Resistance Is Not Load: A Programming Distinction That Changes Everything

In programming, resistance and load get used interchangeably. They shouldn’t. They mean different things, and once you understand the distinction, your ability to program with specificity goes to another level.

This episode is a brainstorming discussion between us on how to more accurately define these terms within the Absolute strategy—with historical roots and real-world application.

What We Cover in This Episode

• The Soviet grading system for resistance. The Soviets were the first to grade resistance based on how many repetitions a given weight permits. One rep = maximal. Two to three = submaximal. Four to seven = heavy. All the way up to 25+ = very light. This grading system was foundational to their programming of Olympic weightlifting—and it’s still foundational to how we program today.

• Why the Soviets needed this system. They weren’t just training—they were practicing the lifts. They needed to constrain resistance so they could get the neural output they wanted: optimal bar path, bar speed, and technical mastery. That’s Perlipin’s chart. That’s the logic that eventually got them beat by the Bulgarians, who cared less about technical mastery and more about scaling up the nervous system.

• Louie Simmons blended both approaches. Louie combined Soviet and Bulgarian logic. When programming speed strength, he’d use submaximal resistance (two to three reps) with the intent of highest attainable velocity. The resistance was submaximal, but the intent was maximal. That distinction matters.

• Resistance is external. Load is the total output. Resistance is what you put on the bar — straight weight, band tension, chains, or any combination. It constrains the lift. Load is what the neural network actually outputs: resistance multiplied by the total volume of work. Three sets of six at 50 pounds = 900 pounds of load. That’s the cumulative demand on the tissue and the nervous system.

• Accommodating resistance changes the game. Once you introduce bands or chains, the resistance is no longer just plate weight. You might have 50% straight weight and 20% band tension for a total of 70% resistance — but the composition of that resistance changes the output. This is where programming gets creative, and where avoiding neurological stagnation becomes possible.

• Resistance as strain rate. Here’s the key reframe: resistance determines the strain rate the lift imposes on the athlete.

  • High resistance = high strain = skewed toward the neural network.

  • Lower resistance = more repetitions = skewed toward the biological network.

    • This gives programmers a direct lever for biasing training effects.

• The NFL lineman example. An offensive lineman blocking a 400-pound defensive tackle 60–70 times per game—the resistance is the opponent’s mass and force output. The load is 60–70 reps times that resistance over four hours. In offseason programming, you need to build the neural network’s capacity to output that load while managing the biological strain so the tissue doesn’t break down. That’s where the neurological-to-biological asymmetry shows up—the nervous system can keep outputting, but the biology can’t keep up.

• Programming on the conjugate edge. The goal is to ride the line between neurological and biological demand. Higher resistance biases top-down neural output. Lower resistance with specific intent (like punch-and-dampen drills at 19–25 reps) biases bottom-up tissue adaptation. The programmer’s job is to fluctuate along that edge—what we call the conjugate edge—so the neural network and biology are synergizing, not stagnating.

• Practice vs. training through resistance. When a lineman does punch drills into a bag for 19–25 reps with damping intent, the resistance is very light by Soviet standards. But the intent — pressing isometric into the bag, tuning connective tissue — creates a unique load that’s biologically skewed. That’s technically practice, not training, and it falls on a recovery or deload day. But it’s building the bottom-up tissue architecture that makes the top-down output more efficient over time.

Key Concepts

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The result? Inconsistent transfer of training, neurological stagnation, and athletes who are strong in the weight room but are weak and fail to actualize their speed strength potential when it counts. That changes now.

Developed in collaboration with Colton Razo, Strength & Conditioning Coach for Ohio State University Track & Field, the 12-Week Speed Strength Program is live.

This is a specific, three-phase strategy built around the four fundamental elements of Point B—designed to stimulate the development of Speed Strength as a true special strength, not just a training quality. We program the training from the inside-out: improving the nervous system’s ability to organize its biology to express force at the highest attainable velocities.

Who This Program Is For

• Coaches who need their athletes to be noticeably faster and more explosive

• Strength coaches ready to move beyond guesswork and program Speed Strength with at the highest levels of specificity

• Anyone who wants to properly integrate—that is conjugate, Absolute Strength, Speed Strength, Reactive Strength and Joint Function instead of programming them as separate blocks.

