that's right um [Music] thank you [ __ ] remember that feeling easier usually this is the one that feels like [ __ ] then I get scared that I'm all right [Applause] [Music] you are in the hole 1135 pounds 29 years old just don't excite you guys I'm not sure thank you [Music] I'm really trying not to do [Music] welcome to powerless in the shadows of Columbus Ohio in the heartland of the American Rust Belt lies the world's most controversial gym West Side barbell there's not a power Lifter on the planet that doesn't know the name West Side barbell oh they were like the crazies the collection of lunatics with some [ __ ] crazy strength world record holder after world record holder let's see a lot of guys come in I've seen a lot of guys go out people don't understand what a hardcore attitude you need to have in that gym it was go time every time you walked through the door unless I was a call I'm in this place it would rise at the top of breaking it was literally hell with Lakes they were going to talk [ __ ] to you from the time you walked to that door until the timing left a bunch of violent mean [ __ ] that are kind and gentle in any way everyone lose weight but we're the best at you know it's kind of like West Side versus the world [Music] foreign [Music] the best way to wrap up this interview that I can think of is to have you really a story that we've all heard about eight billion times a lot of Sword a ball from one of your Samurai movies I think that basically explains the whole kinds of of this Channel all right the greatest movie ever made has not Gone With the Wind but it's a Shogun disaster and then the shotgun's Assassin he had a small son called dagara he's a diagram he must choose between the ball and the sword and if you choose a sword you can join me in a destiny to hell and that's what this team is journey into hell to understand The Madness of West Side you have to start with its founder Louis Simmons the only member that has to be at West Side Barbara is Louis Simmons I'm trying to [ __ ] think man how you can even put Louie in the words Louise like Yoda if kind of looks like him now too and [ __ ] a million years old he's a dinosaur these days Louie is known mostly as a coach but his story started long ago my name is Louis Simmons I live in Columbus Ohio I was born in October 12 1947. I'm the owner of West Side barbell we live on the west side of Columbus and you know they call you west side is kind of an insult but to me it's a badge of honor not only do I have a lot of tattoos say West Side for my gym but also because I live on the west side I got 13 teeth that's all I got left practice your skull broken jaw broken hand just getting my ass kicked but it never stopped me you know I think you got to get your ass kicked it's what you learn from losing in the first credit got kicked out of school for the entire year I got in a fight with a kid the day before he took my shoe and I asked my father what to do and he said well if you tell me that tomorrow I'm basically going to kick your ass so I remember going back to school and the kid tried taking my shoe and I'd got in a fight and the teacher broke it up I ended up hitting a teacher I love behold it kicked me out for the entire year so I had two days of school and I was picked out for the rest of you believe it or not at 12 years old I was a block tender and I worked for guy drank all the time but we're nine hours a day I was around Macy's I mixed mortar and carry block that's how I grew up nothing but hard work I was a loner for years I couldn't talk to anyone that's actually how Wade started help me I got my first weight set at 12 years old it was also a very good baseball player one thing I think changed my middle aspect of myself to believe that I could be something a little different than others for once I hit a ball over the fence and absorbed all the people yelling and applauding me as I ran around the bases I Olympic lifted until I was 18 years old I thought you know I was pretty strong where I lived in a party in Dayton Ohio and there was 11 men in my weight class I beat one guy at 11. he was 55 years old and I said this is my sport I decided right there and I was never an Olympic lift again there was no comparison between who's the strongest then I got drafted I have today ordered to Vietnam the air mobile division this will make it necessary to increase our active fighting forces by raising the monthly draft call to 35 000. right out at high school I was drafted into the army I was going on my way to Vietnam but my father died I'm a sole surviving son and so I never went to Vietnam the death of his father meant that Louis was the last male heir of the Simmons family as such he was reassigned from basic training instead of fighting communism in the jungles of Vietnam he would be stationed eye to eye with it in Berlin it was there that he came across the writings of an Innovative gym nearly 6 000 miles away in Culver City California right behind me there that's a bill Peter's West he was originally or the original West Side barbell Club Culver City California and he wrote for muscle power building uh you know there's nothing to do you know when you're on base and you have to be out doing all the stuff here's my only training thing and look at magazines their Club had Bob squats and board press and all these things that you see in my club today actually they were eight years ahead of everybody else it was always my dream to go there that's why anyone who comes here I never turn him down so my dream was to go there and I couldn't so what he wanted was to come here got out the Army in 69 so I started competing full time in the beginning in 1970 and I had no training Partners I go to meet then I would talk to the best Winters in the world I was never afraid to talk and ask questions as it went along it seemed like he was giving a lot more information he was okay he would just open the floodgates and just start talking strength talking bench presses talking squats talking deadlifts he really loved what he was doing Louis made quick strides in 1971 I was already a nice little meet record holder in the squad in February 73 I took 60 55. no ramp of any cotton could he wear a wrist track at the highest total in the World Cup point and then I broke my back I thought my back was impervious to pain I thought it would hold anything if I lost my concentration then good mornings and wrote to L5 so I was on crutches for 10 months severe pain couldn't work couldn't do nothing no doctor could fix Venus is 1973. I had to set a goal I had to come back with no other options Louis looked to his training for answers I used to do a lot of hyper extensions and back raises so what if I do it in reverse so I built up a platform and jumped up and swung my legs underneath and back and it it first it didn't hurt and it pumped my back up this is a glimpse of Hope and I thought well what if I added weights so funny uh we made a machine but no one had ever seen it the reverse hyper would remain a secret for over 15 years until an unlikely event inspired Louis to introduce it to the public Larry Bird he said he's gonna have to retire because he had a bad back so I said well hell if you had a reverse hyper you wouldn't have bad back I was obligated they get the thing out in the general public so people don't have bad vibes all right folks we're going to perform some reverse hyper extensions our day is going to demonstrate this every time you use this machine it works as restoration this is one of the greatest exercises for the lower back and hand-fringing glutes ever devised if you want to come in second don't buy one you want to be a champion buy one thanks to the reverse hyper Louis was back under the bar by the mid 70s his broken back was as good as new that was enough to win Louis the 1980 YMCA Nationals the YMCA Nationals was the best of the best all came there anyone that was at the biggest Nationals was at the YMCA Nationals the 70s had seen the introduction of supportive equipment like wrist and knee wraps which help lifters to handle more weight but in 1977 the game changed for good a company called Marathon released a singlet cut from a stretchy canvas material it was called the squat suit it looked like a wrestling thing that was just two sizes too small you know we all got them there was 50 lifters in there was 50 people wearing squat suits the squat suit ushered in an era of supportive equipment commonly known as gear gear is nothing short of compression so when you're performing a lift the flesh doesn't have to bind up around the joint to stop everything the gear has that stopping power due to compression and there's a lot less danger even though the weights are higher by 1984 gear would be introduced for the bench press as well notice the padding under his shirt or is that padding what exactly is that that's just an illusion but that's called a bench press shirt it protects you from getting any tears injuries The Original Adventure was a tight polyester shirt that took three people to try to pull your head through this little hole and try to hold your arms out like this and it was and you can get the same results with wearing you know two tight t-shirts back in Columbus Louie's passion and prowess had made him a key figure on the scene but it was his belief in others that led lifters to join him when I met him I had never had anyone tell me that I was going to be great in anything it was life-changing my girlfriend thought I'd lost my mind so people I broke up with it but he invited me out to the garage in the early 80s a gang of power lifters was a sight few had seen in Columbus Louis garage quickly became something of neighborhood lore a buddy of mine lived pretty close to where Louis Simmons lived at and he always talked about these big guys that trained out out back in his garage when you first seen the place you lifted the garage door up and it was dirt and concrete it was different on the platform on on the bar in his power rack the 100-pound plates were welded to the bar so if you couldn't start with 245 you just couldn't work out there was no air conditioning there was no heat there was nowhere to run a fan you were either in dirt on the floor or you laid something down to not be in the dirt I mean you were getting eat up by mosquitoes because the windows were broke a lot of guys at that time were going to a World's Gym or wherever they were going because it's nice I thought no you know so I finally got his attention and I wanted to talk to him and I finally told him I wanted to lift weights and he laughed at me and said I got women stronger than you kid my first day in Louie's garage was a Friday afternoon it was a squad he comes rolling up in this big Iron Workers welding truck and jumps out with the cover all on a wife beater tank top I was like this cat's scary he was looking for the strongest people he could find and people that he could make that first group did some amazing things but Louie was about to go back to square