WSFSB Appreciation Society

Training Powerlifting
281

Your set-up and exercise selection listed above is good.

Change your ME lift every 3-4 weeks. You can keep supplemental lifts for 4-6 weeks with no problems.

Remember to “work up to” your max sets of 3-5 reps and not just perform one set of 3-5 reps. You need at least five total sets when performing the ME exercises. Each set should be a progressively heavier set just as Joe answered in part 3.

  1. On your max-effort days, you work up to the heaviest weight you can handle for the reps you are going for (3-5). You should be going for max weight here.

On your accessory/supplemental exercises each workout, use a weight that keeps you in the rep range specified but don’t train to failure. Always leave a rep “in the tank” or at least only go all out on the very last set - but try not to go to failure all the time.

  1. Resting for 2-3 minutes between your heaviest sets of your ME lifts is fine. You should rest about 45-90 seconds on all the other sets.

Be sure to re-read part 3 of WS4SB, as most of these questions are already answered there.

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By the way, for your dynamic-effort lower body day, you should be performing some sort of explosive jumping movement (box jumps, vertical jumps, broad jumps, etc.) for your first exercise, not squats as you have listed.

Read part 3.

283

thanks. I read it, but I still have questions and things that I didn’t understand:

  1. in the max effort days (lower and upper body) I need to go to failure in every set?
  2. in the dynamic effort lower body day, I shouldn’t go to failure?

sorry that I didn’t realize that from the article. English isn’t my mother tongue. Thank a lot!

284
  1. No, you’re not going to failure until the very last set of 3 or 5 reps on your ME lifts only.

Let’s say you are going to bench 185lbs for your max set of 5 reps. You would peform at least five sets similar to this:

45lbs bar x 5
95 x 5
115 x 5
135 x 5
155 x 5
175 x 5
Rest 2-3 minutes…
185 x 5 (go all out on this set)

  1. No, you shouldn’t be going to failure on all your lifts. You only go for max attempts on your ME exercise during your last heavy set. All other exercises are performed just shy of failure (with one or two reps in the tank).

However, if you are a beginner, you may fail on your last set of accessory/supplemental exercises. That’s okay. Just don’t try to train to failure all the time.

285

thanks a lot.
I have problem with the ME lifts on the max effort lower body days. In my weight room I can only make free squats and deadlifts. What should I do? (I can’t leave this weight room because he is the only one who close to my home).

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Free squats and deadlifts have gotten a lot of people really strong over the years.

287

yes, I know. but is it enough for this program?

288

I’m gonna be startin WSFSB III on monday. Going to join the powerlifting club they have here at UT austin next year, wanna be as strong as i can be

289

[quote]qa771 wrote:
yes, I know. but is it enough for this program?[/quote]

Yes. That’s all you need. It’s all I use. You don’t need bands and chains or the leg press or anything else. Squats and deadlifts are all you need. I change the exercise every few weeks rotating between squat and deadlift variations.

For example, you could change your ME lift every 3 or 4 weeks since you are a beginner. You could rotate through lifts such as these every 3-4 weeks:

Back Squats
Deadlifts
Front Squats
Rack deadlifts
Box Squats

Try that.

290

Couple questions:

  1. Do you alternate ME exercises every 3-6 weeks, or do you alternate once you start stalling? I have been consistently making PR’s so my plan is to still use my current ME exercises until I stall.

  2. My ME Upper is Floor press and my ME lower is Box Squat. After I stall on these two, which ME exercises should I switch to? (My sticking point on bench is a few inches off my chest, like everyone :frowning: and for squat it is the part right after you come after the hole. The part in between coming out of the hole and lockout)

  3. Same as #1, except for assistance exercises. Keep going until I stall?

  4. Due to my schedule I can only workout M/Thurs/F. So my ME lower and Repetition Upper are back to back. Do you think the grip work at the end of ME lower could be affecting performance in my Repetition upper, since they are back to back???

291

yes, I know, but we don’t have box (to perform box squats) or the equipment to perform rack deadlifts in our weight room. I can only train with the regular back squat and the regular deadlift. I also can’t make front squats, because I don’t know how to do them.

292

[quote]qa771 wrote:
yes, I know, but we don’t have box (to perform box squats) or the equipment to perform rack deadlifts in our weight room. I can only train with the regular back squat and the regular deadlift. I also can’t make front squats, because I don’t know how to do them.[/quote]

You’re young and I admire your desire to get stronger and better at your sport.

Having said that, use your goddamn brain! This website has lots of different articles that will teach you how to do exercises you aren’t familiar with. Stop making excuses and start finding solutions.

293

[quote]Seinix wrote:
Couple questions:

  1. Do you alternate ME exercises every 3-6 weeks, or do you alternate once you start stalling? I have been consistently making PR’s so my plan is to still use my current ME exercises until I stall.[/quote]

That’s fine. Do what works for you.

Switch to a full-range pressing movement (flat bench press, incline bench press or close-grip bench press).

Try deadlifts or full Olympic style back squats.

Yep. Change rep ranges every 4 weeks, but use the exercises until you stall (could be anywhere from 2-8 weeks).

Nope. However, if you performed the grip work the day before your ME lower, that could be an issue if you were performing deadlifts. But you aren’t doing that, so it should be fine.

You can always skip the grip work if you need to or move it to your RE upper body day or use something else in its place (ab work).

294

[quote]gone heavy wrote:
qa771 wrote:
yes, I know, but we don’t have box (to perform box squats) or the equipment to perform rack deadlifts in our weight room. I can only train with the regular back squat and the regular deadlift. I also can’t make front squats, because I don’t know how to do them.

You’re young and I admire your desire to get stronger and better at your sport.

Having said that, use your goddamn brain! This website has lots of different articles that will teach you how to do exercises you aren’t familiar with. Stop making excuses and start finding solutions.[/quote]

Ding, ding, ding!

We have a winner.

Figure something out! You’re 16 and you’re overanalyzing things too much.

Squat and deadlift. Vary the movements if you can. If you think you can’t figure out ways you can.

It’s not hard to perform rack deadlifts in a power rack. Or by using boxes or weight plates to raise the bar to the right location.

It’s not hard to perform box squats using a sturdy milk crate, a low bench, rubber mats, etc.

If you can’t perform front squats - LEARN!

But most importantly, just DO something!

295

[quote]Nate Dogg wrote:
gone heavy wrote:
qa771 wrote:
yes, I know, but we don’t have box (to perform box squats) or the equipment to perform rack deadlifts in our weight room. I can only train with the regular back squat and the regular deadlift. I also can’t make front squats, because I don’t know how to do them.

You’re young and I admire your desire to get stronger and better at your sport.

Having said that, use your goddamn brain! This website has lots of different articles that will teach you how to do exercises you aren’t familiar with. Stop making excuses and start finding solutions.

Ding, ding, ding!

We have a winner.

Figure something out! You’re 16 and you’re overanalyzing things too much.

Squat and deadlift. Vary the movements if you can. If you think you can’t figure out ways you can.

It’s not hard to perform rack deadlifts in a power rack. Or by using boxes or weight plates to raise the bar to the right location.

It’s not hard to perform box squats using a sturdy milk crate, a low bench, rubber mats, etc.

If you can’t perform front squats - LEARN!

But most importantly, just DO something!

[/quote]

Also, why focus on rack deads? Why not try sumo or snatch grip? There are other options.

Nate, thanks for bringing this back. I got back on WS4SB a few months ago and I’ve been loving it. I might stick with it for another month or two then switch to something else.

296

[quote]Arioch wrote:
Also, why focus on rack deads? Why not try sumo or snatch grip? There are other options.[/quote]

Exactly. Thanks for mentioning those versions. We could also add Zercher squats to the list of things he could do.

