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The Truth in the Logs: How Strength is Really Built Under My Coaching
- JHEPCxTJH
- Sep 23
- 20 min read
The Truth in the Logs: How Strength is Really Built Under My Coaching
What My Athletes’ Training Logs Actually Reveal About How I Coach
Most coaches will tell you what their method is. Very few can actually show you how it plays out in practice.
This exists as both a review of an exercise I've done recently (recounted below) and in response to this I wrote a while ago - The TEAMJOSHHEZZA Method: How I Build Strength That Actually Works
Over the last year I’ve tracked, written, and reviewed the raw training logs of every athlete I’ve worked with - from competitive powerlifters and strongmen to deadlift-only lifters, bench-only specialists, and general strength trainees. What I wanted to know was simple: does the reality of training match the philosophy I claim to coach?
Looking back across those logs has been like holding a mirror up to my own programming biases. Patterns emerged again and again - in exercise selection, rep ranges, warm-ups, accessory volume, event work, and how I structure a week. When you zoom out, you start to see the skeleton of a system: Conjugate in practice, but adapted through my own lens.
This project started as part of my ongoing effort to refine how I coach. I’ve always believed in the Conjugate framework as the backbone of training, but belief alone isn’t enough - it has to hold up against the messy, lived reality of athletes preparing for competition, fighting through injuries, and chasing personal bests. By going back through their logs, I wasn’t just looking for the numbers on the bar. I wanted to see how programming decisions translated into joint health, confidence, consistency, and ultimately, performance on the platform and in competition.
The athletes’ successes - from pain-free squatting and pressing to new PB deadlifts and qualification for bigger stages - didn’t happen by accident. They came from recurring themes: exercise selection that respected weak points, rep ranges that built muscle without trashing joints, variations that kept lifters engaged, and event conditioning that doubled as support work. Pulling those threads together shows not only what worked for them, but also how the philosophy I’ve written about for years actually plays out in practice.
In an industry where methods are often sold as dogma, logs are the antidote. They strip away the marketing and the slogans and show you what really happens under the bar. That’s why I went back through a year’s worth of athlete training - to test whether what I claim to coach is actually what I deliver. Athletes (and coaches) often only look at PBs or social media highlights, but the logs capture the real story: the decisions, the warm-ups, the boring accessories, the circuits. That’s where the truth lives.
What the Logs Say My Coaching Actually Stands For
It’s one thing to talk about philosophy in abstract terms; it’s another to see it written in the black-and-white of a training log. When you strip away the theory, the Instagram captions, and even my own assumptions about what I “tend” to programme, the logs show the truth. They capture what I really prioritise week after week, the movements and rep schemes that keep reappearing, and the problems I keep trying to solve for my athletes.
Looking across dozens of weeks and multiple athletes, certain patterns repeat with almost mechanical consistency. Those patterns reveal more about my actual coaching than any mission statement could: where I bias training stress, how I balance variety with structure, and what principles survive contact with the reality of injuries, equipment limitations, and competition calendars.
Conjugate Done Pragmatically
At first glance, the logs show what you’d expect: Max Effort, Dynamic Effort, and Repetition methods turning over across the week. But the detail matters. What’s there isn’t a random shuffle of lifts or an Instagram-friendly variety show. It’s rotation with intent - pragmatic Conjugate.
Max Effort Work: Rotation as a Tool
Every week, athletes strain against a new lift. But that strain isn’t about chasing novelty; it’s about targeting a link in the chain. The logs show heavy pulls from deficits, pauses at the knee, block pulls, or banded variations sitting alongside box squats, safety-bar fronts, and board presses. What you see is not “chaos,” but a clear cycle of stressors chosen for their weak-point emphasis.
For example:
Deficit pulls appear regularly, not reserved for pre-comp cycles, to force position off the floor.
Paused deadlifts below the knee teach patience and mid-range strength without endless grinding.
Box squats in multiple bar positions (SSB, cambered, bow bar) teach posture, trunk strength, and knee/hip balance.
Board and floor presses let athletes overload the lockout without trashing shoulders.
The unifying thread: each strain lift reveals something. Weak starts, soft lockouts, upper-back collapse - whatever the fault, the rotation keeps throwing athletes into positions where those faults can’t hide. The log entries are littered with notes about how a pause pull or bow-bar box squat felt harder than expected, which is exactly the point: the lift isn’t picked for comfort, but for confrontation.
