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Louie Simmons (October 12, 1947 – March 24, 2022) was an American
powerlifter Powerlifting is a strength sport that consists of three attempts at maximal weight on three lifts: squat, bench press, and deadlift. As in the sport of Olympic weightlifting, it involves the athlete attempting a maximal weight single-lift effor ...
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. In the US powerlifting community he was referred to as the "Godfather of powerlifting".


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 The deadlift is a weight training exercise in which a loaded barbell or bar is lifted off the ground to the level of the hips, torso perpendicular to the floor, before being placed back on the ground. It is one of the three powerlifting exercises ...
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 Joseph James Rogan (born August 11, 1967) is an American UFC color commentator, podcaster, comedian, actor, and former television presenter. He hosts ''The Joe Rogan Experience'', a podcast in which he discusses current events, comedy, polit ...
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." Despite Simmons' views on performance enhancing drugs, his students in the sport of powerlifting continue to cite his methods as fundamental to their training long after they leave his gym. Simmons also worked as a strength consultant with collegiate and professional sports teams and his training methods are featured in the
CrossFit CrossFit is a branded fitness regimen that involves constantly varied functional movements performed at high intensity. The method was developed by Greg Glassman, who founded CrossFit with Lauren Jenai in 2000, with CrossFit its registered trad ...
Powerlifting certificate course. His articles on training methods were a regular feature in ''
Powerlifting USA ''Powerlifting USA'' is an American international magazine covering the sport of powerlifting Powerlifting is a strength sport that consists of three attempts at maximal weight on three lifts: squat, bench press, and deadlift. As in the spor ...
''. 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 band A resistance band is an elastic band used for strength training. They are also commonly used in physical therapy, specifically by convalescents of muscular injuries, including cardiac rehab patients, to allow slow rebuilding of strength. History ...
s and chains to modify various strength exercises. Simmons' method has been used to train athletes in a variety of sports reliant on strength development, including powerlifting,
track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...
,
combat sport A combat sport, or fighting sport, is a competitive contact sport that usually involves one-on-one combat. In many combat sports, a contestant wins by scoring more points than the opponent, submitting the opponent with a hold, disabling the opp ...
s, and football. Simmons claims that he developed and invented 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. Two "Max Effort" (ME) sessions a week, one each for the upper and lower body, require training with maximally heavy weights on the special exercises described above. Two "Dynamic Effort" (DE) sessions a week, again, one each for upper and lower body, call for training with sub-maximal weights but accelerating as much as possible in the upwards portion of the lift. By alternating ME and DE sessions, the conjugate sequence system is meant as an alternative to traditional Western
periodization In historiography, periodization is the process or study of categorizing the past into discrete, quantified, and named blocks of time for the purpose of study or analysis.Adam Rabinowitz. It's about time: historical periodization and Linked Ancie ...
in strength training, in which only one quality, such as
hypertrophy Hypertrophy is the increase in the volume of an organ or tissue due to the enlargement of its component cells. It is distinguished from hyperplasia, in which the cells remain approximately the same size but increase in number.Updated by Linda J. ...
, speed, or strength, is developed in a given week. This is in opposition to the conjugate sequence system used by Soviet athletes which trains one main motor ability at a time while maintaining the rest.The special strength Training manual for Coaches Y. Verkhoshansky and The Science and Practice of Strength Training V.Zatsiorsky and Kraemer 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.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Simmons, Louie 1947 births 2022 deaths 21st-century American inventors American powerlifters Strength training writers CrossFit coaches