Background info: if to long skip to the bolded results area

ive worked out for about a year now doing the "bro split" 5 day split, chest, back, shoulder, legs, arms. just switched to canditos program 6 weeks ago and plan to run powerlifter programs from now on.
i started working out after a truamtic wrist injury that happened when working for my dad.
I accidently stabbed my upper wrist cutting these huge zip ties, i cut the median nerve and 6, count em 6 tendons!
3 fingers are still and will always be "numb" cant get coins out of my pocket for example. however i can feel hot and cold. ive regaind 99% normal mobility tho. and my left arm/hand is now stronger than it was before injury
Luckily it was my left arm, i had surgery and did rehab and it took about 6 months total before i could use my arm again, it atrophied up pretty bad.

I started lifting about 8 months or so after the initial injury, i could only bench 80 lbs for 3 reps.... seriously.

Been working out total about a year and 4 months now(although due to a few minor and one semi serious shoulder injury/ getting sick/ going out of town out of that year and 4 months prolly 5 months was spent not lifting.)
plus i cut for 4 months and lost 40 lbs but my gains all went down a lot. stalled progress. once i started bulking they went back up quick but that was 4 wasted months pretty much. tho i did prove to myself i can cut easily.


6'1 200 lbs currently (i oringally dirty bulked up to 217 lbs! at 24% body fat! i cut down to 180 but lost a LOT of gains. prolly was cutting to fast. back up to 200 now. kidna over bulking again but fuck it)



Anywho on to the program.

starting lifts

Estimated Squat max: 290 (never 1rm but did 275x 3) My form was kinda iffy ive sinced mastered squatting i go assssss to grassss. so this may have been over estimated by 5-10 lbs
Deadlift max: 425
Estimated bench max: 200 (never 1rm but did 185x3)


After 6 weeks
/edit: all my lifts are raw if that matters, no belts or straps. just hand chalk when deadlifting.

Estimated squat max: 300. I completed 285x3 ass to grass. like i said i think i over estimated my squat max at the beginning of the program so the 10 lb increase is great!
Estimated deadlift max: 482!!! thats right just today, the last day of the program it had me deadlift 415x 1-4 and i got 6 reps! prior to the program i got 405 for one and failed the 2nd. and 425 for a back rounding single grinder
Estimated bench max: 205. I got 195x3. prior to the program i got 185 for barely 3 so could be called a 10 lb increase. tho my projected max only went up 5 lbs.

final thoughts:

works GREAT for deadlifts and for squats, im sure i may have overestimated my squat max by 5-10 lbs making my actual gains 10-15 lbs on the max

and for bench 5-10 lbs in 6 weeks isnt great persay but its WAY better than what i was gaining on the bro split.... also my bench has always been my weak point but im slowly making those gains. coming for 225 soon!

as for the massive dead lift gains, im a natural at deadlifting as u can see my deadlift is kinda higher than you would expect when comparing it to my bench and squat. So the huge gains might not be normal but you will def see good gains in the deadlift area regardless.

This post was edited by Xdaci on Jan 2 2015 04:47pm

Personally, I got great squat and DL gains from Candito. Very little bench gains. I don't do much upper body accessory work though. Usually just do Bench, Rows, OHP, Pull/Chin-ups then leave

ya sadly i think it may not be the best for bench. but imo its way better than just doing a random split like i was. and i did bent over rows, standing bb ohp, and lat pull downs as my accessories. plus i would do floor press or close grip bench here and there.

Awesome read, sucks about your wrist.

I'm looking forward to seeing the results I get, honestly the bench days are the hardest for me. We have very similar numbers except my bench is higher.

I still don't understand why this program results in minimal bench gains. Even candito only raised his bench 5lbs in a year, and nearly every person that does a review on the program reports no bench gains.

This post was edited by Lancet_Jade on Jan 2 2015 10:55pm

Thanks! and ya i always wonder if my wrist holds me back at all as one of the symptons of my type of injury is "permanent weakness" prolly only applies to ppl who never use it for more than anything other than normal everyday usage so it never has a chance to regain or even get stronger.

and good luck! just trust in the math! i was amazed how spot on the math was lol. the rep ranges were almost always perfect (barely getting the last rep of last set) its all a numbers game i found out.

the pre determined numbers helped me a lot cuz it shows u what you SHOULD be able to do. which makes u push urself to try and prove it right i guess u could say.

as for the bench gains, im waiting for canditos 8 week program with revised bench programming to see how that is. after another cycle or two of candito i may run smolov jr just to get my bench up quicker.

This post was edited by Xdaci on Jan 2 2015 11:10pm

when I hear ass to grass heavy squats I just imagine knee blowouts

.... You Squattin on ur toes ?

nah surpsingly no knee pain for me at all. i did have to work on the "butt wink" when i went atg i intially had lower back rounding which hurt my back slightly.

the key was i was holding the bar like all the wide grip which doesnt keep my upper back tight. i narrowed my grip and kept my back tight as fuck. also i was squatting in running shoes with the fucked up heel. i started squatting barefoot and with the narrow close grip.

and finally i made sure to hold my breath and push my abs out on every rep. and my back pain went away. no knee pain for me as of yet lol



used to do this when i wore my running shoes. barefoot and narrow grip/tight upper back.


Basically it took a long time to get my squat form correct. A lot of minor issues along the way lol.

This post was edited by Xdaci on Jan 3 2015 07:31am

Yea bar placement was the biggest fix I made, I had it way too high up, then I tried placing it lower and instantly felt better.

This post was edited by Lancet_Jade on Jan 4 2015 04:13am

started my new cycle today and omfg.

i wasnt expecting it to be that hard lol...

my hands were shaking. felt like i was gonna puke it was def max effort.

240x6 for 4 sets on squats
375x6 for 2 sets on deadlift


i had to take 3 8 min breaks... one after my 3rd set of squats, and 2 in between my deadlift sets lol.

after my 2 optional's i was fried...

it was clowning taking up the squat rack for like an hour tho the gym was PACKED with new years fags.

i completed all my sets and reps tho. time to get even stronger.