Inmate Fitness

[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:

-While I can’t speak from experience, I’m fairly certain that most folks in the clink aren’t walking around in contest condition. Your need to constantly berate the fact that so many people believe that a mature, natural trainer can only put on so much lbm comes across as you beating the same horse that has already been horribly pounded for years now.
S [/quote]

Dude, seriously, put the attitude on hold. It isn’t a good look.

You could claim every topic on this forum is “beating a dead horse” but you only ever take issue with me in that regard.

If you don’t like the topic, why log in to tell me?

I know someone in prison currently. They don’t have weights. Getting a prescription Tylenol may be easy. Getting a vial of test + syringes is not.

[quote]Professor X wrote:

[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
-While I can’t speak from experience, I’m fairly certain that most folks in the clink aren’t walking around in contest condition. Your need to constantly berate the fact that so many people believe that a mature, natural trainer can only put on so much lbm comes across as you beating the same horse that has already been horribly pounded for years now.
S [/quote]

Dude, seriously, put the attitude on hold. It isn’t a good look.[/quote]

Thanks, I’ll take that into consideration. I didn’t think pointing out the fact that your threads always come back to the same points constituted having an attitude. I would ever wager the fact that I’m not the only one who noticed.

And yet there were plenty of threads the last two months that didn’t touch on how much lbm you can gain naturally, if you can gain more muscle by bulking up, why people don’t blindly listen to the ‘big guys’ in their gyms…

Yep, you’re the only reason I logged in. You got me. I actually made a couple of good points in my reply.

And yet there are plenty of former inmates who will openly attest to very different conditions. As you always point out, you can’t take one experience and use it to speak as an authority on all others.

S

[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:

And yet there are plenty of former inmates who will openly attest to very different conditions. As you always point out, you can’t take one experience and use it to speak as an authority on all others.

S[/quote]

That would be because of differences across STATE PRISONS. They don’t have weights in Texas. Yet there are some swole people getting out of prisons there.

I wasn’t using only one experience. They don’t use weights in the prison shown in the vid in the OP.

[quote]Professor X wrote:

[quote]csulli wrote:

[quote]Professor X wrote:
Why do some of these guys appear bigger than I have heard a natural can get?[/quote]
Dat environment man. Your body will naturally try to adapt to more hostile surroundings.[/quote]

I have said the same about the neighborhood I grew up in but was told it was all fantasy. I see the same types of people there…and a number of them have been in places like this. [/quote]

There is a lot of validity to this. Many social psychologists etc. will say the same. Young men from “rougher” areas will mature faster, grow stronger and take on an entirely different look physically (on average) as compared to their suburbanite counterparts.
I have seen this a lot in life myself. Coming from a major urban environment but also having spent a great deal of time in suburban areas… it becomes obvious to the careful observer

[quote]Professor X wrote:

[quote]RATTLEHEAD wrote:

[quote]Professor X wrote:
Also, no, it would be a mistake to look at that vid and think everyone bigger is on drugs. I really hope that isn’t the predominant way of thinking today…on a website like this.[/quote]

Believing inmates do not utilize drugs is also a mistake.[/quote]

They don’t even have weights in some these prisons. It isn’t about believing inmates use drugs. Steroids aren’t a pill you can pop quickly. Being on a steady cycle for months would be difficult in a prison like that.

It just seems like some here immediately jump to “steroids” no matter what if the guy is bigger than they think he should be.[/quote]

Well to be fair if you can smuggle in coke, you can smuggle in dbol. And you don’t have to cycle things like a bodybuilder to get great results.

Not that I thnk or care one way or the other if prisoners are on gear.

[quote]Headache wrote:

[quote]Professor X wrote:

[quote]csulli wrote:

[quote]Professor X wrote:
Why do some of these guys appear bigger than I have heard a natural can get?[/quote]
Dat environment man. Your body will naturally try to adapt to more hostile surroundings.[/quote]

I have said the same about the neighborhood I grew up in but was told it was all fantasy. I see the same types of people there…and a number of them have been in places like this. [/quote]

There is a lot of validity to this. Many social psychologists etc. will say the same. Young men from “rougher” areas will mature faster, grow stronger and take on an entirely different look physically (on average) as compared to their suburbanite counterparts.
I have seen this a lot in life myself. Coming from a major urban environment but also having spent a great deal of time in suburban areas… it becomes obvious to the careful observer[/quote]

Or it can be be that kids from the ghetto do different things with their free time. I grew up in East LA and Watts, we played basketball, football, lifted weights we were active. I was sent to school in the suburbs where there were athletes but, many of the guys played video games, skated, and rode their bmx bikes.

