Hey Everybody,
I have been in and out of this site for about two years. I havent posted much, but I am a big fan of this forum and the quality information that is dispersed here. I am pretty new to training and honestly I havent been that consistent with it.
With my main goal being fat loss and strength gain, I am starting a training log to help myself stay consistent and to recieve some feedback from the more experienced lifters on this forum.
Now, some stats.
Weight: 285
Hieght:6 ft
BF% 27%(yeah, I know)
Age:22
Hi Shane. It’s good that you’re hardcharging & pursuing what may indeed be tthe best approach to training for strength around. Just a couple of comments:
If you’re training for actual competition, you may want to avoid doing meet style presses using the westside regime…although you may be just finding your max which is cool.
Also, if you’re relatively new to this style of training, you may want to take a page out of Bob Youngs’ book (his intro to westside article) and simplify your scheme up to 3 exercises/workout…building up volume as you go. But, you know yourslef better than any of us, so…
In my experience, simpler is usually better. JMO (I’m no authority).
Thanks Bang,
Yeah, I was just trying to find my max. I read Bob youngs article, and I think I should start with a little less volume since I consider myself a total beginner.
Thanks for the information. It is more than welcome.
SHane…Dude if you want to get strong and loose weight at the same time powerlifting style…use the Metabolic diet by Mario Dipasquale, and up your sled dragging…Dont swim,run, cardio, or crap like that trust me…Drag the sled ad use circuts (look at Jack Ass training log on Elite fitness) and extra workouts and gpp warmups…Big Martin
I do not know what I can lift for anything right now. I think that is why I did so many sets. I felt like I could do more, but I was not sure if I had the form right on my good mornings. Anyways, this workout kicked my ass.
I will think about the metabolic diet. I did atkins about two years ago, but I lost a lot of strength. I am kind of scared of trying it again.
Sled dragging will help with the weight loss. I also use an xvest for walks. Walk a few miles with the forty pounds. Another activity to try would be plain old hiking up hills at a brisk pace.
Over at elite fitness systems, they discuss GPP. Give it a look.
Personally, if I want to lose weight, I up the lean protein. A lot. Just cleaning up my diet seems to take it off. I’ve never tried the metabolic diet, so I couldn’t give you any feedback on it.
Like I told Shane awhile back, I actually think his best bet is to clean up his diet and stick with the basic WS template to drop some fat (agreeing with irondoc here). I am actually against him adding in any type of cardio, even GPP for the most part, if he is severely restricting his calories.
Thanks guys,
I just bought a sled from elitefts, and I will start with that when it comes in. I really dont like low carb diets. My body does not seem to be able to handle them( I just lose too much muscle and strength), so I am going to take irondoc’s advice and clean up my diet, up the protien, and let the extra GPP training take the weight off. My goal is not to sport a six pack or anything. Strength is my main goal. But, the weight is not healthy, so it has to go. Also, I am becoming a firefighter, and I am sure that the extra strength and GPP will only help with my chosen occupation.
In faith,
Shane
Chris, run a search on the T-Mag search engine (not the forum search engine) for Dave Tate’s “Eight Keys” articles. Read all of them; they seem to be the most comprehensive yet easy to understand overview of the Westside system. From there, you can also head over to Elitefts.com and read as much as possible. It is there that you can find Bob Youngs’s intro article.
I’d reccomend using the conditioning portion of the eight keys program. Progressively increasing volume of the warm up. It seems to be helping my conditioning. I like to Superset/circuit the warm up for added conditioning.
Hey i just started doing dave tates 9 week basic training program. i got it off his site. Just did my 2nd day which was a ME bench. I had some troubles cause the squat racks they have are gay so i had to get someone to dl the weight off the floor and hand it to me. I will think of something to substitute for that. But good luck with your lifting.
the issue with trying to drop fat on westside is that it’s very easy to overtrain while doing it.
i’ve done it, by sprinting twice a week, but keep in mind that to drop 1 lb a week, do westside training, and sprint twice a week iw as consuming close to 3200-3400 calories. that is not, by any means, a “diet”, atleast according to bb standards.
i am with steve and basically am against a beginner to westside doing cardio/other work unless you have adequete calories to compensate for it, and 2400 calories is not adequete, unless you are a small person.
like bob youngs says:
“Yet, I see all of these lower level lifters eating like birds. They also lift like birds.”
i hit submit too fast, shit. anyway, if you are going to add conditioning, do it very slowly. it’s terribly easy to negate strength gains or hinder the progress that westside is designed for (strength) if you over do it, not to mention on a calorie deficit.
Band good mornings 15 reps
Banded squats 15 reps
push ups 15 reps
I did three circuits with no rest between sets.
I used the band today because I am still waiting for my sled. I will probably invest in a x vest as well, but I am sure looking forward for that sled to get here.
In faith,
Shane
I PM’ed Goldberg one time about fatloss/weightloss while on a Westside protocol. He said to try and clean up your diet first, and if it isn’t coming off, then try to add GPP or sprints. As someone else said you can easily overtrain if you jump in headlong without getting used to it.
You said that you thought your sets were too high for your max effort work. It looked perfect to me. It was 11 sets. I usually start going after my new max around set 8 or 9.