Westside Barbell has put up a new article regarding conditioning the legs for strong squats because strong legs through conditioning equals strong squats.

Click Here for the Article

As I read this article, it got me rethinking almost everything I've read from Westside.

This article covers the importance of doing supplementary leg work which is unilateral in nature (but not something like Pistol Squats) like Unilateral Leg Presses, Calf/Ham Machine (I think they meant reverse hyperextensions for high reps) and banded leg curls (everything done with one leg). They also talk about the importance of doing Belt squats.

All this is fine (I mean we do a lot more "difficult" work here at GUS), but it's the way they present their arguments which draws my attention. They ALWAYS boast of their numbers.

"We wanted to get strong and we noticed how the Finnish Squatters were so strong so we went and learnt about being lumberjacks, converted that into a gym setting and we had some of our guys now squatting 953 in their multi ply suits therefore we have decided that so-and-so variation of the lumberjack exercise is extremely beneficial for squatting."

What?

It really got me laughing.

But hey…I'm not as strong as them (and I probably never will be - and neither will I be weighing 308+ suited up in my multiply gear) so my opinion might not count for the impressionable men and women who equate numbers with accumulated knowledge and acquired expertise however I still stand by the fact that just because you got a 1,000 pound squat it doesn't mean you know how to train someone else to get to a 1,000 pound squat.

And infact, this whole attitude people are developing of pushing their trainees to excel to satisfy some underlying insecurity about their own lack of achievements (and this has got nothing to do with Westisde, I assure you) got me thinking: all of these so called Westsiders are guys whom Louie has taken from Squatting in the 700s and 800s to pushing past 1,000. If you look at it: none of these guys are people who were coached from Day 1 Deadlifting 135 to Deadlifting 800 several years later. If you take the elite of the elite and build on THEM you certainly cannot use that as a "rule" for the general public.

I am not merely using Louie Simmons as a scapegoat but people forget the reason why all these "Clubs" exist: it's a business. Louie's job is to show off his 1,000 pound squatters because it is the only way people will buy their Book of Methods and other paraphernalia. It is all about money. If you show someone who has never touched a weight that you managed to train someone to do a 800 lbs Deadlift, the last thing the impressionable trainee is going to think of is: "What was this Deadlifters' strength before?".

Eric has probably mentioned this earlier but I'll reiterate it again: It's not the 800 lbs that counts but the 665 lbs that fell in between 135 and 800.

I think it is interesting to note how so many of these Exclusive Powerlifting Clubs gain popularity by stat-dropping on their members!

Causal inferences. Makes fools of us all.

Yeah, look, it takes a whole lot of squatting to be able to have the luxury to sit back and examine whether some frigging leg curls makes the difference between 920 and 930 pounds on the bar. And I do mean "luxury". Most people find it so difficult to get exceptionally strong that this luxury of looking at this lifter and that lifter doesn't exist.

Hey, Ash, let's spend a few months experimenting with banded leg curls and this or that machine to see if we can eek out another 2.5 pounds of squatting!

Yeah, right. That's going to f#&^% happen.

And infact, this whole attitude people are developing of pushing their trainees to excel to satisfy some underlying insecurity about their own lack of achievements (and this has got nothing to do with Westisde, I assure you)

If people actually accepted that they have a ways to go before they reach their goal, then things would be a lot better. The worst thing is that these people use the 1000lb squatter( bencher, deadlifter, etc) to tell the newbie that, "hey, I'll get you there." When in fact, it is questionable how much their expertise helped someone who came to them squatting 950, add another 50lbs(& I'm being generous here) to the bar.

Hey, Ash, let's spend a few months experimenting with banded leg curls and this or that machine to see if we can eek out another 2.5 pounds of squatting!

Whoa ,there Eric, don't let the secret, at least that what a certain someone at our gym thinks is the solution to building your lifts, nevermind that it didn't work too well for him, lol.