yes of course, as we see here I had him do two flat presses, so they were not completely eliminated.
I have never used westside for myself or my clients, so I don’t have any first hand experience with it.
If you were to go with this variation I would say don’t do it.
For myself at least, doing a deadlift variation once every three weeks (and actually doing deadlifts like five times a year) would be useless.
In my opinion you need to focus on a few movements, get on the groove with them and do them often.
If you want to get good at deadlifting, choose a deadlift variation that emphasizes your weak point. Or if you are like me and don’t have any glaring weak points with deadlift, just do them normally.
But if you choose to do westside, make sure you have done a block of volume-rich training before it. Because as we see in this graph, you are using very low volume for the heavy days, so you want to have some “storage strength” to unleash.
(I’ve noticed that if you do, say 3x5 and then jump to 1x3-5 or similar you can progress very fast. You have build “storage strenght” with the volume and not you are reaping the benefits of that work)
If we were to look at a program built around the idea of going heavy on 1-2 exercises/day with some assistance work (like westside suggests) I would absolutely say yes. But with all the variations of exercises I’m going to go with no.
Of course,I just felt like soecifying it for anyone that sees it in the future
Now for your westside critique I totally agree.I think most lifters won’t be overworked by maxing both on a deadlift and a squat variation on the same workout
I do my volume work on dynamic effort days,but I saw my best gains when I switched from a high volume approach to a low one,so there’s a lot of truth to what you’re saying to what you’re saying imo
I believe so too, of course squatting before deadlift might decrease your power output on the latter, but with the added frequency we will still progress faster.
Maxing out on deadlift before squatting is a total no-go for me at least though, as the deadlift drains me out completely.
I’ve noticed that if we were to go for rep PRs without going to failure (8.5-9ish RPE) squatting before deadlift actually makes the deads feel more comfortable and sturdier. (Same goes for doing leg curls before squats)
In the past I have used a leg day template like this for that reason:
Lying leg curl 3-4x6-8
Back squat 3x3-5 (9RPE)
Deadlift 3x4-6 (9RPE)
Hanging leg raises
I’ll probably write about this in the near future. Now I’m just throwing this thought out there; for the best strength gains, shouldn’t you cycle high and low volume? I believe so and that is why I have done it for the last few years and regularly use it with people that I train.
I plan on keep experimenting with cycling volume and intensity on a weekly basis.It looks like
Heavy day(1 upper,1 lower/week)
1 rep maxes on the main movement,3 sets of 3-5,ramping sets of 3-6 reps,1 all out set,no high rep stuff unless we’re talking about single joint movements that are not taxing at all,like forearm culrs,leg curls,leg extensions and stuff
Light day(1 upper,1 lower/week again)
20 rep sets,3 sets of 30/4x25/5x20,3 all out sets of 15-30 reps,nothing below 10 reps
Band pull aparts ,leg curls and some general stuff to keep me healthy on the off days
I’ll report results after 4-5 months
Really looking forward to your detailed post on that too
Let’s see here
Now, before anything else, if you are hitting PRs and you are progressing with this system, don’t change it. Don’t fix it if it’s not broken.
Personally I would rather use max doubles and triples, testing the 1RM only on days that I feel particularly good.
This is because your 1RM tends to fluctuate more than 2RM or 3RM
The backoff sets are good (I understood that you do use backoffs, correct me if I’m wrong) , if you were to do, say max triple before them I would do it like this:
As many warm up sets as needed
One all-out triple
Drop the weight 8-12%
Perform sets of 3-5, leaving one in the tank, on the last set do as many as possible.
This way we can get in quality reps with good tecchnique and realtively high weight.
This is something I advice as well. One (max two) big compuond lifts for one intense set with heavy weight, then some non-taxing higher rep work for smaller muscles (still one set though)
I don’t personally do backoff sets but do recommend them for someone with less neural effiency.
(By the way, the short head of hamstring, i.e. your knee flexor is mainly made up of fast-twitch muscle fibers. I don’t do sets of over 8 on any type of leg curl for this very reason. (apart from some warmups))
I don’t generally like using sets of 20-30 for stuff like presses and rows. Only movements where I use 15 or more reps are barbell and wrist curls, squats and leg extensions.
(But I’m not a good example because I’m very explosive and get better results from short sets)
Using light days like you described gives you an edge with recovery.
I can train heavy for 8-10 weeks before having an light week, but if I were to use light days like you do, I could possibly train for up to 15 weeks before taking a rest.
This is a good strategy to attack weak points and keep your posture in check.
