Louie Simmons, known in powerlifting circles as the Iron Samurai and the self-proclaimed godfather of the sport, built one of the most recognized gyms in the history of weightlifting.
Westside Barbell, based in Columbus, Ohio, claimed countless world records over several decades. But behind the records and the reputation lay a training system of questionable merit, a coaching style that drove away some of the sport’s greatest talents, and a culture that prioritized chaos over craft.
Simmons grew up in a household shaped by toughness. His father, a World War II veteran, taught him early that backing down was never an option. That mentality followed Louie through his early lifting career, through a series of gruesome injuries, and eventually into the training philosophy he would spend decades promoting.
After absorbing Soviet weightlifting manuals without scrutiny, Simmons cobbled together what he called the conjugate system, drawing from sources that did not necessarily agree with one another. He credited Soviet scientists, Bulgarian training methods, and hammer throwers like Anatoliy Bondarchuk, despite the fact that none of those systems were designed to complement each other or even apply directly to powerlifting.
What Westside actually produced, particularly through the 1990s, was a collection of extraordinarily strong people training in an extraordinarily competitive environment with access to PEDs.
One former world record holder described the atmosphere plainly: “We’re provided all the free d**gs we can take. We’re provided the atmosphere… when you got that atmosphere, anybody’s going to get stronger.”
Yet Simmons routinely missed obvious fundamentals. His lifters spent most of their time training without their competition equipment, sometimes not putting on their suits until the day of a meet.
As Greg Panora recalled, “The problem was that I was getting so good at box squatting with bands, but my contest squat was going down and down and down.” When Panora raised this directly with Simmons, Louie dismissed it entirely.
Simmons also held a firm and widely criticized belief that the squat was purely a glutes and hamstrings movement, dismissing quad development as largely decorative. Jim Wendler recalled
Chuck Vogelpohl leaning over to him during a dynamic squat session and saying, “You know, Jimmy, we all say you got to push back, push back. But you got to squat down at some point.” Vogelpohl eventually left Westside to open his own gym.
The list of departures grew long: Mark Bell, Matt Wenning, Greg Panora, Jay Fry, and eventually Vogelpohl himself. Many reported significant strength gains after leaving. An anonymous former member described Simmons as a master manipulator who knew everyone’s insecurities and used them as leverage to maintain control.
When Louie Simmons passed in 2022, the conjugate system lost its loudest advocate. Multiply powerlifting has faded from mainstream view, and the methods Simmons championed have followed.
