Smolov Jr. for Bench

[BarryF]

Going to start it Monday. Anyone have any success or horror stories they want to share regarding the program?

5'8", 202 lbs, 44 y.o., 2 years training, orangutan arms, 295 TnG 1RM on 7/19(so very recent 1RM)

[Erok]

I did it a couple years ago, before I really knew what I was doing, and most likely too early. IIRC, I added about 20-ish pounds to my max. The thing I remember most about it was that it habituated me to high-volume, high-frequency benching.

Just went back in my training log and found it. Quest for Fire

Started 9/09/13 with a 5rm of 165 (calculated 1RM of 186 - used 176 for program layout), then benched a 1RM of 210 on 10/08/13. Problem was what to do afterwards, and I regressed.

"I would recommend Smolov Jr. to anybody. I wasn't sure if it would do much for me, as my bench is small to begin with, and I've less than a year lifting, and I used the minimum programmed increases, but it really helped. It ( the high sets low reps?) increased my confidence under the bar, and my ability to push through the tough reps. I have also noticed crossover strength into my press.
Rating: Three white lights. "

[Mugaaz]

What's the use of this outside of peaking? It seems short sighted.

[hamburgerfan]

It's just bench pressing. It's not a horrific ordeal like smolov for squats. It is a little short sighted though. If you want a short term bench press focused routine, I have seen this one get great results. Increase Your Bench Press 30lbs in 6 Weeks

[hbw96734]

Did Smolov Jr this time last year and pretty much agree with the above comments. Added 15 pounds to my touch-and-go bench 1RM but felt like I regressed quickly after backing off the volume. Timed correctly, I think that it could be a good peaking program. At least for me personally, the hardest part was Saturday. Mondays and Wednesdays were almost too easy, but Saturdays were the worst because even though it was only 3 reps per set, I was still all sorts of tired from Friday and by the end I was missing plenty of reps. If I ever try it again, I would experiment with having the fourth day of the week be on Sunday to ensure I got all the heavy triples. Good luck!

[BarryF]

What's the use of this outside of peaking? It seems short sighted.

Essentially, to try different programming that will add more than 5 lbs to my bench in less than 7 weeks. So if I can add just ten pounds during the 4 week cycle, this will be twice the progress in nearly half the time. If I add more than 10, even better. Also, the program is only 4 weeks. So as long as I don't do anything stupid and don't injure myself, I don't see that I have much to lose by trying it, but potentially much to gain.

[Mugaaz]

Essentially, to try different programming that will add more than 5 lbs to my bench in less than 7 weeks. So if I can add just ten pounds during the 4 week cycle, this will be twice the progress in nearly half the time. If I add more than 10, even better. Also, the program is only 4 weeks. So as long as I don't do anything stupid and don't injure myself, I don't see that I have much to lose by trying it, but potentially much to gain.

I'm not the one to give this advice, but if you're having problems getting lift X to go up then there is some sort of problem with your programming or your recovery. Doing a short term peaking program to inflate the number is going to leave you in the same position of needing to solve whatever it is you were getting wrong before.

[BarryF]

I'm not the one to give this advice, but if you're having problems getting lift X to go up then there is some sort of problem with your programming or your recovery. Doing a short term peaking program to inflate the number is going to leave you in the same position of needing to solve whatever it is you were getting wrong before.

Well, I wouldn't say I'm necessarily having problems with my bench going up. It's up 30 lbs so far this year from 265 to 295. And I know that this(slow steady progress) is the smart way to train long term. Looking forward, I'll be thrilled to add 60 lbs to my bench in a year. It's just that I'd like to try to jumpstart some quick progress in the short term. Now, if I end up losing the progress that I make on this 4 week cycle, then I agree it will have been time wasted to some extent. I suppose I am in a position where I am willing to gamble 4 weeks of training time on the prospect of adding 10-20 lbs to my bench, with the hopes of keeping all or most of that progress moving forward. I'm also willing to experiment just a bit to see what I respond well to.

[Gerhard]

Smolov JR for Bench (dissected):

Week One: 133 reps @ 77% AVG
Week Two: 133 reps @ 79-81% AVG
Week Three: 133 reps @ 80-83% AVG

^ That is FUCKING insane... Nobody needs Prilepin's INOL chart to illustrate this fact!

Obviously, it's a short term peak cycle, but come on! This is spawned of something that Boris Sheiko talked about in some old Russian M&F'esque mag, about what the Soviet S&C's were throwing at the elites in some experiment to test adaptations to overtraining. It was never supposed to be taken seriously.. But then, Pavel got American training circles talking about it and before long, it made it's way into popular culture!

It CAN work for Bench (95% of people who dare to run the Smolov Squat setup are fucked a few weeks into the base meso), there's a greater potential for recovery involved compared to Squat or Deadlift, and less overall CNS fatigue. But the overall volume and intensity is just way too high a cost to promote a short term increase to maximal strength output by a factor of say ~20% at best (diminishing returns, the more advanced a trainee). In fact the only way to make something like this work (unless drugs, being gifted, a novice rate of recovery, or timing a multi-week - those are rare Pokemon indeed! - supercompensation phase to a tee) is to drop other lift emphasis almost completely (we're talking a HUGE deload on both Squat and Deadlift Vol+Int) and specialise in Bench.

I'm historically guilty myself of believing more is better, that just because I have a natural high tolerance for training, that I can train insane, and I'll then get more results out of doing that. Not true, not true at all. So with a tribute to training smart, and the fact you are willing to experiment, why not do something less OTT that you haven't tried before? Why not expand your current programming methodology to include disciplines from other areas. If you've been all about Gen-Strength up until this point, why not incorporate methodologies from Powerlifting (chain or band overloads, partials with boards, pin presses, shirted benching) or Bodybuilding (DB pressing movements, Chest and Tricep hypertrophy isolation exercises)? Try something different that doesn't immediately jump to shock cycling or gambling with true overtraining?

[Eric Larousse]

I think the base cycle definitely works...i know a good pl (if you consider european pl circuit to
Be good)what he does is rotate the base cycle for
Squat with periods of
Westside in between

If you modified it a bit(which technically isnt smolov)by maybe taking away some sets or reducing the amiunt of days it could most likely well
Not most likely it could
Be even used long term