Hi everyone

Hey guys, my name is Vincent Liew. I got into lifting in the persuit of a one armed chin several years ago (sophmore in high school). These days I've branched out more into the powerlifts. I lift either in macgregor or at the Z center most of the time.

I recently completed a cycle of Smolov Jr applied to weighted chins (same program that Max did). Writeup below:

TL;DR: ~295 lb -> (easy) 312 lb over 4 weeks.

Bodyweight of ~175 lb.

Program based of a conservative 1RM of 295 lb.

Earlier in January I began a Smolov Jr. cycle for weighted chins based on the success that I had on it with my plateaued bench press (230 -> 245). My weighted chin had been fairly stagnant for a few months when I began.

Weeks one and two were followed almost exactly with the exception of an added rest day on week one. I encountered a couple of hiccups on week three which caused me to draw it out to two weeks. The first was that I had a powerlifting meet right in the middle. The second was that a few days after the meet, I got sick. The exact schedule I followed is shown below.

The sets/reps/weight were followed exactly, except for the very last day where I opted for an additional five pounds. No repetitions were missed. Each day I would weigh myself beforehand to figure out how much weight to add. Week two I added ten pounds and week three I added five on top of that.

I attempted to eat a small surplus during this program. I gained about 2-4 lb of scale weight although it is hard to tell how much of that is water.

Comments: Running this program on weighted chins was certainly a success. I haven't gained this much strength in such a short period of time on my chins ever, as far as I remember. The 3-plate chin felt fairly easy. I believe I could probably have done another 5lb or so.

The program was relatively easy. Even on the last day, when I went over what the program prescribed, I was in no danger of missing repetitions. This was likely due to the fact that at least for me, weighted chins have a different curve of strength compared to most other lifts such as the bench press. By this I mean that the percentage of my 5RM is closer to my 1RM on my chins compared to my other lifts.

Lastly, I hit the three-plate milestone with my chin today! In another couple of years I hope to hit four.

1/9: 205 (+25), 6x6
1/11: 220 (+40), 7x5
1/13: 235 (+52.5), 8x4
1/15: 250 (+70), 10x3

1/17: 215 (+35), 6x6
1/19: 230 (+47.5), 7x5
1/22: 245 (+65), 8x4
1/23: 260 (+80), 10x3

1/25: 220 (+40), 6x6
1/27: 235 (+52.5), 7x5
1/29: POWERLIFTING MEET
1/31: 250 (+67.5), 8x4
SICK
2/6: 270 (+90), 10x3

2/8: Maximum testing. Hit +135 lb at 177 lb BW.