Strength Training Articles

Strength Training Articles

Latest Posts
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
Training Consistency: The Key to Unlocking Optimal Athletic Performance

Training Consistency: The Key to Unlocking Optimal Athletic Performance

How Consistency, Trust, and Communication Lead to Greater Skill Acquisition and Injury Reduction Introduction: In...

Fri Mar 17, 2023
The Reverse Hack Squat

The Reverse Hack Squat

The reverse hack squat is an accessory exercise that can be useful for any athlete regardless of sport or training focus. Athletes will always need stronger glutes, hamstrings, and calves, so a machine that can be used in this manner will always remain an appropriate option when selecting accessory exercises. Considering the anterior training options also provided, you can see that the hack squat is a valuable training tool.

Sat Mar 11, 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
Selecting the Best Tricep Exercises

Selecting the Best Tricep Exercises

The Conjugate Method provides a programming template that makes it easy for an athlete to train the triceps to improve upper body absolute strength and muscle mass. For many years, Louie emphasized the importance of tricep development for all athletes. If you have ever visited Westside, you know that much of our training on upper body days directly or passively target the triceps.

Mon Feb 06, 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
Troubleshooting Dynamic Effort Squat Training

Troubleshooting Dynamic Effort Squat Training

Dynamic effort training must be performed for an athlete to reap the maximum rewards of max effort training. Max-effort training improves absolute strength, which is the maximum amount of force an athlete can produce. Dynamic effort training improves the rate of force development, which is the amount of time it takes to produce that force. When you effectively combine the two, you have an extremely strong and explosive athlete.

Thu Jan 26, 2023
The Powerlifting Good Morning

The Powerlifting Good Morning

The powerlifting good morning is an exercise that is considered a cornerstone of lower body training at Westside Barbell. We use this exercise to strengthen the posterior chain, specifically the lower back, glutes, and hamstrings. These muscle groups are integral to sports performance and must be trained regularly.

Fri Jan 20, 2023
How to Deadlift Correctly

How to Deadlift Correctly

As with any exercise, the key to success is learning how to deadlift correctly. Execution is vital for two reasons. One, proper execution will keep you from injuring yourself, and two, proper execution ensures the exercise is targeting the correct muscle groups. Either way, failure to execute proper form will ultimately result in failure or injury. 

Sun Jan 15, 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