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Barbell Bench Program? Smolov Jr?

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JeffC

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I am between programs at the moment and considering a cycle or two of Smolov Jr for Bench Press. I plan to go back to PTTP soon, but I am looking for something Bench specific. I have never done that before.

Smolov Jr. Program - Smolov Squat Program

Anyone try Smolov Jr or know of any Bench programs? I am looking for something simple I can just do and not think about too much.
 
I did Smolov for bench a few years ago. The smolov junior cycle brought my bench press from 225 to 255 which is an impressive leap. I then injured myself (some kind of pec strain) a couple weeks into the rest of the cycle. Honestly, it was a poor choice for me given my level of experience. You are constantly lifting heavy weights even when you are very sore and that’s what likely caused the injury for me (volume of load > my capacity at the time). You have a lot of experience @Geoff Chafe so if you choose to do this, just be mindful of potentially needing to give your body a few more rest days. It’s a very aggressive program even if you just do the junior portion.
 
I just did a modified version of Strossen's Super Squats to include the same format for bench press. 3 days per week, 1 giant set of 20, one rep every ~10sec, rest holding the weight in the up position.
 
I have used it for the deadlift @Geoff Chafe . The adjustment I did to keep myself from doing something real dumb and to cut the volume was to run it as an every other day program. Instead of day four being after day three I skipped a day. This made it a 4 week as oppose to a 3 week program. I felt fine as I progressed. I would do what Wendler does and start with ten percent less than what you plan to start with as the volume does come up quick.
 
I did Smolov for bench a few years ago. The smolov junior cycle brought my bench press from 225 to 255 which is an impressive leap. I then injured myself (some kind of pec strain) a couple weeks into the rest of the cycle. Honestly, it was a poor choice for me given my level of experience. You are constantly lifting heavy weights even when you are very sore and that’s what likely caused the injury for me (volume of load > my capacity at the time). You have a lot of experience @Geoff Chafe so if you choose to do this, just be mindful of potentially needing to give your body a few more rest days. It’s a very aggressive program even if you just do the junior portion.

It does look like a lot more volume than I have ever done for Bench Press. My diet has fallen off a bit and would take some rededication to 1kg of ground beef a day.

Did you/do you have Bench specific warmup or recovery that works for you?

Did you do any assistance? I was thinking of pullup/chinup/ring Row in a low volume to keep the shoulders healthy or something prehab/rehab like 3 Weeks to a JACKED Upper Back - Official Website of Joe DeFranco & DeFranco’s Gym!
 
I just did a modified version of Strossen's Super Squats to include the same format for bench press. 3 days per week, 1 giant set of 20, one rep every ~10sec, rest holding the weight in the up position.

I appreciate the program, but for Bench? I don’t know.

I like a 225 Bench Test and pushing reps as much as the next meat head. 20 rep Bench on the regular does not sound like something that would work for me personally.
 
I have used it for the deadlift @Geoff Chafe . The adjustment I did to keep myself from doing something real dumb and to cut the volume was to run it as an every other day program. Instead of day four being after day three I skipped a day. This made it a 4 week as oppose to a 3 week program. I felt fine as I progressed. I would do what Wendler does and start with ten percent less than what you plan to start with as the volume does come up quick.

Smolov for Deadlift sounds gruelling. I bet you were pretty fried after that.

We think a lot alike. I was thinking of three days a week stretched out to four week cycles with a fourth day of Front Squats and Deadlift maintenance. I had a recent practice of that pair and I liked it.

Also taking the TM approach to load because I don’t know how I will respond to the volume. My recent max was a solid 305lb. I was going to run Smolov Jr with 275lb and maybe run two cycles.

Work will be slower until the middle of February so now is a good time to start. Maybe tonight.
 
I will set my Push Press Timer app for 5min and do a set OT5min. Even on the 10 x 3 day I could be done in about an hour. I could work on my gripper crushing between sets. Grippers and Bench go together like Vodka and Pickles.

