Hey,
Has anybody bought any of these 2 books? If yes could you tell me if you liked them and think they are worth spending for.

Thanks from Ontario, Canada!

Convict Conditioning is really awesome, I liked it and it's good for beginners and advanced people

both are extremely good. especially the naked warrior by Pavel. he is Master of sports, and master on all things strength. the book is a must, for the principles it teaches.

Sweet! Thanks for the reply guys. Do you know where I could buy both these books for the cheapest price out there?

Thanks again!

Depends on which country you're from
For the USA, the cheapest one is for 37$ on Amazon for Convict Conditioning.

Not a big fan of both. They have good things to offer, but I disagree with the premise. Dragon Door tends to be very dogmatic with their products. It can be simply to attract attention and controversy, but the information could be better.


The best thing that Naked Warrior offers is Grease the Groove and some tension techniques, although they can be found elsewhere. I don't like the advice on pistols or one arm push ups.

Convict Conditioning isn't bad, but the progressions aren't the most efficient way to approach those goals. The HLR isn't a proper HLR(toes to bar). The book is missing out on a few crucial aspects to continue your practice: joint mobility, joint prep, prehab, etc. I like that the bridge is included. I like that bodyweight strength moves are being introduced to the public in a manner that allows progressive overload. Overall, save your money. You would be better served reading on the gymnastic bodies forum and the work of Ido Portal.

Convict conditioning is a fun book to read. it's not the be all end all approach to fitness, but it's theme sells copies and hell I bought one.

Pavel is also another fun read. but it lacks in areas as well.. If you want the best knowledge. just follow this forum. We have some of the most intelligent gifted people in the world (or know of) to answer all your questions. lol

may I suggest this off topic book:

"Freeing Yourself from the Narcissist in Your Life"

It’s one thing to have a healthy self-esteem, but there are folks who we all know as self-absorbed, conceited, or egotistical. These people are trouble and this book is an excellent guide to deal with them."

Best of Strength to you all!

Agreed that convict conditioning is unnecessarily dogmatic, but I think most people will see that for what it is, a kind of tough guy marketing guff. The book's real point of value is the progressions, which provide a sense of progress and continuity that has been immeasurable in helping me set goals and see my development and consequently stick to working out. But I certainly don't treat the book as a bible - I use some of my own progressions, play around with variations, do other exercises, etc. All books should be treated like this, in my opinion.

The Naked Warrior makes a great complement - it has all the stuff on technique, breathing, tension and so on that is missing from convict conditioning. Again, they both suffer from a kind of nauseating self-virtue and sanctimonious tone, which I hate, but you just have to look past all that.

Lot's of information out there to choose from. I like to talk about who's better and who's not, but let's make sure we get the training in guys. (most Important)

"I believe in action over words, and that's the way I choose to live my life."

Anybody post any new video's lately? (Ever?) Would love to see the results of all this useful knowledge.

Both books offer lots of useful information. That doesn't mean I agree with EVERYTHING in either book, but I've definitely benefited from reading them both, and I imagine anyone interested in bodyweight strength training would.



Insider Info (Shhh!) - CC part II is coming out later this year. I have seen an early draft of it and it looks even better than the first one.

I have mostly read both and completely agree with Al.

Al: thanks for sharing. i can't wait to see it. is it just an updated edition or totally new moves?

I must say that, even if you don't like the exercises in CC, I think it's still a great literatur to read, where you can find about 100 pages speaking of the history and some ineresting self coaching stuff

It is amusing that there's a Convict Conditioning II coming out, since the premise of Convict Conditioning was that the six movements described were the only six that anyone needed to do and that anything else was a totally optional but largely unnecessary extra.

Nevertheless, I'll admit I'm totally stoked for round two For all its shortcomings, Convict Conditioning is the reason that I've now been working out day in day out for six months, when in the past I'd never made it beyond a week or two before I became overwhelmed, disoriented and discouraged.