MAX-EFFORT LIFT ? Work up to a max set of 3-5 reps.
How do I set this up? I dont completly understand the setup for this.
thanks
From Joe DeFranco’s website
Q: Hi Joe,
I have a question regarding the: Westside for Skinny Bastards lifting program. You say on a lot of the exercises that you should “Work up to a max set”. What exactly do you mean by “work up to”. Just curious because I would like to start the program, but I won’t do it until I’m sure what it is.
A: Work up to a max set refers to the sets that you will perform before your max-effort attempt. This will be different for everyone, depending on your strength level. The stronger you are, the more sets it will take you to reach your max attempt. The rule of thumb is that if you’re a skinny bastard and you don’t possess great maximal strength, perform AT LEAST 4 warm-up sets before your max attempt. The higher volume of sets will help you to add muscle mass to your frame. For example, if you were going to “work up” to a 3-rep max on the bench press and your goal was 200 lbs., your warm-up would be as follows:
Set #1 - Bar X 5
Set #2 - 95 X 5
Set #3 - 115 X 3
Set #4 - 135 X 3
Set #5 - 165 X 2
Set #6 - 185 X 1
Max attempt set - 200 X 3
While spiker’s response is quoting Joe directly, that may be the way to go. However, “traditional” Westside thinking would have you do sets of 3-5, gradually increasing the weight. So, using the above example, it could look something like:
45 x 3
95 x 3
135 x 3
155 x 3
175 x 3
195 x 3
205 x 3 (New PR, woo-hoo!!!) 
AWeSOME GUYS! Thanks!