While the standing good morning movements target the upper and lower portions of the posterior chain, the seated good morning exercise focuses on developing the lower, mid, and upper back and trunk. The primary focus is the improvement of spinal erector and trunk strength, with other muscles such as the hip flexors, rhomboids, lats, and mid/lower traps also being involved.
An athlete's grip strength will dictate their success with the deadlift. Unlike the squat or bench press, where the weight is loaded onto the body, the deadlift requires an athlete to lift the barbell off the ground. Without proper grip strength training, athletes risk slowing their deadlift progress.
Accessory exercises are a significant part of Conjugate Method training. Each training day, 20% of our volume will come from our main exercise, while the remaining 80% will include accessory exercises. Our strategy is to use these exercises to resolve identified weaknesses and bring up lagging muscle groups so the selected accessory movements can vary from athlete to athlete.
When combined with other back exercises, such as barbell rows and cable pulldowns, shoulder shrug variations will help ensure the back is properly trained. This attention to detail will lead to direct improvements in the competition lifts when training the mid and upper back. Whether squatting, benching, or deadlifting, the mid and upper back play a crucial role in completing the lift.
While exercise selection certainly plays a role in accessory exercise training success, the most critical aspect of this training is how the sets and reps are programmed. Appropriate set and rep programming selections will dictate the training adaptations that occur and, when selected correctly, can lead to significant increases in training efficiency.
One type of back exercise we often include is the chest-supported row. While there are many variations of chest-supported rows, the idea behind the exercise is generally the same. Our goal is to limit the amount of momentum achieved using excess leg or torso movement, which places greater emphasis on the mid and upper back along with the rear delts to do much of the work.
A proper speed bench workout comes down to execution and programming. Execution is most important, considering the intent at which each rep is performed is what separates dynamic effort training from repeated effort training. Additionally, athletes must develop proper form to ensure injury does not occur when training at higher velocities.
Unlike other approaches to powerlifting, we do not exclude exercises due to a lack of specificity. We understand that the greatest level of training specificity is when the exercise selection and programming directly match the athlete's current needs. There is much more to specificity than the use of competition-relevant equipment.
At Westside, we understand that energy levels must be appropriately managed for a training day to be effective. This means that we select and organize exercises in a way that ensures the athlete performing the movements will have adequate energy to execute each exercise properly without missing any sets or reps.
At Westside, we have helped many athletes improve their sports performance. The idea behind our training is simple: focus on enhancing all relevant special strengths in the gym while maintaining a predictable recovery schedule that allows athletes to have the energy to improve sports skills at practice.
We build the special strengths that help better execute sports skills, and team practice helps refine skill execution and enhance sports competency.
