Twelve years ago I was big into powerlifting. I was hanging out with the likes of Marty Gallagher and Kirk Kaworski as my training goals focused more on absolute strength.
At the time, outside of Marty the person known for training the strongest lifters in the world was Louie Simmons.
Louie is the founder of Westside Barbell located in Dayton Ohio. The programs principlesborrow from Soviet and Bulgarian weightlifting training techniques.
Louie Simmons has also used the “Westside Barbell” method to train and develop athletes and teams from many different disciplines including Olympic gold medal sprinters (Butch Reynolds and Moe Robinson), UFC champions (Kevin Randleman and Matt “The Immortal” Brown), NFL teams (Cleveland Browns, Seattle Seahawks, and Green Bay Packers), numerous college teams, and he advised professional rugby teams (the New Zealand All-Blacks, and Melbourne Storm).
Today I am talking about Louie because of his love of heavy resistance bands.
Depending on your training experience, it becomes harder and harder to increase your absolute strength.
What Louie and his crew realized years ago, was that bands allowed his athletes to increase muscle mass and explosive strength simultaneously.
Most think that you have to separate the two training adaptations separately.
Not true!
Heavy resistance bands are great for increasing muscle size and body composition.
They’re also great for teaching an athlete how to accelerate and decelerate a load with a constantly changing resistance.
The Westside Training methods go like this:
Max Effort Day –
On max effort day athletes will perform (8 – 10) sets of low reps (1-3). The loads will progress from light to very heavy (90% – 100% 1 Rp Max)
Dynamic Method – Speed Day –
On dynamic effort day, athletes use submaximal weights with maximal speed. This day is used to increase the rate of force development and explosive strength.
Repetition Day –
On Repetition Day exercises are performed with conventional loads. Athletes will perform (2-4) sets of (6-10) reps.
This past week I introduced the Westside Dynamic Training Method (Speed day) to a group of our younger athletes.
Our athletes loved it and could immediately tell how much more intense our base lifts were.
Outside of speed, strength and power…all athletes are going to be better off with muscle that actually works and not just looks good.
The Westside Dynamic Method will be a great addition to our top notch programming.
All of our advanced and experienced athletes will now be using bands on the 2nd training session of the week.
Check out the video below of our first training session using bands and also a Max Effort Day.
Speed Day:
Explosive
A1) Heavy Goblet March 2 x 20 seconds
A2) Power Step to Hurdle Hop 2 x 2 R/L
A3) heavy med ball Slam 2 x 10 seconds
Strength
B1) Band Resisted Kettlebell Swing 5 x 5 reps
B2) Band Resisted Goblet Squat 5 x 2 reps
B3) Band Resisted Floor Press 5 x 3 reps
B4) Band Resisted Deadlift 5 x 2. Add a band with each set
Conditioning
C1) 5-10-5 Shuffle x 4 sets
Max Effort Day:
Explosive
A1) Bottoms Up Clean Holds 2 x 3 R/L
A2) Seated Continuous Hurdle Hop 2 x 2
A3) Rotational Med Mall Slam x 10 seconds
Strength
B1) 2 Hand Heavy Kettlebell Swing 5 x 3
B2) 2 KB Suitcase Deadlift 5 x 2 or Single Leg DL 5 x 2 R/L
B3) 2 KB Kettlebell Clean + Press 3 x 2; 2 X 1
B4) Heavy Goblet Squat or Double Racked Kettlebell Squat 5 x 2
Conditioning
C1) Band Resisted Side Shuffle 3 x 10 R/L
5 seconds in between sets
P.S. – For those looking to learn first had how WE build explosive strength in young athletes, join us for our Kettlebells for the Performance Specialist Seminar.There’s an early bird rate ending this Friday 10/5. Contact us for more ino and group pricing. Don’t miss out!
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