Bar Curls (3 sec neg) - 4 x 8 w. 60
A2. Hammer Curls (stopping arms at 90*) - 4 x 12 w. 10s
B1. Alternating Supinating DB Curls (4R-4L-3-3-2-2-1-1) - 3 x 10 w. 25’s
B2. Reverse Curls - 3 x 8 w. 30
C1. Band Pushdowns (1 sec flex) - 4 x 10 w. black band
C2. Close-Grip Pushups - 4 x 12
D. Manual Triceps extensions - 6 x 8
E. Rear Delt Flies - 3 x 20 w. 10’s
F. Lateral Raises
3 x 12 w. 10’s
4 x 6 w. 25’s
G. 6-Ways 3 x 10 w. 5’s
Welcome back!
[quote]lift206 wrote:
Welcome back![/quote]
Thanks man it feels good to be back!
Things got crazy there for awhile. How’s life and lifting been treating you?
[quote]kjmont wrote:
[quote]lift206 wrote:
Welcome back![/quote]
Thanks man it feels good to be back!
Things got crazy there for awhile. How’s life and lifting been treating you?
[/quote]
Well hopefully you can get some consistent lifting in to make progress. Any plans for what your training will look like?
With regard to life, I’m starting to make better decisions to get more rest. I commute at least 2 hours each day for work and take a class for my Master’s. I decided to take naps whenever I get home and can’t concentrate on school. I’d rather procrastinate and be rested than procrastinate and fell like shit, haha. It was a lot easier to manage time when being a full-time student.
Lifting has been going well. I made a 30 lb PR on front squat over the last cycle and I’ll see how that translates to comp squat and deadlift this week. I’ve been making a strong effort to address and understand form issues over the past 6 months and it’s been paying off.
[quote]lift206 wrote:
[quote]kjmont wrote:
[quote]lift206 wrote:
Welcome back![/quote]
Thanks man it feels good to be back!
Things got crazy there for awhile. How’s life and lifting been treating you?
[/quote]
Well hopefully you can get some consistent lifting in to make progress. Any plans for what your training will look like?
With regard to life, I’m starting to make better decisions to get more rest. I commute at least 2 hours each day for work and take a class for my Master’s. I decided to take naps whenever I get home and can’t concentrate on school. I’d rather procrastinate and be rested than procrastinate and fell like shit, haha. It was a lot easier to manage time when being a full-time student.
Lifting has been going well. I made a 30 lb PR on front squat over the last cycle and I’ll see how that translates to comp squat and deadlift this week. I’ve been making a strong effort to address and understand form issues over the past 6 months and it’s been paying off.[/quote]
That’s whats up man I’m doing the exact same thing, better time management and choices and not dicking around so much lol
That’s funny I am doing the same thing lifting wise too, but on the flip side I had to drop all high bar and Front Squat work, even though they are great exercises for a lot of people. They aren’t so great for me. I would get stronger, but it’d be a race to get a PR before I got hurt; I just don’t know how to keep myself braced hard enough on this exercises without wrecking my back.
As far as a training cycle goes, I don’t have any pre-planned percentages but I do have a pretty good Idea.
Monday
Monday is my Heavy Speed Day for Bench. Right now I am using 80 lbs of chain, and I come in and plan on hitting it for 3-7 sets. I only stop the sets when my speed drops below a certain point. The next week I’ll either add sets, weight, or both depending on the bar speed. I want to continue to hit sets of 3 for a total of 3-4 weeks. Than I’ll drop down to doubles and do the same process for 3sh weeks.
My assistance work is based around my weakpoints which are my triceps, shoulders, and overall speed
Tuesday
This is just my light high rep pump work for my weakpoints and whatever doesn’t get much love on Monday or on any other day of the week so Triceps, Biceps, and Shoulders
Wednesday
My Heavy Speed Day for Squats. Same thing here as Monday, however I am using sets of 4-5 reps during this phase, and my accessories are pretty limited this day because by the time I am done all the heavy Squats I am pretty spent. My weaknesses are upper back/core strength and glutes. I usually only do 2 sets of 5 sec pause squats, either some hamstring pump work or single leg work, 4 sets of band bad girls, and some abs. But this day always goes by feel, alot more so than all the other days of the week.
