Prep School

In a little over six weeks, I'm going to go on a full Westside cycle, with Dave Tate's 9 week program as a template. I have never been on a full WSB cycle: it has always been experimenting with speed work or max strength work, or trying other things to work on weak ponts like Patrick Nymans Priplepin Bench cycle (adapted for hamstring or back, look on http://tsampa.org/training/scripts/nyman_prilepin_bench/ for details) or an add 50 lbs to bench cycle adapted to wide grip chinups on a Hoist assisted chin machine (brought my wide pullup strength from 92 lbs to 120, but was overtraining on it after week 4, too many negatives/work past 90% 1RM). Of these experiments, the Prilepin cycle is one of my favorites: it allows me to train with a lot of volume in the above 80% to 90% range without burnout.

For that six weeks I'll be doing a Prilepin cycle with the purpose of trying to get my rows/chins/shoulders closer to my 200 lbs bench as possible to balance that out, and a squat cycle composed of front squats with my trusty Sting Ray and arched back good mornings (I neglected quad work for the past 8 months to bring up my hamstrings). For assistance movements, I'm just going to work on calves, glue ham raises, and core muscles, no direct arm work. No speed work, just raw strength. It will be structured like this:

Prilepin Midback: T-Bar Rows (Heavy Movement), Seated Rows (Lighter). I'll do these at luchtime on leg day.
Prilepin Lats: Hoist Assisted Wide Pullup (Heavy), Assisted Neutral Grip Chinup (Lighter). Prilepin Shoulders: Dumbell Presses (Heavy), Hoist Assisted Dips (Lighter)
Prilepin Squat/DL: Front Squats (Heavy), Arched Back Good Mornings (Lighter)
Assistance exercises: Assisted GHR (Pictures forthcoming), Incline Pushups w/pushup bars, Static Back Raises, Parallel Box Squats, Leg Thrusts on Stability Ball, Weighted Ball Crunches, Seated/Standing Calf Raises.

I'll be testing on a few exercises today to test 1RM, then I'll begin next week.