In this First volume I want to talk about the Westside Barbell training program. I personally use their program , with the exception to the max effort squat/deadlift day. Which brings me to the point I want to talk about. I do a 3 day program . Tuesday is max effort benchpress day. Friday is speed bench day. I do assistance work for the bench on both days .Which includes tons of tricep work, shoulders, and lat work. On Saturday I do my squat day. On my squat day I start with speedwork on the box just below parallel. Then afterwards I'll work on some type of squat exercise or deadlift exercise . I will do that same exercise for 2 weeks then rotate to an opposite exercise. Ex. 2 weeks bent over goodmornings, then 2 weeks pin pulls in rack. Notice I switch from a squat exercise to a dead exercise. I do not incorporate the max effort squat dead day because I just never recover fully enough from one workout to the next.

The westside program is not written in stone. A lot of guys read Louies stuff and think that they have to do it word for word. This is wrong. Mainly because everyone is different, some recover faster some don't. I have a friend that started training with the bands and Louie told him to choke them around the bottom of the monolift, and then double wrap them around the bar. Well he did this for a minicylce with the percentages Louie suggested, and after the 4th week his back and groin were both severely overtrained and injured. This set him back 6 weeks and threw him out of training for a meet he was training to do for months. His mistake was not listening to his body. We all train hard and feel strain during workouts but you have to know when you need to cut back. Don't be ignorant and think your ok , when you are really messing yourself up.

I don't mean to sound disrespectful to Louie. I really enjoy his programs and have made great successes with it. The problem I see with it is he isn't there to watch us in the gym. This is where his lifters have a great advantage. He is great at watching you and finding your weakness. I'm sure had he watched my friend when he was double wrapping and choking the bands with the squats, he would have directed him to use lighter work weight so he could keep his speed up while improving his lockout power.

Whenever you start a new type of training make sure you look at everything and make your own judgements about the particular methods. I have been using the westside program for over a year now and the thing I like the most about it is it teaches you to make up your own exercises. Like all the different endless varieties of exercises. Board presses with chains close grip, or with rubber bands wide grip or with 4 boards instead of 3 or with a combo of chains and bands with all the different grips, the list goes on and on. Its up to the individual to find which exercise works for them in the right point of their training cycle. Don't always go by what Kenny Paterson or Halbert does. I have been recently training for the APF senior nationals and I have been trying out this new bench shirt. It is really tight and I have no idea what's going to touch so I put it on and did 2 board, board presses with it. This way I can get a rough idea what will touch and feel how and where the bar is going to fall with that shirt on. Always look to find something new that will help bring you to your goal.

In my next article I will fill everyone in on how I did at the seniors. Hoping to hit 710 squat 623 bench 670 dead wish me luck. Until then if you have any topics you wish for me to write about mail them to me through the site and I will try to expand on them. I will write about anything remember the name of this column is NO LIMITS. Until next month stay strong and focused.

-Chris Taylor