Conjugate 3x3???? (well, sorta’)

Hey all, sorry about my absence last month.  Things were pretty busy at work and I was finishing up with my therapy so I just didn’t have a lot of extra time to devote to a new article.  It works out though as I can give a little better run down of my current training scheme that is a revisit with some twists.  You might remember my first visit to the 3x3 and my semi-favorable run with it.  Since that time I have done a great deal of thinking and pinpointed a few essentials from WSB that I felt were very beneficial...the result is the hybrid I am currently using.  I have a few more tweaks in mind, but I want to get a better feel on how the current ones will pan out.

        Without further rambling here is the layout.  I’ll talk about why I did what I did, as far as mods go, afterwards.  In addition, I’ll touch on what I think is working and what I may tweak yet a little more.  At the end, if anyone has any suggestions or sees some things that could help to refine the whole thing I would appreciate any feedback.
 
 
 

        Okay, the Power Phase is pretty unchanged, but the Conditioning Phase is where the big mods. are evident.  I have a philosophy for each of the lifts and based off that is how I am trying to incorporate the training for each.  So I’ll go through each of them by themselves, then if I can think of any more relevant points I’ll touch on that too (don’t ya’ just love it when I am brief!?!?!). ;-)

        Oh yeah, I suppose I should mention (since it is the most fundamental difference) instead of increasing my weights by 2% each week....I simply add a set of 5/8" chains (5 ft. sections).  These have been great and I love the way that they affect the musculature in the motion.  Week one is the base weight (I have found that 55% is pretty good, but may bump it later on) with no chains.  Week 2,3 & 4 are simply the base 55% with a chain added each successive week.  Winds up with 3 chains hanging by week 4 and it is a grunt festival let me tell ya’!!

Squat (Friday)

        My biggest dilemma when I started re-thinking the 3x3 was how to address the weak points and how can I get the extra work in areas like I did with a more conventional WSB set-up?  The chains act as a big part of that in that you almost get a ‘Good Morning’ type workout while doing squats because of the increased weight near the top of the motion.  In addition, I wanted to get some more work out of the hole too.  I considered the pause squats for this, but since I was having some trouble with the groove I opted for Box Squats.  The pause on the box makes for some extremely tough workouts and it WILL hammer your hip girdle.  The neat aspect is that you get the extra work at the hole by the pause, yet you get a strong work on your back too as the chains get heavier.  In a way, this is very similar to how heavy squats (1RM) feel in a suit.  You get a fast start and then you have the progressive increase of weight as you come out of the stretch on the suit.  The boxes are great at teaching you form and how to sit back and down.  The bonus of the chains coupled with this is that you get a realistic feel of the tempo of what a 1RM will feel like as well.

        Okay Wade, so how is this in any way ‘Conjugate’?  Well, I have also included a “heavy” day (Friday) in the conditioning phase to facilitate the necessity of learning to “strain.”  This day isn’t a max effort day in the truest sense, but it is tough and it will make you strain.  In case the percents seem low and it doesn’t seem like you are lifting heavy...consider it in this light.  The 55% base weight is based off your 1RM free squat.  Boxes have, according to Louie, about a 10-15% lag to your 1RM in the free squat.  So if you do some rudimentary math you see that you are working out with 65-70% of your Box Squat max and on the ‘heavy’ day you do your work sets with 80-85% of your Box Squat max.  The price of doing the ‘heavy’ day is that the overall volume has to be decreased to accommodate the extra tax on your recovery.  I like 6x4 for the regular day and I drop it to 6x2 with a descending set scheme to accommodate the added chains on the heavy day.  I will also throw on my suit bottoms for the heavy day to help get used to the feel of the suit.  Not true Conjugate, but it achieves the goal of getting you under some heavier weight and straining.  Consider too, once you get up to 3 chains (I position mine so that almost all is off the ground at the top...save 3-4 links to prevent excessive swinging) you are adding ~100lbs to the top of the motion so you move some pretty heavy weights around.  The other benefit of adding the chains is that it doesn’t overwork your hips like they tend to when you follow 3x3 originally (at least mine got fried).  Don’t assume they don’t get worked.... far from it, but you get a slight reprieve in the hole from the weight that you start/finish with.  The last aspect that has a similarity to the conjugate is that on the ‘light’ days I utilize CAT to really work on explosion, but when I get to the ‘heavy’ day I just try to survive. ;-)

Bench (Wednesday)

        This is the one that is really tough to hash out.  It is my ‘Achilles Heel’ anyway and so I am still tweaking and playing with this aspect a little.  I have set the bench up similarly in that you utilize two ‘speed’ days and a ‘strain’ day (Wednesday).  The speed days are pretty straight forward, 8x3 utilizing varying grips; the wrinkle comes in adding the chains.  Each week the lockout gets tougher and tougher and by week 4 those lockouts are downright grueling!  This is my combo method in that you get progressive training on the triceps by utilizing the chains.  Especially when you get to 2 & 3 chains.  I set my chains up different than what I have seen Louie do in that I put my attachment chain through the links at both ends of the 5/8" chain.  This allows me to get nearly all the chain off the floor at lockout, about 30-40lbs more at the top and upwards of 110-120lbs when I hit week 4.    One thing to note, you will get intimately aware of just how taxing Squats are towards your bench when you train like this.  It gives you a very accurate sense of how the three lifts will shape up in a meet because you are taxing the muscles in the same order you do for a PL meet.

