Convict Conditioning Review: Does The Program Really Work? 

That's awesome! I love it! Genius!!!!

Woah! That’s cool

😂

Any good tips/guidelines for strengthening/recovering connective tissue. Never really gave a thought to that, since I assumed it would go along with muscle strengthening 🤔. It be appreciated to know more about this.

​@@juanpablotupper691 absolutely. A good way to look at connective tissue vs muscle tissue is that your connective tissue is constantly playing catch-up with your muscles (which are usually fully recovered within 36-48 hours of hard training). Connective tissue has terrible blood flow compared to your muscles which is why it recovers so slowly. What damages connective tissue, besides freak accidents, is when you train hard for too many consecutive weeks without adding a deload week in between. It can also be because you increase the resistance too much at once in one given exercise. So how do you allow your connective tissue to catch up? Several ways. *1. Deloading:* how often is highly individual, but a rule of thumb is every 4-10 weeks (depending on how you feel), spend 1 week where you reduce volume or resistance by 50% or even both if you feel banged up. Some prefer to not train at all for a week (this is more like _deconditioning_ than deloading) but I'm not a fan of that approach. You recover faster when you _move_ due to blood circulation, so sitting on your ass for a week makes no sense to me. *2. Step loading:* stay with the same weights for longer periods of time (Pavel Tsatsouline calls this “Step loading”, it might have another name). So don't increase the resistance every week. Instead, focus on truly owning the current weight/resistance you're working with, and just work on improving your technique, tempo, and endurance. Once you feel like this weight is silly light compared to when you started with it, increase resistance for the next session, and repeat. The reason this works is that by not constantly upping the weight, you give your connective tissue the much needed time to recover from microtears (which can quickly become serious injuries) without constantly being challenged by harder weights. You also put way less stress on your nervous system this way, which is good for your immune system. *3. Mobility/flexibility training:* if your muscles get stiff and inflexible, connective tissue tears and flares up easier, even at normal ranges of motion that shouldn't hurt you. It especially happens to people with huge muscles, but anyone can get stiff from bad posture and overdeveloping certain muscle groups (muscle imbalance). *4. Increase blood flow:* High rep “pump“ training, e.g. with light resistance bands is excellent both for warming up and as a session-finisher because the increased blood flow will help to flush out waste material and transport nutrients to all tissues in your body, including tendons, ligaments, bones, etc. The benefit of applying a high rep/low resistance protocol 10-20 minutes per training session is that your connective tissue easily recovers from it, and your nervous system is hardly affected by it, so it won't compromise any of your strength development in your main exercises. Your connective tissue will, of course, get stronger just like your muscles if you increase resistance, but you need to be careful about the pace you're going at or you’ll get injuries that will force you to spend months on rehabbing, instead of building skills and getting stronger. PS: yes, I've had a lot of injuries 😂 But it's been many years since I had a serious one because I follow the steps above. I hope you find it useful :-)

@@techstacker5361 wooow! Highly appreciate you wrote such a complete answer. I have somehow been following some of what you suggest intuitively but it's good to have it properly organised and explained. I believe connective tissue recovery might be overlooked as I've spent lots of time reading about calisthenics and weightlifting and unless you explicitly look for it, you don't really come across this topic and I thing one should. To make a parallel, if you read about driving you will come across things like "don't do this or that or you'll wear out the clutch prematurely", but somehow this connective and nervous system issues don't get pointed at enough. Thanks again!

I am injured from fighting (got my wrist bent) how do I recover it?

@@techstacker5361 Thanks for the comment dude

Is that good?

Could you tell me how your weekly workout plan looks like following this book

Keep up the hard work ! You motivated me to try it !

1 set of 25 to 3 sets of 50 in one week is crazy progression. I am guessing this is your body waking up and remembering stuff. I am sure, one year later, you have realised that the next steps will see a much slower progression. I got to the progression standard for lvl 6 (diamond/close grip) pushups before I stopped training, and I remember trying the level 7 stuff, and it was...not easy!

