Book Review - Convict Conditioning
A book about a training program that only takes 10 minutes a day, you can do at home, and promises to make you stronger than training at the gym.
Name
Author
Paul Wade
Amazon Link
Rating
5/5
Favorite Quote
“People who really believe that they can’t afford the time to train don’t have their priorities right”.
Why I Read It
My buddy Gaston Jorquera read it and recommended it to me.
What caught my attention was the concept of a training program that’s super optimized and that gives you incredible results by only training 10 minutes per day.
Also, I’ve been part of a group training class for two years now, but lately I’ve been feeling like I’m reaching a plateau, since in those classes the difficulty of the exercises doesn’t increase beyond a certain level. So the idea of a training program that has very well defined steps to increase it’s difficulty seemed pretty alluring.
Description
The concept behind convict conditioning is enormously simple. It introduces 6 herculean Master Exercises that work out a certain part of your body. Performing all six regularly should give you a pretty complete workout: there’s one for the biceps and pectorals, one for the legs, one for the abs, one for the muscles of the spine, one for the shoulders and one for the upper back.
But, in order to get to a level where you can perform those very difficult Master Exercises, you first go through easier versions of them. Thus, each of those movements has 9 steps that are increasingly more difficult and progressively prepare you for it; the Master Excessive itself being the tenth step. In each of this steps you gradually increase the number of series and repetitions until you get to a point where you can move to the next one.
In case you’re curious, here’s a summary of all the ten steps for each of the six movements. As you’ll see, the first steps are quite easy, whereas the tenth steps are pretty much impossible to perform right away.
The other great feature of this program is that it advocates spending little time training but doing so at the top of your capacity, and gradually increasing the difficulty as soon as that capacity increases. This is reason why you can actually train for 10 minutes a day and — after a good while — achieve unprecedented levels of strength.
I really enjoyed this book. The training program described is great, the writing is very clear, and the philosophy behind the method is invaluable.
Who Is It For
The 6 master movements are attained through 10 gradual steps, which makes the program appropriate for almost anyone, no matter how out of shape they are. It’s also easy to perform at home because it proposes exercises that require little or no equipment.
So if you want to increase your strength, this book is for you, regardless of your age, body type or physical condition.
I guess the only exception would be if you’re injured or suffer from some kind of illness. If that’s not your case, I advise you to give this program a try.
Favorite Lesson Learned
I really liked the healthy approach this book proposes: do the exercises slowly and with perfect form, don’t try to do more than you’re capable of, gradually push your limits and rest appropriately. In other words: the most efficient way of gaining strength is not training hard, but training smart.
This approach will not only help you achieve your strength goals faster, it will also ensure you stay healthy and free of injuries while doing so — which is the point of exercising in the first place.
Length
294 Pages
