Who was Louie Simmons? Tributes pour in as founder of Westside Barbell and the Conjugate method dies aged 74

Louie Simmons recently passed away at the age of 74. It is currently unknown when he died and what his cause of death was. Westwide Barbell announced the news on their official Instagram page on March 24:

The post also includes an excerpt from Welsh poet Dylan Thomas’ popular poem Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night:

Everything known about Louie Simmons

Simmons was mostly known for developing the Westside Conjugate training method and using it for powerlifting and other sports alongside inventing different pieces of strength training equipment.

He publicly defended the use of performance-enhancing drugs to achieve strength goals and muscle growth, including his consistent use of anabolic steroids since 1970.

Louie competed in powerlifting for around 50 years and achieved a 920 pound squat, 600 pound bench press, and a 722 pound deadlift at the age of 50. He worked as a strength consultant with collegiate and professional sports teams, and his training methods were also featured in the CrossFit Powerlifting certificate course.

His articles related to training methods were also featured in the famous magazine, Powerlifting USA. He was the owner of the private gym Westside Barbell in Columbus, Ohio.

Simmons developed and popularized a system of training called the Conjugate Method, and his method has been used to train athletes in different kinds of sports dependent on strength development like powerlifting, track, combat sports, and football.

He claimed that he developed and invented special barbell exercises used to target weaknesses in competitive lifts.

Apart from developing special exercises, he even developed specialized equipment and machines to efficiently and effectively build strength. His most interesting machine is the Reverse Hyper, which is dedicated to the posterior chain.

Netizens pay tribute on Twitter

Louie Simmons gained popularity as a powerlifter and strength coach, and his techniques have also become well-known. Many public personalities paid tribute to him on Twitter when they heard about his demise:

About the author

Anupal is a pop culture writer at Sportskeeda with a degree in Political Science. He developed a keen interest in the lives of celebrities, films, TV shows, and box office collections since an early age. After accumulating significant experience as a content writer across varied fields at companies such as The Indian Wire, DigiStatement, and QuirkyByte Media, he eventually settled on writing about his favorite genre - pop culture.

Anupal believes in conducting in-depth research while writing about any topic and relies on varied sources to ensure he produces holistic articles. He also often glances through content that was published in the 80s and 90s to gain a better understanding of the subject he is covering.

Anupal admires Robert Downey Jr., who played one of his favorite Marvel superheroes, Iron Man. He is inspired by the actor's resilience and the determination in overcoming past struggles to building a successful Hollywood career and admires the way he articulates his thoughts while speaking in interviews.

If Anupal could travel back in time, he would love to experience James Cameron's 2009 film 'Avatar' in a theatre full of fans. When he's not busy working, he binges on the latest OTT titles across languages.

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