He once asked me “have you heard about Matt Wenning?” I said “ofcouse”. He goes “the guy is very knowledgeable”. In fact whenever your name came up in our conversations, he always spoke about you with great regards and respect.
There will never be another westside -louie simmons -dave tate -kenny patterson -matt wenning - george helbert - rob fusner - mike ruggeria - chuck vogelpohl - matt dimel - mike brown - JM blakely These are like superheros to me
@@WenningStrength appreciate your honesty...until you made it clear I thought he was talking about Smelly.. it sounds like you both had a similar issue with Louie in regards to Raw over Geared.....I have to think (as a fan of you all) that he hated you beating his gym....but loved that you went out and developed your own path to success.. he seemed like a " don't just talk shit, if you can't walk shit!...."kinda guy...and you walked the walk..
Well done Matt Louie was awesome the last few years he didn’t talk to me as much but was always there when I needed a favor Great bold headed man with a heart big as star
Yep we all had our ups and downs with him Everyone that doesn’t know - Serrano is one of the top Drs in the world - knowing Louie as good or better than me
Louie's contribution to powerlifting speaks for itself. However, as is always the case Matt, the difficulty for a teacher/master is embracing the new concepts while simultaneously letting go of the old ones. Being tethered to old methods has its rewards and caveats. Certainly, he was hurt because one of his star pupils became a teacher, but don't think for one minute that he didn't respect what you brought to the table. He did and it was in spades. Stay humble and strong. Always!
I think what’s amazing is that you were able to use your critical thinking skills that you picked up from your higher education and advance your programming when you were already at an elite phase. You demonstrated how the training that everyone assumed was optimal could be improved, even if that risked being kicked from the gym. You were true to yourself and excelled. ❤
I was a shot putter at OSU from 1976-80. Tom Paulucci was a friend of Louie and my throwing coach.We squated every Sun. night in Louies garage complete with kerosene heater and 8 track tunes. I went from a195 lb. freshman throwing 50 ft to 225 lb senior throwing 60 ft. Competed in powerlifting as a skinny 242 totaling at a Masters level. Tom and Lou are both gone now,God bless them both for being so good to me and leaving me with great memories.
Love these stories, Matt. Great job finding the old footage as well. Wild times back then! And you not only survived them but you continue to thrive which is the real victory.
Matt!!! Thanks for sharing (with the entire world) and with BRUTAL HONESTY your relationship with Louie Simmons and Westside Barbell. May the spirit of Louie now Rest In Peace as I pray Angels of Comfort and Healing are dispatched to all those that loved, hated, respected and miss Louie. I truly believe the posting of this video will assist in your personal healing process and will also bridge the gap that will eventually be filled with the love you both had for each other. God Bless You, Matt!!!
Thank you for this video, Matt. I'm still in disbelief that Louie is gone. I remember a month ago I was watching his talks on WSB RU-vid channel, and I thought he looked very sick. It looked like he aged 10 years in just one year. He sounded as quick and witty as ever, but physically he looked so frail. He'd probably wanna fight me if he knew I said that about him. RIP Louie. You are very missed.
Matt, I always wondered what happened between you and Louie. Thank you for posting this, love hearing the story. Westside Barbell and Wenning Strength are my top 2 influences on my training and the 2 RU-vid channels I go to for advice. Thank you for sharing!
Hey Matt, obviously I'm Dennie Little Sr from Westside barbell in the early 90s. This was so awesome for me to watch. I can remember you just coming up and how I knew this kid would be a star. If you don't remember me, it's ok. I came with Jimmy Ritchie and Rob Fusner. I was 190 and average at best and throwing up big weight just wasn't in the cards for me. Who cares! But this interview finally tells the story of how Louie Simmons could be at times. Make no mistake, Louie was absolutely great to me as a young man. With that being said, if a new person came to visit or popped in for a training session he would completely be oblivious to me. For anyone who is going to read this, it's 100% fact, like it or not. I respect your integrity for telling the truth and not making it one sided. Louie definitely took our sport into a new evolution of lifting. He was ahead of his time in so many ways, yet resistant to evolution in many other ways. I'm from Columbus and have followed your success. In my opinion you are the strongest lifter as just raw talent along with Kenny Patterson and Chuck Vogelphol this sport has ever seen. Kudos to you for being the person that told the story correctly and with so much respect. Not only for Louie and Westside but also yourself. Being the accomplished athlete that you are and successful, it's truly a rare quality to see someone like you be so humble. Sincerely Dennie Little Sr...for those of you that don't like my opinion either you don't know the truth or you don't want to. F$#K Y÷U!
At the end of the day there was mutual respect. Both of you were pushed to think differently, both successful. Block the noise Matt. Thanks for sharing YOUR story!!!
Thanks for the great story, it really gives us a look behind the scenes of Westside. I dabbled in powerlifting in the ‘94-‘95 time frame, all we had then was three vhs tapes, squat, bench and deadlift from Westside Barbell.
What a great video! Thanks for sharing the good and bad and recognizing the huge impact Louie Simmons had on you💪🙏💪 Tons of respect and love for what you guys did for the strength community!!!
What a great story. Even a recreational lifter as myself can learn from your lesson. Sometimes you got to drop the belts and wraps to build real muscular strength. It goes a long way.
