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EFS Classic: The Periodization Bible

These articles were first published on T-muscle.com in November 2000

The Periodization Bible

Part 1: The Old Testament Linear Periodization

by Dave Tate

When it comes to setting up a st rength- training program, I f eel its important to understand all aspects of the

program, including how it all f its t ogether. The o rganizat ion of training can be def ined asperiodization. There

are several periodization models being used today for t he development o f st rength. This article will explore

some of the basic def initions of the concept as well as the Western (or linear) method o f periodization.

The Western method o f periodization is one o f the most popular methods f or s trength development. Its thesame method I used f or t he f irst 12 years of my competitive career. Did it work? Sure, up to a certain point, bu

then I hit a plateau. This was when the injuries started and my st rength began to digress. After we get the

basics out o f the way, Ill explore why this happened and why so many coaches and athletes st ill use the

program today.

Terminology and Def initions

Periodizat ion is the o rganizat ion of training into bas ic workable units . These units are def ined as the training

session, the micro cycle, the meso cycle, the macro cycle and the quadrennial. Lets def ine and explore each o

these just t o make sure were all on the same page.

The Training Session: The training session consists of one workout designed to f ulf ill a specif ic purpose.

These training sessions can be once per day or up to s ix per day depending on the goals of the program. The

most import aspect of the training session is that it should have some type of meaning. There should be a

def inite t raining goal in mind. Your goal fo r that session may be to perform one more repetition than last time

or to lif t f ive more pounds. Your goal could also involve f ulf illing some type of restorat ive or recovery purpose

The problem is that many training sessions today dont have a specif ic purpose that will lead to t he short or

long term goals of the athlete. The athlete o r coach just goes in the gym and wings it, but each session must

build on the o thers to f ulf ill a desired purpose. For example, if you want a bigger bench, then each training

session f or that lift must have the development of the bench press in mind. If your exercise selection doesnt

complement this, youll just be spinning your wheels.

All exercises chosen should f ulf ill a purpose related to the development of st rengt h, stability, conf idence,

muscle balance, technique, or bringing up weak points . If one or more of these variables isnt being met with

the chosen movement, then dump that exercise!

The Micro Cycle

The micro cycle is the recruitment of a number of dif f erent training sess ions. There should be at least two

training sess ions per micro cycle that consist of dif f erent types of workouts . The micro cycle also should hav

specif ic meaning and purpose. There are many dif f erent types of micro cycles including the introduction,
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Chart 1: Sample Hypertrophy Meso Cycle

Week Sets Reps Intensity Rest

1 5 10 62% 3Minutes

2 4 10 64% 3Minutes

3 3 10 66% 3Minutes

4 3 8 68% 3Minutes

5 3 8 70% 3Minutes

The St rength Phase: The goals o f the st rength phase is to, you guessed it, increase muscle st rength. The

parameters f or this phase are characterized with a typical load between 75 to 86%, utilizing three to f ive sets

of 4 to 6 reps. The average rest is two to f our minutes and the duration is f our to s ix weeks. As you can see,

the intensity is beginning to increase while the volume is beginning to decrease.

Chart 2: Sample Strength Meso Cycle


1 5 6 75% 3


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Minutes

2 5 6 77% 3Minutes

3 4 5 79% 3Minutes

4 4 5 82% 3Minutes

5 3 4 85% 3Minutes

The Power Phase: This phase is designed to increase the overall power of the athlete. The parameters o f

this phase are characterized by performing three to five sets of 3 to 5 reps with 86% to 93% intensity. The

duration of this phase is normally f our weeks. The rest is usually between three to f ive minutes.

Chart 3: Sample Power Meso Cycle


1 3 4 87% 3Minutes

2 3 3 89% 3Minutes

3 3 3 91% 4Minutes


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4 3 3 93% 5Minutes

The Peak Phase: This is the f inal phase of st rength development. This phase is designed to peak on all th

abilities that have been developed earlier. The peak phase is characterized by perf orming two to three sets of

1 to 3 reps with 93% or more. The average rest is now increased to f our to seven minutes and the duration is

two to f our weeks. Youll again notice that the volume is lower and the intensity is increased.

