Conjugate Strength and Size Log

[GqArtguy]

Ive been cutting this summer from 20%bf at 205 at 5'9.5'' down to 180 with a much lower bf% (havent had it accurately measured but I am a lot leaner). During this process I injured myself and so trainining suffered a bit but Im back on my feet and ready to re-bulk with minimal fat and get stronger (strength-wise Im pretty much the same). Strength is still the highest priority but I am paying more attention to bulking (via volume and diet) than I have in the past.

Before I continue heres a little light on my injury, I thought I had a QL strain and indeed it was but it was the result of a subluxated spine curving to the left, this caused my hips to go off balance and overload my hamstrings because my glutes werent activating properly. As a result my hams were taking up the slack and then became irritated from the overload while my glutes because really weak. During a vacation from leg training I was getting adjusted by the chiro and laying off spinal compression and leg work. Now that the scar tissue from the strained hams is mostly gone, and my spine is aligned, I can do leg days. On the negative side, my work capacity, limit strength and some leg size has gone down temporarily.

This routine is my own creation with consultation from people much larger and stronger than I, but it follows the conjugate method. For a quick layout of what that is, read this thread:

http://www.ruggedmag.com/forums/inde...+periodization

Day 1 – Leg Day: Squat Dominant

1. Dynamic Box Squats: 6-8x2 with @50% of your 1RM off of a Parallel Box.

2. Low Box Squats: 3x5
3. Front Squats : 4x10-12
4. GHR: 4x10-12
5. Ab Work


Day 3 – ME/High End Bench Press

1. Upper End Bench Movement up to a heavy triple ~85% (Choose One)
a. 3 Board Press


2. 4 or 5 Board Press, up to a heavy triple ~85% 2X3
3. Rack Lockouts 1x3
4. Back Work : Pull-ups: one rep shy of failure

5. Shoulder Work:
a. Lateral Raise: 3x10-12
b. Rear Laterals: 3x10-12

6. EZ Curl Bar Curls: 4x12


Day 5 Legs: Pull Dominant

1. Dynamic Deadlift or Olympic Pull 6-8x1 with 50% of your 1RM

2. Deadlift: 3x5
3. Stepups: 3x10-12
4. Reverse Hyper: 4x12
5. GHR: 1-3x20 (gonna try do get this)
6. Calf Raise: One day high volume, low rest, high sets / one day the opposite
7. Ab Work: 4x15-20


Day 7 “DE/Low Bench Day”

1. Low End Bench Movement up to a heavy triple ~85% (use speed to work up to this)
e) Close grip bench


2) 1 or 2 Board Press, up to a heavy triple ~85% 3X3

3) 2 or 3 Board Press, up to a heavy triple ~85% 1X3

4. Back Work: DB Rows: 3-4x10-12
5. Upright Rows: 4 sets of 10-12
6. Biceps: Hammer Curls: 4x10-12

Ill be fitting in 2 sessions of HIIT where possible as well. Im starting tomorrow. Im stoked. All comments and suggestions are welcomed. Lets rock!

[GqArtguy]

Day 1: Squat Dominant

1. Dynamic Box Squats: 200*6/2

2. PausedLow Box Squats: 225, 245, 245/5


3. Front Squats : 135/10, 10, 8, 8


4. GHR: 5, 8, 7

5. PullDown Abs 100*2/10


Got owned today. I almost threw up in what seemed to be the longest 55min of my life.

In short, didnt get the volume I wanted, need to work on strength. Im optmistic that it will come back quickly. My body is craving a 450lb squat and 400lb DL again, and it will come soon because Im fighting for it.


Box squats at first were fine. The low end ones sucked for reps, they were paused on the box as well because of the need to focus on the glutes.

Front squats were just as crazy, my box squat results lmade me err on the lighter side but 135 gets really nutsty past 6 reps. I dropped the reps in the latter sets because my form was breaking down in the sense that I disagree was coming up first. I have to really focus on squeezing the glutes so that my hams dont have to do all of the work, so as soon as form starts to break down I stop. Quads were on fire.

The GHR is really old school so my first consisted of reps trying to find the best adjustment. Once I found it the other two sets werent too bad. I really wanted to throw up by this point so I left a few reps in the hole and will increase the volume next time.

The abs will increase in volume next time, its just that I couldnt push myself any more by this point and needed to get the hell out. The walk back to my dorm seemed like the longest trek ever.

[GqArtguy]

Day 3 – ME/High End Bench Press

1. 3 Board Press up to a heavy triple ~85% 135, 185, 225*5/3


2. 5 Board Press, up to a heavy triple ~85% 245*2/3


3. Rack Lockouts: 195/3


4. Pull-ups: 10


5. Shoulder Work:
a. Lateral Raise: 15/12, 10, 10
b. Rear Laterals: 20/10, 15/10, 10


6. EZ Curl Bar Curls: 65/8, 45/12, 10, 10

Today wasnt as hellish as leg day and I wasnt drained but I was fatiqued. I left having the feeling that I could have done more but knew that I in fact couldnt, anyone ever have that?

