2 weeks in review.

I started this blog late, since I wasn't sure if I wanted to track myself this publicly. So we're still playing catchup over here.

I started the Convict Conditioning program on the 16th of December, and yes, I've noticed gains over the past couple of weeks.

My start was with a few rounds of trying out each of the step one moves, then progression testing anything I was comfortable with. for example, the step 1 in pushups is wall pushups, for 3 sets of 50.

The step 1 progression tests are all similarly easy, and hard. One of the focal points of the program is doing each rep dead slow, smooth, and with a high tension pause at the "bottom" of the movement.

As I posted on a forum:

"CC has a progression, a plan. It's mentally dead simple. Do this exercise. Do it slower. Do it again. When you can do enough of them, slow enough, move on."

From there I needed to design a daily workout program. The programs in the CC book are all good for people who are either adding on a bit of bodyweight strength training to an existing program, or looking for a classic "work hard, rest for a day or three" workout plan.

For example, the New Blood and Good Behavior routines would work in well with Pavel's Program Minimum from the excellent book Enter The Kettlebell. Doing a twice weekly 15:15 cycle from Viking Warrior Conditioning would match up perfectly with the Good Behavior plan, as well.

I'm doing neither, and I have a few reasons. First, I need a daily system or I'll fall off the wagon. Second, I want to focus on the early progressions and get my body used to doing the particular types of work involved before I (possibly) scale back the workout days at more advanced levels where I'm going to hang out for a while. Third, some of my goals are very specific in bodyweight areas and I want to focus n those for a while before I add back in a VWC snatch protocol.

I've devised a plan where I grease the groove- do several light sets each day- of all exercises.

What I'm doing is

workout 1:
2 working sets of pushups
2 working sets of squats
2 working sets of bridges

workout 2:
2 working sets of pullups
2 working sets of leg raises
2 practices of inversion.

Each workout 3 times per day.

The inversion is at a level where I think for the next several months I'll be doing static head, crow, and handstands without doing any reps of pressing. I'm building a balance and awareness in this area.


The number of reps in any set is somewhere between the beginner standard and the intermediate standard.

For example, using half pushups (my current level on the one arm pushup progression) the beginner standard is a set of 8, the intermediate standard is 2 sets of 12. This week I'm doing sets of 10, 6 times per day.

As I progress, the reps get fewer on the standard, and I'll get closer to the true Pavel style repetition counts. By the time I'm doing the half one armed pushup, I'll be aiming for working sets of 5-10, and might possibly lower than to 3-5.


Monday I do an extra light pair of workouts and then the rest of the day is dedicated to progression tests.

this past Monday I progression tested pushups, squats, and leg lifts. I did a max test of pullups, but knew I wasn't ready to progress. This is done for tracking. I decided against testing the bridging section because I know I need to milk the current level a bit longer, and I'm not progression testing inverted work for another few weeks.