Proper management of training fatigue may be the most important aspect of strength training. While many focus on exercise selection, sets, repetitions, and overall program design, none of that matters if training fatigue is not kept in check. Aside from genetics, training fatigue management ultimately decides your response to and success with strength training. 

The Conjugate Method offers a coach a variety of ways to attack fatigue-related issues. First, we have three strength training methods at our disposal. Next, we have the freedom to manipulate exercise selection and set and rep prescriptions. Considering our training is multifaceted, a current training block does not control our programming decisions. 

Finally, we have the ability to manipulate the training schedule. While the standard WSBB training week is Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, we can change our training frequency based on the athlete's needs. With this amount of programming and planning freedom, keeping Conjugate Method training on the rails becomes easy if you have a basic understanding of strength and conditioning science. 

Below, we will discuss a few quick options to help mitigate fatigue and keep training productive and injury-free. 

Understanding Fatigue

Fatigue caused by strength training is commonly defined as local or systemic. Local muscle fatigue is experienced on a regular basis as athletes train specific body parts and muscle groups, temporarily fatiguing the trained muscles. This fatigue is a normal part of training and is resolved via rest, nutrition, hydration, and supplementation. 

Systemic fatigue is another training-related fatigue that affects an athlete in more ways than just sore muscles. 

Systemic fatigue can significantly impact an athlete's sport and training performance and must be monitored and managed properly. While systemic fatigue can also be managed via nutrition, hydration, supplementation, and rest, program design and management come into play the most. The rest of this article will focus on this type of fatigue. 

For instance, if an athlete continuously overshoots during max effort training, local fatigue will increase significantly, and a substantial amount of systemic fatigue will also accrue. If the athlete or coach is not conscious of this occurrence, training will quickly become less productive as time goes on and very likely result in injury. 

Excess systemic fatigue will also make athletes feel generally unwell and unmotivated. If training is to remain productive, a coach or athlete must have a plan to account for and manage both local muscle and systemic fatigue. 

Identifying a Fatigued Athlete

The most important aspect of fatigue management is likely the ability to accurately identify a fatigued athlete. This requires a coach to have experience in both training athletes and training themselves to understand the physical stress and demands proper strength training places on the body. 

Once a coach has seen many athletes work through a training plan, as well as worked through the training themselves, it becomes much easier to predict or spot fatigue-related issues. 

Here are a few basic signs and symptoms an athlete is dealing with excess systemic fatigue:

– Lack of Motivation to Train

– Issues Achieving Restful Sleep 

– Frequent Sickness

– Elevated Resting Heart Rate

– Brain Fog

The Conjugate Method also allows a coach to use training data and outcomes to evaluate an athlete's current state. We can judge max, dynamic, or repeated effort training performance to assess an athlete's current state.

Here are the signs and symptoms of excess systemic fatigue when utilizing the Conjugate Method:

– Frequent Failed Max Effort Lifts

– Decreased Dynamic Effort Barbell Velocity

– Decreased Repeated Effort Work Capacity

As long as a coach or athlete understands the visual and numerical data presented during training, gears can quickly be shifted within a Conjugate Method training plan to ensure systemic fatigue remains manageable and athletes remain trainable. 

Solutions

Once we have identified that an athlete is dealing with systemic fatigue issues, we can adjust our Conjugate Method training to get things back on track. With the freedom of our training methods, we can often solve fatigue-related matters without worrying about detraining. Unless fatigue has reached a critical state, a small adjustment to training can significantly impact fatigue-related issues. 

If an athlete checks the boxes for excess fatigue, our first move will often be to briefly eliminate max effort training from the plan in favor of the repeated effort method. This means we will go with weekly lower and upper repeated effort training days instead of weekly lower and upper max effort training days. This break in training intensity can often give athletes a boost in recovery and enable normal training to resume rather quickly (1-2 weeks). 

When replacing max effort main movements with repeated effort main movements, we often perform 3-5 sets of 3-5 reps. Our training intensity is typically kept between 65% and 75% when dealing with fatigued athletes. 

The next solution is to reduce the training frequency. This means that instead of training on the regular four-day schedule, we will train on a three-day schedule. This lowers the weekly demand placed on the athlete and increases the total amount of weekly recovery time. 

I recommend a three-day training schedule for fatigued athletes: a repeated effort lower day, a repeated effort upper day, and a combined dynamic effort day. Repeated effort days would follow the set and rep prescriptions discussed previously. Dynamic effort work can be performed at typical percentages, or the percentages can be lowered to further reduce the impact on fatigue overall. 

Additionally, when using either of these solutions, we can lower our accessory exercise training volume. Depending on the athlete's fatigue, this could mean eliminating a few sets, exercises, or accessory work altogether. 

The final solution to deal with fatigue is rest. Nothing complicated or scientifically in-depth, just plain old rest and recovery. This means taking time off from training completely; no light workouts, no sleds, just sleep, nutrition, and hydration. There are times when modifications to training will not be able to do what a week or two of time off can. 

Uninterrupted rest and recovery will always provide the most significant rate of fatigue reduction and are often underrated in the strength and conditioning world. Famous guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen once stated that more is more when discussing the number of notes played, but in the training world, the old phrase "less is more" often comes into play. 

Sometimes, an athlete cannot train or modify their way out of their current state. No mental toughness or coaching will resolve the issue when fatigue reaches this point. The only solution is to allow rest and recovery to take place uninterrupted. 

Don't Lie to Yourself

Often, athletes find it difficult to force themselves to reduce their training demands or take time off from the gym altogether. While having a strong drive to train and remaining disciplined is essential, it is just as crucial that athletes remain honest with themselves about their recovery.

Sometimes, the answer is not to push forward but to pull back and reassess. 

Fatigue management is of the utmost importance in strength and conditioning. Successful fatigue management not only keeps an athlete feeling fresh but also helps to maintain or improve the response to training. So, before you think you are too tough to rest, consider that failure to adequately rest and recover ultimately renders your efforts less impactful and results in wasted time in the gym. 

Fortunately, major fatigue issues are easy to avoid when using the Conjugate Method. Our basic template training schedule provides adequate rest between max and dynamic effort training sessions. As long as a coach or athlete understands basic training day design and programming strategies, it becomes less likely that a major fatigue-related issue will occur. 

However, fatigue issues can occur with any athlete. This is why it is important for athletes to be honest about their current state and for coaches to be able to evaluate an athlete's fatigue on a session-to-session basis. 

Excess systemic fatigue is like a fire in dry grass; it is not a severe issue when it starts, but it can burn your entire house down if you fail to address and extinguish it immediately.

Sources:

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