I usually never ever talk negative about a product but I think it’s really pathetic that the book
” Convict Conditioning” is a fraud. I own the book and prisoners do not train like that.
Do you think the prisoners train like gymnasts? Who is coach Paul Wade? He’s probably made
up, if he is really what was he in prison for. Knowing a lot of prison guards, police, state
police and knowing prisoners myself I know that they do not train this way.
Hell, you can watch the t.v show lock up and watch the way the prisoners train and
I have never seen a one arm hand stand. Do people really believe that doing a one
hand stand and 30 hanging leg raises and one legged pistols are being done in jails
or prisons? Well, think again.
The funny thing is that the man that wrote the book ” Naked Warrior” which
is sold through dragon door the same place ” Convict Conditioning” is sold.
Pavel shows the pistol and so does the so called prisoner Paul Wade and
the funny thing is they have a gymnast type doing the exercises. The book
shows unnecessary movements that take a lot of time to learn and where
is the conditioning? Are we lead to believe that the prisoners will allow the
new fish to come in go on a strength building routine so they can defend
themselves?
The funny thing is believe it, you will always have someone defending the
point and maybe their could be an exception but for the most part you are
being fed bull shit.
The prison books I do have are written by 3 prisoners, legit prisoners that you
can look up yourself and not one has anything like it in ant of their books.
If anything ” Convict Condition” is a good reference book but it is definitely
not written by any prisoner.
Micheal Peterson A.K.A Charles Bronson is the most famous prisoner in the U.K
and his workouts are basic and simple. Another prisoner was sent to jail for conspiracy
to commit murder and has a book worth reading.
If you can show me evidence prisoners train this way unless they are gymnast prisoners
it’s a lie. Prisoners train to survive, prisoners train to blow off steam, they aren’t worried
about one arm hand stands or one legged squats.
Toughness Builds Winners
Johnny Grube
www.wildmantraining.com
Hello there Jonny, hope you don’t mind if, as a fan (and user!) of Convict Conditioning, I post the “democratic response”. Nothing I say is meant to be disrespectful! A few points:
1. You attack CC because you think it’s not an accurate depiction of how modern prisoners train. By levelling this accusation, it’s clear you didn’t read the intro to the book, and skipped ahead to the pictures. The introduction clearly states that the book is about the methods “former” generations of cons used, before weights pits hit the yard. The author states in several places that this older method is dying out in prisons. It’s not MEANT to be about how most cons train today.
2. You also seem to be suggesting that prisoners only do the simple, basic endurance work you are good at. I’m certain some do (like Charlie Bronson), but in fact many DO prefer strength type exercises as seen in CC. I’m not an expert on prison training, but I have seen handstand work/pull ups in prison documentaries. Even the media has picked up on this kind of cell training; like Denero’s dips in Cape Fear, the handstand push ups in Con Air, and so on. On the Dragon Door website I’ve seen posts by many COs and jailers who confirm that some cons are dedicated to strength based bodyweight like in CC. (Why wouldn’t they be? Prisoners don’t want 45-60 minute endurance–they want ten second strength to dominate in a fight, plus the muscles to intimidate!) So to say this harder stuff NEVER goes on is plain silly.
3. One last point, and I mean this in a nice way. You start your post by saying that you don’t want to say anything negative, but from what I’ve read you say a LOT of negative things. You say Convict Conditioning is inaccurate; you wrote that Pavel Tsatsouline’s method doesn’t work; you say that Brock Lesnar has never been in a genuine fight; you say that gymnastics is not valid bodyweight training, you have even written that that young men today aren’t “real” men and that you are the only “real” man left!! And so on… In truth, I pretty much everything you write is negative, in some way. These bad feelings will only alienate a potential audience. The only people it will attract are guys who are insecure about what they are doing, and feel the need to attack everything else. These people will not stay loyal to you, and will move on to new fads very quickly.
The reality is that a “real” man does not feel the need to tear down what others are doing. He is able to confidently do his own thing, without looking over his shoulder and saying that everbody else is wrong. Sadly, that does not seem to be your approach, Jonny. It makes you look a little bitter and intimidated by others who do things differently. That vibe will not make people confident in your coaching ability, no matter how good you may be.
