that book is real hard. i read it and was more confused then anything. then i found that thread on tnation and it all started to make sense. now i bet if i read it it would make great sense and i would learn a lot. its like its written in a foreign language and i had to learn that first.
here are somethings i learned from westside so far:
-there are 3 main types of lifting, ME, DE and RE day. all are important or you wont get optimal results.
-RE days should be done on ME and DE days and you can have additional RE days outside of ME/DE days.
-ME day should be 45-70% of total volume of DE day, the total you aim for depends on the phase you are in.
-ME day should not use the main lift except for final meet prep work. it should be a variant that directly improves the main lift. the more lifts you have to use the better. variants can be just adding chains or bands as well as specialty bars. these variants should focus on strengthening a weak link in your lift which means it may change over time.
-a great way to decide which variant to use is which one do you suck the most at. be honest.
-ME days are not always just going for a new single. it depends on what phase you are in. you can go for doubles, triples, or even sets of 5 as a new max. the idea of ME is to learn to strain, not to set a new max. although setting a new max is a nice way to see progress. just keep in mind you are not 100% everyday.
-use chains and bands on ME days mainly on singles and doubles during the short phase that has you using them
-DE lifts should be close to if not the exact lift you want to improve. think of it as skill work, greasing the groove.
-this should be done first and stop when speed declines
-you need to find the percentage that work best for your speed needs. for squats i do 40-60%, for bench i do 55-75%. upper body is generally done with higher percentages and the newer you are the higher the percentages as well. i have used as little as 30% on squats and as much as 80% on bench.
-waving percentages helps. in other words increase the percentage each week. say you start with 40%, go to 45% next week then 50% the next week.
-lower body do singles or preferable doubles. upper do doubles or preferably triples. keep the work under 3 seconds. this does not include time spent on the box during box squats.
-DE is all about producing the greatest force possible with the greatest acceleration. remember, F=MA. so increase A as much as possible to match the F you use during ME days.
-RE is meant to bring up weak links, it is not extra volume. you do less RE work for strong areas.
-the exact reps/sets you use depends on what you need, what works for that body part, and the phase you are in
-on extra days that are RE based keep the percentages low like 20-40%. this can be seen as active recovery or conditioning for certain body parts. do 50-100 reps of these movements on these days
-phases are accumulation, intensification, and transformation
-the accumulation phase do much more volume, much less rest, and lower percentages and RE days are more general and not specific to a muscle. it is meant to increase muscle mass and conditioning.
-this can last 2-8 weeks, may not need a deload.
-the intensification phase has very percentages and long rest. RE wok is very specific to weak links. keep it short and heavy as well. it can last 1-4 weeks. probably need a deload afterwards.
-the transformation phase is meet prep work or skill work. i think of it as a taper more so then a deload although work load and percentages are like a deload.
there is a lot more to it all. hopefully this is enough to get people started. the links i put above explain things in much more detail as well.
