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Anyone tried the Smolov Jr programme for bench press?  Just finished the 3 week cycle with 5kg increments and added 7.5kg to my 1rm.  Going to run it again next month with 2.5kg increments to try to add another 5kg.  Great programme I can highly recommend it!

Edited by the aggressive beggar
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That's me booked in for the gym next week. Not sure if my excitement got the better of me but I've booked in for half 6 every morning. I feel that I could be regretting that by Wednesday or Thursday.

Not sure if anyone on here is a member of North Lanarkshire Council gyms but they've made a complete arse of reopening again. After lockdown 1, they reopened their gyms 2 weeks after the rest of the country as they simply didn't have the relevant cleaning procedures in place despite having months to prepare. This time round, the app which is used for bookings is down this week for "essential maintenance". Again, they've had months to prepare for this and the app being down means that every member who wants to book a gym session, tennis court, outdoor fitness class etc. is having to phone. I called them at half 8 this morning and the poor receptionist sounded like she was already at the end of her tether.

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Been back training on the track for each of the last 3 Wednesdays.

By adjusting the session to current fitness, here's what I'm managing:

3 x 50m, 95% effort, walk back plus 2 minutes recovery.

10 mins rest.

2 x 70m, 90% effort, recovery as above.

10 mins rest.

1 more 70m/90% rep.

The standard session of this sort is 2 x 3 x 60m, 95%; but for once I'm taking my fitness levels properly into account, and pacing the session according to not losing form. Not too surprised about current levels, looking at a possible supplementary Monday session at distances up to 120m, lower effort, shorter recovery (i.e. lower intensity, aimed at building the base fitness back up).

The flexibility on when sessions can happen and how they can be conducted is completely mitigated by the fact that I can get onto a track again. Also, it's really uplifting seeing so many familiar faces getting back to it, all in their specialist groups.

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7 minutes ago, sugna said:

Been back training on the track for each of the last 3 Wednesdays.

By adjusting the session to current fitness, here's what I'm managing:

3 x 50m, 95% effort, walk back plus 2 minutes recovery.

10 mins rest.

2 x 70m, 90% effort, recovery as above.

10 mins rest.

1 more 70m/90% rep.

The standard session of this sort is 2 x 3 x 60m, 95%; but for once I'm taking my fitness levels properly into account, and pacing the session according to not losing form. Not too surprised about current levels, looking at a possible supplementary Monday session at distances up to 120m, lower effort, shorter recovery (i.e. lower intensity, aimed at building the base fitness back up).

The flexibility on when sessions can happen and how they can be conducted is completely mitigated by the fact that I can get onto a track again. Also, it's really uplifting seeing so many familiar faces getting back to it, all in their specialist groups.

Nice one. It's always good to mix it up. I did something similar today, just running between landmarks whether it was a longer jog, or shorter sprint. 

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Anyone tried the Smolov Jr programme for bench press?  Just finished the 3 week cycle with 5kg increments and added 7.5kg to my 1rm.  Going to run it again next month with 2.5kg increments to try to add another 5kg.  Great programme I can highly recommend it!
Tries this a few years ago for squats. To be honest I felt it was just too much volume but I could see it being good for bench press.

The full Smolov program looks absolutely brutal.
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Used to go running regularly 2 or 3 years ago but since then I've given up and developed a lockdown beer belly so have spent the past week reducing bad foods and increasing water whilst doing weights and have today went to take on the cardio. Just finished me first session of the couch to 5km and I'm feeling... out of breath but all the more positive for it. Very keen to do better tomorrow. 

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Wonder who's going to be the first on here to get injured after going back to it all gung ho and enthusiastic after so long off. Ron Aldos puting in a strong claim so far. 
Thanks for the vote of confidence [emoji23].

I'll do what I did after lockdown 1.0 and ease myself back in over 4-6 weeks.
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On 20/04/2021 at 19:41, Boostin' Kev said:

Wonder who's going to be the first on here to get injured after going back to it all gung ho and enthusiastic after so long off. Ron Aldos puting in a strong claim so far. 

Not convinced I’ll make it up the stairs in one piece when the old gym opens. 

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Ok so my numbers probably won't be as high as some people on here but I'm a novice and just starting out.

I've had my garage gym setup for a few weeks now and thoroughly enjoying it. Not stepped in a gym since my early 20's (now in mid 30's) with most of my workouts at home being with a couple of 22.5kg dumbbells. Starting getting bored of just dumbbell training so ended up getting myself a squat rack, bench, bar and some plates. 

