First off a little bit of info about me: I have been doing Crossfit and Starting Strength for the last year. My 1RM's are Squat - 315, Dead - 365, Shoulder Press - 175 and Im not sure what my bench is.

I am going to be starting the Westside Method on Monday and I have several questions.

1) On ME days am I going up to a 1RM and how many "working" sets should I be doing?

2) Should I be doing squats or an exercise related to the squat for the ME method portion?

3) If Im supposed to do a related exercise, what should I pick an when do I switch to a different exercise?

4) When do I train the Squat, Dead and bench if Im only doing related exercises for the ME portion?

5) If I want to increase my shoulder press should I alternate training the press on one week and bench the next?

Sorry for all the newb questions but I couldn't really find the answers when I was searching.

Thanks for any info you guys can share.
Mike

Have you read the 8-Keys to Success and the Periodization Bible by Dave Tate? If you haven't you then you need to.

1) A general rule of thumb you should try to get 3-5 reps above 90% of current 1RM. This could be 3 single, a triple, a triple and a double...whatever.

2,3)You should pick 4-6 movement to rotate.
Example:
Squat
Saftey Bar Squat
Close Stance Box squats
DL
Rack-Pulls
DL against bands.

As a beginner you can probable get away with rotating every 3 weeks, but I would just stick with 2 for now.

4)As a raw lifter at least Bench, Squat should be in your rotation pretty much all the time. You can deadlift on a less regular basis, but at your current strength level you can probably deadlift more frequently. When you start getting close to 500 it is going to be tough to DL frequently. At least that is my experence.

5) I think overhead is good movement to have in your rotation if you want it. You could do do something like this. I prefer to do incline instead and use OH press as an accessory or supplemental movement.

Bench
Floor Press
OH Press
2 Board

Here are the links to the articles that Pemdas referred to:

http://www.T-Nation.com/...le.do?id=459489 - The Eight Keys Part 1

http://www.T-Nation.com/...le.do?id=459486 - The Eight Keys Part 2

http://www.T-Nation.com/...le.do?id=459484 - The Eight Keys Part 3

http://www.T-Nation.com/...le.do?id=459483 - The Eight Keys Part 4

http://www.T-Nation.com/...le.do?id=459806 - The Periodization Bible Part 1

http://www.T-Nation.com/...le.do?id=459671 - The Periodization Bible Part 2

This is practically everything you need to get started with Westside.

Brosekiah wrote:
1) On ME days am I going up to a 1RM and how many "working" sets should I be doing?



You can make it complicated or as easy as this:

Work up to 1 x 1 (1RM) or 1 x 3 (3RM) and then drop to about 95 or 90 % (of the weight you lifted for you 1RM or 3Rm that day) and do another 3x3 or 5x3.

I have been doing a lot of reading and Im thinking of following WS4SB III. Im not a skinny bastard...more so the opposite. I need to lose some fat but I would still like to gain a lot of strength. Is this program right for me?

Brosekiah wrote:
I have been doing a lot of reading and Im thinking of following WS4SB III. Im not a skinny bastard...more so the opposite. I need to lose some fat but I would still like to gain a lot of strength. Is this program right for me?

If you're into strength sports, not athletics this may be better

forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=920894

zephead4747 wrote:
If you're into strength sports, not athletics this may be better

forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=920894

Could I move that last lower body ME day to Sunday to get 4 workouts a week? Or maybe do a DE day with it using Oly lifts?

This is a great thread.

matrick wrote:
Brosekiah wrote:
1) On ME days am I going up to a 1RM and how many "working" sets should I be doing?



You can make it complicated or as easy as this:

Work up to 1 x 1 (1RM) or 1 x 3 (3RM) and then drop to about 95 or 90 % (of the weight you lifted for you 1RM or 3Rm that day) and do another 3x3 or 5x3.

I think the Westside guys would feel this method was verging on too much; work up to 1RM in fairly small jumps, when you get too the max check back and see if you did ~3 total reps with over 90%, if not drop down to 90% and add a few singles.
Rough rule of thumb 3RM is about 92-96% 1RM

Brosekiah wrote:
zephead4747 wrote:
If you're into strength sports, not athletics this may be better

forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=920894

Could I move that last lower body ME day to Sunday to get 4 workouts a week? Or maybe do a DE day with it using Oly lifts?



I think you're overcomplicating things when it comes to training with a westside template.

Westside can be adapted to virtually any type of training or athletic endeavor. The beauty of the template is its versatility.

There is no single, best, or perfect westside "program." Find a template (or better yet, make your own) that matches your goals and go from there. as they say "plan your work and work your plan." In short, just do it! Actually training is more important than thinking about it.

With that being said, you above ideas are fine if they match your what your trying to accomplish. If you need to move your training days around and you feel you've recovered enough between sessions then go ahead and do it. If you like olympic lifting, then give yourself an olympic lifting day. If you need to drop fat, then add some conditioning work.

Stop spending so much time and energy on the minor details and just get in there and train!

Built Big wrote:
There is no single, best, or perfect westside "program." Find a template (or better yet, make your own) that matches your goals and go from there. as they say "plan your work and work your plan." In short, just do it! Actually training is more important than thinking about it.

With that being said, you above ideas are fine if they match your what your trying to accomplish. If you need to move your training days around and you feel you've recovered enough between sessions then go ahead and do it. If you like olympic lifting, then give yourself an olympic lifting day. If you need to drop fat, then add some conditioning work.

Stop spending so much time and energy on the minor details and just get in there and train!



I think that's what I needed to hear. Im off to the gym...time for a ME Upper day.

For dropping fat what sort of conditioning work would you add and how much? Im already working on cleaning up the diet.

Brosekiah wrote:
Built Big wrote:
There is no single, best, or perfect westside "program." Find a template (or better yet, make your own) that matches your goals and go from there. as they say "plan your work and work your plan." In short, just do it! Actually training is more important than thinking about it.

With that being said, you above ideas are fine if they match your what your trying to accomplish. If you need to move your training days around and you feel you've recovered enough between sessions then go ahead and do it. If you like olympic lifting, then give yourself an olympic lifting day. If you need to drop fat, then add some conditioning work.

Stop spending so much time and energy on the minor details and just get in there and train!



I think that's what I needed to hear. Im off to the gym...time for a ME Upper day.

For dropping fat what sort of conditioning work would you add and how much? Im already working on cleaning up the diet.



These links will give you some great info on increasing your conditioning and work capacity:

http://www.T-Nation.com/...le.do?id=548070 - Cardio Confusion by Eric Cressey

http://www.T-Nation.com/...ic.do?id=459405 - Sled Dragging article by Dave Tate

http://www.T-Nation.com/...thletes&cr= - Strongman Training for Athletes by Joe DeFranco

Regarding how much to do, it really depends on your current level of conditioning and what your goals are. I know you said that you've been doing crossfit so you may have a higher work capacity already than someone that's completely new to training. Just add it in slowly and do what you feel you need for your goals.

Good to hear that you're cleaning up your diet as well. That's generally the most important yet hardest to implement aspect for most people.