I have used Smolov Jr for bench once to twice a year for several years. I maintain the majority of my strength and increase my PR each time. I’m currently 192lbs and my previous PR was 395 in Feb of 2022 weighing 183. I am currently two weeks into the Smolov Jr and hope to hit 420-425. The rest of the year my bench consists of twice a week 4 sets of 20. It does work and you can gain strength long term if you stay consistent. You don’t have to be on “gear” either. You do have to be careful when doing Smolov Jr and listen to your body otherwise injury is almost inevitable.
I did smolov jr at 85-90% of my max squat and did it for 5 weeks with plenty of rest. I got a 35kg squat pr from 140-175kg. I actually was able to maintain the strength. I went on a hypothropy block with deadlift and squats. I hit 160kg for 5 reps and 140kg for 8 reps beltless. When I did 175kg I could only do 140 for 6 rep with a belt. I was later able to do 160 beltless pause after a competition ankle injury.
@@teeqko oh no 140kg was my 1 RM. I put 120kg as my max for the squat. And I added 12.5kg per week on the program. I also like to add that I did the program in 4weeks and maxed out on the 5th week after 4 days of rest. I ate 4k calories 1k above my maintenance and I still dropped 3kg in bodyweight. I was hard to do any other exercises other than a small isolation exercise. I also didn't use belt for the first 3-4 sets for most session until the last few sessions. I had my sleep dialed in 8-10hr a day to. The also did like 3-4 session a week with 1 day rest between each session. I was also stupid in a sense I for the last 2 10*3 session did a as many reps as possible cause I felt strong and got easy 12 reps each time. Reason for adding 12.5 kg instead of 5-10kg per week. I was able to hit 175kg and honestly it was a RPE 9 for me but I didn't want to get injured before university competition so stopped there as I thought I was only gonna get 160kg. I was able to maintain the strength as right after as I did Jonny candito intermediate program 2 times and did front squat the first time around and back squats the second. I was able to hit a beltless 5 second pause with 160kg and was on a 190kg estimated back squat before competition. I would like to state that because I did moderately high volume for front squat and deadlift right after was probably the reason I could maintain that strength afterwards. The candito program is 6 weeks and did it 2 times.
@@nischal711 Oh okay, I was thinking of doing the same. 140kg is my current max, I might put down 120kg or 115kg as mine for Smolov Jr. 12.5kg each week sounds like a lot. I have only just turned 17 and I am eating around 3.5k-4k calories a day at 76kg bw. I recently hit 200kg dl and my lower back has been somewhat tight the last few weeks since. I reckon I might wait a few weeks before I do Smolov Jr. I woud love a 160kg squat hopefully adding 12.5kg or less wont kill me each week as well as back/hip pain from squatting every second day (high bar).
@@teeqko if you have back pain Don't do it. The volume and pump is crazy. I did a lot of light volume and technical work before hand. Also I was 115 kg bodyweight with 130 kg deadlift. I am built for squat with long torso and short limbs so it was good for me. The lighter you are the less weight you can add per week.
@@nischal711 Oh okay, might hold off for a little bit. Did you do any other training like push/pull on the days between each squat session, just curious
I found if you modify the exercise selection while running it, and then do training maxes after, you keep most of it. But like the regular smolov with no modifications is not good
Interesting thoughts guys. I've used Smolov Jnr with good results (always do 2 cycles with a deload in between) for a while, but I don't bench often. I always do 5x5 for 3 weeks leading up to it as well, so really it's 10 weeks of training.
@@alphamalerisky803 15kg on bench in 3 weeks, strength fell a bit after but now its back up, im cutting btw and basically was during smolov 💀 im sure on a bulk it wouldve been even better
I did it twice in a row for lols and liked it a lot, even just for the fact i’d never followed a program before. It was nice just to know what benching 160kg feels like. I’m very happy to be back on the hypertrophy train again, though.
I tried it twice (see my channel) and broke bench plateaus incredibly easy both times (last time +7.5 kg). But yea, pushing that hard your body feels a bit sketchy, and I am only an intermediate lifter. I can imagine for an advanced lifter it must be way more brutal.
