For quite some time I’ve been thinking about writing an article on the different systems and programs, mostly from powerlifting, that are out there. I certainly don’t claim to be the ultimate authority on powerlifting or training programs here. There are plenty of guys who know far more than I do about powerlifting training systems and plans. Writing this, I feel more like an enthusiast, an observer and an experimenter. I’ll describe my own experiences and the thoughts that came up when I ran into these programs or progressions.
Russian system (six-week)
Smolov
Westside
Monday: heavy squat/deadlift + assistance work
Tuesday: rest
Wednesday: heavy press + assistance work
Thursday: rest
Friday: speed squat/deadlift + assistance work
Saturday: rest
Sunday: speed press + assistance work
5 x 5: (3 x per week)
I’ve tried all four of these powerlifting-derived programs and progressions to some extent. If I were to rank them, I’ve used 5 x 5 the most in practice, followed by variations of Smolov (Smolov and Smolov Jr), then the Russian system, and I’ve had the least hands-on experience with Westside. Still, I’ve learned quite a lot from the Westside training philosophy about different nuances (swapping exercises, chains and bands, box squats and so on) that I can apply in my own training. Before going into a more thorough analysis or adding my own reflections, one thing needs to be said: although these systems come from powerlifting, the progression methods in these programs apply universally to pretty much every sport. Whether we’re talking about a boxer or a discus thrower who wants to raise their maximal strength numbers in certain movements (exercises), the training principles are still the same. It makes no difference whether it’s a shot putter, a sprinter, a discus thrower or a powerlifter – we’re always talking about developing one specific type of strength, maximal strength, or moving strength numbers forward in the basic lifts.
So let’s get started. When you compare these four programs, one thing is immediately clear – you progress, and that is the basis of development, and in all of them the progression is based on percentages of your max (a maximal-effort performance with a heavy weight). Naturally – to build strength, we have to start from something.
All four programs are also essentially aimed at increasing maximal strength in the three main basic lifts – the squat, the press and the deadlift.
5 x 5 is of course a classic, a system that has proven itself over time. There are several different versions of 5 x 5 programs, and introducing each of them separately isn’t my aim right now. I’ve also written/translated several articles about this progression on fitness.ee. This system works almost every time, whether the goal is building strength or muscle mass. With its variations, the program can be applied to essentially all basic exercises (presses, squats, pull-ups, deadlifts), as well as to exercises aimed at smaller muscle groups (for example, standing barbell biceps curls).
With 5 x 5, you train the basic lift or a variation of it two or three times a week. Much of course depends on exactly how 5 x 5 is applied or how the original version is modified, who is using it, what the overall split looks like and what the specific goals are. 5 x 5 is a good approach because it can be used with very different splits and goals. And the main thing, in my opinion, is that it’s a relatively simple and easy-to-follow system, even for beginners. I’ve always thought that if my own son ever comes to me and says, “Dad, make me a program too, I’d like to get more serious about strength training”, then after an initial introductory period, 5 x 5 would definitely be the system I’d put him on.
When you compare 5 x 5 with the other programs, I think 5 x 5 and Smolov are somewhat similar and differ to some extent from the Westside approach and the Russian system. Strength depends on the resistance we can overcome when the weight is heavy, but also on how fast we can express that strength. As I understand it, 5 x 5 and Smolov focus solely on developing and advancing the strength component. The Russian system and Westside programs deliberately include training the speed component as well. In my opinion, that’s the main difference: if you draw a line, Westside and the Russian system land on one side, and 5 x 5 and Smolov on the other.
Although the progressions in all four approaches are based on an individual max performance, 5 x 5, Smolov and the Russian system differ from Westside in another way: for the latter approach (Westside) there are no standard program calculators that work out the weight progression over weeks and months. Why not? For a very simple reason – you do progress, of course, but the idea running through Westside is the systematic swapping of basic exercises every 1 – 3 weeks. That makes it impossible to build a longer progression calculated over 8 – 12 weeks. There are, however, calculators for the speed days.
The Westside program is a system that undoubtedly works, but in my opinion it’s a concept for very dedicated lifters and fanatics. Why? Because Westside demands an enormous amount of creativity, flexibility, precise self-monitoring and progress tracking. You have to be mentally all-in, at 110%, the whole time. Not that this isn’t needed with other programs, but with Westside, the deliberate and regular swapping of exercises can become a challenge for many of those with a “lukewarm” attitude. You have to keep analyzing yourself and know your weak points, and accordingly use different basic exercises and their variations on heavy days to shore up the weak phases of the basic lifts. From my own experience I can tell you that a beginner, and even a lifter with a few years of training behind them, isn’t ready for that kind of creativity. They prefer to “plod through” a rigid, fixed numerical plan/progression set by a coach, and don’t want to do much thinking for themselves. I believe that very fact is one of the main reasons the “wheat gets separated from the chaff”.
Correct me, specialists, if I’m wrong, but as I understand it, the Russian system is essentially an analogue of Westside. The one difference is that, as far as I know, the Russian lifting schools did not use chains and bands. Even so, those programs already included a speed day at 80% in the form of sets of two, aimed at developing power and technique. And although I can’t find any mention of chains and bands in the original Russian systems, I gather that various jumping exercises and plyometrics were also done to develop speed.
Incidentally, as you gather information, you can very quickly arrive at the fact that Louie Simmons’ entire Westside concept is actually based on the work and research of Vladimir Zatsiorsky.
For all programs, it is important to calculate your progression so that the workouts in the following weeks are challenging, yet the sets, repetitions and weights are ones you can still manage to complete.
