I’m toying with the idea of using Westside for Skinny Bastards for awhile. My goals are to increase max strength and increase hypertrophy.
Have any of you had success with this program. The guidelines seem logical, but are the results there?
Also, DeFranco shows in his article that instead of lower-body repetition day, you should go sled dragging.
How many of you do the prescribed lower-body repetition weight room workout over the sled dragging?
How many of you tried both and which did you prefer?
Obviously I want maximum gains possible. Post your info.
I personally had success with the program and actually had a lot of fun with it. DeFranco really gives a lot of variety in exercise selection in the article and there are countless possibilities for max-effort exercises. I used this program for eight weeks while changing my max effort exercise every two weeks and changing my assistance exercises after four weeks. I have found that I can only last about 4-5 weeks using the same exercises and set/rep parameters, but I think mixing it up with the assistance exercises after four weeks would benefit anybody. It helps to mix it up a little bit and keep motivation high. Obviously, changing max effort exercises every two weeks is a must to keep the CNS fresh; the only reason I would change it every week is if I were performing a one-rep max (but this program keeps it in the three to five range). Another suggestion is to use a variety of set and rep schemes for the assistance exercises; not only does it offer variety but I saw some legitimate hypertrophy gains in employing this method.
With regards to your question about a second lower-body day, I prefer using the repetition protocal rather than sled-dragging. Unless you are competing in a sport that requires a lot of use of your legs, you don’t run the risk of overtraining with a repetition day.
Overall, the strength and hypertrophy gains I made were pretty solid. Even though my max strength in the upper body lagged a little compared to my lower body, the submaximal strength gains went through the rough! For example, on week five I switched my repetition lift from dumbell bench press to incline dumbell bench press while using the same weight. Now one would think that I wouldn’t be able to come close to the amount of reps I completed on week one without using less weight, but I actually amazed myself by doing two more reps than my week one number. It seemed like I was making ridiculous gains every week. However, I will caution that your diet needs to be in order to see measurable results (this pertains to any program); I was using Berardi’s massive eating protocal and really taking advantage of the two-hour window after training. If your diet is lacking, forget about making any progress.
In closing, I definitely suggest giving this program a go. If you want, PM me and I’ll give you the template I created and used.
I have a question pertaining to this as well… Don’t mean to hijack your thread, just curious while we are on the topic. I am starting Westside for Skinny Bastards next week, and was thinking of doing Tabata squats instead of sled drags. (I don’t have a sled where I am staying currently) Any input on this? I am assuming this will work with the program.
tabata squats sounds too brutal. The partial point of repetition day is recovery with high reps I think tabatha will tax your recovery abilities too much.