I find it's very frustrating to spend all my time and energy on my training only to struggle to play on a mountain or fr
Text Copyright © 2016 Matthew J. Schifferle All Rights Reserved Disclaimer: Matt Schifferle is not liable for any injuries or damages that individuals might incur by attempting to perform any of the exercises or feats of strength depicted or discussed in this book. Any individual attempting to does so at their own risk. Consult with your physician before beginning an exercise regimen.
Before I begin I have a confession to make. I’m not a big believer in the idea that results heavily depend upon having the perfect program or routine. Over the years I’ve done split routines, circuit training, bodybuilding workouts, powerlifting workouts, and functional workouts. I’ve mixed it up, kept my body guessing and even stuck to a strict routine. Most of the time I’ve made very little progress no matter what sort of program I adopted. Eventually, I learned that success doesn’t depend on using a particular routine but rather how well you progress the routine you’re currently using. It’s the progression that brings results not the fact that you’re using the latest workout strategy. If you master one arm push ups and pistol squats it doesn’t really matter what your routine looks like, you’ll be one strong B.A.M.F. On the other hand, it doesn’t matter what the science says about your latest routine. If your technique and work ethic sucks your results are D.O.A. It’s progression which produces results and it’s this search for progression which has inspired this program. You can’t build just strength and muscle Building strength and muscle doesn’t happen in a vacuum. If you want to get bigger and stronger you must develop more than just raw muscular strength. You must also develop what I call the “soft qualities” of your technique. These include balance, muscle control, flexibility, joint stability and more. The old strong men of old knew this which is why you still hear stories about how great strength athletes like Saxon, Sandow and Maxick were not only super strong, but also incredibly athletic in many ways. Before modern “strength” training, men understood that strength was only one component of fitness. Mother Nature doesn’t like imbalance so you’ll naturally hold your potential to grow bigger and stronger if other physical qualities are lacking. These days we have machines and devices that force the body to move in unnatural ways. Steroids, and even some supplements have also made it possible to build up one’s strength and muscle while leaving other “soft” physical capabilities lacking. Most of the time, these imbalances are compensated through unnatural techniques and exercises, but sooner or later it catches up to us. Mother Nature will always attempt to bring us back into balance through any means possible including burn out, frustration, and even crippling injury. At the very least, you’ll struggle to build much strength and muscle. This has given rise to the widely accepted myth that the body resists getting bigger and stronger. This idea is a complete myth. Every cell in your body is primed and ready to adapt. There is nothing about your body that resists change, provided it’s done through balanced training. When your training includes soft qualities like balance and flexibility the biological shackle that hold back your strength and muscle building progress are released. The progressive calisthenics advantage
Back when I was lifting I knew my hips were tight and weak, but I seldom put much emphasis on them. I just didn’t like extending my workout by another 23 exercise for hip strength, followed by a long stretching session and then even more exercises for balance and stability. It was just easier to compensate by using the leg press machine which didn’t require those qualities. Sure I made the usual excuses like how I wasn’t naturally flexible or that my limb length wasn’t conducive to deep squats but it was all delusional nonsense. I was weak and I hid my ego behind high numbers achieved through artificial means. When I got into progressive calisthenics I was finally forced to confront my weaknesses in the softer physical qualities. Within a month I experienced dramatic improvement in my balance, flexibility and muscle control. Once this happened my struggles to grow bigger and stronger also disappeared. The reason was simple; growing the hard qualities of strength and muscle mass, requires developing the softer qualities as well. This is the advantage of progressive calisthenics. You can’t hide your weaknesses and shortcomings. Instead you must develop all athletic qualities in a balanced and harmonious way. Not only does this prevent injury and burnout, it also releases brakes holding back your strength and muscle building potential. Best of all you don’t need a plethora of gadgets and exercises that eat up your resources to do it! There’s just one catch....... You need to develop athletic skills to build strength and muscle. You also need strength to keep building up your athletic skills. However, while the two are complementary in helping you achieve your goals, they are actually very different in how you train them. Training for skill and softer qualities Building skills requires practice, practice and more practice. Volume and repetition are your best friends. Because of this, it’s essential that each time you practice an exercise you don’t spend too much energy. Managing your fatigue level is the key to building high levels of volume. Training for muscle & Strength On the other hand, building your strength and muscle requires taxing your muscles and nervous system to a high degree. This stimulates your muscles to grow bigger and stronger. In order to do that you need to rest and allow yourself recovery which means using less volume. So you can see the pickle you’re in. While skill and strength are complementary qualities in calisthenics, you need to use opposing training protocols to fully develop each one.
The Veterano Plus Advantage Veterano Plus allows you to train both the hard and soft qualities of calisthenics at the same time while gaining the benefits of both without compromising either. You can now train both the hard and soft qualities you require at the same time! Here’s how it works: The original Veterano routine was developed by Paul Wade in his classic text; Convict Conditioning . Because Convict Conditioning focuses on “the big six” moves of push ups, pull ups, bridges, leg raises, handstand push ups, and squats. You simply focus on one of these moves each day of the week and rest, or have an active rest day, on the 7th.
