Smolov with Skinn Legs

JReinhal

Member
Smolov with Skinny Legs

Im 38 years old and have had relatively skinny legs for most of my life (very small ankles). Ive worked a lot of compound movements but decided to give the Smolov squat protocol a try as not only was my leg size lacking, but so was my strength. In 6 weeks, Ive gone from a 1RM of 280 to 350 (today was week 6 with the 1RM test). There are 13 weeks total in the Smolov Protocol so Im about halfway through. Whiles my strength has gone up considerably, I have gain little to no quad size. I figured with the large amounts of squat volume required by Smolov. Should I expect increased leg size further on down the road or is this not the proper protocol for that?
 
JReinhal said:
Im 38 years old and have had relatively skinny legs for most of my life (very small ankles). Ive worked a lot of compound movements but decided to give the Smolov squat protocol a try as not only was my leg size lacking, but so was my strength. In 6 weeks, Ive gone from a 1RM of 280 to 350 (today was week 6 with the 1RM test). There are 13 weeks total in the Smolov Protocol so Im about halfway through. Whiles my strength has gone up considerably, I have gain little to no quad size. I figured with the large amounts of squat volume required by Smolov. Should I expect increased leg size further on down the road or is this not the proper protocol for that?
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Man, you can get strength gains all day but size won't ever come without eating. How much do you eat? And don't kid yourself, man, are you really eating enough to support recovery on that program? Strength is a neural adaptation... Size will come when you're eating like crazy before, during, and after your workouts, and eating all day before/after to fuel recovery.
 
You're absolutely right. My caloric intake may be an issue. I certainly do not eat as big as I did when I was younger. With that said, I was hoping that leg growth would match the strength gains Ive made.
MANdrew said:
Man, you can get strength gains all day but size won't ever come without eating. How much do you eat? And don't kid yourself, man, are you really eating enough to support recovery on that program? Strength is a neural adaptation... Size will come when you're eating like crazy before, during, and after your workouts, and eating all day before/after to fuel recovery.
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Smolov is designed to make your squat bigger. Its not for making your legs bigger. Pick a hypertrophy program and go from there. The strength you gained in Smolov will come in handy when you move into hypertrophic rep ranges with more weight than you used to use.
 
herderdude said:
Smolov is designed to make your squat bigger. Its not for making your legs bigger. Pick a hypertrophy program and go from there. The strength you gained in Smolov will come in handy when you move into hypertrophic rep ranges with more weight than you used to use.
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This guy right here has it too. Some size will definitely come with the frequency/volume of smolov, there's no argument there. But the best size you will get will come from a combination of strength training, power training, and hypertrophy training compiled with a solid diet tailored toward size gain. Don't be afraid of carbs; they're your friend when trying to gain size.
 
It's slightly ironic. I do squats 4x per week with Smolov, yet when folks see me in shorts Im always hearing "Don't skip leg day bro" =)
 
JReinhal said:
It's slightly ironic. I do squats 4x per week with Smolov, yet when folks see me in shorts Im always hearing "Don't skip leg day bro" =)
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See, that's where variation comes in. Smolov is all about strength and power, and not much hypertrophy is in place. I hit my legs in some way whether it's squat variations, deadlift variations, Olympic lifts, or sprinting, 6 times a week. My legs are pretty big, and I never get the "don't skip leg day" remarks. I believe you should hit every aspect of training in your program if you want some true growth.
 
I've done PHAT for two years and I love it. But with all that squatting volume your legs should be growing more with smolov than they do on PHAT. Congrats on the squat gains but I do think this is an issue with the diet man. PHAT would be lowering leg volume and wouldn't produce the same size gains as far as leg hypertrophy goes. As far as overall hypertrophy PHAT would be better. All I'm getting at is that the programming isn't the issue. I would bet a lot of money it's the diet.. By the way congrats on those squat gains! That much of an increase in strength will help your ability to overload and accumulate training volume so when you get that diet in check those quads should explode man! Good luck!
 
PHAT is one of the best programs i have done.. but i still love y3t for legs because in 9 weeks you go threw a lot of changes in reps and exercises .. so maybe cycle between those 2
 
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