Westside: Specificity and the carry over of exercises

[ZZuluZ]

One thing I've always wondered concerning westside is how it has a completely different philosophy from the one of specificity; that to be good at something you must do it often. I understand that training your weaknesses is important and it undeniably works.... but how well?

Suppose you do actual deadlifts or actual squats every 3 months. In the meantime your sumo DL has gone up 20 pounds, your hacksquat has gone up 20 pounds, your box squat is up 30 pounds, your GM is up 15 pounds, etc... How much should your squat and DL increase? What is the carryover?

I'm just looking for approximations so I know what to expect. You can share whatever experiences you like...I'm just curious what the results are like.

For me, when I had a rough try with westside I found that the carryover was excellent. When my GM would go up about 10 pounds or so...my DL went up a good 20.

Thx guys,

-Zulu

 

[Cubanito17]

I know I can share with pullthroughs but not GM's or low box squats b/c I didn't do them the first time I tried westside. The first time I tried a 6-week program of westside I went up 60lbs on squat by doing pullthroughs which went up 40lbs I was doing them every DE SQ/DL day, I know I shoulda switched them up but they were cool. and it helped my deadlift 65lbs. I'm hoping since my goodmornings now have gone up 15lbs for a triple that my deads went up alot for this Saturdays meet.

 

[ZZuluZ]

Seems like the carryover was pretty big.

The reason I ask is because it seems switching up exercises may leads to great seeming gains, but these are mainly due to a neural adaptation. WHich is why I'm sorta skeptical of the carryover.

Any other input is appreciated.

-Zulu

 

[brianmincher]

Concerning specificity and carryover, there is a great carryover from the different max effort exercises to the main exercise. The reason that you do not need to do the same thing over and over again (specificity) is that if you do an exercise requiring 90 percent or above of your one rep max, or in other words, 90 percent or above of your possible intensity, and continue to do this same exercise for 3 weeks or longer, a detraining effect occurs. This is because the central nervous system breaks down. That is why you cannot just squat bench and deadlift every week, adding on 5 lbs per week, and get consistently stronger. The CNS will not allow it. so what to do?

Switching exercises every week or two that mimic, but are not exactly the same as the core exercise will allow you to constantly get stronger without the CNS burnout described above. This phenomenon is discussed in great length and detail in many of Louie Simmons' articles and also I beleive in Supertraining.

When my assistance work goes up, my bench, squat, and deadlift go up. simple as that. When I could good morning 300, I could squat about 450 -500, now that I can good morning 400+ I am around a 600 squat. A lot of people are reporting a 10 to 20 percent carryover from a box squat to a competition squat. I have box squatted at various heights, 495, and 545, missing on the higher box with 585.

I hope this helps.

B.

 

[ZZuluZ]

Thank you Brian...that was very helpful. I remember reading similar things in all the WSB articles I've read, it's just that I've seen so many contrary things written that I need some confirmation.

Upon reflectoin, WS does seem like the best possible routine out there. I just hope I can apply it properly.

Thx,

-Zulu