I hope you don’t take offence to my disagreement, and hope you have the guys to publish my post..(I’m sure you do.) Also, please feel free to email me. Congrats on your achievements!
Hi Johnny,
so which are the books that you think are legitamately written by former inmates?
you’re one dumb asswipe, shithole. I have the book, read it through, and I have completed almost all of the power moves. And guess what moron it really works. Wanna fight??? Come on now… I would beat the shit out of you…XD
just read the book, asshole…
I do not agree with your review. I have been following CC for a couple of months and it is a pretty good program.
First of all, what you have written is not a review. You have not given any specific reasons why you do not like the book.
I do not see why doing gymnastic movements makes no sense to you. If all I care about is gaining strength and muscle, and I do not have any equipment except a bar, couple of towels, and a chair, these alongwith other bodyweight exercises are all there to perform. You should search around how muscular these gymnasts are and how tough their movements are.
“they have a gymnast type doing the exercises” Jim Bathurst, who modelled for CC, is an exceptional strength athlete and acrobat. Just see his website beastskills.com and his youtube videos. If I build strength and agility and whatever with the movements he is doing in these, why not?
You may not have come across watching prisoners do handstands on TV, so what? Have you come across everything that is going around in this world on TV?
“Do people really believe that doing a one hand stand and 30 hanging leg raises and one legged pistols are being done in jails or prisons? Well, think again.” You have simply not provided any basis for this, its just blabbering. Doing these movements is not a cakewalk and they all build useful functional strength. If you do not have any equipment, what else would you be doing? Atleast tell us what prisoners would be doing if not CC movements!
“The book shows unnecessary movements that take a lot of time to learn and where is the conditioning?” Can you tell me why the Big 6 movements are unnecessary? CC is actually a minimalist program, nothing but the very basic exercises. Variations of all these 6 movements, including isometrics are contained in the special section at the end of each chapter dedicated to the 6 movements. Takes time to learn? It takes time to learn everything? A 400 pound bench, a 500 pound squat, and all other movements. If there is a movement very easy to learn and master, then everybody could master it and it would be of no use to anyone, relatively.
“Are we lead to believe that the prisoners will allow the new fish to come in go on a strength building routine so they can defend themselves?” But does everybody go into the prison totally a new fish? Any strength building routine (regardless of type of resistance) will take time to develop useful strength, if not, then everybody would do it, and it will be essentially useless as above. Where is the conditioning, just do the Big 6 movements regularly, with less rest and you will be conditioned.
“If you can show me evidence prisoners train this way unless they are gymnast prisoners it’s a lie.” If you would read his books, in CC2 he has outlined how bodybuilders train in prisons. You don’t need to be a gymnast to do one arm pushups or pistols. Even if I am gymnast, what is so wrong with that? Are we supposed to be interested in being strong or worrying which branch of strength athletes do we belong, i.e, being a gymnast or powerlifter or etc. CC builds strength in all major muscles, using simply bodyweight exercises, maintaining lifelong joint health. If you need a powerlifting program, simply search elsewhere. Paul Wade did not promise it anywhere in the book.
“Prisoners train to survive, prisoners train to blow off steam, they aren’t worried about one arm hand stands or one legged squats” Yes they do, exactly what Coach Wade says in the introduction to CC2, that is why this program is there. It’s solely on how to survive in a scenario where you have nothing but your mind and body. In CC, Paul Wade is not worried about the movements in themselves, but only as much they build strength. That is why you don’t do hundreds of pushups or burpees. CC is primarily a strength program, not endurance.
I have not read Bronson’s book, and plan to do so. But please review a book properly in future, read it thoroughly first and follow the program for some months before commenting on it. And when you bash a book, please state concrete reasons, not statements like “think again”, “it’s a lie” etc.
I think the books are pretty good..but I think Paul wade is fake..
I am also disappointed there making DVD’s to accompany these books..It seem that there cashing in on the whole Prison style.
I just looked at the prices for the DVD to be sent to my address in London..it cost a totally of about £80 pounds!! What a complete rip off..not only that, there are progression, so each DVD covers the progression!! The total amount is just a joke..I think there just milking it now..It really frustrates me.
