The original strains of what became the Russian Squat Routine, the 1974 and 1976 USSR “Yearbook” routines are very specific and should only be used when preparing the squat for competition. These are not general, off-season programs to be run repeatedly.
Differences:
- 1974 is a 3 week program, 1976 is a 6 week program
- Both are high itensity; but 1976 stays at or above 80% of 1RM for all 6 weeks of the program
- 1974 dips into the 60% range on the lighter workout days, but stays at or above 75% the rest of the sessions
- 1974 works primarily with 3-5 rep ranges, 1976 works with significantly more sets of 2 reps, likely as a result of the higher intensity
- 1974 comes with two 3 week flavors that can be run sequentially (flavor 1, then flavor 2), repeatedly (flavor 1 or 2, then repeat for the next 3 weeks) to achieve the 6 week cycle