Sheiko or Smolov?

Hi everyone,
I recently decided that I want to start competing in powerlifting. My weight is about 145-148lbs and my current lifts are Bench=245, Deadlift-430, and Squat 300.
I wanted to know if I should run sheiko or smolov. I know sheiko is good for all 3 lifts but my squat is so far behind that i was considering running the smolov mesocycle for squat then going to sheiko.
Other info: iv been lifting 3 years consistently now

Any input would be great.
Thanks!

Your squat isnt that far behind imo. Go ahead and start up sheiko man

I’d go sheiko, it’s for all the lifts as opposed to smolov that’s just for the squat

Your squat is fine. ALL of your lifts need improving, so go with Sheiko. Start with 29, go 37, 30, 32 (which is for meet prep).

Make sure to do some upper back accessory to keep your shoulders healthy.

ok, sheiko it is, thanks for all the advice

would you recommend doing a deload week inbetween sheiko cycles or testing maxes at all, or just run them all consecutively one after the other?

[quote]raa08007 wrote:
would you recommend doing a deload week inbetween sheiko cycles or testing maxes at all, or just run them all consecutively one after the other?[/quote]

Good question. Am also interested in the answer.

[quote]raa08007 wrote:
Hi everyone,
I recently decided that I want to start competing in powerlifting. My weight is about 145-148lbs and my current lifts are Bench=245, Deadlift-430, and Squat 300.
I wanted to know if I should run sheiko or smolov. I know sheiko is good for all 3 lifts but my squat is so far behind that i was considering running the smolov mesocycle for squat then going to sheiko.
Other info: iv been lifting 3 years consistently now

Any input would be great.
Thanks![/quote]

You are strong man. We have the same bench/squat, and your deadlift is 40 some pounds higher than mine, but I weigh 60 more lbs than you. Impressive. Did you cut or have you always been at the weight?

[quote]IFlashBack wrote:

[quote]raa08007 wrote:
would you recommend doing a deload week inbetween sheiko cycles or testing maxes at all, or just run them all consecutively one after the other?[/quote]

Good question. Am also interested in the answer. [/quote]

Just run them back to back. I’m not a fan of testing outside of meets, it will just serve to take away from training time. The days where you work up to 90% will be indication enough. Take a week off after your meet and start again.

Sheiko is all about practice, anyway. Use REAL maxes, not projected, and you won’t need deloads. If, for the most part, the lifts during the month felt good, feel free to add 10 pounds to your training max when starting the next cycle.

[quote]trivium wrote:

[quote]raa08007 wrote:
Hi everyone,
I recently decided that I want to start competing in powerlifting. My weight is about 145-148lbs and my current lifts are Bench=245, Deadlift-430, and Squat 300.
I wanted to know if I should run sheiko or smolov. I know sheiko is good for all 3 lifts but my squat is so far behind that i was considering running the smolov mesocycle for squat then going to sheiko.
Other info: iv been lifting 3 years consistently now

Any input would be great.
Thanks![/quote]

You are strong man. We have the same bench/squat, and your deadlift is 40 some pounds higher than mine, but I weigh 60 more lbs than you. Impressive. Did you cut or have you always been at the weight?[/quote]

I did do a cut. I got my weight up to about 165 lbs and did a very slow cut to preserve as much strength as possible. My bench and squat both suffered a bit but my deadlift was always my strongest movement so i maintained most of my strength. The best advice if you were going to cut is dont cut your calories too quickly.

[quote]DaveForner wrote:

[quote]IFlashBack wrote:

[quote]raa08007 wrote:
would you recommend doing a deload week inbetween sheiko cycles or testing maxes at all, or just run them all consecutively one after the other?[/quote]

Good question. Am also interested in the answer. [/quote]

Just run them back to back. I’m not a fan of testing outside of meets, it will just serve to take away from training time. The days where you work up to 90% will be indication enough. Take a week off after your meet and start again.