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What You’ll Get Inside the Program

• 3 progressive phases of programming delivered in clean, ready-to-use Excel files

• Supplementary PDF guide that breaks down the art, the science, and the full programming strategy

• Whiteboard sessions with Colton Razo—detailed breakdowns of exercise selection, technique, and why each piece fits the Absolute Conjugate approach

• In-depth program overview video with John and Colton walking through the entire system

After 12 weeks, you’ll have a repeatable framework that develops real Speed Strength—better Rate of Force Development, improved explosive power transfer, and athletes who actually express their absolute strength dynamically at the Level of Competition.

Why This Collaboration Matters

Colton works daily with elite sprinters, jumpers, and throwers at one of the top collegiate track programs in the country. This skin in the game shaped a program that respects the demands of high-level competition while staying practical for coaches at every level.

We didn’t just slap together some workouts. We built a strategy that treats speed as the special strength it is.

The Speed Strength Program is available now at launch pricing: $299.99 (regularly $399.99—pricing ends in 5 days).

Instant digital access—download the Excel files, PDF, and videos immediately and start programming this week.

→ Get the 12-Week Speed Strength Program Here

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Why Nobody Talks About the Pendulum on the Reverse Hyper

The reverse hyper has a pendulum on it. That sounds obvious — but the implications of that pendulum, from a physics and programming perspective, have gone almost entirely undiscussed.

The pendulum is not a free weight. It’s not a cam. It’s not a cable. It behaves differently than all of them. And once you understand how it behaves, you unlock a level of programming specificity on the reverse hyper that most people don’t know exists.

What We Cover in This Episode

• The pendulum is the stimulus. Not the load. Not the range of motion. The pendulum—and the physics that govern it—is the primary training variable on the reverse hyper.

• Damping as a trainable quality. How do you take force out of a swinging pendulum? That’s damping. And the rate at which you dampen the pendulum determines the training effect.

  • Fast damping (taking force out rapidly) = larger energy transfer = more top-down (neural) demand.

  • Slow damping (taking force out over time) = sustained energy transfer = more bottom-up (tissue/biological) demand.

• Reactive strength on the reverse hyper. Nobody has programmed for reactive strength on the reverse hyper before. Historically, the reverse hyper has been paired with squat volume and classical powerlifting. But if you understand the Inside-Out mental model of reactive strength—with its top-down and bottom-up components—the reverse hyper becomes a tool for cultivating reactive strength across the entire lumbopelvic hip complex.

• Why the historical definition of reactive strength is incomplete. From the Soviets to Louie Simmons, reactive strength has been treated as an observable quality—something you see during a stretch-shortening cycle. That observation led everyone to plyometrics as the default training means. But you can’t do plyometrics for your low back. Our model defines reactive strength as something programmable through PIMAs, HIMAs, and OIMAs—anywhere you have tissue that needs stiffness and a neural network that can output to it.

• The reverse hyper is not just a low back exercise. When you program the pendulum with this framework, you’re training the entire backside—every tissue associated with the lumbopelvic hip complex. That’s the epicenter of all athletic performance.

• Clinical applications. This same framework enables clinicians to cultivate reactive strength in a clinical setting—using isometric variations to integrate the neural network with tissues that have abnormal connective tissue architecture.

Key Concepts

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This is an inside look at what we built.

In this clip, Colton Razo—Strength Coach, Ohio State University Track & Field—walks through Day 1 of the Speed Strength program.

Not the exercises alone. The programming logic behind them.

Why each exercise was selected. Which Point B elements it’s targeting. How the four days of training fit together as a complete conjugate strategy—and why that structure matters more than any individual session.

This is the level of detail inside the full program.

What You’re Seeing

Most programs give you a list of exercises and loading parameters. That’s training.

What Colton is walking through is programming—the regulation of training contents in accordance with specific physical objectives.

The difference is everything.

Exercise selection without programming logic is guesswork. You might hit the right stimulus by accident. You might not. Either way you don’t know why it worked or how to replicate it.

