dhuge67
Active member
- Awards
- 1
I'm using one of his "beginner" programs and the volume is high but the effect is also great, so far.
Sheiko Style Volume Programs
Russian super-coach Boris Sheiko is one of several former Eastern Bloc coaches who prescribe frequent practice of the competitive lifts largely without much assistance work. The concept is that by frequently training the bench press up to eight times a week, the body adapts to the work load and allows even more volume in each workout. You'll also see a lot of wave loading in here like Ian King wrote about.
The central nervous system gets very efficient at the muscle firing patterns and the groove required for benching. These workouts are done mostly in the range of 50-85% of 1RM, using waves of volume and intensity. This is simple, but brutally hard work.
There isn't a lot of specific guidance from the former Commies on shirt use and technique. It's advisable to use a shirt in training if you're using a shirt-based max to compute your training percentages. You'll need at least a size looser shirt to get training weights to touch. This approach is probably best for single ply lifters as it doesn't build the lockout needed in a double ply shirt or better.
Pausing all the reps is very important with Sheiko style programs. For some reason I can't exactly describe but experience every week, the pause benches stimulate not just your chest, but your lockout even more.
Here's a ten week training plan devised by Coach Sheiko and recommended by Pavel Tsatsouline in his book, Beyond Bodybuilding:
Preparatory Week 1
Key: %1RM x reps x sets, BP = bench press
Monday: BP 50x5, 60x4, 70x3x2, 80x3x5 (30)
BP 44x5, 65x5, 75x4x4 (26)
Tuesday: Incline BPx4x6 (24), Dips with weight 6x5
Wednesday: BP 50x6, 60x5, 70x4x2, 75x3x2, 80x2x2, 85x1x2, 80x2x2, 75x3x2, 70x4, 65x6, 55x7, 50x8 (71) "The Infamous Wednesday BP Marathon"
Friday: BP 50x5, 60x4, 70x3, 80x2x5
Saturday: PBN 5x5 (25), Dips with weight 4x6
Total Lifts 201, average intensity 67.1%
Preparatory Week 2
Monday: BP 50x5, 60x4, 70x3x2, 80x2x2, 90x1x3 (22)
BP 50x3, 60x3, 70x3, 80x2x5 (19)
Tuesday: BP Dips with weight 5x5
Wednesday: BP 55x5, 65x4, 75x3x2, 85x2x4 (23)
Friday: BP 50x5, 60x4, 70x3x2, 80x3x7 (36)
Saturday: BP 55x5, 65x5, 75x4x5 (30)
Lifts 130, Average Intensity 71.5%
Preparatory Week 3
Monday: BP 50x5, 60x4, 70x3x2, 80x3x5 (30)
BP 50x5, 60x5, 70x5x5 (35)
Tuesday: BP 55x5, 65x4, 75x3x4 (20)
Wednesday: BP 50x8, 55x7, 60x6, 65x5, 70x4, 75x3x2, 80x2x2, 75x3x2, 70x4, 65x6, 60x8, 55x10 50x12 (86) "The Even Worse Wednesday BP Marathon"
Friday: BP 50x5, 60x4, 70x3x2, 75x3x6 (33)
Saturday: 50x6, 60x6, 65x6x4 (36)
Lifts 240, Average Intensity 64.7%
Preparatory Week 4
Monday: BP 50x4, 60x4, 70x3x2, 80x2x5
Tuesday: BP Incline BP x3x5 (15), Dips with weight 6x5
Wednesday: BP 50x5, 60x4, 70x3x2, 75x2x2, 80x1x3, 75x2x2, 70x4, 60x6, 50x8 (44)
Friday: BP 55x4, 65x4, 65x3x2, 85x2x4 (22)
Saturday: PBN x4x5 (20), Triceps work 10x5
Of note, when two bench sessions are scheduled in the same day, you can either put a squat workout in between or make this a morning/afternoon split schedule. This is a workout for an advanced lifter, so a less qualified lifter could drop the inclines, press behind the neck (I'd drop this overhead work anyway!), dips with weight, and drop a set off every instance you do more than one set with a percent. You could also knock 10-20% off your 1RM and plug it all in from there.
