Being an Idiot on Smolov Jr

In the lead up to Christmas, I feel like doing something stupid.

Smolov Jr, while I haven't attempted it before, appears not to be a program for the faint of heart. Most program I see involve using the same lift/muscles only once or twice a week. Some programs I see (mostly beginner programs) train the same lifts three days a week, but the volume and/or intensity usually isn't too high, so it's fairly easy to tolerate that frequency. The sensible thing to do is that as volume and intensity increase, frequency should decrease. Smolov Jr doesn't do that. Instead, it has you performing the target lift 4 days a week, using the following loading pattern:

Monday 6x6x70%1RM
Wednesday 7x5x75%1RM
Friday 8x4x80%1RM
Saturday 10x3x85%1RM

That first week doesn't exactly sound like a walk in the cake. But fear not, because you don't have to do the same thing next week. No, next week you get to add 5-10kg onto each of the above working sets (5kg on bench press, 10kg on squats), which is so much better, right? And on the third week of the program, you add another 2.5-5kg on top of the previous 5-10kg jump. There is a little bit of sensibility built into the program, though, and that's the fact that there isn't a 4th week to it, so you might get to sit around, recover, and seek forgiveness from your body.

Smolov Jr is designed to be used on squats or bench press, although it's not usually recommended that you attempt it on both lifts at the same time. I did mention wanting to do something stupid, didn't I? Because during the next 3 weeks, I plan on training both squats and bench press with Smolov Jr. I must be some kind of idiot.

It's also recommended that Smolov Jr be performed with lots of knife-and-fork curls, for progress and recovery. I, however, have not seen my abs since 2009, and don't plan on bulking again until I see them. So long as I'm skinny anyway, I'm keen on not being skinny-fat, which I've become in recent times. Performing Smolov Jr while in a calorie deficit is generally regarded as a bad idea. So I'm doing it.

I foresee two outcomes for this grand act of stupidity.

1. I become awesome.

2. I earn the grand honour of being pointed and laughed at, while people tell me this: