12/2/13: Day 1

Wow...it feels weird to be back at the blog again. This time, I think I'm gonna stick with it even after the squat cycle is over. Life has really changed since I was last on. My wife and I now have a beautiful little baby boy named Jaxon, I own a CrossFit gym with my good friend Dan, and I'm now settled down in the town that I'll be staying in for a while. Quite a year! I wouldn't trade any of it for the world though. Life is good. Now, let's get down to business. I decided to start another Smolov squat cycle because I frankly miss squatting all the time. I loved it last time because it gave me a purpose. Not that everything in my life doesn't give me purpose, but trying to hit a new 1RM back squat is a different purpose all on its own. Things will be a little different this time. I have had quite a bit more experience programming since I took over the gym, and I wanna make some things clear before we get started.

1.) I put a lot of time and effort into the programming for the day/week/next couple months, so please feel free to give me comments and feedback. It would be awesome if I got some comments in my comment section for once! I'll keep posting thoughts and reasons behind some of the things I do as the program goes on. The one thing you'll notice is that I don't program any deadlifts in to the Smolov workouts. That's on purpose. A tight lower back can severely mess up squats. Your deadlift will most likely go up despite the fact of never doing deadlifts over the next 12 weeks. Your back will become much stronger due to all the squats and the load being constantly placed on it.

2.) Having gone through Smolov once already, I know how tough it can be. I had days where I couldn't wait to squat, and days where I couldn't wait to get under the bar. You'll experience both too, trust me. With that being said, I strongly urge you to not quit. As tough as it is, if you stick with it, the gains will be amazing. I gained 80lbs on my last cycle! I went from back squatting 350 to squatting 430. If you know me, let's just say you'd never guess it from looking at me. So, please, stick with the whole cycle if you're gonna start it. It's well worth it. This first week is a preparatory week, and I wasn't sure whether to put it in or not. I decided to go with it because it won't hurt any progress, and it'll give you a crash course into squatting every other day.

3.) The prescribed WOD's for the day should be done at a separate time from the squatting. I know you might not have the time to do that, so if anything, do the WOD's on the off days and just do the squats on the on days. The squat cycle is more important! The WOD's will very closely reflect that. This week will include some shorter WOD's as I want us to test our aerobic limits to test them again after the cycle. Smolov is known to not be endurance-friendly, so I want to see if we can keep balancing out the strength gains without completely losing our 2k row time. Also, don't adjust the squat cycle. Adding 5lbs to a set is one thing, but don't do more than you have to. The cycle works perfectly as is, and it will throw you off if you feel strong one day and do an extra set. You'll pay for it later.

4.) I will also be posting the WOD's from my gym on the posts as well. At least until we get our new website up and running. They will be posted around the same time the night before (9-10pm) with the exception of tonight. If you don't wanna join in the squat cycle, feel free to follow along with the other WOD's. There's a whole gym of people who are joining you.

5.) Ok...enough small talk. Let's get to the good stuff! :) (p.s. It is way easier to write a lot about stuff you love than it is about a random research topic. College at least taught me that much!)

GYM PROGRAM

Warm-up

Row 500m

4 Rounds :20/:10

Dislocates

Russian KB Swings

Burpees

Mountain Climbers

Mobility

Roll Quads - 1min/side

Roll Back - 1min

Skill/Strength

Back Squat 5x5 @ 80%, 2:00 int

WOD

AMRAP in 15min

5 Deadlifts @ 1.5x BW

10 2-fer-1 Wall Balls (20/14)

15 Over the Bar Burpees

SMOLOV PROGRAM

Warm-up

Row 500m

3 Rounds

10 Dislocates

10 Barbell Rollouts

10 Lunges w/Twist

10 Barbell Rows (95/65)

Mobility

Roll Quads - 1min/side

Roll Hams - 1min/side

Roll Lats - 1min/side

Skill/Strength

None this week

WOD

2k Row for time

Squat Cycle

3x8 - 65%

1x5 - 70%

2x2 - 75%

1x1 - 80%