one well then I imagine to break my back again in 1981. I tried a heavy squat in a power rack I missed it I dumped it forward but I put the pinch tube on it so it pinned me between the Box and the bar he had broken the same L5 vertebrae from 1973. but at that point I said I'm not going to quit lifting but I better find a better way as he looked around Louis wasn't the only one fighting off injuries the lifters I saw they were starting to get beat up a lot of very strong guys but he didn't last the common denominator seemed to be the way that everyone trained in America there was only one path to follow West imperialization as the weights go up volume comes down they start with high res build muscle mass then you drop some reps and you start to build some power then you do the big ways before a contest now you've already dropped your volume so really you're D training your level of preparedness is going down all the time again when you're handling the big weights you have no base your level of physical preparedness is not there when you're going to a contest it makes no sense to find the answers that Louis was looking for he turned to America's most bitter rifle they are the focus of evil in the modern world back then you talked to Mr Reagan the Russians were comedy bastards who's going to do what akami bastard is going to do the Eastern Bloc countries rasa Bulgaria they worship strength Louis knew that the Soviets had the science powerlifting desperately needed so he sent away for Soviet textbooks budget in Michigan he has a lot of books and I called him up and Bud tells me he says well you know Lou this is a classroom books that's exactly what I need I need to understand my own sport the Soviet texts broke strength training down into different methods for developing what were called special strengths the base of all strengths was absolute strength which was built through the maximal effort method no Max everyday you're exerting all the muscle units that you have that's what makes Max effort Superior all methods use more muscle units but as Louis would come to realize you couldn't simply max out every workout and I'm thinking well I'm getting slower and slower and all the guys that I'm training with are getting slow and slow we need to become faster you only have so long to make a lift and we can hold your breaths along it takes them as pain or strange so long so we how could I lift larger weights faster I started using Dynamic method you know Maxwell's people sub Maxwell weights four sequence mass times acceleration in other words use two days one day to become stronger the other day to become faster this set up a mathematical formula by rotating maximal and dynamic effort workouts Louis devised a way to keep strength and technique consistently High to avoid any fall off in Fitness or muscle size Louis followed these methods up with the repetition method using high volume single joint exercises the final key element of Louie's new system was to rotate different variations of exercises to avoid the law of accommodation the law of accommodation once you do something repeatedly you actually have a knee training effect you start to go backwards that's why you must switch exercise together these Concepts formed what was called the conjugate method meaning that the various components of strength were developed in conjunction with one another Louie's methods weren't immediately met with open arms Louis at first with these weird ideas was thought of as kind of a quack it would take something big to prove him right Louis really didn't get popular even in the lifting Community until Matt demmel came along one of the original Super heavyweight members of West Side barbell's name was Matt demo just a big fat redhead again he says I want to be the World's Strongest Man what do I do I said you get as big as you can you take all the drugs you can this is all right he did that pudgy red-headed kid would grow into a 380 pound sensation it was large man it was very thick long red Mane Big Red Beard kind of reminded you about 1980s Viking Matt dimel didn't just look like a viking he lived like one I remember one story we were in a bar Matt was a little [ __ ] up kind of bumps into one of the guys one of the men at the table said something to him you look around I looked at me and he goes be right back buddy and he just takes the table and he stands it up against the wall and just dunks all the guys on the ground with the popcorn and the pizza and the pictures of beer and says hahaha [ __ ] that's was your average Tuesday night with Matt Damon Matt dimble tried to kill me two or three times we are going to work out he kept talking about pain I knows and said he starts putting all this lotion on and all these knee wraps and we're benching I says damn it Matt I told you to stuff in your head and he turned around at me and he grabbed me and ran me up in the corner and I got him right into Linda Blair I got his head turn it all the way around somehow we stopped and I immediately lay down a bench and do my bench set like this is no big deal so we ride home together that's the way it is [Music] yeah him and Lily were thicker than thieves I think lug becomes a mentor and somewhat of a father figure for people and I think he was like that with Matt in 1985 Matt demmel became Louie's first all-time world record holder by squatting a historic 1010 pounds actually I have had one of a handful of men in the world average brought one thousand pounds Matt demo it's a thousand [ __ ] pounds that was unheard of you know in those days so someone does it the whole powerlifting World takes notice people really started listening close to what Louis Simmons had to say those were big things for me I mean that was the beginning and then it built and it built and it built and it built to immortalize the lift Louis wrote it down on what would become one of westside's symbolic traditions the board I remember that chalkboard from when I was a junior in high school when I'm 52 years old now that board at West Side is everything to say your name's on the board means more than than coming to the gym I do believe there's a funny thing about my gym there's world record holders over the years that my people don't even know who they are because they've been wiped off the board by 1986 Louie's gym had national champions and an all-time world record holder it wasn't long after that Louis moved his Motley Crew out of the garage and into a commercial gym he chose the name West Side barbell after the Culver City gym he had read about in the army and hung the banner of what would become West side's official coat of arms a pit bull Nitro barbells built on dogs dogs never let me down you can lock your wife in the trunk and you can lock your dog in the trunk you can open up the trunk and your wife would be mad but the dog would be glad to see you the new space attracted new lifters among them was a young Chuck Vogel pool he came to the commercial gym and you know he wanted to be strong and they say you know he's breaking world records from the start Chuck fit right in with the Rough and Tumble crew [Applause] hardcore presidents of West Side barbell was set by Louis Simmons the truck the Matt demo the new location also brought in a couple of bench press specialists like Chuck Kenny Patterson was a kid from the neighborhood I started Keen at 14 years old he lived in a neighbor he came to the gym and we're going gee this kid looks like he's got potential just the way it was built huge arms one of like the most satisfying things I ever done was the day I actually out benched Chuck you know so there was one of those things where I was like maybe you've arrived across town George Halbert had heard rumors about West Side I was training just at a local gym and the gym owners and everyone were always in the old together list I thought well that's a bad place to be but the first time I worked out with them there was so much energy there was no way I wasn't coming back in one year George went from 475 to a 628 pound bench Louis ran the front of his gym as a paid commercial facility but his powerlifting Club continued in a separate back room he had the back area which was kind of just for the power lifters he had police caution tape you know on the racks like don't use these Rags regular gym goers were advised for their own good to leave the powerlifting area alone at that time I didn't really know these guys that well and I was warned to stay off the bench tons of times I had laid down on the bench and I heard the door open well then Lou came in Matt dimmer was right behind him and Chuck voguepool before I could get off the bench they had piled on me and beat me I had bruises down my legs on my arms oh my God I couldn't walk by 1991 Louis was 43. the gym was strong and his new style of training had put him back in the game but the wear and tear was starting to show I've had a bad knee injury since 84. I felt every once while me should I get around 800 and squat I can just feeling sliding well I did 735 low box water in the gym and I felt my knee slide Chuck said take another one I said Put it on so put on 760 and I walked it out for money cabinet I had heard 12 patellas break in half I heard him sound like a broomstick and little did I know I'd never heard my own snap in half but I did yeah they operate on me within two hours I told him I'm allergic to Anesthesia there's a three and a half hour operation a week the whole time I was off crutches at night seven eight weeks walking around I was already starting the squad again the second surge you see is where it went wrong I went back in to get the wires taken out I was supposed to be home within four hours of the whole episode they gave me a shot to calmed me down for the surgery and when I fell asleep they came in and the anesthesia also gave me anesthesia and at that time I went in convulsions and I didn't breathe for four minutes and I could just feel people like beating me up on top of me sticking the chest tubes in me and cutting my throat and you know trained me I was in a medically induced coma for three days and I finally come too and I you know I'm looking around all these tubes in me and I look under the covers and my knees not even operate on so I instantly get mad finally get out my throat was take shut and had stitches in my sides my wife and Chuck welcome drive me out of the hospital to the gym and Boca pool says you're maxing out so I lay down and I've been 350 with a hole in my throat chest tubes and malignant cast and I can remember picking him up off the bench I mean he's got a hole and that's when it tells you no matter what you've got wrong there's not an excuse there's never an excuse eventually the casts came off but flatlining on an operating table had wrecked Louie's mind my brain was destroyed for well over a year I had to quit work I mean I was a crane operator basically couldn't remember how to run a crane to make things even worse the event had left Louis with a permanent complication