I bumped my bench max up by 5% at the beginning. My raw, paused comp legal bench has went from 290 to 350ish (skills evaluation is in a week or two, but my training max is up around 360) over the past 6 months or so doing Sheiko prep cycles and I’m still able to make 220. I did not do any of the flyes, though in retrospect I don’t think they are a bad idea because I wound up straining my pec and had to miss out on benching for 3 or 4 weeks.
I did overhead pressing during that time which was enough to maintain my bench strength once I fully rehabbed it. I DO ABSOLUTELY suggest fitting upper back into the program, be it on off days or substituted in for flyes on workout days. Your shoulders will thank you, and yes many of the Russians do back work, but it is considered GPP for powerlifting (which it is) and not written in.
To the person who asked about how hard to push yourself on assistance, that was a daily call. Generally, nothing was taken to failure or close to failure. Just get the sets and reps in.
Also, ChaseT made this fucking awesome spreadsheet. It has all the Sheiko templates floating around, from the one’s Talmant posted to ones we found and translated from Sheiko’s old website and some Russian powerlifting forums, and the Hooper MSIC programs:
I will be finishing Stephan Korte’s 3x3, 8-week program in 2 weeks and I’m considering following up with Sheiko #29.
I found a great spreadsheet to calculate weights but noticed there are no weights or percentages listed on Day 1 for Flyes and Good Mornings, on Day 2 for Incline Bench and Lunges, and on Day 3 for Flyes and Good Mornings.
Is their a typical percentage of your 1RM that shouldd should use on these lifts, or do you simply pick a load you can handle for 5 sets?
I will be finishing Stephan Korte’s 3x3, 8-week program in 2 weeks and I’m considering following up with Sheiko #29.
I found a great spreadsheet to calculate weights but noticed there are no weights or percentages listed on Day 1 for Flyes and Good Mornings, on Day 2 for Incline Bench and Lunges, and on Day 3 for Flyes and Good Mornings.
Is their a typical percentage of your 1RM that shouldd should use on these lifts, or do you simply pick a load you can handle for 5 sets?
My understanding is that these are supposed to be done fairly light, not to exhaustion. They’re considered GPP, the weight you use doesn’t really matter but shouldn’t interfere with your main lifts.
My understanding is that these are supposed to be done fairly light, not to exhaustion. They’re considered GPP, the weight you use doesn’t really matter but shouldn’t interfere with your main lifts.
How did you make out on the 3x3 plan?
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Ramo,
The 3x3 Program has been a tremendous success by all accounts. I followed the 1st 4-weeks to the letter as you suggested. The first 2 weeks beat the hell out of me but my body adapted. I was sleeping by 9:00 every night and eating like a horse. Some days I felt completely wiped, but pushed through every workout.
I’ve had to adjust Phase II a bit. It simply didn’t seem like enough volume and I was finishing the workout in 30 minutes. I’ve added sets and rep ranges even with the elevated weights - Phase I was truly a strength builder.
I gained 11 solid pounds of lean mass (from 216 - 227lbs) in 4 weeks; all packed on my quads, glutes, back, and throughout the shoulder girdle.
I gained 11 solid pounds of lean mass (from 216 - 227lbs) in 4 weeks; all packed on my quads, glutes, back, and throughout the shoulder girdle.
Loved the program… Looking forward to Sheiko.
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I’m glad this went well for you. I had the same kind of incredible gains in leg mass. I haven’t done any of the Sheiko templates, but I’m sure that as long as you start with VERY conservative numbers you will do well. It is, I think, a lot more demanding overall than the 3x3…mind your recovery.
You shouldn’t use conservative numbers, you should use exact numbers. Hitting the correct percentages is key. Test your maxes and use them, at least for squat and deadlift. In the bench I would add 5 kg to your current max, cause it’s a bit too light.
what type of gains have you guys seen on your deadlift and has it made a difference whether you pulled sumo or conventional?
I’ve been thinking of sumo pulls and medium/close raw raw squats (normal for me). I just worry a bit about overtraining the hips, especially from Hanley’s log. I get a lot of lower back in my sumo deads.
