The Westside Barbell training program was invented by Louie Simmons in the s. Today it is one of the most popular and effective powerlifting training programs in the world. If you want to get freaky strong and break powerlifting world records then the Westside Barbell powerlifting program is for you!
In this comprehensive guide I will teach you how to break your personal records on the powerlifting platform using the Westside Barbell training program. The Westside Barbell training program is a high-frequency powerlifting training program invented by Louie Simmons.
Here is a great video of Louie Simmons squatting an Earth-shattering pounds at 53 years old. Check it out:. Westside uses conjugate periodization and many other training methods to build the squat, bench press and deadlift. Conjugate periodization is a way of organizing your training where you train to get bigger, stronger and more explosive all at the same time. He says that if you take time off then you are going backwards.
Here is Louie Simmons himself describing the benefits of the Westside Barbell training program and conjugate periodization:. So how does the Westside Barbell powerlifting club train heavy year-round without burning out? You have 2 days where you train the bench press and 2 days where you train the squat and deadlift. The Westside Barbell Training Split.
As you can see there are 2 max effort workouts and 2 dynamic effort workouts. These workouts are both very important. However, they are used for completely different reasons. The max effort workouts are all about building maximum strength and learning how to strain against heavy weights. Louie Simmons has his athletes work up to a 1-rep max on some type of special exercise for the squat, bench press or deadlift. The dynamic effort workouts are completely different: they are all about lifting lighter weights as explosively as possible.
Louie Simmons likes his athletes to perform speed sets where you lift a moderately heavy weight as fast as possible. At the end of your workouts you should perform accessory exercises using the repetition effort method. Your goal is to perform sets in the rep range to build muscle mass and work capacity.
Here is the Westside guru Matt Wenning giving a perfect overview of these three training methods:. First you perform the max effort or dynamic effort bench press. Then you perform a bench press supplementary exercise. This is a big compound exercise that is similar to the bench press like a board press or a reverse band bench press. Finally you perform 3 accessory exercises for the triceps, lats and delts. These are smaller exercises and are usually performed for sets of reps. This can be any type of squat, deadlift or good morning like the rack pull against bands or the chain suspended good morning.
Finally you perform assistance exercises for the posterior chain. The posterior chain is a fancy name for the hamstrings, glutes and lower back. Some great posterior chain exercises include the glute ham raise and the reverse hyperextension machine.
I hope you found this overview. The max effort method is an advanced training method where you work up to a 1-rep max on a special exercise for the squat, bench press or deadlift. Louie Simmons believes the max effort method is the best way to build maximal strength. It also teaches you how to strain against heavy weights. Here is the Westside guru Matt Wenning giving a perfect overview of the max effort method:. With the max effort method you are going to work up to a 1-rep max on a different special exercise every single week.
You are never going to max out on the actual squat, bench press, or deadlift. That will just lead to physical and mental burnout. For example a box squat, rack pull against bands or safety squat bar good morning would be great choices for your max effort lower body day.
Here are some of the most common max effort exercises used by the Westside Barbell team. Just click on the links to see a sample YouTube video for each exercise! One of the most popular max effort bench press exercises is the floor press against chains. The floor press is like a bench press except you are laying down on the ground. This exercise is great for overloading the top half of the bench press because the range of motion is shorter than a regular bench press. There are many other max effort bench press exercises that you could use.
The important thing is to change the exercise each week to avoid training plateaus. The bands add a tremendous amount of tension in the top position of this exercise. If you have never performed a rack deadlift with quadrupled monster-mini bands then you have to give this exercise a shot! The Westside crew also uses several different specialty bars for squats and good mornings. Some of their favorites are the safety squat bar and the giant cambered bar.
Here is where you can buy them:. So how often should you perform a squat, deadlift or good morning on the max effort lower body day? Louie Simmons has changed his mind on this a lot over the years. He felt that the good morning was the best exercise to develop the maximal strength needed in the hamstrings, glutes, and lower back. There was just one problem: the Westside Barbell athletes were weak on the deadlift.
They had huge squats and bench presses but their deadlifts lagged behind. He told his athletes to start maxing out on the deadlift once every 2 weeks. This was in addition to the speed deadlifts they performed every week. Keep in mind Louie Simmons is always experimenting.
The only people who really know what Louie is doing are training at Westside Barbell in Columbus, Ohio right now!
The dynamic effort method is one of the most important parts of the Westside Barbell training program. Louie Simmons started using it in his program because he could not recover from 2 max effort workouts per week.
When he alternated back and forth between max effort and dynamic effort workouts he was able to make progress again. The dynamic effort method is all about lifting lighter weights as explosively as possible. Here is what speed sets on the bench press should look like:. The powerlifter is lifting the weight as fast as he can on every single rep. This is what you want! The truth is the dynamic effort method has several advantages for the serious powerlifter:.
The Dynamic Effort Method Advantages. One of the big advantages of the dynamic effort method is it improves your rate of force development.
This is another way of saying it makes you more explosive. This is important because the strongest lifters are almost always the most explosive lifters. The more explosive you are the easier it is to blast through your sticking points on the squat, bench press or deadlift. For the dynamic effort bench press you are going to perform sets of 3 reps with 60 seconds rest between sets.
Louie Simmons believes 3 reps per set is best because it mimics the amount of time it takes to perform the bench press in competition. These training percentages could be even lower if you use bands or chains on the bar. The most important thing is that you explode the weight up on every rep. Make your morning email scroll and coffee stronger.
Fix the Bench: Off the Chest Westside Barbell Wed Jun 03, After all the work powerlifters, athletes , and gym goers put themselves through, what can be more frustrating than failing a bench right off the chest? Plate Raise - A Louie special. This move drives the strength of the front delt which in turn translates power from the chest into the extension.
There are no contracts and no monthly fees; you earn your right to be there by competing on the platform. People have moved from all over the world to train there. The requirements are that you must be a pro or be at near pro level. For example, total at lbs, total at lbs, and at lbs or close to these are entry levels at Westside. Before moving here, I had totaled lbs, which is a pro total, yet I was the second weakest in the morning crew.
On top of needing to be strong enough, you also need to be able to handle the training mentally.
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