EP 217: Conjugate Training and Westside Barbell Lessons To Build Strength For Life (For Anyone) with/ AJ Roberts

It’s been a while since I’ve had my brother AJ Roberts on the show. I love that this time around we are talking training, the conjugate method, Westside Barbell and everything in between. 

AJ Roberts is a world-record powerlifter who has bench pressed over 1,000 pounds in sanctioned competition and spent more than two decades in strength sports. He coaches athletes using conjugate-based systems built for long-term performance, not short-term hype, and directs elite powerlifting events at the highest level.

He is the founder of Secret Strength Society, where training, education, and sport development are treated as systems, not trends.

IN THIS EPISODE YOU’LL LEARN:

=> Westside Barbell vs. Conjugate System - why they’re not necessarily one and the same, and here’s why.

=> The conjugate system helps you “Raise all tides simultaneously”; improving different abilities at the same time.

=> How the environment and atmosphere influenced creating greatness (and what you can learn from it).

=> The conjugate system is NOT for powerlifters, it’s for everyone; with subtle changes.

=> How John Meadows influenced some of AJ’s training (a bodybuilding who also trained at Westside Barbell).

=> The risk to reward ratio of exercises and how they fit into the conjugate system.

=> The lessons from Strongman that apply into every persons training to improve and have life long strength.

=>  Max effort method should be “What’s the most weight you can lift with good form” vs “What’s the most weight you can lift.”

=> The reasoning behind switching up exercises week to week and how AJ implements the system to keep improving and save the joints.

=> Why single leg training is so powerful and how it increased AJ’s squat.

=> The missing links that AJ implements into training to make sure clients stay bulletproof (the weak links everyone must address).

=> How Luka uses the conjugate model in the 3-days a week and making single leg lifts your main strength exercise.

=> AJ on training singles to find out where form breaks down to see what weaknesses need to be brought up (without risk of injury).

=> How to work around aches and pains while still making strength and performance gains. 

=> Why AJ doesn’t do de-loads in his clients program design, and what he does instead.  

=> How so many programs include the same principles and name them something else, and how to unravel and organize how to build a program and what works across the board. 

=> Why great coaches that get results have a safety net when it comes to their business (and the reason they don’t grow  is not being able to build systems, build and lead a team).

=> How AJ got back to powerlifting with a different approach and uses it to improve health (a unique way of looking at it).

=> The hardest concept to accept; removing things is more important than adding them when it comes to growth and expansion.

=> Luka’s one BIG insight that will change your lifting and help you be healthier and stronger, longer.

=> The Secret Strength system that AJ has created from all his lessons and experience over decades in the game.

=> AJ walks through the step-by-step changes of programming after his wife had aback injury and made a big comeback in her strongman meet. 

=> Why I’m thinking of being more like a decathlete than a top 100-m sprinter, when it comes to my training. 

LINKS & RESOURCES:

AJ Roberts Instagram  https://www.instagram.com/ajrobertspower/

AJ Roberts YouTube  https://www.youtube.com/c/AJRoberts

Super Coach Mentorship https://lukahocevar.com/super-coach-mentorship/

Luka Hocevar YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@Luka-Hocevar/videos