Sorry, kids. You only get one tonight, but it’s a big one. If I’m being honest I should probably expound on this A LOT more, but I wanted to get out what I could put together quickly as I have way too many notes on this. Hopefully it makes sense.
4) Limited Conjugate Method
When I began to delve into the sacred texts (sorry, I really love Louie) of Louie Simmons I began to realize that if programmed with intent, CrossFit could be directed in such a way that it would look very much like a high intensity version of the Conjugate Method. I’ll give you an example…
We run 4, 6, and 12 week cycles at my gym. We do these with our general population clients because it give us something to focus on and gives every new wave of clients a chance to learn the focus of the cycle when it comes around again. Mostly we focus the 6 weeks on a main lift (Clean and Jerk or Snatch), a main gymnastic (ring work, HS work, or bar work), and some sort of squat percentage wave. Then I program at least some of our met-cons to help develop any of the things we’re working on. If it’s a HS Walk cycle, I might program Shoulder Touches as part of a daily WOD, or if it’s a Snatch wave, I might program Muscle Snatches as part of the metcon or something along those lines. Anyway, back to the example…
Recently I programmed a Clean & Jerk cycle with a different goal in mind. We had a group of about 15 folks (anyone I’m talking about here is a general gym member – no competitive CFers) who started a 12 week Wendler cycle, and I decided I wanted to see how big of a difference a specific PL cycle vs. a specific “Limited Conjugate” cycle made. To throw even more excitement into the test, I decided to try something I’d been wanting to do for a while, which was program ZERO Deadlifts, only Power Cleans and Cleans for pulling off the floor and heavy Back Squats for skeletal loading. We did a ton of Hang Cleans – with a full stall – to get everyone stronger in spinal extension with weight hanging below the scapula and held pretty close to Prilepin’s Table for loading.
I’m sure you get where this is going. We tested 61 people at the end of the concurrent cycles. Of the 12 Wendlers that tested the average PR was just under 18# with – in my opinion – the numbers being skewed a bit by a couple 80+ pound PRs from two people who had rarely Deadlifted before the initial test (one of which who gained nearly 15# during the cycle). There were SIX of the 5/3/1 group who UN-PR’d, and a few others who tested the exact same. Of the “Limited Conjugate” group EVERY SINGLE PERSON PR’d by an average of 40# on the men’s side and 18# on the women’s side. The average male Deadlift, of the 33 men who tested from the LC group was 396 pounds… That’s the fucking AVERAGE. These are normal people. Not a single one of them was from our gym’s group of competitive CFers. We had FIVE dudes pull 500+. My gym is not huge and we didn’t have a bunch of ex-Division 1 athletes testing.
Just in case you’re wondering; I believe the LC group was more successful because the nature of the 5/3/1 program does not allow for any speed development to break the floor with the Deadlift. On the other side, if you look at barbell speed tests, the BB travels about 40% faster off the floor on a Power Clean than it does on a similarly weighted Deadlift (you can find the tests, we’ve tested also). Therefore, if the majority of your pulling off the floor is done as a Power Clean (or Clean), and it’s in the same percentage range as your Deadlift rep work would be (50-70), then you’re producing MORE FORCE every time you pull the barbell off the ground, which is the holy grail of Westside’s Dynamic Effort days. While the 5/3/1 group was pulling heavy reps, they were getting slower rep after rep, or at least they were not getting faster. The LC group, even when missing Cleans (this is sort of mind-blowing if you think about it), were getting faster off the ground and therefore, when testing a 1RM single, were able to have more productive application of force.
It is my strong belief that if pointed in the right direction a “Limited Conjugate” version of CrossFit is unparalleled in it’s ability to develop whatever the goals of the programmer and program are.
I’m sure you’re wondering why I’m calling it the “Limited” Conjugate Method. The main reason is the fact that generally, in CrossFit, we have a limited number of exercises. I am NOT going to program Board Presses or Tricep Extensions to help with Bench Press strength. I will program Bench Press to help with overall strength and lockout, but there is only so far, comfortably, that I can dive into the true Conjugate Method. I still like to program, as Coach would say, “mess you up” movements, and there is a limit to how far you can dive into a full Conjugate Method while sticking to this principle.
WOD 111209:
Strength
1) 12 minutes to establish a 2RM (T&G) Muscle-Snatch – Video Demo
2a) 5X3 Strict UB Weighted Pullups (overhand grip) – heaviest possible, rest 60 sec.
2b) 5X5 Behind the Neck Push Press (SN grip) – heaviest possible, rest 60 sec.
Skill
5 min. ME Shoulder Touches – Video Demo
-rest 2 minutes
10 min. Bar Muscle-Up Practice
Notes: Don’t go crazy here. This is not an AMRAP, it’s simply practice. No more than 30 reps.
