Book Reviews By Louie Simmons

Everybody knows Louie and the Westside guys in Columbus, Ohio. The gym has its great and historic past with its lifters, innovative training methods and devices. No one knows how the pyramids were built, but thanks to Dave Yarnell - you are about to find out how Louie started his club; the original Westside club from Culver City, California.  Bill West, George Frenn, Bill Thurber, and Pat Casey trained for pure strength training. Before Westside California, bodybuilders were basically the only ones on the scene. It was also a haven for throwers like Frenn, Hal Connelly, George Woods and Dallas...

Vladimir Issurin PhD. If there is a method of determining who will, and who will not rise to the top in athletics, this book can answer many of those questions.  There are many factors that determine this, and Issurin focalizes these points in Athletic Talent. It seems that heredity can lead to one being, as they say, “gifted” toward a particular sport or activity. Some children show great promise as early as 3 to 5 years of age, while other children must be exposed to guidance or education and will show giftedness later -  from 7 to 10 years old....

We all know that Dr. Bondarchuk was a great hammer thrower, a former World Record holder and also and Olympic Champion. His knowledge of sports has certainly surpassed his athletic supremacy. His experience is not only limited to the hammer but also the shot put and discus which is evident by his work on the throws program from 1976 to 1992 which made it possible to produce many world and olympic champions. He became a doctor of pedagogical science at the University of Kiev. Dr. Anatoliy Bondarchuk brought his great knowledge to the public with nearly 200 articles on throwing...

Westside began using the Soviet system in late 1981. It was trial and error, but our lifts were going up at a fast rate. It would seem we were on track with our training, but were we? How could we know? In 1992, the first edition of Science and Practice of Strength Training by Vladimir M. Zatsiorsky was published. Who is V. M. Zatsiorsky? Now serving as a professor at Pennsylvania State University, he received a Ph.D. in biomechanics from the Central Institute of Physical Culture in Russia. He has memberships in the International Society of Biomechanics, American Society of...

Special Strength Training Manual for Coaches By Yuri-Natalia Verkhoshansky            Yuri was very important in my early stages of learning the Soviet training system. Many know Yuri as an early researcher in the field of plyometric training and other shock methods of training (as on page 282 in Supertraining). Many of these methods are used on Maximum Effort (M-E) day at Westside. This makes him the most recognized scientist in the field of explosive strength training.           He was a true expert in the theory of not only the conjugate-sequence system, but also the long delay training effect, special physical...

As you should know by now, the Westside system is adapted from the systematic research of the Soviet Union’s track and field and weightlifting methodologies. There was no powerlifting research when I was starting out. I soon found, however, that one does not train for a single meet, but rather trains for a long-range goal, which takes a long-term plan. For all of you ‘weightlifter only’ people out there, A System of Multi-Year Training in Weightlifting is a must read. The book is about amassing a large training plan that takes an athlete from 10 years old or younger through...