Max Effort for High School Wrestling
To build a truly successful strength program using the Maximal Effort (ME) Method, you need to lay down a solid foundation of education before your athletes ever touch...
The Westside Barbell Blog
A resource for serious lifters and athletes seeking proven strength training methods. The Westside Barbell blog breaks down programming, exercise selection, recovery, and performance strategies built on decades of elite coaching experience of founder Louie Simmons and his dedicated team.
We’ve undertaken a project to organize our 1,400+ articles — start with the curated guides belowLatest Articles
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Ally Kennedy: 2026 World Lacrosse Championship MVP
On Sunday night in Tokyo, Ally Kennedy walked off the field at Prince Chichibu Memorial Stadium a world champion for the fourth time. The United States beat Canada...
Introducing Dynamic Effort to Beginners
The dynamic effort method is one of the three primary strength training methods used within the Westside Barbell Conjugate Training System. This training method features submaximal weights lifted at...
Basic Conjugate Training Advice XX
The Conjugate Method is a strength and conditioning operating system capable of solving any strength and conditioning-related problem. Whether an athlete needs to get bigger, stronger, faster, or...
Conjugate Con 2026
The Conjugate Conference: August 7, Free, OnlineReserve Your SpotWe have partnered with BridgeAthletic to put on the Conjugate Con, a free one-day virtual conference on applying the Conjugate...
Max Effort Exercise Variations for Raw Powerlifting
The use of max effort main exercise variations during maximal effort is commonly associated with the Westside Barbell Conjugate System. At Westside, we use main exercise variations to avoid...
Max Effort vs. Maxing Out
In the world of strength and conditioning, the max effort training is often misunderstood. If you ask the average strength and conditioning coach about the maximal effort method,...
The Conjugate Club
For over 8 years, the Westside Barbell Conjugate Club has provided access to monthly Conjugate Method programming, as well as the Westside Barbell library of books, VHS tapes,...
Raw Powerlifting: Debunking Conjugate Myths
Year after year, you see raw powerlifting training change from the linear-based SBD approach to a more Conjugate-based training strategy. Some may scoff at this, but I recall...
Upper Body Dumbbell Workouts for Powerlifters
The typical Westside Barbell training week calls for two upper-body training days per week, a maximal and dynamic effort workout. This training covers two important aspects of powerlifting:...
What the Conjugate Method Actually Is
The word has gotten loose. Conjugate now gets stapled onto almost anything. Rotate a few exercises, throw in a speed day, call it conjugate. That is not what...
Why Dynamic Effort Training Works
The dynamic effort method is one of the three primary strength training methods used in the Conjugate Training System. This training method calls for using submaximal weights lifted...