Wow, having spent six years in prison I can only say on thing. Shut the fuck up wildman.
The fact of the matter is it doesn’t even matter if its actually written by a past prisoner or not.
The contents of the book are still quality. They hold valuable information, and good instruction and great methods of progression. Does the value of the information become less valuable because it has perhaps some fictional story behind it. ( which may even serve to motivate people) I don’t think so personally. A pushup is still a pushup and certainly the instructions of having a count ( ie 2 seconds down, 1 second at bottom, 2 second rise) are great reminders.
I’d refer you to this video where another fellow basically reinforces my points above or vice versa ( remove space after .com) – http://www.youtube.com /watch?v=tEZ6kJ8Ud08&feature=related
no termine de leer lo que escribiste porque a mi en lo personal me a servido demasiado ese libro es sagrado ,gracias a el tengo mucha fuerza,y resistencia , quizás escapo con lo de los prisioneros pero no creo que sea un fraude el libro
Have to agree with the comments, I think it is a great book and love the progression and theory to backmitall up. Fora guy who loves all forms of bodyweightbtraining as well as kettlebells and TRX, this blog post by Wildman resulted in me not even looking any furthering your site
For me, Convict Conditioning has completely changed my life! This routine is as real as it gets! Not everyone will appreciate the integrity and history presented in this series however, I can assure you that those of Us whom have applied CC’s principals and implemented its teqniques are receiving the rewards. It took a measure of humility for me as a 6’2″ 256 lb. 43 year old man to start doing Step 1 Wall Push-ups but I saw truth behind the words written in this book so I pressed on not sure where i will wind up but content in laying the groundwork. 7 months later I am approaching step 3 on push-ups, pull-ups, and abs. Still on step 1 Shoulderstand Squats but approaching step 2. I’ve lost 30 pounds of fat and gained significant muscle .Shattering lies like “No Pain, No Gain” Convict Conditioning offers hope to anyone willing to humble themselves and become teachable. Do yourself a favor, pick up a copy of Convict Conditioning. Ask Wildman for his copy. It sounds like he wont be needing it. Read it with a fresh set of eyes free from cynicism and doubt. Commit yourself to put in the time and you will achieve the ultimate freedom.
I am a Sgt. at a prison so I promise I have a much better understanding of how inmates workout than someone that claims to know some officers and inmates. I have never seen an inmate perform a one armed handstand pushup. I have seen countless inmates doing pistols and leg raises. I’ve watched as they did rep after rep of regular handstand pushups. The book isn’t too far off from what I’ve seen every day I’ve been between the fences.
Forgive me if I ignore the post you made and continue to believe what I see with my own two eyes. Idiots are born every minute, and you’ve shown us who the idiot was at the minute of your birth.
Hey Sqt Jimmy I’m sure you’re a “prison guard” you sound a lot like a man that has been taken in by a marketing scheme, The fact of me knowing prisoner personally and many police and prison guards is accurate. I don’t know that you are a guard and if you are you are probably like most prison guards fat and sloppy just collecting a check.
So your only real concern with the book is that you believe it wasn’t written by a prisoner…former or otherwise ?
Thats honestly not really the point of the book now is it. I couldn’t care less if the book was called “my back story is complete B.S, but here are some damn fine body weight workouts”
criticism aside, did you just pick up the book and look at the pictures ? The point of the progressions is so that damn near anybody can work their way to tougher and tougher moves WITHOUT hurting themselves…Something you don’t really want to over look.
But what do I know ?
Mr “toughness builds winners”
You sir are an idiot. This book is about extreme calisthenics. You attack this book based off the title thinking it teaches you how to work out like if you are in prison. It has nothing to do with how prisoners work out, though prisoners do use a lot of hardcore calisthenics. It is about bright fit and strong and about getting to the level of those amazing street workout championship athletes. You need to keep your ignorant bullshit to yourself and go do some dumbbell curls in a gym far away from functional strength. Have a nice life dumbass.
I guess Jason is a little fag that has been in jail and probably bullied in prison,maybe even raped. As far as functional strength I am probably the only one on the internet that can actually talk about it because I do
it every day and have for 30 years. So Gayson if you are close by or want to travel, let me know and you can
bring your functional prison fitness and I’ll treat like a prison whore!
