F.A.Q. By Paul Wade

5
CONVICT CONDITIONING: THE SUPER F.A.Q.
In Convict Conditioning, you recommend a
2-1-2 movement speed in a couple of
passages. Is this speed set in stone?
I’m a big believer that athletes coming into a serious course of calisthenics should always apply
smooth cadence to their movements. It’s better to start off on the slow side, rather than moving
too fast. I advise all my students to aim for a speed of two seconds down, two seconds up, with a
one second pause in the hardest position. Athletes should try to keep to this speed in all movement
series—at least until they reach at least step 5.
Working at a 2-1-2 speed conveys a lot of pretty potent benefits. For a start, it helps protect the
joints, and builds soft tissue integrity. (I’m not saying that fast movements are bad for you—just
that strong joints can handle explosive contractions better.) Smooth, slower movements help give
athletes a grounding in control and coordination, as well as building a powerful mind-muscle link.
Ironically, starting slow also helps you get stronger and bigger faster. As any bodybuilder will tell
you, if the momentum is doing the work, your muscles aren’t. As a result, going slower and taking
the momentum out of your training really shifts the load onto your muscles and joints, literally
forcing them into new growth. This is why so many CC newbies report a sudden jump in muscle
size and tone right from day one.
Last but not least—and as many of my “victims” will have discovered—going slow makes the
earlier steps harder. (Which is tougher: ten pushups in twenty seconds, or ten pushups in a
minute?) This means that you can spend a big chunk of training time developing your strength
and muscle by utilizing fairly low risk, therapeutic movements. It’s a win-win situation.
But you don’t need to keep to the slow speeds forever. After step 5, you don’t have to slavishly
follow the 2-1-2 protocol. Moving a little faster as you progress through the later steps is fine—
provided you are consistent from workout to workout. It’s no good using momentum to gain a
couple of reps since last week, and fooling yourself into thinking that’s “improvement”. But don’t
be afraid of some speed increase. Truth be told, holding perfectly slow speeds might be next to
impossible on some of the harder steps, and once you reach this level some “body English” or
thrust is okay.
At this point (after Step 5) you should also think about adding some supplemental explosive
work, if you haven’t already done so. (For more information, see Convict Conditioning and plyometrics,
below.)
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