To all the Greyskull Gladiators, past and present.
JohnnyPainLive.com
2 ©2016 Villain Publishing Table of Contents
Introduction
4
Part One: Why Conditioning
6
Part Two: Training for conditioning vs.
Training for Strength
14
Part Three: Performance Based Training
for the Outcome Based Thinker
20
Part Four: Where the Rubber Meets the Road:
Building Your Conditioning Plan
24
Conclusion
30
JohnnyPainLive.com
3 ©2016 Villain Publishing Introduction
The very first book that I wrote was “50 Greyskull Approved
Conditioning Workouts for the Modern Viking”. I authored that one in
response to a common question that I often received from those who
I would advise on implementing a training methodology that came to
be known as “The Greyskull LP”.
Invariably, when the subject of conditioning work would arise, I would
be asked what types of workouts would be best to plug into a basic
GSLP template. Since most of those who were inquiring had a
background in CrossFit (I’m speaking primarily about phone
consulting clients form the 2010 era), I would tell them something
along the lines of:
“You know, just hit something that is hard and intense, and
doesn’t really go much over ten minutes in duration on the
long end. Make sure that you don’t jump around too much,
and repeat your workouts frequently so that you can track
your progress.”
While I thought this to be fairly straightforward advice, I received
numerous requests for a handful of example workouts that I felt fit
that bill.
It took me longer than it should have for the light bulb to go off, but
eventually it did, and eventually I decided to compose the first book,
detailing 50 workouts that met what I considered to be the most
important criteria for an intelligently implemented conditioning
companion to something like the GSLP.
The book was a huge success, and loads of people from all around
the world snagged it from the store. After about a year later, I was
receiving numerous requests each week for another installment, with
more workouts for the Greyskull minions around the globe to take on.
JohnnyPainLive.com
4 ©2016 Villain Publishing I responded by releasing the first book’s sequel “50 More Greyskull
Approved Conditioning Workouts for the Modern Viking”.
Like it’s predecessor, the second book was a hit as well.
Since then I have received yet more requests for more content on
conditioning, and frequently am asked questions pertaining to the
subject on my forum as well. These factors led to my decision to
release this product; a more thorough presentation of my thoughts on
good conditioning work, and how to implement it, as well as a
separate volume choked with even more workouts to sweat and
increase in awesomeness by.
This handbook is not intended to be a complete and total
presentation of all of the intricate mechanisms by which the workouts
in the other volumes affect the human body and cause adaptation,
nor is it intended to be a fluffy, philosophical text on how and why
conditioning work elevates a person into some “elite” cult of
personality centered around tight shorts and gym chalk.
What it is intended to provide you with is a concise reference on the
subject of conditioning work, an aspect of the overall training picture
that I believe to be one of the least understood, and most neglected
components, at least for those with whom I routinely converse, and
therefore, who are most likely to be reading this.
I want you to understand what I know to be true about the subject of
conditioning, and to be crystal clear on how I believe it should be
implemented by you in order to get the most out of your efforts.
I hope you enjoy this relatively quick read, and that you get to work
kicking your own ass with the workouts presented in the companion
volume ASAP.
JohnnyPainLive.com
5 ©2016 Villain Publishing Part One
Why Conditioning?
In my opinion, conditioning is one of the most interesting aspects of
training for one simple reason: Some focus on it almost exclusively;
to the exclusion of strength training, many others do not train for it at
all, and a large percentage of those who do truly train for both
strength and conditioning fail to succeed in developing either to any
appreciable degree.
I am of the belief that conditioning work belongs in everyone’s training
regimen, with the caveat that it must make sense for the goals of the
individual (more on this later).
The benefits of effective, and intelligent conditioning training are
many. I’ve highlighted a few below, with a bit of explanation as to why
each is something that may, or should be desired.
Longevity
This should be the biggest “no brainer” reason to train conditioning,
but for many who might be reading this, it’s not as large of an
immediate concern as say, body composition (aesthetics).