Good luck on your life dude

Glad you're out homie. Keep grinding 💪🏻

It's good to see how you wanna get stronger and I don't see any toxic replies in here but since you didn't mention I am not sure if you were a guest in the prison

Hey man! Glad you’re out and on this new journey. Here’s to you man! :)

@@jacksterling9258 Thanks bro!

Hope you enjoy it!

What do you think about it so far?

Yep I hear you. This book is a great base program. You don't need much else . Just pair it with the second book and you are golden.

@@alexg7669 Veterano program plus shotgun muscles from Convict Conditioning 2. Done.

@@j.westbestoftherest9102 haha so many times I've got funny looks just hanging off park equipment practicing my hangs.

@@j.westbestoftherest9102 Been doing Veterano for a few years now, one day a week is perfect. Added dips, finger push ups, and I still like to do Aussie/Horizontal pull ups. Stay strong.

results ?

Any updates?

I'll maybe surprise you. One arm handstand push ups isn't possible

This book is a commercial shit

@@salovamrani2084 It's done against the wall. Super challenging, yet possible: /watch?v=4DEQhjiaNL4 You haven't read the book, so why diss it? It just makes you look silly.

@@epictetus9221 maybe you haven't read it? I've read the whole book and it clearly shows this exercise, the guy is straight like a string. what is shown in the video you cited is not push-ups, these are handicapped push-ups during a cramp plus climbing legs. what these guys showed is stupid shit that can't be called an exercise. You can watch this ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-hYnmRO37SRQ.html

@@salovamrani2084 they are possible if you put your mind to it you just cant do it because your havent surpassed your mental barrier encouraging you to be able to do it

i am just starting now as well, i am awful at it, but my back does feel better

Hows the back feeling now dude?

@@SteveWKk thx for asking, i still cannot do bridges, i had a relapse as my back made a weird "ca-thunk" while jumping rope. so i have had to take it slow

You have multiple girlfriends? Sigh, I need to work out more.

@@FringeWizard2 🤣.

Yep, I absolutely believe that!

Eduardo Rodriguez thanks! I haven’t read Combat Conditioning but I’ve seen others recommending it. I’ll check it out.

@Striker885 any chance you’d share the document? I read the book a bit ago , can’t reread now for reasons not mentioning, but I’m looking for a summary of steps I can follow to a T. Let me know. Id use it in good faith and with gratitude for your contribution to my health

Well, shoulders are hit during pullups (rear delts), pushups (front delts) and the HSPU covers all three heads. Plus, bridging also hit the shoulders. It doesn't hit the side delt much but you still get some.

Get Strong was not written by Paul Wade

@a wHey dude. The uneven squat is step 7 in Convict Conditioning 1. It's great for strengthening the knees. Just make sure to take your time with it and build up to it with close squats. Don't rush it.

HYPE GOD I haven't read any of Matt's books yet but I'll check them out. Thanks for the recommendation!

Minus The Gym dudes content is amazing and his motto “ Be fit live free “ is just an amazing mantra everyone should do.

@@brainymeathead9206 by name hype god by nature. :)

I own most of his books, fitness independence is a great read for beginners and grind style calisthenics is also great. Smart bodyweight training is very interesting

I have all of his books - he is one of the best for growth with health & fitness bc he is always preaching an effective diet should REDUCE stress not induce it - the same with exercise routines and all kind of movements. Matt is a really great guy! =)

I never count reps I only focus on blood flow if I feel I got my blood flowing good that's enough and I resume doing more as soon as I start to feel cold or blood slowing down again and end up doing a lot of exercise all throughout the day and night (I am insomniac).

Does it help you build up stronger legs?

