i also ran the base cycle from smolov. filled in an estimated 1rm of 180kilo (i probably couldnt hit it @ the time). at the end of the 3 weeks i finished it with a 195kilo squat. bw went from 87 to 89kilo and my waist dropped from 89,5 to 87,5cm. also gained a few cm’s on my legs in that period.
- Cycle-Base
- Status-Completed
- Gain-10kg (22lbs) in back squat (160kg before and 170kg after)
- Synopsis- I gained around 3kg on this program but not much of it seems to be fat although I ate a fair amount of junk food. I didn?t miss any reps. My legs became much bigger. On some days I felt a little bit of knee pain but nothing too bad. I did no other exercises except for one time when I did a couple of pull-ups because I was bored of all the squatting. The hardest days for me were the last two workout of the second week and I think it was mainly due to me not sleeping and eating enough.
My lower back was sore throughout the whole of the program. I stretched a lot and I think that really helped. I didn?t use any wraps or belts for my squats. I did bellow parallel, close stance, high bar squats as I feel this type of squat is best for me. I had long rests between sets and pauses between the last reps. Another plus is that my technique improved a lot.
All in all I found the program to be fun? well most of the days. It was a good physical and psychological challenge and I?m really proud I went all the way. I?m not planning on running the rest of the program as I feel that my upper-body strength has really suffered. In a couple of months I?ll run the base cycle one more time though, no doubt about that.
[quote]Pederalisimus wrote:
- Cycle-Base
- Status-Completed
- Gain-10kg (22lbs) in back squat (160kg before and 170kg after)
- Synopsis- I gained around 3kg on this program but not much of it seems to be fat although I ate a fair amount of junk food. I didn?t miss any reps. My legs became much bigger. On some days I felt a little bit of knee pain but nothing too bad. I did no other exercises except for one time when I did a couple of pull-ups because I was bored of all the squatting. The hardest days for me were the last two workout of the second week and I think it was mainly due to me not sleeping and eating enough.
My lower back was sore throughout the whole of the program. I stretched a lot and I think that really helped. I didn?t use any wraps or belts for my squats. I did bellow parallel, close stance, high bar squats as I feel this type of squat is best for me. I had long rests between sets and pauses between the last reps. Another plus is that my technique improved a lot.
All in all I found the program to be fun? well most of the days. It was a good physical and psychological challenge and I?m really proud I went all the way. I?m not planning on running the rest of the program as I feel that my upper-body strength has really suffered. In a couple of months I?ll run the base cycle one more time though, no doubt about that.
[/quote]
Good job on completing it. I know a lot of guys try to keep from using their belts too much, but do you think the lack of belt may have contributed to the lower back pain? I started using mine for any sets over 60% as I was having a bit of back pain while squating and it seems to have disappeared. Just a thought. But congrats on fisnihing. Are you going to do the intense cycle?
[quote]Re.po wrote:
[quote]Pederalisimus wrote:
- Cycle-Base
- Status-Completed
- Gain-10kg (22lbs) in back squat (160kg before and 170kg after)
- Synopsis- I gained around 3kg on this program but not much of it seems to be fat although I ate a fair amount of junk food. I didn?t miss any reps. My legs became much bigger. On some days I felt a little bit of knee pain but nothing too bad. I did no other exercises except for one time when I did a couple of pull-ups because I was bored of all the squatting. The hardest days for me were the last two workout of the second week and I think it was mainly due to me not sleeping and eating enough.
My lower back was sore throughout the whole of the program. I stretched a lot and I think that really helped. I didn?t use any wraps or belts for my squats. I did bellow parallel, close stance, high bar squats as I feel this type of squat is best for me. I had long rests between sets and pauses between the last reps. Another plus is that my technique improved a lot.
All in all I found the program to be fun? well most of the days. It was a good physical and psychological challenge and I?m really proud I went all the way. I?m not planning on running the rest of the program as I feel that my upper-body strength has really suffered. In a couple of months I?ll run the base cycle one more time though, no doubt about that.