Sheiko is all about practice, anyway. Use REAL maxes, not projected, and you won’t need deloads. If, for the most part, the lifts during the month felt good, feel free to add 10 pounds to your training max when starting the next cycle.[/quote]

ok thanks alot, much appreciated.

No worries. I’m running a 37-30-32 (I have a meet in a bit more than a week, Jan 12) and documenting it in my log. If you have any questions feel free to PM or post there.

So I just finished sheiko 29 and I must say I like the whole idea of not going above 85%. Allows for a lot of volume. My only question is should i bump the weights up for sheiko 37? I was thinking about adding 10 lbs to squat and dead and 5 lbs to my bench. No reps were missed on sheiko 29 and I didnt have to grind out any reps either.

I would say yes, but 37 is also substantially more difficult than 29. You should be able to handle it though.

Try Smolov after running Sheiko for a while. I ran the Smolov base mesocycle for squats and did the bench press portions of Sheiko 29 and I’d definitely rate it. Sheiko is pretty sweet.

[quote]DaveForner wrote:
I would say yes, but 37 is also substantially more difficult than 29. You should be able to handle it though.[/quote]

Just finished up 37, felt great all cycle except for the very last day which was probably due to lack of sleep and exams. I think I am going to add 5lbs to everything again for the next cycle. You recommend 30 next right? Because Ive read a couple of other forums and some people do 29, 37, 40, 32 as opposed to 29, 37,30, 32.

[quote]MegaDavo891 wrote:
Try Smolov after running Sheiko for a while. I ran the Smolov base mesocycle for squats and did the bench press portions of Sheiko 29 and I’d definitely rate it. Sheiko is pretty sweet.[/quote]

Yea I was actually considering doing this over the summer after I finish with sheiko 32 when I dont have classes and I can focus more on lifting. I was gunna add in some speed deads at submaximal weight at least once and week so I could continue to improve my mechanics there as well.

What is your opinion on 29 versus 37?? I keep hearing 37 is harder, but while looking at the numbers I just can’t see it. I know my strength well and can gauge the difficulty of a workout. So many people keep saying 37 is harder but it looks like an easier but longer workout to me…

I just finished 29 a couple days ago and really liked it. For now my plan is to drop volume some this week and test my maxes for fun and for planning what to make my next maxes. I’m leaning to doing 29 again, though with a different deadlift scheme. I need to fix my shitty form and do more reps for strength and practice.

[quote]Sutebun wrote:
What is your opinion on 29 versus 37?? I keep hearing 37 is harder, but while looking at the numbers I just can’t see it. I know my strength well and can gauge the difficulty of a workout. So many people keep saying 37 is harder but it looks like an easier but longer workout to me…

I just finished 29 a couple days ago and really liked it. For now my plan is to drop volume some this week and test my maxes for fun and for planning what to make my next maxes. I’m leaning to doing 29 again, though with a different deadlift scheme. I need to fix my shitty form and do more reps for strength and practice.[/quote]

They are really similar, 37 just has slightly more volume. I thought it was harder than 29 but then again I thought 29 was real easy. Also I ran 29 over winter break when I had no class. 37 I started this semester and the combination of exams and not having as much free time has been really stressful so some lifts werent as easy as I would have liked. However, there wasnt any day where i was really grinding reps out to finish.

[quote]raa08007 wrote:

[quote]DaveForner wrote:
I would say yes, but 37 is also substantially more difficult than 29. You should be able to handle it though.[/quote]

Just finished up 37, felt great all cycle except for the very last day which was probably due to lack of sleep and exams. I think I am going to add 5lbs to everything again for the next cycle. You recommend 30 next right? Because Ive read a couple of other forums and some people do 29, 37, 40, 32 as opposed to 29, 37,30, 32.[/quote]

I found 30 pretty taxing. The volume and average intensity jumps don’t look all that much on paper, but they certainly feel like a lot. Why not run 37 again with slightly higher maxes? The longer you can milk 37 while making gains, the better off – that way you keep the higher volume of 30 in your quiver so you can use it when you stop making gains on 37.