Convict Conditioning: How to Bust Free of All Weakness-Using the Lost Secrets of Supreme Survival Strength: How to Bust Free of All Weakness-- Using the Lost Secrets of Supreme Survival Strength [Kindle Edition]

Convict Conditioning is a book of bodyweight only training. It utilizes six training exercises, each having ten different variations. The six exercises are called "the Big Six", and they are one-arm pushup, one legged squat (pistol squat), one-arm pullup, hanging straight leg raise, stand-to-stand bridge, and one-arm handstand pushup. You don't start with these exercises, but rather easier versions, and they represent the ultimate goal of the workout.

The workout is structured so that each exercise of the Big Six is divided into ten steps, the final step being the exercises listed earlier. As a general rule, the first steps are the easiest and you move gradually to more challenging variations. For example, you start the pushups series with standing pushups against the wall, and progress from there into incline pushups against a table, then kneeling pushpus, and so on until you reach the one-arm pushup.

Each of the steps are further divided into three stages: Beginner standard, Intermediate standard, and Progression standard. The standards differ from each other by the number of repetitions and sets you are supposed to perform each exercise. When you reach the Progression standard of an exercise, you can move on to the next step, where you'll start from the Beginner standard.

The author emphasizes clean performance of exercises, and slow progression through the steps. You are supposed to start from step one with each exercise even if you could jump directly to step six, for example. And you are supposed to progess slowly through each step, taking a minimum of one month on each step no matter how easy the exercise is for you.

The name of the book is derived from the inception of the training system - or so the story goes. The author "Paul Wade" (not his real name) has supposedly spent a major portion of his adult life in prison, and there he has gained reputation of being able to coach himself and his fellow inmates into excellent shape. And because there are no free weigts allowed in prisons, the workouts had to consist of bodyweight exercises only. The credibility of the story has been questioned, but no doubt it gives a marketing edge; something where the book stands alone from countless other bodyweight only training manuals. In my opinion, it's a shame because the training system is very good if not excellent, and the shadow of doubt over the backround strory can put the whole book into questionable light.

The system - as already stated - in very good. It offers very good progression of bodyweight exercises, with which creating a progression is much harder than with free weights. Also, in addition to the progression system, there is a cycling of intensity built into the system. As the Beginner standard of each step is easier than the Progression standard on the previous step, you'll get an automatic cycling down of intensity each time you progress to a higher step.

The price tag is a bit high, as is the case with many Dragondroor publications. This time however, I feel the price is not exsessive but the book is worth the price. Another complaint is that I would have the author clarify some points in the self-coaching chapter as there is some things that are not explained fully. These things drop the star count from five to four. Otherwise an excellent book!

This is a classic bodyweight training manual. Moreover, it's different than any other you'll likely read. It's written in a colorful, easy reading style with no pretense.

According to the author, an ex-convict, "The average gym junkie today is all about appearance, not ability. Flash, not function. These men may have big, artificially pumped up limbs, but all that the size is in the muscle tissue; their tendons and joints are weak. Ask the average muscleman to do a deep one-leg squat-ass-to-floorstyle-and his knee ligaments would probably snap in two. What strength most bodybuilders do have, they cannot use in a coordinated way; if you asked them to walk on their hands they'd fall flat on their faces."

This is an extraordinary book about functional bodyweight training. By functional I mean you are taught to be strong for everyday life -- not muscular for the sake of appearance.

Like the author, I've seen beefy guys and gals at the gym walking ahead of me looking like they could hardly move because they had so much muscles on their legs. They walked like a fat person whose thighs rub against each other. Not a pretty sight.

The author continues, "To become hugely powerful, you don't need weights, cables, fancy machines, or any other crap that the industry or the infomercials are brainwashing you into thinking you can't do without. You can gain Herculean strength-genuine brawn and vitality-with no special equipment at all. But to unlock this power-the power of your own body-you need to know how. You need the right method, the art.

Such a method does in fact exist. It's based on traditional, ancient forms of training, techniques which are as old as training itself. This method has evolved by trial-and-error over the centuries, and has proved its superior ability to transform flimsy men into steel-forged warriors time and time again. This method is progressive calisthenics-the art of using the human body to maximize its own development. Calisthenics today is seen as a method of aerobics, circuit training or muscle endurance. It isn't taken seriously. But in the past-before the second half of the twentieth century-all of the world's strongest athletes earned the bulk of their power through performing calisthenics progressively-to become stronger and stronger, day by day, week by week, year after year."

He then teaches you, step by step, how to go from zero to elite with nothing but bodyweight. He says that the fitness industry promotes weights and other gadgets to make money.