since 1991 I never spent more than an hour at a time my wife can vouch for this that son of a [ __ ] will not sleep it's because when they tricked his throat when he falls asleep his esophagus closes and it causes him to choke and wake up you know be like me getting ready to choke you right before you fall asleep you're not going to sleep very long right so I'm in severe pain all the time I'm 43 and I said well time for me to give this up injuries and a briefcase of death had finally done him in if he couldn't compete Louis would build West Side into the world's strongest gym to do that he needed more bodies I remember Louis right when I went up on the platform sticking his fingers in my belt and saying breathe into your stomach breathe into your stomach show me how fat you are and I can defense this old man doing it so then I get another barn like I took the bar out and I called my God this feels like nothing this guy's magic it was after that that we spoke a little bit more and I said look I'm one semester away from graduating he's like well you should move down to Columbus and I remember leaving that day thinking this is where I need to be but even as Dave had uprooted his life to come to West Side he still wasn't sold on Louise train I didn't believe anything Louis said for about a year and I trained in the afternoon kept doing my old [ __ ] he argued with me about training must have went nowhere for six months or eight months or ten months and got to a point where Louis was ready to throw me out so it was one of those conversations where it was like okay I understand here's the deal I will change my schedule at work and I'll come in and train in the morning you tell me what the [ __ ] to do I'll do what you do that way if I don't get better it's your fault online my total went up 200 pounds despite the new faces Matt dimel was still West side's resident alpha male but this didn't stop challenges from the up-and-coming Chuck Vogel poll I always told that Chuck don't mess with Matt said he's too big and he's faster than you think Matt was probably 380 385 pounds and the Chuck was a little 198 pounder so Chuck decides he's going to wrestle man Matt gets you've been a guillotine broke his neck and Chuck had a knack and Chuck went from a 485 bench to a 135 inch so he goes to the doctor gets his neck x-rayed doctor comes like running in and puts him in a [ __ ] neck brace like this and said if you'd have sneeze you'd have been a quad Matt demill had been a terror since he came to West Side both in and out of the gym and Matt was a crazy [ __ ] he probably had a rap seat longer than probably anybody in Columbus I build Matt demwell jail about every two months get a call in the middle of the night 535 go downtown pay to Baylor wouldn't even let him on the gym when I first got there Matt was still in prison but when he came out he seemed like he really wanted to do well again and clean up his act he started training and he won the senior Nationals but then somehow that kind of fell by the wayside The Years of Living hard and lifting heavy were taking their toll on Matt Matt had injuries that he should have been able to come back from and it really bothered me that was the downfall you could see the start the injuries sent Matt into a dark spiral met this girl that was a stripper she got him in heroin and that was that Lou tried to guide him and he did but you can't force somebody to be sober at that time he wasn't going out of his apartment it was kind of holed up and paranoid Matt got caught up and I couldn't stop it anymore I could control it for a while we were that good of friends that when I said something or not and after a certain point even I couldn't control he died when I was 31. he was 34. the indeed on cocaine and hair and his girlfriend loaded up an eight ball cocaine and two grams of heroin and one syringe and shot up his arm one time his heart literally exploded and when I found him his head blood all over the bedroom floor through his mouth I remember the day Matt had passed away and what I remember more than anything else is when we got into the gym you know I don't know who it did or what happened it just you know it's just this one's for Matt and somebody just [ __ ] cranked up the AC DC as loud as it would go and we just [ __ ] benched our asses off and that was that was our send-off he was our first world record holder I mean he was a good friend he's like my stepson was dealing with losing him different no Louis didn't go to the funeral I didn't go to his funeral he's just he was gone but he was buried with the Westside marble shirt I don't think he he ever came into how strong he really was I don't think he got it I don't think he got a chance to show it he would have been right up there with a lot of the guys now and that's why I always wondered what it would have been like if he was still around what numbers could he have put up I mean no one knows Matt would be among the first deaths at west side but certainly not the last today a quiet back wall stands is the only subtle nod to death and the ultimate price of Life under the iron if you get out of my gym you also knows what that's there on one wall Susie Benford world champion died of cancer she had cancer before she ever came to the gym at 97 pounds she Tethered to 347 and Tom Bellucci Tom palucci was a friend of mine since 1970 and he died of heart attack but he'd had a kidney replacement for around 29 years prior to that his son's still in my gym and on the other wall he got those men from the original West Side Bar book club and they're dead so if you want to get a picture of my gym of yourself die and get famous first and I'll put your picture up if you're a sock lifter you're not getting your picture by the mid 90s Louis abandoned the commercial gym and moved his lifters into a small facility in a run-down strip mall thankfully Louie found another place we went to the gym on the same road demonstroke 800 square feet with the windows blackout in the ghetto he wanted to have it back like the old days larkham step one of bringing back the old garage feeling was dropping the membership fee and hand selecting his lifters here you are training at the strongest gym in the world with the best coach in the world and it cost zero dollars he keeps it free because he puts the time and effort into people they he deems Worthy as the gym grew Louis became more of Coach his Focus became everyone else and not himself I thought you know as I got older I mean I broke every bone in my body I've almost died twice in this Sport and I said well you know eventually I gotta teach people how to train correctly I started making tapes because I still had guy all these good lifters in the gym [Music] barbell I've made over 20 DVDs I made a DVD in the mid 90s with the Green Bay Packers I'm Kent Johnston strength and conditioning coach for the Green Bay Packers when I was in college my roommate he had the West Side barbell videos and there was a number at the very end so I called the number and literally talked me through the program I hear on the other line West Side this is Louie and I'm like holy [ __ ] it's Louis Simmons why is he picking up his own phone what is going on here there was no let me get on YouTube and watch it if you wanted to know something you could call somebody on the phone or get a powerlifting USA when I started looking at West Side it was through powerlifting USA in the 90s we had a lot of teams used to come and hang out with us and strength catches you know going to the Green Bay Packers training camp to train them you know or the Chicago Bulls coaches coming in or whoever all these different people that are paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to coach million dollar athletes are coming to listen to you know six guys on a Friday morning during a squat workout in the early 90s we showed up to Columbus Ohio forgot to get Louie's address so I thought well I'll call some gyms and I'll ask around the first two gems refuse to tell me where it was they said we're not going to be liable for what happens to you finally the third guy says yeah yeah I know where it's at but you you don't know where you got this information from first of all all the windows were painted black we don't know whether you're walking in the west side barbell or whether you're walking into some shady strip club or something like that I was looking for this big neon sign saying west side and Louis Simmons and you show up and it's just it's really a dump but you see these massive met lifting massive amounts of weight you really don't know what true strength is until you watch these guys train but what really got me about it was the competitive nature of West Side any given morning could turn into a full-blown competition with cash in the chalk Bowl within minutes and then they just messed with each other you know it got kind of violent I kept thinking well there you go I'll start fighting here in a minute or this just activity this is just how they operate and let's get crazy man but not here in church here we're lifting weights looking back on it it's like well what was the positive quality of all of it I don't know but we all got stronger by now powerlifting was evolving in the late 80s that Federation split Ernie France developed the APF started off at single ply and then it developed more to multiply multiply referred to the thickness of gear a lift of War the original squat suit and bench shirts had been constructed of a single layer of material eventually somebody doubled up on the layers breed of extreme lifting was born multiply is Top Fuel so you're already strong you put that on you're even stronger but then they had to learn how to train with that equipment you got to find that way to be poetry in your gear and not looking like you put clothes on a refrigerator all of a sudden the crazy dudes jump into multiply and that took on a whole different direction on its own it was a huge dominance of all the multiply stuff then the wpo comes along they're offering big money so where's everybody go we went to wpo if you like incredible displays of strength then put down that remote you've come to the right place this is the first professional powerlifting championship the wpo paired the aggressive nature of multiply lifting with the lights and spectacle of professional wrestling I didn't want to lose all sense I'm going incredibly insane the Federation recruited the top lifters in the world to compete head to head for big cash prizes the rise of the wpo gave everybody a chance to reach a pro level Empower lifting which was multiply with money on the line the innovation of the gear really took off especially with bench shirts one year all of our guys got their shirts on I mean overall jacked in these tight shirts and these two cats come over here and they got their shirts got clean up the bat Louie's like what the hell how's that going to work we watched this guy in the warm-up room barely bench 405 and put this shirt on and takes 660 