Meeting the Iron: 
Westside Training for the Beginner Part 1
Paul DiMarino

I was excited when I met an old friend of mine that I had not seen since high school who had just moved into my neighborhood. We were talking about old memories, so athletics eventually came up. Although he hasn't been active since high school, he swore that he was in the best shape of his life. He was going on about his bench press and squat poundages while I was just sitting there smiling and thinking to myself, "That stuff is useless for functional strength." You see, I'm a weekend-warrior submission fighter with 9-5 access to the internet (some may call it a job), so I'm a self-proclaimed fitness guru that soon found out that he doesn't know jack. I was convinced that bodyweight exercises were all that one needs for good all around strength. After all, who needs to experiment when they have access to the experiences of thousands through the Internet?

Acting on the need to prove myself right, I bought a day pass to his gym to try some lifts. Even though I never really lifted weights, I know the basic lifts and how to perform them. My first trip was to the bench. I stacked on enough plates to equal my bodyweight to "start off" with, unracked the weight, and proceeded to have an aneurysm getting it off my chest. At this point, I was still able to convince myself that I was just tired and made my way over to the power rack to impress my friend and some gals with some high-rep squats. Again, I stacked the barbell to equal my bodyweight because if I can do hundreds of weightless squats, then I should be able to do plenty of these without getting tired. Right? Red-faced with strain, I racked the barbell after seven reps. 

Now it was time to face reality. I always heard stories of big bodybuilders being humbled by various bodyweight exercises, but until then, I never even considered that it could be the other way around too. After the initial shock and embarrassment of my wimpyness, I began to wonder what having a high level of maximal strength would be like. I could only imagine what having this guy's strength would do to my overall fitness not to mention my submission training. Determined to strengthen the weak link in my chain, I hit the net in search of weight training advice. Eventually I heard about this gym whose members lifted insane amounts of weight. I always figured that was only the territory of the big guys, but there were women there that weighed less than me who blew me out of the water in terms of maximal strength. 

After reading some of the articles on the Elite Fitness Systems site, I contacted Dave Tate with my predicament and offered to be a guinea pig in training a beginner with his methods. Much to my surprise, he agreed to help, and so begins my journey into the world of iron. 

The Experiment:

Dave had me start off by working up to my one-rep max in the box squat and bench press, and my 5-rep max in the dumbbell clean. The results were:

Height: 6'
Weight: 162 lbs (body fat of 5%)
Age: 23 years 10 months
Max Box Squat: 225 lbs
Max Bench Press: 180 lbs
Max 5-rep Set of Dumbbell Cleans: 55 lbs 

Dave first prescribed a few diet guidelines to follow. I needed to up my protein intake, so I had to take in a few protein shakes throughout the day. He also wanted to put some meat on my bones, so I'm also eating 3 or 4 candy bars a day to raise my body fat. I can't say that I was disappointed with the advice even though I started sweating the cream filling in Twinkies. 

The actual workouts followed the general Westside structure. I was doing a more sets and reps than one would normally do for the first four weeks, but I needed to get familiar with the movements. It looked like:

Monday - Max Effort Lower Body Day
Box Squats 3 sets of 5 (3-5 warm-up sets)
Good Mornings 3 sets of 5 (3-5 warm-up sets)

Pull-Throughs 4-8 sets of 8

Pull-down Abs 3-7 sets of 8
Hanging Leg Raises 4 sets to failure
Reverse Hypers 4 sets of 8

Wednesday - Max Effort Bench Day
-First 2 weeks: Board Press 3 sets of 5 (3-5 warm-up sets)
-Second 2 weeks: Floor Press 3 sets of 5 (3-5 warm-up sets)

Skull Crushers 60 total reps w/10 rep max per set

Seated Cable Row 3 sets of 8 (3-5 warm-up sets)
Face Pulls 3 sets of 8
External Rotations 4 sets of 8

Friday - Dynamic Effort Lower Body Day
Box Squat 15 sets of 2 reps

Romanian Deadlifts 4 sets of 15

Pull -down Abs 3-7 sets of 8
Hanging Leg Raises 4 sets to failure
Reverse Hypers 4 sets of 8

Sunday - Dynamic Effort Bench Day
Bench Press 15 sets of 3 reps

Pin Press 2 sets of 5 (3-5 warm-up sets)

Bent-over Barbell Rows 3 sets of 5 (3-5 warm-up sets)
Face Pulls 3 sets of 8
External Rotations 3 sets of 8
Seated Dumbbell Press 3 sets of 8 

The first week was the hardest since I was combating soreness the whole week. I decided I'd give up combat training for the initial weeks of the workout, so I could let my body adjust to it. Those protein shakes were causing major stomach problems too, but I finally adjusted to those as well. Basically, I was doing all the movements slowly and carefully including the ones that were supposed to be explosive because I needed to learn how to do them first. I think this really paid off because I was more confident with the lifts going into the following weeks and was able to steadily increase the poundages. 

Even with all the reps, I still found myself concentrating a lot on form instead of putting the weight up. I always seemed to forget things like pulling the bar apart during my bench or spreading the ground apart while squatting. Sometimes this would lead to my form completely breaking down and me being forced to rack the weight. I can see how attitude can be as important as muscle when it comes to lifting weights. Occasionally, I'd miss a rep on my last set of one exercise which would cause me to get so pissed that I'd blow my record for the next exercise away through nothing but focus. This really showed me the importance of being mentally and physically strong. 

I encountered a set-back in the beginning of the third week when I sliced my hand open moving furniture around. It required a trip the emergency room, a shot, antibiotics, and some stitches, but I was able to convince the doctor that I needed my hand too badly to get the stitches. I don't know if it's stupidity or determination, but I didn't want anything getting in the way of making progress. I finally became comfortable with the movements and was having such a great time in the gym. These first initial weeks have definitely been successful as I am board pressing and floor pressing for five reps what I could barely bench for one rep. I've also put on about 8 pounds. I'm excited to see what the coming weeks have to offer.