Speed Strength is a behaviour of the neural network. Not a percentage. Not a protocol. A behaviour. And like any neural network behaviour—it requires the right inputs, applied with the right intent, at the right frequency.

That's what this program is built around.

Day 1 is where it starts. And that's what Colton is breaking down.

The Speed Strength Program Drops this Sunday

Complete programming logic. Exercise selection mapped to Point B elements. Built for coaches and clinicians working with athletes who need to develop Speed Strength without outpacing their biological capacity.

Early bird pricing: $299 at launch. Goes to $399 the following Sunday at midnight.

Want to follow Colton or inquire about coaching?

• Instagram: @razo_strength

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Point B exists as Four fundamental Capacities: Absolute Strength, Speed Strength, Joint Function and Reactive Strength.

All need to be managed by the programmer and trained by the athlete at various levels simultaneously each week. This is the nature of our Conjugate Strategy—all elements within the system are linked and due to the linkage they will behave as if they are all joined together. This is what creates Matthew like effects—compounded advantages leading to (stimulating) exponential growth as a result of small increasing changes in all fundamental capacities.

No one physical capacity exists in isolation. As a matter of fact if they are thought to exist each on their own it costs the system as managing just one or two fundamental capacities comes at the expense of the others. Even with optimal intentions, if all resources are dedicated to the expansion of one, the rest will decrease as the inter-dependent interacting effects will be negative.

from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away

Outcome Effects Are Multiplied

When considering Point B, understand that all capacities influence each other in non-linear ways. This non-linearity is not predictable per se by the programmer but can be understood in a multiplicative fashion.

Point B is a product of both neurological and biological capacities.

Neurological Point B x Biological Point B = Matthew Like Effects

More specifically:

Absolute Strength x Speed Strength x Reactive Strength x Joint Function = High Performance

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Multiplication Principle & Programming for Point B

Programming for high performance must account for the Multiplication Principle. With the goal being high performance for the athlete, the outcome of any program is dependent upon the interacting combinatorial effects of the training inputs that occur within each training session, within each week of the program over the course of time of the program that leads to the acquisition of multiple of the fundamental physical capacities of Point B. Inherently, this is part of the reason why, the sequencing of each daily input to the system must be considered in real time by the programmer and the athlete so as to attempt to maximize the product of the training.

The central idea of the multiplication principle as it relates to systems is that:

If any one event can happen in M ways, and another event can happen in N ways, then both together can happen in M x N ways.

If this were considered as numbers and M was represented by the numbers 1-10 and N was also represented by the numbers 1-10, it would be easy to see that at the top end (ie 10 X 10) the outcome would equate to a larger product than the lower numbers, even if one of either M or N had a high number. If M was represented by a 10 and N was a 0, the product would be nil—this is the potency of the multiplication principle.

Using a simple practical example of the multiplication principle consider choosing a meal from a small menu at a restaurant. Considering that there may be five appetizers, 10 meal options and five desserts, using the principle it would lead to a potential of 5x10x5 = 250 possible meal options.

In the view of programming, the application of the principle aligns well within the conjugate strategy. Using the acquisition of Reactive Strength as an example, we know that there is a top down and bottom up component of this behaviour that cannot be fully trained using inputs of one sole means. Embedded within the top down component would be the capacities of Absolute Strength as well as Speed Strength which should be accounted for at certain levels within the program. From the bottom up, Joint Function and Connective Tissue Stiffness must be layered into the program at various levels creating a multiplication grid that includes four capacities that have multiple levels and even more inputs within each level. It is evident to see how the multiplication principle is at work creating the ultimate product of any treatment or training session.

In attempting to maximize the product in each training session, an example for an athlete that requires more neurological output may look like this:

The Programming Shift → Linear to Conjugate

Programming with this in mind leads to a fundamental shift away from linear thinking and toward system stewardship. The programmer’s role is no longer to maximize a single variable, but to protect and enhance the product of all variables simultaneously. Because the output is multiplicative rather than additive, even modest improvements across all capacities yield a disproportionately large increase in performance, while neglect of any single capacity disproportionately suppresses the final outcome.