Conditioning
2X1000m Row – rest 1:1
Notes: Concentrate on pacing, this should be between 90-95% effort, but not all out. There will be a 25 Burpee penalty if pace is off more than +/- 5 seconds.
The first lady:
Thanks for the awesome programming! I know Im a little behind but for Nasty Girls I got 7:04 rx. the 10×2 squats with bands I used 225#.
1. 75# 2RM
2a. 5#-10#-15#-10#-10# 2b. 65#-70#-75#-80#-80# (definitely limited by bringing the bar back down)
skill: shoulder touches: 26/side bar muscle up practice: 16
didn’t get to rowing because of schedule- possibly tonight.
Army-Navy game tomorrow! Navy is going to crush Army… again 🙂
Kathleen,
Here at Outlaw we do not promote drug use ( alcohol is a totally different story). You apparently must be smoking crack to think Navy will crush Army, 🙂
1) 135
2a) 35×5
2b.155/185/195/205(4)/205: Bar slipped off my back coming down on rd 4
Skill: 105 Shoulder touches
Conditioning:
3:34.3
3:33.8
1) 150
2a) 90, 90, 90, 100, 110
2b) 135, 155, 175, 175, 175
I did this strength in between the back sqaut/bench from two days ago and Nasty Girls. Everyone at the gym was looking at me like I was a retard. What they didn’t notice (and won’t until the ladies start showing) is that I got all the women in the gym pregnant. Also, most of the guys are probably pregnant too. If you don’t understand this joke then come work out with Epic and me and you will totally understand.
Kathleen, you could not be more right about Navy crushing Army. Just another year in the Commander in Chief’s cup.
They gets pregnant if they watch our training. Sucks because I didn’t even cheat on my wife but I have all these child support payments.
Laura/Rudy- That kid is gonna be a beast. Just do me a favor and stop shaving his face. I’m pretty sure he can grow a massive beard even at a couple months old.
I can imagine this being endlessly funny when I’m fucked-in-half drunk.
Fuck Maybe I wont stop by there next week. I don’t think i can afford more child support payments! Then again I can take advantage of all the woman wanting to be closer to a winner after the Army Navy game.
Once again love the programming!
1) 145
2a) 80
2b)185, 185, 205, 205, 205
Lost track of shoulder touches trying not to fall on my head if I had to guess it was around 60
Conditioning:
3:30
3:35
I dont have a bar that works for bar muscle ups I will try to find a jungle gym with one later.
1. 85#
2a. 20# for every set
2b. 95, 105, 115, 115, 115 (hard to bring bar back down)
Shoulder touches were a complete trainwreck. Balancing on left was harder than right and I’d come off the wall. I think I got 12 or so.
Bar MU – I’m inconsistent on these. Spent 10 minutes doing a wanky swing (my attempt to be like Talanya), got frustrated and watched a video on bar muscle-up progressions. Came back and tried it again and nailed it. Then nailed 5 more without missing, then broke a blood vessel in my hand. Ouch. But who the hell cares – SUCCESS!
Skipped the row, hurts to grip the handle.
Can you post the video you watched Wendy? And I’ve never heard my swing called wanky. Is that like swag on a bar?
1) 145
2a) 60 kg for all
2b) 150 for all…could and should have used more weight
Shoulder Touches – 135 most in a row was 32. Average was around 20-25
Bar Muscle Ups – 6/5/5/5/3 and then did singles for the rest of the time. took a lot of rest in between sets…really wanted to make sure to get over the bar without slamming my arm into it like last time.
Row – 3:38/3:36
Strength
1) 95,115,125,135,135 – think I was rebending slightly on 135 so I didn’t go any higher
2a) 28kg, 32kg, 32kg, 32kg, 32kg
2b) 135, 145, 150, 155, 160 – not too heavy, just trying to get more comfortable bringing the bar down behind the neck.
Skill
Shoulder Touches – 192
Bar Muscle Ups – Felt good today. Been practicing the glide kip recently but I think I’m better just doing normal kip. Set’s of 3’s and 5’s. Smooth.
Conditioning
3:34, 3:37
Conditioning (legs I think especially) has dropped a bit in the last 3 months with the injury. Went out pacing for a 3:25 – wasn’t gonna happen for both. First one hurt, second one much better paced.
1)85#
2a) 20# vest for all
2b)55,75,85,95,100- first time doing these and started way too light (I like these!)
shoulder touches -50 I had a hard time facing away from the wall but facing the wall was way better
bar MU…I didn’t get any today, have done them before but not today
Conditioning 4:31, 4:26 – obviously one of my goats
I can’t tell you how many times during these sessions I think “this is so good for me, I should have been doing this a long time ago!” Loving it!
