Jim Wendler has written a great series on tips for beginners. I was talking to Dave Tate about it and he gave me the idea for this article. I want to share what my workouts looked like when I first got to Westside Barbell. I walked in with a 580 squat, a 390 bench, a 520 deadlift, and a best total of 1450. Let’s just say I was very weak compared to the other guys. My GPP and work capacity were very low.
The first thing Louie told me was there was no way I should try and do as much as the other guys. That volume of work would run me into the ground. I needed to raise my GPP and work capacity over time. He told me to do three exercises per workout and go from there. Here is how my workouts looked for the first three months:
Monday (max effort squat and deadlift day)-
1. Main exercise-this was a good morning, a low box squat, or a deadlift variation up to a max single or triple.
2. Glute ham raises-I would do three sets of as many as I could.
3. Leg raises-three sets of as many as I could
Wednesday (max effort bench press day)-
1. Main exercise-pick one and work up to a max single
2. Extensions-three sets of eight to twelve reps
3. Chest supported rows-three sets of five to eight reps
Friday (dynamic effort squat day)-
1. Box squats with straight weight-I always did twelve sets of two reps
2. Reverse Hypers-three sets of eight to twelve reps
3. Weighted sit ups-three sets of five to eight reps
Sunday (dynamic effort bench press day)-
1. Speed bench press-eight sets of three reps
2. JM Press or carpet press-three sets of three to five reps
3. Lat pulldowns-three sets of eight to twelve reps
As you can see my volume was very low in the beginning because that was all I could handle. I had to get in shape to train. I want all of you beginners to look closely at the above. More is not always better.
After three months or so Louie had me a forth exercise to each day. On Mondays I added in reverse hypers after the glute ham raises. On Wednesdays I added in side lateral raises after the extensions. On Fridays we added glute hams after the reverse hypers. For Sunday Lou had me add in front plate raises after triceps work.
The main reason I wrote this is so that you would get an idea of the progression I followed for my first six months at Westside. The training logs on the site are great tool for everyone to learn from. However, they are not intended for you to look at our workouts and then go and do that. It has taken me 7 years to get to my current GPP and work capacity levels. For example, I love to read Paul Childress’ workouts. But, Paul is much stronger than I am. I can’t just change the weights and do what Paul does. I do look at Paul’s workouts and try to get some ideas for different exercises to try or to see how he cycles his squat waves going into a meet. You can learn a lot from the diaries, but don’t look at them as “cookie cutter” workouts for you to follow. They are tools for you to look at and get ideas from. You want to look at what we did to get to the levels we are at today.