The board work was fun and my tris are tired, I let paused on the board and let it sink in while staying tight, very awesome. Im not sure if I progressed weight-wise the way Im supposed to so feel free to chime in. The lockouts were really hard and I had to decrease the weight considerably because I didnt perform them at the appropriate height so they should go up considerably next time. I had a good pump from the pullups and was happy to still be able to do at least 10.

The isolation work was very interesting, particulary because I havent done it for those area in such a long time. Maybe it was the reps but I felt a little sting to ego when I found that I was struggling with 65lbs on curls for 12 reps. On the plus side, I left the gym looking jacked

[GqArtguy]

Day 4/Off Day

HIIT Rowing for 20min

8 intervals 20s sprint 40s jog
5min warmup 6min cooldown


Cardio sucks when you havent done in a long time.

[GqArtguy]

Day 5 Legs: Pull Dominant

1. Clean Pull 6-8x1 with 50% of your 1RM: 135*8/1


2. Deadlift: 225, 295/5, 315/2 then back down to 295/3


3. DB Stepups: 50,55,60,65/12

4. Reverse Hyper: 50, 100*3/12


5. GHR: 10


6. Calf Raise: 180*3/6


7. Ab Work: 3/10

I did 8 sets because I needed the practice and it was a clean pull. I was focusing on driving with the legs and squeezing the glutes. Im not sure if I may do a few singles on the other leg day or whatever but I do need to practice form. I didnt do too badly on the deadlifts considering I havent pulled in about 2 months, 315 was really slow to do a whole set so I dropped the weight a bit. My lower back cooperated and my grip wasnt the limiting factor.

I did too many sets on the stepups and that through me off for the whole workout because I had to rest about 2min in between sets, not because of my legs but because of my traps and grip. That endurance crap puts on quite a burn.

I had planned to do 3 sets of RH, but those things felt SOOOOOO GOOOOOOD on my back, I cant believe what Ive been missing. They worked my back really well and I think I may substitute those over something on my other leg day because lower back strength is something I really need. I only did a 100lbs but that was because I was getting used to movement, I cant say how awesome this thing is. I got weird looks doing them because most people just use it as a place to throw their keys on it, but when the saw me getting chains and hooks so I can wrap my feet they were like WTF?

There was no way I was going to get 20 reps on the GHR after all of this, so I just did 10 and left it at one set because I did too many stepups and need to hurry up and get out of the gym and my hams were fried anyway.

I didnt read the rep/sets for my abs so I did 3 sets of 10 and I supersetted it with the clow volume higher intensity calf work because I was about to break the 1hr mark, which wouldnt have happened if I didnt do that extra set of stepups but whatever.

Either way it was an awesome day and I made a new friend with the RH.

[Ikan Twin]

nice box squats man! also cool that you have a real GHR & rev. hyper to work with...i am jealous.

[jpete23]

Can you explain how to do a Reverse hyper and glute ham raise?

I think the glute ham raise is where you lay on your stomach on a flat bench with your legs hanging off the back and just raise your legs. You should also try to elevate the bench off the floor a little? Is this correct? I can't remember at all how to do a reverse hyper though.

[GqArtguy]

Originally posted by Ikan Twin:
nice box squats man! also cool that you have a real GHR & rev. hyper to work with...i am jealous.

thanks Ikan, but Im used to squatting with 400+ so Ive got a ways to go. The RH and GHR rock my world, if you can make ones or find a place with one go for it, I cant underestimate how badass they are.

Pete youre describing a RH, although Im doing it ona bench specifically designed for that movement. Bascially its an elevated table with a hanging lever under it that looks like an upside down T. This one is old and doesnt have a strap where you can hook your legs so I just use a dip belt and wrap the chains and hooks to make sleeves for my feet.

A GHR is best described by video:

Go here:

http://www.midwestbarbell.com/videos.htm

scroll all the way down to where they label exercises for Lowerback/erectors and youll see a reverse hyper. Go down to Hamstrings and youll Glute/Ham/Calf Machine. Those should provide good examples.

[jpete23]

What was the difference between GHR done right and wrong as shown on that video? Was it just the speed of the movement and what appeared to be the use of momentum on the first one?

Thanks for the link by the way. I probably looked at about 15 other exercises on there.

[GqArtguy]

Look at her knee placement in both vids. In the first one her knees are skimming the pad and it just resembles a rocking motion if you were to do it that way. The 2nd example has her knees into the pad and changes the angle of her legs in body so that when she does a GHR it targets the G/H/C.

