Why HIT & Stretching Makes You Weak w/ Louie Simmons
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- Опубликовано: 12 янв 2025
- Legends are born but legends never die. Louie Simmons lives on through the strength he developed in others. A cherished conversation with the Westside Barbell founder just weeks before he passed is an honor…and one we are stoked to share with you.
Louie Simmons changed lifting. His methodology, his equipment, his attitude. His home of freakishly strong men and women is a mecca in the heart of Ohio. His spirit continues to light the fire in so many who pull and push every day.
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( I'm grateful for this video because I just couldn't imagine Louie dying. Here, he's obviously dying and that somehow gives me a sense that it did really happen.) I'd love comments on my reminiscences. In the beginning, when I first met Lou at the Columbus YMCA where he would come once a month to do his lifts in a public setting, there were only a handful of us. We saw the first inklings of what was coming. I'm fortunate to have been there and after. I still have the rack he welded for me in exchange for an Olympic bar I picked up during the 1970 World Weightlifting Championships in Columbus. It was supposedly used by the Russian lifters, like Alexeev, who competed in the event. He studied those guys, like we all did. I also remember when we attended a Lexington Open Powerlifting Meet and he took first and I took second as light heavyweights. Still don't know how we made it home as tired as we were and it was snowing the whole way. I still like to tell how Louie sometimes used to like to listen to Rod Stewart when we trained in the basement. Not my first choice, but it was his and Doris's basement. Around that time I was getting on the freeway on the westside of Columbus when Stewart's Maggie May came on the radio and I was astounded to discover that I started sweating just hearing it! Still do. I also remember a Region 6 meet we attended in Anderson, Indiana, where I took third in the weight class and Louie first. Those were the days! Several have gone long before him, Paolucci (spelling?) and Dr. Ron Gutter, the veterinarian, just to name two. They're there to greet him! I'd like to hear from Bill Whittaker DVM on this. More later. I remember when Lou first started experimenting with various ways to get more support out of things you wear when you lift. Sometimes that was hilarious. For example, he got his first wife, Judy, to sew him canvas shorts to wear using thread normally used to sew, say, boat sails. When he tried them out, he was squatting around 600 lbs in his rack in the basement when the shorts literally exploded even creating a dust cloud off the floor. I'm sorry, but I couldn't help myself. I just had to laugh! Now, both Louie and I were followers of George Frenn, hammer thrower and ground breaking powerlifter. You could see why Louie liked him because he had a similar intensity. One example of that was the time Frenn was practicing his hammer throw and he tripped in the circular spin part and fractured both tibia with spiral fractures. Not to be slowed down, he actually showed up to a powerlifting meet with casts on both tibias and lifted in the meet. And, that famous picture on the cover of Muscular Development of Frenn coming up out of a record-breaking squat so powerfully that the bar bent around his shoulders. That was Louie, too. And, we were shocked too when Frenn died. You know, I'm reminded by Mark Bell's comments about Louie's inventiveness regarding strength training that I experienced and many others credit Louie (including Wikipedia, I believe) with having come up with the exercise called Good Mornings. I know that we who trained with him at the time were told to take an empty bar and perform that movement for reps. Over time we gradually added small amounts of weight, always monitoring how our backs felt, until eventually and incredibly we reached, in my case, 380lbs (for three reps) and, in Louie's case 500lbs. That, of course, led to incredible deadlifts. My best in training was 650lbs for three reps! And, I think we and Louie deserve some credit for realizing early on that the closest you could come to simulating deadlifting barefoot (ballet slippers, wrestling shoes) the better for your lifts in competitions.
Would love to hear more stories of your old days hanging out with Louie Simmons!
Tom Paulucci was my throwing coach at OSU. We squated in Lous garage every sun. night. Great guys,great times. That kerosene heater always made me nervous.
I would love to hear more of the good old days! Plus I'm jealous of that treasure, a rack put together and welded by Louie himself! Interesting as well to hear that's where the barefoot deadlifting came from. I always read or was told it was the best way to engage the kinetic chain and nervous system, never knew where it started.
Thank you for sharing man. I started reading Louie's articles in pl USA in the mid 90s..I was really young but I already knew there was something different about the methods he was talking about.
