Football requires athletes to be strong, explosive, fast, and adequately conditioned. While football practice can help improve strength and conditioning to some degree, adding a weight training plan into the mix accelerates the rate of improvement. Through the use of the max, dynamic, and repeated effort methods, we can deliver rapid results in the gym that translate directly over to the football field.

The maximal effort method will help athletes improve their absolute strength. This method requires athletes to train at high levels of intensity, with the intent of recruiting the largest motor units. By doing so, absolute strength improves, improving the amount of force an athlete can produce. 

Not only does this method improve the ability to exert force, it also helps to increase the bone and soft tissue density of an athlete. This helps to increase an athlete’s overall physical durability, as well as the ability to endure high-speed impacts on a weekly basis. 

The dynamic effort method helps athletes improve their explosive strength. This means training an athlete to be capable of exerting a high level of force in a short amount of time. By performing dynamic effort movements, athletes improve their rate of force development, allowing them to be more explosive and quickly reach max force outputs.

It’s a simple idea; the maximal effort method improves the level of force an athlete can produce, and the dynamic effort method helps shorten the amount of time it takes to reach peak force output. Combining absolute strength and explosive power development allows an athlete to tackle with authority, deliver blocks that push the defense off the line of scrimmage, and change direction in a powerful manner.

The repeated method allows athletes to improve physical composition, work capacity, and can be used to target identified weak muscle groups. If a player shows up to camp out of shape, we can use repeated effort work to enhance work capacity and drop some weight. If a player shows up with a muscle weakness affecting playing ability, we can design targeted repeated effort work to solve the issue. 

As you can see, the Conjugate Method is perfectly structured when it comes to improving athletic performance. We leave no strength untrained, and we do so in a simultaneous manner. Instead of working through training phases that take weeks or months, we can attack all sport-relevant strengths on a weekly basis. 

This is what sets a Conjugate Method training plan apart from other strength training methodologies. 

The Schedule

Each week during the offseason, athletes will execute four total training days. These training days will include a max effort upper and lower day, a combined dynamic effort day, and a general conditioning day. This training schedule allows us to address the basic aspects of sports performance, while still leaving three recovery days away from the gym.

When training athletes, we want to find the right training frequency to ensure recovery remains optimal. The most critical aspect of successful athlete barbell training is to prevent excess fatigue levels from affecting on the field performance. This four-day training schedule allows athletes to physically improve and recover at an acceptable rate without interfering with sports practice or competition. 

Here is the basic Conjugate Football offseason training schedule:

Monday: Max Effort Lower

Wednesday: Max Effort Upper

Friday: Combined Dynamic Effort

Saturday or Sunday: General Conditioning

When scheduling training times, it is important to ensure the scheduled time works with any scheduled practice sessions a team may have. For instance, if there are planned football drills for the morning session, it would be best to train in the afternoon or evening. Basically, we want to ensure athletes are properly rested before each barbell training session.

Doing so not only keeps the training session productive, it also helps to ensure athletes have enough energy to complete all exercises properly. We do not want athletes rolling into the gym tired from a training session that just ended ten minutes ago. If this happens, athletes begin going through the motions, and the training is either ineffective due to improper training weights or dangerous due to excess fatigue affecting exercise execution. 

Ideally, athletes are walking into the gym well-rested and ready to execute all exercises to the best of their ability. 

Training Day Breakdown

While each training day focuses on a different goal, all of our workouts will follow a similar programming scheme. First, we will kick off each training day with a main exercise. It doesn’t matter which training day we are executing, the first exercise of the day will be an upper or lower body multi-joint movement. 

Once the main movement of the day has been completed we will then move on to the primary accessory exercise. This exercise will also be a multi-joint movement. This movement is used to build further strength and competency in common barbell movements such as the squat, bench press, and deadlift. 

For instance, on an upper body day, we might follow up a max effort bench press with close grip bench press as a primary accessory exercise programmed in repeated effort fashion. Most often, these movements will be programmed for 3-5 sets of 3-5, 5-8, or 8-10 repetitions. 

After the primary accessory exercise is complete, we then move on to secondary accessory exercises. These movements can be either multi- or single-joint exercises, and will feature slightly higher rep counts per set than our primary accessory movement. With the primary accessory, we want to escalate training intensity a bit, while with the secondary movements we are mostly concerned with accruing volume and achieving optimal levels of hypertrophy. 

The conditioning day will be slightly different. There will be no “main” exercises, just a selection of basic conditioning-related exercises intended to improve overall physical fitness. As Lou has stated many times, you have to be in shape to train properly. The goal of the conditioning day is simple – keep athletes fit so that recovery is optimal and training remains productive. 

Effective and Efficient

The Conjugate Method is the most effective and efficient strength and conditioning methodology available today. Provided the programming is written correctly and properly organized, the gains made through the use of a Conjugate Method program will far surpass those achieved with any other training method. 

In sports, where time in the gym is often limited, coaches and athletes must select a training method that yields the greatest return for the time available. 

The Conjugate Football offseason training strategy utilizes the additional time available during the offseason, while still allowing athletes to conserve energy and remain ready and capable for offseason practices and camps. If the plan described above is adhered to, there is no doubt fatigue will be appropriately managed and athletes will make meaningful gains in strength and conditioning. 

While some may only know the Conjugate Method for its utility in the world of powerlifting, this strength and conditioning training method provides a blueprint for the competent strength coach to build a training plan that addresses all aspects of sports performance. No extended training phases, no worry of detraining occurring; just consistent and meaningful gains made anytime your athletes are in the gym.

Every coaching staff is looking for a competitive edge. There is no doubt that the Conjugate Method will give any team willing to utilize it an immediate advantage.

For more information about Conjugate Football, check out The Conjugate Football E-Book.