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Advice on How to use Westside For Skinny Bastards?

6 min read

Asked by: Azizah Bates

What is WS4SB?

Westside for skinny bastards (WS4SB) was developed by Joe DeFranco in 2008 as an effective strength training program for beginner athletes. Below you’ll find two different spreadsheets / templates for the program.

What is the Westside barbell method?

Westside uses two max effort days a week, one for the squat and deadlift and one for benching; 72 hours separate a speed workout and max effort day for the same lift. Three lifts at 90% and above are advised. This is more practical for powerlifting, on the basis of using this max effort system for the last 26 years.

How do you do 531?

The 5/3/1 method is a four-week cycle that requires four workouts per week. Each workout session centers on one core lift: the bench press, squat, deadlift, or shoulder press. The rep scheme is as follows: Week one: For each workout, perform three sets of five reps (three x five) of one lifting exercise.

What is starting strength program?

Starting Strength is a program written by experienced strength coach Mark Rippetoe and centres around five primary lifts. It is a linear progression program meaning you slowly add weight every session to increase your strength over time.

What’s wrong with Starting Strength?

In fact, people who are new to lifting weights tend to be quite sensitive to weight training, and so starting with too many sets can cause excessive muscle damage and soreness, increasing our recovery needs, and impairing our ability to build muscle. Starting Strength doesn’t have that problem.

What does SS mean in weightlifting?

SS stands for Starting Strength (weightlifting)

What are the 3 stages of strength training program?

If your goal is to improve your muscle mass, plan to progressively challenge the body by using three distinct phases of training: Foundation phase, Hypertrophy phase, and Firming phase.

How do you start Starting Strength?

To grow stronger, you’ll need to lift increasingly heavier weights. This is called progression. Starting Strength uses something called linear progression, which is the most simple type of progression. Basically you’ll add a little weight every day and over time this grows into a huge amount of weight.

What do you need for Starting Strength?


So firstly you need a barbell 45 pounds will work for most men some weaker or smaller. Men might need to start with a 33 pound bar on the upper body lifts same applies to women.

How long should a Starting Strength workout take?

Mine take 60-85 minutes usually. I time all my rests and rest 5-7 per squat set and 3-5 for the rest of the lifts. Mine would take around 60 minutes give or take doing the program as written.

What are the 5 exercises of Starting Strength?

The original Starting Strength consists of 5 exercises (Squat, Bench Press, Deadlift, Military Press, and Power Clean / Barbell Row), rotating between two workout days (A and B), and is done three days per week.

How much weight should I put on Starting Strength?

Most healthy men between the ages of 18 and 35 or 40 can add 10 lbs to the squat the first 2-3 times it’s performed, 15-20 lbs to the deadlift the first couple times, and 10 lbs the next several times it’s performed. After that, jumps become 5 lbs per workout.

Why are there 3 sets of Starting Strength?

So, a novice needs more than one set. Two sets would work for a while, but experience has shown that three sets works better, both because of the increased stimulus to drive adaptation, and because it gives you and your coach more time to correct form faults.

Is 3×5 better than 5×5?

The difference between 3×5 and 5×5 is obviously volume. However, the lower volume of 3×5 will allow you to work at a slightly greater intensity. Still pretty simple.

Is 5 sets of 5 too much?

The main takeaways were: People who did 5 sets gained more muscle than everyone else. People who did 5 sets gained more strength on almost every exercise than everyone else. People who did 3 sets gained more muscle than people who did 1 set or body weight training only.

Is 5 sets of 3 reps good?

Generally speaking, sets of less than 5 reps are good for building power and/or testing strength, sets of 4-8 are good for building strength, sets of 8-12 are good for hypertrophy (growth of muscle size), and 12+ build/test muscular endurance.

Is 5X5 or 3X10 better?

5X5 vs 3X10: Which Is Better For Muscle Growth? What is this? While both rep schemes are used in programs to grow new muscle, 3×10 is the best answer when hypertrophy is the goal. That said, this is only true if you are properly controlling for volume, frequency, consistency, and intensity.

What is the Texas method?

The Texas Method is a three-days-per-week training regimen that emphasizes volume on Mondays, active recovery on Wednesdays, and intensity on Fridays. Rippetoe was inspired by an old bench press workout from Canadian strongman Doug Hepburn, in which Hepburn would do 5 heavy 1-rep sets followed by 5 heavy 5-rep sets.

Is it better to do more reps or more weight?

Generally, exercises with higher reps are used to improve muscular endurance, while higher weights with fewer reps are used to increase muscle size and strength.

Do you have to lift heavy to get toned?

Overall, to get toned without putting on noticeable muscle mass (I’m talking a major increase in your size), I recommend lifting medium weights and performing three sets of about eight to 12 reps per exercise that you do.

How do you lift to burn fat?

Incorporating these into your weight-training workouts can increase the intensity of your training, which is ideal for losing weight.

  1. Circuit Training. …
  2. Squat + Curl.
  3. Push Ups.
  4. Dumbbell Row + Fly.
  5. Bench Step Ups.
  6. Lunge + Front Raise.
  7. Renegade Rows.
  8. Incline Dumbbell Press.

What should you always do before lifting weights?

Before you lift weights, warm up with five to 10 minutes of brisk walking or other aerobic activity. Don’t rush. Move the weight in an unhurried, controlled fashion. Taking it slow helps you isolate the muscles you want to work and keeps you from relying on momentum to lift the weight.

At what age should I stop lifting heavy weights?

Heavy lifting should be part of your exercise program at any age. While most of the losses in muscle come when you are significantly older, lifting heavy weights after 40 can prevent this. Heavy lifting not only increases lean muscle mass, it increases bone mineral density, as well.

How many times a week should you lift weights?

You need to be hitting the weights at least three days per week. The research says that at the very least, training a minimum of two days per week is needed to maximize muscle growth.



Strength training.

Training level Days of training
Beginner 2 to 3 days per week of strength training (full-body each session)