I got to go to a seminar with him in mid 90s. Sat next to him and had lunch (Subway). I got to talk to him for 30 minutes during lunch. He definitely looks rough in this video. He told me they take steroids (obvious now but mid 90s was a bit more hush). He also said he doesn't like creatine because it causes cramping. I used to call his gym and talk to Doris and tell them to fix various things in their website in the late 90s. I didn't ever get to talk to him again after the seminar though.
In regards to stretching. His method of progressively squatting on a lower and lower box gave me more hip mobility than anything else. The man was a walking encyclopedia of training knowledge and numbers. Truly one of a kind.
I don't closely follow powerlifting but I like to lift, and just about any time I saw a video with Louie in it I stopped and watched. What a Master. RIP
Respect. There will never be another Louie Simmons
Louie was ahead of his time when it came to training. RIP
I do hit and pull 600lbs at almost 50.... not too bad and I don't want to have excessive wear and tear. Hip replacements and lower back destroyed. Louie should talk how many guys get destroyed by his training
Yeah he didn't exactly explain his problem with HIT.
@@GarageDwellerPat HIT isn't the best way to get strong as a powerlifter... but neither is 3 sets to failure of 10 reps. Powerlifting is its own thing...
Yep. He's guys are destroyed. No thanks. Flexibility, history once a week, no more than twice, lifting heavy, cardio(mostly steady state). That's how you become the fittest most injury proof version of yourself. Strength doesn't matter if you're broken by 50.
@@steveb6718more sets and therefore more rested reps equals being more skilled at the exercise.
All depends on your goal. For powerlifter HIT doesn't make sense, for bodybuilder or athlete it often does.
It's going to be hard for him to talk about it. He passed away last year.
Been lifting for decades, compound movements... introduction of yoga and flexibility training along with HIT cardio has been tremendous for recovery and rehabilitation.
Yoga is straight from Hell. In Charity, don’t do it.
@@dieterh.9342?
@@dieterh.9342the stretching helps.
@@dieterh.9342lol shut that bullshit up, is drinking blood and eatting flesh from heaven?
I'm sure this person is referring to yoga as different poses that help relax and stretch the body,include breath work as well. What's wrong with that?
been lifting for decades as well, started doing pool work (high knee marching, leg swings, kickbacks, etc) post lower body days (squat , deadlift) and it has made a world of difference. concentric only (pool work) is better for recovery (minimal breakdown) while deloading your spine (buoyancy). I think the only reason it hasn't popularized is the difficulty to find a pool. I own a gym and joined a rec center just for the pool....once again... game changer after 25 years of training.
Regarding the original HITT, I belonged to a Nautilus gym in 1980...I had just gotten out of The Marine Corps and was in very good shape. i was still running a lot of distance and swimming and the Nautilus regime really worked for me to add muscle along with a high calorie intake. I definitely put on significant muscle mass in the probably 10 months I did it.
He's not talking about HIIT. He's talking about HIT.
HIIT= High intensity interval training
HIT= High intensity training
Arthur Jones
If dorian had entered a powelifting competition would he have won?
Answer is no.
@@jerppazz4525that’s the difference between two different sports. Is a power lifter agile or Mobil? Not as much right?
@@theentrepreneur607 before i engage are you aware that i replied to the other guy saying dorian didnt look weak?
@@jerppazz4525 yeah I saw that.
@LWT1449 Dorian Yates didn’t train hiit in any form or fashion. Dorian Yates trained PYRAMID TO ABSOLUTE FAILURE. All ya gotta do is watch him workout to know that. Fuck every word he and mike mentzer ever said about their training methods. Mike trained volume and preached one set to failure like a punk.
I see what they are saying but I still think it's important to passive stretch. Maybe not right before or right after your exercise but definitely at some point.
Tons of powerlifters stretch and for a good reason. You may not have to do it all the time but defnitely should stretch and do mobility work. I always end up with some impingment, imbalance and incredibly stiff muscles if i dont stretch at all for a while. Then i am forced to stretch and sit through the pain. Stretching is good.
Good points. I always thought it was funny when people tried to say powerlifters are strong, and bodybuilders are weak.
When nowadays a lot of these pros can incline bench 5 plates.
