I did “Westside Training” for a little bit when I first started out, but I was clueless and definitely doing it wrong lmao, probably why I didn’t get anything out of it
For some reason I’ve always read online that it was for equipped lifters , not sure how much truth there is to that
I personally don’t enjoy training with bands and chains, but I’m not knocking anyone who does. The guys from Westside know what tf they’re doing. I’m sure one day I’ll circle back around to it and do it right.
Oh I got something to say on this! I think the biggest reason this is said is because “true” westside is like high ass box squats and 14 board benches. It’s great for equip lifting because that’s what its for. There’s a couple articles mentioning what Louie changes for raw lifters. Burley Hawk is a great source of how to structure raw conjugate. He’s really open about what he changed and why.
Lots of it becomes full range max effort lifts and sometimes heavier or different structure dynamic work. I’ve been diving into conjugate and reading a shit ton so this is fresh on my mind.
What do you think that type of training helps the most with for you?
Do you feel it carries over to the compounds once you get rid of the bands and other resistance?
Not sure yet. My pr’s have been really fast moving but then again I never have been one to grind lifts. I train for strongman and all those random lifts have been new maxes when I touch them. I also feel really explosive in general
Yes. For example my DE squats are paused SSB as deep as possible, I feel way more tight and explosive out of the hole on max effort highbar squatting now. I don’t good morning like I use to. Also the bands taught me to accelerate out of the hole. I read something about how DE work changes if you are a faster lifter (you use more bar weight than bands or chains) as opposed to if you grind (you use more bands and chains than bar weight). I have noticed I’m better at grinding out a lift in a position rather than just losing it when I need to grind for a longer period of time.
To add, I think the biggest benefit for me is the variety. I’m ADHD as hell so being able to change main lifts and accessories often is amazing. But having the consistent DE work allows me to track and practice certain things.
I’m going to test my bench this week so I’ll see if that’s gone up even though I haven’t trained a bench press in a while. Historically, I’ve lost it when I need my triceps to take over
I see. Thanks for putting that all out on paper, it makes way more sense to me now.
The bit about band resistance depending on whether your explosive or a grinder is interesting.
The deadlift platform at my gym has the handle thingies to allow for bands to be used, I might actually look into that as an accessory deadlift movement, I don’t think I’d need to use it for my squat or bench as an accessory just yet. My issue when doing it a long ass time ago was figuring out how much added resistance I was working with for each band, it was confusing as shit.
RDLs with bands are killer
Still is lmao. I just throw band on enough where I have to accelerate hard. Like I could be using a red band in a different format or I could just run the green and have a similar weight
Will have to check it out…sounds interesting.
Ah I see. I actually am going to try this next week on a squat day or something then.
I haven’t been able to get away with doing a deadlift 2x/wk, but maybe adding resistance like this will still be a way to get in extra volume while training a variation that is beneficial for my regular deadlift, and can still keep the overall load relatively light so it doesn’t smoke my CNS
Conjugate is really about training your weaknesses and switching movements every 1-3 weeks so the trainee
doesn’t regress or deload like they normally would in linear periodization.
Example: If someone is stronger at a wide stance squat, they should probably be doing close stance squat variations.
I think it’s an awesome way to train for people who need variety because honestly you really could just do an entire linear periodization training block with variations and then switch to a linear periodization training block with no variations to prevent stagnation 
Now switching movements like a goofball, doing ridiculous volume, and not getting stronger is a no no
lmao I read this and had a sense of deja vu. Sounds like the training philosophy my mentors instilled into me. But it makes sense. When I was reading up on Conjugate, there were so many different takes and articles about it, all got muddled up**
And the variety thing is definently important and something a decent amount of people overlook I feel. Like fuck man I don’t want to do a heavy ass conventional deadlift for 12 months straight, i’d start dreading it. It also offers a way more sustainable way of training in my opinion
For figuring out band resistance I use a luggage scale. I am not super anal about it but I want to have some notion of what the top end resistance is and that way I can conjugate this later on with an approximate chain weight equivalence or know how much more tension to add next time.
You can get a cheap one that can go up to 110 lb for like $8 or for like $35 you can get a heavy duty scale meant for weighing fish or pull-back on a bow (archery).
If you’re new to bands I would suggest starting super light. They take some getting used to. I think chains are better on deadlifts if you put them in the center of bar so weights don’t crash down on the chains…this seems to work better if your pulling sumo. Bands and Chains are great on squat, but bands are particularly not great on bench in my experience.
Ie harder to scale on bench as you get too much band tension on bench and your groove is all out of whack more so than i experienced on squat/dead.
Hey thanks for the suggestion. I will probably get that scale in the future once i’m accustomed to actually pulling with bands or make it a more integral part of training, i’m not sure how it’ll work out for me, if it’ll agree with my body, or if it’ll help me at all. It’ll be a little annoying not to know how much resistance it’s going to add, but for what I am wanting out of this movement, it might be alright not to know.
As for the chains, I unfortunately don’t have access to those, I don’t buy alot of equipment since i’m tight on cash most of the time.
I might look into using bands when I make my squat my priority, but I have alot of different variations already for that movement that help me. The difficult thing when it comes to finding a beneficial deadlift accessory is that my working weights & topsets are still heavy most of the time. It makes it hard to manage fatigue alongside frequent squatting, which is why I do 1x/wk on deads, but i’m hoping the deadlift + bands will allow me to train it more. Maybe im chasing the dragon, but I enjoy training alot and often.
@freshyfresh @mechinos do you find banded deadlifts to be beneficial despite using lower weight and do you feel it is less fatiguing?
No idea on that one. I just started using banded deadlifts today. I was using high pulls as my dynamic lower body movement
My sticking point on deadlifts always seems to be a few inches off the floor at my shins. I am not sure banded deadlifts ever translated to fixing that particular weakness for me.
Thanks for this! Just ordered it!
Some dude’s Instagram post with a chart showing band tension on a 48" deadlift platform.
I was wondering how they measured that. This was the key part.
Because they’re bands, if you pull higher it’s heavier; lower it’s lighter. Long arms short legs (or sumo), it’ll be lighter.
That’s a pretty genius idea. You can see how much it adds for you, rather than some generic chart. Although the chart is probably good enough for most purposes.
You can also use a known weight, like your deadlift 5 RM.
Then put some bands on the bar and work up to a 5RM.
Maybe you do 400 x 5 with no bands, and 300 x 5 with bands. And then you know that setup adds about 100 pounds to the bar.
Since we turned konsu’s log into a band article the other thing to keep in mind is your bands are going to loose tension over time. Especially if you use them a lot or keep them in a tough environment where they dry out, get chalk on them, etc… always check them for fraying before use!
Hey thanks for this link, helps a lot.
I think it’s honestly gonna be impossible to get an accurate and definitive answer since everyone’s leverages are different, but it gives a good guesstimate. My gym does have a rouge platform though, so that’s good.
I’ll have to play around with the bands they have and feel it out.
I can envision accidently adding like 300lbs of resistance and snap my shit up 