While the argument has certainly been made that the loss of strength
and muscle as part of the aging process is what ultimately causes
one to lose his or her independence (read: not be able to get off of
the toilet unassisted, etc.) many who espouse this logic do so to the
JohnnyPainLive.com
6 ©2016 Villain Publishing exclusion of the importance of the other factors that make up overall
fitness.
Mass media for the most part has long drawn a correlation between
heart health, often gained through activities like jogging or elipticalling
(if that’s an actual thing) and longevity. This is obvious if you’ve ever
seen any TV commercial remotely related to the subject of health, like
ever.
It is this bias in the media that causes the other camp, the strength is
all that matters folks, to get their expensive, supportive
undergarments in an uproar and tout the existence of strength as the
“one true prophet”. Unfortunately, these folks are as wrong as the
ones who believe that stepping out for a few minutes a week with
jogging suit on, with a pair of soup cans in your hands is the end all
be all fountain of youth.
The truth is, neither camp is correct across the board. Both strength,
and overall fitness, which strength is a component of, are necessary
for a person to live a long, healthy, and independent life (barring any
crazy circumstance you might dream up to “disprove” me here… I
know you were thinking about it… seriously, stop, you don’t always
have to win).
The strength side is able to see that a marathoner who looks like the
partially decomposed corpse of an anorexic has a higher likelihood of
losing independence later in life than his burly counterpart, but should
also not be so delusional as to believe that a 350lb superheavyweight
powerlifter who can pull 800lbs but cannot walk up a flight of stairs
without being winded is the picture of health.
Bottom line is that one should train for both strength, and overall
conditioning if the intention is to stack the deck as favorable as
possible for the prospect of living a long, healthy, independent life.
JohnnyPainLive.com
7 ©2016 Villain Publishing Endurance/Stamina
Face it, you don’t want to be the guy huffing and puffing at the top of
a moderately sized flight of stairs.
Training conditioning will build your lungs and cardiovascular system,
and will keep you from gassing while performing tasks that you
encounter in every day life.
Whether you just want to offset your powerhouse, beast mode, mass
monster weight training efforts and be able to walk the mall or
boardwalk with your girlfriend, chase the kids around the yard or park,
or run a 5k with some friends, or knock he bottom out of a few
cheerleader (or girls that work at a place called cheerleaders) in a
weekend marathon session in Atlantic City, this type of work is
something of a necessary evil.
Like our superheavy powerlifter that we mentioned before, you can’t
claim to have an interest in fitness if you’re grossly out of shape, you
just can’t.
Even if competitive powerlifting, and being as strong as your genetics
will allow is your absolute goal, conditioning work dramatically aids
you by building vital work capacity and allowing you train harder, and
more intensely.
Think about squatting a heavy weight for a rep max. Your legs and
body might have 20+ reps in them, but if your lungs are giving way at
9, how many do you think you’re going to crank out?
Conditioning work, when balanced out with, and intelligently
integrated into a proper strength training program is quite simply “the
balls”.
JohnnyPainLive.com
8 ©2016 Villain Publishing Enhanced Performance
This one goes hand in hand with the previous entry on improving
endurance and stamina.
You will undoubtedly see an increase in your performance in virtually
any recreational physical activity that you choose to undertake should
you opt to adopt a consistent conditioning program.
I specify “recreational” activity because training conditioning for a
specific sport at a competitive level often differs from training for
general conditioning. I’m writing this with the assumption that, like
many of my readers, you are probably not actively competing at the
college or professional level in a particular sport.
In my work with MMA fighters for example, much of what I do early on
involves eradicating unnecessary, and often excessive general
conditioning work form their programming in order to free up time for
more skill training. I concern myself with getting them strong primarily,
and allowing the bulk of their conditioning work to come from their
multiple sparring or grappling sessions throughout the week.
Again, for the guy just looking to rock the house at his flag football
game on Saturday, win the Dragon boat race Kenny Powers style, or
just slay some serious ass without overheating and passing out, this
program delivers more than enough of the proverbial goods.
