The thought of Westside Barbell and its iconic owner, Louie Simmons, can be an intimidating one for many an aspiring powerlifter. As we all know, thoughts and myths sometimes stray far from reality. For those who know Louie, or who have met him, they will tell you that he is one of the most accessible men in his field. Louie is a busy guy, but he is known for taking a few minutes out of his hectic days to dole out training advice to those who seek it via a phone call to Westside. So it was with Travis Bell...
About Travis
Travis Bell was exposed to the iron game at an early age. His father trained at home with weights as far back as he can remember. As so many young men do, Travis wanted to emulate his father and began lifting weights on his own at the tender age of 12. At 16 he was given a membership to the local Powerhouse Gym franchise along with some training sessions from an ex-bodybuilder. Those sessions lead to his early interest in the sport of bodybuilding. Travis did well in the sport, but quickly concluded the grueling pre-contest dieting required was just not his cup of tea.
Enter powerlifting. Travis was highly competitive by nature and knew he loved the iron, so powerlifting was the obvious choice as it did not require the aforementioned starvation diets. Early success only proved to fuel his fire with a win in his very first meet (a solid 320 lbs raw bench in the 181 lbs class).
His early success quickly devolved to training frustration. He had obtained a single ply bench shirt and was struggling with it. The nuances of geared benching eluded him, and he simply did not have access to the proper help. As often happens, fate intervened in the form of a recommendation from a friend at home that Travis check out the Westside Barbell website (www.westside-barbell.com). Travis did just that and was amazed to find that he had arguably the greatest powerlifting mind and resource in the world literally only a 1 hour drive away!
With some trepidation (remember the Westside intimidation factor) Travis decided to give Westside a call. To his surprise, Louie himself got on the line and spoke with him. Showing some of the steely resolve that makes him such a fierce competitor, Travis had the gumption to ask Louie if he could come to Westside for some direct training advice. Louie agreed, and the next phase of Travis’ powerlifting evolution had begun.
Travis recalls well his first Westside visit. Perhaps it was nerves, but getting lost 3 times on his way to Westside did not bode well for the budding powerlifter. He finally arrived at the gym. Taking a few moments to collect himself, he entered Westside with visions of a crazed, super-intense and frightening Louie Simmons impatiently awaiting him (despite their amicable phone call days earlier). Nothing could have been further from the truth! Louie was indeed awaiting his arrival, but instead of being angry and intense he was filled with energy and excitement! He was ready to work with this newcomer and to do as he always does, school him in the ways of proper training and help him to optimize he strength potential. In short, teach him the Westside training methodology.
As has been the case so many times prior, Travis’ training at Westside took him to strength heights he could only previously have dreamed of! Travis’ best benching prior to joining Westside was a 365 lbs raw and a 475 lbs equipped press. In short order, Louie’s instruction took him to his current tested PRs of 520 lbs raw and 725 lbs equipped! In fact, he is currently tantalizingly close to an 800 lbs equipped press at 242 lbs body weight and has that as his goal for the upcoming Pro-Am meet in August.
Travis’ Westside Training Template
Above: Travis contemplating his next move
Travis is a quick study and his thirst for power spurred him to eagerly absorb everything Louie and the great lifters at Westside (George Halbert, Mike Wolfe, Greg Panora, Matt Smith, and Phil Harrington just to name a few) threw his way. Below is the resultant training template he currently follows:
- Monday - back and shoulders
- Tuesday - light biceps
- Wednesday - ME bench
- Thursday - squat
- Friday - back and shoulders
- Saturday - DE bench
- Sunday – off
As you can see, Travis is a bench specialist, but he trains his entire body.
For the uninitiated, ME work consists of the lifter warming up to a 1 repetition maximum (1RM) personal record (PR) attempt on a given exercise which is rotated weekly usually for 3-4 week cycles. The rotation of exercises is referred to as the conjugate method. The conjugate method allows for weekly 1RM attempts without overtraining via the fact that variations, even small ones, in different exercises tax the central nervous system (CNS) differently thus precluding neural stagnation which is one of the primary underlying factors of generalized overtraining.
DE day usually consists of speed work. Speed work for the bench press consists of 3 reps completed in a target time of 3 seconds or less. This timeframe mimics that of a 1RM attempt (as 1RM attempts are slower by definition) thus allowing the lifter to train their nervous system to fire explosively in less time than it takes to perform a 1RM. Resistance used for speed work should be no more than 60% of one’s tested raw (no special bench shirt) 1RM, or 55% of one’s tested equipped 1RM. The use of jump stretch bands and or chains is recommended (see www.westside-barbell.com) to provide for accommodating resistance and thus to overcome the inherent limitations of the barbell.
A recent ME Wednesday for Travis
Above: Foam Bench
Foam Press
Travis: “I've never done these before so it was a new experience for me. I must say I really liked them! All sets were done raw with a medium grip (pinkie on the ring).”
- 135x8
- 225x5
- 315x3
- 405x1
- 495x1
- 585x1
- 675x1
- 725x1
- 765x1
- 815x1
- 835x1
“I then moved my grip in a bit (about thumb length from the smooth part of the bar) and did some foam presses for reps.”
- 500x10
- 500x10
“Next was some triceps work. I did what we (at Westside) call Panora Presses. These are named for Greg Panora, one of the top powerlifters in the world. They are basically a triceps rope pressdown with a range of motion (ROM) which is limited to the bottom half of the movement.”
Above: Travis doing a Panora Press
- 80x10
- 80x10
- 80x10
- 80x10
Pec Deck
- 140x15
- 140x15
- 140x15
- 140x15
Travis’ Diet and Supplementation
Like most powerlifters, Travis does not follow a regimented diet in the classic sense of calorie counting and the consumption of specific foods at specific times. Travis is a lifter who has a hard time putting on and maintaining body weight thus he consumes a minimum of 5, and up to 7 meals per day. The meals consist of high protein, calorie dense foods such as meats, eggs, whole milk, and just about anything else that he feels will add to his daily calorie count and be of some benefit to building size and strength.
Travis’ supplementation regimen is a direct result of his affiliation with Westside Barbell. Louie Simmons personally uses, endorses, and has his athletes take AtLarge’s supplements. Louie’s (and the other lifters at the gym) endorsement was good enough for Travis. He tried some of the products and was hooked! About a year after initially trying the products Travis was offered a sponsorship and is now one of an elite group of strength athletes sponsored by AtLarge Nutrition, LLC.
Travis’ daily supplement intake includes the following AtLarge Nutrition products:
Here are Travis’ thoughts on the products in his own words:
“I feel that a high protein intake is vital for powerlifters, so I supplement 200g+ of Nitrean daily in addition to the protein I get from solid foods. Opticen is my supplement of choice for post-workout purposes. ETS, Results, Multi-Plus, and Fish Oil are all taken daily. I honestly cannot say enough about Results. I've been taking it for almost 3 months now and I've never felt this strong before! I typically hit PRs on ME day, but right now they are coming in much bigger jumps than before. I recover faster and have gotten significantly bigger. What more could you ask for from a supplement?”
Wrap
Travis etnered Westside a neophyte powerlifter with a burning desire to be the best. His accomplishments thus far have far exceeded his wildest dreams. Follow the Westside template (www.westside-barbell.com), make sure you are consuming sufficient calories for growth, use the best supplements on the planet, and perhaps you too can blow away your powerlifting goals!
