4-DAY STRENGTH TRAINING TEMPLATE

You can also split up the training like this

y original Skinny Bastard template consisted of three strength training days with an optional fourth day. Although a 3-day template is su cient for building size and strength, I quickly realized that most people want to train more. WS4SB3 will now provide you with a 4-day strength training template. Its been over three years since I wrote the original article, so its about time you skinny bastards graduated to a 4-day split that more closely resembles a traditional Westside split! First, Ill reveal the new and improved template. After that, Ill go over the speci c details youll need to know.

MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY

Max-Effort Upper Body Dynamic-Effort Lower Body Off

MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY

Max-Effort Lower Body Off

Max-Effort Upper Body Off

Repetition Upper Body Max-Effort Lower Body Off

Dynamic-Effort Lower Body Off

Off

Repetition Upper Body

Now that the new template is in place, Ill reveal the changes Ive made since my original article

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NOTES...
Max-E ort Upper Body
Not much about the max-e ort movement has changed since my original article was published. I still prefer a 3-5 rep max (RM) - as opposed to a 1RM - for my skinny bastards. The one thing that has changed youll notice this later on in this article - is the second movement on maxe ort upper body day. We recently started having our athletes perform two high-rep sets of an exercise immediately following the max-e ort movement. This high-rep movement is usually an exercise thats closely related to the max-e ort movement. For example, if our athletes performed a 3RM in the bench press, their second exercise may be two sets of dumbbell benches. We dont do this all the time, but its a new twist in our templates that wasnt covered in previous articles. about to lace up their Chuck Taylors, throw on their favorite Westside t-shirt, strap some bands and chains onto the barbell and start squatting explosively -- youre not ready for that yet! Experience has shown me that skinny bastards do NOT respond well to having a barbell on their back two times per week. Its simply too taxing on their bodies and they cant recover. Also, most skinny bastards have a hard enough time box squatting with a controlled tempo, so why on earth would I try to have them perform the lift quickly? That said, how do I get my skinny bastards to start training their newfound muscle to contract explosively, yet in a safe and e ective manner? The answer is simple: basic jump training! Incorporating box jumps, vertical jumps, broad jumps and hurdle jumps has had a profound e ect on our athletes explosiveness and performance. I also like the fact that jumping helps improve athleticism. The box jump is a perfect example of what Im talking about here. In order to perform a box jump onto a high box, you must develop superior exibility and mobility, as well as the incredible balance required to stick the landing. Im a fan of any exercise that helps develop explosive power, mobility and balance simultaneously! Another positive aspect of jumping is that it doesnt make you as sore as squatting. This is important because we dont want our dynamic-e ort lower body day to take away from our max-effort lower body day. Youll also notice in the sample workouts below that I keep the volume very low on the assistance exercises during dynamic-e ort lower body day. Once again, this is because we dont want to be sore for the max-e ort workout. This low volume jumping workout has complimented our athletes heavy lower body days extremely well!

Repetition Upper Body

The Repetition Upper Body Day remains a staple of the Skinny Bastard program. We still perform our main exercise in the same fashion outlined in my original article, choosing an exercise and performing 3 sets of max reps with minimal rest. Although I use the term max reps, I advise that you dont go to failure on the rst two sets. Instead, I recommend leaving 1 or 2 reps in the tank during the rst two sets and then going all out for the third ( nal) set. Also, in my original article I recommended a one minute rest period between sets. Experience has shown that one minute of rest is insu cient for most athletes. I now recommend 90 seconds rest between repetition sets for most females and beginners, and three minutes rest for stronger athletes. (Three minutes is the max rest period I suggest for the main lift on Rep Upper Body Day.) Another change weve made is that we dont always perform 3 sets of max reps on our main lift during Rep Upper Body Day. Sometimes, we just use a basic bodybuilding set/rep scheme. For example, instead of performing 3 sets of max reps in the incline dumbbell bench press, we may simply perform 4 sets of 12 reps with 2-3 minutes rest between sets. Weve found that performing high
WS4SB III 5

Dynamic-E ort Lower Body

This is obviously the biggest change from my original skinny bastard program. In my original program there were absolutely no dynamic days. I didnt use them because I believed my skinny bastards needed to devote all their time to building muscle and developing strength. After all, you cant ex bone! Although the main focus of my modi ed Westside program is still to build muscle and strength, Ive had tremendous success during the past year by incorporating a dynamic-e ort lower body day into the program. My dynamic-e ort lower body day, however, is not what you think. With apologies to all the skinny bastards that were

NOTES...
Rep. Upper Body cont..
reps to (almost) failure week after week has a tendency to burn athletes out. This holds true even for beginners.

