Archives for February 2013

How I Use the Convict Conditioning Program Along with Kettlebells

February 26, 2013 By Adrienne Harvey 22 Comments

Since many of us who practice Progressive Calisthenics are often involved with other athletic pursuits like kettlebells, martial arts, and/or sports, a question which continually comes up is how to program our sessions in a way that allows for high performance in some areas and at least maintenance in others. People beginning the Convict Conditioning program sometimes ask a similar question, thinking that they need to “add in” cardio, thinking that the program somehow isn’t “enough” on its own for fat loss or other physique-related goals. The good news is, the program can absolutely stand on its own, it’s just very different from the familiar sets-reps-weights-n-cardio paradigm. It’s important to realize that the bodyweight programs as presented in Convict Conditioning are complete, and use a strategy which is entirely different from mainstream “conventional” approaches.

For fat loss, it isn’t really necessary for someone to have to add steady state cardio. An improved nutritional plan and consistent work with Convict Conditioning should produce incredible results. Especially when this beginning calisthenics athlete begins to really feel, on a visceral level, how their performance is enhanced by getting stronger, and by becoming a little lighter. This sort of dual reinforcement is powerful—it can motivate people to permanently adopt a healthier lifestyle. Given the program’s power, athletes participating in competitive sports, martial arts, or other athletic pursuits like kettlebells will want to keep this in mind when programming. Motivated athletes of all kinds seem to short change their rest and recovery.

I’ll be giving an example week of how I have made a Convict Conditioning program work within my own lifestyle of instructing, maintaining, and further refining RKC kettlebell skills while still creeping towards some fairly big long-term bodyweight goals (1 arm chin up, human flag, etc). A few of the routines in CC are specifically designed with enough rest days to allow for the inclusion of sports. Good Behavior and to a lesser degree Hard Time are great examples. Hard Time is especially upper body focused, so if your “extracurricular activities” are particularly upper body inclusive you may wish to choose a different routine to work with.

An important thing to remember with both Convict Conditioning and kettlebell training is that less is often more. Convict Conditioning requires absolutely strict form and coordinated full body tension with each exercise—while not training to failure (and theoretically still leaving you enough energy to defend yourself). In my opinion, practicing Progressive Calisthenics, like kettlebell training, is as much about building skill as it is about building raw strength. Often on Facebook and other online communities we see some very ambitious sounding workouts with just amazing rep ranges, but it’s important to remember that these longer duration workouts will have performance and form trade offs. Think of a marathon vs. a sprint—to run a marathon, the athlete will need to pace themselves. In a sprint, the athlete will basically go “all out” for a short period of time. Personally, I like shorter duration workouts aimed towards skill building, optimal movement patterns, and the control of maximum tension where needed in each rep. Most days my “workouts” tend to be small, near maximal sets of very challenging exercises spread throughout the day. The CC logbook is especially great for keeping track of these activities.

Since maintaining and refining kettlebell moves is essentially my current “sport” or “martial art” right now, a program like Good Behavior can be easily adapted for several weeks of progressive training. The weeks following the example below would have variations in kettlebell exercises and weights, and if appropriate (the progression standard met) a graduation to the next step in a given Convict Conditioning progression. The names of the calisthenics exercises refer to wherever I am in the progression. This is a fairly typical example of my training on a non-traveling week, adapting the Good Behavior routine:

Monday: Push Ups – 2 Work Sets*; Leg Raises – 2 Work Sets

Optional kettlebell swings and a few get ups as a warm-up, or to break up a typical Monday heavy on business, writing, or internet work.

Tuesday: Moderate kettlebell work (RKC snatch test or slightly heavier bell) technique workout for get ups, swings, high pulls, and snatches. RKC Planks and hollow position holds. Rep range is significant but nothing spectacular.

Wednesday: Pull Ups – 2 Work Sets; Squats – 2 work sets Optional swings and/or get ups. After the work sets of pull ups and significant rest, I might play-practice with pull up variations and or a muscle up or two along with dragon flags and working towards the “human flag” here and there in the day.

