A Question of Strength? Part3

The Russian Squat Routine (RSR) is typically a 6-week peaking cycle to help improve total squat weight. At the end of the 6 weeks of squatting many lifters can see a 5% increase on the bar.  Please make sure you read part1 and part2 of this blog post before reading on.

There are a number of slightly different versions of the RSR floating around in Internet land, and many of them have a pure squat training cycle focus.  As CrossFitters we Olympic lifting, do gymnastics, and WOD on a daily basis.  The pure squat focus isn’t the exact prescription that we desired. The basic design of the RSR is to squat heavy and consistently 3 times per week, and this is something we can certainly achieve.

The CFH RSR will cycle every 4 weeks, and on the 4^th week of each mesocycle we will deload (lower the total volume of repetitions performed) by performing max effort attempts on both the front and back squat.  Yes, we will MAX OUT every 4 weeks!

Each individual member will have a certain number of sets and repetitions to complete in each squatting session.  The CrossFit Hackney levels and the best protocol for you to make progress determine these lifting parameters.

What you need to do?

We all come to the gym to make progress and to see improvements.  Choosing the right programme is critical to success in training.  Many of you have completed the 16-weeks of Juggernaut and Wendler strength training and you should have a solid understanding of the weights you can lift.

The new CFH RSR routing come’s with another fancy little spreadsheet that will help you maximize the gains over the next 16-weeks.

1. Download the spreadsheet (DropBox or Google Drive)
2. On the “Settings” tab, enter in:
   1. Current Body Weight (kg)
   2. Select you “Gender”
   3. Enter in you Actual Max (kg) for both your front squat and back squat

The spreadsheet will take care of the calculations.  Cell “I9” will show the athletes current CrossFit Hackney level

3. After completing the “Setting” you can now click on the “Cycle A” tab to see what lifting parameters (sets, reps, percentages) you will be performing in the first 4 weeks of the current cycle

In week 4 everybody will get the chance to perform max effort testing.

• Performance and Sports athletes will be performing 2RM attempts
• Functional athletes will be performing 3RM attempts
• Movement level athletes will hit 5RM tests.

After establishing these numbers athletes will re-enter the “Results” into week 4 “TEST” results.  These new values will be used to calculate the lifting parameters for each consecutive cycle of the CFH RSR.

Every 4 weeks is a chance to set new personal records (PRs) and move up a level in your squatting ability.  Most of our members will be in the Functional level at the beginning of this phase.  The aim is to squat until the GAINZ come home!  Lets see how many of you can step-up into the Sport level of squatting greatness?