Lately, Ive been throwing in a 2 or 3 week cycle of a bodybuilding set/rep scheme on Rep Day every 4-6 weeks. For example, I may have an athlete perform barbell push-ups for 3 sets of max reps for 2 weeks. After that, I may prescribe a 2-week cycle of at dumbbell bench presses for 3 sets of max reps. After 4 weeks of going to failure in this manner, I may then prescribe a 2-week cycle in which the athlete performs incline dumbbell bench presses with a moderate weight for 4 sets of 12. Rotating back and forth between these two rep methods is a great way to both build muscle and prevent the athlete from burning out.

Max-E ort Lower Body

We have not made any major modi cations to our Max-E ort Lower Body Day. Our athletes have developed incredible lower body strength and power on this program. Im a big believer in this axiom: If it aint broke, dont x it! That said, we aint xin a thing on max-e ort lower body day! Lets move on

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New & Improved Skinny Bastard Template

Now that youve learned some of the theory behind my new training template, its time to see it in its entirety. This first schedule is my basic template. It will work for most athletes during their off-season when strength training takes precedence over other forms of conditioning and technical training. Youll notice, after reading this template, that Ive provided you with a variety of other templates that can be utilized during different times of the year.

Monday
Max-E ort Upper Body
A. Max-Effort Exercise work up to a max set of 3-5 reps in one of the following exercises:

Perform 3-4 supersets of 8-12 reps of each exercise. Group 1

Thick bar or regular barbell bench press Barbell floor press Rack lockouts / Suspended chain lockouts Incline barbell bench press (regular grip or close grip) Close-grip bench press (index finger on smooth part of bar) Weighted chin-ups Board presses or foam presses Chain bench press (*recommended for not-so-skinny bastards) Band bench press (*recommended for not-so-skinny bastards) Reverse band bench press (*recommended for not-soskinny bastards) D.

DB rows Barbell rows Seated cable rows (various bars) T-bar rows Chest supported rows

Group 2

Rear delt flyes Scarecrows Face pulls Seated DB power cleans Band pull-aparts

B. Supplemental Exercise perform 2 sets of max reps in one of the following exercises. (Choose a weight you can perform for 15-20 reps on the 1st set. Use the same weight for both sets and rest 3-4 minutes between sets).

Traps Perform 3 4 sets of 8-15 reps of one of the following exercises:

DB shrugs Barbell shrugs Safety squat bar shrugs Behind the back barbell shrugs

Flat DB bench press (palms in or out) Incline DB bench press (palms in or out) DB floor press (palms in) Barbell push-ups (wearing weighted vest) Blast strap push-ups (wearing weighted vest)
Criss-cross chain push-ups Triceps death Chin-ups (dont perform these if you chose to do weighted chin-ups for your first exercise) E.

Elbow flexor exercise - Perform 3-4 sets of 8-15 reps of one of the following exercises:

Barbell curls (regular or thick bar) DB curls (standing) Seated Incline DB curls Hammer curls Zottmann curls Iso-hold DB curls

C.

Horizontal pulling / Rear delt superset - Superset one exercise from Group 1 with one exercise from Group 2.

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New & Improved Skinny Bastard Template Tuesday

Dynamic-E ort Lower Body

A. Jump training choose one of the following exercises and perform 5-8 sets of 1-3 jumps:

Offset barbell side bends Barbell Russian twists Low cable or band pull-ins Hanging leg raises Weighted Swiss ball crunches Spread-eagle sit-ups (holding DB over chest) Standing sit-ups (using a band or a high pulley)

Box jumps Vertical jumps Broad jumps Hurdle hops (jump over hurdle and land on ground) Box squat into box jump Depth jumps (onto box) Weighted Reactive box jumps

B. Unilateral exercise (w/ added ROM) choose one of the following exercises and perform 2-3 sets of 8-10 reps:

Bulgarian split squats, front leg elevate d (holding DBs or with a barbell) Barbell reverse lunge, front foot elevated Barbell reverse lunge w/ knee lift (front foot elevated) Step-ups (box height slightly above knee)

C. Hip extension exercise choose one of the following exercises and perform 3 sets of 8-12 reps:

45-degree hyperextensions Reverse hyperextensions Pull-throughs Swiss ball back bridge + leg curl Glute-ham raises Romanian deadlift Forward sled dragging, upright posture (3 sets of 30 yards)

D. Weighted Abdominals choose one of the following exercises and perform 4 sets of 10-15 reps:

DB side bends

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New & Improved Skinny Bastard Template Thursday

