When many people think of the Conjugate System, they think of Westside Barbell and Louie Simmons. They think of all the variations in lifts, crazy band and chain setups, and box squatting. What they seem to neglect, even though Louie had preached it in the past and is evident in the books he references, are the fundamental principles behind the system.
For those that don’t know what Conjugate training is, I will try to explain the basics as briefly as possible:
The conjugate method is made up of the three different methods of training: Maximal Effort Method (high intensity), Dynamic Effort Method (high velocity), and Repetition Method (hypertrophy work).
Maximal Effort Method – High level of motor unit recruitment.
Dynamic Effort Method – Recruit the motor units as quickly as possible.
Repetition Method – Build tissue tolerance, more muscle mass, and general physical preparedness (GPP).
Exercises are rotated to not repeat the same exercise twice in a row on Max Effort Day and volume is waved over 3-weeks for Dynamic Effort Day (ex. 50%-55%-60%, restart with new exercise).
48-72 hours are taken between extreme sessions for the same body part (ex. Max Effort Lower --> 48-72 hours --> Dynamic Effort Lower)
It’s really that simple. Louie and the Westside athletes simply took these principles and organized it in a way that was best suited for them.
However, some people will just blindly do what Louie said worked for him and may potentially not see any results. Some of the criticism the training system gets are:
Maxing out is dangerous and is too taxing on the nervous system to do on a weekly basis.
Over-emphasis on non-specific variation doesn’t transfer to the main lifts.
Dynamic Effort, or “Speed work”, doesn’t make you stronger.
The training isn’t phasic.
I can understand where some of the criticism comes from because I believe if it’s not properly planned and programmed, it won’t work. The system needs to be tailored to the individual (like every program is…at least I hope). For example, if you’re raw squatter using a narrow stance, chances of a Wide Stance High Box Squat with 4-chains per side transferring over to your competition squat are pretty low, especially if you never do a competition squat before competing.
Someone will take a program written for Dave Hoff, not see much improvement, and preach to everybody that Conjugate doesn’t work. In my opinion, this is ridiculous. If you analyze the fundamentals, you should be able to see that the system can be applied to any individual, no matter what their goal or current training experience is. The key is in its application.
For the rest of the article, I will address some of the criticisms Conjugate, or Westside Barbell, Training receives:
You can’t max out every week – It’s dangerous and too taxing on the nervous system.
I completely agree. Going for a 1-repetition maximum every week is dangerous and too taxing. However, performing high intensity work (>90%) should be performed on a consistent basis, depending on the phase, as intensity is one of the key factors for developing a strong and explosive athlete, no matter what sport.
The main purpose of the Maximal Effort Method is to train at a very high intensity using a low total volume to train maximal motor unit recruitment. It is not there to build a lift or an athlete’s strength per se. You are simply teaching the body and the nervous system to “strain” and “turn everything on”. Building up your lifts or movements comes from the secondary movements and accessory work for individual muscle groups.
With regards to the dangers of maxing out, it depends on the experience level of the athlete. A relatively beginner powerlifter or sport athlete typically doesn’t have the proper technique, required level of stability, and capacity to max out. If you take a younger lifter and have them work up to a 5-repetition max, it may only be 10-20lbs heavier than their 8- to 10-repetition max…They are neurologically incapable of recruiting a high level of motor units to express their true strength, thus resulting in an extremely low tonnage of work for that day. However, if you take a much stronger athlete, they are able to display their true strength and max out. This leads to the issue of taxing the nervous system because these experienced athletes most likely aren’t able to add 5-10lbs to the same lift week after week. And if they tried, they would end up burning themselves out. This is where the constant rotation of exercises comes into play.
The issue regarding taxing the nervous system is “solved” by 1) determining the lift of the day depending on how you feel and 2) utilizing many different variations. Both are forms of autoregulation (self-regulating or making alterations to the plan according to subjective feedback). If you walk into the gym and feel burnt out, rather than doing a lift that you can load a lot of weight on, use a lift that is mechanically more challenging, but places an overall lower stress on the body. For example, BB Box Squatting with 80 pounds of chain will be a higher percentage relative to your regular squat than a Zercher Squat, thus placing a greater strain on the nervous system.
The use of different variations is a way to max out without constantly using 100% of your competition lift. If you’re using accommodating resistance every week, you’re essentially using a supra-maximal weight (> 100%; depending on the movement) every week so of course you’re going to burn-out. But by using mechanically tougher exercises, you can still max out without over-taxing the nervous system (previous example of Box Squat with Chains vs. Front Squat).
Competition Squat = 405lbs (100%)
Box Squat = 365lbs + 80lbs of chain = 445lbs (110%)
Zercher Squat = 285lbs (70%)
Maxing out at 70% has a much lower recovery demand than maxing out at 110%...
