Inmate Fitness

Training
321

I didn’t watch the entire vid(nowhere near it), but I clicked through looking at 2-3 pictures at a time until it got to a part that I assume was no longer showcasing physiques, and I have two things to comment about it.

  1. None of the physiques are really standout or incredibly muscular(of the ones I saw, again I did not look at all of them)
  2. The average of all of the pictures I saw is probably worse than the average of avatars on this site, (in fact, probably a lot worse). Of note is that ‘people who put themselves as their avatar’ on average probably have more admirable physiques than those who don’t, and also that this is a showcase of the best physiques in prison, not all physiques in prison, so these should probably be a wash.

There are dudes with good, solid builds… turns out I can find them on here as well, in bunches, as well as a professional level physique, and numerous other very high quality ones. Maybe there should be way more on here than there is, but I don’t think this is some magic revelation that prison is some secret blueprint to really building muscle.

Also worth noting about the ‘all black dudes’ tangent is that black people, regardless of genetic differences in bone structure and whatnot, will look better because being darker showcases a physique better. You could have identically built men, one pale as a ghost and one black, and the black guy would look far better. Chalk one up for ‘the bad guys’(jokes) and move along.

322

[quote]Quick Ben wrote:
Most of those physiques look more than attainable for a natural. How did the biggest guy in that video look BEFORE he went in though, and how long has he been in…?

Case in point, this guy had just done 18 months.[/quote]

That’s Phil Hernon, a white man (cough). He would probably have destroyed many pros if he was competing these days.

323

[quote]Professor X wrote:

[quote]BrickHead wrote:

Incorrect. Jake speaks of sound training methods and the correct, progressive mindset, which has nothing to do with implying his dissatisfaction for others on a forum. If I didn’t share Jake’s mindset, I’d still be squatting 225 for 10.
[/quote]

LOL. He wrote this: "It’s the boatload of 18yr kids everyday weighing 170lbs wanting to get huge, and starting threads about what way to point they’re pinky finger’s when they’re doing latterals, "

That is about dissatisfaction with those posters here.

You simply choose to not follow him around with off topic nonsense.

Hypocrisy.

Stay on topic or stop trolling my threads.[/quote]

I took 18 year old kids for what they are, not 18 year old kids on T-mag, which he didn’t say.

Over and over you have expressed your surprise and dissatisfaction over the lack of jacked and experienced people here. So I suggested perhaps you might enjoy being on another forum where jacked and ripped is the norm, with some IFBB pros and first tier NPC competitors in the mix. It’s not a suggestion for you to leave, and I do not run this board so it would be silly to suggest that.

324

Also, we can all cherry pick towns we work or live in. Just because there are some pockets of white men who are of average stature generally or who don’t give a damn about lifting, there are areas on this earth where large is the norm for whites, Scandinavia, or Minnesota (heavily German and Scandinavian), say. Are we going to say that heavily muscled and tall Nordic people adapted to a “hostile environment”. Yeah, I guess we can. Evolving on ice would be a rough endeavor.

325

I think alot can be said for intensity no matter what workout pattern/scheme you are doing. Even if all these guys can do is bodyweight movements its done in extremely high volume, minimal rest between sets, in a very intense manner.

Not to knock the routines of people who train with a few minute rest periods between sets, but I think if inmates trained that way I dont think it would give the results we are seeing in those videos.

With that being said working in a prison setting not every inmate is jacked up, and in fact most arent. Alot of the inmates I see train every day dont make any visible gains what so ever, or minimal gains in the years that they stay here. But the ones that do significantly stand out in the population.

I think the people we see in these videos are not only physically able to gain that kind of mass, but also have the drive to train hard enough to obtain it. When you have nothing but time these individuals find what works for them with regards to routines.

Just my opinion.

326

[quote]red04 wrote:
I didn’t watch the entire vid(nowhere near it), but I clicked through looking at 2-3 pictures at a time until it got to a part that I assume was no longer showcasing physiques, and I have two things to comment about it.