JohnnyPainLive.com
9 ©2016 Villain Publishing Body Composition
Here’s one of the big ones for a lot of you. If you’re like many who’ve
purchased this product, this is the reason for you doing so.
The overwhelming majority of the questions that I get from people
about conditioning are related to body composition; specifically the
pursuit of a lean, desirable composition that allows that person to
show off their hard earned muscle and turn heads.
While there are certainly multiple ways to skin the composition cat,
with diet in the foreground in terms of importance, intense
conditioning like the workouts presented in this system are certainly
one of the big guns in the arsenal.
Face it, you want to look good.
You want to be attractive.
You want to be able to wear little clothing at the beach and not cause
those around you to vomit their fudgy wudgies and Twisted Teas
concealed in Taco Bell cups.
There’s nothing wrong with that at all, I think you’d be a fool if you
didn’t feel that way.
For those who seek a lean, muscular body, who aren’t into long, slow
walks every morning, or having a super tight diet, this kind of work
provides a possible alternative (and an additional benefit even for
those who do enjoy the aforementioned methods).
Put simply, if you bust your ass with workouts like these, and
progress in an intelligent manner, your body composition will certainly
improve. I think everyone can understand that, so I won’t flog this
horse anymore… he’s starting to stink anyway, and the flies are
becoming a nuisance.
JohnnyPainLive.com
10 ©2016 Villain Publishing The “Better than You” Factor
This final “benefit” of conditioning training that I’m listing here is one
that I am extremely adamant about.
Much of what we do as human beings is motivated by a desire to feel
significant, either to those in our environment, or simply to ourselves.
Everyone has their own heroes, and each hero earns their place in
that person’s ranks for one reason or another. Truly successful and
fulfilled individuals share the practice of discovering ways in which to
become their own hero in some capacity, as well as having excellent
role models for other things.
This idea is one that I feel strongly about, and that I encourage those
that I work with to think about and pursue. There are few more
rewarding sensations in this world that one can experience than a
feeling of accomplishment.
When a person slays their dragons, overcomes a fear, or produces a
change in their life that they previously thought unattainable for any
reason, there is a blissful state that is achieved that little can compare
to.
I’m not saying that your training efforts or fitness level should define
you, nor am I saying that you should identify yourself by your body
image; what I am saying is that your accomplishments in training can
provide you with loads of the rewarding experiences and realizations
of which I’ve spoken.
What I refer to as “the better than you factor” is not all about
comparing yourself or your abilities to others, and it is not about a
literal feeling of superiority over any other human being. What it’s
about is possessing the knowledge that you are accomplishing things
that others don’t take the initiative or the requisite actions to
accomplish, though they may very well be capable of doing so.
JohnnyPainLive.com
11 ©2016 Villain Publishing Busting your ass on a regular basis to best your previous records in
workouts like the ones presented in this program offer you regular
opportunities to experience this sensation.
In order to drive progress, and produce new record-breaking results,
you must demonstrate a high degree of intestinal fortitude, mental
toughness, and display an ability to block out discomfort in the pursuit
of an objective. These are skills that can serve you well in any
endeavor in life.
My military experience forced me to do al of the above, and I credit
those experiences with much of the success that I’ve achieved in my
time since assimilating (however poorly) back into the civilian world.
I would not trade the attributes that I developed during that period of
my life for any monetary amount. Those aspects of my personality
are critical elements of my identity, and I would not be the same
person without them.
I highly encourage you to push yourself well beyond what you
currently think is possible when taking on the workouts that I’ve laid
out for you here. The rewards that come packaged with the
knowledge that you are routinely doing things that others do not, and
regularly besting your own personal records are incredible.
JohnnyPainLive.com
12 ©2016 Villain Publishing Regardless of the reason(s) for which you desire to train
conditioning, this book and it’s companion volume will provide
you with a host of information and options that you can apply in
the pursuit of your goal.
When trained regularly, and with intensity, the workouts in this
program will turn you into a strong, capable beast who looks
good and lives good, so give ‘em hell.
JohnnyPainLive.com
13 ©2016 Villain Publishing Part Two
Training for Conditioning vs.
