I’m doing Joe DeFranco’s Westside for Skinny Bastards and its now time to change up the lifts and i decided to do max reps on flat bench press for my first lift in fridays workout but am not sure what weight to use as 185lbs seems too heavy for high reps at the moment for me but 135lbs seems too light, not sure how many reps i could do but i last week i easily did 12 reps with 150lbs on incline press. So should i go with one of the 2 weights above or should i do it with a weight in between the two?
you want to do between 50%-60% of your 1-rep max. Now, this may be too heavy for you. Defranco once mentioned going for about 30 reps on the first set. So, pick a weight you think will get you there.
Also, the second set could have a drastic decrease in reps the first time you try this. It will get better though.
This is silly… Seriously, just pick a weight and try it, if it’s too easy, up the weight! If it’s too hard to get your reps, lower it! Lifting is about experimentation and learning about your body’s capabilities. Put on 135 and crank out 30 reps if you can. If that seems very easy, throw a 10 on each side and crank out as many as possible with 155.
[quote]Arioch wrote:
you want to do between 50%-60% of your 1-rep max. Now, this may be too heavy for you. Defranco once mentioned going for about 30 reps on the first set. So, pick a weight you think will get you there.
Also, the second set could have a drastic decrease in reps the first time you try this. It will get better though.[/quote]
30 reps, really? I am doing a modified version, and I know he says chose from 95, 135, 185, 225, etc… My bench sucks but I have always done 135 for max reps. For ex, today I did 135x19, 7, 4… which I would think is not very many reps, but then again I could probably do 95 way over 30x.
[quote]gabex wrote:
Arioch wrote:
you want to do between 50%-60% of your 1-rep max. Now, this may be too heavy for you. Defranco once mentioned going for about 30 reps on the first set. So, pick a weight you think will get you there.
Also, the second set could have a drastic decrease in reps the first time you try this. It will get better though.
30 reps, really? I am doing a modified version, and I know he says chose from 95, 135, 185, 225, etc… My bench sucks but I have always done 135 for max reps. For ex, today I did 135x19, 7, 4… which I would think is not very many reps, but then again I could probably do 95 way over 30x.[/quote]
I’m on the same page as you. Arioch, do you have any sources for this 30-rep comment? I haven’t heard anything about that rep range with all the things I’ve read concerning the program.
I assume Joe D used 95, 135, 185, 225… in the write-up for simplicity. Those are the lower end of the common “benchmark” numbers. Basically, no plates smaller than “quarters”.
Another possibility is the fact that he normally works with groups. Again, using only #25 plates and up. When you get 135 for X reps (total or first set), you go into the next group up. A simple way to automatically change working rep ranges.
DeFranco does recommend shooting for 30 reps on the first set in his most common repetition upper body workout, regardless of the actual weight being lifted. Check his logs over at elitefts.com for examples. However, he also recommends rotating in some traditional “bodybuilding” schemes, like 4x8-12, on the repetition days for an occasional break.
Also, it sounds like some of you are referencing the first two versions of WS4SB, so here’s the third and latest version:
[quote]SSC wrote:
gabex wrote:
Arioch wrote:
you want to do between 50%-60% of your 1-rep max. Now, this may be too heavy for you. Defranco once mentioned going for about 30 reps on the first set. So, pick a weight you think will get you there.
Also, the second set could have a drastic decrease in reps the first time you try this. It will get better though.
30 reps, really? I am doing a modified version, and I know he says chose from 95, 135, 185, 225, etc… My bench sucks but I have always done 135 for max reps. For ex, today I did 135x19, 7, 4… which I would think is not very many reps, but then again I could probably do 95 way over 30x.
I’m on the same page as you. Arioch, do you have any sources for this 30-rep comment? I haven’t heard anything about that rep range with all the things I’ve read concerning the program.[/quote]
I believe he wrote about it in his ‘Ask Joe’ section. I’ll have to go back and look through the archives and see if I can find it.
I think your making things too complicated. The point of RE work is to get some reps in.
The way Westside does it, seems to be around 30% of max, at a slow rep speed for longer durations.
The point is, you dont want to lift weights that are too heavy on RE work, because its meant to aid in recovery not hold you back.
According to Louie Simmons, you should shoot for 6 reps per minute. So grab a weight around 30-50% of your max, and do 6 reps a minute for as many minutes as you can. Dont go to failure on the first two sets, and go all the way on the last set.
You can also vary the intensity and duration each set. Maybe start with 50%, then do 40%, then 30%. Just make sure you are using good form and a slow rep speed. This isn’t DE work.
I myself am going to do pushups at different angles, because i think the scapular involvement will be good for my shoulders. But im gonna follow the tempo/rep/duration recomendations.
Thanks for the help in the end I decided to go with 135lbs and got 20 reps, 17, then 18.
I don’t think that you are supposed to do them really slow as on one of his videos on youtube he shows an athlete (think its Mike Guadango) doing chain suspended push ups on his max rep upper body day and he does over 60 and does not do them slow.
I guess that it would be a good idea to stick with the weights he has set until you can do 30 reps on the first set as if you can do 30 reps with 135lbs then there is a good chance that you would be able to get enough reps with 185lbs.