I still perform some dynamic stretches before I get into my warm up sets, I find that it helps me with my mobility. For example, I stretch the day before I perform a compound lift.
You are doing the right thing. Strength and mobility are kinesiology 101.
@@Daniel-qr4cs kinesiology is nogainz
My warm up is my first set. Load in the range of motion in which you intend to train.
I coach gymnastics. It’s essential to have flexibility for them to perform. But loaded stretches are greatly preferred. Deep squats, ring dips, and Jefferson curls, etc. And I tell the parents that flexibility is highly sport specific, and if your sport doesn’t require it, it is benign at best and possibly detrimental.
I started hit at age 60 , had to un learn all the bs I had been told over a lifetime , but hit made total sense after I started looking deep into it , I have 5 bulging disc's stenosis arthritis, I gave up free weights, except biceps and no more barbell bench, went to all hammer strength machines it changed my life my strength my energy my body everything - I'm 64 now my hammer strength bench max is 320 lbs 4 slow reps - if your over 50 and you do it correctly hit will work and save your joints ~
Impressive. what cadence? I have been exploring Body By Science.
I really struggle with understanding this man, but I want to! Is there anywhere I can see this with subtitles?
Go to captions, put in English.
passive stretching helps a muscle that is "stuck" for lack of a better word in any form of contraction. stretching most certainly has its place in a routine, the placement is where it becomes important. Yoga is a little more than passive stretching, it also benefits stabilizers. which in turn would benefit movement throughout every day life. if they mean HIIT and not HIT i would say, people tend to flip the pyramid of muscle/movement upside down and this would imply that they start with HIIT, train mostly with HIIT, & don't ever consider flipping the pyramid and seeing HIIT is something at the top op the pyramid that requires foundational work at the bottom first. no one knows exactly why injuries occur in sport, but to suggest David Beckham should of been doing Maximal Strength while being full time on the pitch is off imo. There is SO MUCH that goes into being an athlete that it DOES NOT and SHOULD NOT correlate with the every day human's plan. HIIT is in fact a business model, a very dangerous one at that. Wise & healthy movement to you!
Im not totally sure why they’re hating on passive stretching, but from experience passive stretching helped get better (active) range of motion. So I need the passive stretch to get there.
No it doesn't.
@@TheBatugan77 um. hate to break it to you. If you do not have range of motion, there is no way to get there without passive stretching.
As I'm watching Westside Barbell move forward, I'm thinking it should not forget its origins with the hammer thrower and powerlifter George Frenn. Louie would want that and I think so too. In the beginning it was just Louie and me and Louie's veneration of Frenn was always there. They had so much in common. And, it's where he got the name of his gym.
I agree completely! George Frenn should be much more popular now than he is.
Didn't get the answer on WHY it makes you weak.
It's always been telling that HIT coaches say that higher volume not to failure is a business model. It's the ultimate gaslight. Why would you have trainees in the gym 3x longer to make more money?
Complexity. The idea is that people need guidance to understand and navigate all the different exercises, set, reps, etc. Make something really complex and confusing and people will feel like they need to pay someone to help them. Functional training is like this too.
louie is a lot smarter than i ever knew.
Well, I guess I'll have to read his article about what's wrong with HIT. Didn't see him say what's wrong with it here, other than that it was a business.
It doesn't work.
@@TheBatugan77 You're a liar, SCAMtastic.
@@TheBatugan77 You'realiar, scamtastic.
title is wrong guys
Good catch, swapped it with another clip from full interview. Thank you.
He looked ill, here. He was a great contributor to power lifting!
Idk about ill but he was definitely starting to look his age more. RIP the legend
Not ill, just old, the man was 74 years of age.
I mean yeah he’s aged but at the time I was “hey he looked very pale than usual, hope everything is okay “
@@sergeant1446 No he looks ill and old, especially considering that he looked good for an old guy just a couple of years ago. My dad is 73 and looks 10 years younger than louie does here, and my dad has ruined his body just like Louie, but from manual labour and not powerlifting.
@@sergeant1446 Knowing Louie as I did, one thing one gets from this video is that he is actually more relaxed maybe even at peace here than I ever knew him to be. He was a very intense person. It's said that, at a certain point, he checked out of the hospital so he could die at home, which I gather he did.
