The last few articles I've written for my blog have dealt with periodization and different ways to vary your training towards reaching a particular goal. For this article I was planning on explaining another form of periodization called ???Conjugate??? training, which in essence relies on combining different forms of training (or ???biometers???) together ??? i.e. conjugating them.
Where most other training methods gradually progress between the different biometers (hypertrophy, endurance, power, maximal strength, lactate threshold, conditioning...) conjugate training combines two or more of these disciplines into the same training cycle, or even the same training session!
The logic behind this is simple ??? as you train one biometer at the expense of all the others, only that one biometer is going to improve while the others degrade. For the average gym rat this might not be a huge problem, but for an athlete or sports person who needs to have a good grounding in all these things or even switches between them during their event or sport it's not such a good way to train.
Now I said I was planning on explaining conjugate periodization but I thought the best way to illustrate how this whole thing works would be to detail a program I recently completed with the goal of increasing my maximal strength on a few big lifts (Squats, Deadlifts, Bench Press, Pullups). Hopefully this will show you what this form of training can do for you!
The Basics of Strength
Before we get onto the program itself, I'd better explain a little of the logic behind it's design. It occurred to me through reading articles in various journals, books, and websites (and this isn't my idea by any means!) that strength is comprised of three distinct components that would go on to form the basis of my program.
Maximal Effort ??? This is your body's ability to recruit the largest possible number of muscle fibres in concert in order to bring about a single powerful contraction. More muscle fibres means more force potential which will move a greater load.
Muscle Size (Hypertrophy) ??? The ability to contract a huge number of muscle fibres is obviously important to strength, so what if we increase the size of those fibres and the muscle itself? Bingo ??? more force production! The larger the cross sectional area, the more force you could potentially generate so long as your neural system is efficient enough to use it.
Power ??? Power is defined as force over time. In terms of weight lifting, a powerful or ???explosive??? lift means your muscles generate force through a sudden quick contraction. For example, power cleans and jump squats are power movements as you contract your muscles suddenly and explosively in order to propel the weight through the range of motion in a manner you wouldn't otherwise be able to accomplish (dont believe me? Try cleaning slowly ??? it aint happening).
So how do these three things relate to eachother and to increasing strength? Well, if you want to make a cake you wouldn't leave out the flour, or the icing, so if you want to build strength why would you leave out a critical component?
The ability to generate maximal, momentary force using a greater amount of muscle will result in a larger load being moved. If you increase your muscle size, and then teach your body to efficiently use all the new muscle, and you are able to contract all that muscle in an instant ??? your overall strength will have increased. Its that simple.
The Program
The program itself lasted for eight weeks before a layoff of a week, and was comprised of three workouts a week. Depending on how I felt I managed to workout on consecutive days, but sometimes I left three days in between workouts. Judge how your body is responding, and adjust the frequency or volume accordingly.
Each of the three workouts focused on a different biometer (Maximal Strength, Hypertrophy, Power) with each workout being of a very different structure to the others. Cardiovascular (low-moderate intensity), grip, and core work was performed at least two days a week on workout days, or at least once a week on a non-workout day.
The two week training split was structured thusly:
Hypertrophy (Lower Body Push + Upper Body Pull)
Power (Fullbody)
Maximal Strength (Lower Body Pull + Upper Body Push)
Hypertrophy (Lower Body Pull + Upper Body Push)
Power (Fullbody)
Maximal Strength (Lower Body Push + Upper Body Pull)
Hypertrophy
The goal of the hypertrophy sessions was to increase muscular size through a substantial training volume, with a relatively low intensity so as not to interfere with the maximal strength workouts. In order to achieve this many sets of moderately low reps were performed at sub-maximal loads, as well as accessory work:
x2 Compound Movements = 10x5 @ 75% 1RM
x2 Isolation Movements = 1x12 @ 65% 1RM, 1x6 @ 80% 1RM
Power
The goal of the power day was to recruit as much skeletal muscle per rep as possible to train explosive power, speed, and maximum velocity. Olympic, plyometric, or kettlebell movements were performed over many sets with very low reps in order to ensure power output could be maintained throughout the session. Weight/load isn't important here:
x2 Olympic/Plyometric/Kettlebell Movements = 6-12x1-3 @ Moderate Load
Maximal Strength
The goal of the maximal strength day was to drastically increase the training load in order to reach near-maximal intensity on large compound movements. Few sets were performed with low reps in order to keep intensity high and reduce the probability of injury. A focus was made on longer rest intervals to allow full recovery between sets:
x4 Compound Movements = 3x3 @ 90% 1RM
Variations + Tips
In terms of accessory work (Cardiovascular, Grip, Core/Abs) I found Farmer's Walks fit in really well on the Power Day, as did intense circuit training.
