5 minute simple lessons for smolov for bodybuilding [Article]

Smolov for bodybuilding

Do not take this article too serious when we are looking into whether Smolov is a good idea for bodybuilders or not. If you apply common sense with half a brain and read the program, it will be quite obvious to you that Smolov is generally not a good idea to be done for the purpose of winning a bodybuilding competition with very few exceptions. If you still need more convincing, read on ;)

What is Smolov

Smolov is a popular intermediate lifting program which lasts for three months. It splits into an introductory microcycle, base mesocycle, a switching phase and an intense mesocycle. It only uses the squat and has been developed by Sergey Smolov and made more popular by strength coach Pavel Tsatsouline in a 2001 issue of powerlifting USA. It is also being pushed by the Stronglifts 5x5 website as a routine to "add 100lbs to your squat in 13 weeks"

What is bodybuilding

Next thing in line is to define what bodybuilding is before we discuss smolov for bodybuilding. So based on all knowing, always accurate, best reference in the world to be given a doctor's degree immediately when you cite it, yes you guessed the source correctly, Wikipedia, this is as followed:

Bodybuilding is the use of progressive resistance exercise to control and develop one's musculature. An individual who engages in this activity is referred to as a bodybuilder. In competitive amateur and professional bodybuilding, bodybuilders appear in lineups doing specified poses, and later perform individual posing routines, for a panel of judges who rank competitors based on criteria such as symmetry, muscularity, and conditioning.

If you dig a bit deeper in the matter you will also know that the mentioned judges use these criteria to rate performance

Size and shape of muscle.
Muscularity (Low Body fat; Conditioning)
Presentation (Posing; Displaying the physique properly)
Symmetry (Balance of the physique left to right and between upper/lower body)
Stage presence.

So bodybuilding, taken to the professional level, is about to build a physique which is most appealing to the mentioned criteria and being judged on them in a positive way. Next step is to look into whether smolov would help to meet these criteria or not.

Can the goal of bodybuilding be achieved with Smolov ?

In a nutshell, the answer is no. Let's go through this step by step.

Size and shape of a muscle are influenced by how much you train and from how many different angles you train a muscle. While Smolov definitely will get you bigger legs (in fact several of my pants ripped when I was on the program), it still only pumps up your legs and not your entire body. Also, on smolov, you will only use the squat to attack your leg muscles. There no calf raises, step ups, leg curls and other exercises to influence the shape of the leg muscle group. In addition, the repetition range you are in per set, varying from 9 to7 to 5 to 3 is only in a beneficial range for size gains for one out of four training days a week.

Muscularity (Low Body fat; Conditioning) is a factor that smolov will have little to no effect on. In fact, the recommended diet in the most popular article on the topic reads like this:

"Eat – lack of food kills recovery so eat at least 4000kcal/day. Most guys end up doing the “see food” diet on Smolov, eating everything they see yet still dropping body fat from all the Squatting."

While this is simple to understand and makes a good straight forward marketing statement (which I welcome, because simple training principles always got me the best results), this still does not sit quite well with the world of bodybuilding that I have witnessed from the outside. These guys count calories and pay minute attention to what they put into their bodies to the extent of keeping track of the slightest milligrams of food eaten. On top of that, even though less openly debated, they have to monitor a chemical cocktail of substances that can and will shrink their balls, give them a heart attack or that will lead them to kill their wife in a fit of rage. Of course, I am being deliberately polarizing here, but you get the gist. I just think a "see all" diet does not fit well with that regime and there is no real diet program to accompany smolov. To get ripped and win a bodybuilding competition you need to know how to drop your body fat percentage too dangerous lows of 3 - 8% bodyfat. This is hard to achieve without having a proper diet plan in place that facilitates these losses, also known as "cutting". If you are a successful bodybuilder reading this I salute you for your discipline and commitment to winning, it does not come easy and the sacrifice made to be a champion is huge.

Presentation (Posing; Displaying the physique properly) is done in front of a mirror at the beginning & end of a session when in training. Again Smolov in itself does not give you any routine around this and also is not designed for that purpose. If you only do Smolov you will not have a clue how to pose properly. I do not know either, but for sure Smolov did not make me any wiser on that point.

Symmetry (Balance of the physique left to right and between upper/lower body) is also self-explanatory. Smolov is an asymmetrical training program focusing on the legs mostly. Therefore, if your body is not asymmetrical to start with, it is more likely that Smolov will do harm to your overall appearance for the purpose of bodybuilding rather than doing any good.

Stage presence is something you will more likely acquire in a school of acting, your local school play, doing more bodybuilding competitions or volunteering to give a speech at work. You will not acquire this by tormenting yourself four days a week on a brutal powerlifting / weightlifting program.

Conclusion

All in all, Smolov is not the best idea for bodybuilders to implement in their training unless their bodies are asymmetrical in favor of their upper body. So if you are one of the bro-science crew who benched every day, did crunches until they puked, was afraif of stepping into a power rack and wonders why they are losing on the stage, maybe it is because of your chicken legs. In that case, smolov might be the right thing for you.