Not Just Theory: My Working Conjugate Template
- Josh Hezza
- Apr 8
- 9 min read
Not Just Theory: My Working Conjugate Template
Why This Article?
The Conjugate Method is not chaos. It’s not outdated. And it’s definitely not just for geared lifters in monolifts with reverse hypers and band pegs welded to the floor.
But that’s how it often gets treated.
These days, most lifters using “Conjugate” are either:
Randomising too much and getting nowhere, or
Copying someone else’s Westside spreadsheet with no clue how to adjust it for their own body, kit, or goals.
And coaches? Many are just as lost — rotating lifts too quickly, skipping Dynamic Effort work entirely, or slapping chains on a bar and calling it programming.
This article is a course correction.
It’s not theoretical. It’s not historical. It’s the exact base structure I use across the board — with raw lifters, strongman competitors, rehab clients, and hybrid athletes with mixed needs. This is the template I’ve tested in the trenches, refined over more than 15 years of coaching.
You’ll get:
A breakdown of the classic 4-day Conjugate structure
Full training week examples
My reasoning behind Max Effort, Dynamic Effort, and accessory work
Conjugate works. But only if you do it with structure, intent, and clarity.
Let’s build that from the ground up.
What Is the Basic Conjugate Template?
Strip away the internet noise, the jargon, the infographics, and the half-understood YouTube breakdowns — and what you’re left with is this:
A four-day weekly structure. Built on three pillars: Max Effort (ME), Dynamic Effort (DE), and Repetition Effort (RE). No fluff. No filler. Just intent.
The Classic Weekly Layout:
Monday – Max Effort Lower
Wednesday – Max Effort Upper
Friday – Dynamic Effort Lower
Saturday – Dynamic Effort Upper
This structure isn’t just habit or heritage — it’s been battle-tested under barbells, in meets, and in competitions for decades. It balances intensity, frequency, recovery, and variation in a way that few (if any) other systems do.
Each day has a job:
Max Effort Days build strain tolerance and top-end strength by pushing a variation to a heavy top set (usually a single or triple).
Dynamic Effort Days build rate of force development, sharpen technical execution, and reinforce movement speed.
Repetition Effort Work — the accessory lifts that follow — build muscle, strengthen weak links, and harden tissue.
What makes this “Conjugate” rather than just a split is the constant, intelligent rotation of movements — not just for variety’s sake, but to prevent accommodation, manage fatigue, and build multiple qualities in parallel.
Every week, you’re attacking your lifts from different angles, while still recovering, progressing, and tracking strain. You’re not peaking every month. You’re building a platform — physical and neurological — that lets you peak when it matters.
“Is This Just for Powerlifting?”
No. And that’s half the problem with how Conjugate is discussed online.
This exact structure — with smart adjustments — works for:
Strongman competitors rotating events into DE and ME days
Combat athletes using DE work to sharpen power and resilience
Raw lifters needing structure without burnout
General population clients who need a training system that adapts to them, not the other way around
If you're programming for strongman specifically, I’ve broken down those adaptations in depth here: 🔗 The Conjugate Method for Strongman
And if you're completely new to the system, this primer is where to start: 🔗 The Conjugate Method for Dummies (A Somewhat Comprehensive Guide)
The Bottom Line
The basic Conjugate template works because it respects the three things most lifters ignore: Variation, intensity, and recovery. You don’t need to be elite to run it. You just need to be consistent.
A Week in the Trenches: Sample Training Week
The real strength of Conjugate isn’t in some magic rep scheme or exercise list — it’s in the system.
You know what you’re doing each day. You rotate just enough to stay fresh. You push strain when it counts. And you recover like it matters.
Here’s how that looks, in real-world terms — pulled straight from the way I coach lifters week-in, week-out.
Monday – Max Effort Lower
Main Lift
Box Squat (Safety Bar) – Work up to a true top single (strain, not stupidity)
Back-off Set – 1×5 @ ~80% of the day’s top weight
Supplemental Lifts
Romanian Deadlift – 4×6
Belt Squat – 4×15 (full range, zero momentum)
Reverse Hyper – 4×20
TKEs – 200 total reps, unweighted or banded
Hanging Leg Raise – 3×20 (slow, controlled)
Coaching Note: Most people underload this day — or they blow it too early. The goal is strain without slop. Max effort means maximal effort for today, not lifetime PRs every week. Log everything. Track your trendlines.