Core work I usually performed on the Maximal Strength Day, as it was already very warmed up from the heavy compound lifting.
The accessory isolation work on the Hypertrophy day usually took the form of Shrugs (to help with heavy Deadlifting) and Curls (to strengthen the bicep tendons...again, heavy Deadlifting!).
Once every few weeks, if you are feeling up to it, instead of performing 3x3 for all four movements on the Maximal Strength day choose one movement and work up to a new 1RM attempt with comprehensive warmup sets, and perform 2x3 on the other three movements at a reduced intensity (80-85%).
Do not do this very often, as 1RM attempts are very stressful on your muscles, connective tissue, and nervous system and it's easy to overtrain. Train smart! In an eight week cycle you could test on week two, then test on week seven to gauge improvement on a lift or two. If one of your lifts has improved, chances are the others have aswell.
Conclusion
As you can see from the training plan, each day is completely different and I promise you that each session will make you an entirely different flavour of exhausted! Because you are training separate biometers each day, there is less ???fatigue-crossover??? between workouts than if you took a more traditional approach. Not only that, but this program stays very mentally fresh and each workout is a new and exciting challenge ??? put simply, its fun.
It won't be easy but I saw fantastic strength gains, as have half a dozen other people who have adapted these principles to their own programming. I'd love to hear from anybody who completes the training, whether you saw results or not. This is one of the best programs I've ever tried, so if I can make it better for other people as well as myself then everybody wins!
Train safe and I hope you enjoy it!
-Gaz
Strength, Dedication, Ambition: Conjugate Training Program for Strength
Where most other training methods gradually progress between the different biometers (hypertrophy, endurance, power, maximal strength, lactate threshold, conditioning...) conjugate training combines two or more of these disciplines into the same training cycle, or even the same training session!
The logic behind this is simple ??? as you train one biometer at the expense of all the others, only that one biometer is going to improve while the others degrade. For the average gym rat this might not be a huge problem, but for an athlete or sports person who needs to have a good grounding in all these things or even switches between them during their event or sport it's not such a good way to train.
Now I said I was planning on explaining conjugate periodization but I thought the best way to illustrate how this whole thing works would be to detail a program I recently completed with the goal of increasing my maximal strength on a few big lifts (Squats, Deadlifts, Bench Press, Pullups). Hopefully this will show you what this form of training can do for you!
The Basics of Strength
Before we get onto the program itself, I'd better explain a little of the logic behind it's design. It occurred to me through reading articles in various journals, books, and websites (and this isn't my idea by any means!) that strength is comprised of three distinct components that would go on to form the basis of my program.
Maximal Effort ??? This is your body's ability to recruit the largest possible number of muscle fibres in concert in order to bring about a single powerful contraction. More muscle fibres means more force potential which will move a greater load.
Muscle Size (Hypertrophy) ??? The ability to contract a huge number of muscle fibres is obviously important to strength, so what if we increase the size of those fibres and the muscle itself? Bingo ??? more force production! The larger the cross sectional area, the more force you could potentially generate so long as your neural system is efficient enough to use it.
Power ??? Power is defined as force over time. In terms of weight lifting, a powerful or ???explosive??? lift means your muscles generate force through a sudden quick contraction. For example, power cleans and jump squats are power movements as you contract your muscles suddenly and explosively in order to propel the weight through the range of motion in a manner you wouldn't otherwise be able to accomplish (dont believe me? Try cleaning slowly ??? it aint happening).