  1. None of the physiques are really standout or incredibly muscular(of the ones I saw, again I did not look at all of them)
  2. The average of all of the pictures I saw is probably worse than the average of avatars on this site, (in fact, probably a lot worse). Of note is that ‘people who put themselves as their avatar’ on average probably have more admirable physiques than those who don’t, and also that this is a showcase of the best physiques in prison, not all physiques in prison, so these should probably be a wash.

There are dudes with good, solid builds… turns out I can find them on here as well, in bunches, as well as a professional level physique, and numerous other very high quality ones. Maybe there should be way more on here than there is, but I don’t think this is some magic revelation that prison is some secret blueprint to really building muscle.

Also worth noting about the ‘all black dudes’ tangent is that black people, regardless of genetic differences in bone structure and whatnot, will look better because being darker showcases a physique better. You could have identically built men, one pale as a ghost and one black, and the black guy would look far better. Chalk one up for ‘the bad guys’(jokes) and move along.[/quote]

Good post I was thinking the same thing. There are some epic builds on this site far more impressive then some dudes in jail.
I will say that I have trained and had many west african friends and they seem to get swole quicker than other ethnic groups. . My friend who is from Ghana got me into training in highschool. I would say that it took me almost 3 years to look like he did after 6 months of training, but I agree that a darker skin tone makes one look shredded. I have also seen white guys get jacked quickly as well really comes down to genes.

Like I can think off hand of white guys that are just as genetic freaks as black dudes, I have had smaller black friends get a bit swole but from hard work. I wouldn’t say all black people have better muscle building genes than whites it is simply not true.

327

infinite_shore wrote

Anytimejake, you come across as pretty “loud” for someone with rather low strength numbers.

I have always liked your posts and thought you smarter than this, sorta like saying, hey Dan John you don’t look very fit, why come off like you know so much about fitness

Anyway I’ve told my life story enough times on T nation, but I’ll try and keep this short and to the point

Started lifting at 8 because of an abusive home, was a pretty high level hockey player and boxer through my teens. My boxing coach had me on a two times a week routine based around 20 rep squatting. I followed this routine from 14-21ish, and used it to land my first gig at 19, as the strength coach for local Jr hockey team, became certified at that time

I moved to the city at 22 to further my training career, and my iron worker career, I joined up with a PLing club, and my squat at the time was 315x20, I was strength coach for high level judo team, as well as working one on one with an olympic level wrestler. Over 3yrs I managed to get my own total up to 1480 raw and natural, soon after, I fell 80ft in a iron working accident, crushed the lower left side of my body. I have gotten 9 operations on left leg over the years, throughout this time I was trainer / iron worker / biker, weird combo but it was what it was.

After my injury, I kept training other people, but my own training kind of got fucked up, I did get caught up in a double BW bench obsession with my own training. It took me 3yrs to get there, and along the way I did my first cycle, 3 cycles actually, over the coarse of a year, that ended with 425 bench at 215, not quite, but I got thrown in jaIl, so that cycle was over. Such is life.

I got out of jail, and found out I had a 2 week old baby girl, so I worked my ass off and opened my own gym, so I could offer a stable life to my new wife and baby. The next 5yrs were devoted to building my buisness, and client list, getting all the local hockey teams to come train with me at my place. My own training over these 5yrs, went back to twice a week 20 rep squat type training, keeping my body weight at a trim 210ish, to apeal to customer’s at the door. I was in my mid 30s at this point, and had been training hockey player’s, and young athlete’s since I was 19yrs

A year and a half ago I was placed on house arrest, for some nonsense, I took it in stride, and decided to spend the time getting myself strong again. I had set up a basic gym in my garage, and kept a few clients, traded the rest off to a kid I had been mentoring. This brings us to present, I’ve been back training heavy for 8mths, and I’m pretty proud of the fact that although I have steel in three diferent joints, I’ve beat up and banged up for 40yrs, and haven’t trained heavy since 99 when I fell. I’ve still been able in 8nths to bring my squat and deadlift form 315 to to just shy of 500, I’ve recently benched 350 so thats coming back as well, and everything feels pretty good and solid. So far I haven’t added in any ASAs, I’ll cross that bridge when I get to 1500, seeing as my best total was 1480 natural, I want to beat that before I move on.

