Q&A - Thoughts on Conjugate, Tendon Health, Running & Squatting, Best Weightlifting Country

[@sikastrength]

Leave Your Questions Here!

[@Dave_Gunderson]

I know that this may be a continuing of the conjugate question but I would love your thoughts on Dr. Seth Albersworth’s Modern Conjugate V2 (which is just a free download on the Activated Performance websight). Also long live the Republic of SikaStan 🫡

[@TDace25]

For increasing the high bar back squat for weightlifting do you favor any other type of squat variation like a pause, tempo etc?

[@ojmay...]

Question for a friend who recently broke lots of bones. On the road to recovery (once cleared by a dr.) Should he train his good arm/ leg individually or should he wait til he's fully healed to train?

[@clarkdowns3913]

Which program, on the app or the website, would be best for someone who's goal is to improve fitness, I don't play any sport or compete, just trying to be healthier and fitter while I am dropping weight. Thanks.

[@Yupppi]

Agility/speed ladder drilling for different athletes (my example would be a judoka, but also just info on general benefits, methods to train, what kind of drills, when to do it, how much to do it) and how to improve jump landing mechanics?

[@makinggains5130]

matt wenning and alex leonidas are good examples of folks that have gotten very strong with a conjugate style

[@sikastrength]

I've never heard of Alex! I'll check him out 🙌

[@ryankeaney8584]

Andy Baker's interview with Dave Tate was very accessible and put conjugate stuff in perspective nicely for how it could be useful to a natural, raw lifter

[@robjaniszewski2841]

I am a fool who did not realize there were multiple options for “blocks” associated with the weightlifting program in the app. Glad I asked, and thanks for answering!

[@sikastrength]

You're not fool sir! We’ll need to make that clearer!

[@ryedes]

I tend to notice progress based on how the snatch and clean and jerk feel over the course of the block. For example, in the 2.5 years of trying to learn the lifts on my own, my technique for a simple 100kg clean required a dynamic start, a belt, and knee sleeves. After the last 8 weeks working with a coach and focusing on volume and technique that same 100kg is much easily now, I can easily do with a static start and don’t even need belts or sleeves anymore for the majority of my lifts. Getting a good coach really matters in this sport.

[@KwisBwown]

Incredible love these videos thanks for answering my question again ❤

[@sikastrength]

Thanks for asking!

[@froggy3496]

Aye thanks for answering my question!

[@yoloswaggins372]

what about alphadestiny for conjugate

[@taiiiz3969]

In regards to training, what do you disagree with each other about?

[@sikastrength]

How much stanozolol is enough and squat depth for rugby players

[@Yupppi]

The times I've started like "yep that's good" only to hit the wall in three weeks and having to deload is funnily high. The number of times I've started "too light", not been able to progress and not being able to recover - essentially regretting starting light - is absolutely zero. You always underestimate 1. how little you need to start seeing progress 2. how much of a kickstart and grooving the first "light" weeks are. The heavier weights feel so much easier after that initial building up to speed. That's where you lay the foundation for the rest of the block. A good athlete trains hard. A smart athlete knows when to train hard. It's quite a wild thought to have a muscle stronger than tendon. Your tendons can handle like a proper car without training tendons (depending on the tendon in question of course). But you can of course wear them out because they don't have a lot of blood flow to facilitate fast recovery. And taxing them heavily without adaptation period. To my understanding that is, grain of salt there. RTA should really be called something like Road to Sikastan (passport). Thanks for another useful episode.

[@sikastrength]

200kg is the passport 😂😂😂

[@o-neil]

About conjugate, when you listen to interviews with the actual athletes, the way they describe the dynamic effort days is nothing like Louis says. They would get mad at eachother and compete with eachother and keep adding weight to the bar, until the dynamic effort day basically just became doing heavy sets of 5, 3, or 2 with a decent amount of volume. Which is actually pretty standard and makes sense why that worked. Meanwhile people who have only heard what Louis said are doing 60% for 6x2 and wondering why nothing is happening.

[@sikastrength]

Definitely sounds familiar, I'd like to see some actual programs. Going to do a deep dive in the next few weeks

[@Ifinkthere4iam]

Hey lads, Dr Stephen Seiler works with the Norwegian teams specifically on aerobic/ long distance stuff. Hes been on quite a few podcasts but it'd be cool to hear you guys talk to him.

[@rsanghi24]

Idk where do we get the questions for these Q&A, but i assume from the comment section. So I'll write my question her. If you don't answer questions from the comment section that is okay too. Question: my OHS is 57.5kg and my current max snatch is 60kg. 62.5 is basically made too. Should my OHS be improved?

