2022-11-23


My Current Fitness Routine

Long time no see, and I think it is time for another blog entry! Today I will be drifting away from tech related talk, and talk about my fitness routine as that has been my primary interest over the last several months. Back on 2022-04-04 I started my fitness journey with the Convict Conditioning program. To summarize the book it is an old school calisthenics program based around 6 movements:

Each of these movements is broken into 10 steps, ranging from simple therapy motions, to very advanced movements. Push ups for example:

The routine is quite simple, but it has some flaws that several people have found. If you just Google “Convict Conditioning reviews” you will find many arguments against it. Here is what I consider the main flaws:

Now with all those issues, I still think it is as solid program when adjustments are made. I have just recently made adjustments and wanted to post them here. Some of the advice I took from this Reddit post: https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/comments/ualu6/comment/c4trv8z/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3.

Here are the changes I have made:

All of the above changes I have made within the last week and am already enjoying CC better. Here is where I am at in the progressions:

Exercise Step Progression
Push Ups 4 Half Push Up
Squats 5 Full Squatn
Pull Ups 3 Jackknife Pulls
Leg Raise 5 Flat Straight Leg Raise

As for Bridges and Handstand Push Ups I have not started those yet. Paul Wade suggests waiting until you hit step 6 on the first 4 before introducing them. Since I am stopping squats at step 5, I will most likely introduce them when all of the first 4 are on step 5. I may not do the handstand progressions and instead do weight work for shoulders. I am looking into implementing weights to create a hybrid between calisthenics and weight training. There are some interesting pros and cons of this approach: https://www.calisthenics-gear.com/hybrid-weights-calisthenics-program/ . Ultimately I will keep experimenting and working to figure out what works best for me. And I hope you have a good Thanksgiving tomorrow!