BENNEFIT BLOG

When you are traveling it is difficult to keep up with staying active. The good news is that to get a good workout in you only need a bath towel length of space and your own body. Here is a quick workout that you can use anywhere, indoors, outdoors, in a bathroom, on the floor space in front of your hotel bed, literally anywhere! Whats the name of the game? Squat, Push-up, Sit-up. How do we play it? Complete the below sequence as quickly as you can. Take short breaks as you need but keep them minimal. Try to complete this in 7-10minutes or less! 20 reps - Squat 20 reps - Push-up 20 reps - Sit-up *rest* (make it short!) 15 reps - Squat 15 reps - Push-up 15 reps - Sit-up *rest* (make it short!) 10 reps - Squat 10 reps - Push-up 10 reps - Sit-up *END* Safe Travels!

If you have not read PART 1 and PART 2 of this article you should go read through them first to get the full picture of what Maximum Effort and Dynamic Effort strength training is. In part one and two of this article I explained the two primary components of the Conjugate Method Training protocol: Maximum Effort Sessions and Dynamic Effort Sessions, how they are designed and how they work together. In this article I will lay out how I would lay out a conjugate training program for myself or any client who wants to improve their strength. When I have used the conjugate method in the past I have toyed around with different approaches and the below outline is what I found to be the most consistent in improving performance. Monday - Maximum Effort Lower Body Tuesday - Dynamic Effort Upper Body Wednesday - Off Day  Thursday - Dynamic Effort Lower Body Friday - Maximum Effort Upper Body  Saturday - Active Rest (Work on weak accessory exercises) Sunday - Off Day Some...

If you are someone who wants to improve your overall strength, especially though using barbells, then I have a compelling idea for you. That idea is the conjugate method of strength development. Conjugate training was popularized by infamous powerlifter and strength coach Louie Simmons of Westside Barbell in Columbus Ohio. The concept of conjugate strength training is relatively simple to implement but difficult to understand how it works. Traditional resistance training implies that you train for one specific goal like strength, endurance, hypertrophy or power, and strive to make improvements in that single area over the course of a training program (lets use the standard 12-week program, or 3 months). The conjugate method strives to accommodate all of the primary goals of resistance training simultaneously in one workout. For example you may see a workout that looks something like the following for a Maximum Effort Lower Body session: Box Jump (Max Height) - 5x3 = [POWER] B...

If you are reading this you will likely want to read Improve Your Strength: [PART 1] Maximum Effort Conjugate Training first to get the full picture of the Conjugate Training Method. In part 1 of this article I provided an example of a Maximum Effort Lower Body session that looks like the following: Box Jump (Max Height) - 5x3 = [POWER] Barbell Back Squat - 10, 8, 6, 4, 2, 1, 1,... up to 1 rep max = [STRENGTH] Heavy Dumbbell Split Squat - 4x8 = [HYPERTROPHY] Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift - 3x15 = [ENDURANCE] Plank Hold - 3x1-2min hold [ENDURANCE] As you can see, power, strength, hypertrophy and endurance are all accounted for in this single workout. This kind of workout is extremely fatiguing on the body and would be unrealistic to perform multiple days in a row so the conjugate system includes another style of workout design called Dynamic Effort. Dynamic Effort Training is a similar format to maximum effort however, the prescribed repetitions and sets change to prevent exc...