WSBB Blog: What is it Like to Train at Westside Barbell?
Tags: Mentality, Program, Training Partners
Time to Read: 3.5min
Training at Westside Barbell is a much different experience than training at your typical gym. If you come from a commercial gym background, or haven’t been around powerlifting for an extended amount of time the gym and the training style can be overly intense and sometimes crazy. However, there is a method and structure behind all of the madness.
Utilizing the Conjugate Method, Louie has been coaching, educating, and mentoring athletes for over 35 years. This gym, Westside Barbell, is the mecca of all things related to strength and sports performance training. When you first begin training here you are expected to fall in line with the group, and prove that you have what it takes to compete with and contribute to the group.
All of the lifters in a training group serve a purpose. New lifters pay their dues by helping load plates and adjust the monolift, while experienced lifters educated under Louie help guide the training group. The system is simple, the older lifters educate the new lifters, and Lou educates and guides all.
There are two lower and two upper body training days per week, these are max effort and dynamic effort days. On max effort day a lifter is expected to lift at a legitimate max effort level. This means pushing your limits on a weekly basis, always being focused on beating your previous number lifted.
Our dynamic effort days are done with moderate weight using higher volume in regards to set and rep structure. Typically, dynamic effort lower is a day that gut checks lifters as much if not more than the max effort days will. Additionally, the high volume mixed with a fast pace leaves many athletes on the ground puking.
After a few weeks of max effort lifts followed by intense dynamic effort days some new lifters stick around, however many decide the intensity is much more than they can handle on a regular basis and they quit showing up. At Westside our members pay nothing to train here, all Lou asks is that lifters show up and train with the intent to reach their full potential.
When deciding if you have what it takes to train at Westside Barbell you need to decide whether you are ready to live your life around the sport of powerlifting, or if this is a hobby for you. Often, lifters will call the gym and ask to try out for membership because they want to associate themselves with Westside and the history that comes with it. These are the types of lifters that usually last a few weeks to a few months maximum before they give up.
Westside Barbell is a gym created for athletes to train with the goal of reaching their highest athletic potential. It isn’t a club you join to brag to your friends about, it is a place you go to, to become physically and mentally as strong as possible. Lou has the knowledge, the experience, and the gym to help you recognize your true athletic potential, all you need to do is bring the dedication.