What a amazing video Matt. I never knew the story of your time at west side. I know you have tremendous respect for Louie, it really shows. Just because we have different ideas in life is no reason to dump on another person. Your integrity is evident with this information and story. You are very motivational for me. I will be ending my career as a firefighter in a few years and would love to look into education avenues for coaching Athletes, Firefighters and youth with nutrition, strength and speed when I come off the rig. I will reach out to you for some information and ideas if you don’t mind. With respect from NC 👊🏽
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.
Matt, you did right by making this video with all of its honesty. I hope you arent taking it to hard that you didnt get to make that phone call. Louie was Louie and there will never be another. Keep it solid always, I've been following you for a long while along with ole Dave Tate. I will always have respect for you both.
Love the honesty and the balls to go your own way. Nice to hear a genuine point of view Matt. Keep it up. Well into the bench manual with great results. Thanks again
Please don't take this the wrong way, but I was unfamiliar with you before I saw this video. You're a good storyteller, very articulate. You held my interest for the entire half hour. I'm taking your story at face value, and you appear to tell it like it is, holding Louie accountable for his mistakes as well as owning up to your own. Very rarely is one party solely to blame when a relationship breaks down, and your story reflects an understanding of that.
Never got to meet louie, but its a funny thing, when you take information from a someone that helps you improve and become a better stronger person, it feels like I knew the guy for years.
Great content from the heart, from a fantastic powerlifter who proved it drug free, geared, raw and obtained the advanced formal education along with his platform and gym cred. Thank you for creating this Matt and Wenning Strength. It should be clear to everyone how you feel about Louie as well as where people should turn now for training guidance now that he has passed on and you continue your blended legacy of correct strength training information.
I’m glad you spoke about this despite your differences and issues(I could be wrong as I’ve only heard Chinese whispers about your relationship). From what I’ve know about him he was knowledgeable beyond belief and it is clear when he speaks about lifting. Massive respect and of course rest in peace Louie
I have been following Matt and Westside for maybe 6 or 7 years now. Watching as many videos, interviews reading articles as many as I can. I've come to the personal conclusion that Matt is basically an updated version of Louie Simmons and the rightful heir to continue Louie's teachings.
Hey Matt, you said you may explain at a later date, but I'd love to hear your thought process and reasoning as to why you prefer lighter weights with DE work over Louie's heavier percentages. Appreciate the story and all you've done for and continue to do for the industry
I think they did dynamic work in at least briefs or in suits with the straps down. So the heavier percentages were lighter. Not sure if they did upper in a shirt tho.
@@witheredserenity3183 if anything that would make the % higher. ie 50% of a multiply comp squat done in just briefs is going to be a lot harder/heavier (it’d be more like 70-80% of your 1rm in just briefs) than 50% of an unequipped squat
Wow…this is deep! I’m definitely going to look into your programs. I’m currently doing a program & it’s pretty successful since I’m going up in strength but I’m super weak compared to you guys. Thank you!
It’s been a tough year for powerlifting. We’ve lost some big influencers. It’s up to guys like you to pick up the torch and keep it going. I can attest that since following your methodology I’ve been injury free and feel better at 46 than I did at 36
Ordinary lifters like myself are less ordinary because of the Extra Ordinary Mastodons like Louie Simmons and Matt Wenning, (and MANY others). It's their extra ordinary intelligence and singularity of purpose to learn and teach. I hope Louie, Matt, and those many others have some idea of how many lives they made and make better by sharing their knowledge. RIP Louie Simmons, a pioneer of Strength.
If you’ve seen farther, it’s because you’ve stood on the shoulders of giants like Louie. Super interesting how strength has become where it is today and how training methods come full circle
@@WenningStrength Cheers buddy!! :-)) Just a quick question - I have started doing these tricep extensions against a barbell where you lean forward and dip underneath it, are these something that can realistically add 20 to 30 pounds to your bench if you currently do zero tricep work like myself? I can hit 470 for a single but dream of 495 some day :-)
I think Louie had to be that way to get the most out of all you guys. Underneath it all I think he was so proud of all you guys and what you accomplished.
That was good! I especially like the Louie impression 😂 Do you know much about Louie’s earlier days lifting - or how he discovered/got interested in Conjugate? That would be an interesting episode.
Louie got interested in lifting fairly young, around 12, and said he had slightly above average drive and strength compared to some others...Louie self educated and kept on lifting as he grew older, always self educating. He injured his lower back in his 30s, and after deciding his training was wrong...he got refered to a company that sold the Russian text books from the Soviet Olympics wl program, and Louie converted it to pl
I remember a trio at World Gym on Sawmill Road around 1993/94 who seemed impressive at the time. The most impressive guy was rather lanky, maybe 6 feet 190 and he squatted around 500 with wraps. The numbers you put up would have been unimaginable.
Matt, thank you for the awesome video. I have been in a serious dilemma. The westside barbell documentary made me switch to training that is more focused on strength than hypertrophy. The problem i run into though is if i look at a powerlifting program, I get afraid that i will shrivel up. I am 6'2 and my weight fluctuates between 240 and 280 depending on my goals, 240 being my very lean weight, 280 being my more fluffy but solid weight. Is there a way to do a combination of both styles of training BUT ensure strength progress.
Louie was the SEED for USA POWER LIFTING..RIP. I use all these persons to study the different way of how each defines n interperates each lifting techiques..speed, sets,angles , percentages warming up etc..from a SEED Came all these trainers on RU-vid..
WARNING ⚠️ You have a shitty comment you will be blocked from this channel permanently. - remember it’s a privilege to be here and have no problem making you disappear Matt