and RAM it off the boards and I looked at Louie and I said I don't know that we're going to talk to him when the meet's over Sunday morning Louie's over there with a pair of [ __ ] scissors cutting up 200 France men shirts the modifications to the Gear would send numbers soaring for years to come through the years most of the names West Side was known for had trained early in the morning with Louis but as the gang grew larger it eventually spilled over into a second less heralded shift the night crew despite sharing a roof the night crew treated Louis in the morning loop as hostels the Nike who hated me all I had to do was walk into place and they were they were ticked off of me but I always had a saying that the am crew was 12 hours ahead of the PM crew one of the first major rivalries between the two units featured Kenny Patterson and George Halbert when it came to the bench press Kenny Patterson simply could not be beat Kenny was the number one lifter in the world I was a world record holder 242 and 220 along with 275 all at the same time he edged out George at every turn I knew that I wasn't beat him in 275. I went down to 220. I broke my first world record and then I went up to 242 and I broke my second world record well Kenny decided he's going to come down to t42 and Kenny came down to 242. took my world record away if he walked out there with the world record the first day in my mind was I need to get back to the gym because I have to get that back with no way around Kenny George tried a bold weight cut one of my training Partners was a former bodybuilder that talked to him and said how do I get Lane came down to 198 I went to a local me open up with the world record and made it easy and I left then the rise was on he broke eight World Records in a bench in a rough that's when myself and George and Chuck and Dave that's when we kind of created our error when West Side rolled into a meet the whole room took notice if you go to a meet you see the West Side crew no this [ __ ] just got real because their names were on all the records I can remember why weighed in and I meet Dean Glick because oh you're the only one here from west side and I went no the rest of them are coming I'm just the one they sent in first and around the corner here comes the rest of them and he just put his head down apparently you didn't like that answer apparently you know that you guys are going to get beat we would bring like a group of 20 or 30 dudes to a meet and they all would be gigantic that's when we show to dominate we won the APF seniors ninety three four five six and seven and their world body WPC and an international contest you just scored six people you know American scores sick everybody score six well Westside can head fourth first in two seconds we would have won the world's two years in a row we would have been to United States and everybody else is how dominant we were and a lot of people don't even know that you know they didn't know people popped up in the 2000s they only hated since then West side's Ascent was not built off of brutality and testosterone alone I mean if you want to know about the explosion in the 90s and what happened what happened was chains and bands for years Louis had chased an idea called accommodating resistance where the resistance increased to meet the strength curve of the lifter the Soviets had written about accommodating resistance but Louis had yet to find a way to apply it to the barbell the closest he had ever seen was a Soviet device called a weight releaser weight releasers are apparatus that the Russians started years ago for when it went down it would hit the bottom and become Baltimore an old man called me at one time don't know the concept that the weight releases and I told him said that's like change I said well explain what you mean they used to put chains on the bar they would go down the chain would unload the links would fall on the ground they'd come back off and you lift it up I go whoa that's that's better than what I'm doing so I started using chains and I I never wrote about them until we went to three major meets I was reading an article that he wrote about how you use the chains for resistance man I got to go see how he's doing that I had already been introduced to rubber bands so when I went out to see Louie I asked you about the chance and I told him about the bands Dave Williams and Liberty asked me about using bands I knew about them but I didn't know where to get them I never seen any fans but do what we're doing so he told me about dick hard to a jump stretch at the time so did came to Columbus Ohio actually that weekend to do a basketball seminar so when I went after I looked at these bands but I go what if I put them on my shoulders and I stood up in the bottom I had no tension but if I stood up it turned into 250. I realized right then I had to put these on a Barbie the bands constitute extra kinetic energy the barbell is going down faster than actually Gravity the key to strength is over speed of Centrics the faster down the faster up change did not provide overspeed eccentrics bands do we got him went back so hooked them on barbells and lo and behold my gym took another tremendous surge in strength and we hung those [ __ ] things on everything you could hang them up you'd look at it and go you sure that's safe and the first guy would get [ __ ] obliterated and I'd be like whoa way too much bad attention if you back that one down a little bit we were pushing the boundaries of everything we brought in there what's really cool is the reason we got the bands was because people will send them stuff be like hey try this out I learned these concepts by accident someone called me to ask me a question and I learned something from them and a guy one time said well Louie Sims never invented chains and he didn't invent bands I said that's right I didn't invent total paper here I was smart enough to use it I took the bands into the bench press Arena and Chuck took the badge into the squad Arena he discovered the more bands that he used the stronger he got on squat day when you walked in Chuck Liverpool was the man Chuck Vogel when he was in the gym he held Court I'd get a bloody nose just watching them he was an explosion you just didn't know what was going to happen with him [Music] when they would call Chuck Vogue the [ __ ] back row would stand up and fill the aisles he'd get out there he'd sometimes he'd unrank it go down and just fall with it you know what I mean you're like oh then he'd come back out and [ __ ] spitting on it head butt and it get under it again and stand up with it go down and sit down there and you think he's going to fall and [ __ ] blast it like somebody couldn't take it faster than that Chuck was never weak but the stronger he was the worse he was to be remembered but it was just normally strong he wasn't so bad as he's getting stronger he was intolerable I remember somebody coming up to me and said be careful train with Chuck because he'll try to put you in the hospital if you're in his group there's probably a good chance that you're gonna get hurt he would try to kind of haze people out of the gym he would just train him until they snapped when I tore my tricep off walking the gym and Chuck's in there hey good you're here and wanted to work with you I can't do anything I'm in a brace he said well come over here and lay down so I laid down Chuck goes over and gets a leg wrapped and ties my brace to the power rack and ties a big old knot in it he brings the 80 you hands me the dumbbell and says do a set of ten you've got to keep your left side strong so your right side will stay strong and at that point we started to do about oh I don't know 15 sets of 10. before he would untie me it got to the point where if I would see Chuck's truck in the parking lot I would just make a U-turn get right back on the highway and go home he worked his ass off to make him earn your way in there to bleed for it you weren't gonna not do a set or skip an exercise because you're afraid of what was going to happen if you did he was the one that took your key from you if someone was messing up he'd say Lou you gotta kick him out gotta get the key and I kick him out just so I wouldn't put up a Chuck Louis let Chuck really delegate in that gym if you came in and you wanted to squat like that day and chuckle squatting heavy you're squatting heavy it don't matter what you want Eid had the 10 world records in the squad who were you when the gym started using bands no one benefited more than Chuck vogelpo he had a thousand pound Squat and we started using tons and tons of bands and he actually went up to 1180 in the squad but I will tell you that that is not even close to the level of strength that he had Chuck was posting world records and competition but somehow what he was doing in the gym was even more astounding I watched Chuck to 885 and 640 pound a band this is insane what would equate to a 1400 pallet Squad you almost realize like he may not be human 900 in gym but only 835 to me the problem was Chuck would never taper and he would get you psycho I knew it was wrong I went back and laid three books out to show Chuck why he should do this and Chuck looked at the books for 15 seconds and walked out I put the books in my truck and never ever said another word chuck would become the greatest pound-for-pound squatter the world had ever seen but for Louie the thought of how much better he could have been is one that still haunts him yeah maybe 1300 pounds the biggest ever and he would have done it at 265 pounds but I could never get him to taper down like everybody else he wanted to do more Louis had turned a ragtag bunch of kids and criminals from the west side of Columbus into a well-oiled machine but success bred complacency especially in younger lifters Kenny Patterson he bench 712 for the first world record in Ms 728 but then he didn't go anywhere I said Kenny I'm going to come out of retirement Squad seven before you ever been to seven again he says to me old man you'll never have 700 on your back again why come out retirement right there he was 43 when injuries had forced him to retire before and now at 50 the time off hadn't done him any favors I was just as bad as ever because I never really recovered I had so much neck problems I think sometimes I couldn't imagine 185 pounds though I had my arms are broke but somehow more actually I came back how I actually competed I lived on cough Circle and Tylenol PMs and I know about odometer PM so I dumped those when I was 50 no one had ever been 550 I've been 600. it's Sixpence in the country [Music] benching 600 was impressive sure but Kenny had challenged Louis to put a bar on his back that meant squatting Louis started right where he had left off at too many often gym 760. so my first day back I could watch 760. I did 16 straight squats in a row seven eights and nines never got one tear down a Zoe pushed over 50 to squad over 9 did 920 I was a third best Squad in the world that year fourth