Conjugate Method

So I've never trained at Westside, nor have I really hardcore followed the conjugate system but I understand it. I get the picture and I can understand the difference between the max effort method, the dynamic effort method and the repetition method. The problem I see is that people on the interwebz look at videos from westside and Elitefts and look for the best possible max effort movement for their style of lifting. Whether it's shirted bench, single ply squat or raw deadlifts.....Your not doing it right!!!

The conjugate method, especially the westside version of it, (No, westside did not invent it, Louie even says he didn't) is designed to work your weak points, the specific lifters weak points. These weak points are different for everyone and such max effort movements should be different for everyone. For instance, I have a weak lock out on my deadlifts, I can pull anything off the ground but locking it out stalls, max effort movements for me would include deadlifts with chains, rack pulls etc. A lot of people have weak pulls from the ground, max effort movements for them would include deficit pulls, good mornings etc.

Yes I am not blind enough to see there are many max effort movements that help the entire movement and improve on multiple weaknesses, but the point is to find YOUR weakness and improve that. Your only as strong as your sticking point!

The Army Strength Athlete

There are multiple reasons multiple people join the Army, some join for benefits, some join to give their life meaning, and even some join just to get into shape. This was not the case when I joined the Army. I was a benefit guy that benefited more from the Army then just the school help. I joined when I was playing defensive line for the Minnesota State University, Mankato football team. I had been training for college football for as long as I can remember, knowing it would all lead up to one day playing in college. In college I was on a small enough scale (Army wise) that I could defiantly get away with both trying to get big and strong for football and still succeed in the Army’s physical training program.

The Army mandates that National Guard Soldiers take the Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT) once a year, twice while on active duty orders, such as deployments. The APFT consists of 2 minutes of pushups, 2 minutes of sit ups and a 2 mile run. There are standards based on the Soldiers age to determine if the Soldier passes or fails, each event is scored on a 100 point scale, 60 being just passing and 100 being a good pass, or “PT stud”. So if a Soldier scores 100 points in all three events he/she gets a score of 300, if a Soldier scores 60 points in all three events that Soldier gets a score of 180. If the Soldier drops below the standards of the PT test he/she is subject to remedial PT and possibly kicked out of the Army.

I have never been a 300 guy, I’ve scored well, 250+ but never a 300. I possess the upper body strength to max out the pushups, do real well in the sit ups but the run is always what gets me. Currently at my age (29) I have to run 2 miles in 17 minutes, this is not a problem but to get 100 points I have to run it in 13 min. Naturally I am closer to the 17 minute range than the 13 minute range, however, I have never failed a PT test.

You see when we are all born we are born with a specific percentage of muscle fibers. These fibers are broken down to fast and slow twitch fibers. There are nearly dozens of different types of muscle fibers but we all have a specific percentage of slow and a certain percentage of fast twitch, then comes the ever popular type IIb muscle fibers, these fibers are trainable. These fibers can switch to act as either fast twitch fibers or slow twitch fibers. As a former football player my IIb fibers have learned to act more as fast twitch fibers than slow twitch and thus my difficulties with the 2 mile run.

So when I got done playing football it was just a natural fit for me to merge into strength sports. I have competed in both powerlifting and strongman. I enjoy training and I don’t enjoy training without a goal. My inability to succeed in a 2 mile long slow run has made the PT test not as appetizing to me as others. Deadlifting 700 pounds however is appetizing to me, pressing a 330 pound log over my head is downright delicious. I enjoy strongman and hope to soon be awarded with a Pro Card from the ASC making me a professional strongman. However, I am still in the military and will continue to be in the military for a while.

Currently I’m deployed in Kuwait in support of Operation New Dawn and the draw down in Iraq, this is interesting because believe it or not they don’t get a lot of strength athletes that come around here. Although they do keep gym records, when I got here the deadlift gym record was 585, the squat record was 600 and the bench record still stands at 500. Within the first 6 weeks here I had re-set the records to 650 deadlift, and 725 squat, they don’t follow any powerlifting feds so the squat was a little high, but they counted it. Currently my weight is 275 lbs.

