Smolov - Front Squat

Training Powerlifting
41

[quote]stallion wrote:
Saturday 8th of December I completed the smolov base meso cycle for front squats. Footage from the last training session can be viewed here:

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=kraftsportNO

(see the latest video in my profile (when processed), as youtube has not processed the uploaded video as of posting this on T-Nation)

This is the first time I have completed the base meso cycle WITHOUT missing any reps in any sets in any workout. I have done the program before, but there’s always been some workouts that was too tough…

I have decided to add a fourth week to the base meso cycle, adding 2.5kg to all work sets in the last week. This is the first time I try that. The 11th workout on friday really was hard, it wastremendous hard, esp. because I had been slacking a bit with the food, and irregular sleeping. That workout was hell, the last workout was also very hard, but with long rest periods and mental toughness I got trough it.

[/quote]

Insane squatting my friend. And coming back after a low back injury to boot! Congratulations :slight_smile:

What changes you did in order to not miss any reps from any set in the meso cycle? Food?

42

[quote]JONBOY-UK wrote:
My full olympic squat went from 110 to 125kg. Its still pretty weak…haha well I’m a beginner and 6foot4 so hey!

I’m thinking its highly likely I will do the next phase of the program after two more weeks of rest.
[/quote]

Still good gains! I would not expect 15kg increase from base meso cycle for most experienced lifters. I gain 10kg myself on this the smolov base meso cycle usually

43

[quote]sawadeekrob wrote:

What changes you did in order to not miss any reps from any set in the meso cycle? Food?

[/quote]

Yes, better food, last time around i restricted the calories as i tried to reduce the size of my belly, this (no surprise) made it awful to get trough the program (but gains were still decent for the full smolov (+25kg 1rm.)

I used a creatine/ribose product which helped with recovery and my nutrition was better and calories were high all the time.

On the non lifting days I go for a walk in the woods, and do flexibility work at home.

Here’s the direct link to the hardcore action btw:

44

[quote]stallion wrote:
sawadeekrob wrote:

What changes you did in order to not miss any reps from any set in the meso cycle? Food?

Yes, better food, last time around i restricted the calories as i tried to reduce the size of my belly, this (no surprise) made it awful to get trough the program (but gains were still decent for the full smolov (+25kg 1rm.)

I used a creatine/ribose product which helped with recovery and my nutrition was better and calories were high all the time.

On the non lifting days I go for a walk in the woods, and do flexibility work at home.

Here’s the direct link to the hardcore action btw:

[/quote]

You know time and time again I am being more concerned about the quantity and quality of the food I consume when I am focussing on strenght. Whenever I run into a rut, usuallly the first thing is either my sleep or my meals that have been off.

Keep lifting hard brother!

45

[quote]sawadeekrob wrote:

You know time and time again I am being more concerned about the quantity and quality of the food I consume when I am focussing on strenght. Whenever I run into a rut, usuallly the first thing is either my sleep or my meals that have been off.

Keep lifting hard brother!

[/quote]

When I stopped concerning myself with the “quality” of the food and more on the quantity as I moved up a weight class my gains rocketed up.

Admittedly I’m not a tiny biy softer than previously, but it’s nothing that can’t be reduced in a few weeks.

46

The food is extremely important when doing serious strength training.

My problem is that all the fat goes to the belly and it is not evenly distributed throughout the body. So I need to keep it in check to feel comfortable in socials settings.

Having a big hyperlordosis does not help on that case!

47

today was first day in the extended week. i lacked motivation and it was a tough call to drag my ass to the training. had an exam in physics today that went well, but had to get up early, and the stress wasn’t the best way to get fired up for front squats.

anyway, went to the garage and the first set of nine reps at 137.5kg (80%) was brutal, so was the 2nd, the third still made me breath heavily and my legs hurt, but it felt better. In the last set I challenged myself to do 10, and made it. Could probably have done some more reps if it was a life or death situation…

Anyway, I always stick to the programs, also when the motivation is not there initially…

every workout, every set, every rep - is a step closer to a double bodyweight raw frontsquat.

