Conjugate Vs Linear Programming and how does it work?

Today we are discussing the two main programming techniques I like to use,

They are Conjugate training and Linear training

They're both pretty self-explanatory but it’s good to know the benefits of either when it comes to your programming

Now Conjugate training is when you substitute exercises in and out of your program.

An example of this would be if you worked out Monday, Wednesday and Friday each week... 

...and then did squats on the Monday and Friday of your first week but only did them on Wednesday the following week.

This would give you an adequate amount of time to rest between days and go hard in those sessions when you do have them.

A linear model is the opposite in which you’d do the same program or close to it, consistently across the period of a given timeframe.

For example, the standard 5x5 strength model is a common program beginner lifters use to help build raw strength.

This sees lifters work up to a heavy 5 reps on a given exercise and then hit 3 reps for speed for 5 more sets.

This helps muscle stimulus and improves bar groove being under heavy load but building volume through your sets.

So what model is more beneficial?

It purely depends on what you're trying to achieve.

If you’re a new lifter and chasing strength, I would highly suggest the linear model.

This will give you time under the bar in the big lifts and will help you bring your learning level from a 1 or 2 to a 3 if not 4.

The key to the linear program is its constant progression. 

The idea is that you are doing the same exercises every day and making continual progression every time you get under the bar.

When you hit a plateau, you have a rest week, deload

And get back after it the following week.

New lifters who do this, usually add on another 5 or 10 kgs to their lifts just by having that 7-day rest.

Now the downside to this is if you are already a seasoned lifter,

Lifting in a linear model can be really taxing on the body because you’re starting with a heavier weight

Your ceiling is a lot lower and you’ll hit your peak a lot sooner.

It can be mentally tough if you’ve been given a program like this and your weights don’t go anywhere after the first week or so and you can't figure out why.

The great thing, however, is that the conjugate model is designed for seasoned lifters.

Being able to switch the exercises in and out gives that flexibility to go hard when you need to

Then let yourself recover and hit another area of the body in the meantime.

You could do a heavy squat session on Monday, then hit the bench on Wednesday and still bang out the same performance.

Adrenal fatigue in a linear model will prevent this from happening.

On the flip side of this, the disadvantages of the conjugate model are that if you’re a new lifter

It doesn’t give you enough time under the bar to learn the exercise properly.

You can do squats on a Wednesday and then not do it until the following Monday in which the body can do 50 other squat variations through your other workouts or your normal day...
 

...So you end up learning the squat all over again when you come back to it and undo all the hard work you have already done.

Both are extremely beneficial and depending on where you're at with your program, you can make the necessary adjustments... 


...so you get the most out of your training and progress a lot faster.

Now I wanted to touch on one more thing before I wrap things up today and that’s

Dynamic effort, Max effort and Repeated effort strength training terms.

These are used to help categorise what sort of training you should be doing for each exercise and where you should place it in your workout.

Dynamic Effort training is a flash way of describing hypertrophy work where we search for failure or massive fatigue use max reps

Max effort is otherwise known as Powerlifting where the reps are low and weights high

And finally, Repeated effort is skills training. When you constantly repeat an exercise for a very long time to build muscle fatigue and improve motor skills. 

Most people will program a consistent exercise that you do throughout the workout like a 20-meter sled push after every round of exercises you do. 

This is a form of repeated effort.

Now the importance of understanding these concepts is so when you put your program together, 

you know what sort of training you need to do for each exercise and the structure that needs to be put in place to achieve the best results.

I realise this is all pretty heavy stuff so I will leave it at that but this will all make sense tomorrow when we bring it all together.