Before I get down to detailing my personal progress with Convict Conditioning, I thought I ought to explain how the sets and reps work with this system. After all, these are really the “brass tacks”, as they say – what is the exercise we are doing and how many sets and repetitions per set are we going to do to make progress? For bodyweight exercise and progress in strength and fitness, even more so than with lifting weights, this is where the magic lies, since your weight doesn't change (much) from workout to workout.
Although the book is really well written, thorough, and detailed (kudos, Coach!) the specifics of sets and reps got a little hidden (it seems to me) towards the back of the book. FYI, its on page 266, and says:
“This raises another issue; of how to make progress from step to step, along the ten steps. Generally speaking, this is simple - start by meeting the beginner standard and simply aim to add another repetition to the exercise you are working on every week or two (or three or four perhaps, for harder exercises). If you continue doing this consistently, you will very quickly be able to do one set of ten reps in any given exercise. When you can do this, begin doing two work sets. Keep adding reps to both your work sets over time, and you will quickly reach the intermediate standard (also given on the pages opposite the exercise photos). When you reach that level, add a third work set-but only if the exercise's progression standard demands it (most exercises don't). Continue adding to your reps-using perfect form-over time until you meet the progression standard, and then move to the next step in the series.”
Or, in a nutshell:
- Do one set of at least the beginner standard number of reps.
- When you can do 10 reps, start doing 2 sets.
- When you meet the intermediate standard, add a third set, if the step requires it.
- When you meet the progression standard, move up to the next step.
OK, one question I have which I didn't find an answer to, is: once your first set reaches the progression standard number of reps, should you keep adding reps to that set, or stop there and just work on adding reps to the later sets? I've chosen to do the latter – stop the first set at the progression standard number of reps and work hard on adding reps to the other work sets. If anybody is doing it differently, let me know.
The other question, also a bit hidden IMHO in the book is – how much rest between sets? That answer lies on page 269 and leaves the decision up to you, just recommending you not go over 5 minutes. I started with 2 minutes rest, but felt that was a bit short for strength training and upped it to 2:30. I might up it to 3 minutes soon, as I have stalled on a couple of exercises and wonder if added rest between sets might get me over the hump.
Also, I should note here that KEEPING A TRAINING LOG IS ESSENTIAL! You really can't make progress if you aren't keeping track of each and every workout. Since I can't remember the rep count from exercise to exercise, let alone from workout to workout, I keep a sheet of paper handy and record each set and rep for each workout. This is well described in the book, and is vital to making everything work. Keep a record and add reps every workout, if possible.
This is a great system! If you're working it, leave a comment on how it's going. And if you haven't started on it yet CLICK HERE!
I think your approach is too mechanical; your body is not really a machine, sometimes it has good days with amply power and stamina, other days it feels content to do the minimum number of reps/sets to "put it in the bank". I do 2 warm-up sets followed by 2 work-sets for (day 1) pushups and squats, (day 2) pullups and bridges, (day 3) abs and quadfecta. Sometimes I focus upon one exercise at a time, other times I circuit exercise 1 and 2 back-to-back. The key is consistency in doing rather than the details of how much rest between sets, how many reps in a set, or how many reps within a set once you reach the max recommended sets. Just do it and improvise to keep it fresh. When the workout becomes routine and stale, then the consistency will drop off the edge.
ReplyDeleteUse whatever system you like – whatever works for you.
DeleteHowever, all I've described is what the Coach wrote in the book, for the sake of others who might not have seen it. You can read the quote from pg 266 – it says what it says. If you think it's too mechanical, that's fine, but that's how the program was written.
There's certainly room to “customize” the program if you like, but there's also room to follow it as written. For me, “consistency” means just that – consistent tempo, consistent rest time, etc. It's the only basis for credible comparisons. I want to have an objective measure of my progress. If I knock off a set of 20 push-ups at a 2-1-2 tempo as recommended in the book, rest 3 minutes and knock off a second set of 15, then the next time I do 22 push-ups on the first set and 17 on the second, I know I've made progress. But if I changed the tempo to 1-0-1 and then rest between sets to 6 minutes and did the same 22/17, the progress isn't measurable. Everything has changed, so there's no way to see where you improved.
And maybe I'm hard-wired differently, but I've being doing this for close to a year, and it's not gotten “stale.” For me, the challenge is fresh every week.
Leo