A lot of people come to me for conjugate style training, I'm assuming because I refer to my mentors often, but that was only a small part of my training. With my 32nd birthday approaching, I'll have been training for 19 years, which for all intents and purposes means I've been training for two decades (I'm being mildly sarcastic). With that being said I've tried a lot of shit. Some good, some bad. And I try to use all of my experience to meet my clients where they're at.

 

Two of the questions that I ask my first time clients is "What are your goals and what do you want to learn in training with me?" You can tell a lot with those answers.

 

Tony (see: @polito_powerlifting on IG) came to me with "I'm in it for the long haul. Tell me what I need to do," and away we went. He's been gracious enough to allow me to experiment a bit. He had a meet a couple weeks ago and I want to recap what we did with his training because I think the numbers are very telling.

*With experimentation comes positive and negative outcomes. Tony crushed his squat, his bench went down (this was purely my fault), and his deadlift stayed about the same. So I have a really good roadmap right now for his next training cycle.

Tony's previous squat was 585 in wraps. He used the following 14 week cycle to hit a 560lb squat in sleeves.

His heaviest squat in training - 505.  And after watching the video I think he could have hit 575-580 that day.

 

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlmZJAVuqYo]

 

What I programmed on the left, what he achieved on the right.

This only includes the first three movements we used in each training session. Most assistance work was a leg press/hack squat, and then unilateral work.

14 weeks out Day 2 WEIGHT SETS REPS Rest Interval WEIGHT SETS REPS RPE 1-10
1 Bulgarian split squat 30s 3 8 each 90 sec 30s 3 8 each 7
2 "CAT" Squat - straight bar - looking for acceleration every rep 335 5 5 120 sec 335 5 5 sub 7
3 SSB front squat 225 3 8 120 sec 225 3 8 sub 7
13 weeks out Day 2 WEIGHT SETS REPS Rest Interval WEIGHT SETS REPS RPE 1-10
1 Bulgarian split squat 35s 3 8 each 90 sec 35s 3 8 each 7
2 "CAT" Squat - straight bar - looking for acceleration every rep 345 5 5 120 sec 345 5 5 7
3 SSB front squat 275 3 8 120 sec 275 3 8 7
12 weeks out Day 2 WEIGHT SETS REPS Rest Interval WEIGHT SETS REPS RPE 1-10
1 Bulgarian split squat 40s 3 8 each 90 sec 40s 3 8 each 7
2 "CAT" Squat - straight bar - hair slow, stay here, ACCELERATE! 345 5 5 120 sec 345 5 5 7
3 SSB front squat 275 3 10 120 sec 275 3 10 7
11 weeks out Day 2 WEIGHT SETS REPS Rest Interval WEIGHT SETS REPS RPE 1-10
1 Bulgarian split squat 45s 3 8 each 90 sec 45s 3 8 each 7
2 "CAT" Squat - straight bar (wk 1 of 3 at 355) 355 5 5 120 sec 355 5 5 sub 7
3 SSB front squat 295 3 8 120 sec 295 3 8 7
10 weeks out Day 2 WEIGHT SETS REPS Rest Interval WEIGHT SETS REPS RPE 1-10
1 Leg press, single leg 4 plates 3 8 each 90 sec 4 plates/side 3 8 each 8
2 "CAT" Squat - straight bar (wk 2 of 3 at 355) 355 5 5 120 sec 355 5 5 sub 7
3 SSB GM 185 3 8 120 sec 185 3 8 7
9 weeks out Day 2 WEIGHT SETS REPS Rest Interval WEIGHT SETS REPS RPE 1-10
1 Leg press, single leg 4 plates/side 3 10 each 90 sec 4 plates/side 3 10 each 8
2 "CAT" Squat - straight bar (wk 3 of 3 at 355) 355 5 5 120 sec 355 5 5 sub 7
3 SSB GM 185 3 10 120 sec 185 3 10 7
8 weeks out Day 2 WEIGHT SETS REPS Rest Interval WEIGHT SETS REPS RPE 1-10
1 Leg press, single leg 2 plates/side 2 10 each 90 sec 2 plates/side 2 10 each deload
2 "CAT" Squat - straight bar (deload) 275 5 2 120 sec 275 5 2 deload
3 SSB GM 95 2 12 120 sec 95 2 12 deload
7 weeks out Day 2 WEIGHT SETS REPS Rest Interval WEIGHT SETS REPS RPE 1-10
1 Squat 365 2 5 120 sec 365 2 5 sub 7
2 Pause front squat 275 or RPE 8 2 5 120 sec 275 2 5 8
3 SSB GM 205 3 8 120 sec 205 3 8 7
6 weeks out Day 2 WEIGHT SETS REPS Rest Interval WEIGHT SETS REPS RPE 1-10
1 Squat 385,405 2 5 180 sec 385,405 2 5 sub 7
2 Pause front squat 275,295 2 5 120 sec 275,295 2 5 8
3 SSB GM 205 3 10 120 sec 205 3 10 8
5 weeks out Day 2 WEIGHT SETS REPS Rest Interval WEIGHT SETS REPS RPE 1-10
1 Squat 405,425,445 3 5 180 sec 405,425,445 3 5 7-7.5
2 Pause front squat 275,295,315 3 4 120 sec 275,295,315 3 4 8
3 SSB GM 205 3 12 120 sec 205 3 12 8
4 weeks out Day 2 WEIGHT SETS REPS Rest Interval WEIGHT SETS REPS RPE 1-10
1 Squat 405-435-465 3 2 180 sec 405-435-465 3 2 8
Drop set - speed! 445 2 3 180 sec 445 2 3 8
2 Pause front squat 275,295,315 3 5 120 sec 275,295,315 3 5 9
3 SSB GM 225 3 8 120 sec 225 3 8 8
3 weeks out Day 2 WEIGHT SETS REPS Rest Interval
1 Squat 405-435-465-485 4 2 180 sec 405-435-465-485 4 2 8
Drop set - speed! 425 2 3 180 sec 425 2 3 sub 7
2 Pause front squat - work on staying tight 275-295-315-335 4 3 120 sec 275-295-315-335 4 3 9
3 SSB GM 245 3 8 120 sec 245 3 8 9
2 weeks out Day 2 WEIGHT SETS REPS Rest Interval
1 Squat 405-435-465-485-505 5 1 180 sec 405-435-465-485-505 5 1 8-8.5
Drop set - speed! 445 3 2 180 sec 445 3 2 7
2 Pause front squat - work on staying tight 275-295-315-335-355 5 2 120 sec 275-295-315-335-355 5 2 9.5
3 SSB GM 185 3 6 120 sec 185 3 6 7

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