Good interview.
What is this word “passive stretching”. If you are stretching it is not passive. The medical terminology for passive rom is someone else moving through range of motion. I would call what they are talking about unloaded stretching. Stretching can be great loaded but it needs to be built up…often times with just body weight (atg split squat is a great example). These movements are absolutely good for your muscles and joints and there is no evidence that stretching causes more injuries.
Maybe the rolling thing, when you're laying on the ground and roll over some object, if you call that stretching.
Passive stretching is when the muscle you intend to stretch is relaxed and allowed to elongate. Active stretching is when the muscle is engaged and contracting against a force placed on it. These may not be a medical terms but are commonly used in the strength community.
@@ruffrydazz2032 not possible. The reason you can't move into range because muscle preventing you from doing it. No such thing as passive stretching.
@@sillymesilly If you’re not contracting the muscle, you’re passive stretching. Sorry you don’t understand basic physiological concepts.
stretching doesn't make you weak. Injuries make you weak.
People that say stretching makes you weak. Have never seen Shaolin training. Their strength for size ratio is insane
@@Daniel-qr4cspassive stretching as in holding a position, which he did mention, does make you weaker and immediately. When you hold a stretch you are lengthening a muscle, forcing it to relax. That means you can't contract it as well which means you are producing less force. This is the data we have. Static stretching reduces force production and increases risk of injury.
YesItDoes.
It depends, I was doing weighted barbell stretch to straighten my knee ligaments and it did the opposite, the knee started to lock out of position because the tendons and ligaments got stretched too much, stopped doing it and now it's fine, be careful on how you're stretching
@chumbucket6184 Static stretching temporarily makes your muscles weaker. After you recover they go back to normal strength.
Stretching or not, the most important thing is to be warmed up. But if you’re an athlete, stretching still makes some sense. You’re going to be pushed into potentially extreme ranges of motion with extreme forces and torque on your bodily structure. Being a goaltender for example.
Lifting weights and getting stronger helps with some basic bulletproofing but there will also be a law of diminishing returns with injury prevention because getting stronger doesn’t directly address the forces acting upon your body in sports, or in life.
I’d agree that stretching isn’t always the answer like many think with tight muscles. I’ve trained clients who couldn’t even hinge an inch, to doing full ROM Romanian deadlifts with 350lbs. Getting stronger, generally speaking, will dramatically improve mobility and flexibility in itself.
What hamstring exercise did Louie recommend
Interesting but really it’s all about what you’re aiming at with your physical capabilities and body’s endurance and so on.
Strongmen, powerlifters, bodybuilders, athletes, and more all have their own ways/methods of training what they want to value out of the body so there is a plethora of ways to work to where your goals are at.
Either way choose your path and the experience and acquired knowledge will help take you to where you want to be at when done correctly
Stretching doesn't make you weak it just doesn't work if you're not warmed up 1st these guys pull muscles cuz their not warmed up and there are active stretches that work like side lounges but another problem is that the bulky football pads and cleets mess up your balance and flexibility from start
Exactly. And every guy who trained at westside has like a ton of serious injuries… so clearly their method wasn’t very good at preventing injuries
@lovesgibson You are obviously an expert. Tell us your credentials and champions you have trained again?
@@lovesgibson and injuries make you weak.
Not really, the problem is not training for the problem at hand. If you stretch, you've loosened the rigidity that was protecting you from moving under load into a plain you can't handle. If you remove that rigidity but don't strengthen the new length then you're just going to get injured. Applying force beyond what the body can handle in that plain.
@@DrMr-nb5ki no with active stretching like ATG Lunges there's still rigidity in your core and legs so your gaining strength as you lengthen, think yoga...that's all isometric muscle activation so greater ROM doesn't necessarily mean less rigidity also you want to be more loose around specific joints like ankles, hips, and shoulders because if the muscles around those joints are too tight they will get pulled very easily.
Title should be referencing HIT not HIIT I believe
RIP Coach Louis
Louis understands better than almost anyone else how to get strong. He doesn’t seem to understand how to stay fit and healthy for life.
@@spencergsmith he knew more about conditioning and building an aerobic base than anyone I have met.
