Dear Reader, thank you for returning for Part 2 of Lessons We Normies Can Learn from Louie Simmons. If you missed Part 1 go HERE
Westside Barbell in Columbus, Ohio was one of the most dominant forces in the sport of powerlifting. Louie broke many world records, and perhaps as many body parts. This led him to revise old systems and invent new machines to create lifters who were much more resistant to injury.
Today’s article has lessons that are relevant to becoming more resilient.
Motion is lotion: get circulation to your connective tissue. There’s something about a grumpy old man ranting that brings me a little giggle. Perhaps it’s because I am entering old manhood, I dunno. Louie would rant about pro athletes and lifters hurting themselves saying, “Everybody else gets hurt!!! I just don’t know why they don’t do anything about it!”
What he would do about it, (tendon, ligament, and joint issues) was ultra-high reps 40-70 per set totaling 300 reps daily exercises with light bands, ankle weights, or dumbbells. It’s all about the pump and blood flow to areas that don’t have particularly good circulation.
I can speak to the effectiveness of this technique. My hamstrings are well-developed due to my love of deadlifts and kettlebell swings. However, there are several times when sitting on long road trips flares up my upper hamstring. When this has happened no amount of warming up or stretching makes it feel any better.
What works is doing hundreds of standing hamstring curls with cheap 2.5-pound ankle weights. I do them until I can feel the muscle swelling with circulation…. then I do more! It works like a charm. Now I do them as a preventive measure.
*I can’t give you advice because I don’t know your situation. An experienced athlete/dancer/lifter would likely be able to differentiate a tendon issue from a muscle issue or joint damage. If you don’t know, see a physical therapist (preferably one who lifts or engages in lifting/athletics)
The advice I can give with confidence is to move more.
Champions don’t go 100% all the time. Show me someone who says they go 100% all the time and I’ll show you someone who has never given a true 100%. The fastest sprinters, best fighters, and strongest lifters get this concept.
We want to train hard, giving the best effort we can to the session, but not go for broke every session. What will going for broke all the time get ya? Broke!
It’s a lesson in patience and discipline. When you realize that the results you want are on the other side of 100-200 solid workouts per year instead of any single one, your mindset shifts. Read that again.
A little bodybuilding never hurts. The general idea is that bigger muscles move bigger weights. While this has some validity, we can use muscle for something else… Longevity and less need for dieting.
There’s a prevailing belief that muscle mass is highly associated with better quality of life and decreases in all-cause mortality. This means that building muscle in your golden years can help you from wasting away or breaking a hip when falling.
Muscle mass also helps with body composition goals because muscle uses up a lot of calories. Did you know that having more muscle increases your metabolism? For every extra kilo of muscle mass your metabolic rate increases by 100 calories. Dr. Gabrielle Lyon has a quote I like, “Imagine what you have to gain”.
Now that I’ve sold you on why gaining muscle can change your life, what did Louie recommend?
In simple terms, they train like powerlifters for their powerlifting/strength exercises, and like bodybuilders during their accessory exercises. Their accessory exercises were specifically chosen to address structural weaknesses. They also ate to perform and recover.
The result? Lifters breaking world records, who look like they break world records.
The 80 : 20 principle but a little different - the 20 : 80 principle. The Pareto Principle states that 80% of consequences come from 20% of causes. The concept helps us prioritize what small efforts are bringing the big results.
Louie flipped this on its head. Since powerlifting is a win>lose sport, and he hated losing, he addressed an individual’s weaknesses instead of their strengths.
Powerlifters have 3 competition lifts : Squat, Bench Press, & Deadlift. In a session, they’d typically train one of those lifts or a variation of it. The 20 : 80 principle meant that after their competition lift, the next 4 exercises would address their structural weaknesses. How humbling!
Imagine walking into a gym with women who squat 800 pounds and gents who squat 1200. You were the strongest guy in your old gym, but now you’re the little fish again. You have glutes the size of pumpkins, and old Lou is yelling at you because you've got weak glutes. Let go of the ego, it’s time to address your weaknesses.
We aren’t elite powerlifters, but we can all take these principles into our lives to be stronger, healthier, better versions of ourselves, right?
I’m curious about what resonates, so if you can comment on which one of these principles will have the most impact on your life, I’d be grateful.
