[quote]Stronghold wrote:
You’re suggesting that someone should limit their assistance work to 3-4 exercises after their main movement. If you do, say, a max effort board press, one auxiliary pressing exercise (lets say dumbell presses), a tricep isolation exercise, and two lat movements, then that’s 4 lifts. Now, is throwing in some shoulder training and some direct bicep work in order to keep tendons happy going to fuck up the progress? Of course not, but according to your little arbitrary rule of 5 lifts that you made up based on some incomplete info on WSB’s website, that’s too much because it’s 7 exercises. Training is not this black and white and the fact that you are making it out to be tells me you haven’t been at it for very long because you’re dead set on clinging to templates rather than listening to your body and getting shit done.
[/quote]
We’re having a few misunderstandings.
1st] I am not referring to everything that is not the ME exercise as assistance, but rather those that work the muscles directly involved - chest, tris, and shoulders for bench - these would include exercises like JM Press, Shoulder Press, Triceps Extensions, etc…
I would not include rows, pull ups, biceps work, rear delt work, forearm work, core work, etc… as assistance.
*edit: and yes, by the way, I do realize there are many who would consider lats work direct assistance work supplemental to the bench press
2nd] I think you misunderstood how much of a ‘rule’ the figure I stated was. I would think from the way I worded it would be taken more as range mentioned in passing… Furthermore, if you consider my naming reference above, you’ll see that 3-5 is a pretty broad range.
I’d like make an aside now that you’re still a twat:
‘little’ ‘arbitrary’ ‘incomplete info on WSB’s website’
lol…
Ok, carrying on:
3rd] Set on making it black and white? Sticking to templates? Not listening to my body?
For fuck-sakes, come on man; what do you think I meant by this?
That is nothing but a shallow ad-hominem attack.
[quote]Stronghold wrote:
What’s your other source of information then? I’ll let you answer before I give mine.
[/quote]
Again, reading people’s logs (as I said, I noticed most people who had a bad time with westside had a lot of assistance), and personal experience.
On top of that, Dave Tate and Louie Simmons’ writings.
4th possible misunderstanding] What I wrote, and my sources^^^, are for beginners on the westside program and perhaps in general, not seasoned and expert powerlifters.
If you INSIST, I can look through the articles and such I have saved to find figures, but I don’t think it’s incredibly important.
[quote]Stronghold wrote:
I never said that there was a definite, catch-all minimum or maximum amount of assistance work. [/quote]
No you didn’t explicitly say it, but you went on about westside being about the accessories and not doing enough of them in such a way that you implied that what I said was far too little volume.
That’s what I meant by the ‘twisting’ - I do believe it was subconscious and not intentional.
Most important of all, though:
[quote]TomVZ wrote:
For what it’s worth, I agree with:
[though I would like to qualify that care should be taken to not over do it]
Which is your main point, I take it, and we can end it at that.
I don’t think the aggressiveness is warranted, personally, and I already regret my reciprocation of it, but this is pointless.[/quote]
Do you really think this is worth arguing over, seeing as how I agree with you?