Competition Week 1
Monday: BP 50x3, 60x3, 70x3x2, 80x3x6 (30)
Tuesday: Incline BP 3x5 (15)
Wednesday: BP 50x3, 60x3, 70x3x2, 80x2x3, 85x1x3 (21)
Friday: BP 50x3, 60x3, 70x3x2, 80x3x5 (27)
BP 55x4, 65x4, 75x4x4 (24)
Lifts 117, Intensity 71.6%
Competition Week 2
Monday: BP 55x3, 65x3, 75x3x2, 85x2x4 (20)
BP 503, 65x3, 70x3, 80x3x6 (27)
Tuesday: PBN 4x5
Wednesday: BP 50x3, 60x3, 70x3, 80x2x8 (28)
Friday: BP 50x3, 60x3, 70x3x2, 80x2x2, 85x2x3, 80x2x2 (26)
Saturday: BP 55x3, 65x3x2, 75x2x4 (14)
Lifts 135, Intensity 72.7%
Competition Week 3
Monday: BP 50x3, 60x3, 70x3x2, 75x2x4 (20)
Wednesday: BP 50x3, 60x3, 70x2x2, 80x1x2, 90x1, 95-100x1x2-3 (16)
Friday: BP 50x3, 60x3, 70x3x2, 80x2x5 (22)
Saturday: BP 55x3, 65x3x2, 75x3x4 (21)
Lifts 79, Intensity 70.0%
Competition Week 4
Monday: BP 50x3, 60x3, 70x3x2, 80x2x3, 90x1x2, 80x2x4 (24)
Wednesday: BP 55x3, 65x3, 75x3x2, 85x2x3 80x3x2 (24)
Friday: BP 50x3, 60x3, 70x3x2, 80x3x5 (27)
Saturday: BP 55x3, 65x3, 75x2x5 (16)
Lifts 81, Intensity 71.8%
Competition Week 5
Monday: BP 50x3, 60x3, 70x3, 80x2x4 (20)
Wednesday: BP 50x3, 60x3, 70x2x2, 80x1x3 (13)
Friday: 50x3, 60x3, 70x3x2, 75x2x4 (20)
Lifts 53, Intensity 67.7%
Competition Week 6, Meet Week!
Monday: BP 50x3, 60x3, 70x2x2, 75x1x2 (12)
Wednesday: BP 50x3, 60x3, 70x1x3 (12) meet warm-up run through!
Saturday: Meet! Same warm-ups as on Wednesday, then 90%, 102%, 107-110%.
Lifts and assistance go down in the meet prep cycle significantly, but intensity goes up slightly. Note the small amount of 90% plus weights even in meet prep cycle, but how the number of 71-80% weights stay the same as the prep cycle over the first four weeks of the meet cycle. The last two weeks are a taper.
Sheiko Style Volume Programs
Russian super-coach Boris Sheiko is one of several former Eastern Bloc coaches who prescribe frequent practice of the competitive lifts largely without much assistance work. The concept is that by frequently training the bench press up to eight times a week, the body adapts to the work load and allows even more volume in each workout. You'll also see a lot of wave loading in here like Ian King wrote about.
The central nervous system gets very efficient at the muscle firing patterns and the groove required for benching. These workouts are done mostly in the range of 50-85% of 1RM, using waves of volume and intensity. This is simple, but brutally hard work.
There isn't a lot of specific guidance from the former Commies on shirt use and technique. It's advisable to use a shirt in training if you're using a shirt-based max to compute your training percentages. You'll need at least a size looser shirt to get training weights to touch. This approach is probably best for single ply lifters as it doesn't build the lockout needed in a double ply shirt or better.
Pausing all the reps is very important with Sheiko style programs. For some reason I can't exactly describe but experience every week, the pause benches stimulate not just your chest, but your lockout even more.