[/quote]
Good job on completing it. I know a lot of guys try to keep from using their belts too much, but do you think the lack of belt may have contributed to the lower back pain? I started using mine for any sets over 60% as I was having a bit of back pain while squating and it seems to have disappeared. Just a thought. But congrats on fisnihing. Are you going to do the intense cycle?[/quote]
Says he’s not going to do it in his post.
Good job though, 10kg in 4 weeks (inc. max test) is great.
Thanks! I was aiming at 20kg increase but I realised that was too optimistic. I think that if I had used a belt my lower back would be less sore but would not become stronger.
[quote]jake_j_m wrote:
[quote]Re.po wrote:
[quote]Pederalisimus wrote:
- Cycle-Base
- Status-Completed
- Gain-10kg (22lbs) in back squat (160kg before and 170kg after)
- Synopsis- I gained around 3kg on this program but not much of it seems to be fat although I ate a fair amount of junk food. I didn?t miss any reps. My legs became much bigger. On some days I felt a little bit of knee pain but nothing too bad. I did no other exercises except for one time when I did a couple of pull-ups because I was bored of all the squatting. The hardest days for me were the last two workout of the second week and I think it was mainly due to me not sleeping and eating enough.
My lower back was sore throughout the whole of the program. I stretched a lot and I think that really helped. I didn?t use any wraps or belts for my squats. I did bellow parallel, close stance, high bar squats as I feel this type of squat is best for me. I had long rests between sets and pauses between the last reps. Another plus is that my technique improved a lot.
All in all I found the program to be fun? well most of the days. It was a good physical and psychological challenge and I?m really proud I went all the way. I?m not planning on running the rest of the program as I feel that my upper-body strength has really suffered. In a couple of months I?ll run the base cycle one more time though, no doubt about that.
[/quote]
Good job on completing it. I know a lot of guys try to keep from using their belts too much, but do you think the lack of belt may have contributed to the lower back pain? I started using mine for any sets over 60% as I was having a bit of back pain while squating and it seems to have disappeared. Just a thought. But congrats on fisnihing. Are you going to do the intense cycle?[/quote]
Says he’s not going to do it in his post.
Good job though, 10kg in 4 weeks (inc. max test) is great. [/quote]
Guess I miss read, thanks for pointing that out.
[quote]Pederalisimus wrote:
Thanks! I was aiming at 20kg increase but I realised that was too optimistic. I think that if I had used a belt my lower back would be less sore but would not become stronger.[/quote]
I feel you on the lower back. That mixed with hip flexor soreness plagued me since I squat very wide.
I personally do not see any problem with using a belt. I personally choose to save it for 75%+ ranges but hell if there might be days where I want it for low weights too. GJ with the progression though, ever think you will run it again?
[quote]Achilles of war wrote:
[quote]Pederalisimus wrote:
Thanks! I was aiming at 20kg increase but I realised that was too optimistic. I think that if I had used a belt my lower back would be less sore but would not become stronger.[/quote]
I feel you on the lower back. That mixed with hip flexor soreness plagued me since I squat very wide.
I personally do not see any problem with using a belt. I personally choose to save it for 75%+ ranges but hell if there might be days where I want it for low weights too. GJ with the progression though, ever think you will run it again? [/quote]
Definitely!
- Base mesocycle
- Status: Completed
- Gain: 35 lbs (went from 315 to 350)
- Synopsis: Started the program right after I finished nationals. I had cut down to 66 kg for nationals and was only able to get a 308 lbs squat (previous best was 325 (at 68kg) at provincials in Jan.) But back at training weight could most likely hit a 315. I did the introductory cycle, the base mesocycle, as well as the switching phase, started the Intense cycle this week, but for some reason squat was not there and had trouble hitting the right weights and my form was awful, so I stopped the program.