Wednesday – Max Effort Upper
Main Lift
Close-Grip Bench to 2-Board – Top triple (heavy and clean)
Back-off Set – AMRAP @ 70% of that top set (cut it before form dies)
Supplemental Superset
Incline DB Press – 3×10–12
Chest-Supported Row – 4×8–10
Triceps & Shoulders
JM Press – 4×10
Tate Press – 3×10
DB Hammer Curl – 3×15
Face Pulls – 3×20
Coaching Note: Triceps win. Shoulders don’t (always). You don’t need a pile of heavy overhead press if you’re hitting quality triceps volume across the week. Rotate grip width, board height, and pressing angles regularly.
Friday – Dynamic Effort Lower
Main Lifts
SS Yoke Bar Box Squat – 8-12×2 @ 50–60% bar weight + 10–25% band tension
Speed Pulls – 6×1 @ ~70% (rotate sumo/conventional/deficit three weekly)
Supplemental/GPP Work
GHD Sit-Up or Back Raise – 3×15
Banded Leg Curl – 3×20 (light and snappy)
Sled Drag (backward, moderate load) – 6 trips x 20–30m
Carry or Core Circuit – 3–4 rounds (e.g. DB front rack hold + ab wheel + light yoke)
Coaching Note: Stop trying to PR your speed pulls. The bar should move like it owes you money. DE Lower is about intent and precision, not clout. Change bars and tension every few waves. Don’t just “go through it.”
Saturday – Dynamic Effort Upper
Main Lift
Speed Bench (straight bar + bands) – 9×3 @ 50% bar weight + 10–15% band tension
Volume Pressing
Close Grip Bench vs Bands – 3×15
Barbell Row (strict, flat back) – 4×8
Triceps, Biceps, Shoulders
Rolling DB Triceps Extensions – 3×15
Zottman Curl – 2×20 (burnout finisher)
Band Pull-Aparts – 100 total reps (break it up however)
Coaching Note: Don’t cruise through speed day. Lazy bar path, shrugging shoulders, and soft lockouts defeat the point. Stay tight. Pull the bar apart. Make every rep a technical win.
Final Thoughts on the Weekly Template
I’ve tried to keep this layout simple — because it needs to work across athletes, environments, and sports.
Whether you're a powerlifter, strongman, hybrid athlete, or coaching lifters at all levels, this four-day split builds the engine, sharpens the transmission, and keeps your body moving like a weapon, not a warning sign.
This isn’t “just variety.” It’s a structured, long-term system that lets you build strength across decades — not just for the next meet.
How My Approach Differs: Old School vs New School
Every Conjugate coach lands somewhere on the spectrum between two camps: The old school, where strain was everything and your work ethic was your warm-up. And the new school, where structure, waving, and measured strain rule the game.
Both work — but neither is complete on its own.
The Old School Template (Book of Methods Era)
This was Conjugate when it was raw, aggressive, and unapologetically hard. The system was built around:
True max effort strain every week — 1RM or nothing.
Minimal warm-up or prep — maybe a couple of sets and straight to the bar.
Accessories guided more by gut than by structure.
Very little regard for recovery — you either adapted or got replaced.
And make no mistake — it worked. But it worked best for resilient, durable, often enhanced lifters training in a closed environment where aggression was currency. For today’s athlete? It’s incomplete.
The New School Template (More Recent Westside Evolutions)
Then came the iteration. More structure, more awareness, more programming discipline:
Top triples and waved intensities on ME work to prevent burnout.
Back-off sets and deload logic when performance starts to stall.
Accessory work became systematic, not just high-volume fluff.
Dynamic effort work was refined — less about hitting numbers, more about how you move the bar.
This model brought clarity and sustainability. But in doing so, it sometimes traded away the raw edge that made Conjugate special in the first place.
Where I Land: Structured Chaos
My approach lives in the middle — and honestly, it works because of that.
I want the aggression of old school, but the progression of new school. I want lifters to push hard — but I want them to be able to train hard again next week.