on the total well 900 in gear it's not that impressive anymore but back then it was he was 50 years old how in the [ __ ] he did what he did is beyond me I came back my dream was a total Elite total I got to be no way but when I came back October to leave so like today's pro totals these kids make up four or five years I did my Pro total for 37. top 10 squat bench or deadlift with or without gear no one's ever done that that's the Lifetime Achievement Award you know you'd get an Oscar for that what did it was Kenny he made me take so much cough syrup that I shouldn't even been driving a car but that's what it took Louie had always said that if you run with the lane you'll develop a limp well none of his guys limped and they didn't care how old Louis was or what he was coming back from they were going to push him like any other lifter who wanted to call himself west side all I purposely try to [ __ ] with him and I'm not gonna lie there's times I've tried to make him get hurt that was my goal to put him the [ __ ] out he came in one day and said I gotta take it easy I'm just going to do accessories today and I just laid into his ass like you [ __ ] [ __ ] I don't care how [ __ ] up you are next week I'll be [ __ ] up are you gonna let me off the hook you got so [ __ ] mad he ended up doing a pinpole and he hurt himself worse like [ __ ] yeah got that [ __ ] to keep up Louis embraced the pain he would compete on one leg blood running down his face out of his nose I walked in the gym on the west side and he had just had his knee scoped in the next [ __ ] day he's in there squatting with us bleeding everywhere he literally looked like somebody just [ __ ] shot him in the knee I mean I don't say [ __ ] but like chucking them guys staying there could do what [ __ ] you doing in here I think that you're busting open the damn stitches yeah [ __ ] that you know ain't gonna [ __ ] tell me what to do about what I'm like oh my God he's just wired up different the men and women who trained in that dingy strip mall built West Side into a gym that defined an entire era of powerlifting and then a disciple Buffalo they just cut out the hurting he cut down by the lines and they're gone me being ahead of the herd I can't look back you know Satchel Pace said never look back someone might be catching up with you by the early 2000s West Side had outgrown the space on Demorest Road and had moved into a unit in a nearby Industrial Park most of the Gym's iconic members had either left or retired but Louis and Chuck were still there and there were still plenty of young lifters willing to do anything to make it at West Side I moved as the west side with 400 bucks in my pocket I was starving I was homeless I was stuck living in my car I'd be on the phone with my dad here yeah I am a roommate's cool the place is awesome yeah we got a big TV in here I was sitting there staring at the roof of my car like what the [ __ ] the six guys that I train with at west side two of them were living in their [ __ ] car when we were training they're living in their car that's what it meant to wear a West Side shirt you're gonna come and lift at my gym and I'll make you the baddest dude in the world but you're not going to have a normal job and you're barely going to have enough money to eat and sleep like many of it came before him Greg Panora didn't know what he was getting himself into so when I hit the West Side basically all I did was change plates to get people coffees nobody gave a [ __ ] who it was and one day John Stafford goes hey change the plates so I'm putting plates on and one of them I put on what he did was the wrong way so he walks over pulls all the plates up the bar goes flipping this way the whole gym turns around staring at me I talked to Louis laughs at him with Louie I I can't [ __ ] do this all I can't change those [ __ ] places it's not how I work you as well do something like what what should I do just get your name on the board he will respect you once you get your name up there you're the man gonna put it Jim's yours me and George watch that dude do things and we were like Jesus Christ This Guy's gonna take everybody's name off the board every time he competed he would break a record he figured that would be a positive thing everybody yeah man that's great no not in there there's only room most the time in most gyms for one badass for one guy to tell everybody else you're gonna do what I'm doing I mean if you're if you know west side if you're growing up the time when I did Shucks V was a man and Chuck's super super competitive and he was starting to he was getting some dings and some injuries I think they're really starting to take his toll on him at that point I mean he basically shoved to the gym wrapping knee wraps like a [ __ ] mummy you know he gets her workout you know Louie playing Louis he's gonna be behind the strongest guy it sort of decided to become more and more like my gym chuck had dedicated his entire adult life to the gym but now he seemed unsure of where he fit in one day we were all sitting and eating and Chuck's like what are you gonna do with the gym once you're done with it or you're retired or you die or whatever he's like I'm just shutting it down it's over and I think once Chuck heard that I didn't think Chuck wanted to be a part of it anymore he felt like he had put 20 years of his life into something that needed to be passed on to him and probably did Chuck began to stray from the rest of the crew after a while he got a job as a bailiff on Friday and he had these guys that would come in and help him and train with him I would train with chuck on Saturday and then Chuck brought in two other guys that you know really didn't train the west side Lou was like you can't not train in the mornings on squat day I don't know what the [ __ ] you guys are doing training on [ __ ] Saturdays you're [ __ ] up the whole training cycle you know Chuck was going to do his own thing anyways things came to a head at a meet in 2007. we went to a comp together and uh we were I believe in the same weight class at that point Louie's familiar nasal twang was calling depth for both lifters your coach can stand by the side referee and he'll give you a tap when you've squatted deep enough to come up the chuckling and employees knee off and so I went on and I wanted and I think Chuck and it shuts my sort of that Louie and I conspired against him to get him out of the gym Chuck thought that new made him squat too deep after this guy had already given him a tap and Chuck hurt himself would he intentionally make someone Miss nap I don't think that he would do that to Chuck at me I don't think that Lou would do that chuck had a lot of uh a lot of resentment realizing that the Loyalty of the gym was not there in his favor Chuck left and went to a small gym down in Grove City I don't really know why Chuck left I'd say the number one theory is the Greg Menorah Theory I was gonna be the best lifter in there and that's what was going to happen hey Chuck I don't think like that I thought he's kind of a traitor you know I know he might be mad at him about one thing or another but that doesn't mean you leave this as your Fame when Chuck left a little piece of white side died much as anybody doesn't want to admit it it did in Louie's own way he was sad about it that was probably like a son to him he came here when he was a kid I'm sure to this day it bothers him you know because you have that whole history with this this guy that you've had longer than anybody we thought of West Side you saw Louis Simmons you thought Chuck will pull I mean Chuck and Louis that that partnership really helped multiply to put together and I sort of came in between it and [ __ ] it all up you know and I don't think people like me now as much as I really talk you know what I mean with Chuck's exits West Side was thrown into chaos nearly half of the gym followed Chuck out the door amid the power vacuum Matt Wenning decided to try and take the lead of the morning crew so I'm in the morning by default I take the Reign Louis didn't like Matt taking over his position as far as telling what to do but the funny thing is Matt was telling me the same stuff Louie was now it's just making it easier for me to understand it's a must-have price I think everything started to change after that point Louis is a great guy from a distance around him all the time it's his way or the highway and it can be a rough Highway in a matter of weeks Matt was unceremoniously kicked out of the gym it felt like your [ __ ] dad just kicked you out of the house with nothing I mean those are the types of things where you're like what is that loyalty really you know I mean when somebody sits down and tells you that you're never going to be anything without West Side I don't know if that ever is repairable so I left and went with Chuck what are you doing Matt Winans are the best officer in here he's got a breakable record at some point I went from Seventh best in the world at West Side to the best in the world in eight months I broke the total record and I broke the squat record it was the best thing in the world that I took what I knew and go to his meet and beat him on his own ground and take his money from 08 to 2010 we went to every one of their meets and killed them that was probably West side's darkest time I will always hold a place in my heart for West Side whether our relationship ever gets kindled because I really don't talk to him anymore I would rather see Chuck and Louis be on speaking terms again because they had 20 years more Heritage than I did as Chuck vogelpol and Matt Wenning were seeking their Vengeance across town a gym built in West side's own image was coming for their Throne you want to talk about gyms that was like this gym there was one big Iron there was a guy named rickhouse he did on that and Rick Hussey was pushing out some badass lifters the guys there that were being our guys obviously West Side versus big Iron it was like the good guys and the bad guys I mean big hand with the good guys we're the Bad Guys no doubt that sort of caused a rift in the sport too people are like you know these guys don't have bands and chains and [ __ ] I mean it was definitely two totally different kinds of training I think people were sort of starting to see that maybe not West side's not the only way which is what Louis basically made America believe so Louis was feeling a lot of pressure because Hussey had a lot of guys in the 198s and 220s at that time that were just destroying records Big Iron look to be the gym that may finally overtake west side but right at the height of their rivalry Rick Hussey was diagnosed with cancer Greg died when he was 29 years old if he hadn't had such untimely early death they'd still be going strong back at West Side Greg Panora had become the top lifter in the gym but he was being chased by another transplant lifter from Indiana Luke Edwards we had some brutal [ __ ] training sessions there there were times that we would train so