Coach George Cano | "Conjugate in a nut shell"

“CONJUGATE IN A NUT SHELL”

 IN PREVIOUS ARTICLES YOU HAVE SEEN BOTH ME AND COACH WHEELER REFER TO THE CONJUGATE METHOD. BOTH ME AND COACH WHEELER ARE CONJUGATE METHOD LIFTERS AND COACHES, AND HAVE BOTH FOUND THIS SYSTEM TO TRANSLATE WELL, IN OUR OWN TRAINING AND TRAINING OF OUR LIFTERS. THE WESTSIDE METHOD AS MANY COMMONLY REFER TO IT AS, WELL I AM A FIRM BELIEVER IN THE OLD ADDAGE IF YOU’RE NOT TRAINING AT WESTSIDE THEN IT’S NOT WESTSIDE. SO, THIS BRINGS US BACK TO CONJUGATE METHOD, WHAT IS THE CONJUGATE METHOD? I LIKE THIS DEFINIITION, A COMPLEX METHOD OF ROTATING SPECIAL EXERCISES THAT ARE CLOSE IN NATURE WHICH BUILD UP THE WEAKER MUSCLE GROUP.

 SORRY GOING TO GET A LITTLE SCIENTIFIC WITH YOU FOR A BRIEF SECOND. THE BASIC GOALS THE CONJUGATE METHOD IS TRYING TO ACHIEVE, REVOLVES AROUND NEWTON’S LAWS OF MOTION, THE 1ST BEING, 

OBJECTS IN MOTION TEND TO STAY IN MOTION. 

EXAMPLE, I KNOW A LOT OF YOU WATCH STRONGMAN COMPETITIONS SEEING THEM PULL PLANES OR BUSES, BIG RIGS, ETC.ETC. THE HARDEST PART IS ALWAYS THE START, YOU SEE THEM PUTTING SO MUCH EFFOFT INTO GETTING THAT OBJECT MOVING AND ONCE THEY DO IT SEEMS A LITTLE EASIER TO MAINTAIN THAT MOTION. SO ON YOUR 3 LIFTS ONCE YOU GET THE BAR MOVING OFF THE FLOOR, OFF THE CHEST, OUT OF THE HOLE IT WILL MOVE EASIER WITH MOMENTUM. THE SECOND OF NEWTONS LAWS HELPS WITH THE FIRST, 

FORCE= MASS X ACCELERATION

SO BASICALLY AN INCREASE IN EITHER MASS OR ACCELERATION WILL INCREASE FORCE.  THE CONJUGATE METHOD ADDRESSIES THIS BY. ONE TRAINING DAY PER WEEK IS MOVING AS MUCH WEIGHT AS POSSIBLE (THE MAX EFFORT DAY) AND THE OTHER TRAINING DAY IS ACCELERATING THE WEIGHT LIFTED AS FAST AS POSSIBLE (THE DYNAMIC EFFORT DAY). BOTH THE UPPER AND LOWER BODY WILL HAVE BOTH A MAX EFFORT AND DYNAMIC DAY EVERY WEEK.  WE PUT A HUGE EMPHASIS ON SPEED BECAUSE INCREASING YOUR SPEED YOU CAN DEVELOP MORE FORCE, THIS WILL IMPROVE YOUR ABSOLUTE STRENGTH AS WELL. REMEMBER NEWTON’S FIRST LAW. ENOUGH SCIENCE FOR NOW.

FOR YOUR CONJUGATE PROGRAM TO WORK YOU MUST NOT FOCUS ON JUST ONE TYPE OF STRENGTH, TO NOT WORK ON OTHER TYPES OF STRENGTH YOU WILL NEVER BE AS STRONG AS YOU COULD BE. A GOOD CONJUGATE PROGRAM WILL DEVELOP ALL 4 OF THOSE STRENGTHS.

  • SPEED/ACCELERATION STRENGTH
  • STATIC STRENGTH
  • ECCENTRIC
  • CONCENTRIC

THE AMAZING PART OF CONJUGATE AND ITS FUNDAMENTALS THAT A LOT OF OTHER PROGRAMS DON’T ADDRESS IS ALL LIFTERS ARE NOT ALIKE. WHAT WORKS FOR ONE OF YOUR LIFTERS WON’T WORK FOR ANOTHER. THAT’S THE PROBLEM WITH A LOT OF THESE SO CALLED ONLINE COACHES THEY SEND OUT THE SAME PROGRAM TO 30 DIFFERENT LIFTERS, SOME IT WORKS, FOR OTHERS IT DOESN’T. I BELIEVE YOU CAN GET BETTER RESULTS TRAINING VARIATIONS, THEN JUST DOING THE CLASSIC LIFTS WEEK AFTER WEEK. YOUR BODY IS AMAZING AND A LOT SMARTER AT ADAPTING THEN YOU GIVE IT CREDIT FOR. YOUR BODY WILL RECOGNIZE SOMETHING AS IT BECOMES ROUTINE AND IN TURN WILL EVENTIALLY STOP ADAPTING AND GROWING. FOR THE CONJUGATE SYSTEM TO BE SUCCESSFUL FOR EACH INDIVIDUAL LIES SQUARELY ON YOU OR YOUR COACHES EXERCISE VARIATIONS AND SELECTIONS, THE CHOICES NEED TO ADDRESS THAT SPECIFIC LIFTERS WEAKNESSES. IF YOUR BENCH WEAKNESS IS YOUR LOCKOUT/ TRICEP STRENGTH, THEN THAT’S WHERE YOUR EXERCISE VARIATIONS SHOULD FOCUS ON, BUILDING THAT WEAKNESS.

THE NEXT ARTICLE I WILL OUTLINE A BASIC CONJUGATE STYLE PROGRAM THAT YOU WILL BE ABLE TO ADAPT FOR YOUR OWN INCLUDING VARIATIONS FOR BOTH THE POWERLIFTING GYM AND COMMERCIAL GYM LIFTERS. LEAVE NO ONE BEHIND.

George “PittBoss” Cano
Owner/Head Coach Pitt Powerlifting


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