Had no idea what weight would be manageable on the main compound lifts so downloaded FitNotes to keep track of my progress. Been generally doing 3 sets of 6 and increasing the weight if I was hitting the 6th rep with releative ease. When I started I literally plucked a figure out of thin air to put on the bar. Went with the assumption that if I could squat/bench/deadlift my dumbbells with relative ease that I would start at 60kg. I'm up to 80kg on the bench, barbell row, squat and 57.5kb on front squat, 100kg deadlift, 72.5kg on incline bench and 65kg on seated overhead press. I have no idea what the numbers should look like per lift i.e. if squat should be better than bench etc? Nor am I sure whether I should be increasing the weight on each set if the 6th rep was 'easy' or stick with the same weight and increase on the next day I do X lift. 

I'm usually training Mon, Tue, Thur and Fri.

Mon: Bench, barbell row, seated dumbbell press, barbell curl and tricep extension.

Tue: Squat, barbell calf raises, front squats, romanian deafdlift

Wed: Rest

Thur: Incline bench, dumbbell rows, seated overhead press, dumbbell curls, skullcrushers

Fri: Squat, barbell calf raises, front squats, deadlifts

Any advice would be appreciated. Trying to hit most muscle groups twice a week however concerned the volume of 3 sets of 6 isn't sufficient for mass/strength gains but trying to use progressive overload as best I can.

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Guest bernardblack
11 minutes ago, Day of the Lords said:

Tuesday was a full year since I modified my diet and made a proper effort at losing weight and getting fit. Pretty pleased with the overall numbers.Screenshot_20210420-075232_Renpho.jpg

Tremendous effort, well done!

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Generally speaking you should be able to deadlift more than you can squat & squat more than you can bench press. I'd be dead if I tried to do as much leg work as you're doing in a week mind.
For heavy stuff I'd switched to [mention=311]super_carson[/mention]'s suggestion of doing sets of e.g. 6-6-4-4-2 (or 1) with the last set being close to my 1RM. Pretty sure Fitnotes has a 1RM calculator in it to work out your own. Just lop 10% off whatever it says for safety's sake and work your way up slow.
For most of the other stuff I tend to prefer reverse pyramids (start heavier finish lighter) but tbh I think just going with what feels good for you is fine. You'd go insane trying to find out the *optimum* method if you read everything that's out there.
 
I always thought that you should roughly be able to bench your bodyweight and double that for squat and DL. Not sure where I picked that up from though...

Makes sense that DL should be a wee bit higher than squat maybe
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Ok so my numbers probably won't be as high as some people on here but I'm a novice and just starting out.
I've had my garage gym setup for a few weeks now and thoroughly enjoying it. Not stepped in a gym since my early 20's (now in mid 30's) with most of my workouts at home being with a couple of 22.5kg dumbbells. Starting getting bored of just dumbbell training so ended up getting myself a squat rack, bench, bar and some plates. 
Had no idea what weight would be manageable on the main compound lifts so downloaded FitNotes to keep track of my progress. Been generally doing 3 sets of 6 and increasing the weight if I was hitting the 6th rep with releative ease. When I started I literally plucked a figure out of thin air to put on the bar. Went with the assumption that if I could squat/bench/deadlift my dumbbells with relative ease that I would start at 60kg. I'm up to 80kg on the bench, barbell row, squat and 57.5kb on front squat, 100kg deadlift, 72.5kg on incline bench and 65kg on seated overhead press. I have no idea what the numbers should look like per lift i.e. if squat should be better than bench etc? Nor am I sure whether I should be increasing the weight on each set if the 6th rep was 'easy' or stick with the same weight and increase on the next day I do X lift. 
I'm usually training Mon, Tue, Thur and Fri.
Mon: Bench, barbell row, seated dumbbell press, barbell curl and tricep extension.
Tue: Squat, barbell calf raises, front squats, romanian deafdlift
Wed: Rest
Thur: Incline bench, dumbbell rows, seated overhead press, dumbbell curls, skullcrushers
Fri: Squat, barbell calf raises, front squats, deadlifts
Any advice would be appreciated. Trying to hit most muscle groups twice a week however concerned the volume of 3 sets of 6 isn't sufficient for mass/strength gains but trying to use progressive overload as best I can.
There's no set rule but generally your deadlift should be more than your squat and your squat should be more than your bench.

Theres a lot of leg work in there and doing deadlifts and squats on the same day will take its toll, particularly as you go heavier. I'd suggest maybe going to a push/pull/legs routine and having deadlifts and squats on separate days.
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5 minutes ago, Pato said:

On no planet* am I squatting 180kg this is madness

 

* well maybe one with really low gravity, Pluto or something

I might be talking shite. Someone told me that once, but they might uave been talking shite too....

 

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