2003: A Westside Odyssey

[NateDogg]

Well, I'm bored here at work on the day after Christmas and I figure this is as good a time as any to start my Westside journal *gets fired for surfing the Internet all day*...jk. I have started doing this routine by Bob Youngs. It looks like it will be a great footstep into the Westside realm for me. I love the allowance for variation within the boundaries of Westside, and I feel that this routine could do anything but get stale! I am also hoping that Westside, with it's focus on the posterior chain, will help me out with some of the back problems I have had in the fairly recent past. Although my back does feel pretty good at the moment.

I have really been leaning towards strength in lieu of size for a few months now as I am realizing that if I eat enough, the size will come. For the first time in my life I have been successful in putting on weight...not only that, it's been pretty clean weight. I'm up to ~190 and probably near 13% or 14% bf. I can see abs anyway .

I don't have the record of my last (first Westside) workout here with me, so I'll have to update later. Even after some rough sleeping not so great eating and A LOT of driving over the last couple days, I do not feel at all fatigued, so I think it'll be Westside workout #2 tonight. ME bench press day.

Layout for this journal will probably be quite similar to my last one, as I thought that worked well. I might spice it up a bit...I'll see what I have the time and motivation for

Hopefully, I will soon be able to post some pics so you guys can see who the heck you've been "talking" to!

I guess that's it (unless I think of something to add later on )

LATER,

NateDogg

EDIT: to add a parenthesis (yeah, I'm never anal about anything )

[Hercule]

Natedogg,
Good luck man. Hope you make some great gains. I am probably going to jump on the westside boat as soon as school is out. After I see how I do in my first powerlifting competitions, I may start westside this summer to really get a huge total.

[Saturday Fever]

Westsiiiiiiiiiiide!

[MonStar]

Good luck with Westside ND---hope you achieve awesome results with it!

[Silverback]

Good luck Nate, with your determination and dedication there is no reason why you cant suceed

Ronnie

[GeneticallyGifted]

Mang, I feel ya about working on the day after Christmas. It flat out SUCKS!! So your moving back to Westside, huh? Are you going to modify it like Monstar or are you keeping your structure? Its not an attack on either side I am just wondering if you are doing the full blown Westide Story...

G'd Up!

[Chris Rodgers]

SF said it best....

Westsssiiiiiidddddeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *thows up signs*




Do you know your current maxes so you have something to work with? Any thoughts of competing?

Good Luck!

[NateDogg]

Thanks for the support everyone

GG,
This is my first shot at Westside. I am going with Bob Youngs' routine by the book, unless I can think of, or experience an adjustment that makes it better suited to me.

Latty,
I have my max bench (215). I need to go and get at least my max squat (will be done my next ME squat/deadlift day. I'll work up to it and use that number to calculate speed sets, box squat percentages, etc. I plan on using my ME days to test my squat, deadlift and bench intermittently. I am probably going to shoot for a test of once per month or so. How does that sound?

As for thoughts of competing, none yet, but I watched a bench press contest at my gym in my hometown many years ago. I will never forget it. I saw a guy put up 525...most I had ever seen benched at that time. I was quite amazed. Competing will never be out of the question for me, but it's not a short-term goal.

Oh, btw, life intervened on my workout plans tonight. I was more fatigued than I thought I was, and had more post-Christmas stuff to do than I thought I did. No biggie though, just enjoying a cold one and looking forward to ME bench press tomorrow night. I think I am going to go with declines up to a 1RM for my ME exercise. I'll plan the rest out tomorrow before I go.

Oh yeah...here was my first Westside day...

[TMan]

Good luck, Nate! I did the Bob Young routine for about 3 weeks, LOL! Gave it up because I felt I wasn't ready for Westside not because it was a bad routine. SF did that routine for about 9 weeks (if I recall correctly) so I know he can help you out if you need it.

[NateDogg]

A Westside Odyssey...Day 1

General Comments
N/A

Training

ME squat/deadlift

Rack Pull
1 / 45 / 10
2 / 115 / 3
3 / 135 / 3
4 / 185 / 3
5 / 205 / 3
6 / 255 / 3
7 / 295 / 3
8 / 315 / 1
9 / 355 / miss, grip failed
10 / 355 / 1

I had never done these before. I'm not sure if it took all I had to get 355 or not. Pins were a good 2" below my knee caps. I definitely have to work on my grip...of course I was doing so with these pulls

Glute/Ham Raise
1 / bw / 10
2 / bw / 10
3 / +10 / 10
4 / +10 / 10

This is the first time I had ever done these as well *realizes he's going to be mentioning that a lot in the next few weeks*. lol Just getting used to the movement, but I definitely felt them in my glutes and hamstrings.

