I understand what you’re saying… I guess, to be truthful, the reason why I love Westside is because it worked for me. I started to seriously lift in 2005 (drug free) which started out as a Joe Defranco program but then I went deeper into a beginners Westside template because I was not running track at the time.
I will never forget, pre 2005 I just went into the gym and did my own thing (or a BS muscle and fitness mag routine) and at that time I could only best a 285 squat for a few reps and 185 for a few reps in the bench and this was after years in the gym going back to my youth days hanging out in the gyms in the YMCA!
Well in 2007 (drug free), after using westside I was now reping 500lbs in the squat and 245 in the bench; and just last year got 275 (now working on 315). Even my old roomates saw the change in me (voice got deeper but I might have still been growing after 25 years of age) simply by changing THE WAY I trained.
Regardless, Westside to me is similar to the CFTS where it’s a program that’s engineered to bring out your full possable genetic potential; I just never had the chance to combine the two which I’m doing now. Wish I new this info 10 years ago!:mad:
So, as far as I’m concerned, it’s obvious some guys don’t need to train this way because they grow and get strong simply by picking up a fork!! I met a few guys (one guy is in the NFL now who I use to race) who had the size and strength of a grown man in high school! Well that wasn’t me and no program I ever used (even the BS programs from collage coaches) except Westside has ever helped me achieve a higher strength levels with minimal hypertrophy to boot.
As far as injury’s, I only squat once a week and do upper body twice a week. On my off days I eat healthy and do some kind of restoration work (use to do outdoor pool work which was great!). Another thing is that I left my ego at the door of the gym which means that if I felt I did not have it in me I did another exercise or maybe even just left the gym completely and zerped out in the shade under a palm tree… Because of this; I’m PROUD to say I have never been seriously injured from lifting heavy weights or from switching the main exercise every 3 weeks. (mind you, now that I’m sprinting I just stick to squats, bench and pull-ups to avoid getting sore)
I will admit, I have been lucky to see quite a few fast guys lift weights in front of my eyes who did not lift weights in the manner that I though would be necessary to run a fast time.
For example, I saw Coby Miller play around with 225 (he was injured at the time), saw a 100m UCLA 10.2 sprinter in 2003 play around with 225 (4-8 reps/sets), another 10.1 sprinter I know stays around 225 bench/315 squat, also trained with a 9.9 sprinter who I never saw bench more then 225 (he just did it for reps/sets) and I know of another 10.2/45.9 guy (with long arms and legs) who maxed out at 225 for reps/sets.
Most of these guys were around 170-180lbs.