West Side Barbell Conjugate Training

Conjugate is one of the best training methods in existence IF you understand and follow the core principles. It checks all the boxes. You get to lift heavy weight regularly and push your limits. You get sufficient volume frequently enough to consistently build muscle. You'll often be moving weight with speed and force. It offers ample opportunity to improve technique on the main compound lifts. There's a ton of exercise variety. 

Conjugate will get you both Strong and Jacked.

Conjugate based programs are typically NOT of the cookie cutter variety because to truly get the most out of it you must both understand the fundamentals deeply, and be attentive and understanding of how you personally react to different stimuli - this takes time and experience. However, learning needs to start somewhere and a cookie cutter program is very likely a better place to start than trying to design your own program.

This program is fueled by having run and experimented voraciously with Conjugate programming for multiple years. It can pretty much be run on repeat forever.

Notes:
You’ll lift 4 days per week. The workouts are best organized during the week as:
- Max Lower
- Max Upper
- Rest
- Dynamic Lower
- Dynamic Upper
- Rest
- Rest

Max days consist of a max attempt on a Squat, Deadlift, or Bench. They’re programmed as 1 rep max attempts, but you could also do a 3 or 5 reps max (I personally wouldn't go any higher than 3 reps).  A max attempt means doing the most you can on the day, and this may very well be less than your PR. A good rule of thumb is to change Max Exercises after doing them 3 times. However, if you're still getting stronger on a particular variant you’re free to continue using it. You can also change variants every week ad infinitum, but a few should be done often enough to gauge progress. 

Dynamic work consists of a Squat and Dead on Lower days and a Bench on Upper days. 

On Lower days you’ll do 8 sets of 2 on Squat and 6 sets of 1 on Deadlift.
On Upper days you'll do 9 sets of 3 on Bench. 

All sets are done with 1 minute of rest between. All 3 exercises will progress via increases in 1RM percent over the course of 3 weeks as follows:
Week 1: 60% of 1RM
Week 2: 65%
Week 3: 70%

ALL reps on dynamic lifts MUST move with SPEED. If there’s bar slowdown reduce the weight. A major benefit of dynamic work is the opportunity it offers for technical refinement because of the high number of reps you’ll be performing. With this in mind, I’d stick with the Big 3 lifts as much as possible on the Dynamic days.

Every workout will include Accessory and/or Supplemental work after the Max or Dynamic work. They’re programmed as:
- 3x3 for Supplemental Exercises (Squat, Dead, and Bench variants)
- 4x8 for Leg and Back Accessories
- 3x12 for Shoulders, Arms, Glutes, and Ab Accessories

This is done for the sake of simplicity, but you can change to appropriate ranges for the exercise being performed.

default

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

Squat (Low Bar)

Romanian Deadlift (Barbell)

Cable Crunch

Pull-Up (Weighted)

Max Lower

Bench Press (Barbell)

Bench Press (Close Grip)

Tricep Pushdown (Cable)

Barbell Row

Bicep Curl (EZ Bar)

Dynamic Upper

Deadlift (Barbell)

Hyperextension

Dip (Weighted)

V-Handle Tricep Pushdown (Cable)

Lateral Raise (Dumbbell)

Lat Pulldown (Neutral Grip)

Max Upper

Box Squat (Barbell)

Good Morning

Side Bend (Dumbbell)

Shrug (Barbell)

Prowler Push

Dynamic Lower

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