It has been 2 weeks and one day since I started the Convict Conditioning GTG program I've developed. Generally, if you are already working out and switching to a beginner level regimen you wouldn't expect a lot of change in that period of time.

Yet- in 15 days I've gained a noticeable amount on arms and chest, and somehow managed to drop some body fat - this was my real concern going in to such a light sounding beginner program. I'm still needing to focus on fat loss hard for another 20 to 30 pounds.

One thing I've found is that the program isn't as easy as it looks- it's dead simple, easy to motivate yourself, and not terribly time consuming. But it's not easy in the muscluar sense. The key to this is the speed and tension of the repetitions.

We all want speed, but paradoxically, up to a point, the way to gain speed is to move more slowly. That's because, as explained in Naked Warrior, up to a fairly advanced point, the explosive strength is going to go up hand in hand with maximum, or power, strength. (there's also endurance strength, which is another approach from the initial goals I have in CC)

So, go slow. Go slower. Go slower still. I am probably going to hang and milk the simple pushups steps of my progression (half and full pushups) for a bit longer than necessary because I can't go as slow as I can with squats. A set of ten 'half' pushups (really close to what most people think of as a full pushup) is 35-40 seconds depending on how fast I am with my stopwatch buttons. So I may milk these progressions for an extra few weeks until I can use a gymboss timer and do full 5 second repetitions in 2 sets of 25

So here you are, laughing at wall pushups, then, you really start taking 5 seconds for each one....150 times for the progression standard (in 3 sets). It's a bit of work, now!

The kneeling pushups in step 3, same thing. One of my friends was laughing at me doing "girl pushups", but she can't keep up with my gtg set of 15 done for my slightly speedy 3.5 second time.

On squats I'm not timing with a watch, but with my breath. very slowly down, a shorter pause since full squats aren't under a lot of tension at the bottom, and very slowly up. A set of ten runs me 55 seconds according to a friend. That's about right.

Leg lifts are running 39 seconds for 10 reps, nice and slow for the movement range. The next level is the last level before it moves to hanging work, and I'd like to let my pullup work catch up before I switch to that so I may work the straight leg rasises to 60 or even 80 second sets of ten. (Ten is purely arbitrary in all cases, being at this level a decent in-between the beginner minimum standard and the intermediate standard as a working set for multiple daily grinds)

With bridging, I go up at a fairly quick rate, controlled but not lingering. It's the clench at the top, holding that for a 2 count, that I'm looking for. It's crucial in all bridging work to control the motion coming back down, as well. The range of motion at my current level isn't tremendous, either. I'll likely start milking the meditative speeds at the half or full bridge level.

Pullup work is my weak point. To some extent, all upper body work is weaker on me, I have far better development in my abdomen and legs. I'm moving a bit too quickly on my jacknife pullups, though I'm still controlled and not ragdolling, and I have a clenched pause at the top. I've been considering getting some bands to use with the bar and modifying the step progression so I'm doing 50 pound bands instead of jacknifes, and then 25 pound bands instead of halfs. My only concern there is that standing on bands can have an impact on the tensing of the abs.

Slowing down the pullups is the hardest part, and the only realistic thing to make it easier is to rapidly drop another 20 pounds of body fat off. Even if I gain 5 or 10 in muscle, the strength gains will offset the 'lack' of weight loss.

I'm working at one quarter, possibly one fifth, the pace I have worked out with pushups and crunches and bodyweight squats in martial arts classes and military PT. I'm developing a desire to slow down my repetition pace at certain levels.