# Westside and Conjugate Periodization Part I



## Trendkill (Sep 17, 2022)

Westside, Conjugate, Louie’s methods, whatever you want to call it. There has been a lot of interest on the board recently about setting up a program utilizing this system. I thought I would put together a series of posts that detail the foundations of the system and lay out some options for beginner, intermediate and advanced lifters. Before I do that, however, I’d like to provide a little context behind my knowledge and application of the Westside system. I am by no means an expert. That would fall to Louie himself RIP, Dave Tate, Chuck Vogelpohl, Kenny Patterson, Laura Phelps-Sweat, Matt Wenning, Greg Panora or any of the other lifters that trained at Westside for a long period of time. I’m here simply to share my understanding of the system and how it has worked for myself and others. Louie was not the greatest communicator and it can often be hard to decipher what he is attempting to explain in his articles and videos. I hope I can clear up some of that confusion and answer some questions along the way.

I personally began strength training in preparation for freshman football when I was 14. I was instantly hooked. I began buying every bodybuilding magazine I could find. One day at the supermarket with my mom I saw Ted Arcidi on the cover of Ironman magazine. It was the first time I’d ever seen a powerlifter in my life and when I read the article about his 705 bench, I was all in. I had no clue how to train but followed the standard bro type splits that were popular back in the 90s. I eventually switched to Dorian Yates Blood and Guts approach and had good success with hypertrophy and moderate success with strength. I really got into powerlifting in college and started reading PLUSA every month and incorporating some of the training methods I read about there. Every month some crazy guy named Louie Simmons wrote an article about maxing out, doing 8 sets of 2 for squats with chains, bench pressing using boards, training the upper back 4 days a week. All of this information contradicted everything I was learning on my way to a B.S. in Exercise Science as well as everything I had ever read about in the bodybuilding mags. I just shrugged it off as the rantings of some crazy dude and continued on.

After I graduated, I moved to Seattle and started working out at a gym with a few powerlifters. I began to really focus on the big 3 and moved away from the bro split to specific days focused on squat, bench and deadlift. I was renting a place with a basement and had a job selling fitness equipment so I was able to setup a gym at my house with a squat rack, bench, and some weights. I started incorporating Louie’s methods at this time. I was too embarrassed to bring chains and box squat at the gym so I would do my dynamic effort workouts at home and my max effort work at the gym. I had stalled out at 565 on my squat for about 6 months. After 5 weeks of using Louie’s methods I went back to the gym and squatted my first 600 and it was easy. I knew then and there that I would do everything I could to read about Louie’s methods, understand them and build my training around them.

I did my first powerlifting competition in 2001 and finished with 535 squat, 375 bench and 600 deadlift. I used Louie’s methods exclusively throughout my career and in 2005 I squatted 826, benched 567 and pulled 705. During this time I opened a powerlifting gym with a friend of mine and all 50 of our members trained using the Westside system. I currently train high school athletes for fun and to spend more time with my kids and all of them also use the Westside system.

I didn’t know Louie personally. I met him a handful of times and spoke with him several times on the phone. I trained at Westside one time, on a Friday, for a dynamic effort squat session and it was one of the best days of my life. I remember almost every minute of it. I squatted in the first group that included Dan Blankenship a 198lb lifter, Amy Weisberger, one of the all time greatest female lifters in the sport at 148 and 165 and another dude named Chicken Hawk. We used 275 and a blue band for our 8 sets of doubles. Lou coached us along the entire time and treated me as though I had been there for years. After that the big boys went. They were prepping for either APF Seniors or IPA Nationals at the time. The group was Mike Ruggiero, Dave Tate, John “Chester” Stafford and the mighty Chuck Vogelpohl. They were using the circa max phase and the weight was 405 plus and blue and green band for Dave and John and 445 plus a blue and green band for Mike and Chuck. I should note that Mike outweighed Chuck by 100lbs. For reference a blue band provides 200lbs of tension at the top and 125 in the bottom and a green is about 150 at the top and 80 at the bottom. Chuck eventually worked up to 545 plus a blue and green band that resulted in a significant pool of blood developing under the bar after he smashed his forehead on it and it gushed everywhere. Nobody said a word. After he doubled the weight he just went and cleaned it up and finished the workout. Lou left right after the workout but John Stafford stayed and talked with me for a good hour and provided some great insights about the gym, the sport and how Louie ran things. It was an amazing experience.