Chart 4: Sample Peaking Meso Cycle


1 3 3 95% 5Minutes

2 2 2 97% 7Minutes

3 2 1 99% 7Minutes

The Transition or Active Rest Phase: This is the f inal phase of this macro cycle known as the Western

method o f periodization. This phase can be done a couple of ways. The f irst is to perfo rm three to f ive sets

of 10 to 15 reps with 50% of your new one rep max.

The second way is to break away f rom training alto gether and only perf orm light physical activity. For many

powerlif ters and st rength athletes this phase is normally just taking time of f and perf orming no weightlif ting.

Others may choose to go t o t he gym and perform bodybuilding style exercises with very litt le work done in the

classic lif ts (squat, bench and deadlif t).

Problems and Pitfalls

This Western method of training has become very popular in the United States over the past 20 to 30 years

and has been practiced by mos t powerlif ters and strength athletes in one f orm or another. If you read the

training programs o f mos t powerlif ters youll not ice this same structure. As I mentioned earlier, this is the sam


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training rout ine I used myself f or 12 years before moving to Columbus to t rain at Westside. I had very good

results with t his t raining for some time, but I also had many problems with it as well.

Having now gott en away f rom this t ype of training and looking back as an outs ider, I can see where the

program is lacking and why I had so many problems. I used to f eel it was the only way to train (most ly because

it was all I ever knew). It was also the only type of program for which I could f ind a lot of research. Some of th

limitations to this linear style of periodization include:

Its a percentage-based program

It s tarts with a high volume

It only has one peak

Your abilities arent maintained

The program has no direction to the f uture

Since this is a percentage based program, it can be very deceiving to those calculating the training. Ill use the

example of a 600 pound squatter. A 17 week cycle may look like this:

Max 600

Week Sets Reps Intensity Weight

Volume

1 5 10 62% 372

18600

2 4 10 64% 38415350

3 3 10 66% 395

11880

4 3 8 68% 408 9792

5 3 8 70% 420 10080

6 4 6 75% 450 10800

7 3 6 77% 462 8316


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8 3 5 79% 474 7110

9 3 5 82% 492 7380

10 3 5 85% 510 7650

11 3 3 87% 522 4698

12 3 3 89% 534 4806

13 3 3 91% 546 4914

14 2 3 93% 558 3348

15 2 3 95% 570 3420

16 2 2 97% 582 2328

17 2 1 99% 594 1188

As you can see, the intensity begins at 62% and f inishes at 99%. My question has always been: Percent of

what? In the table we used a 600 pound squat ter as an example. Now the f irst question is since theres a

dif f erence between competitive st rength and maximal strength, can he really squat 600? Second, if the lif ter

takes a break af ter the competition as described with the transition phase, can he stillsquat 600?

According to Vladimir Zatsio rsky in the text, Science and Practice of Strength Training, long breaks (f rom

working at percentages close t o your 1RM) can ruin physical f itness. Vladimir asks, If a mountaineer wants to

climb to the summit, will he climb halfway up then back down to go back up again? Thes e long breaks are


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detrimental because motor abilities are built and retained at dif f erent rates which are fairly specific to each

individual. Some may be lost very quickly while others will be held.

According to Zimkin, as much a 10 t o 15% of strength can be lost in a period of a f ew weeks. This is where a

percentage-based system has many problems. If the lif ter has lost 10% of his st rength and begins the cycle a

62% of his contest max, the actual percent can really be as high as 72%. This is why many times t he lif ter will

get through three quarters o f the training cycle and then start missing lif ts . Many times Id get to week eight o

nine and not be able to complete the desired number of reps. With this type of training you have to hope your

strength catches up to the intensity.

One way to combat this is to pick a smaller weight at the s tart and then jump it up to ward the end. This is wha

many lif ters, including myself , used t o do. The problem with this is you never really know when to jump it up.

This will lead you to being able to perform triples in training with more weight t han the single you could perform

on t he platf orm at a meet. Percentages have to be used only as guidelines.

