Westside/PLing Training Thread

[quote]LarryJr wrote:
I’ve been reading over this thread and it’s real inspiring! Some strong dudes here.

What are the calorie requirements for a powerlifter compared to a bodybuilder? Does one require more then another?

Also, what body fat percentage seems to be optimum for PL? I seem to get weak when I’m real lean.[/quote]

Both questions have no real answer, I tell you one thing after a good grueling ME day I can eat up a storm the next day! I don’t think anyone will question the fact that more food helps set PR’s

If you are trying to stay at the top end of a certain weight class of course your calories will need to be less. If you are a super heavyweight a higher bf% will be more beneficial than if you are a 220lber where you will want to optimize your lean mass for that weight class.

That being said I think everyone has a different bf range they can fell comfortable and still make good progress in strength. Some people can sit at 8-10% and set PR’s I don’t think I can.

10/5/07 Farmers Walks

Farmers Walks

All weight is per hand

130x70ft 2 turns
180x40 sold and easy
220x40 PR! Not sure what kind of PR but I know I have never done 220 per hand for that far

Felt like I could have went a lot further but I ran out of room, I was doing them in the backyard on the patio, I think I chipped the concrete a little bit, going to do them out on the street next time, try 220 60ft or more.

Natural Glute Ham Raises
x8
x5
x2

it was COLD outside today! my hamstrings where dead to start and I think they where getting stiff from the cold, I tried to do some goodmornings but it wasn’t happening. Oh well I am moving all my weights in the garage tomorrow.

[quote]Phill wrote:

Yes try and get that elbow tuck takes the strain off the shoulders and activates the tris a lot more good for shirted benchers

How long are you pausing???

[/quote]

The pause is about 1-1.5 seconds.

When doing board presses should I continue to have an arch as well?

[quote]remixpaul wrote:
which westside for skinny bastards do u think is more effective … the 2nd one or the 3rd one that just came out?

westside for skinny bastards part II - http://www.T-Nation.com/readArticle.do?id=667308

westside for skinny bastards part III - http://defrancotraining.com/articles/articles.htmv [/quote]

I’ve had alot of great strength and weight gains with the 1st installment.

I would go with the newest version since Joe goes over everything you’d ever need in that article.

Is it bad to perform the same max effort excercise more than once every 12 weeks? im asking because im gonna be trying WS4SB III and out of all the ME upper excersices in my local gym i can only be able to do flat bench, incline bench, and close grip as for the ME lower excercise i can do box squats, regualr squats and deadlifts … as for the deadlifts would it be beneficial if i do diff types of deadlifts?

thank you for ur help people [=

[quote]remixpaul wrote:
Is it bad to perform the same max effort excercise more than once every 12 weeks? im asking because im gonna be trying WS4SB III and out of all the ME upper excersices in my local gym i can only be able to do flat bench, incline bench, and close grip as for the ME lower excercise i can do box squats, regualr squats and deadlifts … as for the deadlifts would it be beneficial if i do diff types of deadlifts?

thank you for ur help people [=[/quote]

No, as long as you are making improvments,

Westside is all about finding your weaknesses, so if your weakness is locking out a deadlift do rack pulls, etc. If your weakness is from the floor pull from a deficit deadlifts or something.

If you are new to powerlifting I would do the standard squat, deadlift, bench movements until you start to stall and you find where your weaknesses are.

how long should i stay on the same ME excersice before i would have to switch over to a new one? 3 weeks? 4 weeks? i was thinking more like 2 weeks, or is that not enough time?

Squat
45x5
95x5
135x5
185x5
225x5
275x5
360x5x5 5lb PR

Deadlift
225x3
360x10x1

45 Degree Back Extension
BW+25x4x12

Hanging Leg Raise
BWx4x12

Pretty pleased with this session. There were only four other members in the gym this evening. The owner made a comment about my speed pulls being too loud. I chose to ignore him.

[quote]remixpaul wrote:
how long should i stay on the same ME excersice before i would have to switch over to a new one? 3 weeks? 4 weeks? i was thinking more like 2 weeks, or is that not enough time?[/quote]

2-3 weeks is what most say

I have been alternating between two movements every week for awhile now and it has been going alright.

[quote]ChaseT wrote:
Squat
45x5
95x5
135x5
185x5
225x5
275x5
360x5x5 5lb PR

Deadlift
225x3
360x10x1

45 Degree Back Extension
BW+25x4x12

Hanging Leg Raise
BWx4x12

Pretty pleased with this session. There were only four other members in the gym this evening. The owner made a comment about my speed pulls being too loud. I chose to ignore him.[/quote]

Solid lifting man, You know your training right if gym owners don’t like it.

