I am considering doing the Smolov routine (not the Smolov Jr.) for my front squat. Here is my concern. I understand that you are not to do deadlifts during the Smolov routine. If you have done Smolov or know something about it, how does taking a couple of months off from deadlifting affect your deadlifts when you return to doing them? I imagine deadlift assistance exercises, i.e. pull-throughs and good mornings, would be off-limits as well.
I also understand you should not do barbell rows during the Smolov. What about something like one-arm dumbell rows?
Also, given that you are not supposed to deadlifts, does that also mean you are not supposed to do cleans from the floor? That seems counter-intuitive given that the Smolov was developed for Oly lifters.
Smolov’s always been a powerlifitng program. I’ve heard from a few people that have done if for weightlifting that it tightened them up and slowed down their positions.
The no deadlift/barbell row idea is to avoid as much stress as possible on your lower back since all the squatting will kill it. I did speed pulls and weighted hypers on the first day of each week when I did the base meso and it worked well for me. I actually pulled PR coming off of it.
There’s LOTS of stuff you can do for your lats that don’t involve massive amounts of lower back stress anyway sure.
If you haven’t already, check out Stallion’s log on his smolov front squat cycles.
I did a lot of stuff during my Smolov experience that people said I should not have, but I was lucky to be in a place where all I did (literally) was eat sleep and lift. I PR’d my bench, did bentover and T-bar rows(switched to T-bar for variety, and to save my lower back a bit), basically pushed weights up on every lift I was doing.
As far as the deadlifting, the form is similar to a PL squat so you can drop one move for a few weeks and not lose anything on it, but since you are doing front squat, that would obviously be different.
Since it is a different movement(quad dominant), I would think you could still dealift during the cycles. Just don’t try to max, move up to heavy 3-5 rep sets or so.
As far as Oly lifting, the original program specifically says no speed work during the base cycle, so do what you want with that. My opinion would be that doing extra work with lighter weights shouldn’t tax your system enough that it would impact your FS goals. If you try it, just listen to your body, and watch for signs of overtraining.
I went 3/4 of the way through the Smolov routine for back squats. I did minimal deadlifting (twice per month, low reps at~ 80%), but continued with accessory lifts like BB rows.
I achieved a 45 lb increase on my squat, and was also able to hit a PR on my deadlift.
There is A LOT of carryover from the Smolov squat routine to deadlifts.