Strength Training Articles

Strength Training Articles

Articles Tagged with Conjugate Method
Sled Workouts

Sled Workouts

The sled is one of the most valuable pieces of equipment an athlete or coach can have at their disposal. Sled training can be manipulated and implemented in different ways to deliver a multitude of training benefits. Depending on the exercise programming, the sled can be used to improve strength, explosive power, and conditioning. 

Thu May 25, 2023
Four Weeks to an Overhead Press PR: Week 2

Four Weeks to an Overhead Press PR: Week 2

It is now week two of the four-week plan. Last week, the strict press was the main exercise of the day, performed for a top set of five repetitions. While most max effort training is spent training between 1-3 repetitions, using top sets of five reps can be an excellent way to build absolute strength while challenging work capacity with barbell weights around 75-80%.

Sun May 21, 2023
The Good Morning Exercise

The Good Morning Exercise

The good morning is a tremendous benefit to any athlete needing posterior chain strength and trunk stability. Not only can this exercise help reduce back injuries, but good mornings can also help reduce the chance of knee injuries. This is all due to how the good morning exercise rapidly builds the trunk, back, hips, glutes, and hamstrings. 

Tue May 16, 2023
Four Weeks to an Overhead Press PR: Week 1

Four Weeks to an Overhead Press PR: Week 1

If you are a strongman competitor and are struggling to improve your abilities, consider the Conjugate Method. Our methods address all aspects of athletic ability and provide a strongman competitor with a training platform that can be customized to bring about a variety of training outcomes.

Tue May 09, 2023
Starting Conjugate: Standard Bench Variations

Starting Conjugate: Standard Bench Variations

When programming exercise variations, it is crucial to remember that you want to get the most gains out of the least amount of variation. This means sticking to the standard variations without adding further variation to the exercises as long as you continue to PR and make gains. As much as a new exercise variation can be entertaining, don’t trick yourself out of what is currently working just because you are bored or found a new exercise on social media. 

Wed Apr 05, 2023
Starting Conjugate: Deloading

Starting Conjugate: Deloading

One of the most important aspects of training is fatigue management. Truthfully, you could argue that fatigue management is the most critical aspect of any training program. How fatigue levels are managed will dictate the intensity and frequency an athlete can train, ultimately deciding the progress made each year. If the athlete has to regularly deload, this will lead to many less-than-optimal training days accumulated yearly.

Wed Mar 22, 2023
Starting Conjugate: How to Warm-Up

Starting Conjugate: How to Warm-Up

Social media has become a useful and powerful tool for strength coaches and educators to reach and teach the masses, and this is for sure. However, at times, certain aspects of the training process become overanalyzed or overemphasized for the sake of content. There is no doubt warm-ups fall into this category. 

Sun Mar 05, 2023
Basic Conjugate Training Advice II

Basic Conjugate Training Advice II

Instead of focusing on only one strength or athletic trait, we simultaneously focus on multiple strengths and athletic characteristics. By doing this, we avoid detraining and provide the athlete with gains in strength and ability that can be sustained and transferred to sport. We don't want athletes that are strong sometimes, fast other times, and injured most of the time. We want athletes that show up on gameday at their strongest, fastest, and fittest. 

Sun Feb 26, 2023
Starting Conjugate: Simplified Meet Peak Program

Starting Conjugate: Simplified Meet Peak Program

The simplified meet peak approach begins when an athlete is four weeks out from a powerlifting meet. This is when exercise selection, volume regulation, intensity regulation, and energy management become vital. If you can successfully account for each of these aspects of peaking for competition, you’re good. If not, you can expect to underperform on competition day.

Sun Feb 19, 2023
Conjugate Football: Off-Season Max Effort Lower

Conjugate Football: Off-Season Max Effort Lower

Training to improve absolute strength is essential for any athlete, no matter the sport. By improving absolute strength, you become capable of higher levels of force output, improve intramuscular coordination, and increase tissue and bone density. Improvements in absolute strength will make an athlete bigger, stronger, faster, and more resilient. However, these are not the only benefits gained by improving absolute strength.