@@Powerathletehq if he thinks stretching makes you weak, as the title suggests, then my statement stands.
@@spencergsmith Did you watch the clip?
@@Powerathletehq yes. You both talk about how stretching is useless, and he says the same about HIT, both of which I strongly disagree with. I’m not saying they are the only way, nor that strength training through a full range of motion isn’t the best way to develop a mobility, but passive stretching and high intensity training are not useless.
@@Powerathletehq and just to be clear, I respect both you and Louis. I just disagree on this point. A program designed for long-term health and functionality includes weightlifting, high intensity conditioning, and at least a small amount of stretching.
I agree with Louie on HIT I’ve tried it and got weaker not stronger. In the end it depends on your goals but if you’re looking to be strong HIT is not the answer. I don’t believe it’s affective for Bodybuilding either but that’s just my opinion. I’m sure others have their own views on it.
HIT was more endurance and explosiveness
Dorian Yates won six Mr Olympia's doing that training I don't like it either but it must work for some people He's maybe the greatest bodybuilder ever and he did that training of hit training I think dorian's the greatest of all time and it did work for him
Mobility a byproduct of flexibility for Olympic lifting mix well. This is just ridiculous to claim.
I don’t know how to workout anymore.
Lmao
Not doubting he knew more than most, but I dont get why people talk about this Louie fella like he was the messiah
It's pretty biased to be against stretching 😂
Maybe it's different when you're on steroids but I wouldn't know personally
He clearly knew how to train... but cmon guys, we all stretch at least to some degree
What he probably meant was dont over do it and then not strengthen those muscles after... lift way more often than you go to "yoga", in other words.
Im just saying some deep stretching here and there every once in a while has definitely only progressed my strength and athleticism lol
this one of those "baAAHHh! dOnT sTreTch 🥴😡🥴" but would probably say differently in other circumstances
"Speed Benching" 10x3's every 30-60 seconds.... sounds like HIT to me
He's throws in "B-b-b-business Mode.. Model... Business Model" and low IQ fellas are like "ahhh yaa he must know what's he's talking about, bahhhh... another Pyramid Scheme!!" like why be closed-minded
This sounds like Chad Johnson saying that eating McDonald's prevented injury. Stretching doesn’t make you weak. It's not the cause of injuries. But it's not going to prevent injuries either. Doing plyometric exercises is the best way to prevent injuries
I've always loved lifting and overall exercise but when you go extremely heavy as in these guys most people know they're on illegal PED's and the worst part as they get older their body is destroyed if they don't die early to heart failure as the facts prove but to each his own
Also steroid users constantly rip tendons and ligaments
i really want to know what old school WSBB did for recovery lol
They did many smaller muscle group and gpp workouts that lasted about 20 min
Steroids helped with their recovery.
Thats because h.i.t is based on bodybuilding, not power or strength like the likes of louie would be looking for. If you think it doesnt work, listen to the likes of Mike Mentzer and look at his physique, look at Dorian Yates who also trained like this after training the volume way, saying it was more effective etc. That being said Rip louie, the godfather of powerlifting in my opinion
🤦🏻♂️
Didn't Mentzer say heavy duty/hit 1 set per exercise is really only for advanced bodybuiders who aren't seeing results from more standard training?
If you look at Dorian’s actual training it’s a lot higher volume than you think.
@mattchart9808 - Exactly, the dude was doing a couple warm up sets then doing a top set to failure. I come across a lot of people that think Dorian just went in cold and did one heavy ass set... that's how you tear muscles and cause irreparable damage to your body.
@@joeyhuebner10Lmao despite agreeing with you, what you said described Dorian very well lmao 😂
IS THIS A JOKE? I´m stronger and bigger than ever doing HIT like Mike Mentzer techies, This old man is crazy
You know who Louie Simmons is right?🙊
Stretching doesn't make you weak
He was right. It is a business model. Run people through 20 minutes of training and then next client. Its nonsense.