Repetition Upper Body

DB side press

A. Repetition Exercise choose one of the following exercises and perform 3 sets of max reps OR 4 sets of 1215 reps:

Flat DB bench press (palms in or out) Incline DB bench press (palms in or out) DB bench press on Swiss ball (palms in or out) DB floor press (palms in) Push-up variations Chin-up variations Barbell bench press (55-60% of 1RM)

D. Traps / Arms superset - Superset one exercise from Group 1 with one exercise from Group 2. Perform 3 supersets. Group 1 (Perform 8-10 reps)

DB shrugs Barbell shrugs Safety squat bar shrugs Behind the back barbell shrugs

Group 2 B. Vertical pulling / Rear delt superset - Superset one exercise from Group 1 with one exercise from Group 2. Perform 3-4 supersets of 8-12 reps of each exercise. Group 1

Barbell curls (8-10 reps each set) DB curls (8-10 reps each set) Seated Incline DB curls (8-10 reps each set) Hammer curls (8-10 reps each set) Zottmann curls (8-10 reps each set) Iso-hold DB curls (8-10 reps each set) DB triceps extensions (10-15 reps each set) Triceps pushdowns (15-25 reps each set)

Lat pulldowns (various bars) Chin-ups (dont perform these if you chose to do chinups for your first exercise) Straight arm pulldowns

Group 2

Rear delt flyes Scarecrows Face pulls Seated DB power cleans Band pull-aparts

E. Grip / Forearms choose one of the following exercises:

Wrist roller (2-3 sets of 2-3 reps) Thick bar or heavy DB holds (2-3 sets of max time) Plate pinch gripping (2-3 sets of 2-3 reps) Captains of Crush gripper (3 sets of max reps each hand) Rice digs (3 timed sets)

C. Medial delts choose one of the following exercises and perform 4 sets of 8-12 reps:

DB lateral raises L-lateral raises Cable lateral raises DB military press

*DONT train your grip/forearms if youre planning on deadlifting the next day.

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New & Improved Skinny Bastard Template Friday

Max-E ort Lower Body

Forward sled dragging (upright posture)

A. MAX-EFFORT LIFT work up to a max set of 3-5 reps in one of the following exercises:

D. Ground-based, high-rep abdominal circuit Example: sprinter sit-ups, V-ups, toe touches, hip thrusts. Perform 10-20 reps of each exercise and go through the circuit 2-3 times. Rest 1-2 minutes between circuits.

Box squats (regular bar, safety squat bar, cambered bar, buffalo bar) Free squat s (regular bar, safety squat bar, cambered bar, buffalo bar) Straight bar deadlifts (traditional style, sumo style) Trap Bar deadlifts Rack pulls (partial deadlifts) Tire flip (remember, your max-effort lifts dont necessarily have to be limited to just barbell exercises!)

*Bands and/or chains can be incorporated into all of the above exercises for the not-so-skinny bastards reading this article.

NOTES REGARDING WARM-UP SETS

Youll notice that I dont list the number of warm-up sets for your main lift on Max-Effort days or Repetition Upper Body days. Instead, I use the term work up. This is because the number of warm-up sets youll be performing is determined by how strong you are! The stronger you are, the more sets youll need to reach your max weight. I favor multiple sets of low reps for warming up on MaxEffort Day and just 1 or 2 sets of 6-8 reps before your first exercise on Rep Upper Body Day. Before you warm up with weights, however, you should be performing a 5-15 minute general warm-up. Make sure you have a light sweat going before getting under the bar. Heres an example of working up to a max set of 3 reps in the box squat. Assuming the athletes goal is to box squat 315 lbs. for 3 reps, a sample warm-up would look something like this: 95 X 5

B. UNILATERAL MOVEMENT choose one of the following exercises and perform 3 sets of 6-12 reps:

Bulgarian split squat variation (holding DBs or with a barbell) Reverse lunge variation Step-up variation Walking lunges Backward sled drags (3 sets of 30 yards) Forward sled drags, 45-degree angle (3 sets of 30 yards)

C. HAMSTRING / POSTERIOR CHAIN MOVEMENT choose one of the following exercises and perform 3 sets of 8-12 reps:

135 X 5 185 X 3 225 X 3 275 X 3 295 X 3 315 X 3 It should be noted that these warm-up weights are not engraved in stone! Some people like to take bigger jumps and some prefer smaller. YOU must figure out what works best for YOU! The one thing I will suggest is that if you are

45-degree hyperextensions Reverse hyperextensions Pull-throughs Swiss ball back bridge + leg curl Glute-ham raises Romanian deadlifts

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SECTION 1

IN-SEASON TRAINING

diligently to improve their Most athletes will workoff-season,them to loseduring the strength during the only all their hard-earned gains when they need most: season! Think about what Im saying here. What good is it for a football player to be as strong as hell in April, yet weak as a schoolgirl in November?