Dynamic Effort Work: Speed, Skill, and Rehearsal
DE days show up consistently, and again, they’re not cookie-cutter templates. Band tension is rotated, bar choice changes, and rep/set schemes shift - but the throughline is the same: bar speed, technical crispness, and repeated practice.
The logs record:
Box squats against minis or lights for 6–8×2, 30–45 seconds rest, drilling speed and reversal strength.
Speed pulls against bands or straight weight - often singles or doubles, sometimes cluster-style for extra practice.
Dynamic benching for 8–9×3 with changing grips, or banded log doubles every 30–40 seconds.
The key detail is that speed isn’t just about force production. It’s also a low-fatigue way of rehearsing positions. Athletes note how deficits feel easier after weeks of speed pulls, or how box squat speed waves translate into a snappier yoke pickup. This is classic Conjugate: DE isn’t just “speed day” in isolation, it’s a rehearsal tool that bridges into both competition lifts and event work.
Repetition and Accessory Work: Muscle Where It Counts
The logs also show repetition work as the glue that binds the system together. After ME and DE exposures, athletes are hammered with targeted volume:
Hamstrings and glutes: 100–200-rep hamstring curls, Dimel deadlifts, B-stance RDLs, frog pumps, and sled drags.
Upper back: Pendlay rows, log pulls, face-pull-to-Y complexes, and shrug variations.
Triceps and shoulders: Tate presses, JM presses, pushdowns, lateral raises.
Trunk: RKC planks, band abs, deadbugs, standing cable holds, banded abs.
These aren’t sprinkled randomly; they’re programmed with bias. If an athlete’s logs show missed deadlifts at the knee, you see hamstring overload sessions creep in. If pressing stalls at lockout, board presses are paired with heavier triceps density. This is the repetition method doing what Louie designed it to do: building muscle around the weak links exposed by ME and DE.
Year-Round Weak-Range Emphasis
The strongest philosophical marker in the logs is that weak-range lifts aren’t saved for “peaking blocks.” Deficits, pauses, boards, and bands show up all year. They’re part of the fabric of training, not a seasonal add-on. That means athletes are never more than a few weeks removed from direct work on their known sticking points.
This isn’t just efficient - it’s protective. By rotating weak-range lifts continuously, the system keeps athletes both strong and healthy. No joint or tissue has to carry the full load of specificity week after week. Instead, variation spreads the stress while still driving the main lifts forward.
Pragmatic Conjugate in Summary
What the logs reveal is a Conjugate system stripped of myth. There’s no chaos. There’s no “just do something different every week” mentality. Instead, there’s a consistent scaffold:
Rotate ME lifts to expose weak points.
Use DE waves to build speed, technical rehearsal, and recovery.
Hammer the repetition method to grow muscle where it’s needed most.
Keep weak-range variations in play all year, not just when competition looms.
That’s Conjugate done pragmatically. It’s not just theory - it’s how the week-to-week reality of training looks when applied across multiple athletes chasing strength, health, and competition success.
Low-Volume Pulls, High-Volume Accessories
One of the clearest patterns in the logs is how little of the total weekly work comes from deadlifting itself. Pulls are almost always performed as crisp singles or short sets - the kind of exposures that demand focus, build position, and allow intensity without accumulating crippling fatigue. Rarely do you see endless straight sets of heavy deadlifts. Instead, the pulls are kept tight and purposeful.
This isn’t accidental. The deadlift is brutally taxing, especially in strongman and powerlifting where athletes already carry heavy lower-body demands from squatting, yoke, or sandbag work. High-rep sets of deadlifts would only grind joints down and bleed recovery away from the rest of the programme. By keeping the pull exposures short, the lift stays sharp without becoming a recovery sinkhole.
The Real Workload: Accessories
Where the volume lives is in the accessories - and it’s not subtle. The logs show relentless hypertrophy work for the hamstrings, glutes, erectors, upper back, and core. These muscle groups are the “engine room” of the deadlift, and they are trained with a density and frequency that makes the low deadlift volume possible.
Hamstrings: high-rep banded curls, isometric holds, and machine work in totals that sometimes hit 200 reps per session. Dimel deadlifts and stiff-legged pulls add hinge endurance without needing to load maximal weights.