Thursday: Rest/Mobility/Extra tai chi skills practice and/or Extra Primal Move mobility/skills work

Friday: Handstand Push Ups – 2 work sets; Bridges – 2 work sets

Saturday: A kettlebell challenge circuit workout – usually includes pressing and/or clean&jerks, along with an extra implement or challenge like Battling Ropes or flipping tires. Play with advanced variations of a CC exercise, or a PR attempt of some kind.

Sunday: Rest/Recovery/Mobility

*Work sets in Convict Conditioning are preceded by a few warm up sets of earlier parts of the progression, the book has all the details and several workout routines like Good Behavior for you to start working with immediately.

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About Adrienne Harvey, RKCII, CK-FMS, Primal Move Nat’l Instructor

I started studying kettlebell training over three years ago and became RKC Certified in October of 2010, and became an RKC Level 2 Instructor in July 10th of 2011. Kettlebell and bodyweight training have been absolutely crucial in my personal quest for fitness, and I love sharing these ultra-effective modalities with small groups and individuals. Similarly, developing recipes to further support performance, body composition, and general enjoyment is another passion. Go to http://www.giryagirl.com/ for more information about Adrienne!

Advanced Bridging Variations

February 19, 2013 By Logan Christopher 24 Comments

As a kid I was always skinny. I mean very skinny. Entering high school I weighed less than 100 lbs. I played football there and lifted weights though I wasn’t really good at either.

The truth is I only really started seeing results in my strength and body when I got into bodyweight exercises about the end of school. After a year or two of consistent work in bodyweight training I ran across an old friend. His first statement to me:

“Wow! Your neck filled out.”

Guess what I had been doing? Various forms of bridging. Looking back I’ve been doing these exercises for about ten years now; and in this article I want to share with you some variations. If you’ve been doing Convict Conditioning for awhile you may be able to get started with these, because the truth is all these are more advanced than the basic holds.

Weighted Bridging

I started adding weight to my bridges because I was getting bored with long static holds. My best ever hold was ten minutes in a hands free wrestler’s bridge. I know I could have gone further but I didn’t want to. What can I say? I get bored easily and 10 minutes is about my maximum attention span.

I first did this with people, but I started using weight simply because I didn’t always have a person to sit or stand on me. In the beginning I’d pull over a light kettlebell and hold it. Then two kettlebells. Eventually I had to move inside a power rack as getting the weight into place proved harder than the hold.

I don’t recommend going this far for most people I just wanted to see how far I could take it and follow in line with guys like George Hackenschmidt who supported big weights in this position. If you work up to even a light weight you’ll probably have more than enough neck strength for your daily life, unless you’re involved in sports or martial arts.

To give you an idea of what can be achieved this video shows my current best hold. It’s a very brief support of over 600 lbs. split over the barbell and Bud Jeffries sitting on me. I plan to take this support to over half a ton in the future.

Neck Plank

As the wrestler’s bridge became too easy and I had to do something to make it harder, so the same was true of the front bridge. I experimented with adding weights but my favorite came from extending the leverage. For this you start in the front bridge position and walk your legs back while keeping your forehead on the ground. It’s like a plank position where only your forehead and toes are on the ground, with the stress being on your neck (and your abs as well to some degree) hence the name.

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Dynamic Bridging

The static holds are great and make up a large part of bridging. But they’re not the only things you can do.

The next couple exercises are dynamic in nature and thus train the body in a slightly different way. Both involve going from the front to back bridge position albeit in different ways. Check out this video to see both in action.

Bridge Kickovers

This move takes a good degree of strength, flexibility and acrobatic ability all at the same time. You must start in a wrestler’s bridge with the hands on the ground.

To get started I like to rock three times from my toes to chest, kicking with one leg hard, on the third go. The leg kicks up and over, then the other comes to follow it. You’ll land in a front bridge position although it’ll be far from perfect. From here you can kick one or both legs back to end in the wrestler’s bridge once again. When you’re first starting out one rep at a time is fine. When you get good you can go back and forth very quickly.

