Louie Simmons Westside Barbell

Louie Simmons is a powerlifter, strength training writer, and trainer.Simmons began training in Olympic lifting at age 12. He was first exposed to powerlifting in 1966, at a meet in Dayton, Ohio. Shortly after that meet, Louie went into the Army. After basic training, he was in the infantry but instead of Vietnam, he was sent to Berlin. He got out of the Army in 1969.



Simmons is the owner and trainer of the legendary Westside Barbell, located in Columbus, Ohio. Westside Barbell advocate the use of a system they call the conjugate method, based loosely on the conjugate parallel system advocated by various strength coaches in the former Soviet Union.

The training week in the Westside Barbell system typically consists of four sessions per week. Two of these sessions focus on upper body work, using the bench press as the main lift. One upper body session is used to lift maximal loads while the other is used for dynamic work using lighter loads with higher speed. The other two sessions focus on lower body work, with the squat and deadlift being the primary focus. One day per week is a maximum effort session while the other is a dynamic effort session, typically using box squats with a fast speed and lighter loads than the max effort day.