Westside Made Simple

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
1

Here’s a little program that was inspired by various articles written by Louie Simmons and Dave Tate. I designed it with two goals in mind:

  1. It has to require only one day a week.
  2. It has to increase my squat and deadlift.

I’ve been using this for the past month and have been doing well on it. It isn’t as effective as Simmons and Tate’s programs, because it does not follow all of their suggestions. But, it works well with the given constraints.

Here are the general guidelines.

Do only one workout per week. This workout will consist of two primary exercises–one exercise will be a squat variant and the other will be a deadlift variant. A squat variant is always paired with a deadlift variant.

Every three weeks, the order of the variants are changed. If you did the squat variant first during the past three weeks, switch to doing the deadlift variant first for the next three weeks. In addition, the exercises pairings are to be changed every three weeks. You should have at least four different exercise combinations.

Here is what this might look like:

* Weeks 1 to 3: regular squat--then regular deadlift
* Weeks 4 to 6: sumo deadlift--then wide stance, low bar squat
* Weeks 7 to 9: front squat--then stiff-legged deadlift
* Weeks 10 to 12: rack pull--then barbell, hack squat
* Weeks 13 to 15: start over from week 1

The first exercise is always done with 45 to 55% of your 1RM. Your objective is to move the weight as fast as possible. The second exercise is done with the heaviest weight possible–your goal is to set a new PR every single workout.

The point of the first exercise it to teach your muscles to move as fast as possible. Consequently, light weights are used. During the first week of each cycle, use 45% of 1RM. On the second week, use 50%. Finally, use 55% in the third week. You should do no more than 8 sets and no more than 3 reps per set. Rest periods should be between 30 to 60 seconds. The speed of movement dictates the number of reps and sets. Stop just before the speed begins to decline.

For the second exercise, your goal is to set a new personal record each time. Simmons’ recommends trying to go as high as possible–not stopping until you miss a lift.

My thinking differs. I’d prefer you to break your PR by the smallest increment possible in order to leave a little bit more for next time. I think this is easier psychologically and reduces your risk of injury. Each set will consist of only one rep.

Keep adding weight in small increments until you break your PR or can’t lift any heavier. If you can’t lift any heavier, cut the cycle short and move to the next set of exercises in the rotation.

So, if you want to boost your squat and deadlift and you don’t have much free time, give this little program a try.

2

Is this the only workout per week or only lowerbody workout for the week. Also why do you think it is better to leave a little in the tank on max effort day and beat a PR by the smallest increment possible. And why 3 reps per set of dynamic work instead of the usual 2? And another question, have you done this program, and what have been your results?

3

endure,

What were your results on this program?

I don’t think beginners need to do ME and DE to progress. For more advanced trainees, this kind of work won’t be sufficient to progress.

Would you be doing upper body in similar fashion on another day of the week?

4

One workout a week seems pretty skimp to me. What do you do on the other six days?

5

[quote]chtdrmn wrote:
Is this the only workout per week or only lowerbody workout for the week. Also why do you think it is better to leave a little in the tank on max effort day and beat a PR by the smallest increment possible. And why 3 reps per set of dynamic work instead of the usual 2? And another question, have you done this program, and what have been your results?[/quote]

This is the only lower body strength workout per week. Typically, I will add an upper body workout in the afternoon, following this workout. Then the next day I usually do a distance running workout.

There are two reasons why I recommend breaking PRs by small increments. The first is psychological. If you use everything you have to break your PR by a large margin during the first week, what are your going to use to break your new PR again in the second week? Second, in my opinion, it is easier to get injured if you exceed your old PR by a large margin, even if you are being careful and adding weights in small increments to get there.

I suggested three reps to train the nervous system to do the movement properly. Keep in mind that exercises are being rotated every three weeks. In addition 3 reps is just a suggestion. I suggest altering reps by feel. If you can’t maintain a high movement velocity reduce the number of reps to 2 or even 1, this is something that I think varies from person to person.

I am in the middle of doing this program . I have been on it for the past 5 weeks. As for results, so far I have added 20 pounds to my deadlift and 15 pounds to my squat.

6

[quote]slotan wrote:
endure,

What were your results on this program?

I don’t think beginners need to do ME and DE to progress. For more advanced trainees, this kind of work won’t be sufficient to progress.

Would you be doing upper body in similar fashion on another day of the week?
[/quote]

I’ve posted my results in my reply to chtdrmn.

I am currently using Waterbury’s 10x3 for upper body a few hours after doing lower body. Right now, upper body is not a priority for me, though I will use this for upper body once gains from 10x3 start to slow.

7

on max effort excercises you want tension not speed of movement or thats the westside way plus max effort work is not only about hitting a PR but to do as much as you can for that day you may be able to deadlift 500 pounds but only get lets say 475 on your ME but you still put out maximal effort in the attempt to lift the weight so by westside standards that is ok yea it is cooler to hit a PR but we cant do that everyday we hit them gym i somewhat understand the small weight increments but at the same time i say put out maximal effort to make the lift if a 25 pound jump you can get do it then add more weight it is ok to miss a lift on ME day and a lot of people dont understand that and are conservative read the training logs on elitefts they miss weights sometimes and they arent small jumps more like 90 pound jumps until they miss