Here's a ten week training plan devised by Coach Sheiko and recommended by Pavel Tsatsouline in his book, Beyond Bodybuilding:
Preparatory Week 1
Key: %1RM x reps x sets, BP = bench press
Monday: BP 50x5, 60x4, 70x3x2, 80x3x5 (30)
BP 44x5, 65x5, 75x4x4 (26)
Tuesday: Incline BPx4x6 (24), Dips with weight 6x5
Wednesday: BP 50x6, 60x5, 70x4x2, 75x3x2, 80x2x2, 85x1x2, 80x2x2, 75x3x2, 70x4, 65x6, 55x7, 50x8 (71) "The Infamous Wednesday BP Marathon"
Friday: BP 50x5, 60x4, 70x3, 80x2x5
Saturday: PBN 5x5 (25), Dips with weight 4x6
Total Lifts 201, average intensity 67.1%
Preparatory Week 2
Monday: BP 50x5, 60x4, 70x3x2, 80x2x2, 90x1x3 (22)
BP 50x3, 60x3, 70x3, 80x2x5 (19)
Tuesday: BP Dips with weight 5x5
Wednesday: BP 55x5, 65x4, 75x3x2, 85x2x4 (23)
Friday: BP 50x5, 60x4, 70x3x2, 80x3x7 (36)
Saturday: BP 55x5, 65x5, 75x4x5 (30)
Lifts 130, Average Intensity 71.5%
Preparatory Week 3
Monday: BP 50x5, 60x4, 70x3x2, 80x3x5 (30)
BP 50x5, 60x5, 70x5x5 (35)
Tuesday: BP 55x5, 65x4, 75x3x4 (20)
Wednesday: BP 50x8, 55x7, 60x6, 65x5, 70x4, 75x3x2, 80x2x2, 75x3x2, 70x4, 65x6, 60x8, 55x10 50x12 (86) "The Even Worse Wednesday BP Marathon"
Friday: BP 50x5, 60x4, 70x3x2, 75x3x6 (33)
Saturday: 50x6, 60x6, 65x6x4 (36)
Lifts 240, Average Intensity 64.7%
Preparatory Week 4
Monday: BP 50x4, 60x4, 70x3x2, 80x2x5
Tuesday: BP Incline BP x3x5 (15), Dips with weight 6x5
Wednesday: BP 50x5, 60x4, 70x3x2, 75x2x2, 80x1x3, 75x2x2, 70x4, 60x6, 50x8 (44)
Friday: BP 55x4, 65x4, 65x3x2, 85x2x4 (22)
Saturday: PBN x4x5 (20), Triceps work 10x5
Of note, when two bench sessions are scheduled in the same day, you can either put a squat workout in between or make this a morning/afternoon split schedule. This is a workout for an advanced lifter, so a less qualified lifter could drop the inclines, press behind the neck (I'd drop this overhead work anyway!), dips with weight, and drop a set off every instance you do more than one set with a percent. You could also knock 10-20% off your 1RM and plug it all in from there.
Competition Week 1
Monday: BP 50x3, 60x3, 70x3x2, 80x3x6 (30)
Tuesday: Incline BP 3x5 (15)
Wednesday: BP 50x3, 60x3, 70x3x2, 80x2x3, 85x1x3 (21)
Friday: BP 50x3, 60x3, 70x3x2, 80x3x5 (27)
BP 55x4, 65x4, 75x4x4 (24)
Lifts 117, Intensity 71.6%
Competition Week 2
Monday: BP 55x3, 65x3, 75x3x2, 85x2x4 (20)
BP 503, 65x3, 70x3, 80x3x6 (27)
Tuesday: PBN 4x5
Wednesday: BP 50x3, 60x3, 70x3, 80x2x8 (28)
Friday: BP 50x3, 60x3, 70x3x2, 80x2x2, 85x2x3, 80x2x2 (26)
Saturday: BP 55x3, 65x3x2, 75x2x4 (14)
Lifts 135, Intensity 72.7%
Competition Week 3
Monday: BP 50x3, 60x3, 70x3x2, 75x2x4 (20)
Wednesday: BP 50x3, 60x3, 70x2x2, 80x1x2, 90x1, 95-100x1x2-3 (16)
Friday: BP 50x3, 60x3, 70x3x2, 80x2x5 (22)
Saturday: BP 55x3, 65x3x2, 75x3x4 (21)
Lifts 79, Intensity 70.0%
Competition Week 4
Monday: BP 50x3, 60x3, 70x3x2, 80x2x3, 90x1x2, 80x2x4 (24)
Wednesday: BP 55x3, 65x3, 75x3x2, 85x2x3 80x3x2 (24)
Friday: BP 50x3, 60x3, 70x3x2, 80x3x5 (27)
Saturday: BP 55x3, 65x3, 75x2x5 (16)
Lifts 81, Intensity 71.8%
Competition Week 5
Monday: BP 50x3, 60x3, 70x3, 80x2x4 (20)
Wednesday: BP 50x3, 60x3, 70x2x2, 80x1x3 (13)
Friday: 50x3, 60x3, 70x3x2, 75x2x4 (20)
Lifts 53, Intensity 67.7%
Competition Week 6, Meet Week!
Monday: BP 50x3, 60x3, 70x2x2, 75x1x2 (12)
Wednesday: BP 50x3, 60x3, 70x1x3 (12) meet warm-up run through!
Saturday: Meet! Same warm-ups as on Wednesday, then 90%, 102%, 107-110%.
Lifts and assistance go down in the meet prep cycle significantly, but intensity goes up slightly. Note the small amount of 90% plus weights even in meet prep cycle, but how the number of 71-80% weights stay the same as the prep cycle over the first four weeks of the meet cycle. The last two weeks are a taper.
