There are few words more controversial than “CrossFit” in the fitness space, and there are myriad reasons for that.  But if you’ve been in the military / first responder fitness world for any considerable length of time, you remember pre and post-CrossFit.  That juxtaposition alone will drive most to give credit where credit is due, in that CrossFit drove an evolution in fitness for tactical professionals that was unquestionably efficacious.

Conjugate style training is the method of training popularized by the late Louis Simmons (the ‘Godfather of powerlifting’) and Westside Barbell.  And it’s famous because it works.  Westside lifters have racked up more than 140 world records, Olympic medals, and world championships.  Louie was way ahead of his time, and pretty much every strength and conditioning program worth their salt has elements of Westside sprinkled into their programming whether they realize it or not.  By itself, conjugate training is an incomplete model for the firefighter / PJ / rescue swimmer / etc (because of broader energy system demands), but it’s perfect for the strength portion of training.  We’ll break that down here.