Metal Militia VS. Westside

[Parabellum]

How would you compare the two? I tried to get some Militia traing material but hey are very vague to me.

All that actual benching in the Militia workout, wouldn;t that wear you out?

What would you say are the pro's and cons of both?

 

[SlavikHavik]

they are very vague in their descriptions, no doubt.

however. i find westside training works better for athletics. melitia just makes you strong. all that upper body speed movements has done great things for alot of my skills on the floor (i do some acrobatics recreationally)

 

[spatts]

I train WSB as do most of the guys I train with, but many of us are incorporating MM styles/techniques. We also plan on attending a session with them as soon as we can all afford to. Why pick and choose? Use everything that works. Irishpower saw my bench style and agreed that I already bench that way, I just need to learn how to use my shirt lower and maybe arch more.

 

[Parabellum]

So Spatts your doing unshirted full rane of motion bench presses? This seems like it is one of the main differences from westside.

 

[Furg]

Yeah what Spatts said...

AnimalMass had a great article where he interviewed a few of the militia guys. If you look at their message board and the articles on their site and sebastian's site, you can find a lot of how they train. I agree totally with Spatts. You don't have to stay completely on any program. Use what works for you.

 

[spatts]

So Spatts your doing unshirted full rane of motion bench presses? This seems like it is one of the main differences from westside.

I train raw most of the time, but I'm shirted more lately, just because I'm trying to learn my shirt.

Why is a full ROM bench odd for westside? Isn't that what speed day is?

 

[Parabellum]

I'm less than 4 hours away. Too bad I made other plans for this Saturday. You can't beat a $50 seminar.

 

[Parabellum]

I train raw most of the time, but I'm shirted more lately, just because I'm trying to learn my shirt.

Why is a full ROM bench odd for westside? Isn't that what speed day is?

Sorry I didn't make any sense in my question. Yes speed day is full ROM. But what I understand from MM you do heay bench press on what would be ME day.

 

[spatts]

Yeah, that's one area that would have to change. Usually our guys work up after speed work in their shirts for practice. I dunno...maybe one of them will post here. Like maybe Animalmass. (hint hint)

 

[Parabellum]

Can't seem to find the Animalmass interview. Did a really search in the sticky above and nothing came up for Metal Militia.

 

[Parabellum]

The Metal Militia Training Style
By: Sebastian Burns
There has been many questions and some misinformation about our style of training.I will set the record straight about the way we train and why.This method has led many lifters to new PRs never thought possible.There has been many times where lifters will set 30 to 50lb PRs in their first workout with us and almost always these lifters will take some info home with them and continue to set PRs week after week.We have invited and traveled to train with hundreds of lifters over the years and 99% of them will hit a PR in their first workout with us.Obviously I will not be able to provide hands on attention with this article but I will lay out our workout plan.

We train the bench 2 days per week one day is for low end raw strength and the other is for top end and shirt practice.Our workouts fall on Tuesday and Saturday.
Tuesday is for Raw and saturday is assistance and shirt day.

Tuesday
Raw bench: Grip (Index Finger On Ring)
We work our way up to a 3 Rep Max (3RM). If we get all 3 reps we will go up 10lbs and try another 3 reps.If we dont get 3 we may stop there or go down for a 5 RM Next week we will attempt the 3RM again and go up 10 lbs etc.Total sets = 5 to 8.

Decline: Grip (Pinky Finger On Ring)
For decline we work up to a 5RM with all sets done for 5 reps.Total sets = 5
The more you arch on the bench press the more valuable the decline will be.

4,3,2,1 Boards: Grip (Pinky Finger On Ring)
We usually work up to a 3RM on the 4 board then we may go for 1RM on the next boards depending on energy levels and soreness from the previous workout.Total sets range from 8 to as many as 15.
Total sets on this day range from 15 to 30.

Other exercises that can be done on this day:
Incline: 4 Sets 5 to 1 Reps.
Rope Extentions: 2 Sets 20 to 40 Reps.
Pulldowns: 4 Sets 10 Reps.
Shrugs: 4 Sets 10 Reps.

Saturday

Close Grip Bench: Grip (Pinky Finger On Ring)
This exercise is used as a warm up and we use the same progression as raw bench for the sets except we don't go back down for a 5RM.

