So are you competing soon or something? Or just doing peaking cycles for shits and giggles
No competitions just doing stuff for the hell of it.
why not go all the way through the switching and intense phases then? Hell you’ve done half the program already, don’t you want to finish it?
I was actually thinking to do that. Will probably go throuh Smolov Jr. then try to do the intense phase for deadlift.
[quote]BostjanBavcon wrote:
I was actually thinking to do that. Will probably go throuh Smolov Jr. then try to do the intense phase for deadlift. [/quote]
Bad plan IMO. The smolov cycle was meant to be done as a unit–meaning base, switch, intense.
But hey, do what you like. the switch phase is supposed to be two weeks long of pure speed work leaving the spinal loading out of the equation
It’s meant specifically to supercompensate and recover from the base meso volume.
Leaving aside the craziness of the experiment in the first place, i think you should commit to doing the experiment properly all the way through to see if it pays off as written before throwing things around.
Good point.
[quote]BostjanBavcon wrote:
Good point. [/quote]
If you do decide to do the experiment all the way through with the switching phase, remember the goal of the switching phase is basically to deload the spine and the slow speed strength and focus on explosive strength and power. So don’t deadlift a bunch or heavy. I would stick to plyos, olympic lifts if you have the technical familiarity to perform them correctly, and high pulls. Essentially train your bench like normal and your lower body with a focus to jumps and depth jumps, bounds, throws, high pulls or olympic lifts (but not done to your limit or even close–you NEED the recovery to be paramount as well as the speed. Keep the loads things you can dominate confidently and with good form), and things like glute bridges (aka barbell or dumbbell loaded “hip thrusts”) for assistance work. Train back normally as well, to shore up any glaring weak spots.
If I remember correctly the original Smolov for squat called for heavy squat negatives once a week during the 2 week switching phase. I do not think heavy negatives with a deadlift have ANY benefit whatsoever and would discourage you from doing them. If you were really worried about your strength going down I would do one–ONE–heavy deadlift session the end of the first week of the speed phase (i.e., friday). This would not be to a PR attempt no matter how good you feel, but rather around 90% of your max before starting the base mesocycle (not the max for your upcoming Intense phase).
I do not remember off hand when you test your max to get ready for the Intense phase, so if the program calls for you to test your new DL max in the first week of the speed switch phase, don’t deadlift heavy again or even put a DL bar in your hand at all. If the max test comes as a separate block from the speed/switch phase then you can go ahead and do a low volume heavy lift one time during the speed phase.
So after I finished base mesocycle for the deadlift (i took 350 as my max) I did Smolov JR for bench press (I took 225) as my max.
I finished Smolov JR last wednesday and on Saturday pulled 440 deadlift (equal to my all time best PR, my previous max was 405) and I also benched (only 3 days off from benching) and finally managed to bench 265 with a pretty long pause (2 seconds) @ 160 BW.
Almost 3x BW deadlift.
So to recap: I went from deadlifting 4 times a week for 3 weeks to benchin 4 times a week (didn’t pull a single deadlift at the time, no speed work no nothing) and finiseh with a 45 pound PR on the deadlift and 12 pounds on the bench (my previous max was 253).
Maybe if I took a total week off from benching like it’s in tjhe program I would have benched more. Still I got a PR!
I just might try to do the intense phase for the deadlift now.
Also it really helps to pause your bench. I took 225 as my max and was doing pauses from 3-5 seconds. Also teaches you to stay tight.
Also all benching is done with a close grip due to shoulder problems.
Glad to see you updated us with results and that you did well. That type of training really makes you think about the standard approach of tons of accessory work and low frequency doesn’t it? There’s more than one way to skin a cat, and this is a good way.
It really does. I loved it.
[quote]BostjanBavcon wrote:
It really does. I loved it.[/quote]
Now we’re cookin with gas! Nice work. It’s killer isn’t it? This type of training has to be approached intelligently because otherwise you CAN injure yourself from repeated strain, but it’s not death to do and it works if you do it intelligently.
