ConBody: The exercise craze taking over New York where you’re trained in a ‘prison cell’ by ex-cons

A prison-style bootcamp class is the hottest new fitness trend in NYC

ConBody uses ex-cons to train New Yorkers (ConBody)

A muscular ex-soldier walks into the cell, closing the barred door behind him. He speaks with the air of authority you’d expect of anyone with army training – but that’s not the only reason my nine cellmates and I don’t dare step out of line. Chris has also had a few run-ins with the law for fighting.

“It’s manic Monday, so we’re gonna go hard as f***,” he yells, before dispatching us into jumping jacks, counting down squaddie-style into the next exercise – “5, 4, 3, 2, 1” – before we launch into a bout of lightning-quick, high-kneed running on the spot.

At ConBody, brainchild of former New York drugs kingpin Coss Marte, all trainers are ex-cons. They goad New Yorkers into shape with their prison-style bootcamp classes in a new space in upscale department store Saks, plus a studio in Manhattan’s hip Bowery district.

Marte used to haul in $2m (£1.6m) a year selling cocaine on the Lower East Side before he was caught and given seven years in prison. It became a turning point for the 23-year-old, who was dangerously overweight.

“Doctors told me I could die because of my health issues,” he tells me. “I weighed over 230lbs, my cholesterol levels were way off the roof and they said within five years I’d probably die in prison. I was not exercising, I had been driving a car to go to the corner store. I was not doing anything and eating like crap, drinking and smoking and just partying all the time.”

He lost 70lbs in six months by running in the prison yard and exercising in his cell. “People used to make fun of me, call me fat Forrest Gump and everything, but after I lost a load of weight this guy came up to me and said I want to start running with you.”

Other inmates started asking him to help them get in shape and he helped more than 20 inmates lose a total of 1,000lbs. In his last year in jail, Marte wrote a business plan, bolstered by a programme called Defy Ventures, which helps illegal entrepreneurs become legal ones. He says the skills he acquired as a successful drugs kingpin have helped him build and manage his legitimate bootcamp business.

Now ConBody is opening up other US studios in Pennsylvania as Marte prepares to visit prison inmates in Queensland, Australia, to teach them how to become certified trainers.

ConBody is New York's latest fitness craze (ConBody)

The punishing training regime he created for himself during his time in jail is exactly what makes up the bootcamp classes, some of which he learned from other inmates. He took other exercises from a military-training programme he had been put through as a 19-year-old.

“ConBody helps prevent injuries, you tone up, it’s more cardio based, and there’s strength-training in between. A full-body experience,” says Marte.

The Bowery studio is painted with a Banksy-style black and white mural of three men breaking into a barb-wire fence with metal cutters, and the ConBody slogan, “Do the time”, is up in pride of place. It’s a badass brand.

The trainers' bark is worse than their bite (ConBody)

The prison gimmick, the swearing and the soundtrack of hip-hop (no naff chart dance tracks here, just a hand-selected playlist of artists such as Lil Yachty and Evander Griiim) makes this class way more interesting – and motivating.

Between the burpees, chin-ups, unforgiving crab walks and searing pain, Chris says, “If it hurts, I’m glad”, with a cheeky half-smile. He may be stern, but he stays on the funny side, being jokey-mean rather than nasty, never singling anyone out. He paces back and forth, playing up to the character and putting us through our paces with body weight-only exercises.

As he opens the cell door to let us out at the end of our class, after the mountain climbers, the lunges, more death burpees, Chris adds one more thing: “If anyone tries to tell you you’re not good enough, tell those motherf*****s to come to me.”

Travel essentials

Getting there

Return flights with British Airways (ba.com) from London Gatwick to JFK start from £379.

Staying there

Viceroy Central Park (viceroyhotelsandresorts.com/en/newyork/) offers doubles from £214, room only.

More information

conbody.com

nycgo.com