strong enough?
Member
With 37 I would 5% to your bench max and pause everything 3 reps and under. Intensity is lowish.
Squats is perfect IMO. Looks easy on paper but I felt beat up at the end.
I didn't find deadlifts light. Second group of deads is always hard on the grip after a long session. I only PB'd by 2.5kg in deadlift, but only narrowed missed a +7.5kg pb due largely to technical error on the day. If you feel you can add more, add more, but probably not until week 3 by which time some fatigue will have accumulated.
Never added rows or chins. The Russians don't seem to see the need. I felt like my lats have gotten a lot bigger from the benching and block pulls.
As I've begun to understand the programming more, I think the idea is to feel like absolute shit by the skills test and then bounce back up. If week 4 of 37 is easy or If you PB by a lot in skills test, you probably undertrained and you're probably not going to get much more from the peaking cycle (or could even go backwards).
This is why a 12 week cycle (2x4 week prep cycles followed by a 4 week comp cycle) will generally work better. Currently doing this at the moment using a modified template SP put together (using CMS bench) and its a lot tougher. Yet to see what results it will deliver.
I've kept all the flies in as they really help loosen up the chest and shoulders (really light, dumbells using 10% of 1RM). Whenever a second bench assistance is there, I've swapped with narrow grip pushups with scapular retraction upon SP's recommendation. Apparently helps the shoulders. I didn't need specific tricep work for raw bench on this program when I was pausing all your reps. Added 5kg to my comp bench in 7 weeks, with more to spare. Overhead press isn't a bad idea, as I also think it will help shoulder health, provided its lightish.
That's my experience.
Squats is perfect IMO. Looks easy on paper but I felt beat up at the end.
I didn't find deadlifts light. Second group of deads is always hard on the grip after a long session. I only PB'd by 2.5kg in deadlift, but only narrowed missed a +7.5kg pb due largely to technical error on the day. If you feel you can add more, add more, but probably not until week 3 by which time some fatigue will have accumulated.
Never added rows or chins. The Russians don't seem to see the need. I felt like my lats have gotten a lot bigger from the benching and block pulls.
As I've begun to understand the programming more, I think the idea is to feel like absolute shit by the skills test and then bounce back up. If week 4 of 37 is easy or If you PB by a lot in skills test, you probably undertrained and you're probably not going to get much more from the peaking cycle (or could even go backwards).
This is why a 12 week cycle (2x4 week prep cycles followed by a 4 week comp cycle) will generally work better. Currently doing this at the moment using a modified template SP put together (using CMS bench) and its a lot tougher. Yet to see what results it will deliver.
I've kept all the flies in as they really help loosen up the chest and shoulders (really light, dumbells using 10% of 1RM). Whenever a second bench assistance is there, I've swapped with narrow grip pushups with scapular retraction upon SP's recommendation. Apparently helps the shoulders. I didn't need specific tricep work for raw bench on this program when I was pausing all your reps. Added 5kg to my comp bench in 7 weeks, with more to spare. Overhead press isn't a bad idea, as I also think it will help shoulder health, provided its lightish.
That's my experience.