In practical terms, this means that programming decisions must be evaluated not by how much they improve one quality in isolation, but by how they influence the entire system product. A small gain in Absolute Strength that degrades Joint Function, or an increase in Speed Strength that erodes Reactive Strength, may result in a net loss at Point B—even though one metric appears to improve. The program may look successful on paper while the athlete’s performance ceiling is quietly lowered.

The Multiplication Principle therefore enforces a hierarchy of priorities:

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We sat down with IFBB Pro Justin Compton and recorded the full conversation breaking down exactly how he built his arms from 20 inches to 24.5 inches.

This week subscribers got in their inbox the exact 5-exercise program Justin walked us through. If you missed it, you can find the complete sequence and details here:

In this conversation, Justin goes deep into the programming logic behind the his training—why each exercise was selected and sequenced, how deliberate training intent needs to be, and the training intensity that needs to be elicited to stimulate muscle tissue hypertrophy.

He also shares one non-negotiable principle: consistent nutrition is just as important as the training itself. Training + nutrition together is what unlocks your full genetic potential.

Justin flew into Columbus, Ohio back in 2016, the same year he won the Arnold Classic Asia, and even Louie Simmons wanted to sit down and talk programming and training with him.

Want to follow Justin or inquire about coaching?

• Instagram: @justinrcompton

• Official site: justincompton.biz

Become the Programming Strategist

Learn how to program to propagate your clients toward Point B—neurologically and biologically unconstrained, with the capacity to do what they want to do.

Explore our Absolute Conjugate Strategy inside the Learning Module: The Art & Science of Programming.

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No, the image you’re looking at isn’t AI-edited—that was the real size of Justin Compton’s physique and arms in 2016. He flew into Columbus, Ohio for treatment. At the time I was treating Louie Simmons every Friday and when I let Lou know that Justin was coming into town Louie wanted to meet to talk training and programming.

We just sat down with the 2016 IFBB Arnold Classic Asia champion bodybuilder and got the full breakdown of how he actually programs his biceps training from start to finish with all the nuances. That conversation was recorded and will be out soon.

Before it gets to subscriber inboxes, we wanted to give you the exact program Justin walked us through—the sequence of special exercises he used to stimulate every last inch of growth out of his arms.

20-Inch Arms →24.5 Inches Arms

• Justin hit 20-inch arms by age 21 with basic training. Starting around 23-24 he switched to these specific programming principles and took his arms to 24.5 inches.

• He emphasized one non-negotiable: nutrition consistency is just as critical. Training + nutrition concurrently is what actualizes your full genetic potential show up.

• Before you start the program, measure your arm girth today. Justin recommends re-measuring after one full year of running this program.

The 5 Special Exercises

Justin trains biceps using five specific exercises that each target a different aspect of the biceps anatomy. The exercises are listed in order of sequence that will be performed. Do them in this order, every session.

1. Preacher Curl—Full Range of Motion

• This is your opener. It’s the easiest on your joints and gives you the most control. Keep your back still, don’t let your elbows drift forward, and squeeze hard at the top.

2. Overhead Cable Curl—Shortened Position

• Arms elevated above shoulder height. This is Justin’s most highly recommended movement for arm growth—the bicep is fully contracted in the shortened position. If you don’t have a dedicated machine, pull a preacher bench up to a high cable pulley.

3. Incline Dumbbell Curl—Lengthened Position

• Set the bench to 60 degrees (not 45). Let your arms hang back behind your body, keep your elbows pointing down and back, and use light resistance—25 to 45lbs max. The goal is a deep stretch through the entire anatomy of the biceps. Do not let your elbows come forward.

4. Hammer Curls—Brachialis + Forearm

• Neutral grip, palms facing each other. Essential for building thickness across the whole arm and developing the brachialis muscle underneath the bicep. Skip this and your arms will look flat.

5. Reverse Grip Curls—Brachialis + Forearm

• Use the EZ bar to not irritate your wrists. Keep your wrists locked straight throughout. This hits the top of the forearm and recruits the elbow flexors.

