Status Grow!

[rod-dog]

Right so here i am having just started and completed day one of Smolov jr bench routine . Decide to give it a try having somewhat stalled on bench lately . I have read through numerous threads on it and the reccomendation seems to be to drop your 1rm by 5 or 10 kg so i have dropped my max from 130kg to 125kg and used this as my base.

So today was 6 sets of 6 @ 70% of this 125kg bringing me to 87.5kg.

All the little discs were in use by others so i just made it 90kg after a warm up with 60kg at 25 reps. Did all six sets with less then a minute rest bringing the weight slowly down, touching the chest then pushing up stopping just short of lockout. Seems easy today but am ready to be feeling destroyed by the end of the 3 weeks

Current weight is 84kg. ( i go up to 86 and down to 82 all the time)

Height =172cm.

Max bench=130

max squat=180 belt. 200 belt and wraps , maybee more

Dead=220kg wrist straps

Military press=80kg x 5 mouth height to full extent.

Will take both before and after measurements as well as photos in the shower.

Goals for the year are 140kg bench for reps, 22okg squat wrapped , 240kg dead and to look as good as Soundsgood

[rod-dog]

Had a cruisy night tonight. Did some light deads and shoulders.

Deads =60kg x 10, 100kg x 10, 140kg x 5, 160kg x 5 x5 x5

Seated shoulder press bar x lots, 40kg x 20, 60kg x 10, 80kg x 5x5x4.

Standing db flyes, 10kg x 15, 15kg x 10. 17.5kg x 8

Rear delt cables , lots of god knows what weight 3 sets as many to failure.

Just a lazy train getting ready for my squat 1rm test at end of week and smolov bench day 2 tomorrow.

Feeling good and enjoying life.

[rod-dog]

Trying to take pics using comp . Lol dont know how to work it to time a photo. Plan is to increase chest, shoulder and tri size over the next few months hence the smolov

[rod-dog]

Smolov bench day 2 = 7 sets of 5 @ 93.75 so made it 95.

Again did all sets with around a min rest and got through it easy.

Went from there and did some squats , 9 sets of 3 @ 150kg. Pretty cruisy night at the gym. Had a nice distraction while i was squatting though =P~

Came home and had a shake consisting of ice cream , whey isolate, creatine and full cream milk.

[30ed32]

keen to know how smolov works for you, I'm considering doing it for bench as well

[rod-dog]

keen to know how smolov works for you, I'm considering doing it for bench as well

Im hoping for the best 30ed32. Everyone i have read about that has followed it correctly seems to have good results so fingers crossed.

[drizzt]

Good stuff bro keen to see how you end up of it. Looking massive in those pics too :nod:

[rod-dog]

Good stuff bro keen to see how you end up of it. Looking massive in those pics too :nod:

Thanks Drizz. Reading your review on the squat was the icing on the cake in deciding to give the smolov programme a go. Now look what you have done, everyones doing it

[rod-dog]

Smolov bench day 3.

8 sets of 4 reps @ 100kg was another easy night on the bench getting through it in around 15 mins . Loving this programme so far it feels good benching different sets and reps each day and feeling stoked as with how awesome it is to be in the gym. Finished that and trained shoulders with Shane Hunter from Nutrition Systems

Behind head bar press 8 reps x 4 sets

Db flyes 10 reps superset with front bar press 12-15 reps. 4 sets

Bar shrugs superset with front plate raises 10 -20 reps . 4 sets

Nice little pump in the chest and shoulders when finished , the cellucore and superpump mix makes me feel full of energy , get a good pump, last for ages and just makes me all round happy to be alive.

Post training shake of a cup of scotch oats , 50gm isolate , 5 x amino acid tabs and a cup of full cream milk. Then into a big pizza. Carbs for africa!

[rod-dog]

Smolov bench day 4 was 10 sets of 3 @ 106.25 . Made it 107.5.

Feeling absolutely shattered today after travelling to my step sisters wedding yesterday (6 hours in the car ) with a crap diet most of the day. Didnt drink but felt as though i had. Completed all sets without any real struggle and went on to back

Barbell rows 70kg 3 sets of 15 super slow reps ( 3secs down, 3 secs up )

Superset

Wide grip pulldowns Not sure the actual weight

Close grip pulldowns x 15 x 10 x 8 x 6

Seated rows max stack + 5kg x 20 repsx 3 sets superset with

Lat pushdowns 3 sets at some weight

[tomsammce]

Good stuff be interesting to see how much your bench goes up!