Glutes: frog pumps, hip thrusts, sandbag squats, and sled drags build both size and repeatable output.
Erectors: back extensions, safety-bar good mornings, and high-volume rows reinforce spinal stability.
Upper back: Pendlay rows, log pulls, chest-supported rows, and shrug variations thicken the frame and help the athlete keep posture under load.
Core: planks, half kneeing movement, standing band abs, deadbugs, and weighted carries provide bracing strength and anti-extension control.
Why It Works
The balance is simple: the deadlift itself is practised enough to keep skill sharp and expose strain, but the bulk of growth and durability comes from the accessories. Athletes aren’t relying on pulling more deadlifts to get better at deadlifting. Instead, they’re building the musculature that makes every rep stronger, safer, and more repeatable.
This pattern also fits the Conjugate philosophy perfectly. Max Effort pulls deliver the strain. Dynamic pulls deliver the speed. Accessories deliver the muscle. Together, they solve the classic problem of the deadlift: how to get stronger without burning the athlete out.
What the Logs Prove
Looking across multiple athletes, the structure repeats:
Deadlift = singles, doubles, or timed rep sets.
Accessories = the lion’s share of total training volume, targeted at the posterior chain and trunk.
The outcome is consistent: new PBs without the wear-and-tear you’d expect if athletes were chasing volume through endless barbell pulling.
That trade-off explains why my lifters can keep pulling heavy without falling apart - the muscles are built without the fatigue tax of endless barbell pulling.
Joint-First Exercise Selection
The logs make one thing crystal clear: joint protection isn’t an afterthought, it’s built into the skeleton of programming. Squat variations were dominated by joint-friendly choices - front-rack box squats, safety-bar squats, cambered/Bow Bar squats - all designed to load the lower body heavily without placing the knees or shoulders in compromised positions. The lifters weren’t asked to grind away at competition back squats every week; they were asked to squat hard, but in ways that respected their structure.
This approach was reinforced by the relentless presence of prehab drills. Terminal knee extensions (TKEs), seated or standing abductions, and adductor squeezes appeared so consistently they may as well have been compulsory. Their inclusion wasn’t decorative. They ensured that every squat and pull was done on joints that were primed, reinforced, and resilient. The underlying message is simple: protect the knees, hips, and shoulders first, then load them hard and often. That philosophy allowed athletes to push posterior-chain volume without stacking up injuries.
Event/Athletic Carryover
For strongman clients, the programming showed a consistent pattern: event work was structured, not improvised. Loading events (logs, sandbags, stones) appeared on Dynamic Effort Upper days. Moving events (yoke, farmers, frame carries) appeared on Dynamic Effort Lower days. This separation wasn’t arbitrary - it mirrored the same logic as barbell training, where squats and pulls live on lower days and presses on upper.
For athletes training five or more days per week, events were sometimes split further into dedicated sessions, but the logic of placement remained. Event work was not a sideshow tagged on at the end of a session; it was programmed with the same intent and placement as any main lift. Sandbag medleys built posterior-chain endurance and trunk stability. Farmers sprints doubled as grip and upper-back hypertrophy. Log EMOMs reinforced pressing speed while developing overhead capacity. The consistent theme: events weren’t just practiced, they were used to build.
Shoulder Restoration as a Pillar
Upper-body programming showed near-universal commitment to shoulder health. The SuperD Shoulder Protocol was present across logs, often daily, and always before pressing. Accessory circuits like IYT/Y raises, spider crawls, and face-pull-to-Y complexes were routine, not occasional.
What stands out is how these weren’t just given to athletes with existing shoulder pain - they were given to everyone. Bench specialists, overhead-focused strongmen, and general lifters all benefitted. This made pressing both safer and stronger: overhead numbers climbed, bench press strain lifts held steady, and long-term shoulder tolerance improved across the board. In short, shoulder restoration wasn’t treated as rehab; it was treated as a prerequisite for performance.
Health = Performance
If there’s a single unifying message across all the logs, it’s that health isn’t separate from performance - it is performance. Every athlete’s log, regardless of discipline, contained warm-up circuits, mobility drills, and prehab work. These weren’t optional extras, nor were they tucked away as “do if you have time.” They were structured into the training itself.
