Proven program, faithfully implemented
Russian Squat Routine
The Russian Squat Routine is a six-week squat specialisation block — eighteen sessions, three a week, every one prescribed as a percentage of your current 1RM. The whole programme is one lift. Its shape is the thing to watch: every second session returns to 6×2 at 80%, so nine of the eighteen are the same anchor exposure and the steps happen on the sessions between them.
About the program
Created by: Unattributed — USSR weightlifting yearbook lineage — The Russian Squat Cycle, as published by NORMA Athletics.
- The published cycle this definition was built from: Russian Squat Cycle — NORMA Athletics
Who it's for
- Best for: One goal only — a heavier squat. It is a specialisation block, not a training programme.
- Experience: Intermediate to advanced. It needs a true and current 1RM to load from, and the frequency assumes a squat you can repeat three times a week without technique falling apart.
- Time: Six weeks, three squat sessions a week, ending on a re-test. Run your other training around it.
How it's built
The shape of the program — sessions, sets and rep scheme. Iron Forge fills in the exact weights for you from your maxes.
Squat cycle
Session 1
- Squat
Session 2
- Squat
Session 3
- Squat
How Iron Forge runs it
How it works
Six weeks, three squat sessions a week, eighteen sessions in all, every one prescribed as a percentage of your current 1RM. It is a squat specialisation block: the whole programme is one lift.
The pattern to watch
Every second session returns to 6 sets of 2 at 80%. Nine of the eighteen are that base exposure, and the source calls them the anchor of the cycle — the volume and intensity steps happen on the sessions between them.
The last session
⚠ Session 18 is an OPEN retest here, and that is our decision. Classic versions print 1×1 at 105%. We keep it open because a 5% jump is an objective, not an entitlement — if session 16 was slow, the better result is the honest one you can actually make.
Russian Squat Routine in Iron Forge
FAQ
- Why so many sets of two at 80%?
That is the routine's anchor. Nine of its eighteen sessions are 6×2 at 80%, alternating with the sessions that add volume or intensity. Skipping them is skipping the programme.
- What 1RM should I use?
Your current one — the percentages are taken from it. If it is out of date the whole six weeks is calibrated wrong, so use a number you could hit today.
- Why is the final session an open retest rather than 105%?
Because a 5% jump is an objective, not an entitlement. If the peak exposure at 100% was hard, attempting 105% because a table says so is how a good cycle ends badly. Ours is an attempt, and that is a documented deviation from the classic version.
- Can I squat other days?
The routine occupies three sessions a week and is deliberately squat-only. Anything else you add is on top of a programme already designed to be demanding.
- What about upper body?
Not prescribed. This is a specialisation block — run it alongside light upper work of your own choosing, or on its own for six weeks.
- What happens after the six weeks?
You retest, and that number is what any following block is calibrated from.
- Does anything change based on how my sessions go?
No. All eighteen sessions are fixed percentages of the max you entered, and nothing you log moves them — the table is the programme. The only number that can change is your max, and that only at the retest at the end.
- What happens to my max after the retest?
Clear it and your max takes one increment; miss it and it holds where it was. The source deliberately refuses to promise the 5% the classic version assumes, so nothing here grants it either. If you actually tested a new max on the day, enter that number rather than accepting the step.
- Is there a deload?
Not inside the six weeks — nine of the eighteen sessions are the light 6×2 anchor, and that is the recovery this cycle gets. The source does suggest an easy week afterwards before you do anything else with the squat, and that part is not built in here, so plan it yourself.
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