Sheiko Review & Water Cut

Pitbull55

New member
Hey guys,

I’m going to do a review of my training, nutrition, water cut, etc. Essentially everything I have done over the last 3+ months. I’m hoping someone will find all or at least parts of this helpful. I highlighted each section in capitals because this gets lengthy so you can just jump to the part that interests you.

BACKGROUND
This was my first full power meet, I previously completed in an iron man. I have been training for sports since I was 16 and started taking it seriously over the last 4 years. I compete in the amateur class so I am drug free as well.

TRAINING
I ran Sheiko for my meet, I am not going to get into the exact details of the training but I will provide the link below. Sheiko was developed by Boris Sheiko, coach of the Russian powerlifting team. It should be noted that there are a number of different Sheiko programs, they vary according to experience. I ran 29, 30 and 32 in that order. My training revolved around these principles
- Train 3 day/week
- Train Bench each day, Squats on Day 1 & 3 and Deadlifts on Day 2
- Training is based on moderate-high intensity and HIGH volume (Most workouts revolve working up or close to 80% of your 1RM)(I worked to 90% sparingly)(I did a mock meet (so was at 100%) about 4 weeks out, his is in accordance with program #32 as it is a prep cycle)
- During program 30 I had over 40 working sets in a workout (if we count starting at 50% as a work set)
- Some/Most workouts I did one or more of the big three (squat, bench, deads) more than once
- Building off this last point, because you are focusing on essentially the big three the accessory work is maybe 2-3 exercises each workout

Pro’s
- You get to practice the big three quite a bit so you definitely get comfortable and in this state of mind where you are going to be lifting heavy shit each day
- Accessory exercises, although minimal (in terms of quantity and variety) are quality for the most part i.e. Good Mornings, Lunges, Front Squats

Cons
- Building off the first pro, just because you get to practice the big three a lot doesn’t mean you become good at them. Practicing something the wrong way just makes you really good at doing something really bad (I’m lucky as I trained with a guy older than me, with more powerlifting experience who provided me with tips and technique adjustments)
- Also building off the first pro, I could see how some people could get “bored” with this kind of routine but if you have a goal in mind (like I did) I was fine with it, that being said…
- It can be mentally grueling, not a lot of variety and workouts lasting close to 3 hours from warmup to finish

Tips for anyone considering running it:
-Bring food or have a carb source with you during your workout. This will provide the fuel needed to push through the last segments of each workout i.e. I found a Gatorade was enough, along with BCAA
- There will come a time in this routine where you may hit a wall physically and mentally, it is usually early because your body is feeling wore down from the high volume. See it through and you will come around
- I’m not gonna say that you should cut the volume if you are having a hard time or change exercises. Only because I have this mentality that if you’re going to devise a plan than stick to it, if you don’t then your success or failure cannot be attributed to that plan/program.

Proof is in the numbers, I hit all personal bests in each lift although I only had a gym squat PB up until that point but progress is progress.

Here is a link to the program:

Sheiko Training Plan | ManhavenProject

NUTRITION:
I have been carb cycling for well over the last year, this method works well for me. In terms of carb cycling my outline is like this:

High: 2-3 grams of carbs per/lb of bw with a calorie surplus of 4-500
Mod: 1.5 grams of carbs per/lb of bw with calories at maintenance
Low; 1 gram of carbs per/lb of bw with a calorie deficit of 4-500 calories

In terms of training and diet together it is essentially impossible to go into a calorie deficit on sheiko, well its not recommended. You will find from all the volume that your body wants/needs more so be prepared to adjust accordingly. That beings said, I went into a calorie deficit during the last month of my prep, this was of course to make weight for my class. The flip side of this is that the last few weeks of the sheiko prep cycle the training volume is reduced drastically. This is of course to prepare the body for the meet as no one is getting stronger in the last two weeks.

WATER CUT:
For my water cut I followed Matt Kroc’s method, you can find the link below:

EFS Classic: How to Cut Maximum Weight for Competitions with a 24-Hour Weigh-In

It involves no usage of diuretics or any other drugs, all you need is a hotel bathroom and the mental fortitude to see the process through. Also, this is only used for competitions with a 24 hour weigh-in. It’s a 2part process the dehydration and the refueling and one would not be able to refuel properly if they competed on the same day they weighed in. The day before my weigh-in I ate normal for the most part, exception being that I missed a meal because I wanted to be in bed by 8pm. Also for my last meal I usually have a casein shake with egg-whites and cheese but instead I just had the cheese. I woke up at 1:30 am (8.5 hours from weigh-in) and began the process (15 minutes in the tub, 15 minutes in your sauna shower then break then repeat). This is how my bodyweight (BW) and heart rate (HR) varied over the next x amount of hours (I refer to a “round” as the 15 minutes in the tub then bathroom/shower):
- HR during first round: 88
- HR during second round 112
BW drop after two rounds 3.8 lbs
- HR during third round in tub 144
BW drop between second and third round 1.6 lbs
- BREAK
- HR during fourth round 124
BW drop between third and fourth round 2 lbs
- HR during fifth round 140
BW drop between fourth and fifth round 0.6 lbs
- HR during sixth round 152
BW drop between fifth and sixth round 1.0 lbs
- DONE

For the “BREAK” I took a longer break than normal between rounds to recuperate. After the sixth round I was done the process.

That’s it, if you guys have any questions or even tips feel free to chime in.
 
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