Eric, don’t worry about tempo w/ assistance stuff. Just get it done. Maybe you might want to do some eccentric work if your in a hypertrophy cycle, but other than that … just get your sets in, and leave.
I also have the same question as Phatman regarding the workload from our last session.
Any thoughts?
Also, as some of you may have seen in the DP, my goal is to hit a solid 200-bench. I’ve given myself to the end of November for this to happen.
[quote]You don’t necessarily have to go closer when going off of a lower box. You can make records with wide and close stances. The reason we often go closer stance on ME day is because we often want to mimick our deadlift stance. Remember, the max effort movement is there to train both our squat and deadlift.
[/quote]
Steve, thanks for that one (even though it was addressed to glute). That thar was VERY helpful for me, too.
Patricia, i think your goal is pretty modest considering your training poundages. Of course the big question is are you going to try do do this in a competition and then what equipment will you be wearing? Your workload looks good to me, just remember the triceps are never strong enoungh and various extensions including the incline flare extension are invaluable. You may just want to videotape your bench sessions and i think you will immediately figure out your weakpoints and then you can address them accordingly. Best of luck and i think you can hit higher numbers.
I just discovered a place in my local area that sells 5/8" chains. I can get two 5 ft lengths for $40 Canadian. Plus I was able to get 1/4" chains for a few dollars too. I’m all excited now. It would have cost me over $200 American if I had ordered from the net because of the shipping and duty.
Quick question! What do you guys think of cleans (4-10 with 40% of max) for GPP day for one of the three extra workouts (other two being either g/h raises, triceps, abs, reverse hypers). Good idea or not? I tried it for the past week and I don’t know how I feel about them yet.
Thanks
Hey eric, take what youve learned and know about tempos and throw them out. Just lift the damn weight.
Dadean- I think if you are killing your self in your 4 weekly work outs there is no way you could or would want to do any cleans on the off day, I am happy if I can just walk the next day.
Bloatis- You know your shit my man…What we have been doing instead of doing a lot of full range work is incorperating a shirt day on max effort day instead abou once a month. We use the metal millitia apprach to shirt work and take max’s off each board before we take a max single with a shirt. Also When I think of full range work for the bench, because I dont give a rats fuck what I can bench with out a shirt, Is any thing less than 3 boards is full range work for me. But I dont feel there is no need to go to the chest all the time and I compete in a single ply federation. I think of full range max effort work as reverse band presses, 1 and 2 board presses, declines and shirt work.
Big martin
goldberg, bug martin or anyone - I want to build myself a “parking lot sled” like dave tate has in his article
any ideas?
I took a piece of plywood… attached a piece of pipe that fits olympic plates… then just put some “eyelet” things on there to attach some ropes. Took like 20 minutes.
For a sled, go to the elite website. They are on sale $139.95, I think.
On a side note, I’ve started looking around for my first meet. Any particular federation I should go with? Any opinions on which feds are better (more organized, more professional, etc)?
thanks brian but thats not an option as it will cost to much to ship to Israel…
BTW
thanks everybody for all the advice IM getting
great thread.
Glute spanker- I also like rynos idea, youll just have to be creative, me myself aint much with tools, big martin
You can get anything and just attach a rope to it…get a big ass tire, that will work.
Thanks OGuard. Mucho appreciate-o. However, the lockouts of my bench were solid. I do see your point about the triceps; and I still need to improve the bench at the chest. Ko’s issue is right past the chest and before the tri’s take over for the lockout. Weird.
Anyways, thanks again. Maybe I should make the goal for a 225 bench? And this will be in the gym - haven’t gotten a shirt yet. (Steve, calm down - I’ll be getting one very soon).
As for the sled: what we use in our strongman training is a tire. If you take the time to look at some of my “strongman training” posts, I’ve posted a few pics of us sled dragging.
I took a tire and put a piece of plywood into the middle to add weights, which you usually dont need. then i poked holes and ran a rope through it. then i pulled
Q-tip thanks for the private message, I didnt even know you sent it until today! But thanks for the links.
Ok these 3 massive threads have inspired me to start Westside type training. Im doing the routine at the end of “The 8 Keys” article and Ive only done the two max effort days so far, but it was insane (in a good way). I was able to find my maxes (higher than what I thought) and strained hard but didnt fail. I did feel that some of the accessory movements have way too high of volume so I just cut a set, being that this is my first week into it and all.
I do have a few questions though. I dont have a GHR machine in my gym so I did natural GHR, is this ok or should I do a different movement? Evenutally the routine calls for goodmorning squats, can anyone describe those? I remember reading about it at the elite site a while back but its still down nowadays so I cant find a description. And the final question, is there anything wrong with doing chins on DE Squat day and rows on DE Bench day? Ive read that many of you do them on ME days, but I was wondering if anyone did them this way. I know I have to adjust this routine to fit me, but I was curious about everyone elses experiences.
Is heavythrower still around, he hasnt posted on this thread in a while ( I was still wondering about his Oly hybrid routine).
One more questions, does anyone do HIIT while doing Westside? I was doing it before I started and didnt want to get rid of the cardio and fat loss benefits of it.
I also wanted to mention that I spoke to Jim Wendler of Westside recently and he comfirmed what I had been doing. He said that the guidlines for how much chain you would use on speed bench and box squats are only that- guidelines. Mix it up sometimes use 50%bar weight and slightly more chain weight, other times use 60% and less chain. We switch things like that up all the time. Over time you will find what works best for you. Also we never use a constant weight for all 8-10 sets of speed work, we may increase the weight every set, every other set, or only once half way through on the 4th or 5th set. We have found this to work better than just using a straight weight all the way through. Thats all I can think of for now but maybe I’ll have more tomorrow.
BTW I havent posted since the forum changed to where you had to register and what not just because I’m usually in a rush and just didn’t feel like filling the whole thing out but with threads like these (and the Poliquin one, the feelings mutual Goldberg)I decided to chime in. I’ve been a loyal reader since the first issue and I will definitely be on a bit more often now, not that thats anything for everyone to get excited about, just thought I’d tell ya.
Cardio blows. pull a tire