This foundation allowed the real work - the punishing posterior-chain hypertrophy, the heavy strain pulls, the event medleys - to be done without breakdown. Knees were reinforced by endless TKEs. Shoulders were kept mobile and pain-free with daily protocols. Trunks were hammered with planks, deadbugs, and banded abs before they were ever asked to stabilise a max-effort pull.
The lesson is clear: longevity and progress aren’t in conflict. By making joint health and prehab compulsory, athletes could sustain the training volume needed to grow stronger. Health wasn’t a detour from performance; it was the direct route to it.
How the System Is Structured
When you strip the training logs down to their bones, a clear system emerges. It isn’t guesswork, and it isn’t chaos disguised as variety. The same scaffolding reappears across lifters and training blocks, proving that the Conjugate framework can be both disciplined and adaptable.
Two Lower Touches Most Weeks
The lower body is usually hit twice per week, but not with the same flavour. One day is built around a heavy strain pull - a max-effort deadlift variation, a block pull, or a banded strain. The second is anchored by either a squat pattern (box, front-rack, SSB, or Bow Bar) or a technical/speed pull such as deficits, pauses, or banded singles.
This structure balances exposure. Heavy pulls deliver intensity without overloading recovery, while squat and positional pulls fill in the weak ranges and build the musculature that keeps heavy deadlifts moving. Athletes don’t just “deadlift more to deadlift more”; they pull enough to keep sharp, then squat and hypertrophy their way into long-term strength.
Upper Sessions
Upper-body training follows a clear priority order: press first, shoulders second, then rows, arms, and secondary press variations. Each upper day opens with a press exposure - max-effort bench, log, or axle; or a dynamic-effort wave with bands or grip changes. Shoulder-prep circuits (SuperD protocol, IYTs, face-pull-to-Y) are built in before or after, ensuring pressing capacity grows without joint wear.
After the primary press, rows dominate. Log pulls, Pendlay rows, axle rows, and chest-supported rows fill the gap between lats and traps. Arm work (triceps first, then biceps) pads out the pressing chain. A second pressing variation often rounds out the day - board presses, Z-presses, or strict log work - reinforcing positions without chasing max strain.
Dynamic Effort
Speed work is a constant. DE squats appear as 6×2 waves with bands, drilling reversal strength and bar speed under short rest. DE bench is programmed in the classic 9×3 format at 50–55% bar weight, sometimes with bands, sometimes with grip changes. Band-resisted pulls show up as crisp singles or doubles, and log EMOMs (often doubles every 30–40 seconds) provide speed pressing under competition-specific implements.
The common thread is execution. Sets are short, rests are tight, and technique is enforced at speed. DE isn’t filler work - it’s technical rehearsal and force development without the recovery debt of constant maximal strain.
Repetition/Accessory Method
If ME and DE set the direction, the repetition method is where the mileage gets done. Posterior chain, upper back, triceps, and trunk all receive high-density training in the 3–5×6–20 range, often capped with finishers, isometric holds, or “total rep” prescriptions.
The logs show:
Hamstrings hammered with band curls, isometric squeezes, and Dimel-style hinges.
Glutes built with frog pumps, sled drags, and sandbag squats.
Upper back thickened with rows, shrugs, and face-pull complexes.
Triceps stressed with Tate presses, JM presses, pushdowns.
Trunk reinforced with planks, standing abs, hollow rocks, and carries.
Totals are sometimes pushed into the 100–200 rep range for smaller muscles, ensuring hypertrophy and endurance without heavy barbell stress.
Circuits and Capacity Work
To support the heavier training, frequent accessory circuits are programmed. High-rep hamstring curls, banded upper-back sequences, or core-hold medleys are rotated in, often at the end of sessions. These serve two purposes: they build local muscular endurance and overall work capacity, and they do it without additional axial fatigue. Athletes leave sessions with their “engines” fuller, not with their backs wrecked.
The Big Picture
Taken together, the structure is disciplined but flexible:
Lower body twice per week: one heavy pull, one squat/positional pull.
Upper body twice per week: press-led, shoulder-prepped, row- and arm-heavy.
Dynamic effort woven in weekly, not just in peaking.
Accessories overloaded in volume where weak points live.
Circuits filling the gaps in work capacity without compromising recovery.
