Westside 4 Skinny Bastards Questions

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
1

Planning on starting ws4sb the third article template lifting 4 days a week. I went through the article and read the guidelines for exercises and how to perform them. A few questions though.

Regarding exercise selection it seems to have a chest emphasis, Does the few back and shoulder exercises cover enough bases for strength and growth?

It also seems the only time your squatting or dead lifting is on Max effort lower body. Should you rotate deadlifts and squats every 2 or 3 weeks?

Any other advice on the program is appreciated

2

You should rotate all of the ME lifts every 2-4 weeks.

3

Rotating the squat meaning that you wouldnt squat for a possible 2-4 weeks?

4

yup instead of squats u would do deadlifts, rack pulls, front squats etc…

5

The choice of back or chest emphasis is down to you- you can do chin ups as one of your ME excercises if you so wish.

The program is one of the most tested for strength and growth so don’t worry about that.

6

All of the Westside template variations are horizontal pushing (pecs) dominant. So, you are right.

7

I just started the WS4SB 3 day a week routine (Max Upper, Max Lower, Rep Upper). I was doing Starting Strength for a good 2 almost 3 months and needed some new exercises. Monday was a good time and I was sore in just about everything I hit, so it must have been a good change of pace.

I also bumped up my working set on the bench by 10 lbs by following the Yo, How Much Ya Bench? article by Mike Robertson. Totally unrelated, but I was fairly proud of myself. Here’s the article to anyone struggling on bench and needs a little help with form etc. especially since like you said, it’s a lot of upper body/chest work out.

K, sorry to hijack. Continue.

8

Adjust it as needed to your bodybuilding goals.

9

[quote]mr popular wrote:
Adjust it as needed to your bodybuilding goals.[/quote]

Seconded. DeFranco actually says at the end of the article that the strength of the program lies in the customization.

For example, one of the things I did is instead of the unilateral exercise on the ME lower day, I did leg press for extra quad growth. Keep in mind I’m not an athlete, and I know a lot of people bigger than me who told me to ditch the UL exercise.

10

[quote]ab_power wrote:
mr popular wrote:
Adjust it as needed to your bodybuilding goals.

Seconded. DeFranco actually says at the end of the article that the strength of the program lies in the customization.

For example, one of the things I did is instead of the unilateral exercise on the ME lower day, I did leg press for extra quad growth. Keep in mind I’m not an athlete, and I know a lot of people bigger than me who told me to ditch the UL exercise.

[/quote]

Exactly, whereas I get better-than-average growth stimulation from lunges, split squats, etc., so I leave them in. It can’t be emphasized enough that WS4SB is just a template.

Also, going back to the question of WS4SB’s horizontal pressing dominance, I believe it’s due to the fact that it’s easier to train maximum upper body strength with bench variations than with other movements, and that the bench serves as a good indicator lift for the effectiveness of the overall routine. That being said, the first version (and maybe the second) of WS4SB included weighted chins as an option for your max upper lift. While DeFranco apparently moved away from this option, you could still base your upper body training around it if it suits you.

11

I’m three weeks into the program and so far I’m loving it, although I’m still concerned i’m not getting enough shoulder/back work.

Would it be alright to put deadlifts in on the DE lower day (i’m on the 4day template.)

And where is it safe to add more shoulders and back?

12

When i used this template i did chins for my ME upper day. I suggest you do the same if your worried about not getting enough back work!

I also did a bit more volume for the other back exercises in the program

13

hi,
I have a really “dumb/noob” question…
in the Repetition Upper Body day, I can choose other exercises from those I made on the Upper body day…right?
My question is if I “can” at my will or not, or if I really should choose others not repeating any of the previous day.
tnks

14

[quote]nevez7zeven wrote:
hi,
I have a really “dumb/noob” question…
in the Repetition Upper Body day, I can choose other exercises from those I made on the Upper body day…right?
My question is if I “can” at my will or not, or if I really should choose others not repeating any of the previous day.
tnks[/quote]

Your overthinking it man. Just do the damn program as written for awhile and see how it works. Then see what you want to adjust.

15

[quote]SkateDC wrote:
I’m three weeks into the program and so far I’m loving it, although I’m still concerned i’m not getting enough shoulder/back work.[/quote]

There should be plenty. On ME upper body day (depending on the template you use), you have the possibility of setting it up like this (this is what I did):

  1. ME Lift (Bench, incline bench, floor press, etc.)
  2. Bench Assistance (flat, incline or DB floor presses)
    3A. Rear delt/upper back exercise (rear delt raises, face pulls, seated DB power cleans, etc.)
    3B. Horizontal pulling (barbell rows, DB rows, seated rows, T-bar rows or Chest-supported rows)
  3. Barbell or DB Shrugs
    5A. Biceps
    5B. Triceps
  4. Abs

On RE Upper Body day, I did the following:

  1. RE Upper Body lift (flat, incline or DB floor presses, band pushups, blast-strap pushups, barbell pushups, etc.)
  2. Vertical pulling (chins, pull-ups, lat pulldowns)
    3A. Rear delt/upper back exercise
    3B. Lateral raises, L-lateral raises or one-arm cable lateral raises
    4A. Biceps
    4B. Triceps
  3. Abs

So you can get plenty of back and shoulder exercises in the template.

I wouldn’t recommend it, but you could perform speed deadlifts with 50% of your max for 8x2.

See sample workouts above.