So with my upcoming goal of winning my Strongman Pro card and my everlasting thrust for strength you could imagine that I’m a little different looking than most Soldiers. Trying to get as strong as humanly possible all the while still being able to go for a 2 mile run in a passing time has stretched me both ways. The Army is attempting to fix the APFT to be more “combat like” however, that seems to be deadlocked. Not to mention the Crossfit community runs rampant around the military. My issues with crossfit can be saved for another post, however I have never figured out why they continue to ask if I want to crossfit….does it look like it?!?

When it comes down to you as a strength athlete in the military I have to run long distances. It may not be the best thing for my pursuit of strength but it is what it is, this is the life I have decided to live. That will not deter me from going into the weight room and lifting heavy. Today my training partner said to me that when I lift it’s like a spectator sport because everyone stops doing whatever they are doing and watches me squat 600+ pounds. Am I the ideal Soldier? Absolutely not. Should all Soldiers train like me? Absolutely not. Should there be some sort of mix between strength and endurance for military members? Absolutely! I think that is the biggest point people miss, they see me and they think I want everyone to look and lift like me, I don’t! There is nothing wrong with Soldiers getting cock strong though.

So in conclusion I have rambled quite a bit; however, if the reader can take anything from this realize that human beings aren’t cookie cuts. But if there is a standard it must be met, sometimes you just have to show off your athleticism and surprise some people!

Tue, Wed

Haven't kept up on the log, I apologize

Tuesday

Push Press
Worked up to
150 kilos! - PR
Just missed 155 kilos, got it out of the grove
100 kilos 2x5 strict press

Close grip Cambered bar bench
worked up to 340x1
then:
280 2x8

Then we did some crazy shoulder circuit that Dave dreamed up
a bunch of stuff x a lot

Wed
Hex bar DL (17" pick up) - to simulate a car DL
Worked up to 610
As many reps as possible in 60 seconds, 16 reps

Sandbag load on Rev Hyper machine
262 sand bag - 5,4,3,2,1

Called it a day after that, some good stuff

Thur, Fri, Sat, Mon

Haven't loaded anything in a while so here it goes

Thursday,
Axle Clean and Press
Worked up to 330 almost locked it out 3 times, finally just jerked it, PR for anything overhead, I should be able to push press 330 real soon

Friday
Yoke Walk
Up to 880 felt alright, not really fast but grinded it out

Stone over bar
Hit the 378 stone again, the tacky and stone didn't want to bond so it was tough

Saturday
Bench Strip Set 275 down to 135

Shoulder circuit 2x12

Ran the rack with curls

Steady state running :(

Monday
Worked up to 140 kilo clean x 2, just missed the 3rd one

Squats
Worked up to 455x3 high bar olympic squats

Neutral grip BO Row
Up to 400x5

The whole no carb thing is really bogging me down, I'm sleeping well but just don't have a lot of energy, it is what it is

Another sweet Wednesday

Another great wed. training atmosphere, about 12 dudes in here lifting again.

Rack pulls from mid-shin
135x5
225x5
315x3
405x2
495x1
Added Soft Belt
585x1
Added hard belt
675x1
725x1
765x1 - grind!
675 2x2

Stiff Leg DL
315x5
405x5

Glute Bar Lifts
405 2x5

Reverse Hyper
150 2x5
P/W
DB BO Rows
140 2x5

Dave brought his wrist roller again
90#
135# - 24 seconds
180# - 48 seconds
Then dave did 135 in 19 seconds so I had to go again
135# - 17 seconds!
It's always fun to beat Dave in things

Monday, Tuesday

Monday,

Power Cleans (kilos)
60x5
100x3
110 2x3
120 3x3
Caught all very high, good strong pulls

Back Squat
warm up to:
180 kilos 5x5

200 kilos 5x3

4x400 m sprints


Tuesday

Bench Press
135x5
225x5
275 2x3
295 2x3
315 3x3
335 2x3
345 x3

Cambered Bar Strict OH Press
135x8
185x8
205x8
Paired With
3 way neck x12 w/ 120#

Single Arm DB OH press w/ Fat Gripz
90# 2x8 ea arm
P/W BTW Dips 2x10

Tonight I'll hit arms 10x10 Straight bar curl with 100# P/W Band push down

Thursday night pressing at Daves

Trained with Joel, Dave and Ben. My back was pretty beat up from Wed's PRs but the more log I did the more it loosened up.