What That Looks Like in Practice
Max Effort work is still king — but it isn’t always a 1RM. We rotate between singles, doubles, triples, and even fives based on how the athlete is moving and recovering.
Dynamic Effort work isn’t treated like a throwaway speed session. It’s a skill to be developed. We:
Track bar speed, intent, and movement precision.
Allow for work-ups on Week 3 of DE waves — especially for advanced or strongman athletes who thrive on it.
Use trap bar deadlifts in off-season DE work to build GPP, back durability, and positional awareness before earning straight bar volume.
GPP and cardio are not optional. Particularly for strongman athletes, we program:
Sleds, carries, medleys, drags, loaded conditioning circuits.
Longer aerobic efforts for recovery and work capacity.
Focused high-rep accessory work to build joints, tendons, lungs.
Accessory work follows a template, but allows for weekly flexibility:
One primary weak point builder.
One opposing movement or muscle group.
One prehab/volume/filler.
Athlete-led options based on recovery or fatigue.
Exercise rotation isn’t dogmatic. We’ll repeat a movement if progress is still coming — or rotate aggressively if fatigue is mounting. The system adapts to the lifter, not the other way around.
My Conjugate system is designed for lifters with real lives — raw lifters, older lifters, people balancing work, kids, jobs, and training stress. That includes athletes who are neurodivergent, recovering from injury, or who need more than just “squat-bench-deadlift harder.”
A Quick Note on Strongman
This isn’t a strongman-specific article — but my approach is vastly different to Westside’s old-school strongman templates. Where they often bolted events awkwardly onto DE days, I fully integrate events based on:
Energy system demand
Movement pattern
Recovery cost
Proximity to competition
We throw sandbags for height on DE upper days. We use yoke walks to build posterior chain resilience instead of more squats. We programme strongman like a sport — not just as a heavy circuit.
The Bottom Line
Old school Conjugate made lifters savage. New school Conjugate made them last longer. My version does both (tries to lads anyway you know what I mean)
You don’t need to choose between being tough and being smart. You need a template that’s aggressive, adaptable, and honest — and that’s exactly what this system is.
Why It Works — If You Respect the Structure
Conjugate doesn’t fail people. People fail Conjugate.
This system has produced some of the strongest lifters in the world. It’s kept athletes progressing well into their 40s and 50s. It’s survived decades, multiple sports, raw and equipped eras, and every trend imaginable.
So when someone says, “Conjugate didn’t work for me.” What they usually mean is:
“I didn’t track anything.”
“I didn’t wave my loading or manage fatigue.”
“I rotated lifts with no logic.”
“I skipped DE days or did them with no intent.”
“I treated accessories like optional fluff.”
“I got bored because it wasn’t sexy enough on Instagram.”
The system isn’t magic. It’s a framework — one that thrives on discipline, not dopamine. Done properly, it teaches you how to:
Strain with precision
Rotate movements before they turn stale
Wave stress instead of piling it up
Train hard, recover harder, and build over the long term
You don’t “run” Conjugate. You build it into your training mindset. Each cycle teaches you something. Each rotation reveals something new. It works because it has structure — not in spite of it.
If you're logging your top sets, tracking your trends, programming with progression in mind, and respecting the need for rest and variation, it works forever.
There’s a reason this is still the template I use with world champions, first-time lifters, returning athletes, and everyone in between.
It’s not hype. It’s earned carryover.
Structure Wins, Every Time
The basic Conjugate template is timeless for a reason.
It balances strain and recovery better than any other system — and it scales. Whether you’re raw, equipped, strongman, gen pop, or anything in between, this structure builds:
Strength
Resilience
Repeatable success
But here’s the catch:
Most people don’t know how to peak with Conjugate. They don’t understand how to wave intensity, how to rotate for recovery, or how to build to a meet without falling apart.
Worse still, a lot of lifters run a linear program — add in some speed work — and call it “Conjugate.” That’s not the system. That’s not how it works. And that’s why it fails them.
The truth is, Conjugate done right works forever. But it only works if you understand how to build, not just copy.
If you want to run Conjugate the way it’s meant to be run — With structure. With purpose. With carryover — I coach this every day, with real lifters, chasing real results.
📲 Start training with me here: 🔗 Online Coaching – Team Josh Hezza
Or grab a ready-made template to apply this system for yourself.
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