Conjugate method?

Has anybody here ever tried creating a program using this? I’ve finished the bridge 1.0 and have been thinking about tinkering around outside of the bbm and ss programming, but I’d rather not waste my time with an ineffective training style, if this turns out to be the case with this methodology. And no I haven’t crunched the numbers yet with it- I’m being lazy I know.

Conjugate method is a very broad term, but in barbell/weightlifting communities it is generally associated with Westside Barbell style training. My understanding of it comes from Andy Baker’s writeup here.

From there, to evaluate any programming decisions you have to start with, “What are your goals?” and it should also be noted that even with the same goals, there may be a mean for what is the most effective programming strategy, but there will also be outliers where a different strategy would be necessary for efficacy’s sake.

So Conjugate training might be sub-optimal for most people aspiring to go to powerlifting nationals (or ideal for some individuals in Westside), but perfect for the guy who wants to look jacked and have decent #'s on the big 3, but will never be on a platform (This is basically what Jordan said about “Powerbuilding” programming recently, which is what the below link is).

Andy Baker is an interesting path to take from the SS community, as he actually wrote a significant portion of Pratical Programming for Strength Training, but he certianly chaifs under the “favs are best” modality. He actually sells a conjugate based program that you may be interested in if you go that rout.

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I agree with the above that “conjugate” is very broad. Aside from Westside specifically, most will associate conjugate training with a Max Effort (ME) days and Dynamic Effort (DE) days for Bench and Squat (and, in some cases, DL too). There’s a ton of information on different set ups–Google is your friend here–as well as critiques. For example, Mike T at RTS and others critique the DE work as really only effective insofar as it provides additional volume. Many other examples too. I ran a conjugate-style program derived from Andy Baker too a few years ago. It was geared toward a raw lifter, and it actually had a lot of similarity with BBM programming. It prescribed a ME (a near max effort) lift followed by several back off sets of the same exercise, fairly akin to a 1@8 followed by 5x5. I found DE work to be a nice change in programming from a mental standpoint, but I can’t say I noticed any distinct difference in outcomes. The regular variation on ME exercises was also a fun way to program for a couple blocks.

I really like that write up by Andy Baker. I’m needing a break from typical strength training routines, and odds are I’ll never step foot on a platform so even if it’s not the most ideal program, if I can still get stronger and get things interesting again, I’m completely fine with that. Thanks for the advice and write up guys.

Jordan has been making noise about publishing a “Powerbuilding” template, and yesterday he said these new templates will be coming out in “a few weeks” so keep an eye out.

I don’t know if Hamburgerfan is on this site, but if not, you can find him on Exodus Strength. He’s had a lot of success with this type of programming.

Late to the party, but thats exactly what Ive been running for the last five weeks according to the three day split described in Andys article. I’m not convinced of the utility of ‘dynamic’ work for a lifter at my level (current max bench 115kg x 1) and think I’d get more out of straight sets of hypertrophy work in the 65% range ramping up weight over the course of the mesocycle.
Not poo pooing or second guessing BBM programming mind you, but from time to time I enjoy testing my own training knowledge, more or less, and mixing it up.
I also find the idea of maxing out on a lift a couple of times a week highly motivating. If BBM ran a program like that, I’d probably go with it next.

This is my first week doing it, and I’m really enjoying the routine I came up with. Did my first DE today, and I really like it. I went in thinking there’s no way this can work…oh how wrong I was. Wow. It’s a nice change up and look forward to how much stronger I can hopefully get.

The BBM bots dont miss a trick. Not long after commenting on this thread I received an e mail titled ‘You need this now!’ with a link to the HLM template. Who am I to argue with such a strong argument?

Be teeing off with it next week. Plenty of work in the ‘9s’, plenty of boxes to fill out, plus the addition of a ‘session’ RPE field. Nice.

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I’ve made up my own conjugate program based on Andy Baker’s articles. I’m doing the dynamic effort work with bands and lots of dumbbell work for hypertrophy. I’m starting week 4 of my 12 weeks program and I’m enjoying it and I am exhausted at the end of each session! I’m getting a great conditioning effect from the higher rep work, super sets, etc. I’ll test my 1 RM’s at the end and then I’m going back to the BBM Pwerlifting 2!