[rod-dog]

Good stuff be interesting to see how much your bench goes up!

Fingers crossed mate. Guess ill be happy with any gains in strength and size but would really like 10 kg in strength. Hopefully the size will come over time.

[rod-dog]

Today i started week 2 of the bench programme. 6 sets of 60% 1rm plus 15 pounds so instead of last weeks 87.5 which i made 90 i made it 95kg.

This was the easiest day i have had yet. Wanted to do a lot more , it just felt wrong only doing this and didnt even work up a sweat. Have to get it through my head that i dont need to destroy myself to gain strength and size. Was going to stay and do legs or train tonight but had a migraine since waking snd the bar on my neck was killing me and a bit sensitive to light so did a perky for a mate then came home to relax and eat. Legs tomorrow instead.

[rod-dog]

Another day another dollar. Was shattered after work so came home and had a nana nap for an hour. Woke up and hit the gym .

quads today was a mixed bag . Leg extensions 4 sets starting low for 25 reps then working up the stack and down to 10 reps.

Back squats =60kg x 10, 100kg x 15, 140kg x 10, 100kg x 15

Ego boosters= 140kg x 10 x 10

Front squats 60kg x 10 x10 knee started playing up so quit and finshed with max stack of leg extensions . 20 reps, 15 reps , 10 reps, 8 reps approx 20 secs rest between sets

Biceps trisets = seated dumbell drag curls 15kg each x 10

Preacher cables (not sure weight x 10)

Spider curls 20kg x 10

Did 3 sets of these concentarting on squeezing hard and amazing such light weight with controlled form could create the massive pump it did. Thought my bis were going to rupture.

Tris were seated overhead bar extension 30kg x 15,

Skullcrushers 30kg x 15

Rope cables ? x15

3 sets at light so i have my tris for smolov tomorrow.

[rod-dog]

Smolov week 2 day 2. 102.5kg x 7 sets of 5

Completed with enough ease although i didnt have the short rests between sets like i have been , i stretched it out to between 90-120 secs. Then went on and supersetted calves

Standing bar calve raises 8-15 reps with

Seated calve raises 8-20 reps

standing bodyweight raises 25 reps

Stretching 10 -20 secs or until i couldnt tolerate it anymore

Did 3 sets of these then 3 sets of calve presses on the leg press at 90 degrees.

[rod-dog]

Smolov Jr Bench Week 2 day 3.

107.5kg x 8 sets of 4

The weight come down slowly and went up easy tonight although started to tire near the last 2 sets but wasnt a struggle at all. Had a rest day yesterday. Feeling good with my programme and lifes pretty awesome at the mo.

Finished with some light tri-sets for biceps seated drag db curls. cable preacher and spiders. Off to train in the big smoke of Whanganui tomorrow will be smolov again 10 sets of 3 at 115kg then ill do shoulders and have another rest day sunday.

[rod-dog]

Smolov jr bench. Week 2 day 4

115kg ten sets of 3 reps

Not a problem at all today although only did 9 sets :naughty: One more week to go and expecting if get through it ok ill add an extra week in as im feeling good. Down to 82kg which im unhappy about though so need to start upping the cals and drink more fluids. Trained with my mate Dan who did an easy 170kg bench just missing the 180 . Think if hed waited a couple a mins he would have nailed it. Must be something in the Christchurch water hes getting strong as an ox.

Finished with a play on the hack squat machine ( wish our gym had one of these) and some shoulder presses .

[rod-dog]

Shoulders today and at the end got a couple of clips of my sqyat depth so i can be judged :cry: .

Did a more volume style rather then heavy starting with

Seated db lateral raises 10kg x 20, 12.5kg x 12, 15kg x 8 x 2 rp 5 sec rest

Up rows 20kg x 20, 40kg x 10..... wrists started playing up so

Rope up rows 43 x 20 and 68 x 8x 2 rp

Seated bar press 40kg x 15, 60kg x 10, 60kg x 9, Drop set 60k a 10, 40k x 10, 2kk x 10

Rear delt machine= 8 discs x 18 reps . 10 discs x 9, 8 discs x 8

Machine press FST 5 . I think i invented this :pfft: Like FST 7 but wait for it....... 5 sets instead of 7.

57kg x10 x 10x 9x 8 x 6 25secs rest.

