I really want to train Westside style, but I can’t do ME benching because of my injury. Could I set up a program that uses the Westside protocols for the squat and deadlift and devise something else for my upper body? I need some ideas.
What is your injury?
What kind of upperbody injury do you have??? My best idea would be to use the repetition method for max eff bench, or use triples or 5x5…Give Me a little more info…Big mArtin
Um don’t see why you can’t just do everything but the benching? So what if the bench doesn’t follow westside protocols. You’re getting the benefits of it for the other 2 lifts. I want to see what others say. Good luck with your injury. 
need more information on injury… but yes, in short, you can. look at Bob Youngs… he’s doing metal militia style benching but still keeping his ME/DE sq/dl days.
however, he’s a fucking animal. i’ve tried doing MM benching and the sheer volume murdered me and didn’t let me do any kind of sq/dl work.
Yes - what’s your malfunction? 
Sorry, I didn’t realize this was going to be listed on the new forum. I thought most of the others would see it. The “injury” is actually some surgery I had done in April (I just call it an injury for the sake of simplicity). I was born with a concave chest and that had to be corrected by placement of a steel bar inside my sternum to “pop” the depression out. That bar is secured with stabilizers on each side of my chest. The docs advise all their patients to avoid overhead pressing over 50 lbs. I didn’t really get a straight answer as to why that’s the set-point, so to speak, I have talked to a few people who have gone ahead and benched more than that (although not by much), but I peronsally don’t want to fuck around. Hope that helps. As you can imagine, my training has been scaled down a lot. The bench variations and military presses were mainstays in all of my previous programs. Frankly, my upper body workouts just suck right now. There’s no structure to them. I miss doing heavy work.
CMC- I got to be honest I just dont know, your injury sucks man, and I am so sorry I would go nuts if this happend to me, My advice would be to find a doctor that specializes in these matters one that understands the sport of powerlifting and ask him some specifics, But yea dude you could definately follow the traditional WS methods with your squat and deadlift work and then use the repetition method for your upper body…Good Luck and I will be praying for your health, get better…Big Martin
Don’t worry about me, man. I’m fine. More than anything, it is more of a mental annoyance not being able to train the way I want to and do some other activities.
But, yes, I will train Westside for the squat and deadlift. I’ll just have to get creative with my upper body. I’ve wasted too much time since I’ve been back making excuses.
Oh, forgot to mention, sorry for being such a tool with the spelling tonight.
CMC, I guess maybe I just don’t understand: putting a shitload of weight on your back and shoulders won’t affect it, but pressing 50lbs overhead will?
In any case, if this IS the case, you can definitely do the lower body ME and DE days as usual, and do whatever you can for upper body on the other days.
I would guess Steve’s right. Proceed with caution, but that 50 lb weight limit sounds like a figure they just threw out. Search around for people with the same problem or possibly a doctor that could explain in more detail about the whys or why not of your condition.
Does the plate get removed after a while??? Is this 50 lbs. limit for the rest of your days or until when? Look up some Jerry Telle stuff for upper body. All I can think of. Good luck.
To answer a few questions:
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The problem with consulting with getting a second opinion is that most doctors wouldn’t have much to say. They’d probably answer with, “I really don’t know.” How many doctors know anything weightlifting? Uh, obviously not many. They’re the same guys who think creatine will kill you and tell you to avoid a high protein diet. On the flip side, it’s kind of tough for me to blatantly go against the surgeon’s recommendations and take a let’s see what happens approach. I’d feel pretty stupid if that damn bar shot out of my body on a ME bench. But, yeah, I agree that the rationale is somewhat suspect. When I asked him about this, he had me use my hands to bend the actual bar that would be used in the operation. Since it wasn’t very tough, he’s come to the conclusion that doing a heavy overhead press would put too much force on my sternum and rib cage and thus run the risk of the bar being compromised. I don’t really know how scientific the 50 lb. limit is (probably not much). Maybe that’s just his interpretation of light to moderate weight. I dunno. It’s a gray area and it sucks that no one can come to a definite conclusion.
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The bar comes out in about a year and a half. After that, I’m free to do whatever I want. So, yeah, it’s not so bad. It just happens to be at a time when I want to put on some serious mass. Oh, well. I have to adjust.