Thanks for letting me do the interview. After high school, I walked on at the University of Arizona (after a brief stint at the United States Air Force Academy) and eventually earned an athletic scholarship and 3 letters. I played fullback and I can’t say that I was an outstanding player, but I’m very proud of what I did. As for athletic ability, I am above average for most people, but on that level, I was average at best. I then went to the University of Kentucky where I helped train several sport teams, but mainly worked with football. I eventually began working with Dave Tate and EliteFTS.

As for my training background, I began training when I was in 8th grade and really haven’t stopped since. All of my training, at least until the last 5-6 years, was all geared to making me a better football player. After football, I knew I needed something to compete in so my natural choice was powerlifting. I loved to lift and thought I could do fairly well. I did have the opportunity to train at Westside Barbell the last couple of years, although I currently do not train there.

As for my personal life, I have a 3 ½ year old son and plan on one day starting the heaviest, most destructive sludge metal band ever. I am already schooling my son in the way of music – he is a lover of Black Sabbath, Neurosis and the Wiggles. The latter is not my doing. I don’t know if this is relevant, but I find it amusing.

I can see how some people can assume that the Westside Template is only for powerlifters. Obviously, its roots are in powerlifting, but if one can learn to apply the principles, than it can be used for a lot of things. A perfect example is Joe DeFranco’s WSB for Skinny Bastards training program. He took the principles and adapted them to the needs of his athletes.

The biggest problem is learning how to adapt them for your needs and your training level. For many, a couple of cycles of the standard template, which has been outlined many times in Dave Tate’s articles, will give them an idea of what works for them and what doesn’t. The problem is that there are so many variations and once you throw bands, chains, circa-max phase, etc. into the mix, then everyone becomes confused and frustrated. I know because that’s what happened to me. Then you throw in information from other lifters and what has worked for them…it becomes an incredible headache.

So what’s the answer? If you take a step back and analyze everything about the template we can come up with a few “absolutes.”

1. Speed day has to be speed day; your training weights have to fall between 50-60% of your raw max. Once you start operating at a higher percentage then you will screw with your recovery for your max effort days.
2. Max effort day has to be a training day, not a test day. While breaking records is great for self-esteem, you have to have at least 3 lifts @ or above 90% of your training max for that day. Remember you are training to get stronger over a period of time, not just for that day. There is a difference with this. Training is a cumulative effect and just because you don’t break a record on max effort day doesn’t necessarily mean that you aren’t getting stronger.
3. Your assistance and supplemental work has to be geared to getting you stronger and strengthening your weak AND strong points. This is no time to be using fluff exercises that do nothing but sap your time, energy and recovery ability.

We have long been proponents of learning how to train yourself and learning how to train without the aid of programs. The problems lies in the fact that people need to learn how to train by using a template and by trial and error. So in order to get to the level of enlightenment, you have to go through the steps. You can’t expect a beginner to go to a weight room without a plan. I should also point out that people that want to use a WSB template should already be at an intermediate level; this is not a beginner program. You should have a basic idea on how to squat, bench and deadlift and be able to take off your shirt without it getting caught on your collar bone.

So how does someone that is new to the template get started? Here are some ideas and some easy ways.

1. When establishing your 1RM for an exercise, you don’t have to go all out on the first day. For example, if someone has never done a floor press they often are confused at how to gauge their sets and reps. They have no idea what their floor press record is. But they do know how much they can bench press. Let’s say that their max bench press is 250lbs. We will assume that their floor press (or most other max effort exercises such as the two board, three board press) is at least 80% of their max bench press (raw). So their target weight on the first day of floor presses is 200lbs. This is a little low, but that’s ok; it’s their first time doing the exercise. So here’s how they would work up on max effort day.

1x5 @ 95lbs	50%
1x3 @ 120	60%
1x2 @ 140	70%
1x1 @ 160	80%
1x1 @ 180	90%
1x1 @ 190	95%
1x1 @ 200	100%