Done the full squats - once the athlete is advanced I don’t think that they are as effective as the parallel squats. Maybe I should have qualified that!
As for the bands, I can clearly see how they would help powerlifters, football players etc., but I can’t see where they would fit in my program.
bands and half squats then 
I think they can help anyone. You could reverse load the weight, allowing one to lockout even heavier weights than normal.
Kinda like an overspeed training effect
Great for stretching too
just floating it out there, extra tools are nice to have
also your body doesnt try to deaccelerate the weight, so you hip extension muscles have to explode throughout the entire movement.
numba: I get dizzy reading your posts 
. You write some good stuff but could you break it up a little with paragraphs or bullet points.
No disrespect intended. DW.
‘the conjugated method of changing exercises to disallow stagnation and overtraining are pretty much the best method out there without a doubt’
I disagree. Training at maximum, even if you change exercises, will quickly cause overtraining (even with ‘special’ supplementation).
David W, you are correct in your statement that training at maximum, regardless of changing exercises, will yield overtraining. Those who have referenced the Westside method have failed to read between the lines. When one analyzes the Westside training they will notice that despite the appearance of max lifts, week in and week out, every lifter performs some sort of deload every few weeks, be it with dumbells(for the bench) or an absence of max effort work all together (hence the repetition method).
James Smith
haha Im sorry David W, i will try.
"‘the conjugated method of changing exercises to disallow stagnation and overtraining are pretty much the best method out there without a doubt’
I disagree. Training at maximum, even if you change exercises, will quickly cause overtraining (even with ‘special’ supplementation)."
I state a lot of things incompletely, and I know this, but the main idea was exercise rotation fights off CNS overtraining and stagnation allowing one to perform more maximum workouts. I believe this true because
The repeated efforts with the same neural firing patterns causes overuse, or CNS overtraining, so changing the stimulus “rests” the specific firing pattern.
There is still high CNS stimulation and overtraining can still occur with this method, but when used properly is very very effective.
“David W, you are correct in your statement that training at maximum, regardless of changing exercises, will yield overtraining. Those who have referenced the Westside method have failed to read between the lines. When one analyzes the Westside training they will notice that despite the appearance of max lifts, week in and week out, every lifter performs some sort of deload every few weeks, be it with dumbells(for the bench) or an absence of max effort work all together (hence the repetition method).
James Smith”
Adding to my above statements
I advocate and unloading week after two-three weeks of work(ala Christian T, Charlie Francis, and suggestions from David W when I first arrived at this forum).
This unloading week, as said by James Smith above, allows for CNS and muscular recovery to occur to a much greater degree than in working weeks and will allow one to use maximum lifts repeatedly without the worry of CNS overtraining(unless their plan has an insane volume accompying it), and(hopefully if the exercise rotation plan goes right) without stagnation.
Hope this clears up what my idea of the Conjugated Method is and about my idea of how a workout would work.
Exactly. The exercise rotation employed by Westside (and please stop calling that conjugated periodization, that’s not what it is) is designed to prevent short-term accomodation to that specific exercise which limits the ability to improve.
It doesn’t enhance recovery because at the end of the day you’re still maximally exciting the nervous system to move those loads…unloading is still required for recovery from that.
Yes, so exercise rotation fights off stagnation and an unloading week is still required, I said that, and what Id like to know is specifically why CNS overtraining is fought off with this method? I think its because that specifc neural and motor pattern and firing is given a break. And also could you explain(briefly) what the conjugate method is then?
Accomodation and CNS “burnout” are two different effects.
Accomodation, simply, is when the nervous system cannot squeeze any more gains out via intermuscular and intramuscular coordination…the specific movement pattern is peaked.
CNS “burnout” (better known as central fatigue) is an inhibitory process that results from chronic, maximal stimulation of the portions of the CNS responsible for motor output. This is invariant of the specific motor processes involved…if you push too hard, too often, for too long regardless of the specific exercise, you’re gonna feel it.
Conjugated periodization is simply the training of multiple motor qualities and/or training means at one given time, while altering the emphasis of those means over time (gradually or sharply) to achieve a specific effect. Westside has inadvertantly led a lot of people to think it simply involves exercise rotation, but its a lot more broad and comprehensive than that.
1.Sorry, Im still new to this stuff, i think i was trying to talk about accomodation then, because i still belive in an unloading week to disallow overtraining. Thanks for clearing that up for me.
2.About Conjugated Periodization, exercise rotation is in fact part of theory correct?
3.I know that it encompasses the use of different training techniques to develop different qualities with the emphasis shifting from training phase to phase with more emphasis put on certain aspects to get a certain end result, but I was under the impression you were saying exercise rotation is not part of theory.
Ive read the pdf over at elitefts and it was very interesting, and I think thats where I saw exercise rotation was part of conjuated periodization. I associated exercise rotation to fight off accomodation(see i used the right one this time!) because I had read it in articles by louie simmons. Thanks again though
405lbs at 149lbs.
Exercise rotation is a part of it, in as much as it can change the training effect the same way you’d change any other training means. However, a lot (and I do mean a LOT) of people are convinced that the “conjugate method” is simply the switching of max effort exercises. That’s what I was wanting to clear up.
Haha alright, well you certainly made clear of what the conjugate method is. But just one more question.
Also if one lifts with high velocity/high tension would the general neural adaptation be for high velocity firing rates in all movements because of the general carry over?
It has to do with the intensity of loading. The closer you work to the 1RM, the quicker the specific exercise stagnates. If you’re working to a 1RM each and every time, it’s going to stagnate quickly.
I’ll be up front and say that I don’t know in detail why this happens, though. I could only take a guess and say that it’s due to a “local” form of central fatigue regarding the specific pattern that coordinates the motion.
In regards to general neural adaptation, yes. Training the nervous system for high RFD does tend to carry over well.
OK, so say I’ve been working my legs with triples at about 120kgs (full squats) how long can I go with this training before I have to take a break, and how would I go about taking a break to then go back to frying my legs??
How often do you squat
How many sets
3.Either way Id recomend an unloading week occuring every 4th week(ie 3 weeks work, 1 week unloading)
DCW23,
how do you judge when your athlete should progress from full squats to parrallel squats?
With regards to your questions numba,
I squat heavy once a week, I do about 5-6 sets with 3 sets of 3 reps at 120kgs (all full squats)
so far I’ve done this for 2 weeks, I’m thinking of adding an extra leg session with some more varied but lighter squats (maybe som esumo sqauts or someting for the agonists)
I agree with dcw. Who gives a damn how deep you go in your squat if you are a sprinter. If the depth is adequte, around parallel, it will have just as good effect on working the targeted thighs and glutes as other methods. There are many great sprinters that do not squat deeper. Ben Johnson and Linford Christie for a start. I don’t think squatting deeper will make the slightest difference. What matters is that the chosen depth is reasonable (around parallel) and consistent in form in order to accurately measure strength improvement.