A word of warning though: remember that this is still depleting your muscle glycogen, so if you start feeling fatigue regularly in said areas, consider dropping them for a while. If not, go ahead.
(I did side and rear lateral raises every day a while back, which resulted in losses of pressing strength)
Now to put it all together, I would (personally) probably do 2RMs or 3RMs on the heavy days as said above and go for sets of 8-12 on light days, using sets of 15-30 only on bicep, forearm, calf and quad exercises (and lateral raises)
But again, you probably know your body better than I do.
This will be much shorter than the last one, as going on a diet is much more individualistic thing. I’m going to give you an example of how I start a long diet and then I’ll give you some points about how to do it for yourself.
Let’s assume that I’m eating 5000 calories/day (like I am now) 420g of protein, 580g of carbs 111g fat
When my diet begins I have two options:
Reduce my calories a bit and start moving more and drinking green tea etc. to up the caloric expenditure
Reduce my calories a lot and save the other tricks for later
(In both cases, the reduction comes from carbs)
If I don’t have time for cardio etc. at the time, I’ll go with option two and reduce my calories to around 4000-4300/day (reduction of 700-1000 calories)
If I have time I go with option one, as I believe your physique looks better if you eat more and do more.
(More on the subject: G-Flux Redux: Explained - T Nation Content - COMMUNITY - T NATION )
In this case I drop the calories to around 4500 (reduction of 500 calories)
As 4500 would be a tad under my maintenance at the moment I would up my expenditure with green tea (start with 1 liter/day) and I would add some metabolic work to one of my workouts
For example: Scott Abel’s quad blast after my lower body work (one of my favourite metabolic finishers ever)
Quad blast:
just be sure to not go overboard with these.
Loaded carries are another good alternative
As the diet continues I would either drop my calories by 250-400 per day each time I hit a plateau, or I would add some volume to my workouts, or I would add some metabolic work. (as I do a lot of walking, I would not go with cardio, if however you do not do any type of cardio, I suggest you try walking for 45 minutes each day (not on lower body days))
During a diet I usually stick to a very simple routine in the gym.
I may start with a higher volume approach, but I taper it down to only the key exercises in order to maintain (or up) my strength levels in them. (In fact, people usually gain 10-20% more strength on certain exercises when I put them on a diet)
For example, for the last few weeks of my last diet I did the following:
Day 1 (Upper body)
1a Push press 3x3
1b Pull-up between sets (usually around 8 sets/workout) for sets with RPE of 9
2a Dip 2x4-8
2b Hammer curl 2x6-10
Metabolic work (3 rounds):
a Push press x15
b Upright row x15
c Chinup x15
Day 2 (Lower body)
1 GHR 2x4-6
2 Front Squat 3x3
3. Calf work
Metabolic work (3 rounds):
Quad blast
Day 3 rest (still walking for 45 minutes)
Day 4 (Upper body)
1 Incline dumbbell press (8.5-9RPE) (This is a “pre-pump” exercise) 2x6-8
2 Close-Grip bench 3x3
3 Side laterals with cables 2x12-15
No metabolic work (because of the next day)
Day 5 (Deadlift day)
1 Leg curls (8.5-9RPE) 2x4-6
2 Deadlift 3x3
3 Seal row 2x8-12
4. Pullover 1x15
Day 6 rest (still walking)
repeat
Now mind you, this was only for 3-4 weeks at the end of my diet, and this particular program was made for me, so do not copy it.
Now that we have covered the progression of training and calories, lets dive into the world of how should you eat?
Following advice is geared towards individuals who have moderate/poor carb tolerance, if you are well tolerand to carbs, dieting shouldn’t be an issue to you in the first place.
When to eat carbs?
During/after your workout (see my take on gaining mass for a peri-workout zone nutrition protocol)
First meal after training
last meal of the day (to ensure a good night’s sleep, 30g of slow acting carbs will do the trick)
I mainly cut my calories from carbs, I usually leave the fat and the protein as they are
Which meals should be the first ones to cut carbs form?
The ones between the first meal after training and your last meal of the day
So if we look at the mass gaining protocol:
Say, you eat two more Pro-carb meals after that, so meal number 8 is your last one. (that is a lot but for the sake of example I use it)
So, if number 8 is the last meal of the day and number 6 is the first one after training, you will cut carbs from meal number 7 (and 8 if it is a large carb meal, which it should be even when bulking)
So, slowly your meal number 7 will become a Protein meal, what do?
You have two options:
Cut it out
Make it a Pro-fat meal by moving some fat from meals one and two to this one
Do as you like.
What about vegetables?
As with bulking, eat bodyweight/100 per day, I would still recommend you to use a fiber supplement
Other things?
