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Standard Westside Template

drizzt

By drizzt
in Powerlifting & strength

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drizzt Veteran member

drizzt

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In starting Westside, I was on a hunt for an excel template of some sort, or heck, even just an easy-to-read log of someone's that I could pinch as a sample template! :grin: Yes, I know, it defeats the purpose of Westside which is meant to be a personalised type of program focusing on your own weaknesses, but I don't mean an "on-rails" kind of template, more something that is a good introductory guide to Westside with exercises to choose from... things like that :)

So I found a few posts (mainly from Wendler/Tate) on the Standard template, read a couple of logs for ideas, and dug around and found lists of suggested exercises, so thought I'd bung it all together and create a spreadsheet of my own that I found easy to follow, so I'm gonna post it here in case other people also find it helpful. Feel free to hate on it but it's helped me out in my start to Westside, and wish it had existed before I started! :)

Note before downloading:

  • First of all let me say I'm by no means an excel whizz, so this may look dodgy to some people, but it works for me so I'm just here to share, and hopefully help others who are newbs to Westside and maybe after a similar template :) Also none of the work within was dreamed up by myself, I've only collated info and chucked it into the one resource, so all credit goes to Westside Barbell.
  • This template is intended to be as simple, and adaptable as possible. You can overwrite the drop down lists with your own exercises/sets/reps if you so choose to, but the main gist of it is to give you ideas for what you can do on a given day in a format that is easy to read and print out.
  • If an exercise isn't in there that you think could/should be, either type it in and go for it, or unhide the "Source" sheet in the workbook and add it to the list there. This is by no means an extensive list of exercises, just what I picked up from some Dave Tate posts + and what I've got available to me at the House.
  • If you'd like to add exercises in from what's already there, just copy the whole row + insert it where you want. Note though, that it may stuff up the printing format I've set (which neatly goes 2x workouts to an A4 page at the moment :shifty:)
  • Yes, you might find the colours annoying/slightly pansy, but I thought it'd be better to give the different exercise groups some type of identifier should you want to copy+paste and create new instances of these exercises. Plus, it's hard to find ~10 non-offensive colours that are easy on the eyes, and easy to write over once printed :P Feel free to change the colours as you please!
  • There are "Quads" and "Biceps" drop-down lists contained in the workbook which I've purposely left out because they aren't actually a part of the Standard Template - I wanted to keep as close to the basic template as possible, so people can modify it from there if they'd like to. If you want to add Quads and Bis to the spreadsheet (or any other muscle group) you'll need very basic excel know-how to add the drop-down box + link it to the hidden Source sheet, or I can just post up my (further)modified version of the spreadsheet if people want it.
  • The days/dates are in the Sunday-Monday-Wednesday-Friday format. This will change depending on the start date you enter (e.g. enter a Saturday as the start day and it will go Saturday-Sunday-Tuesday-Thursday etc). This can be changed if you can figure out how I've entered the dates (usually just by modifying the +** at the end of the date forumla). I've also made it 6 weeks, but you can, of course, lengthen or shorten this as you please by deleting or copy+pasting the sheets (you'll also need to modify the dates in the newly-created sheets).
  • I've included an intro sheet written by Jim Wendler for newbs like myself who may need to refer to it from time-to-time. I found myself continually going to the website to look it up anyway so thought why not include it - this is also what I based most of the workbook on.

Without further ado, here it is:

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nate225 Veteran member

nate225

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Thanks for the template drizzt. Good template and nice summary. I am currently doing the sheiko #29.

So would like to give the westside program a go afterwards. Do you think its ok for beginners?

WSB 4 Skinny Bastards by DeFranco is good for that. Otherwise take a WSB routine and rip some volume out.

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drizzt Veteran member

drizzt

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Hey Groovy, how are you finding Sheiko?

