Russian Squat Program Completed

The 6 week program turned into about 8 due to illness, work and just life getting in the way of squatting. While i started w/ a 255 back squat in the calculator, I began moving the 1RM to 265 (my true all time one rep max) in week 3 or so. Some sets, I added weight. Others, I took it down a bit. It all depended on how I was feeling at the moment.

Some days A lot of days the weight just felt heavy, but during the 5th week's 3x3 at 95%, it was exciting to see that I was squatting (for reps!) a weight that I have previously only hit 2x..ever...months apart (250#). After that workout, I was looking forward to test day. There's probably only one greater feeling (in the exercise world) than PRing, and that's PRing by a lot.

Saturday, January 25, 2014 was test day. I followed a rep scheme brovided to me by Coach Wilmar at CF Fortius. Stepped into the garage and did this:



By 'did this' I mean barely squeak out a 280# squat. That 15# PR was heavy. With my face turning red and seeing stars after I reracked the bar and grabbed a seat, I knew that was my maximal effort.

Two days later, still a bit tender, I dropped into 858 to do this:



And by 'do this' I mean smash my previous front squat PR and making it look easy in the process. The 255 pictured was a 20# pr. I loaded 265# and dropped my elbows too much to be able to finish the lift. While that was a tad disappointing, being able to PR a lift without really front squatting heavy (the Russian Squat Routine is all back squats) was awesome.

This is the first time I've been able to complete a squat program. Mostly b/c of my ADD and partly b/c the time frame of the RSR is much more manageable than programs like Hatch and the weight/volume is much less daunting than Smolov. With that said, however, the smolov program has an explicit disclaimer that it shouldn't be performed unless you have a 300# back squat. I'm much closer now and I think I'm going to try that one (again) next.

I'm feeling healthy and excited about working out again.