Gentlemen. I think we can all agree that if you’re drinking whiskey, bourbon, Canadian, rye, as long as it’s not being poured from a plastic jug we’re in a good place haha.
I watched Pat McNamaras whole appearance on Joe Rogans podcast with my girlfriend, we really liked the “every night is Saturday night, and every morning is Monday morning” bit. Been living that way a little more freely lately, considering by Friday night we’re both ready for bed at like 9pm a little weekday fun can be had.
Nice pizza Sleepy and whiskey should be Single malt scottish …
I like the way you and the missus are doing all kind of things together, it’s the good life.
Soon to be even better.
But remember to take some time to do little things together, when the little one arrives.
Bourbon is from Kentucky. You texans can stay in your god dang lane -.-
CONGRATS!!!
Also bourdon for life…or rye…or canadian…I have only ever had like 2 scotches I like.
It’s just the brand… TX. I don’t know where the heck it’s from, I just know it’s amazing!
I’ll cheers to that!
Yeah, this is something we have discussed. Fortunately, I’m surrounded by family who all can’t wait for our little guy to arrive (first grandchild), so I’ve have babysitters every which way I turn (likely to the point of battling for who gets to look after him next). Sneaking away for date nights shouldn’t be a problem!
Haha, love this expression.
Thanks my dude!
I shall keep an eye out for it next time I’m perusing the liquor store for something different!
04/03/2019
DE UPPER
Coach is mixing this cycle up a bit. Last cycle our speed work was 9sets of 3 at 50%, 55% and 60%. The speed that he wanted to see just wasn’t there for most of his trainees, yours truly included. So this wave we are doing 40%, 45% and 50% with 3sets of 3clusters of 3. Same number of reps, just performed a bit differently, hopefully it makes sense below.
Bench Press - red mini bands, doubled. (40%)
3reps regular grip, rack, 3reps close grip rack, 3reps wide grip (no rest, rack, change grip, go)
140lbs x 9
140lbs x 9
140lbs x 9
Definitely able to keep more speed here with the lower %'s even though reps are higher. Coach is also reiterating bar path to me. He wants me pushing the bar vertically for longer, as right now I’m bringing the bar back towards my face quite early in my press.
DB Slight Incline Press
80lbs x 20
80lbs x 10, 5, 3, 2
GIANT SET
DB Incline “Y’s” - facing a bench, thumbs up, arms up to a “Y” hold for 2s
10lbs x 12
10lbs x 12
10lbs x 12
Plate Raise - all the way overhead
45lbs x 10
45lbs x 10
45lbs x 10
Seated Shrug to Clean and Press
25lbs x 10
20lbs x 10
20lbs x 10
OMG. I SUCK at these. These were very difficult, rear delts or some other muscle in that area were pumped/fried. I could barely get my hands off my sides after this giant set.
SUPERSET
Incline Banded Triceps Extension - red mini band
20
20
20
Reverse Band Barbell Pulldowns - barbell hanging from top of rack, bench grip, row into chest
20
20
20
These were just to reiterate a straighter bar path for bench.
Finisher:
300 banded triceps pushdowns - blue mini
50, 50, 50, 50, 50, 50
Good workout. Smoked my weak points (external rotators(?)), I can feel them today! I have a feeling there will be a LOT of assistance like this in the future. I’m honestly quite excited.
A little ramble since I’m procrastinating starting my next assignment:
Even if I don’t run the Conjugate Method forever, I think I’ve learned the most from this training method than any other I’ve run.
The biggest (and possibly most obvious) takeaway I have from the Conjugate Method is to really focus on and address your weaknesses. I know, super obvious right? Sure, I’ve added the odd movement before that compliments a lift, but never truly dedicated any considerable portion of my training to hitting weak points. Conjugate puts ~20% of the time focused on the big lift (variations) and ~80% attacking weak points. Wayyyy different than my beloved 5/3/1 where I’ll go in and squat for seemingly 30+mins and finish it off with 15mins of haphazard accessories (yes, I realize now this is partly my own fault).
I started training with my coach just over 9 weeks ago. At that time he asked if I had any existing injuries/pain while training. “Sometimes my left knee hurts, my hip flares up if I train sumo, it is my competition stance, but I only can train conventional without pain, I can’t do certain triceps extensions movements, like skullcrushers, because my elbows flare up, and my shoulders are often angry because I sleep on them wrong…”
Without hesitation, he said that I had a lot of weaknesses to fix. I have never spent so much time on accessories like banded hamstring curls, high rep calf raises, abductor/adductor movements, banded triceps extensions, reverse hyper, GHRs, etc.
