Undertraining/strength loss

[Naturalcalum]

Currently doing westside.

Only a week in, getting to grips with it, however, despite training all the muscles involved in my deadlift, im concerned actually training the lift every 2 weeks might hinder my strength gains, or in the worst case scenario cause me to plateu or lose strength.

Will this happen? Or am I just paranoid?

Not so bothered about my squat, cause i'll be doing dynamic box squats every week, so i'll be training it every week, even though i'll only be maxing every 2 weeks.

I just dont want to slow down, or even totally halt my progress on what i deem to be my strongest lift.

Cheers

[NorthStrong]

Currently doing westside.

Only a week in, getting to grips with it, however, despite training all the muscles involved in my deadlift, im concerned actually training the lift every 2 weeks might hinder my strength gains, or in the worst case scenario cause me to plateu or lose strength.

Will this happen? Or am I just paranoid?

Not so bothered about my squat, cause i'll be doing dynamic box squats every week, so i'll be training it every week, even though i'll only be maxing every 2 weeks.

I just dont want to slow down, or even totally halt my progress on what i deem to be my strongest lift.

Cheers

Guys can train westside and get really strong...if they know what they are dong. It sounds like you might not know how to set up a westside style program that works for you very well. I'd recommend you get on 5/3/1 or something similar. You actually practice the lifts you are trying to be good at, and get stronger by doing reps.

[Naturalcalum]

I do understand what your saying, i was on 531 for about 4 months, and i did make some good progress. But im really leaning towards powerlifting, as im entering a meet in november.

Trying to go into a full powerlifting training program, and westside shows some really nice results. I have looked into it deeply, and i (maybe ignorantly) think im ready for it.

[NorthStrong]

I do understand what your saying, i was on 531 for about 4 months, and i did make some good progress. But im really leaning towards powerlifting, as im entering a meet in november.

Trying to go into a full powerlifting training program, and westside shows some really nice results. I have looked into it deeply, and i (maybe ignorantly) think im ready for it.

Lots of strong guys use 5/3/1 or similar, simple programming to get strong. You said you made good progress on 5/3/1. Good progress is good...why would you leave progress behind?

Understanding how to set up a westside program for yourself takes years of knowing your body and not just randomly switching exercises, etc. Honestly I'd go with 5/3/1. Solely for the fact that you said you got...good results.

Look at Bill Kazmaier, Ed Coan, Dan Green, Kirk Karwoski...all brutally strong men that trained VERY simply. But they trained hard, and for high reps.

Whatever you choose to do, just work as hard as you can, while being as smart as you can, while keeping things as simple as you can.

[tom11]

If you dont believe in a program then it wont work OP...

[JohnnyRingo350]

I do understand what your saying, i was on 531 for about 4 months, and i did make some good progress. But im really leaning towards powerlifting, as im entering a meet in november.

Trying to go into a full powerlifting training program, and westside shows some really nice results. I have looked into it deeply, and i (maybe ignorantly) think im ready for it.

Did you stop making progress on 5/3/1? 4 months is just the tip of the iceberg for a routine like 5/3/1. Why stop a routine while it's working?

[jbealsrmt]

Currently doing westside.

Only a week in, getting to grips with it, however, despite training all the muscles involved in my deadlift, im concerned actually training the lift every 2 weeks might hinder my strength gains, or in the worst case scenario cause me to plateu or lose strength.

Will this happen? Or am I just paranoid?

Not so bothered about my squat, cause i'll be doing dynamic box squats every week, so i'll be training it every week, even though i'll only be maxing every 2 weeks.

I just dont want to slow down, or even totally halt my progress on what i deem to be my strongest lift.

Cheers

A lot of guys do DE deadlift movements on weeks they do ME squat movements and vice versa. Plus, if you're programming correctly, the increase in your squat should carry over to your deadlift. At the very least, you will maintain your deadlift strength, not lose it. At best, when one lift improves, both will improve.

If you dont believe in a program then it wont work OP...

This

[mattdajani]

Speed work isn't just to build speed, it's to work on your form as well. If you train correctly and the muscles involved are getting stronger your deadlift will go up. The whole point of rotating exercises and using special exercises to build strength is because when you just do the big 3 your weakest link will always give out first and that can lead to injury. It can also lead to underdevelopment or understimilation of certain muscles groups that might be holding you back. If weak quads are holding back your squat then just doing back squats might not give you the most optimal increase on your squat had you used other exercises instead. This obviously doesn't mean you can't do back squats at all to address the issue but it's part of the reasoning behind the system. If you aren't attacking your weaknesses relentlessly with Westside influenced training programming you are doing it wrong.

If you are a raw lifter you're probably better on a more simple method of programming, at least in the short term, especially if you're relatively new to training and you don't know much about programming. If you're in it for the long haul and you are willing to put the work in you'll have amazing progress once you learn how to setup your programming correctly.

If I were you I'd google "How I would Westside" by Chad Smith, it's pretty simple to understand and it'll save you some time from making some of the common mistakes people make when they base their programming off geared powerlifting. As you get comfortable with that then I would start to read some of Louie's ideas into your programming as needed. If you start off by reading some of his articles or the Westside Book of Methods you're just going to end up confused because he's not a good writer. You need to understand the big picture first.