Decline Sit-Ups
1 / bw / 20
2 / bw / 13f
3 / bw / 10.5f
4 / bw / 12f

Awesome to get back into working my abs more. I had not been doing much as I figured I was getting plenty of ab work with squats. Though as I am looking to strengthen my "core." I have no problem doing direct ab work.

Cable Row (med-grip, palms facing in)
1 / 100 / 10
2 / 140 / 10
3 / 150 / 8f
4 / 150 / 6.5f

Used too much weight on the last couple sets. I had to cheat a bit just to get 8 on the 3rd set and really died on the 4th.

Training Recap
Two days have passed, but I still remember how dead tired I was, but how great I felt after this workout

Pain/Soreness
(today is 12/26)
My upper back is a bit sore from the rows. Other than that I am ready to go!

Diet
Well, when I had this workout, it was going great. It went downhill substantially over the last couple days. Nope, I didn't eat too much...I definitely did not eat enough. I guess driving 300 miles in 3 days may do that to you though. Back on track tomorrow.

LATER,

NateDogg

[NateDogg]

Originally posted by TMan
Good luck, Nate! I did the Bob Young routine for about 3 weeks, LOL! Gave it up because I felt I wasn't ready for Westside not because it was a bad routine. SF did that routine for about 9 weeks (if I recall correctly) so I know he can help you out if you need it.

Thanks TMan. I've been doing quite a low volume routine for some time now, so I welcome the change. We'll see if that welcome was warranted soon enough I'm sure. Although I do plan on staying with at least the Westside ideals for quite a while. I continue to beef up my knowledge with all of the articles on www.elitefts.com.

[MonStar]

Nice workout ND. Good job on the rack pulls man. Dont sweat your grip, it will strengthen surprisingly fast---at least thats what happened with me.

[NateDogg]

Originally posted by MonStar
Nice workout ND. Good job on the rack pulls man. Dont sweat your grip, it will strengthen surprisingly fast---at least thats what happened with me.

Thanks Mike. I guess your grip got strong quickly!!! 635...jebus!!

[MonStar]

ND: Yeah man it did seem to strengthen fast for some reason. But dont worry, the same thing will happen with you. No worries man. I remember pulling 405 and thinking, DAMN, my grip is going to stop me from going much heavier. I even remember pulling 495 for the first time on rack pulls and thinking I couldnt go any higher because of my grip. Now I am pulling 635 for a single. Funny how things change isnt it?

Good luck with Westside man. Great program, loads of fun for me so far. What is your split going to be ND? For me its easy because I have Tues. and Thurs. as ME days, and the weekends as DE days.

[NateDogg]

Originally posted by MonStar
Good luck with Westside man. Great program, loads of fun for me so far. What is your split going to be ND? For me its easy because I have Tues. and Thurs. as ME days, and the weekends as DE days.

Cool...Mine will probably be similar to that, although it will most likely have at least one day of rest between each workout, as the Bob Youngs routine has no consecutive days listed.

[galileo]

Good luck with Westside! I hope you can accomplish your goals. I may try it someday when I have access to a real gym.

[NateDogg]

Originally posted by galileo
Good luck with Westside! I hope you can accomplish your goals. I may try it someday when I have access to a real gym.

Thanks galileo! I guess I should really set some actual # goals huh? I think I'll just go with it for a few weeks, then see where I'm at and determine where I would like to be, and when. I really have to come up with some sort of "box" for box squats, but I think I can figure something out.

[DK]

Hey ND. Good luck with Westside. I started training westside about five weeks ago. I'm using Dave Taits routine on Elitefts.com here's a linkDave Tait's Routine

Are you using this Sample Workout by Bob Youngs

I hope you enjoy it. I know I am.

[NateDogg]

Originally posted by dkliewer
Hey ND. Good luck with Westside. I started training westside about five weeks ago. I'm using Dave Taits routine on Elitefts.com here's a link

Thanks dkliewer! How has it gone for you so far? You don't have a journal around here do you? You should start one. BTW, no link, but I'll go check it out.

