Strength Training Articles

It doesn't matter if you are a powerlifter, weightlifter, or strongman competitor, the ability to exert a powerful grip is a tremendous benefit. Developing the forearms and improving grip strength allows athletes to deadlift, press, and carry more weight for extended amounts of time. 

Mon May 23, 2022

Over the years, Westside Barbell has utilized the box squat to create some of the strongest, most explosive squatters and deadlifters. Additionally, we have improved many athletes' strength, speed, and explosive power via the box squat. 

Fri May 20, 2022

You must achieve optimal positioning before moving the barbell, no matter the lift. Finding your optimal positioning for any barbell movement lowers your risk of injury and allows you to display higher levels of absolute strength. When you find form and positioning that works best for your body type and leverages, you will lift more weight and feel better moving it. 

Wed May 18, 2022

No matter the sport, maintaining a strong posterior chain is essential. Strong glutes, hamstrings, and back muscles improve sports performance and lower injury rates. There is no doubt about it; an athlete with an adequately developed posterior chain will run faster, jump higher, and experience a reduced risk of back or knee injury throughout their career. 

Mon May 16, 2022

Over the years, Westside Barbell has produced some of the strongest bench pressers in the sport of powerlifting. We have had lifters press over 600lbs raw (George Halbert doing so at 235lbs bwt), along with some of the strongest geared bench pressers in the world, hitting 900-1000lbs+ in competition.

It's safe to say that Lou and Westside Barbell figured out the secret to building a strong bench press many years ago. One big part of the heavy bench press equation is arm strength.

Fri May 13, 2022

To ensure that all we have previously discussed is understood, I will use this article as an opportunity to walk you through what would be considered an optimal max effort upper training day for a powerlifter. For the sake of this article, we will say this individual is a powerlifter who struggles with tricep weakness and has issues locking out heavy presses.

Wed May 11, 2022

When it comes to max effort training, the two most important factors are the exercises you're selecting and how you rotate them. Selection matters because the movements must be relative to the sport an athlete is preparing for. Exercise rotation matters because it allows us to consistently get the most out of an exercise.

Mon May 09, 2022

The goal is to use this series of articles to provide a common-sense roadmap for beginners to use the Conjugate Method correctly. You may be asking yourself, "what is the correct way?"—the Westside Barbell way.

Fri May 06, 2022

The use of specialty bars for sport-specific training is nothing new. Many years ago, Louie demonstrated to the strength and conditioning world the effectiveness of specialty bars when used to train powerlifters and other athletes.

Today, gyms worldwide are buying specialty bars, accommodating resistance, and specialty machines to give their clients the best training tools. Once again, Louie was right. Formerly, folks criticized Lou and Westside over the use of specialty bars, and now the entire powerlifting world embraces them.

Wed May 04, 2022

It's no secret that good athletes are explosive athletes. As a football coach, you want skill position players capable of reaching top running speeds quickly and linemen capable of producing maximal amounts of strength on demand. To accomplish this, players must improve their absolute strength and rate of force production.

Mon May 02, 2022

There's no doubt that you must develop optimal form and technique to lift the heaviest weights you can. Today, if you speak to practically any lifter, you will notice it is not uncommon for the average person to understand the idea that to lift your best, you must move your best. 

Sat Apr 30, 2022

Safe execution of max-effort training comes down to two factors; properly planned training and properly educated players. You want your programming to expose athletes to different levels of volume and intensity while teaching correct execution of the various exercises. As long as these bases are covered, max effort training is no more dangerous than any other training method.

Do not fear max-effort training; fear having weak players who get embarrassed on the playing field.

Wed Apr 27, 2022

The Conjugate Method is highly effective for a few reasons; an athlete can train multiple strengths simultaneously while also providing enough accessory exercise volume to increase overall fitness and muscle mass. This is what makes the Conjugate Method the most effective method in terms of efficiency and specificity; athletes can alter the main and accessory exercises to change the training effect to meet a specific sporting need.

Mon Apr 25, 2022

Before I continue, please understand the following; 

Louie Simmons is one of a kind, and no one can fill that void. No One. 

Our job is to keep his legacy going, to keep his club’s history alive and accurate while keeping Louie's teachings and methods moving forward. 

Therefore, I'm here to shed some light to our community on Louie's wishes for the future. For ease of delivery, I will split them into 3 Sections; 

1. Westside Barbell: Gym 
2. Westside Barbell: Education 
3. Westside Barbell: Business 

Thu Mar 31, 2022

The law of accommodation dictates that an athlete must experience new training stimuli regularly or risk decreasing their rate of performance improvement. With this in mind, you begin to see the importance of exercise selection and organization. Failure to introduce a new stimulus or a disordered approach to exercise selection and scheduling will ultimately lead an athlete to failure.

Thu Mar 24, 2022

If an athlete needs to address their absolute strength, speed, endurance, or durability, a Conjugate program can be designed to improve sports performance.

There is a need for high levels of all of the attributes mentioned above in grappling-based sports. Over the past three years, I have had the opportunity to write programming for one of the premier Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu competitors in the world today, Dante Leon. Dante is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt and has used Conjugate-based strength training to take his abilities to the next level.

Mon Mar 21, 2022

The hips may be the most overlooked muscle group for improving sports performance. At Westside, we say the key to strength and speed is from the top of the lifting belt down to the bottom of the shorts.

Fri Mar 18, 2022

The conventional belief amongst many powerlifters is that regular implementation of max-effort training days almost certainly will lead to injury. In reality, the exact opposite is true. Failure to regularly expose a lifter to proper training intensities will leave the lifter unprepared and weak, raising the risk of injury significantly.

Mon Mar 14, 2022

After implementing box squats into your training for a few months, you can expect to be stronger, faster, and more explosive. The box squat offers a safer way to squat heavy weights for max effort while also holding the lifter to competition standard depth. When used for dynamic effort workouts, lifters improve their rate of force development, resulting in improved bar speeds and sports performance.

Fri Mar 11, 2022