If you read the history of bodybuilding, you'll read how the Weider brothers and many before them made a good deal of wealth selling supplements and various types of muscle building equipment.

On the other hand, people like Charles Atlas sold a simple bodyweight program that taught people to look and feel great using their own bodies. Of course, in all fairness, Atlas became rich too.

Here are the contents:

1. Introduction: A Journey of Strength
2. Old School Calisthenics: The Lost Art of Power
The Convict Manifesto: Bodyweight Training vs Modern Methods
4. Convict Conditioning: About This Book

PART II: THE BIG SIX:

5. The Pushup: Armor-Plated Pecs and Steel Triceps
6. The Squat: Elevator Cable Thighs
7. The Pullup: Barn Door Back and Major Guns
8. The Leg Raise: A Six-Pack From Hell
9. The Bridge: Combat Ready Your Spine
10. The Handstand Pushup: Healthy Powerful Shoulders

PART III: SELF-COACHING

11. Body Wisdom: Cast Iron Principles
12. Routines: Workout Programs
Acknowledgments
Index

As you can see, the book is packed. One of the many things I like about it is that it starts the reader out at a very easy to perform exercise. One that's easy to do yet very effective. It takes you to very serious exercises in a way that really works --- by using progression.

The book has lots of pictures in it with easy-to-understand instructions. It's not only fun to read but it's also very interesting. Not only for the knowledge of the exercises, but for the history it shares and the unique perspective of the author.

Unfortunately, the author directs the book to men and makes no mention of training women. Perhaps that's understandable. But the training applies to women as well.

A number of comments have been made in other reviews questioning whether or not the author is really an ex-convict. Well, it could be a marketing ploy. But there are many reasons an ex-con would not want to use his own name in writing this, or any, book.

As to the British English that is used in some parts --- the editors are from Australia and perhaps some in the U.K. It's poor editing, of course, to put an American writer in British English. But it's done only in a few parts. It sounds like it's been edited by numerous people. If so, they didn't catch many misspellings that they should have.

But to me, those are small issues. True -- a book as expensive as this one should be error-free. But we live in a world of poor editing. The value of this book is in the information.

If you're interested in bodybuilding, fitness or bodyweight training, you need to add this book to your library. My guess is it's one you'll put to work right away and use often.

You can continue with your weights if you want. The book doesn't say you should choose one over the other. But it's likely you'll develop a new respect for getting functional strength by using nothing but your own body, in your own time and totally on your own. And that's convict conditioning. It works for them. It will work for you.

Highly recommended.

-- Susanna K. Hutcheson

I became interested in bodyweight training recently, and as I was doing online searches for exercises and training programs, I kept running across references to this book. The reviews were all so uniformly glowing that I finally, hesitantly, ordered it. I was hesitant becuase the price is rather high, but I'm glad I made the purchase. The book is living up to the reviews I've read.

The reason I appreciate this book so much is because I've let myself get out of shape and I need a program that is clearly outlined and begins slowly. I'd love to be doing one-armed pushups and pullups right now, but that's just not possible. The author breaks each exercise down into steps, and the first steps are simple enough that nearly anyone -- even me -- can do them. The author has developed a "beginner standard," an "intermediate standard" and a "progression standard" for each step. For instance, the beginner standard for Step 1 of the pushups exercise is 1 set of 10 repetitions. Intermediate is 2 sets of 25, and the progression standard is 3 sets of 50. Believe me, anyone can begin with Step 1 -- in this case, Step 1 is "Wall Pushups" in which you stand facing a wall, place your palms against the wall, and do "pushups" that way. Surely even the most out of condition person can do one pushup like that. Once that person can do 3 sets of 50 (you're probably already there) you move onto Step 2.

At the end of the book, "Coach Wade" puts together a number of workout programs. The program I'm doing now is called "New Blood" and involves "four of the most basic exercises performed over two sessions a week." Wade writes: "Practice this program, or a similar routine, during your early work on the ten steps. Once you get past Step 6 on all four of the exercises mentioned, it's time to move on to the next program."

I appreciate very basic instruction like that -- I tend to push myself too hard in exercise programs, triggering internal resistance ("I hate working out! It's too hard!") and often injuring myself so that I'm sidelined and eventually give up the program entirely. I initially thought the "New Blood" routine would be too simple for even my out-of-shape self, but I was sore after my first few workouts. It's going to be some time before I've reached Step 6 on all four exercises, but I can already see progress.

If you're interested in bodyweight training and the lost art of calisthenics (the word comes from the Greek words for "beauty" and "strength"), this is definitely a worthwhile purchase.

(Note: at the time of this review, the price set by whoever is selling this book on Amazon is about thirty dollars higher than the price of the book on the publisher's site. Shop around!)