I don’t know about anyone else, but I did 10 years in Texas prisons and we worked out a lot, with just bodyweight exercises and weights made out of book- loaded property bags that weighed 50-80 pounds, depending on how much you had in there of course. We would do things like 1000 pushups inside of 30 minutes, then do 600 curls with the bag, then do 600 dips, do 1000 situps STRAIGHT, non-stop. And pullups…. we’d always do at least tens sets of 30! HA! And we did handstand pushups as well, sets of 50. The thing about training like that, though, is that you A LWAYS overtrain. Now I train with less weight and more reps again, just with ten seconds of rest between sets and exercises, something I”ve done for 15 years now.
Hard to take anything seriously when you start every fucking paragraph with “funny thing is”.
Loser.
Hey Yo Moha You must be one of those faggots that got fooled. I like your email, it say’s it all fag!
the author stated at the beginning that the prison anecdotes are basically all fiction.
this so-called “reviewer” clearly didn’t read the book.
I agree with you 100% Johnny Grube. I have this book and the title is nothing but a marketing ploy. When I think of names such as Mark “Animal” McYoung, Geoff Thompson, Lito Angeles, Peter Constadine, Dave Briggs, John Skillen and even Mr. T, these people have the accolades to VERIFY their respective backgrounds which is why they do not take on surnames or make up names of people in their books. Only frauds do that. Real people retain their real names and the real names of the people they speak about in their books just like the gentlemen I named above. Dive into the RBSD Circles and you’ll see that everyone in these circles know these names and their histories. But who the hell is Paul “Coach” Wade? 😀
I think the people cussing you out and trying to kick your nuts are those who have wasted their MONEY and TIME on this book and it’s contents and need to justify within themselves the time and money that have been put into this book by them. So anyone who comes along and exposes this book (and it’s author) for the fictional work that it is will certainly feel these people’s wrath.
Johnny Grube, never be afraid to be truthful no matter how unpopular such brutal honesty may make you. Those who take your name off of their Christmas List’s are the very people who have know problem with being lied to, lying to others and lying to themselves.
I meant to say they have *No problem………
D Witt thanks for the comments and it’s nice to see someone who has any sense, but look at how people today feel they are entitled I guess they feel they are entitled to be idiots!
I love when bitchy cry babies that get their money taken away by a marketing ploy! Then attack someone that knows that it is a ploy for people to buy a product. I bet everyone of these bitching cry babies has bought every fitness gimmick, dvd and exercise program with no results.
Here is the problem dummies, you have to put in the time. Post your videos “Convict Conditioning” supporters and show how far you have come. I said before I have the book and know what it said problem is they did not tell you it was for entertainment purposes.
And for all you weak men that buy for progression purposes, it’s called putting in the time. Go ahead try and get that prison rape body the men in joint will appreciate it.
What a review! Basing things off of seeing crap on lockup…bravo! This is one mans guide to training. It’s the way he trained, not the way EVERYONE does or did. Take some time to do a little research next time so you can prevent yourself from writing scathing reviews based on ignorance and 5 seconds of cheap googling. Read into this mans background, interviews, etc. it’s obvious you isn’t even read the book….just another bored blogger with nothing interesting to say so you resort to the classic move of talentless “writers” needing to squeeze in another post: stirring the pot for no reason except to keep the shit in the pot from going stagnant. Step up your game and learn your “craft” if you truly want to successfully pursue thus as a legit business.
Jerry Hellmann
Ad by the way….I got the book for free. Why so much anger man? You remind me of a small child who knows he’s wrong but refuses to admit it….so he gets angry and bashes everyone who simply show him the error of his ways. First of all: grow up buddy…jeez. Secondly: you’re only making yourself look even more foolish and childish. People don’t agree with you. Deal with it. Apologies for any typos…
And here here to what him says….the author basically states its fiction and or entertainment purposes only…..READ THE BOOK before you rant lol….
And way to market yourself by calling people faggots! I can’t stop posting! Ok much gold here! To think you are trying to run a legitimate business and you’re acting like ignorant white trash all over your own site! Brilliant marketing ploy! What a way to push your brand! Calling people faggots who disagree with you and telling them to get raped. The money must be pouring in!