Log Clean and Press (kilos)
100 1 clean 3 presses
100x2
110x2
120x1
130x1
137x1 - PR
141x1 - PR
125x4
100x5 - tech work, didn't move my feet, clean and press was 1 movement, I was tired after

Incline Bench
135x5
225 2x5
295 3x3

By this point I was getting pretty tired but Dave got a new wrist roller that is 2.5 in thick has knurling and can slide on the power rack saftey bars so we rolled it forward and reverse and timed ourselves

95# in 35 seconds
140# in 45 seconds
then we went 185 just forward and joel finished it reverse.
I have never had a forearm pump like that!

Here is a video of my Log pressing:

Video of all my deadlifts yesterday

Here is a video of all my pulls yesterday, 635 - last warm up, 700 - new pr, 585x8

Deadlift day!

Deadlift day, we had quite the day in the weight room. Dave, Cal, Kevin and I were there but we also had Joel from kato. Danny and Tad, our two hang-arounds, Gary our intern as well as the whole football staff as they were starting week 1 of Coan/Phillipi. We had 3 platforms going and it got pretty crazy!

Deadlift from the floor
135x5
225x3
315x3
405x2
455x1
545x1
635x1
700x1! new PR

This took me a while to cool down from, but after I was cooled down I decided to go 585 touch and go reps, as many as I could for 75 seconds, I got 8.

After that I played around with some light GMs with a band pulling me backward, it's some crazy idea Dave came up with and that was it. 585x8 after 700x1 was pretty taxing. All in all it was a sweet day, we had a broken finger, a bloody nose and someone passed out, this means its a good deadlift day! Here is the videos of my lifts.

635 Warm Up


700 new PR

Monday, Tuesday

Monday,

Speed squats
Warmed up then:

140 kilos tendo squats 2% drop off, 5 sets, cut it off at 5 reps, 3 total reps were under 1m/s

Tuesday
Strict Press (kilos)
60x5
80x5
100x3
110x2
120x1 - PR
110x2
100x3

Incline bench lock outs with green band
135x5
185 2x3
230x1

KA Curls w/ Fat Gripz 3x12
P/W
Band Tri Push down 3x12

Tomorrow I hit 700 deadlift!

Friday Pressing

Bench
45x5
135x5
225x5
Added 4 Board
315x3
365x5
405x5
455x5
505x2 - PR

Cambered bar Strict OH Press
135x5
185x6
205x6

DB Incline Bench
110# 3x6
P/W
3 way neck 3x10 @ 120#

Shoulder Circuit 3x9
Cambered Bar Front raise 50# 6 sec hold every 3 reps
Upright Row 132#
Blast Straps scare crows

Dips 2x10
P/W
GH HYper sit ups 2x10 @ 100#

Bar Curls w/ fat grips 2x8 @ 98#

Good workout today, my 4 board bench was sweet. Thursday I played raquetball so I didn't lift because I was exhausted. Tomorrow I think I'm going to get a light squat it and shut it down. I need to be fresh for Wednesday

Videos of Rack Pulls

Here are 2 videos of the last two weeks of rack pulls

900lb Rack pull from above the knee




805lb Rack pull from below the knee



700 will fell like 405!