WORKOUT #1
*This workout was performed on Monday. (Their game was on Saturday.)

I believe most athletes lose their off-season gains during the season because theyve not been properly educated on the correct way to perform their in-season training. Many athletes try to perform their off-season workouts during the season. Those who do this quickly realize that their off-season program is too demanding to maintain. As a result, they eventually become frustrated and stop training altogether! This, obviously, is the worst thing an athlete can possibly do! Athletes need to understand that they can maintain their strength during the season on very little volume - IF theyre doing the right exercises at the proper intensity. Speaking of proper intensity, its important to get a true max on your indicator lifts before the season starts. This will enable you to make proper weight selections for your main lifts during the season. For example, two weeks before all of our high school football players started training camp, we tested their box squat and bench press. Our training weights and percentages for our in-season programs are based on those max lifts. Another point I need to make about in-season training is that its extremely unpredictable! Athletes constantly contact me in search of the magic in-season program and, as usual, such a program simply doesnt exist. Theres no way to predict how an athlete will make it through an entire season. There are just too many variables involved injuries, school schedule, practice time, easy games, hard games, etc The key is to listen to your body! If youve just had an easy game a blowout, lets say - in which you were taken out at halftime, you can hit the weights a little harder during the week. If youre coming off a tough game in which you suffered an injury and you have another tough game the following week, your best bet is to go easy in the weight room that week and just perform some restoration exercises. Taking all this into account, Ill now give you some guidance by providing you with one (of many) sample inseason programs that Ive used with my football clients.

A. Max-Effort Upper Body lift work up to 5RM week 1 & work up to 3RM week 2. *Be somewhat conservative with your weight selections. I dont advocate forced reps during the season. The goal is to work up to a heavy weight, but you want to get all reps on your own. *I also like performing 2-week mini-cycles during the season in which you alternate between full-range maxeffort lifts and partial range lifts for the upper body. For example: Weeks 1&2 = bench press; Weeks 3&4 = 3-board press; Weeks 5&6 = incline bench press; Weeks 7&8 = floor press; Weeks 9&10 = close grip bench press; Weeks 11&12 = 4-board press B. Blackburns Perform 2 sets of the 4 exercises that are shown in the video link. Hold each position for 10-20 seconds. Rest 1 minute between sets. C. Unilateral lower body movement perform 3 sets of 8 reps D1. D2. Rowing variation 3 sets of 10-12 reps DB Shrugs 3 sets of 10-12 reps

E. High rep abdominal circuit perform 3-4 exercises and go through circuit 2X

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IN-SEASON TRAINING

WORKOUT #2
*This workout was performed on Wednesday, but it can also be performed on Thursday

A.

Box Jumps perform 3 sets of 3

B. Box squats perform 3-week mini-cycles with the following percentages: Week 1 = 60% of 1RM for 6 sets of 2 w/ 1 minute rest between sets; Week 2 = 70% of 1RM for 5 sets of 2 w/ 1 minute rest between sets; Week 3 = work up to 3 singles w/ 80-85% of your 1RM. Rest 2-3 minutes between sets. After 3 weeks, start the cycle over. You may increase or decrease the percentages depending on how you feel. Alternate between a regular barbell & safety squat bar every 3 weeks if you can. C1. DB bench variation perform 3 sets of 8-12reps C2. Rear Delt/Upper Back exercise choose one of the following exercises & perform 3 sets of 8-12 reps

Rear delt flyes Scarecrows Face pulls Seated DB power cleans Band pull-aparts

Although Ive now officially published a sample in-season template, I know Im bound to receive a thousand emails asking me, What should I do if I can only train once a week during the in-season? Im well aware that sports such as basketball, baseball and soccer among others - have multiple games per week. This certainly makes in-season training a little more complicated. One way to combat this is to simply alternate between the two in-season templates provided above. For example, perform Workout #1 on one of your off days during the first week of your season. During an off day on week 2, perform Workout #2. Go back to Workout #1 again during week 3, and so on. If a light week comes up in which you only have one or two games, you can perform both workouts that week. As Ive stated before, you must use your best judgment. *If you know in advance that youre definitely not going to be able to train more than once a week during the season, I suggest designing one full-body workout that incorporates a squat variation, bench press variation and a row variation. This workout should also cover any weak points that you need to address during the season.

D. DB or cable lateral raises perform 2-3 sets of 12-15 reps E. Abs/Low back superset perform 2-3 supersets of your favorite ab exercise with either 45-degree back raises or reverse hyperextensions. Perform 10-20 reps of each exercise.

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