My experience with Smolov Jr. (for Bench)

[MA77A]

For those of you unfamiliar with the program, here were my weights/reps/sets used based off of my 1RM at the beginning of the routine:

Week 1:

Monday: 6x6x155
Wednesday: 7x5x165
Friday: 8x4x175
Saturday: 10x3x185

Week 2 you increase by 10lbs for each respective day while keeping reps and sets the same (Monday 6x6x165, Tuesday 7x5x175, etc.) Week 3 you do the same, only this time an increase of 5lbs instead of 10lbs.

Those weights were based off of a 220lb max. I had done 225lbs before, however I opted to err on the side of caution a bit. I weighed 166lbs at the start and had made virtually no progress in bench for nearly 8 months.

Now that all that is out of the way, I finished the program last Saturday, waited a few days and maxed on Wednesday. 225 went up like a breeze so I didn't bother with 230 and made the 10lb jump. 235 went up smooth as well, so I moved on to 245. Here was the first time where I felt I struggled, but made it nonetheless. 5lb increase to 250 this time was a real battle but I pulled it out. 25lb increase in ~3 weeks - can't begin to tell you how happy I am.

I know no program is a guarantee for everyone, but the results I got out of it blew me away. I had no change in diet throughout the program - worth noting that I have what many of you would consider a "poor" diet, I only eat 3 solid meals a day, eat until I'm full and really don't push past that. I still weigh almost exactly the same as I did 3 weeks ago, and am fairly content with that. ~165lbs is a weight I'm happy with.

Anyone who wants to give it a try, I (for whatever its worth) highly recommend it. Heres the link that has the spreadsheet you can download for youself: Smolov Jr Spreadsheet.xls

 

[turbozed]

Thanks for the recommendation dude. I've been stuck around 225 for almost a year too and have really considered doing Smolov Jr for bench. I think this post might have put me over the edge. Smolov Jr. in 2012!

Cheers

 

[MA77A]

Thanks for the recommendation dude. I've been stuck around 225 for almost a year too and have really considered doing Smolov Jr for bench. I think this post might have put me over the edge. Smolov Jr. in 2012!

Cheers

Np man..If your curious about other exercises I did during those 3 weeks, I alternated between front/back squat every bench day (done after my bench sets - something I normally would have the other way around but made an exception for the routine), I did SOHP on non-bench days, and then mixed in rows/shrugs/pullups when I felt like it. Nothing too fancy but it worked really well. Good luck if you give the program a try!

 

[Jester]

I also did Smolov Jr. a few months ago for bench and ended up with a 30 pound gain. Did Smolov for squat at the same time and got 35 pounds on that. Would recommend it to anyone that is at a sticking point. For only 3 weeks commitment you can beat the gains

 

[turbozed]

Guys,

Will I be cutting down the volume on my squat and deadlift significantly while I'm doing Smolov for bench? How do I pick assistance lifts?

 

[Jester]

Guys,

Will I be cutting down the volume on my squat and deadlift significantly while I'm doing Smolov for bench? How do I pick assistance lifts?

Lower body you should be able to do what you want, I ran regular Smolov when I was doing Jr. for bench and it didnt effect it at all.

I wouldnt do much else upper body pushes at all, will just effect your recovery

 

[MA77A]

Guys,

Will I be cutting down the volume on my squat and deadlift significantly while I'm doing Smolov for bench? How do I pick assistance lifts?

I agree with mmajester that you should be fine not altering your squats/deads. I see his point regarding upperbody push movements; however, like I said I stuck with relatively heavy SOHP at least twice a week throughout the entire routine and it didn't really seem to effect me negatively in any way. I mentioned the few other exercises I did and that really was it, nothing more nothing less.

 

[Artigo]

If I don't hit 405 on my squat by new years, I'm going to try smolov

 

[Jester]

I agree with mmajester that you should be fine not altering your squats/deads. I see his point regarding upperbody push movements; however, like I said I stuck with relatively heavy SOHP at least twice a week throughout the entire routine and it didn't really seem to effect me negatively in any way. I mentioned the few other exercises I did and that really was it, nothing more nothing less.

You did Jr. for bench and heavy SOHP twice a week? Damn.....good man, I thought my workload volume was high

I seem to do best when I either work on bench or overhead, when I do both they seem to affect each others recovery, everyone is different though

 

[Poseylifts]

Great results man congrats. I think I'm going to do a smolov + smolov jr for bench run once I stall out on 5/3/1. I've seen nothing but 20-40 pound gains from it from other people so it must work.

 

[jacketwrestler1]

If I don't hit 405 on my squat by new years, I'm going to try smolov

What are you at now? The base cycle only took me from a rough double at 365 to a 410 squat.

 

[ens189]

Hard to argue with those results good for you, think I might give this a shot.

 

[Gfreak]

A friend of mine did this as well about a month ago, had a good 25-30lbs increase in the 3 weeks. from 300 to 325-300

 

[PowerHungry]

Looks like I might be running this to get up to 315 on bench.

 

[Artigo]

What are you at now? The base cycle only took me from a rough double at 365 to a 410 squat.

I did 385x1 but I feel like I'm slowing up my progress. Should I just keep chipping away with 5/3/1 or go for smolov ?

 

[General Sherman]

I also did Smolov Jr. a few months ago for bench and ended up with a 30 pound gain. Did Smolov for squat at the same time and got 35 pounds on that. Would recommend it to anyone that is at a sticking point. For only 3 weeks commitment you can beat the gains

You did full Smolov for squat, right?

I don't think my body can handle a full Smolov, I don't get enough rest to recover properly.

 

[Jester]

You did full Smolov for squat, right?

I don't think my body can handle a full Smolov, I don't get enough rest to recover properly.

I did regular Smolov but I only did the first part, the 3 week cycle with 12 workouts in it. It's hard to recover at first then your body gets used to it. I've heard and seen several places that people say the full cycle isn't worth the time, you get the most out of those 3 weeks. I don't think I would want to disrupt my training for much longer than that anyways

 

[General Sherman]

I did regular Smolov but I only did the first part, the 3 week cycle with 12 workouts in it. It's hard to recover at first then your body gets used to it. I've heard and seen several places that people say the full cycle isn't worth the time, you get the most out of those 3 weeks. I don't think I would want to disrupt my training for much longer than that anyways

Ah, okay. I am planning to do a base cycle of Smolov for my squat this year. I couldn't handle the whole program though. I'd die. I think I can handle the three weeks though.

 

[Jester]

Ah, okay. I am planning to do a base cycle of Smolov for my squat this year. I couldn't handle the whole program though. I'd die. I think I can handle the three weeks though.

Yeah I've heard you don't get enough out of the full thing to make it worth it, takes too much time away from doing a balanced program as well as being a recipe for an injury in my eyes

 

[Pathogenic]

Yeah I've heard you don't get enough out of the full thing to make it worth it, takes too much time away from doing a balanced program as well as being a recipe for an injury in my eyes

I can definitely understand the injury risk of continually running it, but what about if you did it multiple times in waves?
For example, say you run one cycle of Smolov Jr., do a more balanced routine for awhile, then run Smolov again. Would this work, or is Smolov Jr. generally a one time thing?