Another problem with t he Western method of periodization is that many abilities arent maintained. The muscle

mass that was built during the hypertrophy phase isnt maintained throughout the f ull cycle. Same goes with t h

strength phase. The best training weeks are normally the first or second week of triples coming off the

st rength phase. Then your st rength begins t o shut down because its very hard to train at or above 90% f or

longer than t hree weeks. This is another reason why you may be able to triple more in t raining than what youcan display on the platf orm.

As ment ioned above, theres only one peak with the linear metho d. If you want to enter multiple meets or have

a competit ive season such as a f oo tball player then what do you do? Another mark against this traditional

approach.

The Western method of periodization also advises you to drop the supplemental movements as the meet

approaches, especially during the f inal three or f our weeks during the peak phase. The reason f or this is that

the intensity is so high that youd want to keep the volume down. My question is why would you want to drop

the movements t hat made you strong in the f irst place?

Lets f ace it, if it was true that all you have to do is squat, bench and deadlif t wouldnt we all be doing it? Not

only that , but wouldnt every gym in the count ry have 20 or 30 guys who could bench 500 since half the

members only do bench presses and curls anyway? Why would any of us do any more t han we have to?

The fact is, weve all found out through trial and error that we need supplemental movements to push our lift s

up. A great example of this is if your pecs and shoulder were strong enough to bench press 500 but your

triceps were only stro ng enough to bench 420. If that were true, what do you think youd bench? Youre only a

st rong as your weakest link and its your respons ibility to f ind out what that weak link is and f ix it. If your car

needed new tires to run faster would you buy a new car or change the tires? T he supplemental aspect of you

training is perhaps the most important and yet youre expected to drop it right bef ore a competition?

Youre also never really to ld what and how to train the s upplemental lif ts . Are you supposed to begin with a

high volume and drop over time while increasing the intensity like you do with the main lif ts? If youre anything

like I was then you just kind of wing it and hope it all f its into place.

With all this in mind, why would anybody use this type o f periodization? Well, the answer is quite simple: its

what mos t lif ters have always done or been told to do. There have been few, if any, alternatives that work as

well or better. Until now, that is.

Westside Weekly Training Schedule

If you want to start using the periodization program out lined in this art icle, you might want to know how the


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Wests ide boys break up their actual weekly training. They typically do f our workouts per week and since they

train for function, they typically perform the following split:

Monday

Max eff ort lower body day (squat, dead lift )

1. Hamst rings

2. Lower back

3. Abs

4. Possible upper back work

Wednesday

Max eff ort upper body (bench press)

1. Triceps

2. Delts

3. Lats

Friday

Dynamic ef f ort lower body (squat, dead lif t)

1. Hamst rings

2. Lower back3. Abs

4. Possible upper back work

Sunday

Dynamic ef f ort upper body (bench press)

1. Triceps

2. Delts

3. Lats

Mos t body parts are trained 2 times a week, but t his isnt abso lute as there are times when they may train a

body part up to 6 t imes per week and other times, only once.

Dave will write about this a litt le more in a f uture art icle.

The Periodization Bible Part II

The New Testament Conjugated Periodizat ion

by Dave Tate

This is a periodization program known as conjugated periodization. Simply put, this means that several abilities

are coupled together throughout the training. The Western method of periodizat ion separates these variables

while the Wests ide method puts it all together at the same time. The ent ire Westside method is centeredaround three basic pathways to strength development:

1. Max Ef f ort

2. Repetition

3. Dynamic Ef f ort

The Max Effort Method

The max effort method is considered by many coaches and athletes as being the superior method of strength

development. It places great demands on both intramuscular and intermuscular coordination as well as


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1 1 365

1 1 405

1 1 425

*A f loor press is done just like a bench press, but while lying on t he f loor.

In the above example, 425 would represent the lif ter s one rep max. This is the number that should be recorde

and that youll try to break on a later date. Its very important to use this method with only one exercise per

workout and no more than one time per week f or each lif t. The Westside method schedules one max eff ort

day f or the bench and one fo r the squat and deadlift as f ollows:

Monday: Max eff ort day fo r building the squat and deadlif t (while this seems contradictory to the above

statement doing only one exercise per workout its not , in that youll be doing one exercise to build

both movements).