[DK]

I fixed it for ya.

No I don't have an online journal. I do it the old fashioned way and write it all in a notebook. That way I can take it to the gym with me.

[Chris Rodgers]

Originally posted by dkliewer
I fixed it for ya.

No I don't have an online journal. I do it the old fashioned way and write it all in a notebook. That way I can take it to the gym with me.

So do most of us. We put it on here to share with others. You should do the same. It's good for motivation and someone may be able to give you some tips/feedback about what you are doing.


ND- session looks good. What is your current weight? Are you looking to gain/maintain/lose weiht during Westside?

[NateDogg]

Originally posted by dkliewer
I fixed it for ya.

No I don't have an online journal. I do it the old fashioned way and write it all in a notebook. That way I can take it to the gym with me.

Cool, I do both. Mostly because my handwriting sucks, especially when my arms are shaking. I usually update here from memory...unless I am actually able to read what I wrote at the gym

[NateDogg]

Originally posted by LATMAN


So do most of us. We put it on here to share with others. You should do the same. It's good for motivation and someone may be able to give you some tips/feedback about what you are doing.


ND- session looks good. What is your current weight? Are you looking to gain/maintain/lose weiht during Westside?

I really should read all the posts before I reply Yeah, I also update here to be able to share, get positive and negative feedback, etc...

Thanks Latty, honestly I really don't care about my weight. I am going to eat like I have been eating to get up to 190 (current weight) from 170-175, so I'll probably gain, or maintain.

[NateDogg]

A Westside Odyssey...Day 2

General Comments
A couple notes before I start rambling:
1. The "Day" in red at the top only counts days I train.
2. = Personal Best (just like last journal).

Ok, on with it!
Work day today went by slow as all hell. I thought we may be let out early, not the case. Of course that seemed to slow time to a halt near the end of the day . I got through it though . Got a pretty sweet holiday card in the mail today from my Gold's Gym. Everyone else at a Gold's will probably get it too, or has already gotten it. Cool card though I thought. It'll go up on the wall of my cube. Probably near the "Toon of the Week" about tuna getting you promoted I printed out a while back, lol.


Training

ME Bench Press

Close-Grip (index right on border of smooth) Decline Press
1 / 45 / 25
2 / 115 / 3
3 / 135 / 3
4 / 155 / 3
5 / 185 / 3
6 / 205 / 3
7 / 215 / 3
8 / 225 / 1
9 / 235 / 1
10 / 250 / 1
11 / 260 / 1

Wow, strength came out of nowhere on these! I really did not want to do 11 sets, but I just kept putting up the weight, into territory I've never been into before.

Skull-Crushers
1 / 65 / 10
2 / 75 / 6
3 / 80 / 4
4 / 85 / 3

I let the old elbows flare out a bit on these. I actually think it works them better that way!

Cable Push-Downs
1 / 60 / 10
2 / 65 / 9
3 / 70 / 7f

Yup, tri's were hurting at this point. I kept all assistance work to 1 minute or so rest periods.

Lat Raise
1 / 17.5 / 12
2 / 20 / 10
3 / 25 / 8 (cheated on two of these)

Definitely should have gone to 22.5 on the last set.

Chest Supported Row
1 / 70 / 10
2 / 80 / 8
3 / 80 / 8
4 / 85 / 7

I put my sweatshirt down to try to keep the pressure off my chest. It worked for the most part. I'm also trying to press my stomach out against the pad and keep my abs tight to keep some pressure off my chest. I really like this machine.

EZ-Curls
1 / 55 / 20
2 / 75 / 6f

Dead tired at this point.

Training Recap
Wow, that was a great workout. I really kicked my own ass. I think it lasted about 75 minutes. It felt like longer, lol.

Pain/Soreness
Shoulder joints hurt a bit. I'm going to ice them in a bit. I'm also going to add in some rotator cuff work. I definitely need it.
No soreness to speak of.

Diet
Definitely back on track with eating today. I also just went food shopping to ensure that I stay that way.

LATER,

NateDogg

[MonStar]

DAMN!!

Crazy CG decline strength ND, keep it up man. I am friggin' impressed as hell. I couldnt be anymore impressed to be honest. Nice work!