If you compare 5 x 5, Smolov, the Westside philosophy and the Russian system, 5 x 5 and Smolov have no speed days, and speed training does not alternate with heavier, high-weight workouts. In the 5 x 5 versions and in Smolov, intensity increases linearly for the chosen system exercises.
Smolov is of course the “pinnacle of pinnacles”, because the volume of work done during the four-week base mesocycle, with its rising intensity, is insane. The final intensive mesocycle is no easier. Many people actually don’t know that the full version of Smolov is originally a 12-week program. It consists of a 2-week introductory cycle, then a 4-week base mesocycle, followed by a 2-week transition cycle, and it all culminates in a 4-week intensive cycle. Most people who run the Smolov plan do only the 4-week base mesocycle, in which the lift is trained four times a week.
In the Russian system (6 weeks), the base is laid in the first three weeks with higher-volume workouts. The speed 6 x 2 workouts begin to alternate with progressively higher-volume workouts: 6 x 2, 6 x 3, 6 x 2, 6 x 4, 6 x 2, 6 x 5, 6 x 2, 6 x 6, 6 x 2. The work is done at 80% and alternates with speed workouts, but the training load rises every other day through added volume. Intensity starts to increase in the last three weeks. That is, in the first phase volume is increased without any change in intensity; in the second phase intensity is increased and volume decreases. In the second phase the intense workouts continue to alternate with speed days. There are also longer versions of the Russian systems, lasting 9 weeks and more.
In the 5 x 5 variations, volume is mostly constant and intensity rises from workout to workout. There are also 8 – 9-week variations in which the first 4 – 5 weeks are run at a constant volume of 25 repetitions (5 x 5), followed by a one-week deload, and the last 4 – 5 weeks of the program use a constant volume of 5 x 3 or 3 x 3. In classic 5 x 5, you generally squat three times a week, press twice, and deadlift once a week. On the second day of the week (usually Wednesday) the squat is lighter, but the same day also includes deadlifts with progressively increasing weights. So, speaking of the squatting movement as such, the training load intensity does not drop very much between the two heavy squat days. The nervous system only gets rest in the form of movement and exercise alternatives to similar lifts, but, well, it’s something. Besides, all programs do come to an end eventually.
Comparing the weekly volumes of the Smolov base mesocycle and 5 x 5, for 5 x 5 it is:
70 lifts for the squat
50 lifts for the bench press
20 lifts for the deadlift
20 lifts for the vertical press (or on a positive incline)
In Smolov, over the three-week base mesocycle, 136 lifts are done on the base exercise of the chosen system; in Smolov Jr, 133 lifts. Such a high volume lasts only 3 weeks, of course, after which comes a two-week lighter transition phase before the intensive cycle.
The purpose of Smolov’s heavy training load (both volume and intensity) is precisely to bring the body to a pre-overtraining state. Done skillfully, the payoff after recovery is solid. I’ve done Smolov myself on several occasions, for both squat and press, and it works. Of course, here I mean that three-week base mesocycle. Lately I’ve discovered that Smolov can also be applied successfully on a rolling basis, doing 2 workouts per week for the lift rather than 4.
Not:
Monday – 4 x 9
Wednesday – 5 x 7
Friday – 7 x 5
Saturday – 10 x 3
Rather:
Week I
Monday – 4 x 9
Thursday – 5 x 7
Week II
Monday – 7 x 5
Thursday – 10 x 3
That is, the cycle that would originally be done all within one week is spread across two weeks. It’s a great way to progress, and it essentially creates undulating periodization. It works very well with any base lift and with various splits in which you train a lift/muscle/body part twice a week.
Westside has given and taught barbell lifters a great deal, including me as a bodybuilder. The overtraining-preventing effect of swapping exercises is hard to overstate when organizing training plans. By swapping exercises systematically (every 1 – 3 weeks in Westside), you can train heavy for significantly longer than by progressing on the same base exercises alone. Systematically varying the movements is, in effect, what keeps us from ending up overtrained by heavy training loads. The movement (exercise) may look outwardly very similar to the previous exercise in the system, but even a small difference is enough to make it something new again for our nervous system. For example: squat + deadlift + front squat, etc. For a beginner this is not such an important practical experience, but the more advanced the lifter, the more “manipulating exercises” has to be taken into account.
The second reason why I don’t think the Westside plan is really for beginners is that, for quite a few of their first training years, beginners have no need to swap exercises in this style. For development, 8 – 12-week linear progressions of the traditional base exercises (squat, front squat, deadlift, bench press) are entirely enough. It’s not that beginners shouldn’t do Westside — they may — but at the start you can progress considerably more “without racking your brain”, and practice shows that most simply aren’t ready for such conscious systematizing.
I have left out the Sheiko programs, Wendler’s 5/3/1 and Korte’s 3 x 3 from this comparison. Of the three, the first is a fresh and exciting discovery for me, one where on certain days the basic lift is trained several times within a single workout. I have no idea whether anyone in our strength-sports circles has any hands-on experience with Sheiko programs at all.
In summary
In my opinion, all four programs are excellent. Every advanced trainee’s plan should definitely have a progression based on one of these programs as its cornerstone. Progress in the basic exercises is important, and with programs that have proven themselves in practice, it is easy to plan, adjust, follow and build your development. And it doesn’t matter that most of these program progressions are aimed at powerlifters. Anyone can use them to plan progress in the basic strength numbers.
My aim with this long reflection is to give anyone interested a thorough yet concise overview of which systems/programs are in use. I believe many younger trainees don’t even know which systems exist and how you can train, progress effectively and develop. It would also be great if my commentary/reflection started a topic on the forum where all those in the know begin to add their own knowledge to what I have stated/commented on…
And maybe something important is still missing altogether…
Author: Janar Rückenberg
Come and train! ArtGym