The point to this whole story is ‘‘knowlage’’ I’ve been training my clients and myself through adversity, over the years I’ve had my share of high level clients, several have gone on to the NHL but no one has broken through as a super star, as well as some high level wrestlers and other athlete’s. I’ve fought through tons of adversity myself, I’ve never been able to get a full year of hard un-interupted training, without jail time or injury’s interupting, but I’ve still stayed strong. It’s hard for a young guy to understand that life gives you lemmons, and that hard training can’t always be the number one priority in your life. Having big bi’s, or a big squat dosen’t always make for a great coach, and at the end of the day, I consider myself a better coach then a lifter, but I still have goals.

One last thing, I’ve developed a big loud personality over the years, I’ve been told I come off like a real life Steve Austin, This helps with coaching, atleast for me. The kids get a kick out of my bigger than life personality, and they listen, and respect what I have to say. Mabey some of that comes across on the internet, haha, I can’t help that, it’s the trainer/iron worker/biker thing I guess. My posts for the most part are positive. I just try and light a fire under people’s ass, in real life and I guess on-line. I’ve found that the people that, that rubs the wrong way, are usually the ones that need it the most. Later

Big answer to a little comment, but that bugged me, wrote this in a hurry, as I’m heading out the door, sorry about spelling and grammer, but for my money the best strength coaches around, don’t look very strong. It’s just hard to find time for yourself when you have a full roster. such is life :slight_smile:

328

[quote]AnytimeJake wrote:
infinite_shore wrote

Anytimejake, you come across as pretty “loud” for someone with rather low strength numbers.

I have always liked your posts and thought you smarter than this, sorta like saying, hey Dan John you don’t look very fit, why come off like you know so much about fitness

Anyway I’ve told my life story enough times on T nation, but I’ll try and keep this short and to the point

Started lifting at 8 because of an abusive home, was a pretty high level hockey player and boxer through my teens. My boxing coach had me on a two times a week routine based around 20 rep squatting. I followed this routine from 14-21ish, and used it to land my first gig at 19, as the strength coach for local Jr hockey team, became certified at that time

I moved to the city at 22 to further my training career, and my iron worker career, I joined up with a PLing club, and my squat at the time was 315x20, I was strength coach for high level judo team, as well as working one on one with an olympic level wrestler. Over 3yrs I managed to get my own total up to 1480 raw and natural, soon after, I fell 80ft in a iron working accident, crushed the lower left side of my body. I have gotten 9 operations on left leg over the years, throughout this time I was trainer / iron worker / biker, weird combo but it was what it was.

After my injury, I kept training other people, but my own training kind of got fucked up, I did get caught up in a double BW bench obsession with my own training. It took me 3yrs to get there, and along the way I did my first cycle, 3 cycles actually, over the coarse of a year, that ended with 425 bench at 215, not quite, but I got thrown in jaIl, so that cycle was over. Such is life.

I got out of jail, and found out I had a 2 week old baby girl, so I worked my ass off and opened my own gym, so I could offer a stable life to my new wife and baby. The next 5yrs were devoted to building my buisness, and client list, getting all the local hockey teams to come train with me at my place. My own training over these 5yrs, went back to twice a week 20 rep squat type training, keeping my body weight at a trim 210ish, to apeal to customer’s at the door. I was in my mid 30s at this point, and had been training hockey player’s, and young athlete’s since I was 19yrs

A year and a half ago I was placed on house arrest, for some nonsense, I took it in stride, and decided to spend the time getting myself strong again. I had set up a basic gym in my garage, and kept a few clients, traded the rest off to a kid I had been mentoring. This brings us to present, I’ve been back training heavy for 8mths, and I’m pretty proud of the fact that although I have steel in three diferent joints, I’ve beat up and banged up for 40yrs, and haven’t trained heavy since 99 when I fell. I’ve still been able in 8nths to bring my squat and deadlift form 315 to to just shy of 500, I’ve recently benched 350 so thats coming back as well, and everything feels pretty good and solid. So far I haven’t added in any ASAs, I’ll cross that bridge when I get to 1500, seeing as my best total was 1480 natural, I want to beat that before I move on.

