From Russia with Sadistic Love

[Fortes]

I just inished with 5-6 weeks of 3X3 High Volume Conditioning for Bench, Squat and Deadlift. This week, I'm starting on a peaking routine which has been around for years, but I'm giving it an evil twist.

It's the classic 6 week Soviet Squat routine, which goes:

WEEK 1:

M - 6X2 @ 80%

W - 6X3 @ 80%

F - 6X2 @ 80%

WEEK 2:

M - 6X4 @ 80%

W - 6X2 @ 80%

F - 6X5 @ 80%

WEEK 3:

M - 6X2 @ 80%

W - 6X6 @ 80%

F - 6X2 @ 80%

WEEK 4:

M - 5X5 @ 85%

W - 6X2 @ 80%

F - 4X4 @ 90%

WEEK 5:

M - 6X2 @ 80%

W - 3X3 @ 95%

F - 6X2 @ 80%

WEEK 6:

M - 2X2 @ 100%

W - 6X3 @ 80%

F - 1X1 @ 105-110%


However, I am using it for all three powerlifts (yikes!) instead of just specializing in one with it. On my heavy bench and squat days, I do my 6X2@80% for the deadlift, and on my heavy deadlift days, I do my 6X2@80% for bench and squat.

For assistance, I do the following:

HEAVY DEADLIFT DAYS:

Barbell Rows 5X5
Rear Delt Raises 4X15
Chinups 5X8
Dumbbell Curls 4X8

HEAVY SQUAT/BENCH DAYS:

Plate Raises 4X12-15
Weighted Dips 4X10 with a 25 lb. plate on dip belt
Cuban Rotations 4X12
Leg Curls 4X15 (the full stack isn't enough at my shitty ass gym, otherwise I'd keep it in the 6-8 range)


Why have I chosen to put myself through this insane monster of a program? It's simple, really. High frequency/High Volume lifting has been working WONDERS for my strength. And what's more, I don't have to eat half as much, and I feel like it keeps me leaner than the traditional Squat/MON, Bench/WED, Dead/FRI routine. Not to mention the GPP improvement - it's incredible.

This week on monday, I:

squatted 6X3@385
deadlifted 6X2@405
benched 6X3@295

Today, wednesday, I:

benched 6X2@295
squatted 6X2@385
deadlifted 6X3@405

How I feel so far:

Squats feel EASY as hell. Deadlifts are definitely the hardest, my hands are SHREDDED from DL'ing with only one day rest between workouts. Bench feels a little lagging today, but 6X2 was really no problem.

We'll see how 6X4 for Bench and Squat goes on Friday . . . It'll be tough, so I'm gonna try and pig out tomorrow as best I can, though I have a 7 hour block of school without a lunch break (DAMMIT!) which really kills most efforts to keep my food intake high enough.


I have a spreadsheet if anyone is interested. E-mail me, [email protected] -

I'll keep everyone updated. Wish me luck.

 

[endpoint]

man you are going to over train! hahah only joking
my strength has always gone through the roof doing programs like that. (espc with a rest/recovery period straight after)
year round i dont think i could handle it unless i had a friend who was a vet!


http://www.mwsu.edu/~physed/hhptl/weights/russiangenerator.htm

also

http://www.worldpowerlifting.com/

in the article section there are some good articles on borris shekios training programs

 

[Fortes]

Endpoint:

For sure. Doing this cycle year round would be crazy . . .

The nice thing is, that after the 3X3 conditioning phase where I don't go over 75% of my max (really, you're not supposed to breach 64%, but I find that a little too low for me right now in the dawn of my lifting career - things will probably change soon, I'm sure), I can hit this 80% shite up 3X a week without really getting too much drama in terms of DOMS and strains and so on, because my muscles are used to the high volume/high frequency of the 3X3.

So after this, I'll probably switch right back to 3X3 . . . man, 6X6 @ 80% is going to be TOUGH!

 

[Fortes]

bumparoo, if anyone cares. Note: this routine is not so different from Corn's old school, with the exceptions of no 20 rep deads or squats.

 

[Cobin]

Looks like a good routine when you hit a rut, I might pick a couple of these routines and cycle them, 10-8-6 rep routine for a few months this one, and corns that why my body is never use to it.

 

[endpoint]

unlike corns this is the real "old school" hahaha

 

[Fortes]

bump

 

[Fortes]

Monday, 10/15 -

Started out with Bench and Squats.

Hit 6X2@295 on the bench with ease. My right pec is a little tight, and I can tell it's been taking the brunt of the workload. Gotta video tape my bench form or something.

Deadlifts, 6X4@405 with ease, took about 3-5 minutes rest between sets.

Finished off with Squats, 5X2@385 - this was not easy, as I started about 5 minutes after my last set of deads. Talk about ATP exhaustion!

For my assistance, since I was running late, I did 2 strip sets with some gay ass rowing machine (people were getting sick of me using the power rack for everything, so I let 'em have it).

Started with the full stack, about 315 lbs.

Hit 5@315
stripped one plate
Hit 5@305
stripped another
Hit 5@295

rested for 2 minutes

Hit 5@305
stripped one plate
Hit 5@295
stripped another
Hit 5@285

I usually do barbell rows for 5 sets of 5 at about 245 instead, in addition to 5 sets of 5 weighted chins, 4X8 dumbbell curls each arm and rear delt raises (this is assistance for my Deadlift emphasis day). But I had a client to get to, so I just hit the gay ass machine rows.

 

[coolcolj]

Have you tried the Soviet super squat cycle on dragon door site?

good for average 50lbs after 4 weeks

a lot of squatting though - and I do mean that

 

[Fortes]

CoolColJ, I read that article, it's very similar to what I've been doing lately. However, it's meant for a powerlifter who has equipment, so that rules me out for now.

Today was WEAK as hell.

Squats, 6X5, I used 365 instead of 385 because I was feeling worthless. However, at the end of the workout, I felt like I could have done more. Dammit!

Bench, started out with 1X5 @ 295. Barely got that. Dropped down to 275 and banged out the next 5 sets. My forearm flexors were feeling way tight and sore at the bottom of the bench, this was from squatting - my shoulders do not fit underneath the bar very well anymore, and consequently, my grip gets torqued all weird. On the ascent, this messes with my shoulders and forearms. Go figure. It screwed my benching big time.

Dips, 5X8 with a 35 lb. plate

I didn't even feel like plate raises or cuban rotation, so I skipped 'em. And I skipped the deadlifts . . . I think missing a 6X2 for the deadlifts once in a while is probably not a bad thing (if I was on the sauce it would be a different story).

Pretty disatisifed with today's workout.

I think what I might do is drop the 6X2 workouts all together, which would reduce my frequency for each powerlift from 3X weekly to 3 times every two weeks. It might be best . . . . we'll see what happens.