Louie got weird towards the end
If this guy was so strong why is he dead? 🧠
H.i.t is great
This has to be one of the dumbest videos on the internet 😂
What makes you weak is spending countless hours doing volume work that is useless that gives you no gains. While HIT your in and out and leave the BS nonsense of more is better. Tell a dr if one tab is good how about 10…
Gosh Louie looks awful here. Poor man
I noticed that too ☹️
He was at the end. He looked good in his later years for a while. And then it just hit him all at once. Fucking aging sucks.
Let's not kid one another, to do massive lifts requires more than knowledge and nutrition and sleep its called steroids and everyone knows it
I love Louie Simmons and his methodology and he is right about football injuries and other sports but he is wrong about HIT. He must mean HIIT, HIIT which is high intensity interval training is crap yes i agree as well as I trained this way. It will get you skinny and weak. High Intensity Training which is one set to failure as Mentzer, Doryan Yates and Jay Vincent trains is totally different and will make you bigger and stronger. Im sorry but Louie here is wrong about Arthur Jones. As the say, stay in your lane on this one. I have gone from high volume bodybuilding which as a natural you will burn out. To Starting Sttrength, Bill Starrs 5x5 then training Westside to HIT using Mentzer methodology and never felt better.I train upper then lower once a week, 2 workouts a week and 1 hour total training and i went from 155-170 in 4 months natural. Westside got me strong as hell except I couldnt train as much as it required. Louie will always be a legend and expert in powerlifting and strength training but HIT is a great way to train for naturals.
HIIT and HIT are both good.
The ultimate in bro science.
He produced some of the greatest powerlifters in history. You sit on youtube and criticize. You are not the same
@@TarponRenegade some of the greatest geared lifters*, which is like saying the highest vertical jumpers on a trampoline.
He's a boat load of bro science, with some good things sprinkled in.
@@littlethuggieEvery top powerlifter is on gear so that's a moot point.
@MR12AMAZING not "steroids" gear, lifting gear, ie, squat suits and bench shirts.
Louie is wrong here!
I love the late, great Louie Simmons. However, these guy's are wrong when it comes to football training. Football players are not powerlifters. HIT is the best way for athletes to strength train. Ask Pat Riley, Mickey Marotti, Mark Asanovich, & Ken Mannie. Shearing forces pre-expose athletes to injury. Also, the other major component other than anatomy & physiology is motor learning. An athlete cannot take a power clean, squat, bench, DL onto the football field. It does not translate.
You mean the dude talking to Louie Simmons? The guy who was a starter in the NFL for 10 years? He is wrong about football training?
I think he’s referring to when they were talking about Beckham.
Hurting your knee in football is never due to weak hamstrings and calves.
More often than not footballers have overly tight hamstrings.
He is referring to National Football League. When he says football he means football, not soccer. I guaranteed no soccer player has been Westside. Let alone Louie working with them.
@@Powerathletehq gotcha. So he was referring Odell Beckham 👍🏻 my bad
Either way, weak calves and hamstrings is not usually the source of a knee injury
Do you understand that most of the knee injuries in the NFL are related to the ACL. The function of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is to stabilize the knee joint by preventing excessive forward movements of the tibia and/or limiting rotational knee movements. Hamstrings dampen these effects. If the hamstrings are weak the ACL can not decelerate or change direction during deceleration. @@buddyreview5017
If your going for looks, hit is the way to go, if your going for strength, strengrh training is the way to go, before i did 3 sets. 5 excercises , with hit i do one set, 5 excercises and i got better results as far as body goes, and my workouts are better
Hurt his knee because they don’t train their calves and hamstrings?
What a ridiculous statement. Absolutely no idea what he’s talking about when it comes to athletic performance.
Footballers have far more aesthetically pleasing claves and hamstrings in comparison to bodybuilders.
Once again Football players, not soccer players. And weak hamstrings are the major culprit in knee injuries - well established.
@@Powerathletehq I thought knee injuries were more often attributed to weak hip stability, no?
I would say weak hamstrings and glutes are a major player in knee injuries as much as weak feet and poor control of the knee from the foot as it relates to t
he glute. Hamstring is key for deceleration. @@buddyreview5017
Hiit comes from Tabata. Go look at Louies lifters as they age. Flexible is the last thing you would say about them. He had some REALLY great ideas and REALLY dumb ones too.
Passive stretching and breathing is for relaxation🤦
here he looks old and weak…