Wednesday: Max ef f ort day fo r building the bench press.

Since many of the same muscles are used f or the squat and deadlif t, t heyre trained on the same day. Actually

very litt le deadlif ting is perf ormed with this st yle of training because of these reasons.

The best max effort exercises for the squat and deadlift are good mornings, low box squats and

deadlif ts themselves. The good morning is probably the best overall exercise f or s trength development and

should be utilized 70% of all max eff ort days. There are several dif f erent types of good mornings t hat can be

perfo rmed. Good mornings us ing a variety of dif f erent bars such as the saf ety squat bar, buf f alo bar, and

cambered bar are classics at Westside Barbell.

Many of these good mornings are performed with the bar suspended from chains. By suspending the bar from

the power rack (calledAnderson good mornings orsuspended good mornings), youre creating the same

specif icity as when you deadlif t. This is because you start the deadlif t without any eccentric or lowering

mot ion. This is also true when you have to squat under a suspended barbell and lif t it to a standing posit ion.

The best max ef fort e xercises for the bench press are the f loor press, board press, close grip bench

press, JM press, and reverse band presses. All pressing mot ions! As with the squat and deadlif t max ef f ort

exercises, there are several variations o f each movement. Each exercise has a specif ic function.

For instance, the f loor press (basically lying on the f loor, benching sans bench) takes your legs out o f the

mot ion so greater emphasis is placed on the pecs, delts and t riceps. The close grip incline press takes your

lats out of the motion so theres greater emphasis placed on the delto ids and t riceps. The board press also

takes your lats out of the mot ion and provides you with the opportunity to t rain at specif ic points o f the benc

press.


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The max eff ort meso cycle should only last one to three weeks with the latt er being for the novice and

intermediate st rength athlete. The more advanced the athlete, the sho rter the time spent per cycle (or t ime

spent per max ef f ort exercise). This is due to t he neuromuscular coordination and motor learning. The

advanced athlete can call upon more motor unit activation (use more muscle) than the novice. For example, th

novice may use 40% of his total muscle while the advanced lif ter will be able to use 80%.

The second reason involves neuromuscular and muscular coordination. The advanced lif ter has already f igure

out and mastered how to do t he movement. His body knows what t o do and when. The novice athlete hasnt

f igured out how to do the movement and is f ar f rom mastering it. This will allow the novice to progress andbreak records f or around three weeks on each max eff ort exercise. However, this wont be the case for the

advanced athlete.

These advanced athletes will have one good week where they break a record then will be unable to break it f o

the next two weeks. So the solut ion is s imple: switch every week! This will allow you to break records on a

weekly basis and avoid overst raining. (Max ef f ort training, by the way, is a process of learning how to better

synchronize the muscle involvement. This is because of the activation o f the central nervous system as well a

other f actors such as motivation and concentration.)

If you dont always break a record, dont worry about it. The strain is more important than the record

itself . With this in mind, if you happen to break your record and it was very easy, to the point that you reallydidnt s train, then you must t ake another record where you actually strain.

Max Ef f ort Parameters

Load (Intensity) 90 to 100%

Number ofExercises

1

Repetitions 1-3

Rest Interval 2 to 5 minutes

Frequency / Week 1 (Squat Day) / 1(BenchDay)

Weeks per Exercis e 1- 3


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The Repetition Method

The repet ition method, otherwise known as the bodybuilding method, is the best method f or the

development o f muscle hypertrophy (growth). This is the method in which all supplemental and accessory

exercises are trained. This method is def ined as lif ting a non- maximal load to f ailure. Its during the f atigued

state when the muscles develop maximal force. According to this method, its only during the f inal lif ts that ,

because of f atigue, the maximal number of motor units are recruited. This system of training has a great

inf luence on the development of muscle mass which is why its become so popular among t he bodybuilding

population.