Take fish oil with every solid meal. At least 1g per % of bodyweight (If you can affor it, go with 2 or even 3)
Protein should not make up over 50% of your daily calories, if it does, cut back a bit
Drink green tea, it’s magic
make sure you get your vitamins and minerals
When going far below your bodyfat setpoint range, you will have to make do with small amounts of carbs, when you reach 100g/day, add in a refeed day (not a cheat day, a refeed)
How to come off a diet?
What I did was this:
Step one: Start eating according to Scott Abel’s “cycle diet” (Can be found on amazon, around 8 euros as an E-Book)
Step two: slowly increase your “diet-day” calories
Step three: When you reach 2500 calories on a diet day, drop the cheat day and start eating 2750/day
Step four: Every two weeks, check you weight, if it has not gone up, add 2500 calories/day or decrease activity and add 100 calories/day
Step five: Every 6-10 weeks, do a short diet phase (10-14 days)
Be sure to continue with your cardio/metabolic work like you did when you were on the diet or else you might be up for a unpleasant surprise.
With this method I’ve been able to go from eating 200 calories on a diet day of cycle diet to eating 5000 calories every day in about four months. My bodyfat% has not gone trough the roof (nor has my weight)
I no longer need to do metabolic work in order to maintain a low-ish bf%, I still walk a lot as my gym is pretty far away and I’m not going to get a car when I can just walk and save my money.
This text got longer than it was supposed to be, and I’m pretty sure I forgot something. Feel free to ask any questions and I’ll do my best to answer them.
Everyone knows the big three; squat, bench and deadlift, they are commonly accepted as the “strength standard lifts” so if you are strong in those people think you are strong in everything.
I don’t think so, I think there are far too many variables with these movements. For example someone who says he can bench 405 might be bouncing the weight off his chest or he may have a horribly huge arch (don’t get me wrong, benching with your back flat is a mistake. I’m talking about that rollercoaster arch)
I do like the big three, but my movement choices would be a tad different.
Here we go:
First off, replace squat with front squat. An ass-to-grass front squat. Front squats are great because they brutally expose your weaknesses. Oh, you have a weak back and shoulders? Time to let everyone know by dropping the bar loudly.
If you can’t do ATG front squats your technique is utter crap, really. (Or maybe you just have really, REALLY tight hams/hips and immobile ankles, but I doubt it)
Besides, having to go ATG just adds the element of flexibility to the mix.
Secondly, instead of going for the bench I would choose strict overhead press.
OHP is, in my opinion the best test of your upper-body pushing strength. No leg drive, no excessive leaning back, and the weight must be lifted from a dead stop? Simply put, you can’t cheat your way to a great OHP.
Apart from the fact that OHP looks a lot cooler than bench, there is one key element to it that I like. The dead stop (as mentioned) there is no momentum included as there is no eccentric part before the actual lifting. So in that sense OHP is like the upper body deadlift.
Speaking of the devil. Deadlift.
Is my choice of deadlift.
Preferably conventional, semi-sumo is acceptable if you have issues with keeping your back straight, and sumo is fine if you are a fan on Chris Duffin. So, everything goes.
Honestly, I love the deadlift, it’s just a great measure of overall strength.
So to recap, from this point on the three powerlifts are:
Deep front squat
Strict overhead press
Deadlift
Get your total to the 1600s and come tell me you aren’t big.
I hope you understand that when I tell people to get to the 300s in incline bench or to get a 750 deadlift I’m not dead serious, the point is, get strong as hell and you will be big too
So, let’s say, for instance that my quads suck. What do?
First, I make sure that the exercises I do are ones that I can really grind on.
Think about it. If your quads suck you want to perform exercises that you can really progress on and grind on.
What is grinding? By saying grinding I really mean digging deep during the set, doing reps you never believed you could do. It’s easier to grind on leg press than it is on a front squat (Although I prefer the latter as my quads are a easy bodypart)
With front squats your rhomboids and your lower back will limit the time you can spend under the bar and you may not be able to get as many reps as your legs would allow you to get.
With a leg press there are no such isuues as you legs are quite much the only thing that does something.
So first off, choose exercises you can grind on.
This alone will make your muscles grow
If, however that is not enough, try stressing the muscle more
When I say stress the muscle more I mean make the exercises harder. Slow down you eccentric portions of the lifts, include static holds at the end of the set(s)
After that stops working, begin rest-pausing your exercises (note that I would not do rest-pauses if you train on a high volume program, from this on, the methods are aimed at the lower end of the volume spectrum)
A rest pause set for biceps could look like this:
Do 10 reps of curls
Rest for 15-20 seconds
Do 4-6 more reps
rest for 15-20 seconds
Do 2-3 more reps
Done
And after that stops working, you could add some volume. Say, one long-ass set (Not for hamstrings though)
After doing that your training could look like this:
Pinwheel curls for one rest-pause set of 11-20 reps
Incline curls for one straight set of 15-20
As you see, you don’t need to use the same exercise for both sets.