Training for Strength
Alright, so training for conditioning and training for strength have
some similarities and some differences.
In order to progress in either, you have to show up and do the work.
Nobody’s gotten stronger by having a window open displaying some
strength training forum, intermittently scouring it for pearls of wisdom
between internet porn beat off sessions anymore than anyone’s
gotten strong by reading the muscle magazines back in the day.
Likewise, it’s impossible to build a granite hard body, dripping with
sex appeal, and capable of outrunning a gazelle by watching
YouTube videos of Rich Froning, or purchasing eBooks on
conditioning (even this one… though if any author’s content were to
be most likely to magically cause an adaptation like that it would have
to be mine, but I digress).
In order to become a strong, conditioned monster, you have to train
for both strength, and conditioning, period.
So that’s pretty much where the similarities end, now let’s talk about
the differences between the two.
JohnnyPainLive.com
14 ©2016 Villain Publishing Here Today, Gone Tomorrow, and
“Getting in Shape”
Conditioning is a much more transient adaptation than it’s burlier
cousin strength. By this I mean that it will head out of town, smelling
of Old Granddad and raw onions much quicker than it’s iron-bread
kinfolk.
Consider these examples:
Let’s imagine that a group of jiggly, soft office types decide to band
together and run a charity 5k.
Now imagine that each of these folks hasn’t seen the inside of a gym,
or done anything that resembled physical activity since at least before
Obama started tea bagging the U.S. with impunity. Despite their utter
lack of any semblance of conditioning, each has committed to running
this 5k in six weeks.
Let’s say that one of these doughy do-gooders, let’s call him “Chubs”
for now, decides to begin his training for said event by running one
lap around the block after work on Wednesday night.
Predictably, this effort is taxing for Chubs and he finds himself
considerably more winded than he had expected. But Chubs is a
determined man, and therefore makes his mind up to run
progressively longer distances each night after work leading up to the
event.
By the end of the first week, Chubs is able to run several blocks. He
is still winded, but is pleased with his progress. Inside of three weeks,
he’s completing a mile or more at a shot, and feels that he will
certainly be able to complete the run come race day.
On that fateful morning, Chubs laces up his running shoes and heads
out to meet his coworkers at the starting line. While he does not
expect to win, or even place highly in the event, he is confident that
JohnnyPainLive.com
15 ©2016 Villain Publishing he will make it through the day, and he does exactly that, finishing the
race without a single break.
Give Chubs a hand everybody.
It’s fair to assume that everyone on Chubs’ team, at least the ones
that followed a similar training approach, would be able to produce
predictably similar results in that they would all be able to complete
the 5k event. These folks are all basically able to go from completely
“out of shape”, to “in shape” enough to complete a three plus mile run
within a relatively short period of time (six weeks).
Contrast this to the idea of the same group of untrained individuals
attempting to do a charity Powerlifting meet instead.
Same time frame, six weeks to prepare.
Now before you start jabbering about “newbie gains” or “the novice
effect” and how much progress they’d make in the six weeks, do you
think that the group would be able to make an increase in strength
that represents something proportional to a progression from being
winded from one trip around the block to completing a 5k?
Of course not.
These guys (and/or gals) won’t take a 95lb max squat to a 250lb
squat in the same six week period, it simply won’t happen.
Why you ask?
I’ll tell you grasshopper...
Building strength takes longer than “getting shape” in the
cardiovascular endurance sense of the phrase.
When it comes down to it, getting in shape, particularly when you are
training conditioning using intelligently designed workouts like the
ones presented in this system, is a pretty simple, pretty linear
endeavor that can happen in a matter of weeks if trained consistently.
JohnnyPainLive.com
16 ©2016 Villain Publishing Consider our second example; a young guy who spends the “off
season” from football occasionally lifting some weights, drinking, and
banging cheerleaders. While all of those things are obviously
awesome, and very fun, none of them represent conditioning work
(with the possible exception of cheerleader banging, but in order for
that to count you have to be doing it JP style, read: like a screen door
in a hurricane for hours on end).
