Westside Barbell Logbook Template: Conjugate Training Made Trackable

Most programs use the same exercises week after week. Your squat is your squat. Your bench is your bench. Conjugate training throws that out. On max effort days, you rotate between variations of the competition lifts. One week you max out on a 2-board press. The next week you max on a floor press. The week after, close-grip bench against bands. Each variation has its own PR history.

This rotation prevents accommodation (your body adapting to a movement so thoroughly that progress stalls), but it creates a tracking nightmare. You need to remember what your floor press max was from six weeks ago so you know whether today's attempt is a PR. Without a logbook, that information is gone.

Dynamic effort days add another tracking layer. You are doing 8-12 sets of 2-3 reps at specific percentages with bands or chains. The bar weight, band tension, and chain weight all need notation because the total resistance is a combination of all three.

The max effort day page has two main sections. The top section is for the max effort exercise. Include: exercise variation name, warm-up progression, working sets with weight, and your top single or top set with RPE. Circle or highlight the top single because this is the data point you need to find quickly when this variation comes up again in 3-6 weeks.

Below the max effort work, list your accessories. Max effort days typically include 4-6 accessory movements targeting the weak points revealed by the max effort lift. Track accessories with simple notation: exercise, weight, reps.

Dynamic effort days are about speed and bar velocity. You are doing 8-12 sets of 2-3 reps at 50-60% of your max, often with bands or chains adding accommodating resistance. The goal is to move the bar as fast as possible.

Your logbook needs to capture bar weight, band tension, and chain weight separately. Write them as a formula: 185+light bands or 225+60 chains. The total resistance varies throughout the range of motion with accommodating resistance, so there is no single 'weight' number. Track the components instead.

Note bar speed subjectively: fast, moderate, or slow. If sets that should be fast start feeling moderate, the weight might be too high or fatigue is accumulating. After the speed work, track 3-4 accessory exercises with standard notation.

Create a dedicated section (use the last 5-10 pages of your logbook) for max effort exercise rotation and PR records. List every ME variation you use with columns for date and top weight. When you rotate back to a variation, you can immediately see your previous best and know what to aim for.

Example entries: Floor Press - Jan 15: 275, Mar 12: 285, May 7: 295. Box Squat (parallel) - Jan 22: 405, Mar 19: 415. Close Grip Bench + Chains - Feb 5: 225+40 chains, Apr 2: 235+40 chains.

This rotation log is the most valuable page in a conjugate lifter's logbook. It is the only place where you can see your long-term progress across variations. Without it, you are guessing at weights every time you return to a variation.

Bands and chains change the resistance curve of a lift. At the bottom of a squat, band tension is lightest. At the top, it is heaviest. Chains work similarly: more chain on the floor at the bottom, more hanging weight at the top. Your logbook notation should capture the constant (bar weight) and the variable (band or chain).

For bands, note the band type rather than the tension: 225+light bands, 315+monster mini bands. Band tension varies by how they are set up, so the band name is more useful than an estimated tension number. For chains, note the hanging weight at lockout: 225+60 chains means 225 on the bar plus 60 lbs of chain at the top.

If you use multiple accommodating resistance setups, keep a reference page with your band inventory and chain weights. This prevents confusion when a training partner uses different equipment.