January 2010:

Here’s the scenario:

You want to get in shape.  You’ve been told the gym is the place to do it.  Everyone is ranting about kettlebells, TRX, olympic lifts and forearm curls (not really), you have none of this equipment.  The gym is either too far away, too inconvenient (trying to find day care or a babysitter is out) or you just hate the idea of being locked up inside.

There’s a better option.  Body weight training.

Before you stop me and bring up a story about your elementary gym coach making you do jumping jacks, push-ups and sit-ups (which are all great exercises) hear me out.

We’ve seen people that can do one arm push-ups, what about:

A one-arm pull-up?

It gets crazier.  How about a one arm handstand?

Or crazier yet:  a one-arm handstand push-up?

There’s a man who has outlined the training progressions to do exactly these things.  Coach Paul Wade, author of  “Convict Conditioning”.

Convict Conditioning Book

I purchased this book a few weeks ago.  As a coach who trains a lot of folks outdoors and has a love/hate relationship with training equipment, I was curious what Wade would promote for bodyweight style training.  I should know right?  Well I learned more than I anticipated.  The one-arm push-up progression is great.  It will take someone who can barely do knee push-ups and outline a path to a level of uncommon strength where one can do multiple sets of one-arm push-ups.   In the 3 weeks I’ve had this book, I’ve noticed a positive affect on general body strength.  It can only be a good thing.

Positives:

  • 6 exercises, 10 progressions
  • Training plans on developing strength
  • Precautions on progressing slowly(joints before muscular adaptation)
  • Straightforward approach

Negatives:

  • May be skewed toward a male-how-can-I-survive-prison demographic
  • Progression charts take some eye-adjustment(hard to read), otherwise very useful

It’s not a comprehensive training approach.  It’s just training focused on developing significant strength with using only your body weight.  Some items that will come in handy:

  • A pull-up bar
  • A small ball (used in a couple instances like offset push-ups and roll-outs)

Would I recommend this book?  Absolutely.  It’s title is bound to create questions and if you leave it out on your coffee table, someone is going to ask you do a one-arm push-up.  If you have the book, train with it, THEN leave it out on your coffee table.  Or just ask someone to ask you do a one-arm push-up.  Either way, you’re bound to benefit from the info.

As for me, I plan on implementing the principles and retesting myself for each of the bodyweight targets listed in the book.  I’ll be posting follow-up videos of the progress.   Right now I can do handstand push-ups, one-arm negatives, and L-sit pull-ups.  I am no where near a one-arm pull-up though, or a one-arm handstand push-up.  Stuff to work on!  Stay tuned!

Progress:
March 2010: