PREPARE TO BENCH
The lifters at Westside are constantly going to meets. Many of the meets are small and mostly in Ohio. We like to represent Ohio. Top lifters should lift...
A resource for serious lifters and athletes seeking proven strength training methods. The Westside Barbell blog breaks down programming, exercise selection, recovery, and performance strategies built on decades of elite coaching experience of founder Louie Simmons and his dedicated team.
We’ve undertaken a project to organize our 1,400+ articles — start with the curated guides belowThe lifters at Westside are constantly going to meets. Many of the meets are small and mostly in Ohio. We like to represent Ohio. Top lifters should lift...
Everyone should know what accommodation is. Accommodation causes your performance to stagnate or decrease. Zatsiorsky stated that the response of a biological object to a given constant stimulus...
Periodization simply means organizing training plans of one year or more into shorter manageable plans, i.e., weekly or monthly. At Westside, a weekly plan is used on max...
In the late 1960s isometrics were used not only by the Soviets but also here in the United States by the York Barbell team. They were very effective...
The back has much potential, which is seldom reached. For such a simple lift, the deadlift can be complicated to train. If one only deadlifts, progress will stall...
I am often asked, why do box squats? We do them to produce world-record squats. The late, great Matt Dimel made 1010 in 1985 at SHW. Chuck Vogelpohl...
Isometrics have been around since the 1950s. It was an effective method to develop strength at a particular angle and affordable to most because of the limited amount...
I am frequently asked to write personal workouts for a fee. However, I don’t have the time to do this. Westside makes training tapes on all matters of...
I am always asked to make personal workout programs for lifters. This is impossible to do without see- ing these people in the gym and observing their form....
Did you know there are three main methods of weight training? The Dynamic Method. This method develops and improves a fast rate of force development, or explosive strength....
At Westside Barbell, we often use the contrast methods: bands, chains, and of course the lightened method. For squatting, we use three different bands: the light band, the...
I am asked all the time what we do with kettle bells. Although they have been around forever, they have once again become the rage. There are kettle...