In the latest installment of Old Man Conjugate (which you seem to like based on the feedback) I’m going to discuss one of the main things people often miss or screw up when following Conjugate programs that were written for someone else.
I’m talking about a program you found online or in a magazine if they still print those.
The beauty of Conjugate training is that it should be suited to the individual. You do what you need to do, not your training partners.
What I mean is that each of us has different strengths and weaknesses, and we need to do the work to bring up our own weaknesses.
Of course you can follow a program written for someone else, or for the masses. If it is written properly it will work too. But one based off your individual needs may work better.
I’m going to take this a stretch further and add in for Old Man Conjugate, you need to do what works for you today. And I mean TODAY.
We all feel different day to day and we have different levels of energy, mental focus and annoyance injuries. A younger lifter may be able to get away with running the program as written and not suffer too many consequences of it in the near future, but not so much for an older lifter.
As we age our ability to recover is lower and our chance of getting injured is higher if we don’t pay attention and listen to our body. An injury at 50+ years old will take a lot longer to heal than at 25.
Let me illustrate as I like to do; the past few weeks Phil and I have not been doing Dynamic Bench day because we were both feeling run down and beat up. We decided to drop Dynamic work for a few weeks and spend that day doing higher rep bodybuilding movements.
A much younger Phil!
It paid off because we both seem to be much better and not beat up.
Why did we choose Dynamic Bench work as what to drop?
It was easy for us as this is our highest intensity day and Dynamic Bench typically beat the moth of us up more than anything. Adding in the high rep work improved our recovery too. It was the right call.
The moral here:
- Listen to your body today.
- Do what it needs today.
- Don’t be afraid to modify your program to suit current levels of pain, mobility, ability
- Also, don’t be a pussy-train as hard as you can
Oh and I almost forgot.
I SQUATTED this week.
After working with a friend on getting the hip more mobile for the past few months I’m starting to see the benefits. Less pain day to day, more mobility, less pain walking and sleeping are all on the list of successes we have had.
The biggest success so far happened yesterday.
I squatted. To depth.
Yup.
I decided to try some Hatfield Squats because there is less hip hinge in them and I figured that would be better. I was right.
I did a few sets of 8 with just bodyweight to a 16” box. 16” is the height I’ve always used for meet prep so I know I’m good. After a few sets I decided to add in a Safety Squat Bar.
Holy shit.
I did the reps and had additional pain versus the bodyweight. And I found something out, the bar was heavy!
After not being able to do any squats or deadlifts, or virtually any lower body at all, the amount of strength lost was almost depressing.
After only 8 reps with just the bar my legs were shaking like Dave Tate after one of his crazy drop and puke sets.
I will not be discouraged, rather, I am encouraged.
Strength will come back as work capacity increases, and being able o start doing some work is a gift!
The Moral Here:
- Being able to train is a gift.
- Any improvement is a good one.
- Weakness is a crime.
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Vincere vel mori
C.J. Murphy
January 28, 2021
