I have decided to start westside training tomorrow. I am sick of being “piss ass weak” and have decided that not only do I want to be like lighting on the rugby field, but also just fucking strong!
I have read everything Dave Tate has written for T-mag, but a few little questions came up.
Good mornings - My first issue is about bar placement. I usually put it at the same place as my squats (which i suppose you could call high bar squats). The reason for this is that if i put it any lower then when i stand up straight, it feels like i’m holding it in that position by my arms, in some kind of staic-behind-the-neck-contraction! When I GM from a high bar postiton, it feels like the whole weight is on my neck, which ain’t nice. So could someone tell me what I’m doing wrong and what I should be doing, please.
Max effort method - I understand that this is where you work up to a 1-rep max. Once you achieve that 1-RM do you stop, or do you stay at that weight and do a few sets of singles? For example:
5 x 60kg
5x 70
3 x 80
3 x 90
1 x 100
1x 105
1x 110
1 x 112.5 (failed).
Hence the 1-Rm for that exercise was 110kg, since I failed on 112.5kg. So would i know stop the ME exercise, or drop back down to 110kg and do some singles?
I’m sure I had more questions, but right know I can’t remember what they are. They’ll come back!
Put the bar lower for good mornings. Across the rear delts.
For me, I doubt I could drop back and hit my 1 RM again. If you could, it is not a 1 rep max. Normally, you just move on to accessory work, but I know some who will drop down quite a bit and do a couple sets of reps.
Go check out EliteFTS.com also. All the Westside articles by Dave, Jim, Louie and everyone else are there as well as their training logs.
Do especially read the elitefts articles, there’s a whole series on beginner mistakes and the like. They are extremely enlightening.
One of the topics covered is building up to a one rep max
There’s actually an article on how some of the lifters structure their back off sets on ME day.
Regards Poul
I’ve actually changed my mind (again!) and tomorrow I’m starting with deFranco’s modified Westside program for a few months. I’m hoping it will help me pack on some functional mass, whilst still getting me used to the proper westside style of training.
I wouldn’t recommend 1RM max right away or even in the first cycle if you haven’t done it before! Try this for 3 weeks cycle 5RM,5RM and 3RM. Do that for a few more cycles for different ME exercises. After you’re had experiences, you can use 5RM,3RM,1RM for few more cycles. Then 3RM and 1RM for 2 weeks cycle because your body would adapt quicker this time around so you would need to change it up every 2 weeks. For those after a year or 2, they would have to do it every week but I can’t imagine doing 1RM every week for different ME exercises. The point is don’t go overboard at the beginning! It also changes everything if you’re playing sports. It’s too hard to do traditional 7 days with all 4 lifting days. See Defranco’s Skinny Bastard program for athletes that explains this reason. Joe Kenn’s tier system is another westside based designed for athletes. Westside powerlifting based program and sports don’t mix too well as i’ve found out the hard way.