Sun Feb 12, 2023
Basic Conjugate Training Advice I

Basic Conjugate Training Advice I

Starting a Conjugate Method-based program for the first time can be challenging. There is a lot to learn and understand for a coach or athlete to build a beneficial and effective Conjugate training program. This is why we encourage those new to our methods to take things slow and keep the programming simple as you begin Conjugate-style training. 

Tue Jan 31, 2023
Starting Conjugate: Repeated Effort Bench Press

Starting Conjugate: Repeated Effort Bench Press

The repeated effort method is the method most responsible for ensuring an athlete maintains an optimal level of training volume every week. Unlike the maximal and dynamic effort methods, which are trained on specific days, the repeated effort method is utilized every training day. Why? Because it allows us a way of keeping our volume at the right level and focusing on the development of weak muscle groups. 

Tue Jan 10, 2023
Westside Barbell Back Training

Westside Barbell Back Training

Developing the back muscles should be a top priority for all athletes regardless of sport or training goals. These muscles play a significant role in strength and sports performance due to the role they play; supporting and stabilizing the spine. As we know, having a stable and adequately supported spine is the key to force production. 

Thu Jan 05, 2023
Improve Your Training for 2023

Improve Your Training for 2023

The New Year is upon us, along with another 52 weeks of training and the opportunity to become a better athlete. As a coach or an athlete, it should always be your goal to improve the quality and efficiency of your Conjugate Method training. The years pass by quickly, so we must make as much progress year to year as possible.

Each year, we must examine our training from both the mental and physical side, looking for the places we can improve to take our training and sports performance to the next level.

Sat Dec 31, 2022
Starting Conjugate: Basics of the Repeated Effort Method

Starting Conjugate: Basics of the Repeated Effort Method

When most people think of the Conjugate Method, two training methods come to mind, max...

Mon Dec 26, 2022
Starting Conjugate: ME Lower Walkthrough

Starting Conjugate: ME Lower Walkthrough

The Conjugate Method features four training days per week dedicated to specific upper and lower body strengths. At Westside, our first training day of the week is max effort lower. Max effort lower is a training day that uses variations of the squat, deadlift, and good morning to improve absolute strength.

Wed Dec 21, 2022
Differences in High Bar vs. Low Bar Squats

Differences in High Bar vs. Low Bar Squats

If you observe the different strength sports, you will notice that athletes typically prefer one type of bar position in each discipline of lifting. For instance, in sports like Olympic weightlifting and CrossFit, most athletes prefer to carry the squat bar in the high bar position. However, most athletes carry a mid to low bar position in sports like powerlifting or strongman.

Fri Dec 16, 2022
Starting Conjugate: Main Exercise Selection for Beginners

Starting Conjugate: Main Exercise Selection for Beginners

Effective strength training relies heavily on a few key factors; the proper regulation of intensity, volume, and frequency, optimal exercise selection, and correct exercise execution. Failure to control any of these aspects of training will reduce the effectiveness of the training and can potentially cause injury. In this article, I will focus on selecting exercises for a beginner new to the Conjugate Method.

Tue Dec 13, 2022
How to Bench Press Correctly

How to Bench Press Correctly

The bench press is an exercise that is a staple in practically any type of training program. It doesn't matter whether you are an athlete, a powerlifter, or someone just looking to get stronger; the bench press is one of the most effective exercises when focusing on building strength and muscle in the upper torso. However, to ensure this exercise is maximally effective, it is crucial to understand what qualifies as proper execution of a bench press. 

Thu Dec 08, 2022
Westside Barbell Triceps Training

Westside Barbell Triceps Training

It's no secret that if you want to be capable of pressing heavy weights on the bench or overhead press, you will need to increase your triceps' strength. The triceps play a significant role in all pressing movements, considering their involvement in elbow extension. It's easy to understand; a lack of tricep strength will limit your ability to extend the elbow, leading to failed sets and reps when training at high levels of volume or intensity.

Sat Dec 03, 2022