This is a great example of a muscle building program. You hit a move once and then allow yourself to fully recover throughout the week. Here’s the “Plus” To quickly build the softer qualities required by the Big Six add in the other 5 moves as a sort of warm up every day. This means you practice your push ups, handstands, bridges, leg raises and squats before hitting your main move of the day which would be pull ups on Monday. Doing these preliminary moves every day builds volume to train your nervous system so you become more comfortable and proficient at the technical details of the Big Six.
To prevent yourself from burning out each of these preliminary moves is done for just one set, maybe 2 at the most and only to a modest level of fatigue. So if you can do 15 pull ups you would end the set around 810 reps. This way your muscles don’t get beat up, but you still get a chance to work on things like weight distribution, muscle activation and body positioning. These 5 moves shouldn’t take much time, I usually get them done in about 7 minutes. After that, you dive into the main move of the day in the usual manner of 23 hard sets to a high level of fatigue to really fatigue the muscle.
Benefits: Incorporate both skill building and muscle building into the same workout This format gives you the power to practice all of the BIG Six every day while also taking each move to a high level of fatigue and allowing a full recovery throughout the week. You’ll be able to build both the hard and the soft qualities of your calisthenics training at the same time without worrying about complicated periodization schedules. Faster recovery With the Veterano Plus format you still practice each move even after the day after you worked that move hard. I find this helps to loosen stiff muscles and aid recovery. I do recommend using a regressive move the day afterward though. For example, if I practice 3 sets of high fatigue single leg squats on Wednesday, I might do some light 2 leg squats the next day or a short round of lunges. A chance to practice other moves Convict Conditioning focuses on 6 primary moves, but the world of body weight training can include many variations of these moves like lunges, levers, dips and explosive exercises. The Veterano Plus routine affords you the opportunity to practice some of these other moves throughout the week without taking much emphasis away from the BIG Six. For example, You might do close push ups on your push up day but play with dips the following day and explosive push ups the day after that. This way you can get the variety of doing other moves without compromising your focus on the primary push up regressions. Joint therapy You’re only as strong as your joints will allow. Once your knees, shoulders or elbows are hurt it’s pretty much game over for your gains. Just like the rest of your body, your joints benefit from both volume and intensity. A good example of this is the plague of stiff and weak wrists in western culture. Many turn to the crutch of using push up handles but in the world of progressive calisthenics you’ll always be held back if your wrists are not strong enough to press your palm comfortably into the floor. By practicing all of your moves your joints will adapt faster and become far stronger than if you only used them through a significant range once a week. Qualities like flexibility and mobility will also progress much faster than if you only practiced them once or twice a week.
Shorter workouts I used to do super long workouts mostly because there are so many bodyweight exercises that can be done plus I was always trying to cram in a lot of volume for each exercise. Now, I know I keep all of my preliminary moves to 1 light set (2 if I’m really jonesing for it) and I hit only one move and a shotgun move hard for 3 sets. This structure helps keep the intensity high, prevents volume creep and gets me out the door quicker. Save Time and energy for other activities I love training calisthenics, but there’s more to my active lifestyle than training. I ski, bike, hike and practice martial arts. I find it’s very frustrating to spend all my time and energy on my training only to struggle to play on a mountain or free spar later on. Since Veterano Plus doesn’t take up much time or energy you won’t spend any more effort than is absolutely necessary to continue getting bigger and stronger. This means you’ll have more left over for other activities. Also, feel free to arrange the working days around your activities as you see fit. For example, the classic Veterano program puts squats on Friday, but I like to ski or ride on the weekend and I found my legs were not able to recover in time to optimally do those activities. To solve this I simply put squats on Wednesday which gave my legs as much time possible to recover from the weekend while also giving myself time to recover from leg day before heading into the mountains. Won’t I over train if I do push ups and squats every day? It’s a fair question, especially since the common bodybuilding lore preaches that you should never train the same muscle group 2 days in a row let alone 6. The truth is you don’t have to recover from a workout. You only need to recover from fatigue. Since you won’t be pushing to a high level of fatigue 5 out of the 6 days you train your recovery will not be compromised. Believing you can’t recover from a single set of lunges or lying leg raises within 24 hours is like refusing to climb the stairs to the second story in your home in fear of overtraining. It’s enough work to practice your skills but not nearly enough to require a Big Gulp protein shake and a 12 hour Netflix marathon. Incorporating shotgun muscle Convict Conditioning 2 introduced exercises for the calves, neck and forearm muscles. These muscles “ride shotgun” to the other muscles but they are still important towards both the function and appearance of your body. While they are worked through the big six, some folks like to focus on them with a separate set of exercises. Personally, I find this to be very important because these muscles often hold back the big 6 to some degree. A weak grip holds back your
pull up and hanging leg raises. Weak and stiff calves will hold back your lower body training and a strong neck will make push ups and handstands easier as well. I’ve observed these muscle groups tend to respond well to a bit more volume at a higher intensity. This is why I alternate each of the shotgun exercises twice through each week cycle.
So there ya have it my friend, the basic Veterano Plus workout program. Of course, It’s not like it’s carved into stone tablets or anything. Feel free to make any changes you feel will help you progress towards your goals. If you have any questions please reach out to me at
[email protected] . Also, I would love to hear from you if you are enjoying this routine and making progress! Happy training and as always, Be Fit & Live Free. Matt Schifferle