Thursday
My leg/weakpoint pump volume and recovery day. Pretty simple here just leg extensions, leg press or belt squats, and single leg work
Friday
My assistance work for bench. Pretty straight forward here. 4-5 sets of Incline, 4-5 sets of dumbbell presses, 3 working up sets of Overhead press, than upper back work (traps oriented)
Saturday
My deadlift day, just 2-3 sets of doubles here off a deficit for speed with 40 lbs of chain. Than I’ll do one all out, high rep set. Than I’ll hit 3-5 exercises for upper back and 1 exercise for hamstrings and glutes.
I’ll keep this volume for as long as I can and when I start slowing down or plateauing, I’ll deload, reduce the volume and up the intensity and keep it moving.
I wonder if you could’ve made improvements in technique for front and high bar squat. I’ve improved my comp squat technique mainly by strengthening and learning to maintain good position in my upper back and hips. Did you have lower or upper back pain? I know my lower back would be fucked if I ran smolov for front squat and performed it the way I did in the past.
[quote]lift206 wrote:
I wonder if you could’ve made improvements in technique for front and high bar squat. I’ve improved my comp squat technique mainly by strengthening and learning to maintain good position in my upper back and hips. Did you have lower or upper back pain? I know my lower back would be fucked if I ran smolov for front squat and performed it the way I did in the past.[/quote]
I have tried and I am sure I could have but I really fucked myself by getting beyond beginner strength with a lack of understanding of proper technique and making sure everything is firing. Hitting a 500 deadlift with a 275 squat, with the ab and leg strength to squat 225 does not feel good on the lower back lol So atm I am using what I am slowly learning and ingraining what things I am finally figuring out how to apply. I had a consistently wrecked lower back because of lack of overall tightness, poor elbow positioning and not keeping the lats firing, weak abs not being able to stay braised under heavy loads nor long enough on moderately heavy sets, chest collapsing, poor flexibility, and last but not least my glutes not firing. In short I have been a train wreck but I figured once I get everything down to the point where it is all automatic I can make my way back around to variations.
And yea smolov was a terrible idea with all these problems lol
Wednesday - Squats, Fail, and Squats again
Warm up
Cats and Camels s/s with Mckenzie push ups - 3 x 10 each
Goblet Squats - 2 x 10
Split Squats - 2 x 8
Hip Airplanes - 1 x 10
Mace Swings - 10 x 10, 8 per side
A. Squats
95 x 3
135 x 2
added belt
195 x 1
Added Knee wraps
235 x 3
245 x 4
250 x 4
255 x 0
I think I have used knee wraps on 3 occasions total in my life and I really need to figure them out at a separate time. They were throwing me off the entire workout, squats were about an inch high and this set I sat back too much, lost my balance and had to ditch the bar. Ended up breaking the tip of my pinky during the ditch.
Decided to call it a day and took a nap.
Woke up an hour later and me being me I have a REALLY hard time calling it quits and decided it was time for round two.
After much debate I decided I was only going to do some lighter assistance work.
Warm up:
Did some band tractioning
mace swings - 10 x 8, 4
Was really surprised how good I felt considering my lower back was tweaked as always, but warming up I FINALLY figured out my elbow positioning and was able to stay completely tight and squat with zero pain as opposed to slight pain and my plan went out the window…
A. Squats
45 x 3
95 x 3
135 x 2
175 x 1
Added Belt
210 x 1
235 x 1
255 x 4 (Much better depth and a pain management, never got worse than a 4/10)
B. Single-Leg Banded Glute Bridges - Black band x 10, 10, 8
C. Band Bad Girls - Short black band x 12, 12, 12, 12
D. EZ Bar Windmills - 20 x 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6
Much better second session than the first, and the second session had no stimulants, not food preworkout, minimal prep, no music. Technique really makes the difference.
[quote]kjmont wrote:
[quote]lift206 wrote:
I wonder if you could’ve made improvements in technique for front and high bar squat. I’ve improved my comp squat technique mainly by strengthening and learning to maintain good position in my upper back and hips. Did you have lower or upper back pain? I know my lower back would be fucked if I ran smolov for front squat and performed it the way I did in the past.[/quote]
I have tried and I am sure I could have but I really fucked myself by getting beyond beginner strength with a lack of understanding of proper technique and making sure everything is firing. Hitting a 500 deadlift with a 275 squat, with the ab and leg strength to squat 225 does not feel good on the lower back lol So atm I am using what I am slowly learning and ingraining what things I am finally figuring out how to apply. I had a consistently wrecked lower back because of lack of overall tightness, poor elbow positioning and not keeping the lats firing, weak abs not being able to stay braised under heavy loads nor long enough on moderately heavy sets, chest collapsing, poor flexibility, and last but not least my glutes not firing. In short I have been a train wreck but I figured once I get everything down to the point where it is all automatic I can make my way back around to variations.