I thank you all for the tremendous support in this thread - I appreciate it a lot.

Going alone to lift in the garage is sometimes hard and difficult, but I look ahead at weights to lift and competitors to beat. I also want to become one of the strongest, if not the strongest raw front squatter in the country (Norway). Then there is no room for slacking.

48

Hey stallion great job in your videos. I remember reading this tread a while back when I wanted to learn more about this program. Right now, I’m in week III in Smolov’s squat cycle, I’m doing back squats by the way.

I can relate when you say eating enough food and getting enough rest is the best way when you’re doing this tough program.

I notice on one of your videos when you’re doing 10x3 @ 94%, the program asks for 85% of your 1RM. Did you also change the percentages for your other lifting days i.e. monday is 70%, wed is 75% etc?

jet

49

Hey stallion two more things, what about the rest of your other muscle groups. How are you training them or keeping them in maintenance mode. For instance, I usually do 6-9 sets for my other body parts since I’m pretty beaten up already.

Also, how did you calculate your 1RM. Charles Poliquin wrote this for testing of primary lifts:

4 at estimated 40%, rest 10 seconds
4 at estimated 40%, rest 10 seconds
3 at estimated 60%, rest 30 seconds
2 at estimated 75%, rest 60 seconds
1 at estimated 80%, rest 120 seconds
1 at estimated 85%, rest 120 seconds
1 at estimated 90%, rest 180 seconds
1 at estimated 95%, rest 240 seconds
1 at estimated 100%, rest 240 seconds

I’m thinking of using this once I’m finished. I calculated my 1RM from an estimation and not having a someone to spot you make it a little tougher.

jet

50

You are in week three of base meso? Then you know what I am talking about.

Thank you for the compliment btw…

Back squats are even harder with smolov than frontsquats.

I am a student, so I get enough rest, and eat well also.

I have a spreadsheet made by a danish lifter, and I just follow what it says in there…

the first week the saturday workout is 85% (145kg of 1rm 170kg)

the second week the saturday workout is 85% 145kg +10kg (155 of 1rm 170kg = 155/170*100=91.1%)

the third week the saturday workout is 85% 145kg +10kg (160 of 1rm 170kg = 160/170*100=94.1%)

So basically it is:

first week

mon 70% 4 x 9
wed 75% 5 x 7
fri 80% 7 x 5
sat 85% 10x 3

2nd week, the same but add 10kg to all work sets

3rd week, the same but add 5kg on all work sets compared to week 2.

Mow i do 4th week (extended) and another 2.5kg compared to week 3.

Hope this cleared it!

51

I do not need spotters when maxing out. In squats the weight can be dropped behind, or usually I work up to a weight I am confident I can handle, I seldom miss a max lift I have set in my mind to do. Usually I know were my limits are. If you check out my "animalistic approach video, you can see how I do when I fail at a front squat in the end:

At the moment I bench once a week. I do a bit of facepulls every so often, but mostly it is just the front squats these days.

Last time I did smolov I did a lot of upper body work, and that was okay, but now my right wrist is injuried, so I let it rest. My advice is to do what you think you can cope with. If you do too much, you will feel it!

I have done complete smolov twice for back squats, it was hell both times. Before the programs I either did a 1RM attempt, or roughly estimated my 1rm. after base meso and after intense meso i did 1rm testing.

i do not like to estimate a one rep max from reps. but the table you posted is probably okay.

[quote]Jetric9 wrote:
Hey stallion two more things, what about the rest of your other muscle groups. How are you training them or keeping them in maintenance mode. For instance, I usually do 6-9 sets for my other body parts since I’m pretty beaten up already.

