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Paul Wade

Convict Conditioning: How to Bust Free of All Weaknessââ¬âUsing the Lost Secrets of Supreme Survival Strength Paperback – 4 Dec. 2012

by Paul Wade (Author)

4.7 3,389 ratings

Book 1 of 2: Convict Conditioning

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Convict Conditioning: How to Bust Free of All Weakness--Using the Lost Secrets of Supreme Survival Strength
£26.05
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How to Train As If Your VERY LIFE Depended on Your Degree of REAL Strength, Power and ToughnessMost physical training systems are designed for the domesticated human animal. That is to say, for us humans who live lives of such relative security that we cultivate our strength and power more out of pride and for a sense of accomplishment than out of an absolute need to survive in the wild. The professional athlete hones his body to function well in a sports event-rather than to emerge safe from a life-or-death struggle. And even those in our military and LEO rely more on the security of their weapons and armor than on their own personal, raw power and brute strength to carry the day. There remains one environment where exuding the necessary degree of authoritative strength and power can mean the difference between life or death: the maximum security prison. In maximum security, the predator preys on the weak like we breathe air. Intimidation is the daily currency. You either become a professional victim or you develop that supreme survival strength that signals the predator to stay at bay.Paul Wade spent 19 years in hell holes like San Quentin, Angola and Marion. He entered this world a gangly, terrorized weakling and he graduated to final freedom, pound-for-pound one of the strongest humans on the planet. Paul Wade dedicated his prison life to the cultivation of that supreme survival strength. And ironically, it is in America's prisons that we can find some of the great, lost secrets of how to get immensely powerful and strong. Paul Wade mined these secrets as if his life depended on it-and of course in many ways it did.Finally free, Paul Wade pays his debt to society-not just with the horrors of his years in the hole-but with the greatest gift he could possibly give us: a priceless set of progressions that can take ANYONE who has the will from abject weakling to strength specimen extraordinaire.

Book 1 of 2

Convict Conditioning
Print length

320 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Dragon Door Publications,U.S.
Publication date

4 Dec. 2012
Dimensions

22.86 x 2.54 x 27.94 cm
ISBN-10

0938045768
ISBN-13

978-0938045762
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Product description

About the Author

Paul Wade is the bestselling author of Convict Conditioning which has sold over 750,000 copies wordwide and is regarded as one of the premier experts in bodyweight exercise and calisthenics. Wade has authored four major titles on calistehnics and five videos shot originally on Alcatraz. Wade spent over twenty years in maximum security prisons, where he originally developed his acclaimed Convict Conditioning programs.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Dragon Door Publications,U.S.; 1st edition (4 Dec. 2012)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 320 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0938045768
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0938045762
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 22.86 x 2.54 x 27.94 cm

Best Sellers Rank: 876,502 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 4,730 in Fitness Training
- 11,969 in Fitness & Exercise
- 19,367 in Epic Fantasy (Books)

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4.7 3,389 ratings

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Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5

3,389 global ratings

5 star		78%
4 star		15%
3 star		4%
2 star		2%
1 star		1%

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Kai

AMAZING

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 4 June 2023

Verified Purchase

I haven’t ever written a review for a book before, but Convict Conditioning was such an amazing book I have to recommend it.

Paul Wade clearly explains everything, providing a clear logical structure for what exercises, reps and sets you should do.

This book has a big focus on staying safe as you progress through the exercises. He has fixed a lot of mistakes I have been making when learning callisthenics off YouTube, as well as making callisthenics more comprehensible and easy to understand.

I remember some people complaining that he is needlessly rude to weight lifting. But I don’t think that’s true, he is just passionate about callisthenics. I will agree that a lot the book is him saying how much better callisthenics is, but he provides evidence and explanations for every negative thing he says so I don’t think it’s bad (but I do agree with him anyway so I might be a bit bias).

But overall I have no negative comments on this book. If you want to learn callisthenics I cannot recommend this book enough.

Helpful

Jim Brown

Good technical advised wrapped up in gimmicky non factual nonsense

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 14 July 2013

Verified Purchase

Let me start by saying, the progressions outlined in this book are excellent. They are very technically described with clear images. Indeed if you follow these progressions correctly and diligently you will no doubt eventually achieve feats such as one armed push ups and pistol squats for numerous reps, which despite what people who shun bodyweight exercises say, this is no mean feat. Disappointingly though, the workout programs he designs for these calisthenic exercises seem poorly structured and thought out. One routine will have you performing a few exercises just twice per week, do not expect this to provide enough volume or intensity to see any noticeable gain in muscle or strength. As said though, I can't find any cause to criticize the advice on how to progress incrementally to these impressive one-limbed calisthenic exercises.

The down side of this book however is that I can find cause to criticize everything apart from the actual tutorials. The author (whoever it is, apparently Paul Wade is a real ex convict) tries to promote the superiority of calisthenics over weights. This is all very well and good, if you have limited time/space/money calisthenics are an excellent substitute and could well be as effective as weighted barbell or dumbbell training. However the reasons the author gives for the superiority of calisthenics are based on non factual, erroneous evidence that I really felt insults the intelligence of the reader. At one point the author references the fact that John Grimek used bodyweight exercises and he therefore is an example of why bodyweight exercises are superior than weights for getting big and strong. I couldn't quite believe this claim, it is akin to saying that Michael Phelps occasionally lifts weights and this was why he was a swimming champion, it had nothing to do with all the actual time in the swimming pool he put in. The fact is John Grimek trained very heavily and prolifically with weights, he was a professional Olympic Weightlifter who represented the USA, and was also a professional bodybuilder. Common sense will tell you that it is far more likely that the frequency and intensity of Grimek's weight training regime explained why he was such a big, strong adonis, not the fact he used bodyweight training to supplement his weight training. The book is littered with illogical examples such as this which detract very much from the solid advice on how to actually perform difficult calisthenic exercises. What's disappointing is that the author spends the entire book trying to convince the reader that training with weights will cripple them and is counter productive to muscle and strength gains when there are examples in almost every black iron gym in the world that this is not the case. It would have been much more refreshing and honest for the author to take the philosophy that weights can get results, but so can calisthenics, and they will save you a bunch of time, money and space.