The f act that the f inal lift s are perfo rmed in a f atigued state makes this method less ef f ective compared to t h

others when it comes to maximal strength development. This is one of the reasons why powerlif ters are much

st ronger than bodybuilders. Another disadvantage of this method is that each set is carried to f ailure. This

makes it very dif f icult to increase your volume and work capacity over time because o f the amount o f

restorat ion needed. Training to f ailure is very hard on your ability to recover and in my opinion sho uld only be

used sparingly. When you extend a set to f ailure many times, the last f ew reps are perf ormed with bad

technique and this, of course, can lead to injuries.

This principle can be modified to what I refer to as the modified repetition method. With the modif ied versio

all sets should be sto pped with the breakdown of technique and there should always be a rep or two lef t in

you. Remember this principle is applied to all supplemental and accessory movements. These movements are

designed to be exactly what they are: supplemental and accessory. The main goals of these movements are to

complement the overall training program, not take away. By training to failure on every set youd be taking awa

f rom the general purpose of the movements, which is to increase work capacity.

The parameters of this method are varied and depend upon the individual. Some athletes develop muscle mas

with high reps and other with low reps. It would be crazy to assume one specif ic rep range works f or

everybody. What weve found to be best with supplemental and accessory work are sets in the range of 5 to 8with repet itions between 6 and 15. This is a rather large range, but as I mentioned bef ore, everybody is

dif f erent. If youve been training for some time, I bet you have a better idea of what works f or you than I could

ever prescribe.

The load or weight to be used should fall in the 60 to 80% range and you should always leave a rep or tw

at the end of each set. Try to switch the exercise af ter every one to f ive workouts in which its used. If you

decide not to switch the exercise then switch the way its t rained. Try to add an extra set f or a f ew weeks. Try

to work it up f or f our weeks then deload it f or f our weeks. The point is to change it up as much as possible.

Modif ied Repetition Method Parameters

Load (Intensity) 60 80%

Number ofExercises

All Supplemental andaccessory


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Sets / Repetitio ns 5- 8 / 6 15

Rest Interval 1 to 3 minutes

Frequency / Week All workouts

Weeks perExercise

1-5

The Dynamic Effort Method

The dynamic effort method is used to train the box squat and bench press. This method is defined as lifting a

non- maximal load with the greatest speed pos sible. This method should be coupled with compensato ry

acceleration. This means you must apply as much f orce as possible to the barbell, i.e. pushing as hard and as

f ast as you can in the concentric phase of the lift . If you squat 700 pounds and are training with 400 pounds,

then you should be applying 700 pounds of force to the barbell.

The weight used should be non-maximal in the 50% to 75% range. In the text Supertraining, Siff and

Verkershonsky state the best range fo r developing explos ive st rength in the barbell squat is two-thirds of youbest one rep max. Angel Spasso v def ines this as 50 to 70%. This method isnt used f or t he development o f

maximal strength but f or the improved rate of f orce development and explosive force. Lets ass ume an athlete

can only get so strong for genetic reasons. If this lifter has reached his genetic strength potential and has

been stuck f or f ive years, can he not get stronger?

I was to ld at one time that I had reached this limit. I was to ld this by several university prof essors in the f ield o

exercise science. What they f orgo t is that if I learned how to better synchronize my muscles to perform, then

could get st ronger by better neural activation. The result was 300 more pounds on my to tal! This is because a

the t ime I may have only been activating 50% of my absolute st rength potent ial. Through dynamic eff ort

training I was able to activate 70 or 80%. (The percents are used as examples, this was never tes ted.) This is

also a reason why the percent should never be as important as bar speed. Everybody has dif f erent moto rlearning and the advanced strength athlete will activate more t han a novice athlete. This is why the more

advanced the lif ter is, the harder the work is.

For example, if both athletes performed a set o f 10 reps in the barbell squat with 80%, the novice would walk

away like it was no big deal while the advanced athlete wouldnt be walking anywhere because hed be on the

f loor! If youve followed Louie Simmons articles over the years, youll not ice how the percents he writes f or t h

squat and bench press have reduced over the years. This is because the gym as a whole has gotten so much

st ronger and more experienced. The percent f or the bench press used to be around 70, now its around 45 to

55%. Many have asked how this can be. Well, as stated above the athletes are now recruiting more motor unit

than before so less percent is needed to produce the desired results.


