The dynamic effort method is a training method utilized with the Conjugate Training System that focuses on improving an athlete’s rate of force development and work capacity. This training method calls for athletes to train with submaximal weights, aiming to execute each rep at maximal velocity. When executed correctly, dynamic effort training is incredibly effective for both strength and conventional sports athletes.

Unfortunately, the dynamic effort method is one of the most commonly misunderstood aspects of our training style. Most often, the issue is related to exercise setup or training weight management, with athletes making the mistake of training too heavily and failing to adhere to the recommended average velocity of 0.8 m/s.

Improperly executed training leads to excessive fatigue, which adversely affects maximal and repeated effort training. This creates lackluster training outcomes and fatigue-related issues that often lead to overall program failure. At that point, the athlete becomes frustrated, chooses a different program, and blames the training failure on the methods rather than on the planning and execution.

This article will cover a few key points to ensure your dynamic effort training is both effective and efficient.

Get Your Setup Right

The first step to achieving success with the dynamic effort method is to ensure you set up the exercises correctly. One of the most common mistakes athletes will make with dynamic effort training is improper setup of accommodating resistance. If you do not have your accommodating resistance set up correctly, training stimulus will be negatively impacted, and training results will suffer.

The first issue many run into with accommodating resistance is improper band setups. For bands to be used effectively, they must be anchored to an attachment point such as a squat rack, band pins, or heavy dumbbells.

Often, we see beginners use bands with too much slack, resulting in the band completely unloading as the athlete squats to a box or brings the barbell to their chest. Then, the athlete presses the weight dynamically against loose bands, resulting in a sudden increase in tension as the bands go from no tension to full tension.

Ideally, we want the bands to gradually and properly unload as the athlete moves through the eccentric phase of the lift and to increase tension throughout the concentric phase. For instance, with the speed bench press, we typically use 100lbs of total band tension, with full tension at lockout and around 40lbs at the chest.

Mistakes can also be made when attaching chains to a barbell. Proper chain setup requires 1-3 links to be touching the ground when the athlete is at complete lockout. Again, we do not want total unloading, so it is essential to ensure the chains are attached to the barbell in a way that maintains tension throughout the entire range of motion.

Also, if we have too many chain links on the ground, the athlete will not be training with the total amount of chain weight. It’s simple: if there is too much chain lying on the ground at lockout, that is chain weight that has not been applied to the barbell. Additionally, too much chain on the ground will help provide stability, reducing the bracing and balance demands associated with proper chain use.

The final aspect of dynamic effort exercise that many make mistakes with is the setup of their squat box. When choosing a squat box, we want to ensure it provides a solid surface and remains stable when we make contact with it. Often, we see athletes squatting on soft surfaces such as plyometric boxes, which causes instability that affects the execution of the relaxed-overcome-by-dynamic phase of the box squat.

We also want to ensure that athletes squat to a box height that aligns with their competitive demands. For strength athletes, this means the box height should be set at the competition-legal squat depth. If we are training conventional sports athletes, we can squat to a box just below parallel or to 90 degrees.

While we will sometimes include a high box squat variation for conventional sports athletes during max effort training, we will only use a high box during dynamic effort squatting if the athlete is returning to training after an injury.  

Intent and Execution

Once athletes have ensured their exercise and accommodating resistance setups are optimal, it is time to address the training with intent and maintain strict execution. As improper setups negatively affect training outcomes, athletes who fail to train dynamic effort with the correct physical intent and technical execution will achieve limited results.

The entire point of dynamic effort training is to move the barbell dynamically. This work not only seeks to improve an athlete’s rate of force development, but also their reversal strength. To obtain these two adaptations, athletes must ensure barbell velocity is on point. To achieve this, athletes must approach each set ready to execute strict and fast reps.

This is not a day to just get the reps done; that would be considered repeated effort work. With our dynamic effort training, we aim to maintain an average velocity of 0.8 m/s while executing each movement as strictly as possible. We look at dynamic effort day not just as a day to improve rate of force development and reversal strength, but also as an opportunity to evaluate and improve technique.

Instead of correcting technique with a broomstick or other ineffective means of exercise, we can use dynamic effort training to refine technique and evaluate execution at intensities much more relevant to competition demands than unloaded exercise intended for geriatric physical therapy patients.

While perfection is often unachievable, we want our athletes to approach dynamic effort with the mindset of achieving technical perfection each rep. We want athletes to attack each set with controlled aggression. The intent is to move dynamically, not just go through the motions.

Managing and Adjusting Training Weights

The final key to ensuring success with dynamic effort training is proper management and adjustment of training weights. When we execute dynamic effort training, we do so following a three-week wave of specific training percentages. These percentages are based on the athlete’s most recent maximal effort lifts in the squat, bench, and deadlift.

While intermediate and advanced-level athletes can typically execute dynamic effort training properly without needing to adjust training weights, beginners often run into issues.

The first issue beginners will face is the inability to maintain optimal barbell velocity due to limitations in work capacity. This means that the athlete can lift the dynamic effort training weight that corresponds to their current max in weeks one and two, but by the third week of the wave, the training turns into near-heavy effort.

If the athlete were to continue working through this for multiple waves, there is a good chance fatigue management issues would arise, limiting maximal effort training and overall training progress. Additionally, the risk of injury can increase due to technical breakdowns in week three related to inter- and intra-set fatigue.

In this situation, the correct move is to reduce training percentages for the next wave by 10%. This typically brings training weights into a range that allows for all three weeks of the wave to be executed correctly and at the appropriate average velocity.

We also want to ensure we are using the correct max effort lift to determine our training percentages. If we are squatting with the safety squat bar, we want to use our most recent safety squat bar max. If no current max is available, we will plan to execute the lift on a max effort training day before beginning the wave to ensure we are working with current data.

Of course, we can also estimate optimal training weight based on bar velocity during the first 1-3 sets when no recent max is on record, but that is a practice best used by intermediate or advanced athletes, not beginners.

Check out the Westside Barbell Blog for more information regarding the Conjugate Method and Dynamic Effort training.