What I found equally ridiculous and patronizing is how the author claims to be an ex convict and how there is somehow a link between calisthenics and being in prison and how seemingly no one who is in prison in the USA has access to any sort of weighted equipment. Again this is hogwash. While most gyms in prisons in the USA and also in the UK are made up of equipment no longer wanted by commercial gyms, to say that there is a culture of calisthenics in prison and this explains why prisoners are so big and strong is utterly nonsensical. The reason why we see countless examples of bean poles going into prison and coming out built like refrigerators is that they have access to all sorts of equipment, they are allocated time to use it, and most importantly and something that is never mentioned in this book is that prisoners very often have access to steroids. These crucial facts are never touched on by Wade, the author instead pushes an image on the reader that every prisoner in the world does calisthenics, this is why there are a lot of big strong prisoners and this is why you should do calisthenics too. Talk about flawed logic and ignorance to reality to sell fad products.

One final, yet very simple criticism of the book is as follows; how can ANY book on fitness/strength be anywhere near complete without a section, or at least some touching upon nutrition? We've all heard the notion that you can not out train a bad diet, yet nowhere within the pages of this book does Wade mention how to compliment calisthenic training with the correct nutrition. If you put this criticism to him (if he existed) he would probably say something like 'there's no need for nutrition when you train with calisthenics, they're a magical pill so you can eat anything you want and still get big and strong', this is the general vibe the book gives off. Yet the fact is that nutrition makes up for a significant proportion of how someone progresses in any strength training program, so the fact there is no nutritional section in this book renders the decent training progressions insignificant.

Aside from the pseudo science and general balderdash the book is filled with, it is extortionately expensive when you consider that the far superior Never Gymless by Ross Enamait can be picked up for just $12 while the paper back version of this book is nearly five times the price at £36.99, which equates at the time of writing to $55.87. The price is just not justified at all given the poor quality of the book overall.

The fact is that calisthenics can be used to develop strong, fit bodies, and there is no doubt about this. Paul Wade has succeeded in showing us how to gradually build up to performing very difficult calisthenic movements which can be implemented to build strong, powerful bodies, this is a great thing and gives him a basis to show people why and how calisthenics can be used to optimize health and strength. But instead of focusing on the benefits of calisthenics Wade decides to spend the rest of the book harping on about prison when it's doubtful he's ever even been to prison given the distinct lack of anecdotal evidence of his time spent there. This guy claims to have spent 20 years in America's harshest prisons, this intimates to me that this he was at some point a serious criminal. Yet try and find his name in a simple Google search and all you'll likely find is some watered down article on bodybuilding.com, no record of the serious crimes that earned him a 20 year stretch inside. Why is this you ask? Because it is likely that Wade doesn't even exist and is just a pseudonym to project another expensive, flimsy Dragon Door product. The blatant lies the book is laced with is an insult to anyone who's ever suffered the realities of prison whether directly or indirectly and is an insult to the intelligence of anyone interested in strength training. You'd be wasting your valuable cash shelling out on this book or any of its shoddy sequels.

50 people found this helpful

Helpful

Jonathon

Informative, well-written book that takes a systematic approach to training

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 14 November 2014

Verified Purchase

A very informative, well-written book by someone that knows quite clearly what they are talking about in terms of bodyweight exercise and doesn't advocate any sort of weird or trendy exercise programme that requires you to buy in to various fitness gimmicks.

I have written a comprehensive review here: http://ceredigionparkour.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/book-review-convict-conditioning.html but here is the summary of that review:

Convict Conditioning takes a systematic approach to training, a set of steps to progress through much like progressing through a video game. The books content you can find on the Internet and in other bodyweight books but the way Paul has written it is clear and concise, doesn't leave you guessing and keeps it simple. For those of you (like me...) that over-think things, particularly training, this book is for you, so forget all those internet resources that just overcomplicate the situation.

The only problem I notice is the rep ranges you are expected to work in. Paul writes this book with the primary goal of building strength, yet, the rep ranges for some of the higher intensity exercises move into endurance rep ranges (12+) when you reach the elite standard, and Paul encourages you to change exercises only when you reach that standard.

Pure strength and endurance are the complete opposite of each other and you will get better results training one over the other, specifically, training strength to begin with, then moving to endurance when you reach your goals. Think about sprinters versus marathon runners, look at their physiques, their power, their strength and you'll see the comparison between strength and endurance. You can train both simultaneously, but you'd get better results training one over the other.

I have been putting this training regime to the test over the last six months alongside reading the book. I haven't stopped since. Every week, I have increased reps over both sets for the various exercises. I have also progressed through several exercises up to a much higher intensity. I still have some way to go, but there is no doubt about it, this programme works!

More importantly, this programme is not some sort of weird or trendy programme, it doesn't require equipment other than yourself and it presents it in very plain and simple English.

One person found this helpful

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