Only progress to the hands free version if you have lots of practice and are sure your neck can take it. It is significantly tougher to do. If you don’t quite make it over you may end up spinning and coming down in an awkward manner which you want to avoid.

Either of these variations can be made progressive by kicking off of a raised stable surface.

Bridge Twists

This final bridging exercise involves twisting from a back to a front bridge. This works every single muscle in your neck as you go to the sides, as well as some interesting spine action taking place.

This is great for improving your flexibility and is commonly done by wrestlers. As before, be sure to start with your hands and become great at that before moving to the hands-free position.

You’ll also find it easier if you stay more towards the back of your head.

That should give you some new variations to play with. Don’t try to do these all at once. In fact, I’ve found that a little bridging goes a long way. If you have any questions be sure to ask below. Also if you’d like to see me write more on gymnastic bridge variations (on top of these wrestler’s bridging exercises) for you to play with, then let me know.

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Logan Christopher has been called a physical culture renaissance man as he is accomplished in a wide range of strength skills from kettlebell juggling, performing strongman stunts, and bodyweight exercises. He is the author of numerous books including Secrets of the Handstand and The Master Keys to Strength & Fitness. In addition, he’s spent the last several years going deep into mental training to find out what it takes to really excel and tactics that can help people instantly improve their exercises. You can find out more about all this at http://www.LegendaryStrength.com.

Danny Kavadlo On Body-Weight Training

February 11, 2013 By Danny Kavadlo 26 Comments

I have been practicing calisthenics and strength training for over twenty-five years. When I was a kid, minimalism wasn’t a style of working out: it was the only way. We were a family of five living in a part of Brooklyn that many current Brooklyn residents still don’t even know about. There were no gyms and we were too young for them anyway. My memories of Phys Ed at school are limited to either sitting at my assigned floor spot, or getting yelled at by the psychotic gym teacher. So how did I fall in love with working out at such a young age? Push-ups.

I remember having push-up contests with my brothers on the old linoleum kitchen floor of that house in deep Brooklyn. If one of us would get fifty, someone else would have to get sixty. Then seventy-five. Ninety. I can’t remember what I did this morning, but I sure do remember the way I felt the first time I completed a hundred consecutive push-ups.

To this day, the pushup is still the exercise I’ve performed more reps of than any other. Only now, I can do more variations. These new skills, of course, leads to new challenges. And that’s exactly what’s so great about progressive calisthenics.

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Next were pull-ups. There were no shiny packages of bars-that-fit-everywhere back then. No all purpose gyms as seen on TV. My schoolyard looked like a parking lot, not a playground. But we had to get our reps in somewhere, so we put a rusty metal bar in a doorframe. We were old school without even knowing it. After screwing two dark red grommets into the frame, we popped the bar in. It’s still there.

The pull-up contests we had back then were the stuff of legend. Rep after rep after rep. Set after grueling set. My brothers and I would spend hours in that room working that bar. We did it because it was fun. That’s the splendor of training with your body-weight only. Here we were, motivated by nothing other than our innate desire and necessity to move our bodies. This was Mother Nature at her finest: Pulling yourself over a bar. We were alive!

My father, a practitioner of yoga since the 1970’s (way before there were “Yoga” sections at shopping mall book stores everywhere) introduced us to various headstands. One of my favorite teenage memories is returning home late at night to find my Pops doing headstands at 2am! My friends got a kick out of it too. But in all seriousness, there was always a great joy in watching him fully invert himself into a perfect tripod. At over 200 lbs, he was as graceful as a swan. He encouraged us to mess around with balance and flexibility at an early age, which is something I continue to do to this day.

Later on, I started putting extra emphasis on training my legs. I’m a big believer that you’re not strong if you don’t have strong legs. And I must say, I hit the ground running! I had only been doing classic leg exercises like squats and lunges for a few years before I tried pistol-squats. I was instantly addicted to the unique way this exercise combined full-body power with control, and even finesse. Again, I found myself attracted to the purity of this movement: The entire body acting together in harmony to get strong. Just you, your foot, and the earth… nothing more. Simple, yet so complex.