The result is a system that respects the demands of competition lifts while still building the body underneath them - pragmatic Conjugate, alive in the training logs.
Posterior Chain First (Accessory Economy)
If there’s one undeniable trend across every log, it’s this: the posterior chain sits at the top of the programming economy. Hamstrings, glutes, erectors, and upper back muscle groups are trained with far greater density and variety than anything else. This isn’t accidental bias - it’s the direct reflection of what wins lifts and keeps athletes healthy.
Hamstrings
The hamstrings receive relentless volume, to the point where 200+ total reps of curls in a single session are not unusual. These aren’t lazy half-efforts, either: banded leg curls are often held for long isometric squeezes, machine work is programmed in extended sets, and tempo holds are added to increase time under tension. Dimel deadlifts, stiff-legged deadlifts, and B-stance RDLs bring the hinge pattern into play, building not just size but endurance in a muscle group that governs both pulling power and knee stability.
Glutes
The glutes are treated as non-negotiable, with high-rep finishers like frog pumps programmed in totals of 100–200 reps. Sandbag hug squats force hip stability under load while building conditioning, and sled drags provide a joint-friendly way to pile on volume without axial fatigue. Together, this creates glutes that don’t just look big on paper but drive the bar off the floor and keep the pelvis locked under heavy load.
Erectors & Upper Back
The spinal erectors and upper back are hammered with structural volume. GHD and back extensions make frequent appearances, sometimes loaded, sometimes for extended sets. Rowing variations dominate accessory lists: log pulls from the floor, axle rows, and Pendlay rows appear across multiple athletes’ weeks. Kelso shrugs and IYT/Y raises round out the smaller muscles that stabilise scapulae and keep posture locked in. The goal is clear: build a frame that can hold position under maximal strain, whether that’s in a deadlift, a yoke run, or an overhead press.
Core
Trunk work is not tokenistic. The logs show variety and progression: RKC planks and stir-the-pot drills for static anti-extension strength; hollow rocks and hanging leg raises for dynamic control; standing band abs for rotational and anti-extension endurance. Core training is treated with the same seriousness as rows or triceps - multiple exposures per week, with the same high-volume density that characterises the rest of the posterior chain.
This posterior-chain surplus is the spine of the entire system. It’s why athletes can get away with lower barbell pulling volumes while still hitting PBs. It’s why joints stay healthier under heavy loads. And it’s why the same lifters look and feel “bigger” within months of training - the hamstrings, glutes, erectors, and trunk are being trained harder and more consistently than most systems ever allow.
The logs leave no doubt: in this system, the posterior chain isn’t just a priority. It’s the foundation.
Rep & Loading Patterns
Another striking feature of the training logs is how tightly the rep and loading schemes map onto the purpose of each method. It’s not random variety; the numbers repeat with discipline across lifters and blocks. Each range reflects what that category of work is meant to achieve.
Max Effort (ME) Lifts
For the main lifts - squats, pulls, and presses - the logs show strain built on 1–2 rep maxes as the standard. Deadlifts in particular often run slightly longer, into the 1–5 rep range, giving enough practice to reinforce position without degenerating into high-volume fatigue work.
Back-off sets are consistently in the 70–85% range, used for doubles, triples, or small clusters. This zone delivers meaningful volume without breaking the athlete down. Occasionally, you see 90%+ touches on deadlifts, not as weekly grind-fests, but as selective exposures to keep top-end strength sharp.
Dynamic Effort (DE) Primaries
Speed work follows a classic template: 6–12 sets of 1–3 reps, with 30–60 seconds rest. Band or chain resistance is frequent, ensuring the bar demands maximal acceleration through the full range. Whether it’s squats against minis, 9×3 speed bench waves, or banded pulls, the theme is clear: crisp execution under tight rest, with bar speed prioritised over load.
Posterior-Chain Accessories
The real muscle-building work happens here. Hamstrings, glutes, and erectors are trained in 10–30 rep sets, often accumulating 100–200 total reps per session. This high-volume, joint-friendly approach is what makes it possible to keep barbell pulls low in volume while still driving deadlift strength forward. Dimels, frog pumps, and back extensions all follow this logic: build the engine room with sheer density.
