The Russian Squat Assault is a milder version of the Smolov squat base mesocycle. It can be found (along with a ton of other great stuff) in Pavel’s book, Beyond Bodybuilding.
Instead of high volume squatting four times per week per Smolov, which would be overkill for many, you only squat twice. This stretches the Smolov base mesocycle out to six weeks instead of three. For most people, this is still going to provide a nice contrast to what they were doing previously and set them up for a nice PR.
Squat on whichever two days of the week that you prefer, as long as you get a couple of days of rest in between. Monday and Thursday works, as does Tuesday and Friday, etc.
You can use an online Smolov calculator or the charts below to figure out your loads each day. I also made a Google Sheet calculator for this program here.
If you squat less than 300lbs, you will use the first sheet in the program. It adds 10lbs and 15lbs to each wave, respectively. If you squat more than 300lbs, use the second sheet which doubles the weight increases to 20lbs and 30lbs.
Some people use a true max and do well on the program. If you do not rep well over a certain intensity level, a training max of 90% might be a good idea. Perfect practice will probably serve you better than barely getting through sloppy reps.
If you are really struggling on the higher rep days, you can lower the rep range. Do more sets so that you still get the same total number of reps.
Though this is much gentler than Smolov, it is still considered a ‘shock’ treatment. Russian squat assaults are not meant to be run back to back. That’s not to say that you won’t squeeze out some extra gains in your second run. You might. But programs like this are designed to shake things up for a short block of time.
What’s So Great About This Program?
This is a simple way to get some quality volume in without sending yourself through the shredder.
The rep ranges cycle through nines, sevens, fives and triples. The higher rep ranges make it easy convenient to cram in some volume (while conditioning some of us in the process). The triples keep you acclimated to heavies for an easy transition to a strength phase.
If you did have to run this right up to a competition, you shouldn’t feel totally unprepared for max singles. It plays nicely alongside other lifts and is easy to program around. Though it is kinder than Smolov, it is still a very challenging program. Many who have tried the RSA have reported gains similar to the Smolov base mesocycle.
Personal Experience
Desperate to improve my squat, I had originally planned on running Smolov with three times per week frequency. I was a bit wary as the volume contrast still seemed like a lot.
While combing through Pavel’s books, I spotted the Russian Squat Assault, which I had just glossed over many times before. It the same as the Smolov base mesocycle, just stretched out to six week. Two days of squatting per week sounded even better than three.
The only change that I made for my run of the program was the inclusion of a moderate weight single at the end of each workout. I ended up with a 40lb PR as a late-intermediate lifter with a subpar squat (132lb female). I enjoyed it so much that I adopted a derivative of this as part of my competition prep for several subsequent cycles.
Conclusion
Though Smolov is a well-known ‘last resort’ program with great results if you survive, the Russian Squat Assault is a simple and relatively painless way to get some volume in.
Keep in mind that for any program where you are trying to rack up some volume, there is no need to wildly overshoot. There is also no reason to jump ship if everything does not go exactly as planned. The overall objective is just to get some contrast to what you were doing previously. More work might yield a more dramatic result, but not if it kills you first.
If you get started on Smolov (or any other demanding program) and things are going south, simply adding an extra day or two of recovery can be the difference between having success, or crossing the threshold into injury territory.
If this type of training appeals to you, it’s only the tip of the iceberg as to the types of things you find mentioned in Beyond Bodybuilding. I’d highly recommend grabbing a copy if you don’t have one already.