What do you suppose will happen to this guy when he shows up to
the first day of football camp in the preseason?
Two-a-days of gassers, timed runs, sprints, and tackling drills in the
hot sun?
If you’re thinking he’ll be wrecked, and probably puking a good deal,
you’re probably right.
Now fast-forward two weeks to the conclusion of the camp.
Our football hero is now completing the practices with relative ease,
and is a far sight more “in shape” for football than he was two weeks
prior.
You see? It doesn’t take long at all to “get in shape” if that is your
goal.
It has much more to do with consistency of effort, and the intensity
that you’re putting forth into the work than it does the overall duration
of your training in terms of weeks or months.
This is in stark contrast to strength training.
While it is of no doubt equal importance to train consistently, and with
intensity to build strength, it is utterly impossible to force adaptation in
strength in a manner that is any way proportional to the adaptations
in conditioning that are possible in a given period of time.
This means that if you want to get in shape, you can do it with a
relative quickness because...
JohnnyPainLive.com
17 ©2016 Villain Publishing All of that said, it is important to discuss the other element of the
“transient: nature of conditioning, namely that…
While conditioning comes faster than strength,
conditioning also deteriorates faster than strength.
Let’s revisit our guy Chubs for a minute to examine this idea.
We’ll say that after the 5k, Chubs decides to go back to his normal
Cheetos and Xbox routine instead of keep up with his new habit.
Flash ahead three months, and where do you think Chubs is at in
terms of his conditioning? Do you think he’d crush it on a 5k now?
For that matter, think of our footballer as well.
We said that he was showing up to camp “out of shape” after the
summer break, but how much strength do you suppose he would
have lost had he not been consistently lifting weights, or even lifting
weights at all during that time?
Would he have dropped from a 315lb bench down to a 135lb bench?
Of course not.
He will no doubt lose a bit of strength, maybe having difficulty getting
the same number of reps at 225lbs as he was able to before, but he
won’t be a frail weakling either.
To take that even farther, what do you suppose would happen to his
315lb bench if he were to take a full year off of training with weights
(ooh ooh I know this one, pick me, I do this a lot)?
Would he have to start back, struggling with 135 after a year?
Nope. Why?
JohnnyPainLive.com
18 ©2016 Villain Publishing Adaptations in strength are much more resilient than
adaptations in conditioning.
Again, conditioning adaptation takes place more rapidly than
strength, but will leave you much sooner if you let it go by the
wayside.
This is why incorporating a conditioning plan into your current training
setup is a great thing to do. It takes little in the way of exposure to
conditioning stimuli each week to keep you in decent “shape” year
round, and makes it significantly easier to get more fine tuned in a
hurry should the need or the desire arise.
JohnnyPainLive.com
19 ©2016 Villain Publishing Part Three
Performance Based Training for the
Outcome Based Thinker
If you’re at all familiar with some of my other writing, on my website
and in books like “Blueprint to Beast” you’ve no doubt heard me
discuss the importance of something called “Outcome based thinking”
(OBT).
OBT is the first “pillar” of Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP), a
discipline of applied psychology that I have studied for most of my
life. NLP has provided me with many tools that I have been able to
effectively use to produce successful results in a vast array of
endeavors, and is one of the essential backbone elements of all of
my teaching methods regardless of subject.
OBT refers to the practice of beginning any pursuit with a clearly
defined outcome in mind that you are intent on producing. One could
liken the idea to plugging a destination into a GPS before embarking
on a trip.
One of the most common manners in which I reference OBT is in
conjunction with the third “pillar” of NLP, which is “Behavioral
flexibility”. The basic premise of this one-two punch being that, in
order to produce a desired outcome, one must first begin with a clear
idea of where he or she needs to go, and then be flexible in the
approach that is used to arrive there.
To revisit our GPS example, you can think of behavioral flexibility as
the machine recalculating to generate an alternate route to the
destination in the event of an impassable road or detour.