Intro cycle was pretty brutal and it gave the most doms (especially the first week) Hardest part of the base mesocycle was the 7x5 and 10x3 days, 4x9 and 5x7 we’re easy. I realized the during the base meso that I wasn’t eating enough, so I ate more and my weight went up 2kg to 71 kg. Wasn’tt deadlifting at all during the program so don’t know how it is, (will find out soon though) and bench had it’s normal progression. I felt so strong after the base mesocycle. Where did my squat go?!?!!
If you don’t eat enough the program will kill you. You probably didn’t eat enough to recover, would be my guess.
[quote]ThePhiler wrote:
- Base mesocycle
- Status: Completed
- Gain: 35 lbs (went from 315 to 350)
- Synopsis: Started the program right after I finished nationals. I had cut down to 66 kg for nationals and was only able to get a 308 lbs squat (previous best was 325 (at 68kg) at provincials in Jan.) But back at training weight could most likely hit a 315. I did the introductory cycle, the base mesocycle, as well as the switching phase, started the Intense cycle this week, but for some reason squat was not there and had trouble hitting the right weights and my form was awful, so I stopped the program.
Intro cycle was pretty brutal and it gave the most doms (especially the first week) Hardest part of the base mesocycle was the 7x5 and 10x3 days, 4x9 and 5x7 we’re easy. I realized the during the base meso that I wasn’t eating enough, so I ate more and my weight went up 2kg to 71 kg. Wasn’tt deadlifting at all during the program so don’t know how it is, (will find out soon though) and bench had it’s normal progression. I felt so strong after the base mesocycle. Where did my squat go?!?!![/quote]
OMG THIS HAPPENED TO ME ALSO!! I felt on top of the world once the base cycle was done and was excited to see what the intense phase would bring.
WELL it brought awful form and constnatly grinding out reps that I got without too much difficulty during the base cycle.
I dunno. Maybe I just ran outta gas or somethin’. I lasted about 1.5 weeks of the intense and then I called it quits.
Smolov is a lottttt of volume, especially if you are coming from something like the P-chart or 531. The intensive burns a lot of people out. If you liked the volume try something out like Sheiko, then redo Smolov in 5-6 months and I guarantee the Intensive will be a different story.
You know I never actually posted my results from the intense cycle. Ran the whole of Smolov and finished after intense with 485 squat. I got a ton of gains from this, more than they say is average. I got up close to 400lbs before I started Smolov and my body just seemed to respond really well to the volume giving me nearly 100 pounds on my max after running the program in full.
I will say though that the intense cycle was pretty close to burning me out. On the days where you did 5 sets of 5 with 90% of your intense cycle max, I couldn’t complete all of that without a spotter. Was the first time I actually started missing reps in the program.
Will definitely try it again in a few months. Going to back off on the weight and change form though. I ran Smolov squatting extremely wide, especially for a raw lifter, and I am finding it very difficult to get low enough every time.
Edit: Was going to add for people concerned about deadlifts; I didn’t deadlift at all during the whole 12 weeks that I ran Smolov. After it was done, I pulled 500 and it felt easier than ever, so my deadlift definitely didn’t go anywhere.
[quote]Spock81 wrote:
[quote]ThePhiler wrote:
- Base mesocycle
- Status: Completed
- Gain: 35 lbs (went from 315 to 350)
- Synopsis: Started the program right after I finished nationals. I had cut down to 66 kg for nationals and was only able to get a 308 lbs squat (previous best was 325 (at 68kg) at provincials in Jan.) But back at training weight could most likely hit a 315. I did the introductory cycle, the base mesocycle, as well as the switching phase, started the Intense cycle this week, but for some reason squat was not there and had trouble hitting the right weights and my form was awful, so I stopped the program.