As a real world application of this, my training for biceps last saturday (hit them before legs):
Pinwheel curl 30x66lbs(30kg)
Incline curl 20x45lbs(20kg) Bicep stretch Forearm stretch
Both were straight sets with static holds, I use pinwheel curl as a “forearm exercise”
Pinwheel curls performed by John Meadows:
I’m in a hurry so I have to stop now, feel free to ask questions
@stronkfak yeah man I just felt like it was a pinch unreasonable for guys with primarily hypertrophy related goals. There are a bunch of bodybuilding type guys on here who look awesome who aren’t near those numbers. But for strength athletes who have some physique related wants it makes some sense.
I got the purpose of your comment,and I agree.I was just checking Dan’s instagram,your comment came to mind and my mind was blown by the total he’d have even with those lifts
of course it was, as it was an exaggeration but I see your point.
Realistic goals for a natural guy could be 600 deadlift, 425 front squat and 245 press.
That would put the total at 1270 pounds, so let’s say - get your total to the 1200s - 1300s
Of course if you are extremely shot (low amount of muscle mass) or extremely tall (poor leverages) you’ll probably need to settle for less. But the point is, set your aim high and work for it.
These dudes are usually on something or have awesome genetics (or they just haven’t performed the exact movements and are strong with other exercises)
But for the first 6-10 years of your training, the fastest way to gain muscle is to get stronger with good form.
Yesterday I slipped outside twice. Jesus Christ, I have poor stability
But for reals it’s slippery and dangerous. My town doesn’t seem to care about throwing sand on the ice so here we are.
As of now, I can’t lift my left arm straight over my head and I can’t do any kind of deadlifts or squats without feeling pain in my left glute. (Only things I really can do are isolation exercises for arms and light chest presses)
I’m quite sure I just pulled a few muscles and didn’t rip anything, but this still sucks
Kind of ironic, as I have never been injured in the gym.
So remember, the gym is not the only place you can get hurt in.
The glute seems to be a bit better now, but the shoulder doesn’t like pressing or pulling.
Yesterday I went in to do some barbell rows and Jesus was it horrible. 25x110kg (250lbs) was the biggest set I could do, and that is just plain pathetic for me.
So a bit of actual training log:
22.02.17
Barbell row
25x110kg
Chinese arch (very conservative due to the glute)
30 seconds x 70kg (my girlfriend 55kg + 15kg plate, I have no idea of why people stare when I do this)
Also, “Rape me” by Nirvana was playing during the set
For anyone wondering, this is the movement:
What am I doing to make my shoulder better?
A lot of pumping work multiple times a day. Right now I’m doing band pull-aparts every hour alongside with over and backs with a band (not the full range of motion as I can’t do it right now). I’m expecting to be a be to press and pull again in a few days
I’m starting to believe that the shoulder injury was actually a good thing.
I mean, it always sucks if you are unable to do certain things or exercises but the truth is I had drifted too far away from what I preach - simplicity.
I was doing too many different exercises and I wasn’t really progressing in them fast enough.
At the moment I’m unable to do pressinng exercises at full power and to be honest - I don’t even care about my pressing strength too much.
My goal now is to get the shoulder to work properly and in my mind, rowing is a great way to do it. It makes the shoulder move and strengthens your whole body. (And the shoulder isn’t limiting it too much. I’m experiencing only a drop of 10-15% in rowing strength judged by today’s workout)
So I’m going to row.
Am I going to do only rows?
No
I’m going to do only a spesific row. A dumbbell one.
I’m also going to do chinese arches but that quite much it for a few weeks now.
Maybe two weeks, I’ll change it up when I hit a plateau.
Now, today’s workout:
24/02/17
Dumbbell row
15x76.5kg (169lbs)
Hanging from a pullup bar
1 minute with 90kg (200lbs) added
Done.