This manner of thinking and planning is crucial to your success in just
about anything you should choose to do, but in this section I’d like to
discuss the importance of “Performance based training” (PBT) as it
JohnnyPainLive.com
20 ©2016 Villain Publishing pertains to, and works synergistically with OBT in, maximizing the
results from training for conditioning.
To best illustrate the concept of PBT I will use analogy to another
topic that I instruct others in with regularity, namely, shooting.
It is common in this YouTube age for many to practice a specific
shooting drill, usually on steel, and usually from a close distance, until
they can complete the course of fire in an “impressive” time.
These times are recorded via the almighty shot timer, an invaluable
piece of equipment when used correctly, and are displayed for the
viewer of the video to admire.
This trend has led to the belief in many that obtaining proficiency in
the dynamic discipline of pistol or rifle shooting has much to do with
replicating the performance of these internet gunslingers and turning
in comparable times on similar drills.
While drills like these can certainly be a valuable component of a
proper shooting program, an overemphasis on “mastering” one or
more drills to the exclusion of training other, often times more
applicable or otherwise important skills, is largely detrimental to the
development of true combat shooting prowess.
I liken this practice to memorizing information prior to an exam, you
know, basically how all of us got through school. There is not a
genuine skill developed, outside of the ability to perform that one
single action with lightning speed.
Performance based training in the shooting world focuses on your
ability to perform to the highest level that you are able given the
circumstances and conditions of the exercise, as measured by all
appropriate metrics, and not on racing to beat an arbitrary time
established by someone else who has spent more time that you have
“studying for the test”.
Many of the workouts outlined in the companion volume to this
handbook are designed to be completed on the clock, with your time
to completion being one of the principle metrics used to track your
JohnnyPainLive.com
21 ©2016 Villain Publishing progress. When proper, safe technique is demonstrated on the
movements, and zero corners are cut, recording time in this manner
is an excellent strategy. When the opposite is true however, when
technique is let fall by the wayside, corners are cut in the execution of
movements (range of motion for example), and the focus is purely on
“completing” the work in the shortest possible period of time, the
trainee is doing himself an injustice just as the shooter who seeks to
be YouTube famous for ringing steel on close targets that can be hit
by any competent shooter blindfolded by using one of the
fundamentals of marksmanship which is body index or natural point
of aim.
I want you to emphasize proper technique and range of motion in
each of the movements you complete as part of these workouts.
Remember that the movements are designed to create some sort of
adaptation in your body, and you are only cheating yourself if you
become obsessed with the clock.
In other words, don’t be a dirty CrossFitter and make the clock your
God.
Think of the “GOMAD” driven buffoon who becomes scale obsessed,
seeking to see his bodyweight increase weekly or even daily by
taking in a gross surplus of calories. What does this end up looking
like in a few months?
If you guessed “a fat fuck”, give yourself a pat on the back.
I cover this “fast track to fat fuck” idea in greater detail in my book
“SWOLE: The Greyskull Growth Principles”, but the gist is that a
focus on “scale PR’s” and a fuck you to all of the other, more relevant
metrics one should track when seeking to pack on mass will always
lead to a sloppy, jiggly, perhaps marginally stronger individual while a
global approach that intelligently addresses all of the relevant
components of a proper mass gain effort will yield much more
favorable results.
In shooting we say, “Speed is fine, accuracy is final”. Think about the
applications of that idea in your conditioning training. I want to see
you get the most out of your efforts always.
JohnnyPainLive.com
22 ©2016 Villain Publishing In conclusion, performance based training means the desire to turn in
the best performance that YOU’RE capable of on the workout for that
given day, taking into consideration all of the ways in which your
performance can be measured.
When you combine that approach to training with the Outcome based
approach at identifying your goals and what you desire to produce as
the result of your training, you are on to something and have a
winning combination that will serve you well.
JohnnyPainLive.com
23 ©2016 Villain Publishing Part Four
Where the Rubber Meets the Road:
Building Your Conditioning Plan
As the title would suggest, this section of this guide is where we will
discuss how to best implement the workouts in this system to meet
your conditioning goals.