Wed deadlifting

Rack Pulls from just below the knee
225x5
315x5
405x3
495x2
Added Soft Belt
585x1
Added hard belt
675x1
725x1
805x1 - PR
705 3x1

Stiff Leg DL
405x5
495x5

BO Row
225x5
275x5

Rev grip Lat Pull Down
2x5 255 + micro mini band

Cambered Bar GMs
405x5
455x5

Good day, next Wed 700 will fall

Monday, Tuesday

Monday

Cambered Bar Squat
140x5
230x5
320x3
410x3
500 2x3
550x3

Single Leg Leg Press 3 plates 1 25 3x3
Paired With
Partner Band Abs 3x6

Tuesday
Bench Pressin
135x5
225x5
315x3
365x2
405x1
365 2x3
405x3

2 hrs later
Push Press (kilos)
60x5
100x5
120x3
130x1
140 4x1 - good stuff

Felt good to get push some heavy weights today, I've concentrated on my deadlift for so long it's about time to set some OH PRs, but my priority is to pull 700!

Friday and Saturday

Friday

SSB squat lock outs w/ heavy bands (doubled up purple bands)
150x5
240x5
330x5
420x5
470x5

Leg Press w/ black bands
3 plates 2x10
P/W
calf raise 2x10

one arm DB Row
140# 2x10

Saturday
Strip set on bench
285 down to 115

Strip set on Viking Press (samson calf raise machine)
370 down to 140

Ran the rack with curls 10 reps 50 down to 15

Good volume and a good pump

Thursday OH Pressing

Axle Clean and Press
did a few warm up sets then we did:
231x2
253x1
275x1
321x1 - Big PR
343x0 - completed the clean but just missed the jerk

Viking Press w/ Purple Bands
0x10
90x5
180x3
230x0 - stapled
140 3x5

Blast Strap push ups
2x10

Farmer's hold w/ revolving handles (150# in ea hand)
51 sec

Standing Abs 2x20

Good stuff good stuff, kinda disapointed I missed the jerk at 341 but I haven't jerked in a while. Dave and I talked about when we OH Press we should clean the first rep each time and not just take it out of the rack, I like this idea. Here is the video of my Axle C&P PR

Deadlift day

Pulls from just above the knee
135x5
225x5
315x5
405x3
495x3
added soft belt
585x3
added hard belt
675x2
765x1
825x1
885x1
I'll post the video later
795 5x1

Kaz Shurgs
505 2x10

Stiff leg DL
405x5
455x5

Bar BO Row
315x5
365x5

Neutral grip Pull ups
2x5

Called it a day, feeling good about it. I'm going to do another week of rack pulls, next week will be just below the knee then I'm going after 700 again

Tuesday Upper

Neutral grip bar push press
+ 96# in chains
50x5
140x5
190x3
210x3
230x1
190x3
200x3
210x3

Close grip Bench Press
225x5
275x3
325x3
365x3
325x3
345x3
felt strong here 365x3 is a new pr

Face PUlls
2x8 @ 135#
P/w
3 way neck 2x8 @ 100#

one arm DB strict press
75x5
100 2x3

good stuff today, my workout got split up because of the golf team coming in right after my bench, so it was hard to get going again. It is what it is! Still happy with my push pressing

Monday fun day

Squats
135x5
225x5
315x3
405x3
Added Belt
495x3
585x3
strong solid reps
475 2x3
405x3

GH Hyper w/ blue band
3x8

One arm db bent over row
2x8 @ 140#

Later at night at the Tommy Miller Home Gym
Bar bent over rows
3x8 @ 275

Kaz Shurgs
3x10 @ 405
P/W
4 way neck done with a green band 3x10

Then I messed around with a lot of pinching and grip stuff like:
2-25lb plates pick up
4-10lb plates pick up
2-45 lb plates negatives
5 reps on the CoC #1
5 reps on the CoC #1.5
2 reps on the CoC #2
5 more reps on the 1.5

Good stuff today!

Olympic Fridays and Saturday

Haven't been very good at keeping up with my work out log, I'll try to do better this next week.