The point to this whole story is ‘‘knowlage’’ I’ve been training my clients and myself through adversity, over the years I’ve had my share of high level clients, several have gone on to the NHL but no one has broken through as a super star, as well as some high level wrestlers and other athlete’s. I’ve fought through tons of adversity myself, I’ve never been able to get a full year of hard un-interupted training, without jail time or injury’s interupting, but I’ve still stayed strong. It’s hard for a young guy to understand that life gives you lemmons, and that hard training can’t always be the number one priority in your life. Having big bi’s, or a big squat dosen’t always make for a great coach, and at the end of the day, I consider myself a better coach then a lifter, but I still have goals.

One last thing, I’ve developed a big loud personality over the years, I’ve been told I come off like a real life Steve Austin, This helps with coaching, atleast for me. The kids get a kick out of my bigger than life personality, and they listen, and respect what I have to say. Mabey some of that comes across on the internet, haha, I can’t help that, it’s the trainer/iron worker/biker thing I guess. My posts for the most part are positive. I just try and light a fire under people’s ass, in real life and I guess on-line. I’ve found that the people that, that rubs the wrong way, are usually the ones that need it the most. Later

Big answer to a little comment, but that bugged me, wrote this in a hurry, as I’m heading out the door, sorry about spelling and grammer, but for my money the best strength coaches around, don’t look very strong. It’s just hard to find time for yourself when you have a full roster. such is life :slight_smile:
[/quote]

[quote]
A year and a half ago I was placed on house arrest, for some nonsense,

wrote this in a hurry, as I’m heading out the door, [/quote]

Where are you in a hurry to? The back yard? Just fucking with ya man. Keep on keepin on man

329

Haha, the funny thing is, I had the propane heater going in my garage, getting ready for my Sun heavy workout, Sun is the biggest day for me, lifting wise, so ya, the back yard basicaly. Sorry I just took ofence to that, especialy from a poster I’ve always enjoyed and learned from, but what ever. I’d like to know where some of these guys train, where 1350-1400lb raw total is light. I don’t see guys getting these types of number’s in the gyms I hang out in, and I know that the majority around here isn’t there, top end mabey. Whatever.

Not to mention the whole natural arguement, if I was one of those guys, I plan on using juice, I just want my base back first. Whatever, such is life, everyone bench’s 405, and squats and deads over 500 I guess. I need to stop being so honest thats my problem

330

This is a fascinating topic and does beg the question how much protein/calories a lifter really needs since these guys probably aren’t eating that much.

331

[quote]MytchBucanan wrote:
This is a fascinating topic and does beg the question how much protein/calories a lifter really needs since these guys probably aren’t eating that much.[/quote]

Seeing these guys eat everyday, the ones who can afford to purchase canteen eat essentially non stop all day long. Most of the calories are coming from poor sources like ramen noodles, KD, cereals…ect. But at our prison inmates can purchase protein powder, which seems to be our biggest selling item.

I would say their protein intake isnt what we would consider “sufficent”, but their total calorie intake can be pretty huge if even from crap food.

332

[quote]AnytimeJake wrote:
The point to this whole story is ‘‘knowlage’’ I’ve been training my clients and myself through adversity, over the years I’ve had my share of high level clients, several have gone on to the NHL but no one has broken through as a super star, as well as some high level wrestlers and other athlete’s.

Having big bi’s, or a big squat dosen’t always make for a great coach, and at the end of the day, I consider myself a better coach then a lifter, but I still have goals.
[/quote]

Fair enough and good point. I also fancy myself as a better “coach” than lifter. Sadly so few people on the net and irl actually stop to listen and apply stuff.

333

Those guys eat a lot more than you think. Should have seen the shit they were eating last night for the superbowl.

334

[quote]StevenF wrote:
Those guys eat a lot more than you think. Should have seen the shit they were eating last night for the superbowl. [/quote]

…which also leads us to “is ‘eating clean’ even what most beginners should be focusing on if the goal is optimal muscle growth”?

The person I know is making big progress despite having less to work with than before he went in.

335

[quote]StevenF wrote:
Those guys eat a lot more than you think. Should have seen the shit they were eating last night for the superbowl. [/quote]

…Only if someone else is putting money on their books for it.