I’m considering trying the progressions from CC and came across this article. I don’t have any input about CC but based on Grube’s comments and attitude I won’t be coming back to this site anytime soon. he’s just some random cocky nobody who thinks he’s tough and strong because he has a few meaningless “fitness world records”. I’m sorry I wasted ten minutes of my life looking at this horrible website and article.
Should read Wildmans Homophobic Training. Get some maturity you pathetic douchebag. You so completely miss the point!
Callisthenics,bodyweight training is the bomb and cc introduced me to it and i think it hits the nail on the head! he preaches about how he hates new fad diets,,gyms,gay ass ab rocker twist fucking machines,poinless crunches and it makes him sick.
i see alot of logic witht his book and i rate it its a new perspective and theroy to training and its been around for ages and has been been blacked out my stupid media and money making machines and over priced gym memberships and pumping iron and such as total gym and tapout xt.
theres truth it works people say it works and the people who bitch about it i reckon cant make it past step 3 and give up then critisize, go do a benchpress its much easier then straight hanging leg raise!
I have the book and have read it front to back. The book is good for someone wanting to gain strength through bodyweight training. I seriously doubt though Paul Wade is a real person and that this system was ever taught in prison. The book gives a disclaimer at the beginning, but it’s the same one you would hear at the beginning of dragnet. This leads some to believe that Paul Wade is a real person with a fake name to protect himself. Dragondoor really seems to market this as a true story. With all that said, I know many Correction officers and Law Enforcement also and they have never seen these movements being performed. So maybe the “old system” is gone. What I have been told is half rep pushups and pullups are popular because they help blow up muscles by constant tension on the muscles. Also burpees, squats and traditional bodyweight conditioning. With all the mystery and hype I believe Paul and Dragondoor are full of crap. It’s amazing that Paul Wade’s prison system is very similar to Pavel Psatsouline’s work. Also the same ghost writer for other dragondoor’s books must have wrote this. It’s a decent book on strength with a soap opera in the middle and over priced. Still worth adding to your library.
*cough* Since I’m not butthurt because DragonDoor sells more DVDs and books than me *cough*, I’ll try to write a proper review about CC for those who expected to find it here.
The book
————
It’s basically a system to strength training via calisthenics (bodyweight excercises) doing progressive harder movements.
The keyword here is *strength*. If you want to know how to do endless pushups and dips YOU WILL NOT FIND THAT HERE. But if you want to do one arm pushups, one arm pullups and that kind of feats, this is a book for you.
Does it works
—————–
Yes. It works.
It has worked for me and several people I have put through this.
One nice thing I have discovered about calisthenics is that they don’t tax my nervous system as hard as weightlifting, so I can train hard calisthenics almost daily and I feel quite good.
Who is book this for?
————————
– Minimalists with almost no training equipment. It’s quite nice to have this system when you are out of town or (god forbid) actually locked up in prison, hospital, etc (again, I tested this in that kind of conditions).
– People seeking variety. Most of this excercises can be used as “complements” for weightlifters and bodybuilders.
Progressions are well detailed and cleverly thought, so almost anyone can reach high levels of strength.
The good
———–
– It is really well explained and progressions are almost always smooth.
– It bashes modern day fitness scene whenever it can.
– It explains why and how the system works and what every excercise will do for you.
– Sometimes you will find a nice history background about calisthenics and that’s an interesting and highly enjoyable read.
– The system works. Period.
The bad
———–
– The author sometimes speaks about calisthenics as if they were panacea and you will never ever need anything but calisthenics, but that’s not actually true.
There is simply no way to replicate heavy deadlifts with calisthenics, you know, something like “lift something heavy from the floor”.
I don’t even want to talk about one arm kettlebell snatches and ballistics like such.
– It’s a strenght training-only book. Here you will not find about manly cardio.
Anyway, as far as **I** know the only way to do bodyweight manly cardio is by burpees and variants and sprinting. Stairs sprinting is somewhere mentioned on the book.
– Some progressions are not THAT smooth.