Olympic Friday

Cleans (kilos)
60x5
80x3
100x2
110x1
120x1
130x1
140 2x0 - got pissed at this moment and decided I wasn't going to spend the rest of my day trying to get a weight that is easy for me so I moved on

Squats (kilos)
100x5
140x3
160x3
180 2x3
160 2x5

Snatch Grip Dead Lift
160x5
180x3
200x1
220x1
240x1

Incline GH Hyper
3x8

Saturday
OH Press w/ 96# in chains
Strict Press
95 2x5
135x3
185x1
Push Press
185x3
205x3
225 2x3

High Incline OH Lock out w/ green bands
Worked up to 225 for a few sets of 3

DB Bench Press 3x8 @ 110#
P/W
GH Hyper weighted sit ups 3x10 @ 100#

Kiser Air Rear Delt 3x10
P/W
Face Pulls 3x10 @ 120
P/W
3 way neck 3x10 @ 100

Neutral Grip Bar Curls 3x8 @ 116#
P/W
Dips 3x10 w/ micro mini band

4 x 400 meter Sprints

Good stuff on Saturday, I didn't know the chains weighed that much until I measured them, so thats always fun, going to switch up my split a little, going to go back to the lower body m,w,f upper body t, th, s going medium heavy on M, T, max effort heavy on w, th, and increase my volume work on F, and S, to include a little more running. I do have a PT test in the future that I need to do good on!

Wed, Thursday

Deadlift Wednesday

Pulling from the floor with a York Power bar
135x5
225x3
315x3
405x3
Added Soft Belt
495x2
Added Belt
585x1
700x.99999 This was a grind, it took me 2 seconds to pull it above my knee and then struggled for 14 seconds to try to lock it out, long story short..I didn't lock it out

Rack pulls from just above the knee
225x3
405x2
585x1
675x1
765x1
820 2x1

Pull Ups 2x10

Called it a day, that long pull took a lot out of me

Thursday night at Dave's

Bench
135x8
225x5
275x3
Added 4 board
315x5
365x5
405x5
455x5

Seated log press
140x5
160x5
180x5

Standing strict Axle OH press
135x8
185x6
205x6

punched the clock, really tired Thursday due to wed.'s lift and the lack of heat in our house causing the repair man to come over at 12:30am Thursday morning....oh boy

Monday OH Press night

Pressing at Dave's house

Viking Press w/ no bands
90x5
180x5
230 x3
280 2x3
300x2 - this is big for me

Close grip flat bench
135x5
225x5
315x5
365x2
385x1
315 2x3 - paused reps

Face Pulls - a bunch x 2

Scare Crows 3x10
P/W
Kaz Shurgs 3x10 90 kilos

That was it for tonight, a good training session. I'm going to do as many presses with 300 or more lbs as I can, this will give me more confidence with a 300 log

Saturday

A little under the weather Saturday but still got some good work in:

OH Strict Press w/ Fat Gripz & 90# in chains
45x5
95 2x5
115 2x3
135x3
165x3
185x2 - grind
145 3x3

Strip Set Bench Press
275x11
255x7
185x9
115x18
Felt very swol after this

Farmers pick ups
73x1
161x1
249x1
293x1
325x0 - felt my back tighten up and shut it down, I very well could have picked this but I need to keep my back fresh for Wednesday

Press night and Olympic Fridays

Press night at Dave's

Bench Press
135x5
225x5
Added 4 Board
315x5
365x5
405x5
425x5
455x5
505x1 - PR
weight just feels light

"high" incline bench, the bench was at about 85 degrees, but Dave says it's a high incline
135x5
225x3
275x0
225 2x3

One Arm DB OH Strict Press
50x5
85x3
100 2x3

Kaz Shrugs
120 kilos 3x10

Good Stuff tonight!

Olympic Fridays
We watched the snatches and clean and jerks of the 83 kilo lifters at the Atlanta Olympic Games and became inspired

Clean (kilos)
60x5
80x3
100x2
110x1
120x1
130x1
140 0,0,0,0,0,1

Finally on the 5th or 6th rep I power cleaned 140, each attempt was so close, but then I told myself that I would go one more attempt at it and nailed it, barely had to squat under it...ridiculous

Olympic Back Squat
100x5
140x3
160x3
180 2x3
180x2 - no hands!

3 in Battling Ropes,
Tabata interval.....helll


Good couple of training Sessions!

