March 2004

The question-of-the-month for March comes from Joe in Australia, a 20 year old powerlifter whose goal is to put on muscle mass. His question is:

Dear Mike: 

What kinds of workouts and exercises did you do when you trained with Louie Simmons, and how did you later apply this to your training? 

Dear Joe: 

Thank you for submitting a great question.  For those of you who aren’t familiar with Louie Simmons, he is a well-known trainer of world champion powerlifters.  I was fortunate enough to be able to train with Louie during the early years of my bodybuilding career.  

Because Louie trained mainly powerlifters, I learned things I never would have in a gym that focused on bodybuilding and general fitness, like most do. 

To be specific, I learned exercises such as: 

• J-curls

• Rack pulls

• Box squats

• Kneeling good mornings

• Pin presses

• Reverse hyperextensions

While a few of these exercises may be familiar to some, I bet many of you have never heard of them.  Without going into great detail, I will say that they are all designed to promote strength and thickness.  Powerlifters and bodybuilders have different goals, most notably strength vs. aesthetic muscularity.  However, the strength gained from powerlifting exercises translates into muscle thickness, which for bodybuilders means size.  

For those of you who are just starting bodybuilding and even for those advanced competitors who need to put on additional mass to be more competitive, it is important to incorporate the basic mass-building exercises like squats, deadlifts, and bench press into your training program.  In addition to the more unique exercises I listed above, these three exercises were also a major part of my program while training with Louie Simmons, and continued to be a part of my program during my professional bodybuilding career.

Thanks for your question, Joe.  Maybe in a future segment, I will talk more about the unique (some called it barbaric) atmosphere at Louie's gym!  Good luck, and as always, don't forget to visit the Past Qs & As and my Training Tips section for more great tips and training info.

Until next month, train hard and stay healthy.

Mike Francois

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