The Conjugate Method is not a "program" but a strength training operating system. What begins as a basic template and three primary training methods can become training plans capable of improving sports performance in every sport. The only thing that limits the effectiveness or efficiency of the Conjugate Method is the knowledge possessed by the coach or athlete managing the training. 

Whether we are training football players, MMA fighters, grapplers, track and field athletes, golfers, or lacrosse players, we can manipulate the training methods and basic template to deliver highly optimized training. The efficiency we can achieve is most valuable to athletes, considering strength and conditioning time is often limited due to practice and competition schedules. 

Coaches and athletes must ensure they have a keen understanding of the maximal, dynamic, and repeated effort methods. The better these methods are understood, the better the coach's ability to manipulate them at will. There is no quick path to true Conjugate knowledge; it takes years of studying the theory and applying the methods in the gym. 

The Basic Conjugate Training Advice series aims to help accelerate learning by addressing common issues or questions associated with Conjugate Method training. Ideally, coaches and athletes can use these articles to help avoid mistakes and better improve their approach to Conjugate Method strength and conditioning training. 

Below, we will provide advice to help improve your understanding and execution of Conjugate Method training.  

Use the Basics to Get Big

One aspect of barbell training often associated with Westside Barbell and the Conjugate Method is exercise variation. It is no secret that we utilize main and accessory exercise variations to provide specific training stimuli and lead to specific training outcomes. However, the keyword here is specific. 

Often, the exercises the general public sees as highly specialized are intended for an athlete in the gym dealing with a specific weakness or issue. This does not mean every athlete in the gym uses this exercise or that the general public should immediately introduce this movement into their routine. 

At Westside, our main exercise selection features various special exercise variations. As for special accessory exercises, movements such as rolling dumbbell tricep extensions, Dimel deadlifts, JM presses, and reverse hypers are regularly featured in our training. However, much of our accessory work will be basic bodybuilding-style accessory exercises. 

We are constantly executing various styles of barbell rows, tricep extensions, bicep curls, quadricep and hamstring exercises, abdominal exercises, etc. You name a muscle or muscle group involved in the sport we are training for, and we are training it. 

Just because an exercise is considered common or basic doesn't render it less effective. Instead of a new movement, athletes often need to improve their execution or adjust the volume prescription used for the exercise. Unless an athlete has many years of training accrued or a specific weakness or issue, using basic bodybuilding movements during accessory training will go a long way.

Many coaches on social media share new movements regularly. As a coach or athlete, it is important to understand this is done for likes and shares, not to help you specifically. So, before adding nuanced accessory variations into your training, ensure you are doing everything you can to get the most out of the basics. 

Dynamic Training Weights 

Conjugate Method dynamic effort training calls for a three-week training wave. The same main exercise is utilized, but the volume and intensity adjust over the duration of the wave. This exposes the athlete to training intensities and velocities associated with an improved rate of force development and explosive power. 

However, for this training to be effective, athletes must use the appropriate training weights. When finding dynamic effort training weights, we want to use the most recent max we have for the specific barbell and exercise. For example, if we perform a giant cambered bar box squat during dynamic effort lower, we want to use our most recent squat max with the giant cambered bar. 

We can use either a free or box squat max, all that matters is that the lift was a proper max effort single, and the barbell used during the lift is relevant to the barbell being used during the dynamic effort training. 

If no relevant max exists, athletes will need to estimate. When doing this, we will choose a first-week weight that allows us to escalate the training weight by at least 10-15 lbs each week over the course of the wave without significantly reducing barbell velocity.  

Ideally, the weight we choose will lean more towards the faster side than the slower side. That is important to understand with dynamic effort training—it is better to be too fast and have to add weight than too slow and eventually have to reduce training weight due to fatigue or training program failure. 

Once we have established a training wave using estimated training weights, we will follow this wave until we can establish a relevant PR in a max-effort main movement. This can typically be achieved within the first 4-6 weeks of training. 

Adjusting Accessory Exercise Selections

A common question we get is how often an athlete should change up their accessory exercise selections. At Westside, we approach this in one of two ways: either change up our accessory work weekly or apply a three-week wave to our accessory exercise selections. 

Often, the strategy employed will depend on the individual's experience level. With more experienced athletes, we can go with a week-to-week accessory exercise adjustment, knowing that these athletes have mastered the movements and can benefit from the increased level of variation. 

However, a three-week wave approach to accessory exercise programming with beginner or intermediate-level athletes can often be optimal. This helps ensure that athletes adequately address targeted muscle groups and build competency with the movements. 

While a weekly change in movements may lead to poor exercise execution, three weeks of exposure to these exercises will improve exercise comprehension and execution. This helps to improve the effectiveness of training and ensures beginner and intermediate lifters accrue proper volume for all targeted muscle groups. 

Student of the Game

At Westside, we focus our energy where it matters—in the gym, working with athletes. Whether we are training ourselves or working with athletes, we constantly use the gym and actual application of the methods to confirm the efficacy of our current approaches to training. If we talk about an approach or strategy, you can trust it has been tested in the gym and has yielded positive training adaptations. 

Every gym has the potential to be a laboratory where a coach or athlete can conduct studies on a small and basic level to find the most optimal approaches to training both for themselves and the specific individuals they are working with. Eventually, after gaining years of experience, a coach following this path will have enough data and feedback to know what does and doesn't work for nearly anyone they may work with.

This is the path every strength and conditioning coach should follow. Be a student of the game, not a student living and dying by journals and studies. Do we at Westside enjoy reviewing the latest studies related to strength and conditioning? Of course. Do we let these studies override what we know to be effective based on our years of proof and experience? No. 

As Louie would say, the answers are in the gym. If you are a coach, the athletes you work with and the training data they produce are the most valuable information you have access to. Lean on what you know is working, then add some new stimulus to see if you can obtain further adaptations, refine, and repeat. After years of doing this, you will have a training system capable of delivering results to nearly any athlete. 

The gym provides all the answers a coach needs, provided they have the brain and eyes to understand. 

Sources:

Simmons, L. (2007). Westside Barbell Book of Methods. Westside Barbell.