Westside For Jumping: Vertical Jump training Using the Conjugate System.
Written by Jack Woodrup for VerticalJumping.com.
Original Link:
http://www.verticaljumping.com/conjugate_training_Westside_for_jumping_bastards1.htmlWhat Is Westside Style Conjugate Training.
Figure 1: At a guess he has done a lot of Max Effort (ME) Training.
As an example if you were using the barbell squat for your lower body exercise on ME day and your previous record for 2 reps was 300 pounds you might work up to an attempt at 305 pounds for 2 reps. You may not always make the 2 reps to set a new PR but the important thing is to keep challenging your body at those levels.
The DE day focus is more about speed and rate of force development. So again using the barbell squat as an example if your 1RM was 300 pounds you might choose a weight that is about 50% of that and you would perform 8-12 sets of 2 reps. Due to the relatively light load those reps would be performed fast and explosively with rest periods of around 30-60 seconds between sets.
Those are the high level basics but there are some other guidelines to follow when using Westside style conjugate training. One of these is the regular rotation of ME exercises (at least every 1-3 weeks).
The idea behind the regular rotation of ME exercises is that by frequently changing the ME exercise you reduce the likelihood of burning out. Constant exposure to very heavy lifting of a particular exercise tends to lead to a lot of fatigue both of the body, and the mind, and after a while progress stalls. By constantly rotating exercises you are able to keep things fresh resulting in higher intensities and faster gains.
Another principle Westside uses is that after working on the main exercise of the day, a number of assistance, or special exercises are done. These are exercises that are designed to break down the training further to ensure you bring up a weakness in a lift.
As an example, if your bench press was weak because you had poorly developed triceps then you might follow your main upper body exercise with some tricep kickbacks. For lower body they might do some specific hamstring, or glute work if they were the weak areas of the lift.
Things To Consider About Westside Style Conjugate Training.
Figure 2: Bench Press: Great Exercise, Just Not For Jumping High.
The Westside system of conjugate training obviously works very well for them. Their athletes are very strong, and as Louie Simmons likes to say, also explosive. If you want to apply it to your vertical jump training then you should consider the points in this article and how they might apply to you.
In Westside for jumping Bastards Part 2:
http://www.verticaljumping.com/conjugate_training_Westside_for_jumping_bastards_part2.html, I will discuss in more detail what a conjugate based jump program might look like and give you some practical ideas about this fun and effective training set up.
In Part 1 of our look at the Westside model of conjugate training and its application to vertical jump training I discussed the details that made up the system and also some of the things you should look out for if you were to adopt it into your own training.
In this article I am going to have a look at actually setting up a Westside style vertical jump program. There will be an element of assumed knowledge so if you are unfamiliar with some of the abbreviations please have a quick read through Westside Training Part 1.
A TYPICAL WESTSIDE WEEK.DAY 1: MAX EFFORT TRAINING.Main ME Exercise:DAY 2: JUMPING PRACTICE.
Figure 1: For some reason Vince Carter has a lot of trouble finding people to practice with.
If you want to get the most out of this day it is important that the jump attempts are with maximum effort and intensity. This day might be the one that provides the most benefit to your jumping ability. Also important is that you take plenty of rest between attempts and stop when you start to see your jump heights dropping noticeably. Finish up with a light cool down, and some more foam rolling and stretching.
DAY 3: DYNAMIC EFFORT TRAINING.Box Squats with bands are a Westside and VerticalJumping.com favorite.
For someone who is stronger their DE training day might look something like this:
Main DE Exercise: Depth Jumps 4 sets x 5 reps. 150 secs rest between sets
Supplemental Exercise: Bounding or skipping 4 x 6 with 60 seconds rest between sets
Supplemental Exercise: Box jump 4 x 6 with 60 seconds rest between sets
Accessory Exercise: Core work
As you can see the intensities of the jumping drills above taper as you progress through the workout. This is to ensure you complete the more intense drills in an unfatigued state.
I have also changed the set and rep protocols for a reasonably strong jumping athlete to reflect the differences between weighted exercises and unweighted ones. Some good choices for the various DE day exercises are:
Main DE Exercise: Box squats with bands, Olympic lift variations, heavy kettlebell swings, weighted jump squats, depth jumps, altitude landings, single leg jumping varieties.
Supplemental Exercises: Lighter kettlebell swings, medicine ball throws, bounding, skipping, box jumps, etc.
The accessory work will be the same as the ME day.
DAY 4: UPPER BODY TRAINING.MORE GENERAL GUIDELINES.Before each workout do a thorough warm up! The goal with any warm up is to raise your core temperature, and to prepare the muscles, joints, and CNS for the type of work you intend to do.
Generally a warm up will have a general component and a more specific component. The general component is designed to raise core temperature and warm up the muscles and joints. This generally takes the from of a low impact type of cardio such as skipping or sled dragging that should last anywhere between 5-10 minutes with gradually increasing intensity.
You then follow the general warm up with some more specific work such as lighter sets of the exercise you are doing, or low intensity jumping if you are doing a jumping based day. This is aimed at readying the muscles for the exact nature of the work they will be doing. I am sure you have all heard it before but it is worth repeating. A good warm up not only helps improve performance but also goes a LONG way to reducing the likelihood and incidence of injury.
After your workouts spend some time cooling down with various very low intensity movements (body weight step ups and lunges etc), followed by foam rolling and stretching to relax the muscles and to start working out any tightness.
Westside rotate their exercises, particularly on ME day, on a very regular basis (often weekly), to avoid burnout and stagnation. Westside has a lot of elite lifters. For the every day athlete I would suggest rotating exercises on a far less regular basis. If you are still getting stronger and are excited about your training, stick with them. If you are starting to stall and losing interest, switch them up. Simple really!
One final guideline is that if you are finding that you are not recovering sufficiently from the three lower body workouts during the week you can always drop one out for a week or two. If you are already strong replace ME with the jumping practice day. If you already have great jumping technique maybe give that one a miss. If you feel you are explosive already but lack co-ordination replace DE day with the jumping day.
CONCLUSION.Outlined in this and the previous Westside for Jumping Bastards article are the basics of what the Westside conjugate system is all about and how it might be applied to a jump program. The training split they have devised is certainly a tried and tested way to organize things. It not only keeps you moving onwards and upwards, but the variety of heavy and light workouts will also keep your jump training interesting.
These are articles are however just the tip of the iceberg. There is a lot more information available that you can access about the Westside Barbell system at their site. There are plenty of great training articles written by Louie Simmons that make it is well worth a visit.
RELATED ARTICLES.Westside for Jumping Bastards Part 1: How to use conjugate training to improve Your Vertical Jump
Band Training - Band training is not only a great fun, but is also a highly effective method of developing your vertical jump. Find out why adding bands to your training works so well.
The Lightened Method - Bridging the gap between specific and general strength training for awesome bang for your buck vertical jump development.
Squats and Deadlifts - Squats and deadlifts are the big two strength building exercises for increasing your vertical jump. Check out our introductory look at these great exercises.
Show Posts
