A ll of my lifters start their training with 3×5 back squat on Monday and Satur-
day and 5×3 front squat on Wednesday until they can no longer make im-
provements. Then they switch to the program outlined here.
All notation is Sets x Reps where load is NOT indicated,
Load x Reps x Sets where load IS indicated.
Week 1
Monday Back Squat 75%x5x3
Wednesday Front Squat 75%x3x5
Saturday Back Squat 5RM
(I actually advocate starting somewhat conservatively,
a very hard but not quite maximal set of 5)
Week 2
Monday Back Squat 3×5, add load from previous Monday
Wednesday Front Squat 5×3, add load from previous Wednesday
Saturday Back Squat 5RM
Week 3
Monday Back Squat 3×5, add load from previous Monday
Wednesday Front Squat 5×3, add load from previous Wednesday
Saturday Back Squat 5RM
Week 4
Monday Back Squat 4×4, add load from previous Monday
Wednesday Front Squat 5×3, add load from previous Wednesday
Saturday Back Squat 5RM
Week 5
Monday Back Squat 4×4, add load from previous Monday
Wednesday Front Squat 6×2, add load from previous Wednesday
Saturday Back Squat 5RM OR 3RM
(DO NOT move to 3RM unless you have missed your new
5RM attempt for two weeks straight)
Week 6
Monday Back Squat 4×4, add load from previous Monday
Wednesday Front squat 6×2, add load from previous Wednesday
Saturday Back Squat 5RM or 3RM
Week 7
Monday Back Squat 5×3, add load from previous Monday
Wednesday Front Squat 6×2, add load from previous Wednesday
Saturday Back Squat 5RM or 3RM
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Week 8
Monday Back Squat 5×3, add load from previous Monday
Wednesday Front Squat 6×2, add load from previous Wednesday
Saturday Back Squat 5RM or 3RM
Week 9
Monday Back Squat 5×3, add load from previous Monday
Wednesday Front Squat 6×2, add load from previous Wednesday
Saturday Back Squat 5RM or 3RM
*Use SMALL increases in weight, particularly on Mondays
and Wednesdays. You should not miss reps on Monday or
Wednesday. You are putting work in, not setting records.
(If necessary, stay at the same load for a few weeks at a
time. Saturday is your day to make PRs.)
Week 10
Monday Front Squat heavy single (NOT maximal,)
then 90%x2x2 *90% of today’s single
Wednesday Front Squat heavy single (NOT maximal,)
then 90%x2x2 *90% of today’s single
Saturday Front Squat 1RM
Week 11
Monday Front Squat 1RM
Wednesday Front Squat heavy single (NOT maximal,)
then 90%x2x2 *90% of today’s single
Saturday Front Squat 1RM
Week 12
Monday Front Squat 1RM
Wednesday Front Squat heavy single (NOT maximal)
Saturday Front Squat 1RM
Week 13 (Taper and Competition)
Monday Front Squat 85%x1x1
Wednesday Front Squat C&J opener for single
Saturday No squatting
Sunday Compete
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Breaking Plateaus
Like anything else, eventually this will stop working, and you will need to do
something to move past your current limitations.
The program outlined above is a mix of intensity and volume work. To break
through plateaus, I typically just use a program which biases either volume, or
intensity. The methods I commonly use are presented here.
Volume: Smolov Junior
I have seen quite a few variants of Smolov Junior floating around the internet. This
one may or may not be the “correct” or “original” one. I’m not sure. Whatever it is,
it seems to work pretty well. Rather than the traditional 4 days/week that Smolov
calls for, I stick to our normal Monday-Wednesday-Saturday schedule for this pro-
gram. It alternates between 4 rep schemes:
3×9
4×7
5×5
6×3
The first four workouts would look like this:
Monday Back Squat 70%x9x3
Wednesday Back Squat 75%x7x4
Saturday Back Squat 80%x5x5
Monday Back Squat 85%x3x6
For the next workout, go back to 3×9 and move up by 5%. Do the same with
each of the following workouts. For the third cycle, increase by 2.5%.
After that, you can back off for a week, and retest your back squat, at which point
you may choose to repeat Smolov Junior, or return to our regularly scheduled pro-
gramming. Though there is an intensification phase for Smolov, which I assume could be
adapted for Smolov Junior, I have never tried to use it with my weightlifters.
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