Smolov and Smolov Jr
Smolov is four days a week on a single lift, and it is the hardest thing in the library. Junior is the three-week compression most people actually run, usually on the bench. Both are built into Ægir Iron and free to load.
What this program is
Smolov trains one lift, four days a week, between seventy and eighty five percent, with the volume front-loaded and the intensity climbing across the week rather than within a session. The base mesocycle is the original squat cycle. Smolov Jr compresses the same idea into three weeks with even set volume, and is far more commonly run, very often on the bench.
Percentages of a real max, deliberately
Smolov predates the training max as a convention, and its numbers assume your genuine best. Ægir Iron therefore offers no training-max reduction on it. That is not an oversight: running eighty five percent of ninety percent would quietly turn the hardest program in the library into a moderate one, and it would not look broken while it did. Nothing in the program is flagged as an all-out set either, because Smolov is prescribed work to be completed and the cycle ends by testing a new max rather than inferring one.
At a glance
| Discipline | Powerlifting |
| Experience level | Advanced, and well recovered before you start |
| Length | Junior 3 weeks, base 4 weeks including the unload and max attempt |
| Training days | 4 per week, all on the same lift |
| Equipment | Barbell and a rack |
| Loading | Percentage of a true one-rep max. No training-max reduction, on purpose. |
| Price | Free for individual lifters and rostered athletes |
Free for individual lifters and for athletes on a coach's roster. Coaches pay only for roster tools.
How it works in Ægir Iron
Smolov publishes its weekly jump in pounds, ten then fifteen for Junior, twenty then twenty five for base, and a template cannot know what is on your bar. Ægir Iron carries those as the equivalent percentage step for a lifter in the range each variant is aimed at, and says so when you load it. Pick the variant and the lift, squat, bench, front squat or deadlift, set that lift's max on the PR page, and every set in the cycle is priced and rounded to the plate. The base cycle's fourth week is written out in full: two unload days, an openers day, and a single at your own best.
Start Smolov
Open Ægir Iron, go to Program and choose New Program, then the Program Wizard. On the first screen pick Powerlifting, then choose Smolov from the cards under WHAT DO YOU WANT TO RUN? It is free on iOS, Android, and the web, with your data synced across all three.