So how do these three things relate to eachother and to increasing strength? Well, if you want to make a cake you wouldn't leave out the flour, or the icing, so if you want to build strength why would you leave out a critical component?
The ability to generate maximal, momentary force using a greater amount of muscle will result in a larger load being moved. If you increase your muscle size, and then teach your body to efficiently use all the new muscle, and you are able to contract all that muscle in an instant ??? your overall strength will have increased. Its that simple.
The Program
The program itself lasted for eight weeks before a layoff of a week, and was comprised of three workouts a week. Depending on how I felt I managed to workout on consecutive days, but sometimes I left three days in between workouts. Judge how your body is responding, and adjust the frequency or volume accordingly.
Each of the three workouts focused on a different biometer (Maximal Strength, Hypertrophy, Power) with each workout being of a very different structure to the others. Cardiovascular (low-moderate intensity), grip, and core work was performed at least two days a week on workout days, or at least once a week on a non-workout day.
The two week training split was structured thusly:
Hypertrophy (Lower Body Push + Upper Body Pull)
Power (Fullbody)
Maximal Strength (Lower Body Pull + Upper Body Push)
Hypertrophy (Lower Body Pull + Upper Body Push)
Power (Fullbody)
Maximal Strength (Lower Body Push + Upper Body Pull)
Hypertrophy
The goal of the hypertrophy sessions was to increase muscular size through a substantial training volume, with a relatively low intensity so as not to interfere with the maximal strength workouts. In order to achieve this many sets of moderately low reps were performed at sub-maximal loads, as well as accessory work:
x2 Compound Movements = 10x5 @ 75% 1RM
x2 Isolation Movements = 1x12 @ 65% 1RM, 1x6 @ 80% 1RM
Power
The goal of the power day was to recruit as much skeletal muscle per rep as possible to train explosive power, speed, and maximum velocity. Olympic, plyometric, or kettlebell movements were performed over many sets with very low reps in order to ensure power output could be maintained throughout the session. Weight/load isn't important here:
x2 Olympic/Plyometric/Kettlebell Movements = 6-12x1-3 @ Moderate Load
Maximal Strength
The goal of the maximal strength day was to drastically increase the training load in order to reach near-maximal intensity on large compound movements. Few sets were performed with low reps in order to keep intensity high and reduce the probability of injury. A focus was made on longer rest intervals to allow full recovery between sets:
x4 Compound Movements = 3x3 @ 90% 1RM
Variations + Tips
In terms of accessory work (Cardiovascular, Grip, Core/Abs) I found Farmer's Walks fit in really well on the Power Day, as did intense circuit training.
Core work I usually performed on the Maximal Strength Day, as it was already very warmed up from the heavy compound lifting.
The accessory isolation work on the Hypertrophy day usually took the form of Shrugs (to help with heavy Deadlifting) and Curls (to strengthen the bicep tendons...again, heavy Deadlifting!).
Once every few weeks, if you are feeling up to it, instead of performing 3x3 for all four movements on the Maximal Strength day choose one movement and work up to a new 1RM attempt with comprehensive warmup sets, and perform 2x3 on the other three movements at a reduced intensity (80-85%).
Do not do this very often, as 1RM attempts are very stressful on your muscles, connective tissue, and nervous system and it's easy to overtrain. Train smart! In an eight week cycle you could test on week two, then test on week seven to gauge improvement on a lift or two. If one of your lifts has improved, chances are the others have aswell.
Conclusion
As you can see from the training plan, each day is completely different and I promise you that each session will make you an entirely different flavour of exhausted! Because you are training separate biometers each day, there is less ???fatigue-crossover??? between workouts than if you took a more traditional approach. Not only that, but this program stays very mentally fresh and each workout is a new and exciting challenge ??? put simply, its fun.
It won't be easy but I saw fantastic strength gains, as have half a dozen other people who have adapted these principles to their own programming. I'd love to hear from anybody who completes the training, whether you saw results or not. This is one of the best programs I've ever tried, so if I can make it better for other people as well as myself then everybody wins!
Train safe and I hope you enjoy it!
-Gaz
Strength, Dedication, Ambition: Conjugate Training Program for Strength
