The Russian Program that Boosted My Squat by 22 Pounds in Just 3 Weeks
Build tree trunk legs with this little-known ultra-effective routine
The biggest fitness mistake I’ve ever made is skipping legs for the first 2 years.
Post my realization, even after 2.5 years of meticulous leg training, my lower body severely lagged — while my deadlift got close to 450 lbs, I struggled to squat even 260 lbs.
While running the compound-lift-dense Lysaur program brought my numbers up, my squat was still dismal.
Determined to bring up my lagging legs, I hopped on the Smolov Jr. squat program — a 3-week routine with 4 brutal squat sessions per week.
Given that I had miserably failed Bench Smolov Jr. in the past and stopped a previous squat Smolov attempt, my hopes were dismal.
But I miraculously succeeded — and my squat 1 RM went from a gritty 291 pounds to a grittier 313 pounds. Here’s a video of the latter:
