I stepped into a real gym for the first time back in 1995 when I was 15 years old and a freshman in high school. Hoping to some day look like the next Arnold, I ambitiously attacked the bench press and curl bars. As high school passed by, I trained somewhat consistently and managed to add a few pounds to my frame. But due to being extremely active, it didn’t amount to much. I graduated high school in 1999 carrying a massive body weight of 135 lbs at a lean 7 percent body fat while standing 5’10” tall. At this time, I had a 185 lb bench press, had never performed a squat or deadlift, and could curl 35 lb dumbbells.
With college arriving, I had much more time on my hands because I had opted to pass up athletics at the college level. I started training more consistently (3–4 days per week), ate a lot of junk food, and had aspirations of being as absolutely huge and ripped as possible. My workout regimen was nothing more than an instinctive “one body part per day” split, and it yielded progress. By the fall of 2003, I had added some lean mass and weighed in at 170 lbs. My body fat was still at around 7 percent thanks to a very fast metabolism.
At about this point, I decided that 35 lbs of mass in just about four years of consistent training was ridiculously slow progress. I sat down and read tons of articles about diet and nutrition and put together my first ever bodybuilder style “bulking cycle.” By January 2004, I hit 200 lbs for the first time at around 11 percent body fat. From that point on, I consistently researched nutrition and exercise techniques, honed my workouts, intensified my training, and continuously performed bulk/cut phases. I learned what squats and deadlifts were.
Then, one fateful day in December of 2005, I had a turning point when I stumbled across a basic Westside Barbell (WSB) training template. Now that I was weighing in at close to 220 lbs at 12 percent body fat, I was pretty content with how my physique had shaped up. I thought it was time to really buckle down and start focusing on strength. I no longer had much interest in the bodybuilding lifestyle, but some of the bodybuilder in me still remained.
Prior to starting the basic WSB template that December, my best wide stance squat was around 425 lbs with an Olympic squat best of 400 lbs X 2. My barbell benching movements were nonexistent, as I avoided them completely while building my physique. My best deadlift was a very tough 550 lb single in a conventional stance. After a few months of following the basic WSB template, my deadlift took a shit due to not training it directly, but my squat was getting stronger, and I had established baseline personal bests in the decline bench (325 lbs) and incline bench (305 lbs). I didn’t perform the flat bench due to some shoulder issues I’ve had since high school football.
By this time, it was March 2006. I decided to revamp the basic WSB template I had found months earlier and fine tune it to compliment my desire to deadlift and squat heavy each week (as well as accommodate the dwindling bodybuilder in me). Fast forward seven months or so to now and I see I have created a monster. The routine I started on based off the basic WSB template has been modified time and time again until it has taken the form that you see now. With this template, my deadlift shot up from a 550 lb single in a conventional stance to 600 lbs for a triple pulling sumo. My wide stance squat has exploded up to a 600 lb single, and my decline and incline bench presses reached 405 lbs and 355 lbs, respectively.
I could not be more pleased and exhilarated by the progress that I’ve made with this hybrid WSB routine. I’ve just started flat benching again (with no shoulder pain finally) for the first time in over five years. I’m weighing in at 223 lbs at 9 percent body fat and am looking forward to getting even stronger while still staying drug free. I haven’t competed in any powerlifting competitions yet, but once I near that 220 lb weight class elite total with just briefs and a raw bench, I may do just that.
The Split
The split is a basic four day split as follows:
Monday: Dynamic effort/repetition effort, chest, shoulder,
triceps, back assistance
Tuesday: Maximum effort deadlifts, hips, hamstrings, back,
biceps assistance
Thursday: Maximum effort pressing, chest, shoulder, triceps,
back assistance
Friday: Maximum effort/dynamic effort squats, lower back,
hamstrings, back, biceps assistance
The Template
The template is pretty simple. Monday is your DE or RE day, Tuesday you do ME deadlifts, Thursday you have a ME pressing movement, and Fridays you do ME or DE squat work. Each day has its own assistance work, focused primarily around triceps, back, and hamstring strength. I added some chest work for completeness (the bodybuilder in me). You may feel overtrained pretty quickly on this routine so every three weeks I reduce the volume by 1–2 sets each movement to rest a little.