If you’ve stuck with me this far then thank you. I wanted to provide some context and hopefully build some credibility about my knowledge of the Westside system. The next post will focus on how Lou developed his methods and why he laid out the program the way he did. I’ll then provide some templates for the beginner, intermediate and advanced lifter and detail how to properly setup and incorporate bands and chains into your training.


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## silentlemon1011 (Sep 17, 2022)

Trendkill said:


> Westside, Conjugate, Louie’s methods, whatever you want to call it. There has been a lot of interest on the board recently about setting up a program utilizing this system. I thought I would put together a series of posts that detail the foundations of the system and lay out some options for beginner, intermediate and advanced lifters. Before I do that, however, I’d like to provide a little context behind my knowledge and application of the Westside system. I am by no means an expert. That would fall to Louie himself RIP, Dave Tate, Chuck Vogelpohl, Kenny Patterson, Laura Phelps-Sweat, Matt Wenning, Greg Panora or any of the other lifters that trained at Westside for a long period of time. I’m here simply to share my understanding of the system and how it has worked for myself and others. Louie was not the greatest communicator and it can often be hard to decipher what he is attempting to explain in his articles and videos. I hope I can clear up some of that confusion and answer some questions along the way.
> 
> I personally began strength training in preparation for freshman football when I was 14. I was instantly hooked. I began buying every bodybuilding magazine I could find. One day at the supermarket with my mom I saw Ted Arcidi on the cover of Ironman magazine. It was the first time I’d ever seen a powerlifter in my life and when I read the article about his 705 bench, I was all in. I had no clue how to train but followed the standard bro type splits that were popular back in the 90s. I eventually switched to Dorian Yates Blood and Guts approach and had good success with hypertrophy and moderate success with strength. I really got into powerlifting in college and started reading PLUSA every month and incorporating some of the training methods I read about there. Every month some crazy guy named Louie Simmons wrote an article about maxing out, doing 8 sets of 2 for squats with chains, bench pressing using boards, training the upper back 4 days a week. All of this information contradicted everything I was learning on my way to a B.S. in Exercise Science as well as everything I had ever read about in the bodybuilding mags. I just shrugged it off as the rantings of some crazy dude and continued on.
> 
> ...



Cool read Trend,
Always knew that you know your stuff
Solid fucking numbers too


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## Slabiathan (Sep 17, 2022)

This is fucking awesome! I can't wait to read the rest! I appreciate you putting the effort in to lay all this out for us!


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## Yano (Sep 17, 2022)

Folks need this for sure , this is awesome man , thanks for putting  it up !!!


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## Bomb10shell (Sep 17, 2022)

Wow, that's awesome. I'm glad you posted this and plan to keep it updated. I'm really looking forward to learning from you


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## Yano (Sep 17, 2022)

Bomb10shell said:


> Wow, that's awesome. I'm glad you posted this and plan to keep it updated. I'm really looking forward to learning from you


I know hes always like ,, you should post more of your rock road trip stories an about your idiot friends .. then puts up stuff about ,, oh when I trained at West Side ..... and I feel woozy

I only knew dope fiends that were  good at playing instruments , Trend trained on Olympus with the Godz .... yeah my shits worth reading haahahah 

WRITE MOAR !!! haahahaha


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## BigBaldBeardGuy (Sep 17, 2022)

This is AMAZING. Thank you for taking the time to write it up. I’m hooked. You have some writing skills! I’m eagerly waiting for the next part.


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## Btcowboy (Sep 17, 2022)

Thanks Brother, I am in as there is going to be some valuable knowledge shared here


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