Sets & Reps

• 3 working sets per exercise (15 total sets)

• 8–15 reps per set

• If you hit 15+ reps easily, increase the resistance

• If you can’t complete 8 reps, decrease the resistance

• On the incline dumbbell curl, don’t go below 8 reps

Warm-Up (First Exercise Only)

Do 3–4 warm-up sets on the first exercise to prime your nervous system— but do not pre fatigue the biceps!

• Warm-up 1: under 50% of working resistance 12–15 reps

• Warm-up 2: ~65% (e.g. 70 lbs) 10–12

• Warm-up 3: ~80% (e.g. 90 lbs) 8-10

How to Actually Train Hard

Most people stop 3–5 reps before true failure. Don’t. Take every working set to momentary failure—the point where you physically cannot complete another full rep. After your last rep, try one more partial and hold a static isometric contraction in the biceps anatomy then lower back down..

5 all-out sets beats 30 half-effort sets every time.

Rest 2–3 minutes between sets so you can actually give each set full effort.

Form in Plain English

• Slow on the way down (3–4 seconds eccentrics), explosive on the way up

• Keep your elbows in one place the whole time — they should not move forward

• No swinging your lower back

• Drop the ego and use a resistance you can actually lift with your biceps anatomy

How Much Volume Do You Need?

This depends on you. Justin’s personal range is 15–21 total working sets per session. Here’s how to figure out where you fall:

• Natural lifter → stay closer to 15 sets, never go above 21

• Physical job (construction, nursing, etc.) → you’ll need more recovery, so fewer sets

• Older lifter (38+) → volume tolerance drops with age, adjust accordingly

• Recovering slowly or always sore → reduce volume, not effort

How to Find Justin Compton

Want to follow Justin’s journey, see more of his training breakdowns, or inquire about coaching?

• Instagram: @justinrcompton

  • IFBB Pro, 2016 Olympian, 3x Champion—he posts training tips, client updates, and DMs for direct coaching inquiries.

• Official Coaching Website: justincompton.biz

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Become the Programming Strategist

Learn how to program to propagate your clients toward Point B—neurologically and biologically unconstrained, with the capacity to do what they want to do.

Explore our Absolute Conjugate Strategy inside the Learning Module: The Art & Science of Programming.

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Welcome to the monthly roundup for Absolute Sport Science! If you’ve been busy programming treatment and training, analyzing Point A → Point B data, or just busy with the pace of life in 2026, this is your one-stop to catch up on everything we covered in March. We’ve got summaries and links to all our Tuesday written posts and Sunday video deep-dives (exclusive to paid subscribers). This is your monthly highlights—straight to your inbox.

Whether you’re a free subscriber or a paid member, these recaps are designed to keep you informed and inspired—to keep you getting better at becoming a programming strategist!

Oscillating Isometric Muscle Actions Founders Meeting

We had a Founders Meeting on OIMAs. It was an in-depth review and refinement of oscillating isometric muscle actions, building on concepts originally published about a year ago on substack. The presentation introduced enhanced frameworks for understanding how these isometrics fit into reactive strength programming from both bottom-up (connective tissue) and top-down (neurological) perspectives.

Tuesday Posts: Programming Insights

Tuesdays are all about actionable, evidence-based articles to level up your programming knowledge. Here’s what we explored this month:

• March 3, 2026: The Conjugate Edge #06: Treating Reactive Strength

  • The video shows reactive strength programming in the clinical setting.

  • Programming constraints were to utilize the inside out model of reactive strength and leverage the Linear Loading Progression, the Internal Isometric Continuum and Neurological Network of Absolute strength to stimulate the cultivation of reactive strength.

• March 10, 2026: Inside-Out Reactive Strength Visual + Isometric Classifications

  • The visual of reactive strength as a special strength enables the programmer to see what ecologies the isometric classifications of PIMAs, OIMAs, and HIMAs primarily stimulate.

  • We emphasize that our conjugate programming strategy utilizes all three classification of isometrics concurrently—this leads to ecological reactive strength development.

• March 17, 2026: Can You See The Damping Effect?

  • Has videos from the Level of Adaptation and the Level of Competition where the trainee’s training intent was to dampen incoming forces.

  • The damping effect is a programmable quality of reactive strength. If you do not know what is and you want to program for reactive strength, take a couple seconds and watch this trainable strength behavior.

