Why Traditional Weightlifters HATE the Westside Method

Comments · 83

• NO

  @notablediscomfort · 3 weeks ago

  I think the biggest thing that people don't like about it is westside is famous because of the people, not the programming itself. When you attract already solid athletes and put them in a competitive environment, the social chemistry drives behaviors that don't come without that kind of external motivation. Westside is famous because of confirmation bias.

  79

• MO

  @MosabY · 3 weeks ago

  My understanding of Soviet methods, and by extension, Westside .. is a gauntlet that basically filters out anyone that isn't genetically gifted, or a complete Psycho, and the results are people that survive the program, rather than thrive in it.

  33

• TD

  @TDace25 · 3 weeks ago

  I like reverse bands on squats when my low back is sore and they feel pretty good

  11

• AC

  @acebantz7649 · 3 weeks ago

  I love reading louie&apos;s thoughts and what westside was, but I do not follow his program to the letter<br>Imo the strength of westside is to be able to modify your training around what your weaknesses are day to day, as opposed to writing out 14 weeks of training which would be unable to address unknown factors such as injuries, sleep, energy levels, specific weaknesses<br>And trying to work multiple dimensions, speed, strength, hypertrophy, technique, simultaneously always made more sense then only one dimension at a time<br><br>Olivia reeves is one of the greatest american weightlifters, and while she also does not follow westside to the letter there is a load of crossover between her training and westside philosophy<br>To me she her training has the best practical weightlifting implementation of some of what louie believed in

  6

• SQ

  @squatrx · 3 weeks ago

  For people old enough to remember, I think the real hatred came from the dogma and sycophants surrounding WS and its templates. When solving every problem came down to (or seemed to come down to) box squats, reverse hypers, and getting stronger as the answer, people started to roll their eyes. I have always been a fan of WS, but I understand the irritation

  15

• ST

  @stealthassasin1day291 · 3 weeks ago

  Westside method really truly flourished due to the people who joined the group. They were true people of iron and by no means normal. I can appreciate the inventions Louie made while in Westside.

  22

• JO

  @johnallstadt · 3 weeks ago

  Westside was the dark ages of powerlifting. It’s incredible how much the sport has progressed since Westside was at its peak. &nbsp;And the people who trained there and aren’t &nbsp;completely beaten to shit now are the exceptions. Most of them have lost their strength, have zero mobility or athleticism to speak of.

  10

• DR

  @drudixon · 3 weeks ago

  If I remember right the Renaissance guys also had a great rebuttal of Westside, but from a power lifting perspective.

  4

• CA

  @carljacobson7156 · 3 weeks ago

  I&apos;ve had good results from using Band and Chains on basic squatting and pulling movements, but I agree that they are probably detrimental to the lifting form of any full range Olympic Lift<br>They are a &apos;Lifting Variety&apos; exercise modification, but in my experience are good for changing the variables on core compound movements (squats/pulls) and have stimulating effect on the nervous system. &nbsp; <br>Their best use might be when the LIfter is feeling &apos;run down&apos; or bored with their standard training protocols and these changes make the movements interesting again and stimulate the nervous system in a new way.<br>I everything works...for a while... then you need to change some things to create new progress, and Bands/Chains are effective training tools that can used periodically. &nbsp;<br>Then you need to go back to the Basics again.<br><br>It&apos;s like Box Squats - as a primary Squatting exercise,. &nbsp;I didn&apos;t find that they improved my Squat max at all.<br>BUT, on a 2nd Leg Training Day (after a normal Squatting Day), Box Squats are pretty good way to train the legs without taxing the nervous system as much as regular barbell Squats do.<br><br>Although, right now, I&apos;ve been using Belt Squats/Lunges as a 2nd Leg Workout and I really LIKE them!<br>No Back Stress, full range is easier to hit, an upright Olympic style squat technique is easier to maintain and it allows high reps to be done without the overall Fatigue.

• CA

  @casperthegst · 3 weeks ago

  I think the westside method can be done WELL even for olympic lifting however it certainly is not optimal for anything.

  7

• RI

  @rickybobby7276 · 2 weeks ago (edited)

  I actually think the conjugate method is quite genius. People need to try it before they criticize it. Personally when I follow it doing upper/lower splits with max effort and dynamic effort days in a week it helps me recover which is the whole point. When Louis went max effort he doesn’t do a lot of reps and works up slow. Louis was also a big proponent of keeping good form so you are supposed to stop at technical failure. Even on “speed” days or dynamic effort you aren’t lifting that much maybe 20 reps for an exercise. You have to get into the upper sets before you really feel it on your CNS. &nbsp;Which is why accessories were so important in the Westside model because the big lifts didn’t have a lot of volume which was the genius part. So personally I kind of get bored with westside model, because I want to do volume on the big barbell lifts not on stupid machines. If it were my way I’d be doing 20 set squats hitting upwards of 100 reps in leg days like tom Platz. But it catches up with you and you need a strict program to get strong again and let your body recover. Doing the high volume big barbell lifts I would always fear trying to max out because my body was always sore and recovering. But with the conjugate method I’ve found myself always strong and yearning to push myself harder than the program allows on the big barbell lifts.

• HE

  @HenchPig · 3 weeks ago

  I think conjugate isn&apos;t great for oly lifting and likely not even optimal for powerlifters but for wrestlers and grapplers, track and field athletes etc I think it works amazingly.

  1