Coan Phillipi Week 6

Week 6 trained at 8 am with Cal and Kevin, this was a big day

DL from the floor no belt w/ Ironmind S-cubed Bar
140x5
230x5
320x4
410x3
500x2
600x2

So now Cal wanted to go for his 700 so we loaded a Texas power bar up and he let it rip, got it to about his knee and stalled out, this was not good, Kevin decided he would go for 600 so we loaded that up on the power bar and he stalled out below his knee too, at this point I was getting pretty pissed off watching my 2 training partners fail on their DL goal. So I decided I would go for 675 which would be a 25# PR. I got pretty jacked up, put on a belt and ripped it, I crushed it and it felt amazing.

We came back and hit our speed DL with out a belt on the S-cubed bar 500 + 40# in chains 3x3

Power Shurgs
455 3x5

So after consulting the Coan/Phillipi high council they said I had to pull 700 next wed or I will have to quit the program, wait a few weeks and start over with better supervision because of the deviation from the plan. I'm pretty sure they were just joking but who knows.

Monday Overhead

Heavy lock out work tonight at Dave's

High incline Axle banded rack presses, from just above the head
35x5
Added Choked green bands
135x5
225x5
315x3
365 2x3
385x2
315x5

Viking Press - no bands
90x5
180x5
230 3x3 - easy reps, this was crazy different not using bands

Band tri push down 3x15

That was it tonight, had to get home to watch the National Championship game, what a game!

Friday Squats and Stones

Trained with Joel D at the U today

Squats
45x5
135x5
225x5
315x3
405x2
Added Belt
495x2
585x1
Added Knee Wraps
635x3
All were done high, but its still good stress with the Coan/Phillipi DL workout 2 days ago. I'll take it

Stones
300x2
378x1!
300x4

Haven't done the heavy stone in a long time, had some real troubles with it laity, I used some stone sleeves I bought from Brian Shaw, they helped a lot, held tacky well and didn't slip or tear off.

Below are the videos from today!

Friday Squats and Stones

Coan Phillipi Week 5

Week 5

DL from the floor with Ironmind S-Cubed bar
135x5
225x5
315x3
405x3
495x1
560 3x3 - Strong reps

Speed DLs
455 + 40# in chains 3x3

Power Shrugs
420 3x5

Stiff Leg DL
420 2x5
440x5

Bar BO Row
320 3x5

Rev Grip Lat Pull Down
255 + micro mini bands 3x5

Cambered Bar GMs
370 3x5

Good stuff today, we took our time between sets and exercises because it isn't a circuit.

Tuesday Bench

Bench Press
45x10
135x5
225x5
275x3
335x1
365x1
405x1
365x3
365x2

Incline DB Bench w/ Fat Gripz 3x6 @ 100#
P/W
3 way neck 3x10 @ 85#
P/W
Kiser Air Rear Delt Raise 3x8

Neutral Grip Bar Front Raise 3x8 @ 100#
P/W
Kiser Air Side Raise 3x8
P/W
Incline DB Rear Delt 3x8 @ 35#

Band Tri Push Down, Kiser Air Curls w/ Grip Force
5 min EDT

Good stuff today, my neck was crazy soar after my neck session on friday night, so I dialed it down a notch. This was the first time I've done any sort of curls in a while and my arms were swole up!

Front Squat & Back at the Viking

Front Squats last Sunday,

I watched WSM all day long and got excited to train. Jason Bergman's Squats were amazing and really motivating,

So sunday night I went down to the basement and hit some front squats
135x5
225x5
275x3
325x1
275 4x3

Snatch Grip RDL
275 3x5

A good little drip in for the new year....

Monday, back at the Viking at Dave's house
We started with Clean and presses with the Axle (kilos)
55x3
105 2x3
115x3
124 2x0 - so close but didn't get the cleans

Viking Press w/ Purple Bands
90x5
140x3
160x3
180x2
200x2
230x1 - PR
200 3x2

Called it a night after that, Dave is injured so the training intensity wasn't what it normally is but still some good stuff. Going to hit some bench and Acc pressing stuff today