I am a newb myself to the Westside way of things, but I'd suggest if you have done a Sheiko a switch to Westside (even temporarily) can be a good idea to change things up. I'd say that this would be a nice, simple one to start with (it's my first go at it), and there are also ones like the WSFSB (Westside For Skinny Bastards) templates that might be good to get into the Westside groove with.

^Nate beat me to it :grin:

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groovy Member

groovy

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Thanks Nate n drizzt. I will have a look into that.

Do you guys happen to have a template for WSFSB by any chance?

I like shieko and its my 3rd time now, its nice and definitely got good results from it. But would like a change and try out different stuff.

Main goal is to get stronger. So looks like the skinny bastards would be a good program as im a skinny bastard :)

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drizzt Veteran member

drizzt

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the standard 'Dave Tate' template, in the clearest possible terms is here:

http://www.elitefitness.com/forum/weight-training-weight-lifting/westside-barbell-basic-template-469668.html

Ahh yep, that is exactly what I put as the intro to the worksheet ;)

Not my intention at all to overcomplicate things, this is just a way I feel that helps me understand it easier, in a format I can continue to adjust as required, and holds all of the info I need in the one sheet (unless I go searching for more exercises which isn't likely in the near future) :)

Maybe it's just me who thinks this way, but hopefully there is one or two people out there who find it beneficial :nod:

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ThePman Senior member

ThePman

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Otherwise take a WSB routine and rip some volume out.

This is the money with WSB. The biggest mistakes people can make with these workouts is doing too little on the max effort lift and, IMO if you're after general strength and aren't planning to use equipment, going too light on the dynamic days. I'd also be more bodybuilding-ish with my assistance work. Lots of isolation stuff, lots of higher reps.

I'd aim for upwards of 8-12 lifts on the way up to the max lift for the day, and at least 5-6 total lifts above the 90% mark, even if that means dropping back down for back-offs.

The dynamic days, I know lots of guys have had good experience with the 50-60% range, but the best results I've ever had from DE work came from an old early-90s (aka pre-crazy-gear) cycle:

Week 1 70% 8x3

Week 2 75% 8x3

Week 3 80% 6x3

Week 4 85% 5x2

Week 5 80%x2, 85%x2, 90%x2

That works like butter for SQ/BP. For the DL:

Week 1 65% 15 singles

Week 2 70% 12 singles

Week 3 75% 10 singles

Week 4 80% 8 singles

Week 5 85% 6 singles

I think the templates you see now are too focused on equipped lifting, which doesn't hit the right spots that casual lifters and otherwise raw lifters. Speed work at 50% makes sense if you're in a suit or shirt, but raw I'm not sure I see the point.

Same goes for the focus on board presses and good mornings. If you're a shirted bencher or a suited squatter, that's money. If not, I'd have a harder look at my exercise choices, because you're going to have different weak links. I spoke to a guy not too long ago, now an OLer, who used to train at WSB back in the early 90s, and he talked about Louie making his lifters do high bar OL squats to build their quads -- because some of these guys good for 800+ lb squats would take off the suits/wraps and get pinned by 400.

"Train for your weak points" should be taken literally :lol:

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drizzt Veteran member

drizzt

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Thanks Pman, gives me a better idea of how I should approach the DE days in particular.

I think with ME I'm probably heading too high in the max - going up in sets of 6 until I can't get 6, and then 3 until I can't get 3 anymore. What sort of rep range would you suggest sticking with on Max days for a raw lifter?

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ThePman Senior member

ThePman

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1-3

I'd stick to singles and then hit an occasional set of 5 or 3 when the mood hit me. But I love singles. You might find that it varies between exercises, so that squatting like triples, deadlift versions like singles, and bench exercises like 5-6.

Best way to work up to a max is to do a few lighter warmups, then once you hit around 70-80% switch to singles and take lots of small jumps. That'll probably work alright for doubles and triples also, for anything in the 5-6 range I think I'd have a top weight in mind, hit that first, then do a couple extra sets after that.

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