Hello it Ray i have been using 5/3/1 for 10 cycles. Recently a friend of mine who has much more lifting experience than myself. Asked if i would like to partner up . So i Said yes . We agreed to use West side-Barbell Conjugate Method. Can i use my same weights that i have been using for the 5/3/1 method. my 90% numbers of my single max are, press 145#, Squat 360#,Bench 235# Deadlift 355#. I am just coming off a shoulder strain. So i reset my press and bench back 6 months. I have not been able to perform either lift for six months. I have been doing well with 5/3/1. Just thought 8 weeks of a new program would mix it up ? what are your thoughts.
Thanks
The Westside Method is not something that I would use for 8 weeks “just to mix it up.” If you like conjugate programming and want to try something new, maybe run a 10 week cycle of the Cube Method and see how you respond. It is more suited to a short-term trial run than true Westside programming in my opinion.
Westside does not work short term. It will take a couple of months just to find the right max effort exercises that work well for you.
[quote]stronglifestile wrote:
just coming off a shoulder strain.
Thanks[/quote]
stay away from westside then
Don’t go on Westside unless you are healthy, and ready to use it for almost a year if not longer. It takes a massive amount of reading, and asking questions, then looking at what is weak in your lifts, if the ‘weaknesses’ are form or not, then doing a training cycle to see what max effort exercises work well for you, what assistance exercises, if those weaknesses were what they were, etc.
If you can’t do the above, and only want a change of pace by using conjugate training, then I recommend the Cube method ONLY AFTER YOUR SHOULDER IS HEALED. I would also recommend you to do what he says in the program, and not your own programming since you haven’t had experience training this way before.
[quote]stronglifestile wrote:
I have been doing well with 5/3/1.
you answered your own question! Im just getting over this of “hey this has been working pretty good but i bet something else works better” id say make small changes in your 531 program but if its working well dont stop doing it
Thanks for the advice. i have been doing great with 531. Plus you can change the 531 program to suite your own specific need’s.