F.A.Q. By Paul Wade

15
CONVICT CONDITIONING: THE SUPER F.A.Q.
As far as switching routines, you should give most routines a three month run to see some
results. But beyond that, I’m a big believer in shaking a routine up every few months, just for sanity’s
sake. Learn to do this yourself—be your own coach. Experiment, move things around,
change, invent. If you are increasing your reps, your form, or if you are moving to harder exercises
(i.e., 2-3 above) you’re doing something right. Keep on keepin’ on.
Higher frequency program templates
I often get asked why I promote low frequency programs—routines where, for the most part,
you work each movement hard, just once per week. The simple answer is that these routines
work. I’m a big believer in optimizing rest and recovery for maximum strength and growth.
Remember: you don’t grow when you train. Training just damages muscle. You grow when you
rest!
I’m hesitant to recommend higher frequency programs. Why? Because if you dish them out,
most guys will start using them! That’s not always a good thing, baby. It’s a much better rule of
thumb to start with a good, solid, lower frequency program (like Good Behavior) and see how
you go. If you keep making progress every week, why add more frequency? That’s why all the programs
I really pushed in Convict Conditioning were lower frequency: New Blood, Good Behavior
and Veterano.
But there may be circumstances where upping the frequency actually works. Perhaps for an athlete
coming back after a layoff, where muscle memory allows them to progress faster; for trainees
choosing to work at lower intensity; maybe in cases of men and women with unusually powerful
recovery abilities; and so on. In these situations, I have a “little black book” of effective higher frequency
programs I like to throw at people. I didn’t want to include them in the book, because a
big chunk of athletes (eager, young, or just plain impatient) would bypass the other, more helpful
routines and start using the more frequent ones right off the bat. Since most drug-free athletes (like
it or not) suit lower frequency strength work, these higher frequency routines would do nothing
but slow up their progress. And guess who’d get the blame? Me, dammit!
I’ve listed four of these programs below. I didn’t want these routines in the book, but I’m a lot
happier tucking them away here—on a website which tends to attract more experienced lifters
and bodyweight athletes. That said, don’t go overusing these suckers or using them inappropriately
and blaming yours truly. I ran down a puppy this morning and I got enough guilt in my life.
Here goes…
www.dragondoor.com
1•800•899•5111
899•5111
Order Convict Conditioning online:
www.dragondoor.com/B41