@@brucebanner3566 Sorry brother. 😅😅 Didn't do any pistols. However I can do 200 reps of atg bodyweight squats before failure, non stop, no resting while standing, not even for a second. And I got HUGE FUCKING LEGS BRO. Here is a more practical advice I would like to impart on you with bodyweight training, not that one arm push ups are bad in ANYWAY AT ALL. Infact they are the best thing in the whole exercise world. If you are trying to get jacked with lean dense muscle tissue with calisthenics, focus on this instead. Keep working towards 200 non stop (my kinda non stop which I already explained) full rom push ups, 200 non stop full rom squats, and 50 non stop full rom pull ups, keep eating in a 10 percent caloric surplus while you are at it.... When you can do all this, it means whatever bodyweight you are, it is mostly muscle and very little bodyfat, which means you will be muscular with optimal body composition as well as having optimal endurance and cardio. Then, while you can do it, keep eating more to get your bodyweight up while maintaining these max numbers. These max rep numbers ensure you have elite level pressing and pulling and squatting strength, I shit you not, because all the guys I have seen that can do it all bench double bodyweight, all of them are ultra jacked as well. Now imagine having elite relative strength and supreme body composition while youbare 250lbs or heavier???? Yeah, just the act of getting heavier keeps your relative strength AND YOUR ABSOLUTE STRENGTH GOING UP. Absolute strength the key determiner of hypertrophy.

@@mayukhsen8195 can u pass instagram?

@@mayukhsen8195 Hi man! Did you manage to gain a lot of muscle while doing this? I've always been told that doing endurance training doesn't give you any muscle, it just makes you more defined. I don't understand, you do 200 reps at once and then throughout the day you do eccentric and concentric right? And the tempo during the descent and ascent you are at how many seconds?

It's waaaay to slow.

@@trevbarlow9719 What do you like instead?

@@Afgnwrlrd either a grind-style workout from Red Delta project (customizable) or even the reddit recommended routine. The latter has too many different lifts, IMO, but still much quicker than CC

@Feldgrau Fox good luck! i started 3 weeks ago and today is my 10th consecutive day. already seeing results with these simple movements

@@SasserReturns did you train everyday?

@@junichiroyamashita at the time of posting that, yes. i trained every day for 10 straight days. the streak was actually 22 days long before i broke it

@@SasserReturns did it give results? Or was it counterproductive.

@@junichiroyamashita i got results, but it's inconclusive whether or not i could have taken rest days at the time and gotten the same results. note that i was definitely a beginner to training consistently. i would just say that if you're up to it, you should work out. i just wouldn't go more than 4 days without working out, because a break that long has made me feel significant enough deficits in performance

Cornelius Boon I haven’t used that book yet but I’ll check it out. Thanks!

Ryno Erasmus I haven’t read Naked Warrior but I’ll check it out soon. Thanks!

Simon Riley yeah, based on what you said it sounds right up your alley

Same. I've always been more into the basics done well. I have focused on getting better at them over time and working toward mastery. My personal opinion... for this just looking to be healthy, fit, and have an awesome physique, focusing on basics should be the primary goal. Way too many are too quick to dismiss them, rush their progressions, and then try to jump into some fancy stuff.

I started doing pistol squats a few weeks ago with some extra weight and made much better progress that way.

I’d say if you want to burn off a little bit weight or notice a difference and want to add a dumbbells, I would go with the low weight high rep. I think that is why they add such high rep that need endurance, but I wish you luck on your workouts. God bless you and I hope you have a good rest of your day

Nope

Yeah. Have you seen Charlie Bronson (the prisoner from UK) fitness book? He did +1000 push ups a day

Agreed!

I've read somewhere that he was not natural that's why he can handle such high volume...

L C it depends on your goals. If you fancy doing handstands on your pbars soon then I’d go with parallettes because they’re low to the ground and much safer for being inverted. But if handstands aren’t on your agenda any time soon, or you absolutely must do dips, then go for the dip station. A lot of the exercises cross over between the two pieces of equipment but I just do not recommend doing handstands on dip stations. Too risky!

LC forgot to mention - one other upside of the dip station is body weight rows (horizontal pulls from underneath) so that’s another advantage over parallettes. But again, it all comes down to your current training goals. End goal should be to have both tho (you can get collapsible dip stations so your small apartment isn’t an issue)

I did the step 1 of the squats against a wall. I couldn’t do them correctly without my core and hands suffering. And understanding that this was more of a leg chain workout, doing them against the wall was a fair approach.

I agree. The step 1 of the squat progression is the red flag for me. The mindset behind the book is still quite cool.

Yes, absolutely. That’s exactly how I got started. This video explains the routine ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ay15dc2cvm0.html and there’s also a link in that video to the no equipment version of it that includes back bridges.

@@MinusTheGym Thank you Very Much!