Also, how did you calculate your 1RM. Charles Poliquin wrote this for testing of primary lifts:

4 at estimated 40%, rest 10 seconds
4 at estimated 40%, rest 10 seconds
3 at estimated 60%, rest 30 seconds
2 at estimated 75%, rest 60 seconds
1 at estimated 80%, rest 120 seconds
1 at estimated 85%, rest 120 seconds
1 at estimated 90%, rest 180 seconds
1 at estimated 95%, rest 240 seconds
1 at estimated 100%, rest 240 seconds

I’m thinking of using this once I’m finished. I calculated my 1RM from an estimation and not having a someone to spot you make it a little tougher.

jet[/quote]

52

Yeah, I see what you’re saying, it did clear it up. And yes, I’m doing the base mesocycle phase.

jet

53

[quote]Jetric9 wrote:
Yeah, I see what you’re saying, it did clear it up. And yes, I’m doing the base mesocycle phase.

jet[/quote]

How do you do squatting so much, feeling tired?

54

[quote]stallion wrote:
Jetric9 wrote:
Yeah, I see what you’re saying, it did clear it up. And yes, I’m doing the base mesocycle phase.

jet

How do you do squatting so much, feeling tired?

[/quote]

I did the third monday of the program were you add 15 kilos yesterday. Wow, that really did take a toll on me. I’m really seeing good progress with this program.

What about the switching phase, what plyometric exercises did you do? I’m choosing some exercises from this link:
http://www.exrx.net/Lists/PowerExercises.html and then I’ll later decide on the rep/sets and total number of exercises.

jet

55

I have a layout of the switching phase. give me a pm with your mail, and ill send it. but it is not a blueprint, and you could switch things up.

56

as some of you might recall i embarked on a fourth week in the smolov base meso cycle, using 2.5kg more for each set compared to week three.

it’s been a pretty tough week. And to motivate myself to go alone in the garage to do the grueling work has been difficult, but I always think about the reward ahead (new pr!), so i keep on lifting!

the monday workout was 4 sets of 9 at 80%.

the wednesday workout was 5 sets of 7 at 85%.

the friday workout was 7 sets of 5 at 89.7%

the saturday workout was 10 sets of 3 at 95.6%

Both monday and wednesday was pretty tough, friday was fantastic, I really had some power that day, and felt like a king in the garage! I barely made the last rep in the last set, but it was powerful and much better than day three in the 3rd week.

Today (saturday) i had reached the final destination. Having the workout from yesterday still in my legs, 10 sets of threes at 95.6% was too much. I made 6 triples, then for the last four sets i did a double, and waited for a while before doing the last rep (ie. 2+1).

I did all that I could do, and when the going gets really heavy what limits me is my upper back, that gives in. My legs could take more beating actually.

Anyway, 16 brutal front squat sessions in 4 weeks is some decent work, and I think this has brought my 1RM at least 10kg up.

Preparing for mathematics exam leave me with no time for video updates, but those interested can watch a couple of clips from the last session in week three of smolov base meso cycle, and a clip from week two.

workout 12:

workout 5:

I am proud to have done this insane amount of front squatting in one month.

Apart from the warmups, I have lifted approximately 77000kg worth of front squats. I guess many powerlifters lift bigger volume, but anyway, I am satisfied with this. I will test a new 1rm in a feew days.

– stallion

57

I didn’t see that you had a log here until now. Good lifting, looking forward to your next vid on youtube as usual :smiley:

58

I nailed 180kg / 396lbs raw front squat before christmas.

Very satisfied, and 200kg / 440lbs is coming soon!

59

Nice work stallion.

I did 3 weeks of the intense cycle following completion of the base cycle and then stopped. That was a week ago. I decided to start doing the base meso-cycle again but for deadlift.

I’ve just completed the first week of base meso-cylce for deadlift. Not too hard yet.

My max deadlift is 152.5kg, I set the smolov max to 150kg.

60

Man, we got to give it to you, you have the heart of a champion!