What makes the Conjugate Method so valuable to the strength coach focused on conventional sports is the customizability of the programming. No matter the player, circumstances, or time of year, we can develop a comprehensive program to deliver optimal training adaptations and make a direct impact on sports performance. 

Our training methods address all special strengths needed to play football at a high level and will help take athletic performance to the next level. Athletes only have so much time each year to dedicate to barbell training. Why would they not opt to use the most efficient strength training method? 

The Conjugate Football training program is designed to target the strengths and muscle groups most involved in football-related tasks. Our methods will help make an athlete stronger, faster, and better conditioned. Additionally, athletes will improve their durability and toughness. 

The sport of football places tremendous physical demands on an athlete. To become a successful football player, an athlete must possess adequate work capacity, speed, explosive power, and absolute strength. For these demands to be met, a comprehensive strength and conditioning program must be implemented. 

Strength training is one of the most important aspects of athletic development. Focusing on enhancing absolute strength, power, speed, and work capacity will allow athletes to reach their full potential. No matter how naturally talented a player may be, the weight room will take physical strength and capabilities to the next level. 

Considering the ability for the methods to be modified, we can make adjustments year-round to ensure athletes make significant improvements during the offseason and maintain their gains during the season. Below, we will cover the basics of in-season football training. 

Training Schedule

The in-season training plan will be different from our offseason approach. During the offseason, four training days will be executed each week. When implementing an in-season strength and conditioning plan for football, we will reduce training frequency to twice per week.

The strategy is to reduce training frequency to prevent detraining and make small gains while keeping fatigue in check and game performance unaffected by training. 

Ideally, we want to schedule our first workout of the week one to two days after a game, and our second workout two days before a game. For instance, if a high school football team were to play a game on Friday night, the first workout of the week would be on Sunday, and the second workout would be executed on Wednesday.

When executing in-season training, we will primarily use two training methods: repeated and dynamic effort. Here is an example of how we would schedule a month's worth of in-season training:

Week 1

Repeated Effort Lower

Dynamic Effort Upper

Week 2

Dynamic Effort Lower

Repeated Effort Upper

Week 3

Repeated Effort Lower

Dynamic Effort Upper

Week 4

Dynamic Effort Lower

Repeated Effort Upper

As you can see, we alternate between repeated and dynamic effort in our lower and upper work week to week. The goal of our repeated effort work is exposure to training intensity that helps to prevent significant loss of absolute strength (70-85%). In contrast, our dynamic effort training is meant to maintain and improve an athlete's rate of force development and overall explosive power.

We prefer the lower training day to be performed first considering we do not want to limit speed on the field due to a repeated effort squat workout. Upper body workouts will typically be easier to recover from and won't have any meaningful impact on gameday abilities. The only caveat is the potential need to modify a quarterback's upper-body training to ensure the shoulders don't become overly fatigued. 

Training Day Strategies

The key to ensuring an in-season training plan is productive is understanding the strategy applied to the training days. As mentioned, we will be utilizing two training methods during the season - the dynamic and repeated effort methods. Max effort training will typically be reserved for offseason work, considering the fatigue this style of training can cause in untrained or beginner-level populations.

There is no doubt that in-season max effort work is possible, but it depends on the situation and the athlete. 

Our repeated effort training day goal is to execute a main exercise at an intensity somewhere between 75-85%. The strength coach should adjust the training intensity of the day depending on the current fatigue levels of the team. 

This can even be broken down to the individual level, with some athletes training at higher intensity while others reduce intensity based on individual fatigue levels. 

As long as we can keep athletes training around 75-85% consistently, they will have a much better chance at retaining most of the absolute strength gains made during the offseason. This training will also help to keep exercise technique dialed in, considering it is intense
enough to require athletes to focus on strict execution. 

The strategy behind our dynamic work is the same as always: lift submaximal weights at maximal velocity while maintaining strict execution. This training helps to maintain and improve an athlete's rate of force development, keeping athletes powerful and explosive throughout the season. 

Even though we will be alternating between dynamic and repeated effort work for lower and upper each week, we can still follow a training wave. For instance, we will execute week one of our wave, then a repeated effort day the next week, and follow up with week two of our wave in the third week, and so on. 

Our repeated effort days will feature more accessory volume, while our dynamic effort days will primarily focus on main exercises with 2-3 accessory exercises. The dynamic effort upper day will feature more accessory volume than the lower, which may only include Reverse Hypers and GHD sit-ups after executing dynamic effort squats and deadlifts. 

One Method - Many Options

The programming ideas and strategies discussed above only begin to scratch the surface of what is possible when designing a Conjugate Method training program for in-season training. Too often, individuals try to categorize the Conjugate Method as a "powerlifting training method," not realizing that it is a strength and conditioning training method that can be used in countless ways to improve sports performance. 

When thinking of the Conjugate Method, think of it as an operating system. As we use this operating system, we must abide by specific rules and parameters; however, much of what is possible depends on the ability of the individual programming within the operating system. While we use the max, dynamic, and repeated effort methods, how these methods are used to deliver training stimulus can differ depending on the situation. 

The Conjugate Method can be as straightforward or as complex as necessary. The only thing that limits the Conjugate Method is the coach or athlete using the method. If they do not have a sound grasp of the science and principles behind the training methods, then the training will reflect this. Often, when you hear content creators or influencers discussing the limitations of Conjugate, they are simply revealing their level of understanding. 

For more information regarding the Conjugate Method for football, check out our Conjugate Football EBook.