I’ve been doing WS4SB 3 for a while with a slight variation - instead of plyos on DE leg day, I’ve been doing 4 sets of 10-15 rep squats increasing the weight weekly. I’ve made good improvement with Westside, but the reported success of Sheiko users makes me eager to try Sheiko. I only have a few concerns regarding the program that maybe you Sheiko experts can address.
1st - my current maxes
bench - 295
squat (high bar, medium stance)- 305 - however I can squat 225 15+ times (takes a long time to do though)
deadlift (conventional) - 405
Now my questions:
The majority of the squatting requires rep counts that don’t seem that challenging for me. I crap out at high end weights, but all the prescribed sets are areas that I can triple the needed rep count. Should I increase the percentage on this?
Some have said they added back work on off days. Do you train your back hard on the off days, or do you take it fairly easy? I was considering on either Tuesday or Thursday (depending on work schedule) doing some rows, pullups, and rear delt/rotator cuff work.
It seems a consensus to increase starting bench max as well, so I’ll do so.
#3 wasn’t a question, so I guess I have fewer questions than I thought.
Maybe see how the squatting goes and then decide if you want to kick up the percent. It’s a lot of volume.
My squat is very similar to yours. 140kg, but my form breaks down a lot lower because of a strength imbalance I’ve been working on that has caused a problem in my squat- knees caving. So, do I base my max off the 140kg squat, or the best squat I could do a perfect atg rep with, maybe 120kg? I don’t know.
Hanley’s superset idea is interesting and would cover the rotator
I was thinking of doing weighted chins, 1-arm rows, and power shrugs whenever I can fit it in. Would have to be careful to arrange it so that it wouldn’t fatigue my grip or upper back for deadlifts.
I’m just throwing ideas out there, I don’t really know. I’ve got a couple months to figure it out anyway heh.
Honestly, the questions of, “should I do this this or this,” being asked by people who have never attempted a template, are best answered by just doing a template. Start off following it as designed, do that for a month, and then use some critical thinking and tweak things for yourself. I’ve heard so many people say “this looks too easy” only to quit them week 3 (the very high volume week) because they couldn’t finish any of the workouts. I wouldn’t get all crazy at the start.
As far as the back work question, I usually do vertical pulling one day a week (chins, lat pulldowns, etc.), and horizontal another (cable row, BB row, etc.). I do upperback/rotator prehab with muscle snatches or cubans every time I lift.
Thanks for the responses. I’m going ahead today to give the Sheiko 29 entering my bench at 305 instead of 295 and squat at 315 instead of 305 - I won’t go too crazy. If it seems too tough, I can always return it to the appropriate weight.
I’m a little paranoid about not working my squat hard enough because it’s so pathetic.
Donut62 - How intense are you on your horizontal and vertical pulling days?
Did day 1 of Sheiko #29 with the slightly adjusted percentages. Took exactly an hour and a half and felt pretty good throughout.
And today, I can really feel the effect of the volume. Legs aren’t bad, but man my chest feels damned sore. Feels great - haven’t felt that in a while. I’m definitely going to have to keep my food intake up during this.
[quote]bt_impaler wrote:
Donut62 - How intense are you on your horizontal and vertical pulling days?
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Usually fairly intense. I usually don’t do things like bent over BB rows that are taxing to the lower back because it needs to recover more. I like chins/pull-ups and chest supported rows.
Did day 2 - took a little under an hour and a half to complete. The deadlifts weren’t too bad, but doing the incline bench press and dips were brutal. I’m still so incredibly sore from Sunday’s benching that doing easy weight made me feel like my pecs were going to tear off the bone - pretty awesome.
I figure a week or so and I’ll adapt to the volume. But I know Thursday will be painful with all that benching scheduled.
Tomorrow I’ll do some one arm rows, chins, and rear delt work now that the deadlifting is out of the way this week.
Yes, it’s pain in the beginning, but it’s really amazing how fast one usually adapts to the volume. For me the first week is the hardest, by the second week I have adapted to the volume, it’s still hard though, but not as hard, and I NEVER feel sore after the first week.
