The Idea
I’m sure you’ve all heard of the monsters at the Westside Barbell Club in Ohio. The brilliant teachings of Louie Simmons (www.westside-barbell.com) have helped countless athletes and lifters alike reach new heights of performance. Joe DeFranco (www.defrancostraining.com) took this system and adapted it for young, low muscle mass athletes in an effort to maximize muscular size and strength. He called this system Westside for Skinny Bastards. I’ve developed a routine taken from both sources and have devised a plan to maximize strength, size, and fat loss. This plan takes all the main concepts of the two aforementioned programs while still accommodating for all you fat bastards out there looking to change your body composition for the better.
The Concept
We will use two methods presented by Louie Simmons in combination with supersetting—the differentiating characteristic in this program. The two methods that Louie Simmons describes are the maximum effort (ME) method (or heavy efforts) where the lifter lifts the maximum amount of weight that can be lifted on that particular day (on core lifts) for 1–3 reps and the repetition method (modified) where the lifter uses weights for higher reps to near failure. The latter will be done with all assistance work.
The Plan of Attack
For those of you unfamiliar with either Westside or Westside for Skinny Bastards, I’m going to present you with a template of my adaptation of the systems. There are five main workouts per week—maximum effort bench day, maximum effort squat/deadlift day, maximum effort lat day, repetition bench day, and repetition lower body day. Repetition lower body day is something not seen in either Simmons’ or DeFranco’s programs. However, being such a large muscle group, this will create a major calorie expenditure, which is great for fat bastards. Max effort lat day isn’t described in the programs either, but some of Westside’s bench press only competitors include this day in their workouts. There will also be optional workouts the other two days per week, which I will discuss later. This many days per week are included to promote recovery and hypertrophy and increase weekly calorie expenditure, which is vital to a decrease in body fat percentage.
The Workout Template
The heart and soul of this workout are supersets and low rest. The following table describes a general template of the five workouts performed each week. For max effort bench day, pick an ME exercise and do a 5, 3, or 1 repetition maximum. This means choose a maximum weight that you can perform 5, 3, or 1 repetitions with. It’s the same concept on ME squat/deadlift day and ME lat day. On repetition days, pick an exercise and a specific weight (about 65 percent of your 1RM) and rep it out for two sets. For example, if you can bench press 405 lbs, put 260 lbs on the bar and try to bench it for 15–20 repetitions. Try to beat the reps each week. Then pick assistance exercises and superset until finished without any rest. The workouts should never take more than 45–60 minutes, if that long. Every three weeks, change all exercises—ME, repetition, and assistance. The ME exercises will follow a three-week cycle (week 1: 5RM, week 2: 3RM, and week 3: 1RM). Then switch exercises and repeat.
Exercise Examples
All of these exercises can be found on EliteFTS.com.
ME bench: Barbell bench press (flat, incline, decline, different grips, different bars, chains, bands), board press (different grips, different bars, chains, bands, different boards), floor press (different grips, different bars, chains, bands, different boards), rack lockouts (flat, incline, decline, different grips, different bars, chains, bands)
ME squat/deadlift: Squats (barbell squat, free or box, different stances, different box heights, different bars, bands, chains), all types of deadlifts (free or box, different stances, different box heights, different bars, bands, chains), all types of good mornings (standing or seated, arched or rounded, different stances, different bars, bands, chains)
ME upper back: Chest supported row, bent-over barbell row, T-bar row, weighted chins or pull-ups, reverse grip bent-over rows, seated cable row
Repetition bench: Any of the ME chest exercises, dips, dumbbell bench press (flat, incline, decline, palms facing in or out), push-ups (close and wide hand positions)
Repetition squat/deadlift: Same choices as for ME squat/deadlift with the exception of barbell full squat and barbell deadlift. Do not use these exercises on repetition day.
Supplemental: Same choices as for repetition exercises.
Bar triceps: Barbell triceps extensions (flat, incline, decline, different grips, different bars, chains, bands)
Horizontal pull: Any type of row
Vertical pull: Any type of chin-up or pull-up
Dumbbell triceps: Dumbbell triceps extension (flat, incline, decline, elbows in or out, unilateral or bilateral, with or without bands, Tate press)
Upper back: Seated dumbbell clean, face pulls, upright rows (barbell, dumbbell, cable, or bands), band pull apart
Medial delt: Barbell shoulder press (standing or seated, different grips, different bars, chains, bands), dumbbell shoulder press (seated or standing, unilateral or bilateral), side raises (plate, dumbbell, cable, bands)
Rear delt: Rear delt raises (plate, dumbbell, cable, bands, machines)
Push-down: Unilateral or bilateral, bands, cable (different attachments)
Elbow flexion: Any curl (barbell, dumbbell, bands, cable, machine, bilateral or unilateral, bands, chains)
Unilateral quad: Step ups (different heights), lunges (reverse, front, side, walking, alternating. split squats, pistol squats)
Upper abs: Lat pull-down abs, cable crunch, Janda sit-ups, weighted sit-ups (decline, incline, bands, plate, machine, cable). No useless floor abdominals.
Posterior chain: Any deadlift, any good morning, glute ham raises, back extensions, Dimel deadlifts, reverse hypers, pull-thrus
Obliques: Side bends (dumbbell, cable, band), land mines, Russian twists
Hip extension: Same as posterior chain but pick a different movement.
Lower abs: Any type of leg or knee raise
Traps: Any type of shrugs
Back extensions: 45-degree back extensions, Swiss ball back extensions, floor back extensions
Unilateral row: Dumbbell, machine, cable, band
Calves: Any type of calf raises, unilateral or bilateral
The Sample Workout
The Conclusion
On max effort days, find a 5, 3, or 1RM depending on the week of your cycle. Rest 2–5 minutes between attempts. Superset assistance work without any rest at all until the completion of your workout. On repetition days, pick an exercise and specific weight and rep it out for two sets. Rest five minutes between the two sets. Enjoy the rest while you can. Try to beat the reps each week. Change your max effort, repetition, and assistance exercises every three weeks. Of course, nutrition and cardio are other pieces of the body fat puzzle. But that’s another article.
Elite Fitness Systems strives to be a recognized leader in the strength training industry by providing the highest quality strength training products and services while providing the highest level of customer service in the industry. For the best training equipment, information, and accessories, visit us at www.EliteFTS.com.