WS4SB is Joe DeFranco’s family of strength and athletic-performance templates, not one fixed spreadsheet.
That distinction matters. The original article, Part II, Part III, and the current WS4SB 3.5 product do not give you the same weekly setup.
The practical answer is simple: start with the original three-day structure when sport or recovery already takes up part of your week. Use Part III when you want the established four-day legacy route. Choose 3.5 when you want the current, fully laid-out 12-week version with exercise demonstrations.
Program details
The name makes WS4SB sound narrower than it is. DeFranco stated in the original discussion that the system was not only for skinny lifters. The real target was people who needed more muscle and strength but still had to move like athletes.
It also is not “Westside Barbell for beginners.” It borrows max-effort, dynamic-effort, and repetition concepts, then changes them to fit athletes and less-specialized lifters.
Match the version to your schedule and sport demands. The chooser below shows the main tradeoffs before the session-by-session structure.
Program details
Use the original version when you have three lifting days, play a sport, or already do substantial running and jumping.
Use Part III when lifting is a larger priority, you can recover from four sessions, and you specifically want a separate dynamic lower-body day.
Use Part II alongside either legacy route when your bigger problem is organizing speed and conditioning. Part II is not simply “version two” of the lifting split.
Use 3.5 when you would rather follow the current phase plan than build your own exercise rotation from the legacy articles.
The original program was written for athletes and regular lifters, not advanced equipped powerlifters.
That led to several important changes:
That logic is still current. In a September 2026 interview, DeFranco described the athlete version as a force-and-velocity system and discussed using jumps and throws instead of treating barbell speed work as mandatory for every athlete.
This is why copying a full powerlifting-style Westside setup on top of WS4SB usually defeats the point. WS4SB is already the adaptation.
The flexibility is useful, but it also creates the program's biggest failure point: people change exercises randomly and then wonder why they cannot measure progress.
Program details
WS4SB does not depend on a fixed table of percentages from your one-rep max.
For legacy versions, choose a main variation, work up to its prescribed hard set and improve that exercise’s record with controlled technique.
The original recommends rotating max-effort lifts every two to three weeks. Keep each variation long enough to track progress; do not switch merely because it gets difficult.
The repetition day progresses through more total quality reps, more load for a similar rep result, or better execution at the same workload.
Track the exact movement, load, and total reps. “Push-ups” is not enough detail when the setup, range of motion, or added load changes.
Keep accessories stable long enough to assess them. Change them for the goal, equipment, phase or joint tolerance—not novelty.
The current product uses a planned 12-week phase structure. Do not automatically apply the original two-to-three-week rotation rule to every exercise in 3.5. Follow the version you actually purchased.
A useful substitution keeps the same job in the program.
Use this filter before changing anything:
A close-grip bench press and an incline dumbbell press are both presses, but they do not create identical loading, skill, and fatigue demands. The replacement should solve the same problem closely enough that the week still makes sense.
Newer lifters may need coaching or a fixed progression before managing WS4SB’s exercise choices, effort and recovery themselves.
Choose a meet-specific program when peaking squat, bench and deadlift for competition is the immediate goal.
A physique-only trainee may prefer a dedicated hypertrophy plan because the athletic work consumes recovery that could otherwise go toward more muscle-specific volume.
Do not build a hybrid from screenshots of Part I, Part III, and 3.5. Decide which source governs the block.
Games, practices, sprints, jumps, and change-of-direction work all create lower-body fatigue. Count them before deciding how much lifting volume to add.
A max-effort day is not permission to use ugly forced reps. Build toward a hard, technically controlled set that you can compare with the next exposure.
Record the full exercise variation, setup, load, reps, and effort. This is essential when the main movement rotates.
When progress stalls, change one major variable at a time so you can identify what helps.
The current 3.5 sales material positions the program as joint-friendly, but no training plan makes hard training risk-free. Remove or replace movements that repeatedly create pain, and get qualified help when pain persists or changes how you move.
The links below cover the original articles and the paid WS4SB 3.5 program. A verified Part III link is not currently listed.
Creator article on the T Nation archive.
Creator article covering speed, conditioning, and athlete-week organization.
Paid 12-week program from DeFranco University.
Generic workout, progress, and conditioning log. It contains no copied WS4SB programming.
A verified Part III link is not currently available here.
Get WS4SB 3.5 from DeFranco University. The blank log below is not a copy of that program.
The FitFrek workbook is intentionally blank. It records dates, sessions, exercise variations, sets, reps, load, effort, completion, volume, and a rough estimated one-rep-max trend for sets of 12 reps or fewer.
Program details
Part II focuses heavily on integrating speed and conditioning. Part III is the later legacy installment associated with the expanded four-day lifting route.
A spreadsheet may be useful without being official. Label the owner, source version, modifications, and checked date. Do not let a third-party sheet overwrite the creator's instructions.
The legacy framework is built around performance on selected variations, not a universal percentage wave. A spreadsheet that turns it into a percentage program is an interpretation.
The point is to beat a useful record, not avoid comparison. Rotate with intent.
A three-day schedule can be appropriate, but do not call it the full Part III or 3.5 schedule after deleting a session. Use the original three-day framework or follow the creator's instructions for spreading a four-day split across three days.
More work is not automatically a more athletic plan. Sport practice and sprinting can be the hardest lower-body work of the week.
WS4SB is still useful because it solves a problem many programs ignore: getting stronger and more muscular without becoming less athletic or crowding sport out of the week.
The original three-day version remains the clearest starting point for most athletes. Part II is the conditioning and speed companion. Part III is the broader legacy update with the well-known four-day route. WS4SB 3.5 is the current paid, phased version for people who want the exercise decisions and progression already laid out.
Choose one version, preserve its purpose and log enough detail to judge progress.