Guess what? I’ve been nearly pain free this entire time, and pushing heavier weights much more consistently than ever before (2 x ME days per week, where I’m often taking these to failure (I know, I shouldn’t be)).
The DE/ME stuff is fun (well, DE Lower day sucks. Squatting and deadlifting in the same day whips my a$$), the bands definitely add a new stimulus, but the switching of primary focus to addressing weak points was huge. I feel strong, healthy, and I think I’ve put on a little mass as a byproduct.
If I was to run this myself over the long term, I would decrease the number of variations that I use for ME days. I’m a stats/data guy, so this whole not knowing if something is working for 9+ weeks is driving me a little crazy. We did just test bench, and unfortunately it is right where it was when we started…BUT. My bench feels very strong, and I think we just missed training my weak point (thought it was triceps, but it turns out it was external rotators (hopefully)). I’m hopeful that if we can get these stronger, I won’t be breaking my bench PR by 5lbs, but by 45lbs. I fly up to my weak point and then the bar just hits a wall. Very frustrating. With all the triceps work and SlingShot work, I don’t think my lockout will cause me too many problems either.
Anywho, I realized I haven’t provided much discussion in here for awhile, so lets go peeps. Let me know your thoughts!
What exactly are these? I know what a seated DB clean is, but it seems like 25 lbs is light. I’m guessing you guys are doing it differently.
It’s good to see your pain is gone. I’m jealous.
Cool post.
I like the focus on weaknesses and the idea of rotating through different assistance work (or same but different assistance work), and stances and grips. It’s great to make progress and also not have sore knee/elbows/shoulders. I guess the idea seems strange, but it’s good to have 1 more guy saying it works.
I like going lighter on DE day. Again, opposite to the usual idea of always trying to overload. It’s nice to see “Different” doesn’t always mean heavier.
The good part about following your coach now is that he will make you do some stuff you wouldn’t have tried otherwise. I known, I’ve been stealing stuff from you and Mark’s coaching) Then in the future you’ll (I’ll) be better prepared to pick your own lifts.
This movement that he demonstrates about half way through the video (then finishing with a press). Maybe it is just a normal clean and press and you’re always supposed to shrug?
I am very weak at these, which is my problem! Doing what I can to eliminate this weak point. I’m sure 25lbs would not be difficult at all for you.
Absolutely. He has many different bars, tools, and toys to play with so bring on the variations!
Side note, I just purchased a used Metal Jack bench shirt. Uh oh.
Ok, so I was way off. That looks like a seated muscle clean but even slower on the rotation. That explains why you keep talking about your rear delts and external rotators. That looks like a solid movement!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this. I find it very interesting the variety of training styles and progress methods people use. @MarkKO is using lighter weights but accumulating fatigue with shorter rests, you’re using conjugate and some of us are using just plain old linear progression with deload a and a reset. The one thing that is common for all is that focusing on a weak area or a variation of a lift always helps. It shows that strength is transferable to some degree. So if I get stronger at one left some of that carries over to a similar lift. The real trick seems to be to know where is the weakness and what movement will work that weakness the best. If Anyone wants to make a table with all the weaknesses, how to spot or test them and movements to improve them, that would be amazing!!
Yep, a very humbling movement! Torches my shoulders, you should give them a go!
This is the trick. Hopefully one I can figure out to boost my stubborn bench press!
Man… you’re binge eating is making me more motivated. I’m only 10lbs away from starting my first ever intentional bulk. I could be 3 months away from enjoying food and drink again.
Also,… bottle or jar makes no difference. If it isn’t bourbon, scotch or Japanese whisky… I’m good.
Be very careful with this 
I did last year, gained about 20 pounds and have lost it all again in 3 months … AND I’m the same
But I’m old so that could be it.
I like your rant Sleepy.
I am a stat/data person myself. During Darkhorse I did the same variation for 3 weeks before shifting to another variation.
As I recall I did a week of 5RM, then 3RM before finishing with a 1RM, I liked that because I got more weight on the bar, I could establish a E1RM on the 5RM and 3RM and trying to beat it on the 1RM… and my CNS would have learned the pattern a bit better.
Yum, I love a good brussel sprout
I can only eat half that amount of beef if I want to stick to my plan right now. And there’s no way I’m eating mac n cheese.
Us too, it is one of our favourite veggies! Just fried in a small amount of butter and some tamari or soy sauce. Delicious!
Yeah, I’m enjoying it while I can.
I weighed in at 223.4lbs this morning, so I’m up a few lbs, but nothing crazy. My workload at the gym has definitely increased, allowing me to eat more without getting too fat. I basically just want to stay withing striking distance of that 220lbs for whenever my next PL competition will be.
Ah, it was just one box of KD split between two people. So good.
