#powerlifting #squats #deadlift

“When you stop learning, you stop growing.”– Louie Simmons

I discovered Louis Simmons in the late 80’s, in Powerlifting USA magazines that I could only buy if I travelled to downtown Toronto, Robert Kennedy’s MuscleMag International store on Grosvenor St. MuscleMag was a ‘bodybuilding” store, but it stocked up educational on all lifting culture, powerlifting, weightlifting, strongman, and as a young kid that couldn’t absorb enough information to help me learn as much as I can about strength and conditioning so I can apply it to myself, friends, and my gym mates. Warriors Martial Arts was around the corner, and they too stocked strength and conditioning education material. If you wanted to learn, Toronto in the late 80’s and early 90’s was a great place to be.

You don’t become an expert reading books. You don’t become an expert watching other people on social media. You become an expert by investing lots of time and effort into honing your craft, an expert, and becoming so good people can’t ignore you. The 10000 hour rule is just the beginning!

I remember a time when you wanted to learn and become better, you went to the gym regularly, leave when it was time to leave, school, buying all educational material, books, videos, attending seminars all over the world, hiring mentors, taking odd jobs in weird places for the experience and not the money, helping people that asked, helping people that needed it. That’s how we became “experts’, unlike today, where creating a social media account allows people to claim themselves as an “expert”, but their anything but!!!!

My mentor and friend Charlie Francis, arguable one of the greatest Coaches ever, taught me to never show or program an exercise I have not done at least 100 times myself. It was advice like this that kept me in the gym more than out of it. Thank God!

I recall as a young teenager, young adult, teens and twenties, I not only had a home garage gym with bench, lat pulldown, leg press, and a variety of bars and almost 2000 pounds of plates, I also had multiple gym memberships, Universities, Clubs, Boxing, kickboxing, and gym owners all across the city giving me free access to gyms because I was bringing people in.

At university, students are unaware of pioneers in our feed, yet they know social media influencers that are a negative to our culture. Old time Coaches such as Louie Simmons have stories to tell, and remember them like it was yesterday. That is true with all real Coaches, the hard work, the success, failures, stories unfold, and if you listen, observe, can help make your path easier. Louie Simmons, and the conjugate method made learning and growing the last 30 years fun, safe, and productive for my clients and I 🙏❤️☦️.

Get off social media and go learn something that will make you better.

Have a fun day Coach George Tsanis

#westsidebarbell #louiesimmons #legend #rip #powerlifting #deadlift #weightlifting #strong #Morning #2022 #fitnessmotivation #goals #life #love #spring #workoutsolutions #toronto #food #ryourogue #fitover40 #healthylifestyle #motivation #squats #crossfit #Eleiko #weightlifting #gym #fitness #bodybuilding #abs

Late 1980’s I was a broke teenager, spending $5 on an imported powerlifting magazine was a big deal, and if I went downtown with friends carrying around a magazine all day made you a “dork” 🙁 usually my older cousin would drive us down, and I would buy him lunch because he was more broke than I was #LOL