M.E TRAINING
T
By Robert Walker, Personal Trainer and Powerlifter,
Sheriff Training Systems - www.sherifftraining.co.za
he vast majority
of modern gym
rats tend to
be slightly
‘top heavy’.
Whether they lack the grit and
determination to complete
gruelling leg sessions week
after week or they’ve
simply convinced
themselves that their
spirit animal is
the flamingo, we
will never know.
A good set of
‘wheels’ aren’t easily
obtained because
the legs, being such
a heavily utilised body
part, require a large
amount of volume to grow.
This often leads to some of the most unpleasant cases of DOMS
(delayed onset muscle soreness), which is quite possibly the main
contributor to chronic underperformance on leg days, or the fact that
these sessions are often skipped altogether.
If you’re one of those guys who has skipped leg day more times than
you’d like to admit but are finally looking to forge some serious wheels by
taking your leg training to the next level then Mother Russia has a word
for you – Smolov.
Smolov is a peaking programme developed by Russian Master of
Sports Sergey Smolov during the golden days of Soviet domination
in the Olympic Games. This protocol focuses on maximal strength
development of the squat by exposing the entire body to an insane
amount of volume. The Smolov routine has you squatting four times a
week, and by squatting I mean full, deep back squats performed with
an Olympic barbell. I fondly remember Dmitry Klokov, a Russian 105kg
champion weightlifter pointing at a leg press machine while training
away from home in a commercial gym and saying “these are why the
Americans are weak.” Listen to Dmitry, it’s free weight squats or nothing.
THE RUSSIAN
CURE FOR
SCRAWNY LEGS
SMOLOV
TRAINING
58
Muscle Evolution