[GqArtguy]

Day 7 “DE/Low Bench Day”

1. Decline Close grip bench up to a heavy triple ~85% (use speed to work up to this) 205, 215, 225, 230, 235, 240/3

2) 3 Board Press: 240/3

3) Parallel Grip DB BP: 85/3, 80/4,3

4. DB Rows: 75*2/10, 65/10

5. Upright Rows: 75/10, 65, 55*2/10


6. Biceps: Hammer Curls: 25/10, 20/7, 15*2/10


It was international bench day, so I had to use the decline. Unfortunately, the decline bench is distant form the actual benches so ironically it was difficult to get a spotter. Additionally the minimum boards that they have in my gym is a 3, so lower end boards arent very accessible. These are the reasons I only did 1 set of board presses. To supplement I did the DB presses and only got it for roughly a 3*3 instead of a planned 3*5, my tris were toast so 3*3 was fine.

The rows were nice, my lats were surprised when I went above 6 reps. I dropped to 65 because the 70's were being used, oh well.

Upright rows: I really really hate these and am going to change them because they feel really weird on my wrists. I tried various grips and just couldnt get a handle on it.

The hammer curls were very humbling. Maybe part of it was due to my forearms being tired from DL day, but I just sucked at these today. Oh well, work capacity has no where to go but up.

[GqArtguy]

Off day

HIIT rowing 8 sprints 5min WU and CD


Not as bad as last time, did it because hwk was boring me and I need to feel awake.

[GqArtguy]

Week 2 Day 1 – Leg Day: Squat Dominant

1. Dynamic Box Squats: 200*8/2

2. Paused Low Box Squats (2in under ll): 225, 245, 250/5

3. Front Squats : 135/10, 10, 10, 8

4. GHR: 8,8,8

5. PullDown Abs 140*3/6


Today was much better than last time I squatted because my legs didnt feel demolished like the first day. The weight didnt feel as heavy on my back, I felt faster, and my form was way better than last time. Additionally I was able to do more weight and/or reps in certain areas so Im very pleased.

I did change the pulldown setup today, on this day my ab training will be more strength-based while on the other day itll be more volume-based. I tried to do some RH but those are better left for the other day, I was just not in the mood to do those at any stage in the workout.

[GqArtguy]

Day 3 – ME/High End Bench Press

1. 4 Board Press up to a heavy triple ~85%: 135, 185, 205, 225, 230, 235, 240, 240/3

2. 5 Board Press, up to a heavy triple ~85%: 245, 255, 265/3


3. Rack Lockouts: 245/3


4: Pull-ups: 11


5. Shoulder Work:
a. Lateral Raise: 20/12, 10, 8
b. Face Pulls: 80, 100, 105/12


6. EZ Curl Bar Curls: 55/12, 50*2/10, 45/12

I didnt have my workout sheet for today so I had estimate what I did last week. I did a 4 board instead of 3 but its all good. I didnt know if I was doing 225 or 245 last time so I just worked up and ended up totally outdoing last week!

The 5 boards were awesome, Im looking foward to seeing that increase. Im not to faqr from the 300lb mark and I would love to feel that in my hands even if its for board work. THe rack lockouts were a joke once I got them moving. I had the correct height so thats why the weight is so much higher. I dont do these often and its hard to gauge what you can do with zero momentum but this will definately increase next week.

Increased on the pullups, Im pretty sure Ill get to 15 in the coming weeks.

I changed shoulder work a bit, the rear lat raises werent doing it for me so I did face pulls. This weight will have to be taken with a grain of salt because not all cable machines are equal and in some I can do the whole stack or barely get 100lbs. The delt raises were an example of not know what I did last time and just hoping that I could break even, but ended up hitting it out of the park again I supersetted the lat raises with curls cuz I had a time constraint, the whole workout took about 50min.

[GqArtguy]

HIIT Rowing

15min 8 sprints

[GqArtguy]

Day 5 Legs: Pull Dominant

1. Clean Pull 6-8x1 with 50% of your 1RM: 135*8/1


2. Deadlift: 245, 295/5, 315/2


3. DB Stepups: 50, 70, 70/10

4. Reverse Hyper: 120*4/12


5. GHR: 2*5


6. Calf Raise: 90*2/12


7. Ab Work: 100*4/15

Man Im going to rethink my deadlift setup. First off, high rep deads suck, I mean they really suck, but I really need to hammer down my form. So I might try them off boxes with moderate weights or something, let me know if there are any suggestions. My glutes are weak compared to my hams and my lower back doesnt like doing all of the work. Ive read Cressey's article and will implement that stuff on a regular basis. I tried some of it before the deadlifting and it worked for a bit but it seemed to disappear as I went 295+ on the deads. Man I know I can pull so much more but this kink is throwing me off.

I did my steups in the suggested fashion driving with the heel, and flexing the glutes on the GHR. Today was higher rep day on calves so thats why the rep/sets changed.

[Ian Kay]

I did something like this during an earlier phase (or was it in BoM?): 3-seconds to lower, 2 second hold at the bottom and explode up.

It worked for me. I was very conscious of back/feet positioning on the slow-drop, and by pausing at the bottom, my glutes felt really stressed on the explosion upward.

Just a thought.