Anyone who knows me, knows that my very favorite fitness book ever is CONVICT CONDITIONING by Paul “Coach Wade.”
I love its subtitles: “How to Bust Free of All Weaknesses –– Using the Lost Secrets of Supreme Survival Strength.”
The author spent 19 years in San Quentin and the like and REALLY knows his stuff about working out without any fancy gym frills.
The book is AMAZING in its no-nonsense simplicity and purity, and simultaneously in its great detail regarding breaking every level of his six exercises down into specific, cumulative steps.
The only thing I can find to quibble with, though, is that when you reach Step Five in the Push Up Series (Full Pushups, working your way up to Step Ten 10, daunting sets of One-Armed Push Ups), he tells us that “In prison pushup competitions, a ‘counter’ clenches his first pinky side down on the floor, and counts out when the athlete’s chest touches the knuckle of his thumb.” All well and good, of course … but …
He then says, “If you’re training alone and you wish to keep to the right depth, place a baseball or tennis ball directly below your chest.”
I’m sorry but my hand is way bigger than a tennis ball –– see the picture –– so do prisoners have small hands?
And fascinating as a “Prison Pushup Competition” sounds, I’m going to try to actively avoid participating in one.
Ironically, however, my fist is pretty much the same height as my yoga block, so for now –– unless I’m suddenly arrested and have a fitness-minded cellmate –– that will have to do.
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