Can confirm that it was easy when the max I used was 315 and brutal a year later when the max I used was 380. The first one got me 350 and the second one 405, though, so can't complain.
Most ppl who run these programs can't handle the volume. You need a wide GPP base to do this program. Otherwise the amount of volume coupled with intensity will overwhelm your ability to recover and your connective tissue will give out. I'm week 5 into Smolov and have not gotten injured or anything. The accessories I do are all designed to strengthen my weak points. For instance...if my hamstrings are weak...I do more heavy reverse hyper or heavy back extensions. Or Russian leg curls.
Interesting videos, just came across your channel and watched a few videos.. I just finished the 13 week smolov squat program and added 35kg to my high bar squat. Im curious to see if I keep it all, as I wont be training squats more than twice per week, and deadlifts/posterior chain once per week. But I did the program without anabolics, been training 17+ years, and I really dont get why some people think you will lose your gains if you dont maintain the same volume of training...because thats literally NEVER been my experience in any of my lifts. I also feel like you guys excuse yourselves or something with an overemphasis on that many people with good results are on PEDs lol.
Might be a little late, but what ended up happening with your squat? Did you lose your strength or were you able to maintain after completing the program?
@@mrnefarious8556 hey! Good news is I've kept my strength gains, I haven't actually tried an all out 1RM since then but have been close a couple times.. and I've cut some of the fat that I gained while doing the program. Been training squat twice a week since then and will continue to do so.
@@mohamedelzek3368 hey yes I think it's been about a year, I've been training my squat normally now just 1 time per week and 6 weeks ago hit a PR of 230 kgs, 10 kgs over what I did after Smolov, and weighing about 6 kgs less. Training squat just once per week isn't optimal for squat but I have been more focused on deadlifts.
Three weeks into a Smolov jr cycle at my crossfit gym injured about half of those doing the cycle. 6 men and 2 women. All experienced crossfitters. One being quite notable. That type of volume for the limited results is pretty stupid.
A question for coaches might be; how much time have you spent explaining why the athlete asking about these ridiculous training ideas, should not use them? Or How many times have you been asked to help a lifter recover from the injuries caused by these “super programs”?
so if these programs you listed are not good, how does your own road to anywhere squat program compare? seems fairly similar to me and i have done russian squat routine before and am now doing your road to angwhere program
What lots of inexperienced or unread people don't understand is that these kinds of trendy or hardcore programs absolutely do not work for around 98% of people, and even those genetically/hormonally exceptional people have to be on tons of gear. Before you do any of those programs, realize that you have a VERY small chance of being an exception to this rule, and that you are more likely to injure yourself or break down your body so much that your progress moving forward will be stunted for a while after. On the other hand, the Sika Strength programs are challenging, but anyone can do them, and modify them as their strength grows.
They work in the short run for some people, but long term? Nah. I spent years running up and hitting a brick wall at 142.5-145kg on my bench, just simply grinding top sets of 3s and 5s, then hitting it with some back down volume. On two other days I'd do straight sets with a slightly lighter weight + pauses. It'd always follow a pattern - I'd hit the mark, see the strength start to fall off. Usually get a niggle or two for my troubles. It was basically pointless ego lifting.
It worked for me last time ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-kYJF9lT5IKg.html and now I am trying Sheiko because its supposed to be more sustainable. Lets see if am able to break the last PR I did with Smolov Jr... Anyway Maybe for me its easier because I am yet not so advanced and I can still make easy gains.
@@jwt-nu3ei Since then I did not bench much at all. I just started now with Sheiko again and I will test my best again when I reach the end of the cycle which should be soon. Since then I focused on overhead movements, I did 65 kg x 4 OHP which I think is more impressive than the last 85 x 7 bench. So I think I am still making progress on the pressing movements but I will know for sure soon if it also translate into more progress on the bench.
ive run it a bunch of times, sometimes backk to back. not a athelete, not doing drugs, ive been fine eveytime, a few niggles and pain but nothing bad enogh to stop training. least ive got was 5kg. usualy bench min x3 a weeek anywqy and havent seemed to lost much after finishing
you would probably be better off doing the smolov program which is 14 weeks instead of the smolov jr program. The smolov jr is just part of it its the base meso cycle.
