Westside for skinny bastards (WS4SB) was developed by Joe DeFranco in 2008 as an effective strength training program for beginner athletes. Below you’ll find two different spreadsheets / templates for the program.
A few things to clear up up front:
- Westside for skinny bastards is not a powerlifting program.
- The program is geared for general strength enthusiasts, from high school students to working professionals.
- While inspired by Westside Barbell Club, it is not affiliated with Westside or Louie Simmons.
- Like Westside, WS4SB is a templated approach to lifting – not a strict cookie cutter program based strictly on percentages of 1RM. This will require you to do a little reading and interpretation to follow it. Don’t let this intimidate you! It’s a well documented program.
Westside for Skinny Bastards Program Overview
- The original program was written as 3 day per week. A later variation (also by Joe DeFranco) exists as a 4 day per week program. Choose what fits your schedule and level of commitment.
- Day 1 is a max effort upper body day
- max effort lift
- supplemental lift
- horizontal row
- rear delt / upper back
- weighted abdominal exercise
- Day 2 is a lower body day
- max effort lift
- unilateral movement
- hamstring / posterior chain movement
- grip training
- Day 3 is a repetition upper body day
- repetition lift
- supplemental lift (tricep accessory movement)
- vertical pulling
- medial delt or trap exercise
- elbow flexion exercise
- abdominal circuit training
Almost any questions you have about WS4SB are probably answered in these 3 posts by Joe.
- Westside for Skinny Bastards – Part 1
- Original post describing the nuts and bolts of the 3 day program version. If you read one thing, this is probably what you want to read. Includes examples of rep and set ranges, along with example exercises for all of the different movement types mentioned above.
- Westside for Skinny Bastards – Part 2
- How to incorporate running into the program.
- Westside for Skinny Bastards – Part 3
- Describes a 4 day version of WS4SB.
Westside for Skinny Bastards Spreadsheet
Both of the templates below are for the 4 day version of the program. If you’d like to do the 3 day version of the program, just ignore the dynamic effort lower body day and only do the max effort lower body day.
As WS4SB is a template and the exercises rotate every few weeks, feel free to adjust the exercises included in the spreadsheets. These are just a guide and starting point.
Again, please read Joe’s original posts above!
