Conjugate or Concurrent O Lifting

As promised previously, here's where I am getting to with these concepts;

Make the fast faster.
Don't limit to the barbell.
Rotate exercises.

Separate Max and Dynamic Effort via a Binary and Qualitative dichotomy. So, my first big idea was that Dynamic Effort is really all about speed, and the combination of form, speed and weight that is next to impossible to measure outside of lab. Hence, Dynamic methods might be best for those lifts fundamentally 'qualitative' anyways; pulls especially.

For Dynamic workouts, the focus would be pulls, squats and overhead lifts (press, jerk etc). I thought about incorporating two non-competitive lifts in one day as well, such as High Pulls and Strict Presses for instance. However, I think that it would be better to truly work one lift hard, with 8-12 sets of 1-4 reps, and increase the training frequency (5 days a week or more) rather than try to cover too much ground in each workout. This has a lot of potential too as Dynamic workouts tend to be short and sweet, which bodes very well for an athlete's hormonal profile.

For Maximum Effort workouts, one would lean to those lifts that are binary in nature, ie pass/fail. In the snatch, you either complete the lift or you don't. Good examples of max effort day lifts might include:
full lifts
hang variants
power variants
snatch balance
jerks from various starts and finishes
squats, DLs and presses

notice that the overlap here is in pulls, squats and presses again. Ie, an athlete would constantly be working squatting and pulling. That sounds like a surefire way to increase your O lifts.

Like the Westside system, the best application of the supplemental and accessory lifts would be a combination of basics that everyone needs (core strength) and special exercises that would bring up an athlete's weakest links. The latter should be determined by coaches or trusted lifting partners, not yourself!

I'll post examples in a week or two of workouts by the week, to kind of show what I am talking about.

Then I failed

Not Today! from Full Circle on Vimeo.

Then I did this

Max Effort OHS - 215 from Full Circle on Vimeo.

Max Effort Overhead Squat

Here's Thursday's 6 sets of 2

I actually hit a new PR of 205, 205 for 2, and 1.35xBW, as I actually weigh a few pounds less than the last time I hit 195lbs for two.
I've also never jerked 205 or had that overhead before.

Max Effort Overhead Squat from Full Circle on Vimeo.

Conjugate Methods and O Lifting

Anyone who knows a thing or two, please chime in.

Every time I read something from Dave Tate, EliteFTS or Louie Simmons, at some point or another, the Dynamo Club and O Lifting gets mentioned as sort of the birth place of their ideas on Conjugate lifting, namely what later was described by Zatsiorsky as such;

Dynamic Effort Method
Maximum Effort Method
Repetition Method

What I know: Dynamo (an athletic club in Riga) developed a system of training for their Weightlifting competitors that centered around ~30 'special exercises' that were constantly rotated. These were related to but not the classic lifts. These lifters soon rose to claim many national, world and Olympic titles, before the system was later replaced by others (Russian and Bulgarian national systems).

Louie states directly that reading descriptions of these training methods led to his development of the 'Westside Barbell Method' of training powerlifters.

So, here's where I get a little lost; how do your apply the IDEA and the techniques of something like Dynamic Effort methods to something that's already FAST (like the Snatch).

So, that's what I am working on right now. I have tried to find info in English, but so far have been disappointed.

In a few days, when I have a few more minutes, I will share what I have been coming up with as my own solution to these philosophical questions and the system I am trying to develop to address them.


Here's one easy answer: assistance lifts to the classics, performed 'westside style'...
ie, DE= 50-60% 1RM with CAT
for examples:

ME BS and DE OHS from Full Circle on Vimeo.

For Example, my PR Overhead Squat is 195lbs for 2 reps, so perhaps about 210lbs. 60% of this would be 125lbs, which is the weight I am using in the above video. In addition, there is about 30lbs of Chains, set up such that most of the weight is absent at the bottom of the lift and it increases rapidly as I ascend. I performed one repetition of this submaximal load as explosively as possible, for 8 sets of 1 with about 45 seconds rest between sets. I incorporate a pause as I have no box, and don't wish to pursue to traditional longer pause on a box, typical of traditional Westside training methods.

As a total side note, Dynamic Effort OHS mess up my traps something fierce! Dude, my traps and rhomboids where screaming for a few days after the first time I combined this with High Pulls (part of the mistake perhaps).

Playing with new Toys

Crossfit Full Circle just got a weight vest,
to help program for some of our more advanced trainees.

I went through Muscle Driver USA and got the Valeo 20lbs vest.
It's fairly comfortable, though really it doesn't breath great, and it gets pretty warm
in there when you where it over a fleece!

Here's some gymnastics with the vest on;

Weight Vest Gymnastics from Full Circle on Vimeo.