Frank: Planning

It's been a week since the meet, which means that I have to start training seriously again, which means that I have to make plans. So here is my plan.

Despite the misgivings of those more experienced than I, I intend to try the Smolov squat routine. My understanding is that it was originally developed for Olympic lifters whose squat strength lagged behind their strength in the classical lifts and who felt that this was holding back their classical lifts (otherwise, they wouldn't care). The overall structure is as follows:

1. Introductory microcycle (2 weeks) for those who have had a long layoff from squatting. Since I just squatted my max a week ago, I'm skipping this.
2. Base mesocycle (4 weeks)
3. "Switching" (2 weeks)
4. Intense mesocycle (4 weeks)
5. Taper and Competition (1 week)

More details can be found here (ignore the pseudo-Russian-tough-guy routine...). There is a calculator for the base and intense cycles here.

Because this is such a high volume routine, I will not be doing any deadlifts for this period of time. So much raw squatting show help my deadlift regardless. I will continue traiing my upper body more or less as usual, though I will split some of my sessions since half of each session will be taken up by squatting. I will be using the 5-3-1 rep routine for my bench press and military press.

My current max back squat is 365. I am using 290 and 185 as my estimated bench press and military press maxes, respectively. Here is my base mesocycle plan for the next four weeks:

Week 1
Tuesday: Back Squat 4x9@256, Bench Press 5+@246, Dumbbell Bench: 3x8@110
Thursday: Back Squat 5x7@274, Cable Row 3x10@190, Barbell Curl 3x8@95
Saturday: Back Squat 7x5@292, Speed Bench 8x3@155, Military Press 5+@157, Close-Grip Bench 3x8@225
Sunday: Back Squat 10x3@311, Pullup 4x8@65, Dumbbell Row 3x10@120, Facepulls/Rear Delt Flys@Whatever

Week 2
Tuesday: Back Squat 4x9@276, Bench Press 3+@261, Dumbbell Bench: 3x8@?
Thursday: Back Squat 5x7@294, Cable Row 3x10@?, Barbell Curl 3x8@?
Saturday: Back Squat 7x5@312, Speed Bench 8x3@155, Military Press 3+@167, Close-Grip Bench 3x8@?
Sunday: Back Squat 10x3@331, Pullup 4x8@?, Dumbbell Row 3x10@?, Facepulls/Rear Delt Flys@Whatever

Week 3
Tuesday: Back Squat 4x9@286, Bench Press 1+@275, Dumbbell Bench 3x8@?
Thursday: Back Squat 5x7@304, Cable Row 3x10@?, Barbell Curl 3x8@?
Saturday: Back Squat 7x5@322, Speed Bench 8x3@155, Military Press 3+@176, Close-Grip Bench 3x8@?
Sunday: Back Squat 10x3@341, Pullup 4x8@?, Dumbbell Row 3x10@?, Facepulls/Rear Delt Flys@Whatever

Week 4
Tuesday: Bench Press 6@205, Dumbbell Bench 3x4@?
Thursday: Cable Row 3x5@?, Barbell Curl 3x4@?
Saturday: Back Squat: Test new max, Speed Bench 8x3@155, Military Press 6@130, Close-Grip Bench 3x8@225
Sunday: Pullup 4x4@?, Dumbbell Row 3x5@?, Facepulls/Rear Delt Flys@Whatever

The ? are for the exercises where I'll just play by ear. I will try a weight. If I can hit the prescribed reps, I will increase the weight. If not, I will try to better my previous rep max at the next relevant training session.

I would appreciate any suggestions that people have. My main concerns are (1) too much volume and (2) too little upper back work (to maintain my deadlift). Any other concerns are certainly welcome! See you all (hopefully) tomorrow. I will probably be arriving a little late, for me, maybe around 7:30 or so.