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Sunday Paid Subscriber Video Posts

Sundays are reserved for our premium video content—in-depth breakdowns, Q&A sessions, and practical demos that bring the science to life. If you’re not a paid subscriber yet, these are a great reason to upgrade!

Become a Programming Strategist: Master “The Art and Science of Programming”

If you’re enjoying the content and getting good transfer of training and want to take your programming skills to the next level, dive into The Art & Science of Programming.

This self-paced learning module is packed with actionable insights on the prerequisites for programming in 2026:

• Point A

• Point B

• The neural network of absolute strength

• Understanding reactive strength from the inside-out

• And much more!

You’ll learn how to programs to win—whether you’re a strength coach, therapist, athletic trainer, or chiropractor, you are programmer.

Built from years of real-world skin in the game knowledge, it’s made for busy professionals who want to become programming strategists.

👉 Enroll now and start the process of becoming a strategist.

Next Founders Meeting

We’ll focus on the programming variable of load with a focus on resistance:

• We ill go over how the Soviets graded out resistance in the sport of Olympic Weightlifting

• Show how that graded resistance was utilized by Louie Simmons in his Westside Barbell Conjugate System

• Advance the grading out of resistance for today in 2026 and what that means in programming resistance optimally for not just the athlete but also the special strength that is desired for treatment or training

If you have any other topics worth discussing at a Founders Meeting, leave them in the comments below.

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Become the Programming Strategist

Learn how to program to propagate your clients toward Point B—neurologically and biologically unconstrained, with the capacity to do what they want to do.

Explore our Absolute Conjugate Strategy inside the Learning Module: The Art & Science of Programming.

Read more

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Damping At the Level of Adaptation

Damping is a behavior that shows up at the Level of Competition. It is the ability to counteract forces and bring about equilibrium within a system. As such, it is a programable quality—meaning that it should be trained at the Level of Adaptation within any Conjugate strategy. Below is a video of an Oscillatory Isometric Muscle Action. using the bench press, bands and chains.

Can you see the damping effect at the Level of Adaptation?

A thorough programming strategy should elicit training effects that ultimately carry over or translate to performance. The above video demonstrated training using an oscillatory load, that is designed to acquire certain behaviours from the athlete that equate to Reactive Strength. The video below shows an athlete training a specific skill that is required within their performance environment.

Can you see the damping effect at the Level of Competition (Practice)?

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The recording of the Founding Members meeting on Oscillatory Isometric Muscle Actions (OIMAs) and its next evolution is live for Founding Members who could not attend.

You will get the why OIMAs are so potent for the cultivation of reactive strength—and how to program them with specificity from two completely different directions:

• Biological → Bottom-up …

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This Absolute founders meeting provided an in-depth review and refinement of oscillating isometric muscle actions, building on concepts originally published about a year ago on substack. The presentation introduced enhanced frameworks for understanding how these isometrics fit into reactive strength training from both bottom-up (connective tissue) and t…

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Inside Out Mental Models of Special Strength > Definitions

We find the prevailing definition of reactive strength to be very limiting, not only because we feel it is incomplete but also becausewe believe it actively limits our ability to develop the special strength we’re programming to stimulate.

At Absolute, we don’t use a traditional definitions to program. We use something we innovated in our Art & Science of Programming Learning Model, a special strength inside-out mental model.

This model explains the emergent behavior we see on video at the Level of Competition and enables us to know how to optimally stimulate this emergent strength behavior. It enables us program isometrics with a level of specificity that simply didn’t exist before.

The visual we created for you makes it all click. Understanding it enables you to select, coach, and sequence isometrics in real time—with higher levels of specificity for reactive strength cultivation than without it.

Adopting inside-out special strength mental models transforms strength coaches, therapists, trainers, chiropractors, into programmers. It is a code that unleashes their ability to program, organize, and sequence treatment and training inputs. It actualizes them and their work in conjugation.