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The best way to determine what your training percent s hould be is to begin with 50% and have someone

videotape your bar speed. If you can maintain this bar speed then increase the percent. When the bar s lows

down then decrease the percent.

The dynamic days are scheduled as follows:

Friday: Dynamic ef f ort squat day

Sunday: Dynamic eff ort bench day

These dynamic days are to be done 72 hours after the max effort day to allow for proper recovery. The

training scheme for the dynamic days begins with plenty of warm-up set s and progresses onto the work sets

For t he bench press, use 8 sets of 3 reps and f or t he box squat use 8 sets of 2 reps. There are many reason

f or this set and rep structure.

The first re ason is because of Prilepins charts (see be low). Prilepin studied weight lif ters to see what th

opt imal number of reps in each intensity zone should be. Louie applied this research into the t raining of the

power lift s. At the time the bench press was being trained in the 70% range while the squat was being

performed in the 80% range.

This would equate to an optimal number of 18 lift s f or t he bench press in a range of 12 to 24 reps, and 15 liftf or the squat in a 10 to 20 rep range. He decided on two reps f or the squats and three reps f or the bench

press because of time specif icity of the competitive lif ts . The t ime to unrack the weight to the completion o f

the lif t in competition came out very similar to two reps in the box squat and three reps in the bench press.

Optimal Number of Lif ts by Percent (Prilepin1974)

Percent Repetitions Optimal Range

70 3 6 18 Lif ts 12 -24

80 2 4 15 lif ts 10 -20

90 1 2 7 10Lifts

4 -10

The second reason f or this set and rep structure is because it has st ood the test of time and has worked ov

and over again without f law. This has created an evolving system where the optimal number of lif ts has

remained 16 for the box squat and 24 f or the bench press f or weights under 80%. Weve also f ound that


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weights above 80% needed to be handled for 10% of all lif ts . This is accomplished by working up af ter your

sets are completed. These extra bonus sets shouldnt be used every workout, but should make up ten out of

every 100 lif ts .

Heres a sample dynamic box workout:

Exercise Sets Reps Weight Rest

BoxSquats

2 2 135 1min

1 2 225 1min

1 2 315 1min

1 2 405 1min

8 2 455 1min

The squat workout should begin af ter a general warm-up o f exercises such as reverse hypers, sled dragging

and pulldown abs. These exercises should be light and used to warm up and get loose. The f irst sets should

be light and concentrate on good t echnique. Do as many sets as you need with the lighter weight unt il you f ee

warmed up. Progress up to your desired t raining weight. Once at your t raining weight, the rest period becomescritical. Youll only rest one minute between sets.

The goal of this is to f atigue the f ast twitch muscle f ibers. These are the f ibers responsible f or explos ive

st rength and power. We want these muscle f ibers t o become f atigued so over t ime theyll adapt and become

st ronger. The o ther reason is that t he more you fatigue, then the more f ibers will become activated with each

set . A f atigued muscle f iber wont work as well, so the body will activate more and more muscle f ibers t o

complete the workout. A one- minute rest const itutes about a 1:6 work to rest rat io and anything over 1.5

minutes will defeat the training ef f ect.

Heres a sample dynamic bench workout:


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Exercise Sets Reps Weight Rest

Bench

Press

2 5 45 1

min

1 3 135 1min

1 3 185 1min

1 3 225 1min

8 3 275 1min

The bench press workout should begin with a light general warm-up consisting of upper body sled wor

and warm-up exercises f or t he bench press. These can include light shoulder raises to the f ront , side and rea

as well as some light t riceps extension or pushdown movements. After the warm-up youd move onto the

actual bench press movement.

Begin with the bar for as many sets as necessary to f eel loo se and warmed up. Increase the weight with 20 or

50 pound jumps depending on your s trength level and begin the dynamic work sets with whatever the

prescribed percentage is f or t he day. Youll perf orm 8 sets o f 3 reps in a dynamic fashion. These reps should

be performed with compensatory acceleration.

