As we turn down the street to into the industrial complex my nervous anxiety is on par with a competition. Since finding CrossFit and strength sports the industrial warehouse is a familiar arena for gyms, and I have many times traveled to one to train. But this is different...this is Westside Barbell. The "Mecca" of powerlifting and strength & conditioning. This is one of the most if not THE most intense training environment on the planet.
When we pull up there are about 10 people both male and female pulling sleds and pushing wheelbarrows. As we walk into the building it feels like walking into a stadium during a playoff game. The energy level of this small building literally hits you in the face. As we wade through the heavy metal music, and the different people doing all different manners of training we see Louis Simmons. The owner and trainer at Westside Barbell is shorter than I would have expected, but at 67 years old he looks at you with both the wisdom of a real life Guru and the intensity of a man who has fought 100 fights in the ring.
To myself as a trainer this is the same as meeting both Michael Jordan and Phil Jackson crammed into the same person. Not only has hit an Elite Total for many years but he is like the Yoda of strength. We introduce ourselves (we had to phone ahead and let him know we were coming, as this is an invite only gym), and make introductions. Today is max effort lower at Westside and in the second room of this small gym is what could only be described as a war going on. Seven of Louis' guys from his powerlifting team are deadlifting and the word intense doesn't describe it. I have been in sports all my life and not since a freshman walking into a varsity locker room have I felt so out of small.
With so many people there we notice we are the only ones standing around. This is not a gym where you do a set and sit and talk. You work, plan and simple. So we go out to Joe the assistant trainer and ask to jump in on the sled work. What we jumped into was a training session with 10 other people, 2 were other visitors, 2 were college track stars, and 6 were professional MMA fighters. Many who have fought for the UFC, and two who apparently traveled from Brazil, as I never heard them say a word in anything but Portuguese.
We spent the next hour pulling sleds in as many ways as possible. Running, walking, bear crawls, holding a 40 lb medball, holding a bamboo bar overhead, if you could think of it we did it. We never touched a barbell that first day and were wiped out. After it died down a bit, Louis was kind enough to give us close to an hour of his time. Since we employ the conjugate method of training at our CrossFit gyms he seemed to open up and answer any questions we might have had. The subject of Olympic Weightlifting came up and after a 20 min barrage of knowledge bombs he told me that on Wednesday he would make me PR my power clean.
When we arrived on Wednesday, it was max effort upper body at Westside. We hopped in with a coach and PR'd our pin press. When we arrived Louis was benching so we didn't want to interrupt his lifting session. Then Louis walked up to me and said "when your done fucking around, lets get those bands out and PR that clean of yours." I had to smile because Louis would walk around and put his expertise into every athlete in the gym. It didn't matter how much you lifted, as long as you came to work he treated you like an athlete.
I worked up to about 65% of my power clean max with bands on the bar. At this point the powerlifting team was watching me and joking with me about my ability to get my elbows high for the front rack position. Then we pulled the bands off and began working up. I would hit a lift and we would add weight. My lifts felt faster than ever before. Then we were ready to max. As I set up Louis began to yell at me that I "better make this lift." The room got quiet and of course, I hit the lift easy. I then added five more pounds and again hit the lift. Louis was smiling and I was like a little kid. But now that I've given a description of my story, here is the important part that you could only see if you were in the gym those days.
As I watched the video of my second PR I noticed something amazing. As I set up everyone, and I mean everyone in the background stopped and watched. Powerlifters who were just benching 500-600 lbs, scholarship track athletes who look like the most athletic CrossFit women, MMA fighters, literally everyone within ear shot. As I hit my lift, they all looked and a few nodded and everyone went back to their work. When someone attempts a PR at Westside everyone watches, but here is the important part. When I set up for my max it was as if you hit a pause button. When I hit it there were a few nods and then the play button was hit and everyone returned to normal. They KNEW I would hit it, it is expected that you hit a max.
This is different than in most CrossFit gyms I have been to. In CrossFit many times we push too hard and too fast. Instead of accepting a 5-10 pound record we want to push the limits and get a 20 pound record. Of course we are then upset if we don't PR for 3 months on the same lift, and we wonder why. Not only did the athletes at Westside expect you to hit a max they expect good form with it. Nothing in there was sloppy or ugly. It is because they know and trust the system. They know that they will break world records, but they have a plan and stick to it. I saw one lifter on Monday deadlift close to 700 pounds, and on Wednesday do incline barbell pushups because he felt weak in his transition during the bench press.
The other factor of this gym was intensity. And I don't mean screaming (even though there was plenty of that). I mean when you touched a barbell, sled, machine, dumbbell you attacked it perfectly and with your whole self. This is something most gyms including CrossFit gyms lack right now. We go all out in WODs and we love to lift heavy, but the concentration and meaning of each rep is lost to many athletes. When I got into CrossFit, it was because I saw an intensity that I hadn't seen or felt since wrestling in school. At Westside it is an everyday event. They crush everything they do with the intent to master it, no matter the time needed or cost. There is a free flow of knowledge in the gym, and everything done there is backed by not only science but the warriors who came before.
This is what I want our gyms to be. In CrossFit we are a community of athletes who respect hard work and discipline. With other gyms (and I use that word VERY loosely) like Planet Fitness, Orange Theory, and Bosu Ball Brazilian Butt Works (I made this last one up) we as lifters know the barbell is the way to true fitness. We know that strength is our expression of fitness. And we know that "If you don't have strength...you have nothing!!"
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