        The toughest part of this scheme is how to address the ‘strain’ day on the bench.  I haven’t figured this one out just yet, but what I have seems to work pretty decent.  I utilize a pyramid on this day and start with the base weight of 55% for 8 reps. I then add 10lbs and do 7 reps. until I get 70lbs heavier than my start weight (55%) and do it for 1 rep.  The reps really get tough about sets 6,5, & 4 and the triples down move pretty good.  The wrinkle here, to avoid overtaxing your recovery, is that as I add a chain I remove an upper spectrum set.  As you can see by the progression on the chart, week 2 with 1 chain is 7/6/5/4/3/2/1 and week 3 with 2 chains is 6/5/4/3/2/1 and week 1 with 3 chains is 5/4/3/2/1.  It makes your bar weight lighter at the end of the four weeks, but the chains add ~35 lbs./set so the net is a gain of about 25 lbs. at the top each week.  By the end of the progression you are locking out 75 lbs. more each rep than you did on the initial week with just the base weight.  This is similar to how the shirts affect your bench anyway (real fast off the chest and BAM!!  Gets real tough on the upper half/third), and I am finding that the extra work at the top is very helpful, again trying to utilize my combo method (*NOTE* could I market that?  “The Hanna Combo Principle!”).  By doing the progressive chains you really hammer the tri’s and it is a subtle sub for direct tri work.

        The drawback: I am still finding I have a little deficiency in my deltoids/upper back.  In order to combat this I am substituting my DL’s on the Wednesday workout for heavy Shrugs and some Plate Raises.  I didn’t take the DL’s out in that I felt it was too much, but because I need the extra work there to balance everything and DL is my best lift, so if one of them needs to suffer somewhat for another then that is the one that gets pushed.  I firmly believe that you need to maintain some semblance of balance among the lifts.  If any one ranges too far ahead then you set yourself up for muscular imbalances and a whole host of problems down the road.  You will have some discrepancy, but it is more of an intuitive balance based off your knowing of yourself.  I wouldn’t suggest this unless you feel like you have a distinct imbalance in the linkage for the particular movement, but if you do then consider sneaking something extra in somewhere.  Besides, Box Squats really are a direct assistor for my DL, my stance is nearly identical for both of them and I don’t think I will lose anything off the DL by doing this...keep in mind though, that is just me.

Deadlift (Monday)

Aaahh, the true “Grunt” lifters motion of choice.  This set-up was pretty simple to do for me.  I didn’t like the idea of doing high volume on DL’s since I have been combating a bulging disc.  I tend to respond better to singles on DL anyway, soooo I just do a fast paced singles workout.  The ‘strain’ day is set up on Mondays and I really liked Louie's speed DL sequence.  I got great benefit from that, so that is how I have patterned my ‘strain’ day.  The wrinkle for the DL progression is that I pull off about 2" worth of mats to increase the ROM.  In addition to the chains (looped through the ends of the 5/8" chain like the bench) each week covers the whole spectrum of the DL.  Sum tends to be slow on the floor so by increasing the ROM you get tremendous explosion off the floor.   All of my pulls are done explosively.  I try to accelerate the bar on every pull.  I guess you could say I mimic the OL pull sequence, I just start to break it from the floor in a controlled manner and once it hits the knees I kick in the afterburners and drive the hips forward for all I am worth.  The key is to maintain the same orientation between hips and shoulders to that point, and this is why I feel that Box Squats are a tremendous assistor for DL’s.

        The DL portion of my 3x3 is probably the most modified.  I took what I know works well for me and what I feel is enough work to fully tax the musculature (in proportion to the other lifts done in conjunction).  My volume is significantly less than what is originally called for, but with the inclusion of Box Squats I felt like I would be getting sufficient work in this lift.  Louie basically says you don’t need to DL, I like to, and I find that regular DL’ing is good for my soul.  However, too much makes me break and I have whined for far too long about back pain. ;-)

Miscellaneous

        There really isn’t too much modification to the Power Phase.  I simply jumbled the chains based on the day of the week.  The day prior and following the days you “specialize” on a lift you use two chains and the day of a “specialization” you utilize one chain.  That is really only applicable to the SQ and DL, but I think you get the drift.

        I work abs everyday.  It depends on what I do, but I do some seriously brutal Medicine Ball routines or some form of Standing Sit-ups as well.  The point is that I don’t think you can get too much work on Abs and IMO I feel they are essential.

        In essence the system is very intact (original 3x3) yet it includes some aspects of Louie’s WSB that I found very helpful.  It also mimics a very old and proven method of devoting one day of the week to each of the lifts...M/W/F = DL/BP/SQ.  A real hybrid it is, but I really like it and it is working for me.  Some words of caution though, if you try this I would suggest using 50% as a base weight the first time through and then increment up in following macrocycles.  This is brutal training and your body needs a little time to adapt to it.  MOST importantly, you must insure that you utilize proper form!!!!!!  If you get lazy on your form (which is easy to do by week 3+) then you are really opening your lower back up to injury.  It is a mental thing here, the weight is light enough that you can do it, but fatigue will relax your resolve and you MUST decide to make your body utilize the correct form.  If you do this then you should see some great gains and I think you will walk away from most workouts with a great sense of accomplishment.  It is tough training and will test your resolve, but well worth it.  Definitely not for everyone, but I figured I would share my experience with you all and maybe it could spark an idea to help you customize your own set-up.  Regardless of what school of thought you adhere too, all systems have merit and everybody can teach us something new.  Bottom line: the system is secondary to the lifter!!

        Feel free to email me with comments, questions, or suggestions. And in the meantime, stay strong and good liftin’!!

-wade