Before determining what your approach will be, and what workouts
you will choose to tackle first, you need to get clear about what your
primary objective is.
For our purposes here, we will assume that you are interested in
developing overall conditioning to reduce body fat, increase stamina,
and just be a nastier individual.
I will also assume that you are undertaking this effort with a base
layer of strength training already in place, something along the lines
of the Greyskull LP. Whether or not the GSLP is in fact your program
of choice, the “rules” I will lay out here will be applicable if you want to
get the most out of your hard work.
Frequency
It should stand to reason that your goals will dictate how frequently
you work conditioning sessions into your program.
If you think that you’re generally in decent shape, aren’t carrying a ton
of body fat that you want to shed, and just want to receive the
benefits of added conditioning work, you may choose to add one
session per week, perhaps on a weekend day.
JohnnyPainLive.com
24 ©2016 Villain Publishing If you’re looking to strip off some fat you may have put on by
deviating too much from the dietary guidelines in SWOLE for instance
(shame on you, I laid it all out for you!), you may want to up the
frequency to two or three times per week.
And lastly, if you’re just plain out of shape, or are carrying a whole
bunch of fat that you want to shed in a hurry, you may opt to add four
or five of these sessions per week, perhaps even cutting your GSLP
sessions down to two times per week to offset the additional work.
As a sophisticated trainee, and one who is not without knowledge of
basic programming, you should have a pretty easy time determining
what the optimal frequency is for you. If you do have trouble with this
however, feel free to contact me on my forum, and I or one of the
others on there will be happy to help you get it straight.
Keeping it Short
None of the workouts presented in the companion volume to this
book should run longer than about ten minutes. That timeline is pretty
much the “sweet spot” for developing the type of conditioning that
you’re after, as well as for shedding undesired body fat.
Several of the workouts employ a “work to time” approach, with a
fixed timeline, “As many sets as possible in seven minutes” is an
example of this. For those that feature a fixed amount of work, I
encourage you to curtail your effort at the ten minute mark should you
not be finished.
The exception to this idea would be if you find yourself very close to
completing the work at the buzzer, and choose to go on and finish. If
you opt to do this, I’d make sure not to exceed 12-15 minutes at a
maximum.
Be sure to record your time on any workout that has you completing a
fixed amount of work. If you cut the workout short due to running out
JohnnyPainLive.com
25 ©2016 Villain Publishing of time, be sure to indicate how far along in the session you were.
You will have plenty of opportunities to revisit the workout and get it
done inside of the ideal time window.
Tracking Progress
Each workout includes instructions on what should be recorded upon
completion. For many, it will include a variable like bar or dumbbell
weight, and a time component. For the fixed-time sessions, it will
include a weight variable perhaps, and a number of repetitions or sets
completed in the allotted time.
It is important to keep detailed records of your performance, keeping
in mind what we said about Performance based training, so that you
can measure your progress from session to session.
That brings us to our next point…
Seeing it Through
One of my biggest gripes with the CrossFit world is the length of time
between efforts on a given workout.
For instance, one might do something like “Helen”, one of the original
named CrossFit workouts, and then not revisit “her” again for several
months.
Of course the logic employed there is that the constant variety of
work presented creates a sort of “global adaptation”, improving one’s
ability to perform in a variety of manners. While there is some truth to
this, particularly for the brand new trainee, I’ve always found it
simpler, more effective, and more intrinsically rewarding to the
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26 ©2016 Villain Publishing individual to test performance on a given workout with a much higher
frequency.
For instance, if one were to pick a given workout form the book and
establish a baseline time of say eight minutes today, he or she would
have a solid time target to annihilate next week when it is attempted
again.
Repeat this process for four weeks and you’ll see a dramatic
improvement on the eight-minute time.
Since we know that such an improvement in time would represent an
attendant physical adaptation, it is simple to see that the trainee
would be actively reaping the benefits of his or her work.
