Strength Training Education ยท Columbus, Ohio
The Home of
The Conjugate Method.
Westside Barbell is a strength training education company. We coach elite athletes, certify coaches, and publish the work that built the strongest gym in history.
What Westside Is Today
One Method. Many Forms.
We coach athletes in combat sports, field sports, and strength sports. We certify coaches in the Conjugate Method through the only program authorized to teach it. We publish the full system โ in articles, in the Field Manual, and in Louie Simmons' unreleased archives.
We run Conjugate Club for lifters who want monthly programming and direct coach access. We produce the Westside Barbell Podcast. We sell the gear used inside the gym.
The Foundation
Louie Simmons & The Conjugate Method.
Louie Simmons founded Westside Barbell and spent over fifty years building it into the strongest gym in history.
The numbers are documented. More than 140 world records. Elite totals across multiple weight classes. Olympic gold medalists. Two 2,700-pound totals. Five over 2,800. The largest total in powerlifting history at 3,005 pounds.
Louie didn't borrow the Conjugate Method from a textbook. He took Soviet and Bulgarian sport science, tested it under the bar for decades, and built a system that produced results no one could argue with. He invented the Reverse Hyper, the belt squat, and training tools that are now standard equipment in gyms and rehab clinics worldwide.
"I'm not going to live forever. But the Conjugate Method will."
The Legacy
Where World Records Were Made.
The original training floor โ red racks, hand-welded monolifts, walls covered in meet records, belts, and photos of the lifters who made Westside what it became.
Two Gyms. One Legacy.
No one is going to replicate Louie Simmons.
That was never the goal. The goal was to honor what he built and keep the work moving. So we made a decision: we kept the original gym exactly as Louie left it. The new athletes train somewhere else.
The Original Gym
The chalkboard. The equipment. The walls. The bars his athletes used to break world records. All of it preserved, exactly as Louie left it.
A living record of what Louie built โ open to visitors who want to come see where Conjugate was born and train on the same equipment that made it famous.
The Athlete Gym
Our current athletes train in a second facility. It looks different. It feels different. That was deliberate โ the athletes are different, the sports they compete in are different, and pretending otherwise would have been an insult to what Louie built.
Here we continue the work: coaching elite athletes, adapting the Conjugate Method for their sports, and documenting what we learn so other coaches can use it.
One gym holds the history. The other writes the next chapter.
Inside The Athlete Facility
Same Mission. Broader Sports.
A look inside where the current work happens โ Rogue Fitness equiment, specialty bars, Dollamur competition mat, and combat sports training space. Everything under one roof.
The Four Pillars
How The Method Lives Today.
The Gym
Visit the original Westside floor in Columbus. The preserved gym where Conjugate was born, open by appointment.
Plan a Visit โThe Pathway
The only program authorized to certify coaches in the Conjugate Method. Three levels. 1-on-1 calls. NSCA & CSCCa accredited.
Get Certified โThe Club
Monthly programming from Burley Hawk. Louie's archived articles. Direct coach access. $30/month.
Join The Club โThe Gear
Bands, belts, specialty bars, apparel โ the same equipment used inside the gym, available to you.
Shop Gear โWho Runs Westside Today
Handpicked To Carry The Work.
Louie was clear about the powerlifting team ending. He was equally clear that the methodology, the teaching, and the legacy had to continue. Before he passed, he chose the people to do it.
Doris Simmons
Louie's wife. Sole owner of Westside Barbell.
Tom Barry
Handpicked by Louie to carry the work forward. Leads athlete coaching and Westside's educational direction.
Burley Hawk
Leads the Conjugate Club, lead writer, and heads all powerlifting instruction.
Mac Macfarland
Leads wrestling strength coaching. Works alongside Tom on the educational course material.
Full bios on the staff page.
How We Work
Three Non-Negotiables.
We share. We don't preach.
Westside has always had an open-door policy for coaches who want to visit, talk shop, and share ideas. We are not dogmatic. If a system or principle we use helps another coach, that's the point. The best coaches learn from each other. We're part of that conversation, not above it.
We help anyone who asks.
A parent trying to figure out how their kid should train. A beginner on their first program. A pro athlete chasing another level. We answer. The Conjugate Method was never meant to be locked up for the few. Louie taught anyone willing to learn. We continue that.
We only teach what works.
Not what might work. Not what theory suggests should work. What we have seen produce results โ in our gym, with our athletes, under the bar. That is the standard Louie set. It is the standard we hold everything we produce to.
Our Standard
Do What Others Won't.
The Next Chapter
The Work Continues.
Louie Simmons built something that wasn't supposed to end when he did. He wrote unreleased manuals. He handpicked the people to carry the work. He spent his last years making sure the methodology would outlive him and keep producing results in athletes he would never meet.
Our job is to honor that by doing the work. Coaching athletes. Teaching coaches. Publishing the material. Holding the standard.
It lives in every athlete who trains this way
and every coach who teaches it correctly.
Common Questions
Frequently Asked.
Is Westside Barbell still open after Louie Simmons' passing?
Yes. Louie Simmons passed away in 2022. Before his passing, he handpicked Tom Barry to carry the work forward under the ownership of his wife, Doris Simmons.
The original gym in Columbus, Ohio is preserved as a living record of Louie's legacy. Our current athletes train in a second facility where the Conjugate Method is adapted for combat sports, field sports, and strength sports.
Who owns Westside Barbell now?
Doris Simmons, Louie's wife, is the sole owner of Westside Barbell. Tom Barry serves as Head Strength Coach.
Where is Westside Barbell located?
Westside Barbell is based in Columbus, Ohio. The original gym founded by Louie Simmons is preserved and open to scheduled visitors. Our current coaching facility is a separate location.
Can I visit Westside Barbell?
Yes. The original gym is open to visitors by appointment. Strength coaches are welcome to visit and share ideas โ that has always been part of what Westside is.
What is the Conjugate Method?
The Conjugate Method is the strength training system Louie Simmons developed over five decades at Westside Barbell. It combines maximal effort work, dynamic effort work, and repeated effort work, with constant exercise variation to prevent accommodation.
It was originally built for powerlifting and has since been adapted for athletes across combat sports, field sports, and strength sports.
Join The Legacy
Train With The Method.
Whether you want to visit the original gym, learn to coach the system, train under it every month, or equip your own gym with the gear we use โ there's a way in.