Monday: DE/RE pressing movement, five assistance movements
Pressing movement, DE or RE
Barbell bench variants (incline, decline, flat, military, smith, etc.)
Floor presses (barbell or dumbbell)
Shoulder movement, one exercise; three sets at 3–5 reps; rest as needed
Seated dumbbell
Barbell presses (seated or standing)
Smith presses
Triceps movement, two exercises; three sets at 8–12 reps; 60 second rests
Overhead dumbbell
Tate presses
BTB push-downs
Push-downs
One arm push-downs
Reverse pushdowns
Lying dumbbell extensions
Chest movement, one exercise; three sets at 8–12 reps; 60 second rests
Dumbbell presses
Alternating dumbbell presses
Dumbbell flys
Cable flys
Upward crossovers
Dips
Upper back movement (back width emphasis), one exercise; three sets at 8–12
reps; 60 second rests
Lat pull-down variants (narrow grip)
Row variants (narrow grip)
Chins/pull-ups (narrow grip)
Abs
Total: 8–10 sets DE or ~3 sets of RE work; ~15 sets of assistance work
Tuesday: ME deadlifts, five assistance movements
Deadlifts, ME
Conventional deadlift
Sumo deadlift
Elevated pulls (standing on platform, sumo and conventional variants)
Rack pulls (various pin heights, sumo and conventional variants)
Hip movement, two exercises; 2–3 sets at 8–12 reps; 60 second rests
Cable adduction
Cable abduction
Barbell lateral lunges
Hamstring movement, one exercise; 2–3 sets at 5–7 reps; rest as needed
Leg curls
High stance leg press
One leg dumbbell squats
Sumo SLDL/Romanian deadlift
Glute ham raise
Upper back movement (back thickness emphasis), one exercise; three sets at
3–7 reps, rest as needed
Lat pull-down variants (wide grip)
Row variants (wide grip)
Chins/pull-ups (wide grip)
Biceps movement, one exercise; three sets at 5–7 reps; rest as needed
Dumbbell curl variants
EZ curl variants
Barbell curl variants
Abs
Total: ME work, ~15 sets of assistance work
Thursday: ME pressing movement, five assistance movements
Pressing movement, ME
Barbell bench variants (incline, decline, flat, military, smith, etc.)
Floor presses (barbell or dumbbell)
Triceps movement, one exercise; three sets at 3–7 reps; rest as needed
Overhead dumbbell
Tate presses
BTB push-downs
CG bench
Push-downs
One arm push-downs
Reverse push-downs
Lying dumbbell extensions
Chest movement, one exercise; three sets at 8–12 reps; 60 second rests
Dumbbell presses
Alternating dumbbell presses
Dumbbell flys
Cable flys
Upward crossovers
Dips
Shoulder movement, one exercise; three sets at 10–15 reps; 30 second rests
Side laterals
Rear laterals
Cable laterals
Upper back movement (back thickness emphasis), two exercises; three sets at
8–12 reps; 60 second rests
Lat pull-down variants (wide grip)
Row variants (wide grip)
Chins/pull-ups (wide grip)
Abs
Total: ME work, ~15 sets of assistance work.
Friday: ME or DE squats, four assistance movements
Squats, ME or DE
Wide stance squats
Olympic (ATG) squats
Narrow stance squats
Box squats (varying heights, wide or narrow stance)
Any good morning variation
Lower back movement, one exercise; three sets 10–12 reps; 60 second rests
Any good morning variation
Hypers
Hamstring movement, one exercise; 2–3 sets at 10–12 reps; 60 second rests
Leg curls
High stance leg press
One leg dumbbell squats
Incline
glute ham raise
SLDL/Romanian SLDL
Upper back movement (back width emphasis), one exercise; three sets at 3–7
reps; rest as needed
Lat pull-down variants (narrow grip)
Row variants (narrow grip)
Chins/pull-ups (narrow grip)
Shrugs
Biceps movement, one exercise; three sets at 10–15 reps; 60 second rests
Dumbbell curl variants
EZ curl variants
Barbell curl variants
Deadlift speed work, 3–10 singles with 50–60 percent of 1RM (optional)
Abs
Total: ME work or 8–10 sets of DE work, ~12 sets of assistance work; speed
deadlifts are optional
ME, DE, and RE Methods
This template tends to be totally useless if you don’t know what maximum effort, dynamic effort, and repetition effort mean. Here, I’ll explain each aspect.