I am digging the plan? Will it work? Only one way to know.
 
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It does look like a lot more volume than I have ever done for Bench Press. My diet has fallen off a bit and would take some rededication to 1kg of ground beef a day.

Did you/do you have Bench specific warmup or recovery that works for you?

Did you do any assistance? I was thinking of pullup/chinup/ring Row in a low volume to keep the shoulders healthy or something prehab/rehab like 3 Weeks to a JACKED Upper Back - Official Website of Joe DeFranco & DeFranco’s Gym!
I didn’t have anything specific at the time. I like the idea of warming up doing some banded work especially for the shoulder external rotators and then warming up on the bench press specifically. Honestly, not sure on recovery aside from sleep and nutrition. For assistance, I actually ran smolov simultaneously for the horizontal row. And that was all the upper body focused work that I did. I like the assistance work you linked to better through.
 
@Geoff Chafe -As far as being worn out from the deadlift volume, the first few weeks were ok, the last ten days or so were tough, lots of rest between sets. I didn't do anything but deadlift, ab roller and some push ups. I was hurting to say the least. I started with 10% less than recommended and that saved me. The extra day of rest was key for me. There was no way I could train 8 sets Friday followed by 10 sets of 3 on Saturday, moving the Saturday session to Sunday and then skipping another day before starting the next weeks training was great.

And I ate a ton of good, clean food. Meat with rice /potato and whatever veggies were in season. Where you live nothing may be in season so do your best. Not pushing to fast and calories will do you well.
 
@Geoff Chafe -As far as being worn out from the deadlift volume, the first few weeks were ok, the last ten days or so were tough, lots of rest between sets. I didn't do anything but deadlift, ab roller and some push ups. I was hurting to say the least. I started with 10% less than recommended and that saved me. The extra day of rest was key for me. There was no way I could train 8 sets Friday followed by 10 sets of 3 on Saturday, moving the Saturday session to Sunday and then skipping another day before starting the next weeks training was great.

And I ate a ton of good, clean food. RMeat with rice /potato and whatever veggies were in season. Where you live nothing may be in season so do your best. Not pushing to fast and calories will do you well.

Thank you for the advice about slowing down the program a bit. I am a 36 year old tradesman and busy dad, not a 22 year old Russian Weightlifter. I like the metered approach. It will take a little longer to get there, but much more healthy.

Redicating to protein and calories over the holidays will not be an issue I just have to carry it forward. My food has dropped off and I have lost weight over the last two months, and it has negatively effected my strength levels. I need a good bit of food to stay around 250lb. My natural weight is around 220lb. I am a gentleman’s 6ft(5’11”/181cm)
 
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Isn't the Smolov just too much volume at too heavy intensity? Is it better to modify the Smolov to make it more tolerable than pick another program and do it as written?
 
Isn't the Smolov just too much volume at too heavy intensity? Is it better to modify the Smolov to make it more tolerable than pick another program and do it as written?

Too much work? It’s not Easy Strength. That’s for sure.

I think using TM to run the program is well within the spirit of the program. Taking an extra day to work on Squat and Deadlift is perfectly logical to me also.

I am not going to add 20lb for week two, that is a lot for bench, 10lb sounds better.

I do agree if you have to modify a program it’s not for you. You can take pieces and do your own thing though. I plan on doing Smolov Jr for Bench in my style. A lower body day, which will stretch it out to about four weeks, back and grip work. That is not a big departure from the program.
 
If I got it right I think the program could be run full with both squat and bench. So one would pass on the deadlifts for the duration of the program. I don't think that's a bad deal at all.
 
There is also the Marty Gallagher method of running smolov for bench and squats simultaneously. All you do is stretch the cycle to 6 weeks and do each lift 2x a week. The bench and squat workouts both follow the same format...although you may not want to squat that much if you're just looking to push up your bench.
 
I wonder how much one could split the daily training volume in parts, for example do half in the morning and half in the evening. How do you think it would be different, both in application and results?
 
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