Shirt Bench: Grip (Index Finger On Ring)
We will put our shirt on here if the meet is within 4 weeks or so.If the meet is farther away we will do our shirt work at the end before Rack work.Everyone usually starts off with their shirt where they left off with the close grip bench.Starting with 3 to 5 reps in the first few sets to get into a grove of the shirt.Then onto a few doubles then some singles.If the singles don't go well or if there is problems touching or with your groove then we will go right back to the beginning and work all the way back up again trying harder to get everything right.Sets here could range from 5 to 10 to even 20 or more depending on how everything goes.If you don't get it right you must work back through until you get it right.

6,5,4, Boards: Grip (Pinky Finger On Ring)
We will usually try to max on all of these boards and sometimes work through the same board twice if the groove does not feel right or we miss our goal weight on a certain board.Again sets could be very high if things don't go right or if more work is needed in a certain area.The 4 board is optional on this day depending if you did it on tuesday or not.

Rack Lockouts: Grip (Pinky Finger On Ring)
We work our way up to a 3RM using 3 reps for all sets.These are done at the end of the workout when you are tired and want to go home but if you stay and do them you will have great finishing power needed to lockout heavy weight.Total sets range from 6 to 10.

Other exercises that can be done on this day.
Tricep Pushdowns: 3 Sets 10 Reps.
Rope Extentions: 2 Sets 20 to 40 reps.
Pulldowns: 4 Sets 10 Reps.
Shrugs: 4 Sets 10 Reps.

As you can see there is much more volume done on sat then on tuesday and nothing is set in stone.The workouts are dictated by the way we feel and where we feel we need the most work to produce improvement.

 

[Parabellum]

Westside

Wednesday-Max effort bp day

1) Main exercise (do only one of the following) (all exercises are with a close grip, except where noted)
A) board press for a max single or max set of 3
B) floor press for a max single or max set of 3
C) dumbbell presses for 3 sets of 20 reps
D) wide grip benches for a max set of 6,10, or 12
E) close grip inclines or declines for a max single or triple
F) reverse band presses for max single
2)Triceps-either JM presses or extensions for 3-4 sets of 3-10 reps
3)Pushdowns-3-4 sets of 8-10 reps
4)Side lateral raises:3-4 sets of 8-12 reps
5)Lats: pick one of the above exercises and do 4-5 sets of 8-10 reps
6)Biceps-pick a bicep exercise and do 2-3 sets of 8-20 reps


Sunday-Speed BP

1) Speed benches: do 8-10 triples with 55% of your shirt max or 60% of your raw max
2)Triceps(see above)
3)Pushdowns(see above)
4)Front raises 3-4 sets of 8-10 reps
5)Lats(see above)
6)Biceps(see above)

 

[Furg]

http://www.metalmilitia.net/articles/reynolds/MillerDizenzoInterview.htm

 

[spatts]

thanks...that's what I was looking for.

 

[Parabellum]

Thanks for the link. Ha ha still lost, do I rotate the exercises like WS does?

 

[Furg]

I don't train with these guys, but my understanding is that there is no rotation. Each week they have a RAW day and a shirt day which are explained in the article at the bottom of their home page. So each week they do full range raw work, 6-board, 5-board, 4-board, 3-board, 2-board, 1-board, decline, full range shirt work. If you're still confused I would suggest calling Sebastian or Bill Crawford. You can find a # in the old posts on their board. They would be happy to talk to anyone wanting to learn about their methods.

 

[Parabellum]

That's what I thought. I am so used to a WS style workout that everything else just looks wrong.

Thanks for the reply's here and on MM site. The link you posted on MM was just what I was looking for.

I'm going to shoot up there one of these days, they are about 4 hours away from me. The next seminar I'm there. Can't make the 5/24.

 

[Furg]

No problem bro. Keep us posted on what you're doing and how it works out. I'm moving up to Minneapolis in a couple weeks and hope to hook up with the militia crew up there. Then the fun will really start.

 

[argent]

Yeah they don't rotate excercises like WSB. It is a little bit different and I am still in the process of making the switch myself.

Furg your moving to MN? Who is the MM "rep" up there?

 

[Furg]

I think the main man is Lloyd Heminway. He's Crazy Ranger over on the Militia board. Andy Feidler and a couple other guys lift up there too.

 

[argent]

Cool.