This was my second time doing DB rows in two years, so I wasn’t expecting too much with it, next time I’ll go for 81.5kg (180lbs)
With the rows I do left side first as it is my weaker side (due to the injury, normally I’m as strong with the left as I am with the right)
Some back extensions, just to work the erectors a bit more
Felt a bit heavy, probably because I messed around with snatch-grip deadlifts yesterday (I was just testing the movement out)
I said I would go for 81.5kg but the dumbbell wouldn’t stay balanced. (It’s an adjustable db, you have to have a bit more weight on the side that is in front of your hand to keep it from hitting you in the wrist but not too much, so I had to throw a 2.5kg plate on there as well)
Getting back on track + a bit about muscle balance
I was abroad for five days, and during that period the only thing I did was pull-ups with a 20kg (45lbs) dumbbell between my legs. I was resorted to the hotel gym and the biggest dumbbells were 20kgs.
So today I did my first rowing session since 26/2. I wasn’t expecting much but I had decided to make some goddamn progress. And I did
5/3/17
Dumbbell row
12x86.5kg (~191lbs)
Some pull-aparts
And that’s all.
Tomorrow I’ll go in to do some chinese arches and back extensions and the day after that I’ll be rowing again. Simple as that.
If you have read the last 2-3 posts of my log you may have noticed a theme in my training: simplicity. At the moment I only do one serious exercise (dumbbell row), two assisting exercises (chinese arch and back extensions), one auxiliary exercise (pull-apart) and one stretch (weighted hang)
Of course do all movement patterns but these exercises are the only ones I commit to at the moment.
Other thing you may have noticed is that I’m making some good progress with the dumbbell row. +10kg in three sessions is quite a lot for to an unilateral exercise (even more so when you haven’t been able to do it as often as you should have)
Now I’m not telling you that this is THE way to train, no. If you care about muscle balance don’t do it. But let me say, balance is overrated. I’ve had a client that could squat over two times the weight he could front squat. (180kg back squat and 75kg front squat if I’m not mistaken)
Yeah, the dude had a horrible front squat, but he only cared about his back squat. And when I tried to get his back squat up by having him do more front squats what happened?
He got weaker in the back squat. So I had him stop front squatting and made him do more back squats. Was his muscle balance on point? Hell no. Did he get any problems because of it?
Again, hell no.
Now, I must say that if his quads were significantly stronger than his hamstrings, he would probably have had some knee issues.
But as a general rule: if your “pulling” muscles are disproportionately strong compared to your “pushing” muscles worry not, you’ll be fine. If, however your pushing muscles are a lot stronger than your pulling muscles we might have a problem in our hands.
So, if you don’t have any problems because of your muscular imbalances and you are not heading towards one, stop worrying so much about it.
Back when I was 16 I was making pretty good progress in terms of muscle mass and strength. During that time I got to know a guy who was a regional champion in natural bodybuilding. The guy was a bit older than me and had trained for three years longer than me. And I got a chance to train with him.
Of course I took it, who wouldn’t? How many people even get an opportunity like that?
So I tossed my upper/lower split and changed over to the 5 day split he was using;
Monday: Chest and biceps
Tuesday: Quads
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: Shoulders and Triceps
Friday: Back
Saturday: Hamstrings
Sunday: Rest
No fixed movements, he picked every exercise based on how he felt that day, and I did exactly the same exercises as he did. (Of course with a lighter weight, as I was not as strong as he was) We did a lot of supersets, dropsets and used a very high volume. 1-2 compounds a day with 4-7 isolation movements
This all made sense to me as I was a teenager who looked up to bodybuilders and watched their “bombing biceps with super high volume” - videos. The only thing that had kept me on upper/lower was the fact that my first mentor (a dinosaur, so to say) told me to do it, and now that I found a new mentor, I was happy to throw it out of the window.
I’m guessing not being advanced enough was the problem, as it certainly wasn’t my eating or training effort (I gained about 15kg (35lbs) during the year I trained with him. Despite that, my lifts only went up by 10-15kg max) or, it might be that the guy was super gifted lifter. I have seen my fair share of gifted guys but I’ll say he takes the gold, or at least silver.
So what was the hard thing?
The hard thing was accepting that I was still a beginner, and that I wasn’t advanced enough to train like he does.
Even harder was accepting that I’m not gifted enough to ever make good progress with that type of training. (Thinking about this now, it almost makes me laugh, Christ, I was stupid.)
But the one really hard thing was stopping to train with him. I realized that if I ever want to make progress I need to go back to what I was doing, hard, basic stuff multiple times a week.
It was hard for me because the training sessions we had were always the best time of my day, I loved it. The guy had a great personality and he was always supportive and tried his best to answer my questions. I think I’m trying to repay him in a way by helping others in the gym and on online forums like this one.
I don’t really even know what I’m trying to say with this post. Don’t be afraid to make decisions perhaps? Or maybe that you should listen to the old-timers? It may be.
You’ll figure it out.
