Conjugate: A Direct Training Approach to Indirectly Enhance Human Performance
How we utilize conjugate methodology to elicit transfer of training effects.
In our programming practice at Absolute, we exclusively utilize the conjugate method as our strategy for programming and managing the training of athletes and the treatment of clients/patients. The conjugate method, at this point in 2023, means different things to different coaches. Each coach has their own interpretation of what conjugate means to them and their programming practice. To illustrate this point, perform a quick Google search on what the conjugate method is, and after five minutes, you will likely have more questions than answers regarding its definition.
In this essay and those to follow, our aim is to provide our interpretation of the conjugate method to clarify it for our audience. We want to kick this series off by discussing how we utilize a conjugate methodology to achieve what is commonly referred to as “transfer of training” in training science.
Transfer of Training
Let’s take the time to coherently understand what transfer of training means. To do so, let’s review the two ecosystems that we have discussed previously, which are:
The Level of Adaptation
The Level of Competition
The Level of Adaptation is the ecosystem of the athlete. This is the internal ecosystem and is where training work occurs. As a consequence. of this training work and the energy transfers that occur, training effects (i.e., adaptations) take place. The Level of Competition is the external ecosystem where the athlete plays and practices their respective sport.
In simple terms, “transfer of training” means that the training work done at the Level of Adaptation carries over to the Level of Competition (as shown in the image above). It's essential to understand that while each coach will construct different training programs, all coaches, regardless of their strategy, share the common goal of wanting to elicit training effects at the level of adaptation that transfer into and emerge at the level of competition.
Now that we have a conceptual understanding of transfer of training from an Absolute perspective, let's delve into how the conjugate methodology has generated transfer of training effects in real life.
Conjugate: Direct-Indirect Training
In the 1980s in Columbus, Ohio, a strength coach had a barbell club with the ambition to dominate the sport of powerlifting. As they say, the first is always the hardest, and the first all-time world record that put this coach and his barbell club on the map was a world record squat. The coach was Louie Simmons, the athlete was Matt Dimel, and the club was Westside Barbell.
At the time, news of this thousand-plus pound record-breaking squat reverberated through the sport of powerlifting. What took a back seat was the strategy that Louie and Matt employed to take down this all-time world record. Let’s break down the training strategy deployed in this real-life example, and by doing so, we will gain insight into the conjugate method, a training approach that indirectly enhances human performance by eliciting optimal transfer of training effects.
Break the All-Time World Record by Not Training the Squat?
Notably missing in Matt’s training that helped him take down this all-time world record was actually training the “squat”. For many, it is hard to reconcile that a powerlifter would not train the squat while ultimately trying to break the record in that very lift. However, it must be borne in mind that for the sport of powerlifting, the squat exists at the Level of Competition, and although, as strength practitioners, we can get lost in the details of the squat as a necessary exercise to improve human performance, for a powerlifting athlete this can be viewed simply as a motor skill that is associated with a very large CNS demand and requires an extensive neural net of strength potential.
Herein lies the underlying art of the conjugate method: instead of directly training the squat and focussing on training the movement skill, which is akin to training “sport-specific”, Louie had Matt utilize a “special exercise” called the box squat as a way to drive adaptation at the internal level.
By using indirect training, essentially Ecological Training as advanced by us at Absolute, Matt trained for the squat using the box squat, which translated to him breaking an all-time world record at the external level.
Strict Adherence to the Methods
Once Louie selected the indirect means, which was the box squat, he adhered to what training science has convergently agreed upon are the superior methods for directly training Matt’s nervous system. Lou knew he had to increase Matt’s absolute strength and speed strength, and as we have extensively discussed here, both these strengths are nervous system-based capacities and are continuously pursued by building a larger neurological reserve.
From an internal level, the max effort (ME) method was training work that directly stimulated the cultivation of Matt’s absolute strength neural net. The maximal load during training the box squat constrained Matt’s nervous system to search for, find, and orderly recruit the largest motor neurons to stimulate the fastest and strongest muscle fibers to generate maximal force. The micro synergies generated between these large motor neurons and the strongest and fastest muscle fibers lead to the macro development of the neural net of absolute strength.
In parallel and on different training days, Louie had Matt perform more direct training work that constrained Matt’s nervous system in a manner that stimulated the neural net of absolute strength to output force at the highest attainable speed. This is the dynamic effort method and the acquisition of speed strength.
As we have maintained and spoken about before, the utilization of ME and DE in parallel are the methods that allow for the direct pursuit of and training work required to increase Matt’s neural net of absolute strength.
Indirect Means + Direct Methods = Conjugate Methodology
The key takeaway from this real-life story of an all-time world record being broken is to understand how Louie did not have Matt directly train the lift that was the squat. He indirectly trained the squat utilizing the box squat, but he directly trained Matt’s nervous system using ME and DE. This indirect means with direct methods is a real-life example of conjugate methodology generating all-time world records in human performance.
This indirect means with directed methods is the conjugate methodology we utilize at Absolute.
Louie would go on to systematically refine and enhance this indirect-direct methodology in the sport of powerlifting. This strategy led to the development of seventeen different lifters who achieved the remarkable feat of squatting over one thousand pounds in competition and a monopoly within the sport of powerlifting.1
Note: The late Louie Simmons was the first strength coach in the West to embrace and adopt the conjugate methodology. Following the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the subsequent collapse of their sports system, Louie and Westside Barbell became instrumental in not only keeping the conjugate methodology alive, but continue to enhance it.
Absolute’s Clinical Strategy
Now that you have a historical understanding of this indirect-direct conjugate methodology at the level of competition in the sport of powerlifting, let's explore how we utilize it in our clinic at Absolute.
In our clinic, we often see clients who come to us seeking assistance for joint dysfunction and its associated symptoms (i.e., compensations). We can objectively observe joint dysfunction and the subsequent compensations for a lack of function when they perform Controlled Articular Rotations (CARs).
An indirect strategy that will directly translate to improved CARs performance - which is an aim that we share with all the readers of Absolute would be to assess the joint capsule for areas of connective tissue that display abnormal behaviour and areas of capsular space that are not being. neurologically stimulated.
Once these abnormalities have been identified via assessment, it is necessary to apply direct work that is specific and that we know will elicit a change in both neurological and tissue behaviours. This work will be done over time until the required behaviour has been re-established. In addition, CARs will be performed in parallel with the specific training, and we will observe that as internal behaviours undergo the process of being directly normalized, this will indirectly translate to improved CARs performances as well as the performance of other movement skills within the external ecosystem - exactly what we want.
Indirect-Direct Strategy (i.e., Conjugate) is More Common than Not
This strategy isn't unique to Absolute; we're aware that many subscribers employ this exact indirect-direct strategy with great success. However, what some of our readers may not be aware of is the history of success this strategy has had in terms of transfer of training.
This essay reinforces to the subscribers of Absolute that when you encounter a problem in treatment or training, think about this conjugate approach and don’t try to solve it directly; take the indirect approach. We hope that our simple explanation of training transfer and this historical insight will empower you to continue using the conjugate methodology in your practice.
Simmons, Louie. “Top Five Squats - Part I.” Westside Barbell, Oct 13, 2016, URL: https://www.westside-barbell.com/blogs/the-blog/top-five-squats-part-i
Thank you for the quality content as always 🙏