Review Title: Brutal Elegance.
Review Rating: 10
Review Text:
I have been training and reading about training since I first joined the US Navy in the 1960s. (Training on a frigate is really no different to prison conditions.) I thought I’d seen everything the fitness world had to offer. Sometimes twice. But I was wrong. This book is utterly iconoclastic.
The author breaks down all conceivable body weight exercises into six basic movements, each designed to stimulate different vectors of the muscular system. These six are then elegantly and very intelligently broken into ten progressive techniques. You master one technique, and move on to the next.
The simplicity of this method belies a very powerful and complex training paradigm, reduced into an abstraction that obviously took many years of sweat and toil to develop. Strong minds will look at this inventive feat and say "I wish I’d thought of that". More feeble brains will look and say "well, I could’ve worked that out!".
Trust me. Nobody else worked this out. This approach is completely unique and fresh.
I have read virtually every calisthenics book printed in America over the last 40 years, and instruction like this can’t be found anywhere, in any one of them. Some of the more popular books are dreadful (Matt Furey), while some are quite good (Ross Enemait’s). But Convict Conditioning is head and shoulders above them all. In years to come, trainers and coaches will all be talking about "progressions" and "progressive calisthenics" and claim they’ve been doing it all along. But the truth is that Dragon Door bought it to you first. As with kettlebells, they were the trail blazers.
Who should purchase this volume? Everyone who craves fitness and strength should. Even if you don’t plan to follow the routines, the book will make you think about your physical prowess, and will give even world class experts food for thought. At the very least if you find yourself on vacation or away on business without your barbells, this book will turn your hotel into a fully equipped gym.
I’d advise any athlete to obtain this work as soon as possible.
Bill Oliver, NY