– I have the feeling it sometimes uses gratuitely buzzwords like “plyometrics”.
– The history parts may sometimes be debatable.
– Believe me, you WILL have sleeples nights reading this and thinking about progression standards and such.
Final thougts
—————
I don’t care if this book was written by a ghost writer or whatever. The book is well written, the system works and you will get the ability to MOVE, all with almost no equpiment, just as it promises.
Buy it, this book has my blessings.
I am a massive pus filled boil on the face of society!
garbage article. Seriously it says in the beginning its fucking fictional. Regardless wether prisoners actually train this way or not, its simple, easy and effective. And by the way this is just a horrid way to review something. It makes you seem insecure.
bruce lee did these excercises. nuff said
Will you people look at the other posts in the website. This guy is strong and he says his opinion soit doesnt mean you have to look at one article and say the guy is a pussy. I have never read the book and i dont plan to but i just want to say look at his other fucking posts before you judge the guy
You fucking suck man. Seriously, the article was garbage. You’re ad homing an entire book. And the way you jump on posters for disagreeing with you is in absolute typical bro fashion. Maybe you have great shit on your website, but I’ll never know, because you’re fucking terrible. It’s fitness, so you probably don’t offer anything that I can’t find on ten other websites. All you’ve got is presentation, and yours sucks big floppy donkey dick.
Leave Johnny Grube alone. He has the right to review the book the way he feels right. Hell it’s even his
webpage! First do half of what he does and then talk crap about him.
https://www.wildmantraining.com/about/
If you feel great doing CC then do so, but seriously stop working out that anger from behind a computer screen, whatever your backgrounds i.e. ex-cons, sergeants, toughies, Bruce Lees, etc. It seriously is lame to attack someone anonymously from behind a computer screen in the safety of your home.
One last thing that I have been posting on various BW Calisthenics blogs, forums, discussion spaces, is that I
think ‘Internet Bravado’ or in slang ‘Online Bravery’ is really a coward way. Back in the various joints where I did nearly 19 years on multiple-added sentences, I realized that if any one of was weak with the tongue, we still were held accountable, and the punishment meted out was fierce and not the usual ‘pluck-the-basin-and-throw-in-your-face-variety’…I mean it was severe, planned and dished methodically. So in essence, sitting behind screens indoors and throwing out challenges or disses amounts to nothing but cowardice laced with bitchiness in convict terminology.
Enjoy your workouts, whatever their type!
I just like the helpful information you provide on your articles.
I will bookmark your blog and check once more right here frequently.
I’m fairly certain I will be informed a lot
of new stuff proper right here! Best of luck for
the next!
HBR, the first commentator, said everything that needs to be said about this post.
When I was locked up, I was doing doing 37 different types of pushups back to back…A 1000 a day..
And for my cardio : I run for an hr each day given the time limit….Weights were taken away due to gang violence…I am going to try this routine out…To me personally it doesn’t matter if it was written by a convict or not….Just so as long as the routine works…And most inmates don’t train as hard..
They do half the work -They may be big but they are slow in battle…Believe me I know..
And most people that are first timers they hit the pit right away….Nobody prevents them from doing that…
If you can take a beating and give them out- Then you can make it in prison…We all bleed the same color…..Even killers can get thrown around… If theres no access to weights – Pushups and cardio are the best…just keep Switching it up…..I want to try the C.C out , switch up my routine…..Just saying…
Some states do not make it so easy to verify a CNA certification. I have attended training sessions in (insert name of some training you have done in recent years), and am very interested in continuing to develop my skills in this area.
Failure rates are high as the pass rate for the test is 90% or more.
Here’s the problem with your “review”
1. You assume that since you’ve never seen something that it isn’t real. Well I’ve never seem a monkey fuck a grapefruit but I’m sure it’s happened.
2. You assume all prisons allow weights on the yard. Since the mid 90’s many prisons especially in California have banned weights on the yard. Prisoners in these facilities must use bodyweight training to workout.
3. You assume all prisoners are allowed yard time. Many prisons are on 23 hour lockdown. These prisoners must workout in their cells using bodyweight training.