Core & Bracing Work
Trunk training is treated with the same precision. 30–90 second holds, done for 3–5 sets, are the norm for planks, hollow rocks, ab rollouts, and stir-the-pot drills. These aren’t fluffy add-ons; they’re heavy bracing exposures designed to harden the trunk for squatting, pulling, and carrying under load.
Upper-Body Accessories
For pressing support, upper-body accessories fall into the 8–15 rep range. Rows, extensions, and pressing variations dominate here, hitting hypertrophy and endurance in the muscle groups that drive the bench and log. Smaller movements like IYT raises, lateral raises, and face-pull-to-Y complexes are programmed stricter, often 15–25 reps per set, to build shoulder resilience and stability.
The pattern across methods is consistent:
Max Effort = 1–2 rep strain, with back-offs in the 70–85% range.
Dynamic Effort = short sets, high sets, tight rest, bar speed maximised.
Posterior Chain = very high total rep counts, especially on hamstrings and glutes.
Core = long-duration holds, bracing done heavy and often.
Upper Accessories = hypertrophy and stability ranges, strict form for smaller muscles.
The rep and loading patterns aren’t arbitrary - they form a coherent system where each method serves its role. Heavy lifts build strain, speed work builds force and skill, and accessories build the musculature that makes both possible.
Athlete Experience Themes
Beyond the numbers, the notes inside the logs tell a story of how the athletes actually experienced the training. Strikingly, their reflections converged on the same themes again and again, regardless of whether the lifter was a strongman, powerlifter, or general strength trainee.
Variety They’d Never Seen Before
Many athletes commented that they had simply never been exposed to this breadth of variation. Instead of grinding one lift for weeks, they were rotated through banded, paused, deficit, board, and specialty bar variations. That variety wasn’t chaotic; it kept training engaging and continually addressed different weak points. For lifters used to linear 12-week progressions, the difference was dramatic - training felt more stimulating, more challenging, and less predictable.
Warm-Ups and Band Work That Actually Worked
Across the logs, athletes consistently highlighted warm-up circuits and band work. Unlike the token stretches they had done under previous coaches, these were circuits that primed joints, muscles, and nervous system for the session ahead. Shoulders felt looser, knees felt more stable, hips felt open. The consensus was that these weren’t “extras” - they were the difference between getting under the bar with confidence or not.
Constant Sense of Progression, Without Grinding
Athletes noted that progress didn’t come in the form of slow, joyless 2.5 kg increases on one stale lift. Instead, they felt progression weekly - whether through a new variation, a rep PR, a better position, or simply moving more smoothly. That constant sense of momentum kept morale high and motivation consistent, without the psychological drain of endless plateaus.
Muscularity: Visible Growth
Nearly all logs included notes about increased muscularity - not just in abstract, but in visible changes to the physique. Hamstrings and glutes in particular were singled out, with athletes noticing new size and shape within a matter of months. This matches what the programming emphasised: a posterior-chain surplus delivered through high-volume accessory work.
Less Pain, More Strength
Perhaps the most telling theme was reduced pain. Knees, shoulders, and backs - the usual culprits for strong lifters - were reported as feeling healthier even as PBs went up. Athletes were surprised to find themselves moving bigger weights while experiencing fewer aches. The logs repeatedly showed the same outcome: structured prehab plus joint-friendly main lifts equalled better performance with less wear and tear.
“Chill PBs”
A recurring phrase in the notes was that PBs felt “chill.” Instead of being all-out grinders, new records were described as smooth, almost casual. That isn’t to say they weren’t maximal, but they were achieved in positions of control rather than desperation. The programming had built such a surplus of strength and skill that when PBs arrived, they felt inevitable rather than miraculous.
The athlete experience echoes the programming philosophy: structured variety, joint-first preparation, high-volume posterior-chain work, and intelligent rotation lead not just to numbers on paper, but to training that feels better, builds confidence, and keeps athletes progressing without breaking down.
When athletes start describing PBs as ‘chill,’ you know the system isn’t just working on paper - it’s building surplus strength they can call on without drama.
Method Document vs. Real Log Summary
On paper, I’ve written plenty about what the TeamJoshHezza Method stands for: a Conjugate foundation with rotation, weak-range targeting, posterior-chain bias, joint-friendly loading, event integration, and the principle that health is performance. That’s the method as described. https://www.teamjoshhezza.com/post/the-teamjoshhezza-method-how-i-build-strength-that-actually-works
The logs back that philosophy up - but they also show how much further it actually goes in practice. When you look at the lived reality of week-to-week training, the system isn’t just theory applied; it’s intensified.