Maximum effort. Maximum effort movements are the meat of this routine. They can be performed using a variety of methods, but the bottom line is that you’re working as hard as possible with a heavy weight load (typically defined as being 90 percent of your 1RM or higher). A typical ME day would involve performing 3–6 singles with 90 percent or higher of your 1 rep max for a movement or working up to a double or triple rep max. I tend to deviate from this plan now and then, depending on how I’m feeling, and attack with various other ME strategies that I’ve pulled from other routines, etc. One of my other favorite ME methods that I like to employ is taken from a Sheiko training plan. I have dubbed this method “Sheiko ME” for lack of a better term, and it goes something like this:
50% 5 X 1; 60% 5 X 1; 70% 4 X 2; 75% 3 X 2; 80% 2 X 2; 85% 1 X 2; 80% 2 X 2; 75% 3 X 2; 70% 4 X 1; 65% 6 X 1; 60% 8 X 1; 55% 10 X 1; 50% 12 X 1 where 5 X 1 = 1 set of 5 reps
This method is HARD, especially for deadlifts and squats. I also tend to occasionally insert various peaking cycles in place of ME movements when I’m a bit burned out on the 90 percent plus work. For example, I’ve successfully used the following peaking cycle to train my deadlifts/squats on ME days:
Week 1: 1 X 4 @ 50%; 2 X 4 @ 60%; 2 X 3 @ 70%; 3 X 3 @ 80%
Week 2: 1 X 4 @ 50%; 2 X 4 @ 60%; 2 X 3 @ 70%; 3 X 3 @ 85%
Week 3: 1 X 4 @ 50%; 2 X 4 @ 60%; 1 X 3 @ 70%; 1 X 3 @ 80%; 3 X 3 @ 90%
Week 4: 1 X 4 @ 50%; 2 X 4 @ 60%; 2 X 3 @ 70%; 4 X 3 @ 80%
Week 5: 1 X 4 @ 50%; 2 X 4 @ 60%; 2 X 3 @ 70%; 4 X 3 @ 85%
Week 6: 1 X 4 @ 50%; 2 X 4 @ 60%; 1 X 3 @ 70%; 1 X 3 @ 80%; 4 X 3 @ 90%
You can continue this pattern for as long as you want, but I typically limit peaking cycles to six weeks.
Switch the ME movements every week or two to avoid burning out. For example, you would pull from the floor for two weeks, switch to rack deadlifts for two weeks, and then switch to elevated pulls for another two weeks. Then repeat it all.
If you browse back through previous versions of this template, you’ll see the various ME methods that I’ve used for my pressing, deadlift, and squat training.
Dynamic effort. Dynamic effort is designed to help develop your explosive power in a movement. Typically you perform 8–10 sets of 2–3 reps with 50 percent of your 1 rep max and 15–30 second rests between sets using explosive but controlled reps. Increase the percentage by 5 percent every week while dropping a set each week and then reset back to 50 percent and ten sets when 60 percent is reached. For example, on your third week of dynamic effort for pressing, you would be performing something like eight sets of three reps with 60 percent. Typically, for DE squats, doubles are performed instead of triples.
Repetition effort. Repetition effort is a great way to
stimulate muscle growth and increase muscular endurance/capacity. Not to be
confused with dynamic effort, repetition effort work can be done using a variety
of means.
Method 1: Perform three sets of a movement to failure with 50–60 percent of your
1RM. Go for as many reps as possible on each set, resting 3–5 minutes between
sets.
Method 2: Perform to sub failure (leave a few reps out there) for two sets and
then go to absolute failure on the last set. Again, you should usually work with
50–60 percent of your 1RM.
Method 3: Perform pyramiding volume with no failure. This could be as simple as doing 20 reps for 3–4 sets using increasing weights.
Method 4: Use your imagination. Repetition work is meant to keep your body used to doing more high rep work. A few things you could try are 5 X 5s with short rests and rest-paused high rep sets.
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