In another thread we mentioned that Klokov talks about deadlifting daily, and he deadlifts about 700 lbs. He’s an extreme example…and he’s fucking Klokov. But high frequency can totally work lol.
[quote]panzerfaust wrote:
In for results, be they death or supreme strength![/quote]
pretty much guessing supreme strength on this one lol. He topped out at a 3x bw pull.
[quote]Aragorn wrote:
[quote]BostjanBavcon wrote:
It really does. I loved it.[/quote]
Now we’re cookin with gas! Nice work. It’s killer isn’t it? This type of training has to be approached intelligently because otherwise you CAN injure yourself from repeated strain, but it’s not death to do and it works if you do it intelligently.
In another thread we mentioned that Klokov talks about deadlifting daily, and he deadlifts about 700 lbs. He’s an extreme example…and he’s fucking Klokov. But high frequency can totally work lol.[/quote]
Yeah I guess high frequnecy really leads to a high pay off.
I also have a friend who structures his training around mini cycles all the time. He says he can pull every day IF the volume and intensity is low enough.
I really like the fact that you can deadlift 4 times per week even if you’re not born a genetic mutant like Klokov and do it drug free. People were telling me all the time that you need to be on drugs in order to do it.
Smart planning goes a long way. Just like Paul Carter/Jim Wendler said: don’t live and die by your 1RM.
What needs to be taken into consideration is this too: my caloric intake was high, I slept for 10 hours every day, my stress was non existant and my assistance work was limited to daily mastrubation. In the beginning I did some BW chins and rows then I just dropped all of it and just deadlifted.
I’m also doing this for the sole fact that people say it can’t be done. Also, while doing it I’m cutting from 165ish to 148 for a meet August 10th. I’m on my second rep cycle of the Smolov Jr meso. I entered a very conservative max of 405 (best lifts are 455 sumo, 435 convo) and I’ve been alternating between convo and sumo depending on how my back feels. So far my sumo pull feels the tightest it’s ever felt. Lookin to pull 3x bodyweight in my 2nd weight class (previous best bodyweight was 407lbs at 126.6lbs bodyweight at USAPL Raw Nats in 2011). I’ll let you guys know how it ends up
As Pete Rubish would say: KILL IT! YEAAAAAAAAAAAAH FUCK!
on topic: I pulled 405 for 3 today beltless for the first time. Felt really good.
[quote]BostjanBavcon wrote:
[quote]Aragorn wrote:
[quote]BostjanBavcon wrote:
It really does. I loved it.[/quote]
Now we’re cookin with gas! Nice work. It’s killer isn’t it? This type of training has to be approached intelligently because otherwise you CAN injure yourself from repeated strain, but it’s not death to do and it works if you do it intelligently.
In another thread we mentioned that Klokov talks about deadlifting daily, and he deadlifts about 700 lbs. He’s an extreme example…and he’s fucking Klokov. But high frequency can totally work lol.[/quote]
Yeah I guess high frequnecy really leads to a high pay off.
I also have a friend who structures his training around mini cycles all the time. He says he can pull every day IF the volume and intensity is low enough.
I really like the fact that you can deadlift 4 times per week even if you’re not born a genetic mutant like Klokov and do it drug free. People were telling me all the time that you need to be on drugs in order to do it.
Smart planning goes a long way. Just like Paul Carter/Jim Wendler said: don’t live and die by your 1RM.
What needs to be taken into consideration is this too: my caloric intake was high, I slept for 10 hours every day, my stress was non existant and my assistance work was limited to daily mastrubation. In the beginning I did some BW chins and rows then I just dropped all of it and just deadlifted.[/quote]
I am in envy of you if you can sleep ten hours a day! Interesting note about assistance work, by the way. Do you feel that it helped your grip strength? lol
No grip problems I pull with a hook grip. 