Louie Simmons

Louie Simmons (October 12, 1947 – March 24, 2022) was an American powerlifter and strength coach. He was active as a powerlifter and coach for more than fifty years. Simmons was the founder of Westside Barbell and has developed several training protocols, including the "Conjugate Method". He is also credited with inventing training machines for reverse hyper-extensions and belt squats.

Career Simmons grew up in Reynoldsburg and Columbus, Ohio. After being expelled from school he worked in construction and exercised regularly, entering his first powerlifting competition in 1966. He would compete in powerlifting for over 50 years. Simmons achieved a squat, a bench press, and a deadlift over the age of 50 years. He totaled Elite in five different weight classes over almost four decades. Simmons is one of only five lifters to total Elite in five different powerlifting weight classes. He totalled Elite in various power-lifting organizations.

Simmons publicly defended the use of performance enhancing drugs to achieve strength goals and muscle growth, including his own consistent use of anabolic steroids since 1970, stating to Joe Rogan in a 2016 podcast, "I went on anabolics January 1970. And so, what is this, 2016? I've never been off 'em." "See, it's not against the rules to take drugs. It's against the rules to get caught taking drugs." Simmons also worked as a strength consultant with collegiate and professional sports teams and his training methods are featured in the CrossFit Powerlifting certificate course. His articles on training methods were a regular feature in Powerlifting USA. Simmons was the founder and owner of Westside Barbell, a private gym in Columbus, Ohio. Membership is by invitation only.

Westside Barbell methods Louie has developed and popularized a system of training named after the Westside Barbell gym, sometimes referred to as the Conjugate Method. The system adapts Soviet and Bulgarian training protocols for powerlifting needs and is well known for its use of resistance bands and chains to modify various strength exercises. combat sports, and football.

Simmons claims that he invented and developed special barbell exercises that are used to target weaknesses in the competition lifts. Upper- and lower-body special exercises are rotated frequently (at least every three weeks) on the principle that training the same special exercise for too long will be counterproductive. The training system emphasizes the variety of special exercises. Different lifts can be performed, for example the good-morning instead of the squat. Competition lifts can be altered by increasing or decreasing the range of motion, such as squatting to a low or high box, performing partial range-of-motion bench presses, using wooden boards to shorten the stroke, or deadlifting from blocks or pins in a power cage. The conventional barbell can be replaced with specialty bars such as a cambered bar, safety squat bar, or Swiss bar.

The loading of special exercises is designed to simultaneously increase strength and speed every week.

The most common template for this method revolves around three methods of weight training used in conjunction with one another. These three methods are:

Overcoming maximal resistance that causes maximal or near maximal muscle tension (maximal effort method). Using considerably less than maximal resistance until fatigue causes one to fail (repeated effort method). Using sub maximal weights accompanied by maximal speed (dynamic method).

Special equipment In addition to developing special exercises, Simmons also developed specialized equipment and machines to most efficiently and effectively build strength not achievable by commercial gym equipment, most notably the Reverse Hyperextension Machine.