Candito's 6 week strength program feedback

[IvanNorge]

Hi fellas and Merry Christmas!

Just finished my first cycle of the mentioned program and my lifts have increased as follows, during the span of 6 weeks (actually finished after week 5, as I decided to use my calculated new 1 rm's and start a new cycle tomorrow).

Bench went up 16 lbs (195 lbs - 211 lbs)
Squat went up 20 lbs (240 lbs - 260 lbs)
Deadlift went up 35 lbs (305 lbs - 340 lbs) - (I was very conservative with my initial 1 rep max, as I hadn't been deadlifting for a while prior to the program)

Overall, I believe it is a very good program, mainly designed for intermediate lifters, but also can be used by late beginners and/or even advanced ones.

For the preferred accessories I chose:

Barbell row
Seated Dumbbell shoulder press
Lat pulldown

For the optional exercises on lower days I went with (a mix of two, during each lower body workout)

Calf raises - standing and seated
Leg extensions
Seated leg curls
Lying leg curls
RDLs

For the optional on the upper days: (a mix of two, during each lower body workout)

Barbell curls
Dumbbell curls
Hammer curls
Side lateral raises - both dumbbell and/or cable
Shrugs
Face pulls
Tricep pushdowns


My lifts are not at my strongest yet, but coming off of a 5 month cut really made me weak to begin with. Now, my focus is to run the program at least another 2-3 cycles and to get my lifts to

Bench - 250 lbs
Squat - 315 lbs
Deadlift - 405 lbs

Those are my goals in terms of numbers. In terms of nutrition I am eating just above maintenance actually (~100 kcals) - have gained like 1 lbs in the last 6 weeks or so and I am happy with the way it is going for now.

Overall, the program teaches you to lift more seriously (at least that is what is happening to me) - as during my cut I was training without any clear plan in sight.

And it's good to have a goal in mind, I think. At least works for me.

I do recommend the program especially if you are trying to get your lifts up and to get stronger, doing a very fun program which is also free - it contains an excel sheet where you input your current 1 rm's for Bench, Sq and DL and it calculates the weights you'll be working with during the 6 weeks.

I keep hearing that the program is not that good for bench and that many people do a hybrid of some sort where they run another bench program together with the Squat and DL of Candito's.

Is Smolov Jr for bench a good option to run with this one? Anyone has any experience in combining programs like that? I would appreciate some insights.

Cheers!

[FurtadoZ9]

Awesome results man.

The one thing I like about Candito is that it teaches volume, frequency and intensity very well. It's a rounded program and by the end most have a fair understanding of how to train for specificity. Which is very important if you decide to branch off and modify your own programming.

It also has enough variability to be ran multiple times.

I ran some basic 5x5's after my initial gains (when I started training correctly) and that's where my foundation really began.

You can always add more bench work towards the end of the cycle if you wish. Keep us updated on your progress, GL 😎

[ECGordyn]

Yeah, that's a great program. I ran 11 cycles of it over about a year, posted a review of it sometime last year. You had good results.

For bench, it needs more volume. You might add some back off sets at the end of the MR sets in weeks 1 & 2. Just don't get too ambitious and do too much, that will interfere with your overall recovery.

If you start feeling tired or failing weight, then you just need more recovery. A deload between every 2 or 3 cycles would be a good idea.

[Oleg1975K]

The quality of the program should be evaluated, not when you restore the result and did not reach the best indicators, but only when you managed or failed to improve the indicators above the best. All the flaws of the program become noticeable in this situation.

[IvanNorge]

Thanks for the input guys!

I will stick to the program for at least a few more cycles until I break my all time best PRs and then we'll see how it goes from there.

If I start stalling on bench, I will look into incorporating Smolov Jr into Candito's program or research other possibilities.

Thanks!