Felt poked at the end and was good to do a different style of training from heavy . Finished quickly with a couple of sets leg extensions to warm the knees and then a few quick sets of squats to see how low im going. Not as low as it feels when you actually watch it on a vid. Will post in a tic if i can

Just tryed and god knows how. So useless with computers. Will ask the mrs later

[rod-dog]

.

[Riccardo]

Id squat outside of the rack bro, safety bars are bullshit anyways just make sure you have a spotter if not just dump the bar off your back if you fail. You need to a touch lower IMO and you will get there by widening your stance a tiny bit. You will probably feel more stable as well as there was some slight lateral instability. looks like your knees were buckling in very slightly also so focus on trying to spread the floor with your feet to increase your glute activation, the slightly wider stance will help with this also.

[frogie2001]

in my opinion squat looked good

[I Declare War]

Yep as Riccardo says experiment with stance, maybe a bit further apart and toes out a little bit.

Big John posted a vid in Android's squat thread the other day.. in that the guy has a metaphor to think of when squatting. imagine you've got a bucket of water dangling from you when your squatting and your goal is to not loose water from the front or back or sides in your case :pfft: yea the lateral movement (wobbling from side to side... try work that out).

I'd suggest you do a few sessions with 60 or maybe even 40 kg on the bar... do sets of about 20 and practice a nice fluid up and down squatting movement, also practice widening your stance a little.

P.S. I don't agree that safety pins are bullshit. If you set them right they can be a great aid to your squatting, especially without a spotter. Your Squat cage isn't very deep tho so I can see it could get a bit claustrophobic in there squatting. I'd suggest you keep squatting in there for the time being.

[rod-dog]

Id squat outside of the rack bro, safety bars are bullshit anyways just make sure you have a spotter if not just dump the bar off your back if you fail. You need to a touch lower IMO and you will get there by widening your stance a tiny bit. You will probably feel more stable as well as there was some slight lateral instability. looks like your knees were buckling in very slightly also so focus on trying to spread the floor with your feet to increase your glute activation, the slightly wider stance will help with this also.

Thanks Riccardo. Its good to get some advice from people in the know as nobody at our gym really squats. As for the wide stance ill definately do that and i do find it easier anyway with a wider than shoulder stance. Might ask the gym to unweld the bars and drill out the holes as we arent allowed to drop weights on the floor without a hissyfit. Thanks again mate.

in my opinion squat looked good

Thanks Frogie

Yep as Riccardo says experiment with stance, maybe a bit further apart and toes out a little bit.

Big John posted a vid in Android's squat thread the other day.. in that the guy has a metaphor to think of when squatting. imagine you've got a bucket of water dangling from you when your squatting and your goal is to not loose water from the front or back or sides in your case :pfft: yea the lateral movement (wobbling from side to side... try work that out).

I'd suggest you do a few sessions with 60 or maybe even 40 kg on the bar... do sets of about 20 and practice a nice fluid up and down squatting movement, also practice widening your stance a little.

P.S. I don't agree that safety pins are bullshit. If you set them right they can be a great aid to your squatting, especially without a spotter. Your Squat cage isn't very deep tho so I can see it could get a bit claustrophobic in there squatting. I'd suggest you keep squatting in there for the time being.

Thanks IDW yeah that wobbling in the knees during the squat is definately something ill have to look at, as for the wobbling pre-squat thats just me getting my footing comfy before i drop down. Ill check that vid out to.

Thanks mate

[rod-dog]

Smolov bench day 1 week 3. Wasnt sure if i should have upped the weight by another 7.5 ish or what after reading the blogs they say 5-10 pounds on week 3 so i made it 5kg considering that if i complete this week with ease i will push out another week with added weight anyway.

100kg x 6 sets of 6. Didnt even work up a sweat and pumped those weights like they owed me money. Loving this programme and i dont know why but its releasing something good in my body im feeling good about everything life has to offer. My chest , tris and for some reason lats are filling out nicely in the last 2 weeks since starting smolov. If i had to pick weakest areas would be overall thickness of arms(only just over 16 inches ) :oops: and calves but working on new things to try like eating. Finished bench and trained tris and bis with Shane Hunter and left with a pump in my arms that near made me explode. Still using the superpump and cellucore mix which helps a lot .

[drizzt]

Awesome to hear it's working for you Rod, keep it up bro :nod: