#854 - Louie Simmons

Joe Rogan (0:10)

Thanks for having me, man. I really appreciate it.

Yeah, you've got a very interesting setup, and I've talked to quite a few people, worked with you in your unconventional ways, and you've got a great reputation, just so you know.

Louie Simmons (0:24)

Yeah, they think it's unconventional, but it's scientific.

Joe Rogan (0:28)

Well, that reverse hyper, that machine that you create, I've talked about that a hundred times on my podcast, that thing has done wonders for my back, and it's just a genius product. You all right? It's a genius product. How did you invent that thing?

Louie Simmons (0:42)

I invented it on the Cessy. I broke my lower back in 1973

Joe Rogan (0:46)

You invented that thing in 73?

Louie Simmons (0:48)

Well, I started the exercise. It's actually about 74 I broke my lower back in 73, and I was on crutches for 10 months, and no one was helping me. So I just come out, you know, I do back extensions, where you hook your ankles and raise your upper body. But that would kill my back, so I thought, what if I did it in reverse? So I jumped up on a platform, dropped my legs, raised them up, pumped up my back, didn't hurt, and that was the beginning stages of it.

And then years later, we've always been a private gym, we're not onto the public.

So it was never out in the public, and then I finally made a machine years later and got my first patent in 1994

Joe Rogan (1:22)

How is it that no one knows about that thing? I mean, how is it that it's not a gigantic success?

Louie Simmons (1:28)

Well, we sell a little bit over a hundred a month. A hundred machines a month.

Joe Rogan (1:33)

Well, I hope I've sold some of them for you.

Louie Simmons (1:35)

Oh, you have. I want to thank you for that.

And that's the way, you know, like sex, once you have it, you got to keep it.

Joe Rogan (1:41)

Yeah, I don't remember how I heard about it. I don't remember who initially told me about it, but I was having some disc issues, and they all want to cut you open, man. If you go to doctors, they all want to fuse discs and cut you open, and there's all this talk, and I was like, wow, there's got to be another way. So then I started researching stuff, and I don't remember how I came upon the Reverse Hyper, but I remember as soon as I saw it, I went, wow, that's a genius idea. Because you're just, the idea is right, that when you're getting a bulging disc, it's because things are getting compressed. So just pull them apart.

Louie Simmons (2:14)

Right.

We've got another machine, the Bell Squat Machine, we use it for grappling, we actually fight in there. And it's not a reverse hybrid, but it's a traction device as well. So we can do an enormous amount of work, and at the same time, it's restoration.

Joe Rogan (2:25)

So what is the other one called?

Louie Simmons (2:26)

It's called a Bell Squat Machine. It puts you in a platform with a belt around your waist, with maybe 100, 200, 300 pounds.

And then we grapple, or we shadow spar, or you can do anything. We actually lift weights, and we use an enormous amount of weights, 2,000 pounds in it. But while it's building up your glutes and all the lower body, it's tractioning out your spine, but the restoration is tremendous. The next day, you don't even know you worked out, but you've done thousands of pounds of work, and that's why I've got the World's Strongest Gym.

Joe Rogan (2:56)

So you started out as a powerlifter?

Louie Simmons (2:58)

I started out as a powerlifter. I started Olympic lifting when I was 14 And then I went to my first power meet in 1966, and saw guys that was really built, never went back to Olympic lifting again.

And then powerlifted all my life. Made top ten for 34 years. That's why I'm so beat up.

But I love the sport. I love strength and power. I also love, if it's in time or weights, I love it. Something you can measure.

It's good to be, I like to work in football, because I'd average three tenths off 12 linemen going in the NFL. Some went in the NFL, some didn't. So you just never know. But I like just basic things, statistics. How strong are you? How fast are you?

Joe Rogan (3:37)

For the person who doesn't understand this, what is the difference between powerlifting and Olympic lifting?