When you f inish the bench press movement, youll move onto the supplemental exercise f or the day. This

exercise should be some type of tricep press or extension movement. The best ones f or t his purpose are the

close grip bench press, JM press, barbell extensions or dumbbell extensions. The intensity should be high and

the volume low. Weve found sets in the range of two to f our with 3 to 8 reps to be excellent. These sets are

started af ter all warm ups f or t he exercise have been completed.

The accessory exercises t hat f ollow should include movements f or the shoulders and lats . These movements

should be of moderate intensity f or intermediate rep ranges. This may be three to f ive sets of 8 to 15 reps.

You should leave one or two reps at the end of every set . This means you wont go to f ailure, which will ensu

proper recovery f or the next workout. Upon completion of these movements youll move onto prehabilation


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work consist ing of external rotation moments f or t he shoulders and light pushdowns and or light s led work fo

the upper body.

Summary of the Four Day Program

The micro cycle of the Westside method is seven days consisting of two days f or t he squat and deadlift , and

two days for the bench press. These days are outlined below:

Monday: Max eff ort squat and deadlift training

1. The max ef f ort exercise: work up to 1 to 3 rep max

2. The supplemental movement:

* This will include one exercise f or the hamstrings. The best movements f or them include partial

deadlif ts , stif f leg deadlift s, Romanian deadlift s and glute/ham raises f or three to six sets of 5 to 8

reps.

3. The accessory movements :

*One or two abdominal movements

*One lower back movement: The best exercise for this purpose is the reverse hyper for three to f our

sets of 6 to10 reps.

4. Prehabilation Movements

*This can include exercises f or t he knee and hip joints . The best movements f or t his purpose include

any type of lower body sled dragging.

The meso cycle structure of this day depends on the e xercise: The max ef f ort exercise should be

trained using the maximal ef f ort method described above and cycled for one to three weeks; then you can

switch to another movement. The supplemental movement should be trained using the modif ied repetit ionmethod and the exercise should be changed in one f orm or another every workout. This change can be

modifying the set pattern or the repetition design or by totally switching to another movement.

For example, you may select the glute/ham raise for the f irst two workouts f or both Mondays maximal ef f ort

and Fridays dynamic effort, but may do four sets of five for Monday and five sets of eight on Friday. Or, you

may decide to do Romanian deadlif ts instead of the glute/ham raise on Fridays workout. The key is to s tay as

fresh as possible and to keep the body in a constant process of adaptation. The accessory exercises may

stay constant f or a longer period of time because the intensity is lower. So you may pick the reverse hyper fo

all dynamic and max ef f ort lower body days f or f our weeks. You may, however, st ill change the set/rep pattern

Actually, the reverse hyper is a staple in our ro utine and is t rained o n all Mondays and Fridays with only slightmodif ications being made. Another very goo d and popular way to cycle the supplemental and accessory

exercises is to cycle the weight in a s tep- like loading patt ern where youll push up the weight being used f or

f our weeks. Then youll drop t he weight back down and build back up again trying to exceed the weights used

f or the f irst cycle. The prehabilation exercises are cycled in the same style as the supplemental and accessory

movements.

Wednesday: Max eff ort bench press training

1. The max ef f ort exercise: work up to 1 or 3 rep max


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2. Supplemental exercise: Tricep movement with high volume (six to eight sets f or 8 to 12 reps). The best

exercises f or this group include JM presses, and barbell or dumbbell extensions.

3. Accessory movements: (triceps, lats, delts)

* This includes movements f or t he lats, shoulders and possibly extra t ricep work. The best movements

for this group include tricep extensions, rows and various shoulder raises.

4. Prehabilation Movements: (training of the joints)

*This includes movements f or the elbow and shoulder joints: The best movements f or this group include

external shoulder rotations, press downs and sled dragging f or two to f our sets of 12 to 15 reps.

The training structure for this day is exactly the same as Mondays workout.

Friday: Dynamic squat and de adlift training

1. The box squat: Work up to 8 sets o f 2 reps with prescribed percentage

2. The supplemental movement:

*This will include one exercise f or t he hamstrings. The best movements f or the hams include partial

deadlif ts , stif f leg deadlift s, Romanian deadlift s and glute/ham raises f or f our to six sets of 5 to 8 reps.

