squat
5x7 @ 350 - not easy.
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squat
5x7 @ 350 - not easy.
Did you skip the introduction cycle and go right to the base cycle? The Smolov squat routine looks crazy although if you can get through it the gains should be great.
You bet. Starting and staying with the base cycle.
I was chatting with another raw lifter that took his squat from 500 to 540 since October. He tried doing it from the beginning but it just broke him - It is a very taxing program so doing the 3 week base cycle on a 3 day instead of a 4 day should give me enough time to recovery and still make some good gains. Then re test my max on the 4th week.
My max in comp was 465 so I started off with 450 to play it safe. I wont be using knee wraps or briefs unless I have to . My knee did start to bug me today a bit , but nothing serious.
One big this I was told was to take a long break between sets ( 10-15 mins) He was even taking up to 30 min on the 10x3. I thought he was crazy until I started it and he is right you need the break. After each one today I felt light headed. Rested up and nailed everything. There is no way I would have been able to get 5x7 @ 350 without the rest.
Like anything only time will tell and just because it worked for him doesn’t mean it will work for me.
Another thing is he only did the squat - nothing else and all 3 of his lifts went up since the last meet. One thing that I'm doing and he isn’t right now is dieting, so I will see how that plays a roll in this whole thing.
From what I've read even though the guys are not doing deadlift it still goes up just as much as their squat (if not more). I'm not sure about the dieting part though. Another big emphasis made in the articles I read is that the guys doing Smolov were eating at least 4000Kcals/day and basically eating whatever they could and still losing some body fat. Although this was for the 13 week program so doing a 3x/wk base cycle will be different (but still really hard).
I'm assuming you're going to deload after max testing then re-calculate and repeat?
I will play it as it goes, but i will most likely do a deload.
If I think that my diet is getting in the way then I will stop the program. I'm not in a big rush to build big numbers because I know that come fall or early winter I will be having surgery and it will all stop anyways. But until then it's on !
So I messed up the other day with my numbers - I should have done 5x7@ 338 not 350 , oh well !
Today it was 7x5 @ 360 lbs - Not a bad session, getting closer to my rep range so that made things easier.
My back is feeling a bit tight - more foam rolling done after each set and for 10 min after training.
Also did some pull ups and static holds on the hang bar.
45 x 2 min cardio today ( one session done )
Today's squat
10x3 @ 380 - I ended up putting on my singles as my hips are getting a bit tight - I did do a bit of flexor pre training, but still.....
Not a ruff workout - I think the first two at lighter weight where harder than the last two with heavier but less reps.
Week 2 will start on Thursday or Friday.
Booked my second MRI June 14th - This is about 1 year after my first MRI for the samething. Crazy how long things take, but they did send my first request ( for surgery ) to a knee replacement specialist and that was not needed so that added about 6 months to my wait time.
Thank God for pushy nurses :)
You can usually get in for an MRI within a week if you let the hospital know you are willing to come in off normal hours due to cancellations...happens all the time...ive never had to wait longer than a week.
P
I guess not here. I had my MRI done last year than about 9 months later I finally seen the surgeon , but I had to go through my work nurse and thanks to her it was done. Now he wanted me to drop some weight ( thanks to you I did :) ) and have another MRI because he thinks there may be more damage. The ACL is gone , but the MCL may be damaged we just don't know how bad.
Atleast I don't need an acl to squat. Im thinking I should be in by September or October and take 6 months to rehab and be lifting well enough to do nationals in July and worlds in October.
Dr said 8-12 months recovery, but I'm hoping I'm in decent enough shape to cut that down a bit.