4. You obviously didn’t take solitary confinement into account which makes you an idiot.
5. Who are you exactly? Been in the strength and conditioning game for almost a decade and I’ve never heard of you before today. That alone makes your review completely moot. Good day to you. Pick up the book and read it. All of it
The author needs an editor. Some of the mistakes are just silly. He sounds jealous of the book, too. Probably wishes it was his idea…
Great strategy to insult your customer base. That will really improve your conversion rate! Weak-minded fool cannot take criticism and acts all net-thug on some random posts? honky, please…
Hi all. interesting topic. Personally, it does not matter if the book was written by an ex-con or not. Nor does it matter if Paul Wade is a fictitious author. More important it would seem to me are the contents within the book good info regardless if the workouts are used in prisons or not. I believe that if a person takes a program and works it they will improve. If you like the workout and it works for you, great. If you are unfortunate enough to get put away in the penal system for any amount of time then you will find out first hand if the book was taken from prison methods, that is if all prison methods are the same. As far as if I believe Paul Wade is fictitious. I certainly have much doubt to him as a real person. Even if one person or a group ghost write in that name does it matter if the info works as far as in getting stronger? Well from one idiot to another of genius or madman etc… keep it simple, keep good form and stick with it.
Peace
I’m retired from law enforcement (35 years). When this book was first published, I would not touch it as it was written by a convict. In it’s initial marketing, I never read anywhere on Dragon Door’s website that the story was fictional.
I bought the book and put it to use in 2012. I figured that I might be able to learn something from a con. While I agree that the information is useful, I, too, have serious doubts that prisoners follow/follwed this precise program. I have doubts that Coach Wade was ever in prison. I was disappointed to find that the disclaimer at the beginning of the book now informed me it was a work of fiction. I felt this is something that should have been made known in the publisher’s marketing.
My doubts that convicts follow this program or any program like it rest in psychology. Convicts by and large are in prison because they have a mind set geared to instant gratification. They want what they want, when they want it, and they want it NOW!
Convict Conditioning is not going to increase anyone’s strength to any significant degree with any sort of speedy progression unless they’ve been in a coma/bedridden for the previous 6 months. And what would point out to anyone with eye sight only slightly better than Stevie or Ray the fact that someone is weak better than seeing them doing push-ups off a cell wall for a month? Face it, if you’re locked up with other criminals, you need some method to get strong, fast. Convict Conditioning, as written, is not that method.
That being said, it is a viable progresive resistance program for those of us who aren’t in such a rush. You will gain strength and endurance if you follow the program. But I guarantee you it will not happen overnight. If you’re headed to the joint, go with something different. If you’re spending your time as a free man, give it a go.
I was just intrigued to note that no one seemed to notice that, in this comment chain on April 6, Paul “Coach” Wade encouraged everyone to let Wildman have his opinions. Also, he pointed out that we should remember that you are accountable for your words and actions in someway or another. Even I have to remember that. I have tried the exercises and received a lot of benefit of Convict Conditioning. I love the progressive nature of the workout. It gives me something to work towards. . . a goal. I’ll see you all in 5 years on American Ninja Warrior! 🙂
I agree with pretty much everything you say Johnny. This book is not worth $40 in my opinion. I am somewhat embarrassed to admit that I bought it. The information in this book is not that really unique. There are a lot of body weight training manuals out there that are much better (Never Gymless by Ross Enamait comes to mind). The book is mostly hype and marketing b.s. Paul Wade has been in every major prison in the USA, amazing! Marion, Angola, San Quentin the list goes on. If he was in fact in Angola and actually got out that’s a major accomplishment in itself as a very very high percentage of inmates in that prison are never paroled. anyhow do some reading on the internet and spend your money wisely. One good thing I have to say about Dragon Door is that after I requested a refund they let me keep the book and still refunded my credit card. So kudos to DD for being easy to deal with. I now have a book to give away!
Thanks Todd for the comment. I have no problem with DD. I have bought many things in the past. As far as convict conditioning it’s just NOT how prisoners train and feel they were misleading people. In the book it does say this but not in their sales letter. Ross has great books I have them he was a big part of my now philosophy. Convict Conditioning is a good reference book and good to have in your personal library. I also never return any books I have learned something from everyone. But thanks again for the comment.