Intro cycle was pretty brutal and it gave the most doms (especially the first week) Hardest part of the base mesocycle was the 7x5 and 10x3 days, 4x9 and 5x7 we’re easy. I realized the during the base meso that I wasn’t eating enough, so I ate more and my weight went up 2kg to 71 kg. Wasn’tt deadlifting at all during the program so don’t know how it is, (will find out soon though) and bench had it’s normal progression. I felt so strong after the base mesocycle. Where did my squat go?!?!![/quote]
OMG THIS HAPPENED TO ME ALSO!! I felt on top of the world once the base cycle was done and was excited to see what the intense phase would bring.
WELL it brought awful form and constnatly grinding out reps that I got without too much difficulty during the base cycle.
I dunno. Maybe I just ran outta gas or somethin’. I lasted about 1.5 weeks of the intense and then I called it quits. [/quote]
Did you do the switching phase? I felt the switching phase was almost 2 weeks off, compared to the meso. I’d never done cleans before so had to learn that in 2 training days, box squats in the first week felt awesome, then the second week could not move up in weight because every rep felt like a grind. Then everything went down hill. Sucks cause I have a meet in 3 weeks.
[quote]Achilles of war wrote:
Smolov is a lottttt of volume, especially if you are coming from something like the P-chart or 531. The intensive burns a lot of people out. If you liked the volume try something out like Sheiko, then redo Smolov in 5-6 months and I guarantee the Intensive will be a different story.[/quote]
Was definitely a lot more volume than I was used to but the intro cycle took care of that. I was squatting twice a week, one heavy 5x5 and the other a light day. I’ve debated about doing Sheiko, but overall it seems like too much volume. I have arthritis so my body cant handle too much volume, and in the last week of the base meso, my SI joint started acting up so much that I could barely do a birddog without lots of pain. It didn’t hugely affect me on squats that day though. SI joint is fine now.
Going into third week of base meso now. It’s been a brutal journey but I’m excited to see if this can get me to the long awaited 405 squat with current max of 380!
[quote]Doh wrote:
Going into third week of base meso now. It’s been a brutal journey but I’m excited to see if this can get me to the long awaited 405 squat with current max of 380![/quote]
Very similar story to myself, I have the last 3 days of week 3 left on my second proper run of base meso (first was full smolov cycle). My current PR is 375… looking to go as close to 400 as possible.
I have completed smolov 2 times. Each time with approximately 40 pound 1 rm gains. Poundages aside, my legs felt stong as hell for about 3 weeks afterwards. I was pretty sore for most of the times during the meso and intense phases. I stretched a lot to attempt to reduce the soreness, and ate a lot to aid recovery.
I actually tried smolov jr for deads almost immediately after completing my last go around with smolov sr for squats. My deads went from a 475 for 3 reps to 495 for 4 reps personal best. But, my back was pretty fried afterwards from all the heavy lifting.
[quote]jake_j_m wrote:
[quote]Doh wrote:
Going into third week of base meso now. It’s been a brutal journey but I’m excited to see if this can get me to the long awaited 405 squat with current max of 380![/quote]
Very similar story to myself, I have the last 3 days of week 3 left on my second proper run of base meso (first was full smolov cycle). My current PR is 375… looking to go as close to 400 as possible. [/quote]
Hope we both get it.
This is my second time running it. After the first week, I seem to have no problem with the soreness, if anything I’m just mentally fatigued most of the time lol
[quote]Doh wrote:
[quote]jake_j_m wrote:
[quote]Doh wrote:
Going into third week of base meso now. It’s been a brutal journey but I’m excited to see if this can get me to the long awaited 405 squat with current max of 380![/quote]
Very similar story to myself, I have the last 3 days of week 3 left on my second proper run of base meso (first was full smolov cycle). My current PR is 375… looking to go as close to 400 as possible. [/quote]
Hope we both get it.
This is my second time running it. After the first week, I seem to have no problem with the soreness, if anything I’m just mentally fatigued most of the time lol[/quote]
Yes. The first week DOMS are almost crippling in how severe they are. After that it’s just a case of hammering yourself mentally before each set and hammering technique.