Extra Workouts - Conjugate

Hey guys, quick question on conjugate programming:

Louie always talked about “extra workouts” to specifically target lagging muscle groups. According to him, these should be done in between ME/DE days and last no longer than 30-45 minutes. My question is, am I incorporating too much volume on these days?

For example, I am working to address upper back strength and forearms. So today, for an extra workout, I programmed the following:

Seal row: 5x10
Chest supported row: 4x10 neutral handle
Rear delts: 4x20 (on reverse pec dec)
Lat pulldowns: 4x10
Hammer curls: 4x15
Snatch grip high pulls: 4x10
Reverse Hyper: 4x20

I find myself easily identifying weaknesses, but then on the same token, I program too much volume (I think?) to attack them.

Thoughts?

You can knock out 29 sets in ~half an hour?

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If you move non-stop as recommended, you can do quite a bit.

True enough. Do you think it’s making your upper back stronger?

As a volume lover myself, that doesn’t look terrible as a session. As an “extra,” though, it seems like a lot. I’m admittedly not a genius in the conjugate way, but I believe I remember it being more “non-stressful” work like blast straps and sled. So maybe your circuit becomes:

  • Sled rows
  • Blast strap Y raises
  • Inverted rows
  • Sled Frankenstein walks
  • Band curls, because of course

Or something along those lines

Thank your sir!

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To me that’s a whole session, and a quite hefty one

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I’ve kinda changed my view on what the purpose of an extra workout is over the years. Originally, I was doing the same thing you have laid out here: pick a lagging muscle group and hammer the shit out of it for a few weeks. Personally, I get more out of using the assistance work of the main training sessions for this purpose. You can move way more weight with way more rest. With that said, I’ve been treating extra workouts more like general base building where I’m either hitting every major muscle group for tons of reps or doing something more like conditioning. For example, earlier this week, my extra workout was:

Airdyne bike:
1 min warm up then 12 minutes of 45 seconds off @6 RPE/15 seconds on @9 RPE

60lb KB swings:
2 minutes of 30s off/30s on
2 minutes of 45s off/15s on
2 minutes of 30s off/30s on

5 rounds of the following:
Pallof holds
Lying Leg raises
Random grip work with gorilla grips

It’s a little tougher to track because the volume on a session to session basis is a little chaotic, but I went about 3.6 miles on the bike. I know conditioning/GPP is getting better when I go a little further next time.

Hope that makes sesne.

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