I have a question for the guys following the standard West Side templete.
How often do you change the accessorie lifts? My plan was to change ME lifts every 2 weeks and change the acc. lifts every 6 weeks.
I also considered changing rep schemes every 3 weeks on the acc. lifts.
For example on DE Bench day my heavy Tries, Shoulders and Back would be 5x5 for the first 3 weeks than 3x8 for the second 3 weeks. The lighter lifts done on ME bench day would be 3-4x10.
For example my ME upper day looks like this;
-ME lift
-shirt
-assistance
-upper back/lats
The “assistance” exercise is one that I believe will help my bench, and is changed when I either hit the target I set myself, or stop progressing.
For example, my last assistance cycle has been a good 8-10 weeks long. I started out with 37.5kg 'bells with the intention of doing 3x15 on dumbbell floor presses, benches and incline benches. I changed exercises when I hit the 3x15. All going to plan I’ll do it on inclines tomorrow too.
I’ll probably switch to 4 board presses once I get that done.
On my DE day I start doing 5x5’s on the flat bench right after my DE work. Stated with 105kg, and took 5kg jumps each week to 120 5x5. Dropped it to 2.5kg jumps per week, and axed 2 sets. If all goes to plan I’l do 127.5 3x5 next week. I don’t knw how much longer I’ll get out of this, but when I stall I’ll probably drop right back to the starting weight and pause all the reps.