Over-emphasis on non-specific variations doesn’t transfer to the main lifts or sport movement.
Yes, if you’re a raw squatter and use a relatively narrow stance, squatting to a high box with an extremely wide stance and sitting way back won’t bring up your competition squat. This also applies to athletics.
Quick personal story, I spent 2 weeks with Matt Wenning learning about the Conjugate System. During that time, I learned to box squat with a wide stance and vertical shin position. When I came back home to train for my upcoming hockey season, I continued to squat like that. After squatting like that for a while and neglecting my normal closer stance, quad-dominant squatting, I felt as though I was skating on my heels rather than with a positive shin angle and forward lean. I was stronger, more explosive, and quicker on the ice, but it took me a bit of time to transfer it to my sport. Looking back, I would have simply just added a small amount of quad dominant work (ex. Front Squat, Bulgarian Split Squat) to keep that movement pattern and positioning.
I say this and you may think to yourself “wide stance box squatting is terrible for sports”. Just hold your horses there bud…
Wide Stance Box Squatting is GREAT for developing powerful hip extension and building strength in the adductors and hamstrings. Don’t believe me? Do 5 sets of 5 reps with 90 seconds rest and you’ll find your whole posterior chain cramping up. Anybody well versed in athletics knows the importance of powerful glutes, adductors, and hamstrings. So, is Wide Stance Squatting really that bad?
I don’t believe there is a bad exercise. Just poor utilization and planning of an exercise.
For a powerlifter, you can use this variation of squatting to developing the hips and posterior chain far from competition, especially if you deadlift Sumo. For an athlete looking to be more explosive in their sport, utilizing this variation can be very beneficial, as long as there are still movements included in the training plan to help transfer those improvements to the sport (ex. Narrow stance squatting).
I used the squat as an example, but it can apply to any movement pattern. The main message is that the system uses is a wide variety of exercises because you want to be strong in every position or scenario. You just need to make sure you include enough work similar to the sporting action (or practice the sport itself) to help with the transferability of the training.
Speed work doesn’t make you stronger.
Speed work at its core is essentially just a high volume of sub-maximal work performed with maximal intent, or compensatory acceleration. The aspect of compensatory acceleration is the critical component of speed work. The goal is to produce as much force as possible, AS QUICKLY as possible. From a neurological standpoint, you’re training the nervous system to active motor units more quickly (rate coding). The faster the activation of motor units, the more quickly force can be produced.
For sports performance, that results in greater speed and power. In the realm of powerlifting, that increases the chances of a successful lift. Louie always preached “you only have so long you can strain”. This is very true. It is different among lifters, as some athletes are able to grind for a long time, while others can’t. Those who can’t (such as myself), need to complete the rep as fast as possible before they “crash”.
Besides the neurological effect of speed work, it also acts as a great way to improve technical efficiency. For someone relatively new to lifting, they will get a chance to get more first reps than had they done sets of multiple reps (ex. 10 sets x 2 reps = 10 first reps vs. 4 sets x 5 reps = 4 first reps).
Finally, related to the previous point, the quality of reps is very high when the Dynamic Effort work is done with a high number of sets with few reps per set. When doing a set of 5 reps, the first 2 to 3 reps may be high quality, but then fatigue creeps in and the bar speed significantly slows down for the last 2 to 3 reps. When training for a fast rate of force development to improve sport performance, this is counterproductive because you are no longer training the quality you are looking to improve. By doing more sets for fewer reps, you are performing a higher volume of high-quality reps.
The training is not phasic.
This is just false if you listen to enough episodes of the Westside Barbell podcast. Louie would always explain the Circa-Max phase and mentioned the use of regeneration/general physical preparation phases.
Now, the premise behind the Conjugate System is bringing up multiple qualities at the same time so it may not look like there are major changes in the training structure. I can’t speak for the athletes at Westside, but I would think that the training of the different qualities would be scaled up or down depending on the time of year. What I mean by that is, following a competition or competitive season, there may be a greater emphasis on GPP and muscle hypertrophy and as an athlete gets closer to competition, the GPP is toned down (but still present) and the Max Effort and Dynamic Effort work is cranked up.
I like to think of it as a sound board with all the different dials. Depending on the time of year and the proximity to competition, the dials are adjusted. However, every quality is trained so that the athlete can be peaked for competition at any moment in time.
I hope after reading this, you have a better understanding and appreciation for the brilliance of the Conjugate System.
The Conjugate System is not a training program. It is a training system designed to improve multiple physical qualities at the same time. Which qualities need to be improved more than others and how we go about planning or organizing the training is completely dependent on the athlete, their training experience, strength level, sport demand, etc.
If you’d like to train Conjugate or Westside, take the PRINCIPLES and apply them to your needs, don’t just copy what others have done.
Train hard folks.
Coach Max
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