Convict Conditioning Quotes

“The average gym junkie today is all about appearance, not ability. Flash, not function. These men may have big, artificially pumped up limbs, but all that the size is in the muscle tissue; their
tendons and joints are weak . Ask the average muscleman to do a deep one-leg squat-ass-to-floor-style-and his knee ligaments would probably snap in two. What strength most bodybuilders do have, they cannot use in a coordinated way; if you asked them to walk on their hands they'd fall flat on their faces.”
― Paul "Coach" Wade, Convict Conditioning: How to Bust Free of All Weakness Using the Lost Secrets of Supreme Survival Strength

“The modern fitness scene is largely defined by the presence of pumped up, muscle-bound bodybuilders, expensive exercise machines, and steroids.

It's wasn't always this ways.

There was a time when men trained to become inhumanly strong using nothing but their own bodyweight. No weights. No machines. No drugs. Nothing”
― Paul "Coach" Wade, Convict Conditioning: How to Bust Free of All Weakness Using the Lost Secrets of Supreme Survival Strength

“The time for excuses is over. I’m not going to take them. In prison, we had no time for weakness. The kind of emotional and physical vulnerabilities people on the outside seem to wear as badges of honor would have been seen as invitations to attack and humiliation. None of this is acceptable for a student of my system.”
― Paul "Coach" Wade, Convict Conditioning: How to Bust Free of All Weakness Using the Lost Secrets of Supreme Survival Strength

“One of the earliest records of calisthenics training was handed down to us by the historian Herodotus, who recounts that prior to the Battle of Thermopolylae (c.480 BC) the god-king Xerxes sent a party of scouts to look down over the valley at his hopelessly outnumbered Spartan enemies, led by their king, Leonidas. To the amazement of Xerxes, the scouts reported back that the Spartan warriors were busy training their bodies with calisthenics. Xerxes had no idea what to make of this, since it looked as though they were limbering up for battle. The idea was laughable, because beyond the valley lay Xerxes’ Persian army, numbering over one hundred and twenty thousand men. There were only three hundred Spartans. Xerxes sent messages to the Spartans telling them to move or be destroyed. The Spartans refused and during the ensuing battle the tiny Spartan force succeeded in holding Xerxes’ massive army at bay until the other Greek forces coalesced. You might have seen a dramatization of this battle in Zac Snyder’s epic movie 300 (2007).”
― Paul "Coach" Wade, Convict Conditioning: How to Bust Free of All Weakness Using the Lost Secrets of Supreme Survival Strength

“People who really believe that they can’t afford the time to train don’t have their priorities right. Given the benefits to your health, strength and life in general, you need to ask yourself whether you can afford not to train!”
― Paul "Coach" Wade, Convict Conditioning: How to Bust Free of All Weakness Using the Lost Secrets of Supreme Survival Strength

“In prison I was known as El Entrenador—The Coach—because I was willing to teach strength training techniques and skills, for a price. But I was an exception—knowledge is power, and is jealously guarded inside prison, like all useful possessions. On the outside you can pick up a personal trainer at any gym. They are overpriced, and most of them know jack about genuine, productive training. You may get lucky and find a good one, but these are rare. In”
― Paul "Coach" Wade, Convict Conditioning: How to Bust Free of All Weakness Using the Lost Secrets of Supreme Survival Strength

“Why do people bother putting themselves through this rigmarole in the first place? Because we are told that—to become who we want to be—we need to. To get in shape, we need gym membership. To get chiseled abs, we need the flashy gadgets. To get big pecs, we need the expensive, scientifically engineered training machine. To work out safely and in comfort, we need the designer training shoes. To get buff, we need all these protein pills, shakes and other supplements. Why are we told this? It’s all down to money, folks. The “experts” on the infomercials telling you that you need this kind of gadget, or that kind of equipment to develop your pecs or abs or whatever—they are the guys selling that stuff! The”
― Paul "Coach" Wade, Convict Conditioning: How to Bust Free of All Weakness Using the Lost Secrets of Supreme Survival Strength

“Sometimes—maybe after a hard day, or just through laziness—you don’t always want to work out when your allotted training time comes around. This happens to the best of us from time to time. But you get down to the work anyway, get done what you need to get done. Afterwards, you get that corresponding hit of accomplishment, a mental and physical high that would have otherwise been replaced by long, dull, wasted minutes or hours. A solid, well thought-through training timetable is invaluable in cultivating motivation and discipline.”
― Paul "Coach" Wade, Convict Conditioning: How to Bust Free of All Weakness Using the Lost Secrets of Supreme Survival Strength

“Many weight-trainers—no doubt influenced by bodybuilding philosophy—believe that rippling muscles are the source of strength. In fact, it’s the nervous system that causes the muscle cells to fire, so your strength and power are largely determined by the efficiency of your nervous system.”
― Paul "Coach" Wade, Convict Conditioning: How to Bust Free of All Weakness Using the Lost Secrets of Supreme Survival Strength

“In theory, the quadriceps and hamstrings shouldn’t contract at the same time to move the body, because they are antagonistic—i.e., on opposite sides of the limb. But they do, and they do so strongly. Kinesiologists call this phenomenon Lombard’s Paradox.”
― Paul "Coach" Wade, Convict Conditioning: How to Bust Free of All Weakness Using the Lost Secrets of Supreme Survival Strength

“The old-time strongmen and physical culturalists used to understand that squats worked the entire thigh—the hamstrings as well as the quads, and as a result most of them only focused on squatting motions for the legs.”
― Paul "Coach" Wade, Convict Conditioning: How to Bust Free of All Weakness Using the Lost Secrets of Supreme Survival Strength

“I believe in training alone—it develops better focus, reduces distraction and is good for the soul.”
― Paul "Coach" Wade, Convict Conditioning: How to Bust Free of All Weakness Using the Lost Secrets of Supreme Survival Strength

“True brawn and power are developed by hard training sessions, not by long training sessions. Quality over quantity is an excellent motto for strength.”
― Paul "Coach" Wade, Convict Conditioning: How to Bust Free of All Weakness Using the Lost Secrets of Supreme Survival Strength

“You don’t need to improve your performance every time you train—this becomes impossible as you get more advanced—but your sessions should display a general line of progression through the months and years, or you’ve just been spinning your wheels.”
― Paul "Coach" Wade, Convict Conditioning: How to Bust Free of All Weakness Using the Lost Secrets of Supreme Survival Strength

“Warming up not only reduces the risk of injury, it also prepares the nervous system for action, sends fresh, shock-absorbing synovial fluid around the joints, and focuses the mind for the harder work to come.”
― Paul "Coach" Wade, Convict Conditioning: How to Bust Free of All Weakness Using the Lost Secrets of Supreme Survival Strength

“Being able to flip up against a wall and start doing handstand pushups is cool.”
― Paul "Coach" Wade, Convict Conditioning: How to Bust Free of All Weakness Using the Lost Secrets of Supreme Survival Strength

“if your training isn’t gradually lessening the pain in your life, you’re doing something wrong.”
― Paul "Coach" Wade, Convict Conditioning: How to Bust Free of All Weakness Using the Lost Secrets of Supreme Survival Strength