[@elliotlftng]

13:28 this sounds like sikastan 🦌🏋 vs america 🇺🇸 🦅 to me

[@sikastrength]

😂😂😂😂

[@leohaede4708]

When do I program PBs in the Olympic lifts before the end of a block. Why/when should someone do it?

[@LatimusChadimus]

W W (hand sign)

[@Baytowne0888]

1:14:45 I think the value of isometrics and overloaded eccentrics is really about building that bigger tendon which then can be made stiffer with the jumping exercises like plyos.

[@chim55]

What’s Ollie?

[@raymondsmith2040]

I think it's short for Olympic lifts. I could be wrong tho.

[@chim55]

@@raymondsmith2040 oh I very much don’t like the sound of that

[@CSFREERUNNING]

Conjugate isn't maxing out random exercises, it could literally be paused front squat, paused back squat, front squat, back squat. How isn't that specific? If you can't alternate squat variations, then you have a distinct lack of skill with the barbell. Not typically the case for a weightlifter... You'd just choose to do a block of the movement rather than rotating through weekly. It's just one week training block rather than a 4 or 6 week training block. Rather than selecting percentages that undulate, the load undulation becomes inherent because if the exercise selection. All the same principles are present. It's just a difference in structure. It's not speical but the critiques of it are always so bizzarly wrong.

[@CSFREERUNNING]

You have a complete characture of what it is in your head. So it just comes across as dumb. All of my strength has been gained with a conjugate based approach as it's the approach to training that i enjoy the most. I'm not elite or on steroids, but have deadlifted 3 x bw squatted over 2.5 x bw, front squatted over over 2 x bw. Cleaned 2 x bw. The idea that is that it leads to no progress is just silly.

[@raymondsmith2040]

Fax! I hardly ever use special bars for anything yet i still get a use out of conjugate.

[@Fluggrugger1]

Exactly spot on

[@sikastrength]

I wanted to enage in good fate but calling us dumb is incredibly disappointing

[@CSFREERUNNING]

@sikastrength Seems you deleted my second comment. I don't believe I called you dumb, because I don't think you are. If I did, the wording was bad. I know I said your critique is that of a characture of what you think conjugate is. I think that is what's dumb.

[@fredkennedy1917]

300m population with a few unicorns... USA then?

[@wesyale2887]

If the shoe fits.

[@d3xo]

1:00:40 While the advice is mostly good, I have to disagree here. Long distance running progress is mostly built - even for running dedicated folks it's 80% of training - on easy miles. Your long runs and easy runs. If you've built up to tolerate the mileage, these workouts do not wipe you out. What does is interval training and speed work, and increasing the mileage itself (this last one is temporary). Long distance cardiovascular endurance will improve your cardiovascular capacity (duh), which will translate to recovering *quicker* between sets of especially high volume exercises, though it helps with the 80% deads too. This might even end up improving your strength performance and allow you to push through the gruelling sets. And, from the standpoint of performance, lifters don't need to do as much interval training, since they benefit from training their muscles at the gym! My advice for mixing the two, then, would be to avoid speed work like intervals. Focus on the low hanging fruit, which is just easy, zone 2 mileage. If you do that, the impact to your strength training will be negligible, or even positive. Adding 40-50km a week pushed me past my advanced lifter plateaus. Thanks to the cardiovascular health, your work capacity will allow you to put in more high quality lifting; your joints and tendons will improve since you're not pounding them into oblivion so you should avoid any extra pain; and the increased caloric expenditure will improve your body composition. The tradeoff is that you will be slower than you would have been if you focused on running and had speed work. But I promise you you can be faster than 80% of runners with just consistent, easy miles. To ease the 'joint adaptation' problem, I advise mixing running surfaces a lot; trail running will work better, especially at first, and you have the muscle from lifting to excel at it too. Run to effort or heartrate, not to paces. If you absolutely *have* to do speed work do a tempo run rather than intervals. The rest of the advice is good. Refuel with carbs to be ready for everything - gels are your friend, pound down more than you think you need every cardio training (one every 40 minutes is what I do). If you do push yourself with intervals, perhaps before a race, or feel wiped after increasing the mileage on your long run: take it easier at the gym until you adjust or until you've ran the race. Listening to your body is crucial. And progress is indeed the final arbiter, so test yourself sometimes; 5k is a good test distance that won't destroy you for a week afterwards, which is why weekly park runs are something people do. If you've stalled in both running and strength you need to reevaluate and maybe decide what you want to pursue. But you can make extremely good running progress for very long off easy miles, and easy miles will not impact your gym negatively.

[@PeterHaviland-y8c]

Best countries for weightlifting? isn't it obvious? Yet u only mentioned Korea & Germany. I know u guys have beef with THE one Asian country that promote non stomping doctrine. Yet u praise their system of homogenizing training method. Are u guys ok? Why I see incoherence in ur belief & thinking?