Accessory Volumes Are Brutal
While the method statement emphasises posterior-chain bias, the logs show the sheer scale of that emphasis. 200-rep banded hamstring curls and 100+ rep frog pump finishers appear regularly. Accessories aren’t light touches; they’re programmed with density high enough to drive visible hypertrophy and endurance in the muscles that underpin every lift.
Deadlift Exposures Are Double-Touched
The method promises rotation and weak-range work. In practice, the deadlift is often touched twice per week, not just once - a heavy strain exposure (max effort, block pull, banded single) paired with a positional or speed pull (deficit, pause, or banded double). This two-touch approach keeps skill sharp, builds strength through weak points, and avoids the stagnation of “one heavy deadlift day per week.”
Core Work Is Omnipresent
In the method statement, trunk training is framed as an essential accessory. In the logs, it’s clear it’s more than that: core work is everywhere. RKC planks, hollow rocks, stir-the-pot, standing band abs, and carries appear across nearly every session. This isn’t sprinkled in as an afterthought; it’s treated as a backbone of training, ensuring that bracing and trunk endurance are trained as consistently as pressing or pulling.
Event Work Is Systematised
On paper, event work is integrated intelligently. In practice, the system is precise: loading events fall on Dynamic Effort Upper days, moving events on Dynamic Effort Lower days. If an athlete trains five or more times per week, the split adjusts - but the rules stay intact. Events aren’t thrown in for variety; they’re programmed with the same structural logic as the main lifts, making them builders rather than distractions.
Paper vs. Practice
That’s the difference between a method in theory and a method in reality. On paper, the TeamJoshHezza Method is a Conjugate system adapted for strength sports. In the logs, it’s a living system: more muscular, more relentless, and more detailed than a single document can capture.
The philosophy matches the practice, but the practice adds flesh to the skeleton. It’s not just rotation, weak-range work, and posterior-chain bias - it’s high-volume accessory density, two-touch deadlift exposures, omnipresent core training, and systematic event integration. The logs prove that the method isn’t just claimed; it’s lived.
Why That Matters
If you’re a lifter deciding who to work with, don’t just look at what a coach claims. Look at the patterns their athletes repeat. Talk is cheap; training logs are the truth.
Across fifty logs, the same themes surface again and again. My programming doesn’t just talk about Conjugate - it builds it into a system that:
Adds muscle to the right places: hamstrings, glutes, erectors, and upper back are hammered until they grow, because that’s what drives bigger lifts.
Keeps joints healthier: box squats, front-rack squats, SuperD shoulders, TKEs, and abductions are staples, not afterthoughts.
Progresses lifters without frying them: low-volume pulls plus high-volume accessories deliver strength without recovery debt.
Integrates strongman and powerlifting logically: loading events on DE Upper, moving events on DE Lower, each reinforcing the barbell lifts.
Delivers PBs while athletes feel better, not worse: new records arrive without the grind of broken bodies.
That’s what it means to have a method that actually works - not because it’s written down in a manifesto, but because it lives in the day-to-day structure of every athlete I coach.
Why That Matters for You
When you work with me, you’re not buying a cookie-cutter block of sets and reps. You’re stepping into a coaching relationship built on three things:
A system that evolves with you - your weak points, your event calendar, your injury history, your goals.
A relentless focus on health as performance - because strength that breaks you isn’t real strength.
A proven track record - visible in the logs, not just in promises. And then demonstrated on the platform.
That’s the difference between programming and coaching. Programming gives you numbers on a spreadsheet. Coaching gives you a method that adapts, protects, and progresses you over months and years.
Ready to Take the Next Step?
If you’re serious about building strength without breaking down, apply for coaching today.
If you want to learn more about how I work, read my full breakdown here: Why Work With Me.
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Strength isn’t built by chance. It’s built by method. And these logs prove the method works
The lesson is simple. Methods are promises, logs are proof. When you choose a coach, you’re not buying words - you’re buying patterns that repeat over time. These logs show exactly what mine are, and why they work..
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