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PIMAs, OIMAs, & HIMAs

Reactive strength is not a single quality you can program for directly. It is an emergent behavior—the explosive result of two completely different networks working together, in conjunction, with synergy:

• The top-down neural network of absolute strength

• The bottom-up connective tissue network

  • the stiffness, elasticity, and reactivity of white connective tissue

This inside-out mental model lets us clearly see three distinct classifications of isometrics and exactly what each one stimulates. It enables us to better program for this special strength.

• PIMAs – Pressing Isometric Muscle Actions

  • These primarily stimulate the top-down neural network of absolute strength.

• OIMAs – Oscillatory Isometric Muscle Actions

  • This is the new category we at Absolute Sport Science innovated—the critical “in-between” isometric that no one else identified.

    • As you can see they are at the intersection of the neural and biological networks—at the edge.

• HIMAs – Holding Isometric Muscle Actions

  • These primarily stimulate the bottom-up connective tissue network

If you want the full story of how we identified and defined OIMAs, check our earlier article

Why You MUST Program all 3 Isometrics in Conjugation

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Become the Programming Strategist

Learn how to program to propagate your clients toward Point B—neurologically and biologically unconstrained, with the capacity to do what they want to do.

Explore our Absolute Conjugate Strategy inside the Learning Module: The Art & Science of Programming.

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Founders Meeting Announcement

Unlock the programming code for reactive strength—join us for our next Founders Meeting, where we’ll dive into the science and application of Oscillatory Isometric Muscle Actions (OIMAs).

OIMAs are a new programmable element of treatment and training.

Date and Time: Friday, March 13, 2026 at Noon EST (US and Canada).
For those who cannot attend, this meeting will be recorded and posted for you.

What We’ll Cover:

• What Are OIMAs?

  • How are they distinct from holding (HIMAs) or pushing (PIMAs) isometrics.

• Treatment and Training Examples

• Stimulated Effects Through Our Inside-Out Special Strengths Model

• Execution/Load/Intent to Skew Effects

  • Bias toward neurology or biology.

• Programming Integration

Related Resources for Oscillatory Isometric Muscle Actions (OIMAs)

To deepen your understanding before or after the Founders Meeting, check out these posts from our substack archive:

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Zoom Meeting Information

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Reactive Strength is Treatable If You Know How to Program

The programming intent was specific: to stimulate reactive strength—the special strength that emerges when the neural network of absolute strength and the biological connective-tissue network synergize (conjugate) together to output.

Joe Matovich, Absolute’s Peptide authority, let us film the reactive strength part of treatment.

His Point A assessment revealed a reactive-strength problem, neurological-biological asymmetry. So I gave myself four non-negotiable programing constraints with the intent to only stimulate reactive strength:

• Inside-out mental model of Reactive Strength

• The Linear Loading Progression

• The Internal Isometric Continuum

• The Neural Network of Absolute Strength

This video is not claiming the treatment was perfect—it wasn’t. But it was stimulatory. It was specific work that propagated Joe closer to Point B reactive strength.

The intent for sharing this is to show reactive strength as a special strength from the inside-out that can be treated. To show how reactive strength can be stimulated in a clinical setting using the programming constraints above.

Reactive strength can be treated. Having the limiting constraint that it cannot be cultivated in the clinic is one of the reasons why we have so many bad explanations for all the reactive strength injuries we see from Lindsey Vonn, Major Leagues Baseballs UCL epidemic, the NBA’s Load Management Failures to the San Francisco 49ers reactive strength problem incorrectly framed as a power plant problem.

Hopefully brief video stimulates you to understand that you can program for and treat reactive strength clinically. Hopefully it stimulates you to become a programming strategist so that you can work smarter, not harder and get better results.

Any feedback on the treatment is welcome. Anything that could have been done better, anything missed.

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Become the Programming Strategist

Learn how to program to propagate your clients toward Point B—neurologically and biologically unconstrained, with the capacity to do what they want to do.

Explore our Absolute Conjugate Strategy inside the Learning Module: The Art & Science of Programming.

Other Editions of the Conjugate Edge:

Share Absolute: The Art and Science of Human Performance

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Become the Programming Strategist

Learn how to program to propagate your clients toward Point B—neurologically and biologically unconstrained, with the capacity to do what they want to do.

Explore our Absolute Conjugate Strategy inside the Learning Module: The Art & Science of Programming.