I learned (and I’m STILL learning) how to manipulate leverage and body positioning on single-leg squats to change the exercise. Just like with advanced pushups, there’s a certain beauty, an art form, to these workouts, due to the endless variations allowed by such minimalism.

In adulthood, I became deeply immersed in what is often described as “Extreme Calisthenics.” By coincidence (or perhaps cosmic plan), I became a father at the same point in my life. I am inspired now more than ever. These days performing (and studying) advanced moves like muscle-ups, bar levers, and human flags make me feel like a kid again! And of course, seeing my son knock out infinite sets of flawless squats makes me proud as a man.

Now he’s that kid in Brooklyn working on his pushups on the linoleum floor… And I’m that guy practicing headstands at 2am.

Danny Kavadlo, Master PCC, is a Personal Trainer in New York City. He’s worked with hundreds of clients, including athletes, models, and celebrities. He is featured in the Convict Conditioning Series & Raising the Bar, and is known globally as a motivator & leader in the calisthenics community. Learn more at his website: www.DannyTheTrainer.com

Al Kavadlo on The Century

February 5, 2013 By Al Kavadlo 30 Comments

A key part of what makes the PCC different from many other fitness certifications is the inclusion of a physical requirement. It’s not simply enough to pay the fee, show up and get your certificate – you have to earn the PCC title!

In addition to demonstrating competency in teaching basic calisthenics exercises, PCC certified trainers must also pass Coach Wade’s “Century” test, a strength and conditioning challenge that consists of 100 consecutive bodyweight repetitions performed as follows:

Men	Women
40 Squats	40 Squats
30 Push-ups	30 Knee Push-ups
20 Hanging Knee Raises	20 Hanging Knee Raises
10 Pull-ups	10 Australian Pull-ups

The purpose of this test is to establish a baseline of competency in the performance of basic calisthenics. The Century includes a combination of movements that demonstrate strength and conditioning in the entire body.

A lot of people have asked about how the test will be judged. Here are some guidelines to make sure you are doing things the PCC way:

The exercises must be performed in the order listed above. No exceptions.

Squats must be performed with a minimum depth of top of the thighs parallel to the floor and a full lock out at the top of each rep. Arms may be raised in front, crossed, or placed on top of the head. Heels must stay flat the entire time.

Push-up depth must reach a minimum of 90 degrees of flexion as measured along the outside of the elbow and a full lockout must be achieved at the top of every rep. A straight body position must be maintained throughout the entire range of motion. No sticking your butt into the air or leaving your hips down on the ground.

Hanging knee raises must be performed with the knees being raised above waist level and a full extension of the legs at the bottom of every rep. Swinging shall be kept to a minimum. Arms must remain straight the entire set.

Pull-ups may be performed with an overhand or underhand grip. The chin must clear the bar at the top of each rep and a full extension must be reached at the bottom. Kipping will not be allowed. (Australian pull-ups are to be performed with the bar at waist height and a straight body position must be maintained throughout.)

Rest may be taken in between exercises, but each exercise must be completed in a single set. You may pause briefly between reps as long as the position is held (i.e. top of push-up position, bottom of pull-up, etc.)

The entire test must be completed in 8 minutes or less. The reps may be performed as quickly as you like as long as all the above rules are adhered to. Form first!

Watch the Century Test in action below:

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www.AlKavadlo.com

A veteran of the fitness industry, Al Kavadlo has recently been appointed as the lead instructor for the Progressive Calisthenics Certification. Recognized worldwide for his amazing bodyweight feats of strength as well as his unique coaching style, Al is also the author of three books, including Raising The Bar: The Definitive Guide to Pull-up Bar Calisthenics and the soon-to-be-released Pushing The Limits! Total Body Strength With No Equipment.