Convict Conditioning - Paul Wade

4 CONVICT COBDI!l!IOBDIG
the 1987 Californian Institutional powerlifting championship-despite the fact that I have never
trained with weights. (I only entered on a bet.) For more years than I care to count, my training
system has kept me physically tougher and head-and-shoulders stronger than the vast majority of
psychos, veteranos and other vicious nutjobs I've been forced to rub shoulders with for two
decades. And most of these guys worked out-hard. You might not read about their training
methods or accomplishments in fitness magazines, but some of the world's most impressive athletes
are convicts.
Throughout my time in prison, getting and staying as strong, fit and overall tough as possible
has been my trade. But I didn't learn that trade in a comfortable chrome-covered gym, surrounded
by tanned posers and spandex vixens. I didn't qualify as the result of a three-week correspondence
course, like most of the personal trainers around today. And I sure as hell ain't some fatass writer
who never sweated a day in his life, like a lot of the guys who churn out "fitness" or "bodybuilding"
books. Nor was I born a "natural athlete." When I first would up in the joint-only three
weeks after my twenty-second birthday-I weighed a hundred and fifty pounds soaking wet. At
6'1 my long, gangly arms looked like pipe cleaners and were about half as strong. Following some
nasty experiences early on, I learned pretty quickly that other prisoners exploit weaknesses like
they breathe air; intimidation is the daily currency in the holes I've wound up in. And as I wasn't
planning on being anyone's bitch, I realized that the safest way to stop being a target was to build
myself up, fast.