Strength Training Articles

Articles Tagged with Max Effort

Understanding Max Effort

At Westside, we perform max-effort variations of the squat, good morning, deadlift, and bench press to increase absolute strength and improve intermuscular and intramuscular coordination. We dedicate two training days per week to max effort work, max effort upper and lower. To avoid accommodation, we perform a different max effort upper and lower exercise each week.

Fri Jun 10, 2022

Modified Max Effort

Instead of achieving maximal motor unit recruitment by performing a lift at 100%, the main exercise is performed for three or five rep top sets that still reach suitable motor unit recruitment levels.

Essentially, we are losing the ability to achieve the highest level of motor unit recruitment with the reduction in intensity. Still, we are gaining a meaningful boost in recovery and decreasing the likelihood of programming failure or injury in the future.

Modified max-effort allows a lifter struggling with recovery to be afforded the benefits of high-intensity weight training while reducing the overall impact on recovery associated with an all-out max effort lift.

Fri May 27, 2022

Conjugate Football: Max Effort Lower

The successful implementation of max-effort training for football players calls for intelligent programming combined with proper instruction. This means that you are selecting the appropriate exercises, using the correct rep and intensity ranges, and adequately educating athletes on the execution and intent of each exercise.

Wed May 25, 2022

Starting Conjugate: How to Begin Rotating Max Effort Exercises

When it comes to max effort training, the two most important factors are the exercises you're selecting and how you rotate them. Selection matters because the movements must be relative to the sport an athlete is preparing for. Exercise rotation matters because it allows us to consistently get the most out of an exercise.

Mon May 09, 2022

Starting Conjugate: Choosing Your First Max Effort Exercises

The goal is to use this series of articles to provide a common-sense roadmap for beginners to use the Conjugate Method correctly. You may be asking yourself, "what is the correct way?"—the Westside Barbell way.

Fri May 06, 2022

Max Effort Upper for Offensive and Defensive Linemen

Safe execution of max-effort training comes down to two factors; properly planned training and properly educated players. You want your programming to expose athletes to different levels of volume and intensity while teaching correct execution of the various exercises. As long as these bases are covered, max effort training is no more dangerous than any other training method.

Do not fear max-effort training; fear having weak players who get embarrassed on the playing field.

Wed Apr 27, 2022

Max Effort: Proper Exercise Selection and Implementation

The law of accommodation dictates that an athlete must experience new training stimuli regularly or risk decreasing their rate of performance improvement. With this in mind, you begin to see the importance of exercise selection and organization. Failure to introduce a new stimulus or a disordered approach to exercise selection and scheduling will ultimately lead an athlete to failure.

Thu Mar 24, 2022

Conjugate for Grappling: Max Effort Lower

If an athlete needs to address their absolute strength, speed, endurance, or durability, a Conjugate program can be designed to improve sports performance.

There is a need for high levels of all of the attributes mentioned above in grappling-based sports. Over the past three years, I have had the opportunity to write programming for one of the premier Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu competitors in the world today, Dante Leon. Dante is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt and has used Conjugate-based strength training to take his abilities to the next level.

Mon Mar 21, 2022

WSBB Blog: Max Effort Management for Raw Powerlifters

The conventional belief amongst many powerlifters is that regular implementation of max-effort training days almost certainly will lead to injury. In reality, the exact opposite is true. Failure to regularly expose a lifter to proper training intensities will leave the lifter unprepared and weak, raising the risk of injury significantly.