This has probably been covered endlessly but I’m not going to take the time to endlessly go through thread after thread, sorry not sorry! I need some variations to my squat for Conjugate method. My bench uses four different angles (incline, decline, fast and floor) plus three grips (wide, med and close). My DL follows a similar suit (conventional, narrow sumo, wide sumo, snatch grip off floor, a deficit or block). however I’m struggling on how to find how to vary up my squat as much as the other two lifts! I only have access to straight bars which limits my options, I know, but Im a student and need to make ends meet.
My squat variations so far have covered front, high bar and low bar, be great if someone could through in some more variables to keep things interesting! (I already implement singles, doubles and triples)
Come on man. Do at least some of your own homework. There’s some good sources for Westside style training in articles on elitefts.com and on this site too. If you think about it, there’s going to be way more variations than you actually need. You’ll want to keep it simple starting out anyway.
Dave Tate has some awesome write ups on the conjugate system over on elitefts for squatting and benching. Jim Wendler has a great book covering the ME method. My suggestion is to NOT look at Louie Simmons Book of Methods until you have a solid understanding of the Westside method because it’ll probably just be confusing and difficult to take in context. Great coach, but I personally don’t think he’s the greatest writer.
Check some of it out and if you have specific questions, ask away. A specific question that people will be happy to address would be something like, “Hey guys, I lean forward on my squat and the bar goes over my midfoot. Here’s a video of my squat so you can see. Are there any good cues for technique and some good ME exercises and supplementary exercises that can help?” Do you see the difference between a question like that and the one you asked?
Anyway, live strong and prosperous and may the swole be with you!
You gave 3.Add pause and you have 6.Add pausing them on pins and you have 9.Add a raised heel and you have 12.Add a set of bands and you have 15 .Vary stances and you have 30+
All good, I tried swapping stances and found that depth was a major issue with anything past shoulder width unless I used a box but Anderson squatting is a good shout!
I understand the principal, I’m just limited in what I can actually do with my squat due to not even being able to use my own equipment in my gym, even if I could afford to buy a specialty bar, or even squat shoes to change the angles. I’ll still check those out though!
Bands potentially I could use. I have ways of overloading all my lifts minus squats. What kind of size bands would be useful in future method squatting? My last ME squat was 140K, it being my least progressive lift
This is exactly what I mean by having more variations than you need.
If your just beginning Westside, you might stick with the same ME exercise for 2-3 weeks and only have 3-4 exercises you rotate through for both squat and deadlift.
The hard part isn’t coming up with possibilities, but figuring which variations are the best for you. Also, this is a process that keeps going on. You milk a variation for all its worth, but you may find you have new weaknesses to bring up so you have discard the old and re-find the right variation for yourself.
If you’re new to PLing in general, you’ll probably want to pick variations somewhat close to the comp lift since you won’t have any particular weaknesses.
Also, check out the Manta Ray. It changes the mechanics of the squat a lot and doesn’t cost a fortune. It’s not a bar, it’s an attachment that goes on the bar.
Don’t forget about box squats. You can use aerobics steps or a short plyo box in a commercial gym.
I can’t answer that well as I don’t train Conjugate. I have very limited experience with bands. I’ve used bands that add about 45 lbs per band at the top. I would suggest bands that add no more than 25 lbs per band at the top, if that. You’d be better of checking with someone who really knows this stuff.