Westside for confused bastards

Decided this would be a worthwhile exercise as I think every time someone expresses an interest in Westside it is 99% of the time followed by

But I tried reading up on it and I don't know what it's about

That is because this type of training has been modified and misinterpreted more times than the bible, and caused nearly as many arguments.

You might read articles by Louie Simmons, Westsides creator, or other gurus going on about converting negative kinetic energy into downforce ensuring you squat 1000lbs so long as you are traveling at 88mph. To me the inner workings of what this is all about are a bit far fetched and in some cases I think the reasons for the results were invented AFTER the good results were attained. But who am I to criticize.

Here is a detailed layout of everything I learned when I embarked on a Westside routine. I spent weeks figuring it out but I've tried to simplify it down now so people can get what it's about easily enough.

ME, DE, RE

This is the first thing that throws you. WTF do they mean?

ME = Max effort. You do one ME day a week for both your upper and lower body. The most important thing about ME day is that you get at least 3 or 4 lifts in at about 90% or above of your 1 rep max. This is why it is called Max Effort.
MYTH ALERT: These 1 rep max attempts are not a test, of your strength. They are a strength building exercise. So many people believe it is just to test your strength, why the hell would you do that every week?
The idea is to warm up to these 90% plus attempts, so you are not tired when you get to them, just ready and nice and loose. It should look something like this:

50 x 5
60 x 4
70 x 3
80 x 2
90 x 1
100 x 1
110 x 1 New PR (personal record)
105 x 1
97.5 x 1

As you can see you will have lifted heavy singles as your last 4 lifts, this is the business end of the set. What most of you will have trouble adapting to is only lifting 70 for 3 reps or 80 for 2. It will feel so light you will think "Kevpants is a douche, I'm getting nothing form lifting this for 2 reps". I am a total douche, but the point is everything up to those last few reps is a warm up. They don't matter. You don't have to break a PR for reps with 70% of your max, who cares? Do something else if that's what blows your skirt up.

Your ME exercises will consist of:
Upper body - Bench, Incline Bench, Close grip Bench, Floor Press (or similar).
Lower body - Squat & Deadlift

MYTH ALERT: Partial presses like floor press are not just for equipped powerlifters. So many people say you just need to concentrate on strength off the chest, wrong, there is about 10 inches of lift left after that and the bench fairies aren't going to help you. This is not "lockout training" that powerlifters talk about, that's the top 3 inches. There seems to be a middle 8 inches there that is no mans land and no one ever talks about it, do floor presses and train the middle bit.

This might raise a few eyebrows, what about the boards/chains/bands/box squat? I just want to get one thing clear, screw the box squat. I'm writing this from the perspective of people who have just learned to squat. I don't think the box squat makes sense for people to move onto when they really just need to practice their regular squat more. The best thing for squatting is squats. All of the other bits of S&M gear are "nice to haves" and TBH over complicate things, you've enough on your plate with how I'll lay it out and you won't get bored.

It's important that you are PR focused here but that you don't miss lifts. If you miss a lift it is your own fault, you didn't have to take that particular weight on. Whether you admit it or not, you know whether you're going to get it before you go for it. Try and get a small improvement wherever possible but avoid missing like the plague!

DE = Dynamic Effort. One more thing to clarify. Screw dynamic effort. This is about building up bar speed. Bar speed is not your problem. Anyone reading this who is at the level where their bar speed is what's holding them back needs to go ask someone who knows more than me.

RE - Repeat Effort. Or repetitive effort...or something. Anyway it is the good old multiple reps of manageable weight to add mass idea. And after being squished by ME day you'll skip down to the gym to do this one. Like ME day you do one RE day a week for both your upper and lower body. The idea is to set PR's of your own choice on either lighter bench, bench variations, squats or other assistance exercises that I'll get to next. RE day is not the end of the world, it's just there to help you along and provide some recovery/variety for your muscles and nervous system after the all out ME day. You might choose to do 3 sets of 10 with about 60% of your max bench and try and add weight over the weeks if you can. Mix it up every few weeks and remember it is completely supplementary to ME day. No one cares about your RE records.

Assistance Exercises:
Assistance exercises are the ones that take place after your main ME or RE sets. They are there to tackle weakpoints, not to try an improve on your already impressive DB bench record or whatever. What do you suck at? What held you back in the ME set you just finished? Whatever it was, go and do some direct work on it. If it's your hamstrings in the deadlift, go do good mornings. If it's your stability on the bench, go do upper back work. The main thing is to do the stuff that you hate, cos it's holding you back. A quick list of possible exercises. If you need clarification on any of them just ask.
Upper: DB Bench, any kind of row, chins, bicep or tricep work, scap retraction work, dips.
Lower: Ab work, Pause squats, good mornings, ab work, RDL/SLDL's, GHR's, ab work, hypers/rev hypers, ab work, leg press, ab work.

Yes it is ALL about the ab work. No other muscle will help with your squat and deadlift more than your abs if you work hard enough at them.

Structure & Cycles

With Westside you will be doing a lot of work above 90% as I mentioned. What this means is you will be in danger of burning out, plateauing and subsequently getting weaker. To avert this we change the ME exercise of choice around every 3 weeks. Advanced people can change every 1 or 2 but I don't get why. It won't be an issue if you are starting off anyway. 3 weeks it is.

So for upper day you might pick a cycle of 3 exercises like bench for 3 weeks, Incline bench for 3 weeks and floor press for 3 weeks and repeat. I think picking 3 is sufficient, I'd get a bit pissed off if I had to wait 2 months before my next bench cycle because I chose too many upper body exercises. For lower body you should just alternate between ME squats and ME deadlifts, and no arguments. Anyone who has recommended a beginner do max effort Good Mornings or something is a class A moron. Stick with these two, you'll feel rested and fired up after your 3 week break from each and the PR's will flow.

Common questions:

Can I use DB Bench for ME day?: No. That's silly.
How often do I deload?: How often do you feel drained? Same answer.
Do I need a belt?: It's personal choice. Personally I'd say wait an introduce it later and get an extra 10kg on your squat as a result.
Do I have to do 4 days a week?: No you can do 4 days out of every 10 if you like. There are 4 days to a "weekly cycle" but you can spread it out if you want. It may even help with recovery.
How many assitance exercises do I do?: I'd say no more than 3 or 4 per workout. Don't be so tired from the assistance work you can't do the work work. They are designed to help, don't let them hinder you.

Hopefully this clear up most questions on how it works. If anything is unclear let me know.