And yea smolov was a terrible idea with all these problems lol[/quote]
A 275 squat and 500 deadlift!? Wow that’s ridiculous lol. The most I’ve pulled was 150 over my squat.
Smolov can be a double edged sword. Personally it has been one of my favorite training tools when used for the purpose of lifting heavy and trying to maintain good form. I have pushed to failure often with it and it provides a fast learning curve with all that practice. I really need a lot of practice to ingrain good motor patterns lol. I like the fact that I can learn what works and what doesn’t by investing a lot of effort (through all the repetitions) to give a fair assessment but I don’t really lose that much time since it’s only 6 weeks long.
[quote]lift206 wrote:
[quote]kjmont wrote:
[quote]lift206 wrote:
I wonder if you could’ve made improvements in technique for front and high bar squat. I’ve improved my comp squat technique mainly by strengthening and learning to maintain good position in my upper back and hips. Did you have lower or upper back pain? I know my lower back would be fucked if I ran smolov for front squat and performed it the way I did in the past.[/quote]
I have tried and I am sure I could have but I really fucked myself by getting beyond beginner strength with a lack of understanding of proper technique and making sure everything is firing. Hitting a 500 deadlift with a 275 squat, with the ab and leg strength to squat 225 does not feel good on the lower back lol So atm I am using what I am slowly learning and ingraining what things I am finally figuring out how to apply. I had a consistently wrecked lower back because of lack of overall tightness, poor elbow positioning and not keeping the lats firing, weak abs not being able to stay braised under heavy loads nor long enough on moderately heavy sets, chest collapsing, poor flexibility, and last but not least my glutes not firing. In short I have been a train wreck but I figured once I get everything down to the point where it is all automatic I can make my way back around to variations.
And yea smolov was a terrible idea with all these problems lol[/quote]
A 275 squat and 500 deadlift!? Wow that’s ridiculous lol. The most I’ve pulled was 150 over my squat.
Smolov can be a double edged sword. Personally it has been one of my favorite training tools when used for the purpose of lifting heavy and trying to maintain good form. I have pushed to failure often with it and it provides a fast learning curve with all that practice. I really need a lot of practice to ingrain good motor patterns lol. I like the fact that I can learn what works and what doesn’t by investing a lot of effort (through all the repetitions) to give a fair assessment but I don’t really lose that much time since it’s only 6 weeks long.[/quote]
Yea and 275 is being generous, even after leg drive I was essential in a goodmorning position. Imagine a scared and pissed off cat trying its best to shit out its spine, and that’s what my squat and deadlifts looked like haha. I learned a lot about myself from smolov, the biggest being that I am great at reps, I suck at multiple sets, after a certain % everything felt horrible and pain got the best of me because I would focus on sets and reps done, not the quality of the reps. So now I am trying to work with my lazy mind as opposed to muscle through it.
Thursday - Change of plans and I like it, Deads
Warm up
Back tractioning with band
Goblet squats x 8
Band Bad Girls x 8, 6
Bulgarian Split Squats x 6, 4
Hip Airplanes x 6/side
Mace Swings x 10/ side
A. Sumo Deads
135 x 1
185 x 1
10 x 1 w. 245
300 x 5 touch and go
B. Paused Sumo Deads (2" off the ground)
185 x 5
2 x 5 w. 200
C. One-Arm Barbell Shrugs with Giant Cambered Bar - 3 x 12/side w. 85
D. Chin ups “21’s” Style - 2 x 12, 1 x 15
E. Barbell Shrugs - 5 x 5 w. 135
Very happy with this workout, last week I hit 315 for 1 wearing a belt, core collapsed, fell forward and it was a total mess. I did this fresh with no squats or leg work for 5 days prior. This week hit 300 for 5 the day after squats, no belt, great positioning. Improving fast.