Remember what I frequently say about eighty percent of a person’s
success in any endeavor being the mental component. A trainee
being able to see, on paper, his or her progress in the course of a
week is both rewarding, and provides him or her with a clear
challenge for the next effort.
Now imagine that this same person is running two or three of these
workouts in a similar manner on say Tuesday, Thursday, and
Saturday. Like the numbers to beat on the strength training sessions,
the trainee now has hard targets to go after three times per week in
their conditioning efforts.
One might opt to tackle the same workout or workouts each week for
a month, or might choose to rotate workouts from week to week, say
week “A” doing workouts 15, 21, and 33, and week “B” doing
workouts 8, 11, and 50. Doing it the latter way, he or she might want
to run that setup for eight weeks before swapping anything out. As
long as they’re being repeated in relatively close proximity, there is no
“wrong” way of plugging them in.
This program provides you with a large amount of freedom in terms of
keeping things fresh. There are fifty individual sessions laid out that
you can experiment with in an infinite number of combinations.
JohnnyPainLive.com
27 ©2016 Villain Publishing What I recommend however is that whatever manner in which you
choose to rotate the workouts you select to plug in, be sure to stick
with one workout for at least four efforts before swapping it out for
another.
This allows you to measure and see the progress you’re making, and
will do wonders for keeping you motivated.
And, like the CrossFit folks, it’s always fun to come back and hit a
workout that you haven’t’ seen for a while to test yourself against the
version of you that last took on that challenge. This is like the resets
in the Greyskull LP where you go back to a weight that you’ve
previously handled, and demolish the reps that you were able to
make with that weight the last time.
Trust me on this one. Don’t let the appeal of variety for varieties sake
take away from your conditioning progress.
Do What You Suck At
The variety of workouts presented in this manual cover a wide range
of movements and activities, some of which you’re probably better at,
or enjoy more than others (the two typically go hand in hand).
While it is tempting to go after the ones that you feel you’ll do well in,
which is not always a bad idea from a mental perspective in the
beginning, it would behoove you to tackle a few of the ones that put
you off a bit at first glance.
Don’t just stick to the ones that you like. Do a few of the ones
that are really shitty for you.
Those who train with me live have the benefit of having me determine
what they’ll be tackling from session to session. This is arguably one
of the greatest benefits to working with a competent trainer because
JohnnyPainLive.com
28 ©2016 Villain Publishing said trainer forces you to get out of your comfort zone and cut the
bullshit on the road to your goals.
I will add that I often have a 1:1 or 2:1 ratio of “shit that you like” to
“shit that you hate” in a client’s program. I find this important because
of the mental element at play.
If you only have someone do what they hate, they’ll associate the
work with pain or negativity, and ultimately not stick with it or try their
best.
Likewise, if the work is balanced out with work that is less “sucky” for
them, and more immediately rewarding, they are much more likely to
stick with it, and interestingly enough often grow fond of the “shitty”
stuff once they see themselves getting better at it, or notice the
changes in their body that they experience as a result.
Since I’m not there to walk you through this and ensure that you’re
doing at least some of what you suck at regularly, I am going to leave
it up to you to make sure that you pepper your training with just the
right amount of suck to make it spicy bur not completely unpalatable.
.
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29 ©2016 Villain Publishing Conclusion
So there you have it.
This has been my take on what a simple handbook for the often
overly complexified subject of conditioning training should look like.
I hope you’ve enjoyed it, and I hope that you put the information
within, and the workouts from the other volume to work in your quest
to accomplish your conditioning goals.
If you would like more examples of conditioning workouts that I use
personally with my clients, and you don’t already own the following,
you may want to visit my website JohnnyPainLive.com and pick up
my previous conditioning volumes:
50 Greyskull Approved Conditioning Workouts for the
Modern Viking
50 More Greyskull Approved Conditioning Workouts for
the Modern Viking
These three references will provide you with a lifetime of possibilities
to keep your training fresh.
As always, if you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me on
my forum, or email me at the address below:
JP@JohnnyPainLive.com
That’s it guys and girls, Here’s to your continued success!
Give it hell.
JohnnyPainLive.com
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