[quote]Nate, thanks for bringing this back. I got back on WS4SB a few months ago and I’ve been loving it. I might stick with it for another month or two then switch to something else.
[/quote]

It’s a great template and always works for me when I want to focus on getting stronger. My goal is a little different this time around because I want to increase strength while also maintaining my current level of conditioning and leanness since I worked hard to get lean and to get in shape for weekly intense games of ultimate frisbee.

I start week 6 of the Strength and Speed template today. So far, my lifts are going up each week along with more reps on RE days and accessory/supplemental exercises.

Unfortunately, I lost strength the last four months from the fat-loss/conditioning routines I was following. So right now, I’m trying to get back to where my strength levels were in March. I’m not too far off in most lifts, and I’m also a full 15 pounds leaner now than I was at the beginning of the year. So my relative strength is looking pretty good, but I want my absolute strength to increase accordingly.

297

I decided to go on a long version this time around. Normally, I would do 2-3 months for a good strength phase. Now, I’m just trying to add mass with strength. So far, I have noticed my strength go up each week and the mass come with it. Been very happy with the results.

Around Christmas, maybe January, I’ll start doing some fat loss. In the next couple months, I’ll taper off the gain and go to maintenance before that.

Just had a though, hack squats could also work as a change of pace. Even one legged squats. I’m sure we could keep going with the options if he can’t figure any out for himself.

298

Nate;

I know or its seems you went on a fatloss phase but last year ws4sb part 3 was my fatloss plan.

The template was;
Monday - Max upper + 30min regular cardio
Tuesay - Max Lower + 15min regular cardio
Wednesday - off
Thurday - Rep upper + 30min regular cardio
friday -off
Saturday- Condition full body(mixed of
complexes,circuit + a mandatory 15min hiit)
Sunday -off

Went it became more difficult (stalling)i added some low intensity cardio on some days off.With proper diet and this plan i can stay on ws4sb all year long.

What you think Nate??

299

[quote]crankMAN wrote:
Nate;

I know or its seems you went on a fatloss phase but last year ws4sb part 3 was my fatloss plan.

The template was;
Monday - Max upper + 30min regular cardio
Tuesay - Max Lower + 15min regular cardio
Wednesday - off
Thurday - Rep upper + 30min regular cardio
friday -off
Saturday- Condition full body(mixed of
complexes,circuit + a mandatory 15min hiit)
Sunday -off

Went it became more difficult (stalling)i added some low intensity cardio on some days off.With proper diet and this plan i can stay on ws4sb all year long.

What you think Nate??

[/quote]

That plan works fine and looks good as long as you can handle the two ME days being back-to-back. Just make sure you listen to your body and adjust as needed. The low-intensity cardio is probably a good idea as well with this plan.

Also, this was Joe DeFranco’s response when using WS4SB for fat loss. This is another way to set it up:

MONDAY - Max-effort Upper Body
Then high-intensity “cardio.” I would suggest weight training for 40 - 50 minutes then doing some high-intensity “cardio” such as Prowler sprints, interval treadmill sprints or sprints outside with incomplete recovery, jump rope intervals, etc.

TUESDAY - Low intensity cardio
Walking, riding a bike, etc. You can do some high rep abs on this day as well.

WEDNESDAY - Max-effort Lower Body

THURSDAY - Low intensity cardio
Walking, riding a bike, etc. You can do some high rep abs on this day as well.

FRIDAY - Repetition Upper Body
Then high-intensity “cardio” (same concept as Monday)

SATURDAY - Off or same workout as Tuesday & Thursday

Sunday - Off

I also like the recommendation Joe made and may need to use this template the next time I decide to go for fat loss while still using WS4SB - Just like you, it makes it a good way to stay on the plan year round so you don’t lose strength and size.

300


Workouts are coming along very well the last few weeks. Strength is increasing on max-effort lifts each week, and I’m able to get more reps and/or weight on my supplemental/accessory lifts as well.

I’m really enjoying the way I have the plan set up including my “speed training” day on Tuesday’s. Things are really clicking.

I even purchased an Econo Prowler this weekend since it was on sale. I’ll be able to use this during some of my “finisher” workouts throughout the week.