[quote]xb100 wrote:
Phill wrote:

Yes try and get that elbow tuck takes the strain off the shoulders and activates the tris a lot more good for shirted benchers

How long are you pausing???

The pause is about 1-1.5 seconds.

When doing board presses should I continue to have an arch as well?
[/quote]

You might try to incorporate some long 4 second or so pauses as well VERY humbling and teach you how to stay tight

Yes practice that arch at all times. Only really floor presses do you pretty much lose that arch by the nature of the move. Get your set up ingrained in memory

Phill

In mining my logs I find that my bench progresses when I have incline benching in the mix and stalls two weeks after taking it out. Seems like a no-brainer as to what to do about it…

Last upper session, did 1 arm db press - these do nothing for me shoulder-wise bilaterally except work the hell out of my obliques. Not wasting any more time on 'em.

skidmark, i have been reading this thread from its inception. in particular, i have been following your log with interest because you and i have similar lifting numbers as well as height and weight. my OHP seems to be quite a bit higher than yours so i think your bench may gain a lot by hitting the incline bench or push presses. just my 2 cents. keep lifting hard!

10/06/07 - Upper (RE)

A) Incline Barbell Bench Press
barx20
95x15
135x8
185x5
225x5
225x5
225x5
225x5

B) Bodyweight Dips
x12
x12
x12
x12

C) Hammer Strength Isolateral BTN Press
(per side)
25x10
45x10
70x6
90x6
90x6
90x6
90x6

D) Standing EZ Curls
EZ+20x10
+50x6
+100x6
+110x6
+110x6
+110x6

Still suck at Incline Benching, just damn glad it’s not one of the Big 3! But it felt better today, added one rep to every set from last week. Gotta bring this lift up over the next few months. Everything is a PR since I just started doing these after about 3+ years layoff, but I won’t note any PR’s until I work up to a single, that would just be to whoreish.

Shoulders felt very tight on dips. I refuse to add weight until I’ve been doing these for at least a month or more. The last dip injury set me back about 1 year, so I’m going to avoid that route at all costs.

Pretty good overall, no complaints, no missed lifts. And I’m really enjoying the RE work in place of the DE work.

do ur arch ur back when u do floor press? and why do u arch ur back when u do bench press?

The arch does a number of things.

Lets you get leg drive.

Shortens your range of motion.

Makes it more like a decline bench.

For me…it is easier to stay tight.

NO, I don’t arch on floor press.

[quote]Gorichen wrote:
In mining my logs I find that my bench progresses when I have incline benching in the mix and stalls two weeks after taking it out. Seems like a no-brainer as to what to do about it…

Last upper session, did 1 arm db press - these do nothing for me shoulder-wise bilaterally except work the hell out of my obliques. Not wasting any more time on 'em.

skidmark, i have been reading this thread from its inception. in particular, i have been following your log with interest because you and i have similar lifting numbers as well as height and weight. my OHP seems to be quite a bit higher than yours so i think your bench may gain a lot by hitting the incline bench or push presses. just my 2 cents. keep lifting hard![/quote]

Interesting you should say that. I had been considering the push press, based on what Phill suggested a while back and was going to work it in on ME days. Thanks for the suggestion.

Do you guys do trap work like shrugs?

When you read about triceps extensions in different PL templates, what type are they? Overhead, lying, DB, barbell, etc…all of them?

Thanks for helping me with these basic questions.

www.powerdevelopmentinc.com/?id=16

This is an interesting article that I dug up, written by James Smith (aka Thinker) of Elitefts.com and the bench press.

His stuff is not the easiest to read, but I find most of it to be incredibly interesting. I suggest that you guys give it a look and perhaps you may draw conclusions that will be of relevance to your own training.

-Matt

Should I be arching when doing close grip bench?

Today will be my last BB style workout…at least for 8 weeks. I’m doing shoulders, tris and biceps.

I’m going to go heavy though:

Push press 8x3
Lateral raise 3x12
face pull 3x12
close grip bench 8x3
flat db tricep ext 4x6
oly bb curls 4x10
hammer curls 3x10

[quote]LarryJr wrote:
Do you guys do trap work like shrugs?

When you read about triceps extensions in different PL templates, what type are they? Overhead, lying, DB, barbell, etc…all of them?

Thanks for helping me with these basic questions.[/quote]

I have, I havn’t lately as I fell my traps get plenty of work from clean and presses, farmers walks, deadlifts etc.

Some do them a lot, some not so much. My upper back strength isn’t a weakness right now so I can use my training time more useful by devoting time to other, weaker (in comparison) areas.

I am pretty sure the answer is all of them. I don’t do any sort of extension as they hurt my elbows.