A couple of weeks before we launched this blog, fellow Average Norm editor Andrei pointed a book out to me – Paul Wade’s Convict Conditioning
The book
Let’s start off with an overview of the book itself. Convict Conditioning presents six primary body weight exercises (push ups, squats, leg raises, bridges, pull ups and handstand push ups), each of which is divided into ten step progressions, with step 1 being easy enough for an absolute beginner, and step 10 being the master level. Wade himself states that “10” is just an arbitrary, nice, round number and each progression could have been 6 or 20 steps long if one wanted to split it that way, but the 10 steps are quite easily followed and graded well enough that the step from one to another is smooth enough once one has put enough practice into it.
Each exercise is preceded by a section explaining the physical and mechanical principles behind that exercise in a language which is easy to follow and understand.
My only complaint is that it often lays the “prison stories” on a bit too thick in a way which is entirely unnecessary for the purposes of the book. However, this does not detract from the quality of the information presented, and apart from this the text flows well and even injects a little humour here and there.
Each individual step is described in detail, and photographs of each part of each exercise are provided. This makes it very easy to understand and follow even for a beginner – in my case, I had never attempted a headstand before (not since I was four or so, anyway), but found it quite doable with the given instructions. Notes for each exercise point out any factors to watch out for and give useful suggestions to fine tune the difficulty of the exercise up or down.
Apart from the main steps, a number of variations are suggested at the end of each chapter. While these are not described in as much detail as the main steps, there is enough information to get one started if one is looking for more variety.
The experiment
To test out the guidelines suggested in the book, I started following a six day cycle with two exercises per day with a day of rest every week. I stopped using weights on a regular basis except for deadlifts every couple of weeks to keep my back in good nick; these were eventually also dropped when I reached a place on the bridge progression where the exercise on the back was enough for me. Martial arts practice continued as normal; this has been going on for the last 7 years so it should not have contributed significantly to any changes over the test period. Any specific cardio training was suspended, although I continued to walk as often as I could, usually several hours per week in total. Eating and sleeping patterns were not altered.
The tests
The tests I used for this article are a subset of the physical fitness test my friend and Physiotherapist Franco Davies uses to assess the fitness levels at the martial arts school where I train.
The tests are designed to be relevant to the discipline we practice, and they are not necessarily ideal to measure the results of the Convict Conditioning programme, whose one stated mission is to increase strength. However, strength being the foundation of everything else, I expected the training to leave some visible results in a number of areas.
Body mass and composition
| Before | 6 months | 10 months | |
| Body weight | 64.4kg | 68.2kg | 71.0kg |
| Body fat | 08.87% | 10.27% | 11.80% |
Starting with the simplest metric, the results start to look promising. There is some significant weight gain, with only a small corresponding increase of body fat over the same period.
Doing more activity should easily reduce or eliminate this increase if it becomes a concern.
Back strength
| Before | 6 months | 10 months | |
| Trunk lift | 60cm | 61cm | 65cm |
The back strength test showed a marked increase in my ability to stretch backwards under my own control.
I had not been very familiar with bridge exercises before I started this programme, although I had been doing some flexibility exercises before; bridges certainly improved the flexibility along with strength.
Upper limb endurance
| Before | 6 months | 10 months | |
| Push ups | 43 | 50 | 47 |
The downturn on the last test confused me a little as I was quite expecting the numbers to go up at this point. There are a number of reasons why this might have happened, and I’ll probably be able to get a better picture after more testing.
My best guess right now is that since the 6 month test coincided with the point of the programme when I was on high repetitions of push ups, at that point I was training more or less specifically for this very exercise.
On the other hand, the 10 month test coincided with a lower repetition, higher intensity period of uneven push ups, so even though I was strong enough to do better than the original, it was not as good as when I was training specifically for this test.
If this is the case, I should see some further improvement the next time I take this test as more strength builds up.
Abdominal Endurance
| Before | 6 months | 10 months | |
| Sit ups in 30 seconds | 27 | 27 | 30 |
An increase of three sit ups doesn’t seem like much to show for nearly a year of work, but hey, busting out one a second isn’t easy!
In reality, the improvements on abdominal strength through the programme were a great win for me. I was originally having some trouble with abdominal work due to pain from a past surgery, but after a few months’ worth of leg raises, that is mostly just a memory. It still hurts sometimes when I do something unusual, but that has happened much less frequently now than it used to, so Thanks Coach!
Lower limb power
| Before | 6 months | 10 months | |
| Sargent jump | 39.5cm | 37.5cm | 39.0cm |
And this, people, is why I am not a basketball player (apart from being on the short side). Jumping was never my strong suit. There is a significant downturn at the 6 month test, which according to Franco could be attributed to increased body mass.
The 10 month test, while still slightly below the original, represents the movement of a rather heavier weight – 71kg vs 64.4kg – which means that leg power has increased quite a bit.
Cardiovascular fitness
| Before | 6 months | 10 months | |
| Harvard step test score | 99 | 84 | 93 |
Since I had dropped all kinds of cardio exercise for this experiment, the result after 6 months was expected, although the decline was not as sharp as I had anticipated.
The increase on the 10 month test, however, was unexpected. The higher intensity exercises were sufficient to compensate for the lack of other training and reverse the trend. Since I’m not even halfway through most of the progressions, this bodes well for the future.
Overall
While the test is not exactly scientific (Population size: me), I believe it gives a good indication of the side effects of training solely under the Convict Conditioning
You don’t need to stick to it exclusively – I know I only did it for the sake of experimentation – but used as part of your regimen, it should work great.
Also keep in mind that I jumped onto this programme when I had already been training for some time. Someone starting off from the ground up can reasonably expect to see larger improvements. More advanced practitioners, on the other hand, will find the later exercises invaluable to progress further.
Other (untested) stuff
Raw numbers aside, there are a whole bunch of things I can do now which I couldn’t do when I started the programme, all of which feel awesome.
Being able to go into a handstand is fun. Being able to drink coffee while doing push ups with your free hand is a great way to get up people’s noses. And more importantly, building up your back makes backaches from office life a lot less of a problem.
Conclusion
So, in case it was not clear enough from the article above, I love Convict Conditioning