hard that we would be limping out of here because I wasn't going to quit and Greg wasn't going to quit I always look back and I think that Greg was training optimally and Luke was training maximally I would see them do the same numbers but it always seemed effortless for Greg you know for Greg I think when you win all the time you start to not necessarily do the things that you need to do I remember the day Luke beat Greg yeah four in front of the telepar was just drenched in Blood Buzz Barefoot remember I established pool of blood every time how gross about my feet and every pulley in one blood before we just kept going going and then Greg missed and Luke got the weight that was the moment that I saw in his face for the first time he didn't know what the [ __ ] just happened I think that for for Greg that day began to make him question everything we did the next squat workout Greg came undone I mean the story was basically with box swatting we won a box score all the time I didn't want to box one all the time and in his mind he's like the box is why I'm not getting stronger and I told him I said you either have weekends or your your form is terrible and he turned to me and he said there's no way I got weekends I'm a world record holder he reminded everybody he was the world record holder he kept saying that over and over again and we were like yeah we get it like he was throwing it in my face I thank more than anybody because he knew that I didn't take that record from him and Lou said I don't give a [ __ ] and I blew up and that was it he walked out of the gym and and left when I turned around to leave he was great because you know what sucks you and I are the only people who are going to know that you're the strongest person that's ever lived he would still be the world record holder and I know he knows being hardly scratched his potential I was like I was an electric and he goes I don't give a [ __ ] what you do that was the last time he talked please you remember the last thing you've said to him [ __ ] you Louie you can suck my dick this is what it was when Greg left I had no animosity towards Greg if we'd got in a fist fight that would have been nothing that means nothing to me what meant something to me a world record just walked out of my gym world record I just lost the world record your age was the strongest man in the world for five seven years it happened so fast he got to the top and it was gone you go back in history this happens over and over again I said to Lou I don't [ __ ] get this who the [ __ ] would lead to this gym ever that's just so sick of the whole [ __ ] thing I didn't want to train anymore I didn't want to compete anymore I'm not sure what I wanted but it wasn't that and I think that's what happens to a lot of lifters and that's what Louis and Quinn understand you might be the greatest sister west side when you leave that place don't give a [ __ ] I like Greg but he's not coming back what happened six years ago happened can't change it now I just got to go on and get me a new world record order feels like your girlfriend leaves you can't cry about it go get you another girlfriend what comes by every 20 minutes so the lifters benora had just left and I remember there was just three guys in here Louis had weathered the loss of Chuck and nearly all of his top guys in the span of just a few years to restock his ranks after losing Greg Louis expanded his recruiting efforts he told me I'm getting too old to have to prove that I can build Elite level lifters he was going to start trying to recruit the best lifters he could and I said is that a road that you want to go now because now you're going to bring in people who already think they have it figured out the reason he did it is he wanted the best of the best let's bring the best guys let's see what the body really can do recruiting for me outside was hit or miss quick success was offered a precursor to an even faster fall when I first started working with Louie and talking to Louis I was a mid 21 2200 pound lifter my lifetime goal was 2500 pounds 2500 pounds was like rarified air for me got that within a matter of 10 months and then after that I was done when bran was here he just couldn't do the training it's high volume training Brandon Lily's having a problem with his tech for the day and he you know he told Louie he's like man you know I think I'm going to blow my Peck off and Louie said well we don't save pecs around here I'm basically saying like you better [ __ ] get in the group [ __ ] we go through a lot of people I don't believe they know what they're getting into you know it's this romantic thing to be at West Side barbell then he find out it's training you got to train I was there just short of a year Louie was aware that I was highly distracted he said the reason that I have to let you go is I just can't have distractions literally has a system and if he sees that something isn't going in the right direction he's going to make the change I'm no different than any other team I'll throw a baby overboard to keep the ship from shaken [ __ ] hated it for it to me it was it was a distance because West Side was Everest what the [ __ ] do you do after Everest he put it on me so he always made me the bad guy people don't understand Louie didn't check most [ __ ] out them dudes kick themselves out these guys are in the mecca of power lifting the best gym in the world they couldn't get out of their own way as it turned out while Louis was making a renewed effort to bring in new guys the lifters who would get things back on track were already there one of those key guys in the morning group was AJ Roberts after Greg left it was divided it was split the morning crew had needed someone to follow AJ picked up Louie's methods quickly and came to serve as a sort of translator for him within the gym I had trouble because I couldn't communicate with people a lot of the times Louie just expected people to have this foundational knowledge because I understood what he was saying I was able to simplify it down and go back to just the basics AJ was pretty verbal he was able to communicate with him second player coach I think for him there'd been other guys in the gym like that guys like Dave guys like Matt Wenning but that had been missing for so long me and Lou became very close as close as you can get to Lou 12 hours later in the evening group Dave Hoff was coming into his own David's special he's like the Floyd Mayweather of powerlifting you know the perfect storm Dave had come to West Side as a kid my first workout in there I remember I met Louis Simmons he didn't say much to me he went in his office walked out and had this bench pressure he threw it to me so put this on Switching [ __ ] bench 400. I was 15 years old and I said there's a Circleville bench me coming up if you impress us there you can stay even if you don't you're out well long story short he took Kenny Patterson's all-time teenage world record and wrote it to the [ __ ] two inches from lockout it was pretty impressive so I threw him in with a group that no 16 year old kid has ever been with and the kid just started to grow weight's got your respect an attitude got you respect some of the [ __ ] that used to come out of his mouth I mean he I spent half my time keeping him from getting thrown out of here when he was young it was hilarious he told me he was going to have squat in his first meet I was like come on man if it just doesn't work that way buddy any squad at 7 10 you know like [ __ ] you Bob I just started out be seeing what I could do with him Bob Koh was a master motivator I can talk but talk if I think you're down and I know how to reach in your soul and get you where you need to be naturally he couldn't help but see what that motivation would do to Dave one of the first full power meets I did Bob walks up to me and he goes wake up [ __ ] and then smacks me across the face like hard like man smack that was first and only times I hit Dave with an open hand upside the head and I found out at that point that I had to find another way of getting under the boy's skin or I was going to get seriously messed up and if you've seen some of the videos of after he leaves the bench and where I end up you understand holy [ __ ] people get mad because I push people or people you know what I mean well people understand it's like I'm trying to come out of like fight or flight and somebody jumps in front of me it scares the [ __ ] out of me so I push them you can always find Louie in a crowd because they always wear striped shirts and Camo cargo pants yeah that was Hoff's nickname when he was coming up and younger I made them remember my name they gave me nicknames but they knew my name this is the meat I spotted a thousand five when I was 19. after Dave Squad of that thousand five as a teenager I was kind of out of ideas when the gym splintered around Chuck's departure Dave went with him the best thing that Dave did was when he left this gym and went dream with Chuck Chuck taught Dave how to squat the way Dave squats now after six short weeks Bob Coe convinced Dave to return to the evening crew at west side and then me and Hoff started a short rivalry at this point it was like morning crew versus Night Crew He had come back to West side but him and Lou had not really reconnected Lou never said it but to him the morning crew were the guys that wanted to be with Lou and the fact that Dave chose to train in the evening he saw it as almost like Dave was afraid to train with him AJ and Dave brought west side back to the Forefront of men's power lifting but on the other side of the board the women of West Side had never fallen off even in the earliest days of Louie's garage the women had been phenomenal I think the women put West Side barbell on mad they all just dominated two of Louie's most famous lifters early on were Laura Dodd and Mariah Leggett Ryan Laura were as good as it got remember I ended up winning the most WPC world championships for a female in history then in the late 80s Amy weisberger came in and raised the bar for everyone Amy how did you get involved in this sport I always wanted to be strong and I always wanted to put more weight on the bar Amy came from Cincinnati in 1987. I went up there and visited pretty quickly I got the total that I needed to stay Amy King room for 714 total and Amy went on total 1440. total 10 times body weight in two-way classes not many women can do that only woman ever to qualify at the time had for the wpos she is the strongest female power lifter pound per pound in the world Amy made it to the wpo's by beating the men's qualifying numbers it made sense since in the gym she had been beating men from the very beginning what got me kicked out is Amy weisberger Amy beat me and Lou couldn't believe it and he goes get the [ __ ] out of my gym I just called me back a couple months later I came back I'm like she's not gonna beat me this time she damn near beat me every time Amy would become one of the most accomplished female