Otherwise, they only have the 3 meals a day to go by.

From what I understand, the extras are largely Raman Noodles and peanut-butter. Either way this is a far cry from spending $500 plus a month on supplements like many here who are way lesser developed are doing.

336

[quote]Professor X wrote:

[quote]StevenF wrote:
Those guys eat a lot more than you think. Should have seen the shit they were eating last night for the superbowl. [/quote]

…Only if someone else is putting money on their books for it.

Otherwise, they only have the 3 meals a day to go by.

From what I understand, the extras are largely Raman Noodles and peanut-butter. Either way this is a far cry from spending $500 plus a month on supplements like many here who are way lesser developed are doing.[/quote]

ramen noodles and peanut butter are staples. They gamble a lot with store goods and steal a lot of other people’s shit, too. And about the clean eating some people here would lose their fucking minds if they had to eat some of the concoctions I see in their cookups. Chips, ramen noodles, bbq sauce, cheese, chicken (they steal a lot of meat and bring it back from chow in their pockets and pool it all together), all kinds of shit goes into their cookups. They make burritos, too.

337

[quote]LoRez wrote:
Yeah, that wasn’t quite the direction I meant. Maybe just “I’m white, and I probably won’t look like that after I get out of prison”. But not even really that.

My comment was really just in response to the “how come you don’t look like this?” generalization. It just struck me as odd.

…

So maybe I’m predisposed that way, but that doesn’t make it an excuse. I think it’s due to undereating and a fast metabolism (i.e., still undereating.)[/quote]

It shouldn’t strike you as odd. This isn’t about race specifically…however, I have no doubt that there are posters who still think you can’t reach the size of some of these guys without drug use.

Comparing avatars isn’t what was meant (considering maybe only 4% of the people even use current pictures of themselves in their avatars). I think the Indigo forum may give a much better look at what the average poster here actually looks like.

If anything this was just a challenge. On a board where people worry this much about who is natural or not, it seems to be most of what they worry about…and not the die hard consistent training and eating.

And before Brick can log in to tell me that some people want to be small…those people can stop reading this thread any time they wish.

338

[quote]Professor X wrote:

[quote]LoRez wrote:
Yeah, that wasn’t quite the direction I meant. Maybe just “I’m white, and I probably won’t look like that after I get out of prison”. But not even really that.

My comment was really just in response to the “how come you don’t look like this?” generalization. It just struck me as odd.

…

So maybe I’m predisposed that way, but that doesn’t make it an excuse. I think it’s due to undereating and a fast metabolism (i.e., still undereating.)[/quote]

It shouldn’t strike you as odd. This isn’t about race specifically…however, I have no doubt that there are posters who still think you can’t reach the size of some of these guys without drug use.

Comparing avatars isn’t what was meant (considering maybe only 4% of the people even use current pictures of themselves in their avatars). I think the Indigo forum may give a much better look at what the average poster here actually looks like.

If anything this was just a challenge. On a board where people worry this much about who is natural or not, it seems to be most of what they worry about…and not the die hard consistent training and eating.

And before Brick can log in to tell me that some people want to be small…those people can stop reading this thread any time they wish.[/quote]

X, what should we do with all these skinny guys? Run them off the forums perhaps? Steer them in the right direction? Give them a lashing?

Just trying to be productive and progressive and positive here.

And I’m not sure if I have interpreted your writings correctly, but you seem dissatisfed with the mass of skinny guys around here. That’s why I suggested you might enjoy yourself more on other forums where large guys are the norm while still posting here as well. That’s all.

339

[quote]BrickHead wrote:
X, what should we do with all these skinny guys? Run them off the forums perhaps? Steer them in the right direction? Give them a lashing?

Just trying to be productive and progressive and positive here. [/quote]

LOL.

This thread is what I am doing about it. Keep up.

Either add to it, or take yourself away from it. You are what is preventing production and progression when we are discussing the basics of what builds big muscles.

340

[quote]Professor X wrote:
like many here who are way lesser developed are doing.[/quote]

Examples?

Quotes from the “many here” who are “way less developed?”