Read more

Programming: The Hidden Layer

In a recent conversation, we unpacked how two terms often tossed around interchangeably—training and programming—are profoundly different. Misunderstanding this distinction creates real life limiting constraints. Take the San Francisco 49ers’ Reactive Strength Problem, where recurring connective tissue failures and neural-biological asymmetries have amplified into a multi-season constraint, limiting emergences of high performance even amid treatment and training. Maybe it is the programming, that is missing?

Most in treatment or training for high performance begin by learning the act itself. We master the methods, the intensities, the essence of a well-executed session…that we’ve inherited. We become adept—often exceptionally so—at delivering this work at the output level. Yet a deeper layer—the hidden layer, remains hidden, that is until enough output layer experience compels us to know there is in fact something deeper.

What is deeper? It is programming—the hidden layer. Look for yourself.

Point A as the input layer, Point B as programming and the hidden layer, and the output layer as coaching/treatment/training.

The Evolutionary Path

Training emerged first, both historically and practically. It’s the output layer—the direct biological and neurological inputs (the work) that stimulate the neurology and biology in the real time of training or. Our lineage at Absolute is derived from the Soviets rather than purely Western origins; in our strategy, everything stems from the old Soviet methods: max effort, dynamic effort, and repeated effort methods.

The Soviets were so right that the methods have stayed the same even in 2026. The inputs generated from these origin methods keep evolving rapidly at various levels—external and internal—but their core logic was largely refined decades ago in the labs and gyms that gave birth to Training Science. You can master them, execute them optimally, and still instinctually know that with certain clients, you’re only scratching the surface—that’s because you are.

This hidden depth is like the neural network of absolute strength, where the central nervous system (CNS) acts as literally the hidden layer—processing sensory inputs like training, treatment, nutrition, stress, rest, hormones, and injury to orchestrate outputs—emergent behaviors, feedback loops.

In our conjugate strategy, treatment integrates with these training inputs. Treatment is always stimulatory. For instance, we utilize repeated efforts in clinical settings leveraging the Internal Isometric Continuum to cultivate reactive strength with treatment. We leverage the neural network toward maximal outputs, acquiring more joint range of motion as new nodes in the neural network of absolute strength—see the Louie Simmons Case Study.

The Emergence of Programming as Strategy

Programming arrived later as a distinct evolution. It is the organizational intelligence that arranges treatment and training over time. It is less about what you do in a single session and more about how the session is sequenced in real time, how that session integrates with one prior, the ones after, how they accumulate, and how that work has to conjugate to propagates the athlete to something larger—to Point B.

Ever wonder why your client doesn’t get closer to Point B despite the perfect session? This is where strategic thinking becomes indispensable. Point B is not a collection of isolated special strengths to be optimized independently—they are entangled; it is an ecosystem.

Training + treatment supplies the loading and stimuli. Programming manages them in real time and over time—the flows, sequencing, variation—so the ecosystem that is Point B doesn’t tip into asymmetry, degradation, or stagnation. It respects the hidden biological-neurological symmetry. How today’s programming influences tomorrow’s physical state, how one capacity supports and amplifies or interferes and dampens with another, how the client’s life constantly rewrites the variables.

Many highly competent coaches and therapists never consciously cross into this territory. They are masterful at the craft of training/treatment yet remain planners when it comes to long-term strategy. The result is familiar: stacks of new protocols, endless research rabbit holes, clients who improve but never quite reach that unconstrained state we sense is possible. The information doesn’t integrate and conjugate; it accumulates. In short time, it becomes overload—more data, more tools, but no clearer map from Point A, to Point B—the neurologically and biologically unconstrained version of themselves.

Become a Programming Strategist

Ready to evolve from technician and planner into strategist? Dive into our Art and Science of Programming learning module—where we break down conjugate strategies, adaptive sequencing, and real-time Point A Point B ecosystem management.

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Become the Programming Strategist

Learn how to program to propagate your clients toward Point B—neurologically and biologically unconstrained, with the capacity to do what they want to do.

Explore our Absolute Conjugate Strategy inside the Learning Module: The Art & Science of Programming.

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