lifters of all time but in the late 2000s she passed the torch to the next queen of powerlifting Laura Phelps we were trying to get to West Side as soon as possible west side is invite only so Laura's knew the sport no one knew who she was at that time the wpo was the biggest the biggest show around in powerlifting went there and ended up opening higher than the world record I just remember hearing Louis cheer for me I think he just said come on new girl then we got invited west side I mean Laura Phelps I believe broke 34-35 World Records I miss that person I mean Lords there's no one can stack up to her I have World Records in four different weight classes you can't really put anybody against her she's got 775 squat there's not another woman that's within 20 pounds of that as it stands now she's hands and shoulders and above everybody four dominates women greater than any man dominates men between Laura AJ and Dave Hoff west side looked to be back to its old form and it was almost like that was the new Bond by 2011 Louis was 63 years old and still competing for 45 years he had been a powerlifter he had overcome Broken Backs a ruptured patella and even death but finally one day on the platform Louis Simmons came to the end of the road I was backspotting the day and decided to never compete again we were at a meeting and I could see it was right back where he was you know 20 years ago he was there to break some records I was actually the Antonio at 63 years old and then we go out for the squad he gets red lights on death Louis with his age and everything going super deep is never his goal anymore he wants to get it in get out so it goes the second time and the hallway passes out and we pull him up told him what happened he passed out he said get me out of this [ __ ] and he just sits there and he's just silent and he said I'm done and I just saw him and he's done for the day he was not West side's done and I didn't really know what to say to him so I kind of just left it I came back over and over and over and over and over and I kept wondering how many generations am I going to go through until one of them gets me I realize this is it I'm going to end up past the hospital I was in grief I didn't know what was going to happen showed up Monday like nothing had happened we never spoke about it again it's just a moment that he had and I'm [ __ ] glad I didn't quit as AJ worried about Louis quitting he had no idea that his own days at West Side were numbered everything I said I was going to do I did the only thing I wanted to do now is squat 1200 pounds and I was willing to push myself as far as I could go I was 320 pounds severe sleep apnea I would just stop breathing wake up choking scared that I may die in my sleep I knew that I was pushing [ __ ] to the extreme I just had to [ __ ] make it to my last meet March 2013 I stepped up hit that 1200 pound Squad and I remember eating breakfast with Lou the next morning Lucid if you could just get your weight to 350 I think you could go out the whole time record and for the first time ever I looked at him and thought he was just [ __ ] insane and in that moment I knew that mentally I didn't have what it took anymore The Dilemma that AJ faced of trying to square his own health and mortality with the price of the iron was nothing unexpected Embrace of that risk was the only way to make it to the top he didn't want to die to do this you shouldn't do this we're [ __ ] thoroughbred horses if we break our leg check this out back and [ __ ] shoot us that's how it works the idea of gaining one more pound on your lift losing a year on your life you traded in all day long no one knew this better than Luke Edwards his whole life he had dreamed of pulling 900. just as he was on the doorstep of making that dream into a reality fate intervened I remember the day that I pulled A40 it felt like 3 15 in my hands and they always say you know there's another me well for me when I pulled 840 I was in the hospital about three weeks later he came there sick he had the same disease Alonzo Mourning him when I was 17 I started puking Every Morning by time I was 24 25 I was in stage two kidney failure after my first transplant I came back and I squatted a thousand about two and a half years into my transplant and rejected so that's when I started dialysis and even while on dialysis I didn't miss a workout I never missed work and I took pride in that I never let anybody feel sorry for me no matter where I was Luke sicker than [ __ ] and the only thing we notice is just him getting weaker for Luke the hardest part was how Louis looked at him after the transplants it was almost heartbreaking to come in and Louis not messing with you or talking to you because he knew that you didn't have the potential to break a world record anymore but the Warrior inside of Luke wasn't ready to put the bar down he planned on going to another meet will he die I don't know if he does it's on Luke he knows what it's like to be there and then all of a sudden you can't do it it always eats at me because it's like I should have tried 900 that day because it was there and maybe that's why I'm still in the gym maybe yet I pulled 900 maybe I would have left too in 2013 Dave Hoff finally did it at only 25 years old he posted a 3005 pound total the highest ever in the history of west side west side never had the biggest total of all time if somebody asked me what was the greatest thing I could have ever given to Louis Simmons it's been that that's the whole thing he wanted the biggest ever he wanted the all-time highest pound for pound weight for weight he's you know recruiting people in from around the world and Dave just happened to be a local guy Dave's pretty much broke about every record there is to break but instead of phrase Hoff became a lightning rod for criticism the minute you get to the top everybody's picking you apart hoffit climbed to the top of the mountain just as the sport was crossing paths with social media his arms are so short he can't even jerk off my arms are pretty normal thank you for your concern across multiply power lifting cell phone cameras were calling judging standards into question let's just face it a lot of multiply spots me included are slightly at or above parallel the knee has to be above the hip crease when I look at Dave and that three thousand five pound total we have that blemish that was the squat everybody trashed that with rewind Dave hit like a 29-45 or a 29.55 with what I thought was a very very good 11 40 squat wouldn't you rather have that on the record books I go by what those three judges give me your [ __ ] aren't going to get me to discredit a [ __ ] thing I did I got under it and two out of at least three people thought it was good that we're sitting right there it's an opinion after that because timing was was kind of unfortunate for him he's operating a multiply gear in a day where there's a big Exodus to Raw the future power thing is going to change like it already has to completely raw and the reason it's going to is because of CrossFit millions and millions of people are seeing this on TV with no equipment and people can relate to it because that's what you see at the gym and when you get an influx like that it shifts people's Focus they want to see something they understand if you put me on a video with this big ass diaper suit on you're like what is he wearing is it a diaper is he gonna take a [ __ ] the shift to Raw emptied out the ranks of geared powerlifting so now west side barbell goes to meet and who's there to compete against Dave Hall powerlifting has changed where in the [ __ ] is pasai barbell where is Louis Simmons in all this I think it's cowardly that's the only way I could put it he's always talked about his gym being the strongest gym in the world and they were but he no longer has the strongest gym in the world because people are lifting wrong anyone can list at all it's easy I live for all the time people think that the guys that are choosing to avoid raw they have just no desire to compete wrong they don't wake up obsessed with the rule numbers I don't I don't train to have a big raw Squad I train to have the biggest Squad while West Side never truly embraced raw lifting Louis did have a trio of super-sized raw competitors Burley Hawk Burley Hawk Squad 900 right now but no gear 615 match Nick Winters I'm not sure there's everything winners on the planet he benched 700 roll and he died of a enlarged heart and Chris Speaker the first American to deadlift 915 pounds raw between the three men West Side became one of the only gyms on the planet to produce a 900 pound bra squat a 700 pound raw bench press and a 900 pound raw deadlift who's got one of those in this country oh yeah we do despite their success West side's Raw lifters went mostly unnoticed both inside and outside of the gym in the years since losing AJ Roberts Louis has had to reinvent his morning crew for one last ride I'm 70 years old now this is my last for all your license chapters in the beginning is a long chapter you get into the last chapter it's a short chapter I've only got so many years and that's why I realize I have to pick up the pace I can't slow down well right now I mean I think my Gym's down but I still have four people that are capable of all-time world records and I think it's down I mean you go knock on any door in the world you're gonna have to find hard press find someone's got two all-time World Records in India but we got four and I think we're down there's times where he seems super happy and super excited at the direction of the gym's going and then there's times where he's frustrated because he has all the talent in the world but they're not producing a lot of the times what he's really doing is he he's he's going into his mind to figure out what needs to happen and sometimes it takes him longer than most people realize and so there'll be months where he seems off his game but then he gets through that and gets back to the lou that you thought you knew so he's always assessing where where we're at what we need who needs to be brought in who needs to be taken out he's a lot more calculated than most people realize and I think that he essentially you know knows ultimately what he wants what you're looking at is a brand new group so I'll have to start with new Soldiers the loudest and most veteran of those soldiers is Jason Coker I bring a little attitude to the morning crew I'm loud I'm obnoxious Jason is a retread from Big Iron with major miles on him covered battle on the last leg she's just maxes out all the time you know he's His Own Worst Enemy anyone can find when they're 100 that's not hard but let's see what happens when you get tore up it's you against the weights you're either gonna move away or that shit's gonna Crush you or hurt you and it's done both to me it's crushed me and it's [ __ ] me up if you look on a YouTube there's a video of me dumping 900 pounds right on my face meow literally it came down right on my [ __ ] head Louie and