The Extended Russian Power Routine is a 9 week peaking program that runs 3 days a week on a Monday, Wednesday, Friday schedule. Each week you train squat and bench press twice and deadlift once. One lift is light and one is heavy on each pressing day: light squat with heavy bench on Monday, heavy deadlift on Wednesday, then heavy squat with light bench on Friday.
It’s an extended version of the Russian Squat Routine, worked up to peak all three competition lifts. The base routine runs 6 weeks and focuses on one lift; stretching it to 9 weeks gives you room to recover while squatting, benching, and deadlifting heavy in the same week. The first 4 weeks build volume at 80%, then the reps drop and the weight climbs each week up to 105% by week 9.
This one’s for experienced lifters who already have a base and want to peak for a meet. Running squat, bench, and deadlift all at high intensity in the same week is demanding on recovery, so it’s a lot to ask of a newer lifter. If that’s you, start with the plain 6 week Russian Squat Routine and come back to this once you’ve run a few cycles.
Table of Contents
Extended Russian Power Routine Spreadsheet
Enter your squat, bench, and deadlift 1RM on the Setup tab and the sheet fills in every working weight for all 9 weeks. Notation is sets x reps at a percent of your 1RM, so 6 x 2 at 80% means 6 sets of 2 reps at 80%.
Program Overview
You’ll train 3 days a week, with squat and bench press twice each and deadlift once. Each pressing day pairs one light lift with one heavy lift, so you’re not going all-out on both in the same session. Try to keep the heavy squat and the heavy deadlift as far apart in the week as you can.
On a Monday, Wednesday, Friday schedule the week looks like this.
- Monday – light squat and heavy bench press
- Wednesday – heavy deadlift
- Friday – heavy squat and light bench press
The light squat and light bench press stay at 6 sets of 2 at 80% the whole cycle. The heavy lifts build volume for the first 4 weeks at 80%, working up from 6×3 to 6×6. After that the reps drop and the weight climbs each week, from 5×5 at 85% in week 5 down to a heavy single at 105% in week 9.
There’s additional discussion on programming for this routine here.
Extended Russian Power Routine FAQs
What is the Extended Russian Power Routine?
It’s a 9 week peaking program for the squat, bench press, and deadlift, run 3 days a week. It takes the classic Russian Squat Routine and extends it so you can peak all three competition lifts at once. You train each pressing day with one light lift and one heavy lift, plus a heavy deadlift day, and the weights build from 80% up to 105% over the 9 weeks.
How is it different from the Russian Squat Routine?
The Russian Squat Routine is a 6 week program that peaks a single lift, usually the squat. The Extended Russian Power Routine stretches that same idea to 9 weeks and covers squat, bench press, and deadlift together. The extra weeks give you more room to recover, since you’re training all three lifts heavy in the same week.
Who should run the Extended Russian Power Routine?
Experienced lifters with a solid strength base who are peaking for a meet. It asks you to squat, bench, and deadlift at high intensity in the same week, which is a heavy recovery demand. If you’re newer, run the plain 6 week Russian Squat Routine first and come back to this later.
What if I deadlift sumo?
Start the cycle pulling conventional, then switch to sumo at week 5 when the intensity picks up. That’s the recommendation from the original author, so you build your volume conventional and peak on your competition stance.
Do I need to do accessory work?
It’s optional. The original author didn’t do much of it. If you have energy left after the main work, throw in some lats, dips, shoulder presses, and similar. Keep it light so it doesn’t eat into your recovery for the main lifts.
