Accessory Madness

by Nino Califano 

A trap that many of us from a fitness or bodybuilding background run into when attempting to use Westside methodology is doing too much accessory work. When I first learned of the Westside Barbell methods I read everything I could find by Dave Tate and Louie Simmons. I learned a lot in a short period of time, but I was also confused. 
I first started lifting weights at 15 years old after a brief introduction during a physical education class. I was inconsistent my first few years, but by my junior year I was hooked. I lifted furiously! But I didn’t get as big or as strong as I should have. What was the problem? Bodybuilding! Arnold! Franco! I was lifting for 2-3 hours a session, every day of the week. Sure I got stronger, and was about as lean as Bruce Lee, but what I wanted, to be really strong, I would not find until more than 15 years later. In fact, until I discovered Westside, I had limited myself to strength levels far below what I now know I’m capable of.
Most of what I read about Westside was geared to the advanced powerlifter. This information was not intended to be used by a novice lifter who was just learning the Westside system. I tried to incorporate what I was learning from articles by Dave Tate into what I already knew about lifting weights. I made mistakes because a lot of the Westside Barbell system seems to contradict everything I had learned about strength training. It’s easy to stay with the program when Dave and Louie say “one main movement, one supplemental” but the accessory portion gives you more room with which to play. Basically I reverted to the old bodybuilding mentality when I got to the accessory part of my workout. Somewhere out there Louie is rolling his eyes. 
I overtrained by adding too much accessory work and did not see results. I wound up doing 5-8 accessory exercises every workout. When I look back at my training log, I see days in which I performed more than of 30 sets. I did become stronger, but quickly hit a plateau. Then I re-evaluated how I was training. Here is what I learned: Less is often more when starting to use this style of training. Accepting this concept can be difficult, especially if you have a bodybuilding background.
One of the hardest things to learn about the Westside Barbell system is more can definitely be less, and vice versa. Now don’t get me wrong. Extra workouts and recovery sessions are positive, but must be added slowly over a period of time. Most of the people with whom I speak try to do too much. This doesn’t apply to just beginners. Many intermediate lifters are still doing too much. We wind up burning out after a few months, overtraining, hitting plateaus, and ceasing to progress. The key to success when first starting the Westside system is to stick to the plan. This can be found in the article “The Periodization Bible, Part II” in the Articles section at EliteFTS.com. Do not try to improvise from this plan. Give it time and stick to the basics, even if you feel you aren’t a beginner. You WILL see results.
After the first few weeks of accessory excess, I began performing only the recommended exercises. It was hard to drop a lot of the bodybuilding movements that had become like old friends, but they had to go. I set a one-hour time limit and stuck to it. Now I do 2 or 3 accessory movements. It’s really working like they said it would. After two months, I put 130 lbs. on my total. I’m still pretty pathetic compared to someone who is an Elite, but it’s a start. I’m 33 and the strongest I have ever been, and I’m going to get a hell of a lot stronger. 
Another aspect of overdoing accessory work is the amount of weight you use. I’m only now starting to get a grasp of the fact that I may be using too much weight on my accessory moves. Huh? Isn’t getting strong about hefting the most weight you can? Yes and no. The accessory stuff is just that, accessory – it’s supposed to help us get stronger, but it’s not intended to do it by itself. As I discover more on the effects of lightening the load of my accessory work I’ll report back.
When it comes time to work on your weak points with accessory work, listen to what Westside is saying: keep it simple, use just a couple recommended exercises (plenty are listed in Dave Tate’s various articles) and try not to go overboard.