1. 135# legit, 145# with some press out.
2A. 70#, 80#, 85#, 85#, 80#
2B. 155#, 155#, 165×4 (dropped on the catch), 165×2 (dropped on the catch), 145#.
I never trained behind the neck overhead so I really suck at these, both in strength moving it and also catching it back down. Work in progress.
Conditioning: Yeah, I totally went around 70% here: 3:56 on both. Did a round of Cindy as slacker penalty.
1.120
2a) 54,56,61,61,66.5
2b) 120,145,155f,155f,155
Skill
70 touches
I did about 15 MU’s total. I’m good on rings I can do 10 consecutive, but on the bar I have trouble stringing them together. This was useful skill work for me
3:38,3:41
1) 115, 135, 145, 155, 165 (slight press out)
2a) 45, 55, 65, 65, 65
2b) 175, 185, 195, 205, 215
Shoulder touches – got about 75 in total (had people keep coming up and talking to me…)
Bar MUs – found I couldn’t do these at all on the Rogue Infinity Rig. Best before this is 5 UB. Kind of strange. Guess I really need that extra kip…
No conditioning
I’m doing “The Winter Challnege” at CrossFit Hoboken tomorrow. Going all out! Follow me on my Facebook page.
1. 115,115, 115, 125, 135(press out)
2a. 90, 90, 100, 105, 105(failed on the 3rd rep)
2b. 135, 135, 135, 135, 155 (dropped on the catch of 2nd rep)
Skill-
Shoulder touches: 40 or so. Legitimately terrible at those, which is cool cuz they’re gay.
Bar MU: sets of 10, 8, 5, 5, 5. I fucking own them shits. Suck it.
Conditioning-
3:39; 3:43. Narrowly avoided the burpee penalty. Didn’t avoid sucking boners at rowing. MIdgets hate C2.
Not that there’s anything wrong with being gay, right? 😉
Not anything at all 😉
Crap. I forgot this site got famous. The gays are cool with me. My boyfriend is a gay.
1. 105 # (this was harder then I thought it would be)
2a. 11 # (5kg plate), 11, 5, 5, 5
2b. 105, 115, 120, 125, 125
Skill
Shoulder touches- 172 (Felt good on these)
Bar MU’s- I have not done these before but with a few box progressions and some coaching from Matt Hughey I got my first one pretty easy! I ended up with 8-10 total!
Conditioning: 4:11, 4:11 (I slowed this down a bit to focus on pace and it worked!)
1) 115, 125, 130 (fail), 130, 135 (fail)
2a) 24 kg
2b) 155,155,155,165,165
Shoulder touches: some crappy amount like 14… I suck at them.
Can’t do bar muscle ups yet….
Rowing: 3:50, 3:53
1) 95, 115,125,135, 145 (little sloppy with 145, had to press it out)
2a) 53# kb
2b) 135, 135, 155, 155, 165 ( last set felt better than the first)
Skill
167 shoulder touches
2, 5, 10 bar muscle ups
Rowing: 3.42; 3.46 (hit drastic fatigue at 400m-500m mark both times)
Enjoyed it all. Well… I never really enjoy rowing, but glad I did it.
Made up the bench press/squat work after the muscle snatches today.
1) 165# (175# with some press-out sloppiness)
Squat make-up: 10 x 2 @ 315# + 52# chains (no band station)
Bench make-up: 10 x 2 @ 245# (chains on the squat rack)
2a) 66# vest
2b) 155#, 185#, 195#, 205#, 205# (felt really uncomfortable with these at first, and missed a couple reps @ 185# before I dropped the weight. Got better once the CNS kicked in)
Skill
Shoulder touches – 112 (first time I’ve ever done these correctly… NOW I get it… still suck at them though)
Bar MUs – Got 9 consecutive MUs once I realized you just have to drop down. I have always tried to swing into a kip like an effing T2B… TERRIBLE idea.
Conditioning
3:25, 3:23 — Aimed at a 1:41-1:44 pace the whole time.
M/F/S – 2/7/2
Third final this morning… definitely time for sleep now.
PS – Mind officially blown, Rudy. Thanks for the explanations.
1) Worked up to 142# on these, not being able to drop under it sucked
2a) 35, 53, 63, 63, 63 a rounds 4 and 5 I had to give a little hump to get my chin over the bar on the third rep.
2b) Wasnt sure about how these would feel so I started light. 155, 165, 175 185, 196(yes
196, 2.5kg plates)
Skill
132 shoulder touches, average was about 20-25 at a time.