Coker understand each other better than most in the gym we [ __ ] argue and [ __ ] at each other all the time A lot of times I know he's right but I'm not gonna [ __ ] tell him that [ __ ] I'm not gonna give him the satisfaction he doesn't want somebody in there that's gonna [ __ ] just put their head down and say yes sir he wants to be able to talk [ __ ] to you if you're gonna pop right back off at him that's one of these videos she has now with some of the a lot of the guys in the gym were very introverted and quiet and it drives them crazy I try to get my guys to go down there and have that competitive thing where we did like I'm gonna win or I'm gonna die I can't get and I think that's the difference why it may keep him from being great every now and then Louie turns back the clock to teach Coker a lesson no church music it's not even so much I'm trying to prove a point I think to anybody else it's him trying to prove a point to himself every [ __ ] week just about he'll start doing rag pulls how many ancient [ __ ] like Louie can do what Louie does he can handle more than most youngsters can oh he loves to talk [ __ ] if you show him that something gets to you he's like a [ __ ] lion he push that button whatever one makes you [ __ ] click that's the one he's gonna get he's going to use it he said he's embarrassed so he only pulled 615. people saw the pathology and it's fine they would say probably shouldn't be doing that but it's Louie he's going to do whatever he wants to do Louise promise he's too strong like for an old guy he is too strong for his body like you get him pissed off he will do something and he will just he'll hurt himself what else I got I'm hooked onto that white whale I got nowhere to go what else am I going to do I'm going to go down with that whale he's going to drag me to the bottom eventually and I don't care you know that's what I want killed him for the contract we lost the train you can see whatever it is like it just drives him in saying that he can't output as much horsepower as he wants to kills him that he has to do accessory work for health not for strength it drove me crazy to this day it [ __ ] pisses me because I can't compete I get down and look at my guys they're not doing nothing I can't relate to them you know so I'm I'm screwed I'm in the middle of Heaven and Hell most of the lifters in his gym have no connection to the world that shaped Louie I can't go up there and get in a fish I can't give him a shove I can't do the [ __ ] you know that they do to me and I used to do them they do to me it just seemed like society's changing I mean maybe it's my fault that the world's changed because I didn't change with it but I can't change it's often the smaller things that remind him of the distance between them Mike guys I can't do a [ __ ] thing about a phone I said I used to play my dick you play with your phone it's a big difference this is the most chaotic generation for him technology social media he [ __ ] hands having fun in the gym people recording you know they're doing this interview right now this is like not very easy for me to do but he just accepts me like this is the internet as his frustrations with powerlifting grow Louis has broadened his attention to other sports if I was the guest he's kind of split between a couple different worlds right now and from what I understand he's working with a lot of athletes I think that the athletes that he's working with and you know the non-power lifters are a different challenge for him a lot of people think Westside barbell powerlifting but Westside barbells five percent powerlifting 95 sports but people don't know he's done the same thing with those sports that he did with powerlifting today there is hardly a sport that hasn't been touched by Westside our guys have performed really well these last several years and I attribute Louie to a lot of that Louie's influence has definitely been felt around the world he's taught me more than anybody else has to be honest the system that Louis has in place works and it's what I used for the majority of my NFL career and what I still do to this day back in 2003 the off season I started to integrate it we went to the World Series that year we've been there four times and won twice this Gym's got more to offer than Scott bench in Denver while Bowl players track athletes and crossfitters are common visitors the athletes that have always held a special bond with West Side are the fighters 60 is going to be a hard person foreign [Music] Kevin Randleman who came in I worked with Kevin randleman's USC heavyweight champion when I came here Matt Brown was just started coming in I assumed it was probably just a low level gin guy just ran out of place in the back of this Industrial Park Louis came up to me he had been lifting and he had a bloody nose and blood coming out of his ears and he just wiped his face like I just love to have it and that was when I realized this is my kind of place I think if MMA was around back then I think West Side May steer more to MMA my buddy Mark Marinelli patterned his gym after us Strong Style give me May Marcus trained here for about uh years he's one of the one of the ogs of West Side he's one of the most successful MMA gyms he's very successful MMA teacher now he got Steve Page Jessica evil eye when they first started off before the stars there now they came in a really early age and that's because of Marcus and he is the same as I am I look at him how nutty he is he's just like me except he can't kicks people's ass it's not a stretch to think that if Louis were born today he'd have been a fighter instead on a cold morning in late 2015 Chuck came back he showed up at breakfast at Bob Evans out of the blue I don't think from what I understand him and Louis had even spoke the first thing me and Tommy did we looked at each other we were like what the [ __ ] nearly a decade removed from his dramatic departure he returned without a word no one knows quite what brought him back but it's easy to think that perhaps like Louie he was now a relic of a bygone era a ghost tasked to haunt the walls he had defined for so long that's a website you know you once a website you're always a website or some people might not want to admit it it's hard for a West Side to read with his return Chuck seems to have resurrected a host of old and broken Souls from West Side that's what training is and you're all [ __ ] up down here he's real from the start um but Chuck's most valuable contribution to the gym thus far may have been his least expected in 2017 Dave Hoff returned to the platform four years removed from the Pinnacle of the sport I walked into that meet I remember I come around the corner and uh it was glowing right there by the monolift it was Chuck Chuck vogueable if he hadn't been there it wouldn't have happened him being there brought something out made that like people like Bob Coe did I felt like I couldn't fail him it really had nothing to do with anybody else with the assist from Chuck Dave Hoff did it again 3010 pounds four years for five pounds that's what I did I had to go through four years of hell just for five [ __ ] pounds but man I didn't I I wanted that [ __ ] that if you do it twice it's not an accident do it once it might be an accident doing it twice I had an accident that was the start of whatever's getting ready to happen next from a distance west side is callous and unforgiving and iron hell for self-loathing sadists its Legacy is steeped in blood and broken relationships for every memory and moment of Glory there has been a profound cost there is nothing easy about this gym you're not going to come in there and take from that place and not give anything we busted our ass and gave up to 15 years some of them 20 years you know some of them 20 percent of their life my son was a state champion swimmer never saw another swimmers [Music] there on Wednesday night Wednesday night was bench press night so I was here [Music] and for all their troubles there is no applause from Louis only the next task in all the years I was there I was told good job one [ __ ] time and it was on a floor press that I beat my record by five pounds and did 520. all right that's how detailed I can remember it now man how good you guys are they're good they're not good enough for me they're just not I'm sorry I was never good enough for me so if you're seeking approval from Louis Simmons you're gonna be highly disappointed it's not there Louis has created this environment where his guys will literally die for him he wouldn't think this guy who's this like ringleader of these badasses would be able to get such admiration but he's honestly done it with love Louie's affection for his athletes may go unnoticed to the outside world but in truth it's always been his secret to success I think that that's why the gym is so successful because there's so much investors I mean you got to realize I actually care when he's in the gym he's hardcore but when you pull him to the side and say I need help he's gonna help Louie would have done anything in the world for me and I know this there's stories where Louis has picked people up bailed people out of jail paid for attorneys Louie's always been a really good guy to me the first worst injury I had when I I blew the [ __ ] out of my knee I had a sponsor back then sponsored in contact until seven weeks by the time I got home Louis already had sleds chains bands [Music] [ __ ] at my house with a call you you need anything call me that's why I always support Louis Simmons because that's the side that people don't see it's hard because my father just passed but if I had a second father it would be Louie but he probably taught me more about being a man for my dad as far as power lifting goes those I don't I don't think there's anybody gave up as much as Louis has Louie's whole life is that gym all my memories and all my friends are in that gym every one of the guys in my gym is a brick that went into the wall of website I had the ideas but they had to prove my ideas they're always going to be a part of me till the day I die there's a tattoo in my arm right here this is born 10 12 47 died never and in my lifetime it'll be true the future of West Side may not be clear but its effect on the world of strength and Athletics will be felt for a long time to come West Side barbell and Louis Simmons changed powerlifting and whether you liked it or not it happened I don't think there'll ever be another West Side Bar though I am west side before West Side barbell there was never a website and after West Side they'll never be a lesson [Music] [Music] [Music] as far as a friendship goes yes I consider him a friend but I also know that when I'm no longer putting up good numbers I'm dead to him foreign [Music] is to find another guy find another big guy there's some real strong guys right down not far from here real strong real gun let's get him in here [Music] thank you foreign [Music] until then it's West Side versus the [ __ ] world thank you