3. The accessory movements :

*One or two abdominal movements f or three to f ive sets of 6 to 12 reps

a. One lower back movement: The best exercise f or t his purpose is the reverse hyper perfo rmed f or

three to f our sets of 8 reps.

4. Prehabilation Movements

*This can include exercises f or t he knee and hip joints . The best movements f or t his purpose include

any type of lower body sled dragging.

Fridays t raining st ructure f or the dynamic exercise (box squat) is cycled in a f our week step-like loading

pattern. If your f irst weeks t raining percent is 60 then youll want to cycle the weight up 10% f or t he next three

weeks. For example:

Week Percent

1 60%

2 63%

3 66%


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4 70%

This f our week meso cycle is intended to increase the dynamic explos ive st rength of the lower body and squa

exercise. All squatt ing is perf ormed on a box. Box squats are the best way to train f or explosive strengthbecause you go f rom a stat ic to dynamic contraction.

The box squat is also the best way to teach squatting technique because its easier to teach a person to sit

back onto a box than without . The box squat is trained using 8 sets of 2 reps. The supplemental, accessory,

and prehabilation exercises are cycled the same as in Mondays max ef f ort workout .

Sunday: Bench press training

1. The Bench Press: Work up to 8 sets o f 3 reps using three dif f erent grips all inside the rings.

2. Supplemental Exercise: Tricep movement with high intensity (two t o f our sets f or 2 t o 8 reps). The

best movements are close grip bench presses, JM presses, and dumbbell or barbell extensions.

3. Accessory movements: (triceps, lats, delts)

*This includes movements f or t he lats, shoulders and possibly extra tricep work. The best movements

for this group include tricep extensions, rows and various shoulder raises.

4. Prehabilation Movements: (training of the joints)

*This includes movements f or the elbow and shoulder joints. The best movements f or this group include

external shoulder rotations, press downs and sled dragging f or two to f our sets of 12 to 15 reps.

Sundays dynamic ef f ort bench workout begins with the same type of warm up work as on Wednesdays max

ef f ort day. The bench press is trained f or 8 sets of 3 reps using three diff erent grips utilizing the dynamic

ef f ort method. All these grips should be within the rings on a standard power bar. The bench press is t rained

with a smoo th wave with very litt le f luctuat ion in barbell weight. For example:

Week Percent

1 50%

2 50%

3 50%


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4 50%

Ive f ound this type of wave to be the mos t benef icial to t he bench press. The supplemental, accessory and

prehabilation movements are trained under the same guidelines as Wednesdays maximal ef f ort day.

Wrap up

A special note about the dynamic ef f ort training days. Remember that the t raining is based upon bar speeds

and the percents are used only as recommendations. Also , its vital that 10% o f all the work sets are above

90%. This s imply means that af ter you perf orm your eight sets , youll increase the weight or work up to a

heavy single or double. The purpose of this is to teach you t o s train in a f atigued state while the fast twitch

muscle f ibers are fatigued. This will teach the body to better activate t he central nervous system under greate

loads.

This may also be called cybernetic periodization. This basically means youll listen to your body. As you

remember with t he Western method of periodizat ion, the t raining percentage sets and reps are set. So whats

to happen if youre sick, injured or have to miss a workout f or whatever reason? This becomes a very

important issue because things do happen that will eff ect your t raining program.

With t his syst em the dynamic days are based upon bar speed so if youre having a bad day, then reduce the

weight and maintain the bar speed. The max ef f ort days are based on the s training with maximal loads. So if

you dont break a record because of a bad day, its no big deal, as long as you st ill strained.

One other aspect about the max ef f ort day. Pick the max eff ort exercise af ter you arrive in the gym. This way

youll apply more ef f ort to the lif t than if you pre-planned the movement and dreaded gett ing to the gym all da

to do it. Just make sure you dont always choose those exercises that youre good at. This is, aft er all, about

building strength and muscle, not your ego.

Note: This article was compiled while I was training at Westside barbell club based on how we trained at the time

and over my decade there. Over time this system has advanced and evolved. To see what they are doing now

look for Louies articles in Powerlifting USA and on the web.

articles.elitefts.com-efs classic the periodization bible

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