Did mostly doubles to work my transition from the top of the first one into the second one, got some really easy and some not so great
Row- 3:19, 3:20 – Felt pretty good about the pace I picked and stuck with it.
1) 126
2a) 53, 53, 63 (2, not as powerful of a humper as big k yet…one day tho), 58, 58
2b) 135, 157, 177, 177, 177- should have gone a little heavier
Skill
-137 shoulder touches, 50 on first set then getting 20-30 each set
-mostly sets of 3 on bar mu’s, did one set of 5
Row
3:33, 3:34
1) 95 – first weight I tried and it was fugly so stayed there.
2a) 40# vest
2b) 135 across
Skill – in the essence of time I did one ME set of each
75 shoulder touches (freestanding)
10 bar muscle ups (actually a gymnastics Kip)
I should probably go back and try BMUs legitly and do an ugly muscle up instead of a gliding Kip because knowing my region they will be on me like flies on you know what! Nevermind that Annie T and Kristin C do it this way! None-the-less if it were possible for me to get any girls pregnant at mr gym it would be with these moves!!
Conditioning
3:56 for both.
Went out fast and slowed the first one. Paced the 2nd and it was much less painful but I can still tell my legs aren’t use to the lactic acid from rowing anymore!
MFS: 7/2/2
sh*tb@lls… I love/hate your gymnasticism.
1. Muscle snatch: 115, 135, 145, 155, 165 (questionable, may have dipped down before standing up with this one)
2a. Pull-ups: 50, 60, 70, 80, 80
2b. Snatch grip pp: 185, 205, 225, 265, 275(2, slipped off my back on the second one, felt good on these)
3. Shoulder touches: 167
4. Didn’t have much time for the bar muscle-ups, did just a few
5. Row: 3:22, 3:26
1) 155, 165 dipped under
2a) 50,55,60×3
2b)155,165,175,185,205- Felt strong, should of went heavier
3.) Never did these before?!? around 65 hah Pathetic. Will work on a lot in the near future
4) Bar MUS- went good
conditioning:
3:25, then dont want to talk about it. Burpees it is.
3/5/3
And TGU’s 3×5 @60lb’s- challenging. Right before rowing
1. 95-105-115-115-115
2a 25-35-45-50-50
2b 105-115-130-140-160 (felt light, but mental when coming back down)
Shoulder touches- 1st time, but was able to do them
Bar Muscle ups, had to jump into them (never done before) need work
No rower at home-Sub w/ 100 SDLHP 45lb….3:08 & 3:10
Thoughts from anyone? I’m going to buy a rower or prowler next. Which one? Power and strength are my weakness!
1)40kg-50kg-55kg-60kg
2A)20kg
2B)75kg-One set at 80kg but failed 5th rep.
Skill
5min Shoulder touches=176
Only had time for 5min of Bar M/U did 4sets of 4-5 reps felt good today.
Conditioning
3:30
3:32
Felt like i could have gone a little harder but i think if i did i would have been to fatigued on 2nd row so happy to pace it well.
M/F/S
3/4/6
Even after a rest day yesterday legs are feeling pretty smashed, more specifically gluts & hamstrings
1) 140
2a) 23 kg
2b)135, 135(f), 125, 125, 125
3.) 35 touches
4) still practicing
conditioning:
3:35, 3:39
1)125 strict muscle snatch, no press or dip
2a)44X4, 49 should have went up sooner
2b) 95-115-125-135-145 never done these so didn’t know where to start. probably could have got 155, but I didn’t so F it.
Shoulder touches: These blow, and I blow at doing them. Did about 4 unbroken for about 10 sets, just couldn’t keep my balance.
Bar muscle-up practice. Can’t do gymnastic swing/kip, so I just do a huge C2B and then press it out. Can do 4 unbroken. 5 if I disregard my hands ripping.
Row:
3:43 and 3:43 sand bagged this because I wasn’t sure how hard the 2nd row would be. . Will go for 3:30ish next time.
WOD 111209:
Strength
1.) 135#
2a) 53#, 63#, 70#, 70#, 70#. I got a little questionable on the last rep of the last 2 sets with the 2 pd.
2b) 5X5 Behind the Neck Push Press (SN grip) – heaviest possible, rest 60 sec.
185#, 195#, 205#, 215#, 220#(x4) Used jerk boxes…like uh boss.
Skill
5 min. ME Shoulder Touches – Video Demo
Comical,…put together maybe 4 or 5 in a row……
-rest 2 minutes
10 min. Bar Muscle-Up Practice
Did 3-4 every min.
Conditioning
2X1000m Row – rest 1:1
3:35, 3:43 + 25 mutherflippin burpess.