[quote]xXSeraphimXx wrote:

[quote]Headache wrote:

[quote]Professor X wrote:

[quote]csulli wrote:

[quote]Professor X wrote:
Why do some of these guys appear bigger than I have heard a natural can get?[/quote]
Dat environment man. Your body will naturally try to adapt to more hostile surroundings.[/quote]

I have said the same about the neighborhood I grew up in but was told it was all fantasy. I see the same types of people there…and a number of them have been in places like this. [/quote]

There is a lot of validity to this. Many social psychologists etc. will say the same. Young men from “rougher” areas will mature faster, grow stronger and take on an entirely different look physically (on average) as compared to their suburbanite counterparts.
I have seen this a lot in life myself. Coming from a major urban environment but also having spent a great deal of time in suburban areas… it becomes obvious to the careful observer[/quote]

Or it can be be that kids from the ghetto do different things with their free time. I grew up in East LA and Watts, we played basketball, football, lifted weights we were active. I was sent to school in the suburbs where there were athletes but, many of the guys played video games, skated, and rode their bmx bikes.

[/quote]

There is something to be said for this as well. At the same time there is a propensity for aggressive behavior and a subjection to danger that’s also at play. In other words, it is not one or the other but both and more IMO


Friend of mine, a few months out of a two year stint in the clink. Weights were available. Five-nine or so, 190-somethings pounds I think, natty. Weights were available.

You can get drugs in prison. Even Kali Muscle turned down the offer of d-bol from a big white man on the yard. He couldn’t grasp why he would even think of buying d-bol or other roids because of his hefty stash of tuna and instant ramen.

How many times can one person rehash the same topic?

This isn’t rhetorical. I would like a concrete answer so I can know when the madness will end.

I have heard numerous times about the availability of gear in prison. Shit gets smuggled all the time.

[quote]super saiyan wrote:
How many times can one person rehash the same topic?

This isn’t rhetorical. I would like a concrete answer so I can know when the madness will end.[/quote]

The madness will end whenever you want it to, dude. Whatever message PX wants to preach, there is no reason for you to keep showing up at the sermon.

I work in a prison and they work out A LOT. Like every day. For hours. When yard opens they run out the door to the weight pits. And they also eat a lot. That’s all they have time to do, workout and eat and annoy me. I remember one time I was on the yard by one of the weight pits and the yard cop that runs that zone let an inmate go in and get a couple reps in on the bench. Pretty sure he went in and put up 315 with no warmup.

It DEPENDS completely on the prison. And access to juice isnt that simple even in the “best of them”. Getting caught with syringes during shakedown is a LOT worse than having a cellphone on you. And yes, I speak from PERSONAL experience, not hearsay.

Anyhoo, the folks in the video don’t look assisted for the most part. But the queston is what they looked like BEFORE they went in.

[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
-You can get anything you want in prison. Chat with a few people who work in such situations and they’ll give you the lowdown.

-While I can’t speak from experience, I’m fairly certain that most folks in the clink aren’t walking around in contest condition. Your need to constantly berate the fact that so many people believe that a mature, natural trainer can only put on so much lbm comes across as you beating the same horse that has already been horribly pounded for years now.

-Dave Palumbo fully detailed his time spent behind bars. This is a man very knowledgeable of training, nutrition, and yes, PEDs. It could be argued that he has excellent genetics to be able to go from a college distance runner to a super heavyweight competitor who pushed the boundaries of conditioning. Being unable to obtain his usual anabolic cocktails, combined with his seeming desire (at the time) to not let his bodyfat creep up, you can see why not only didn’t he make any gains, but lost quite a bit of size while incarcerated for even a relatively small duration.

Wish I had nothing to do all day but eat, sleep, read and train. I’m sure not having the everyday stresses most of us face can have some effect on recovery.

S [/quote]

[quote]Depression Boy wrote:

…the queston is what they looked like BEFORE they went in.

[/quote]

Yep, no one responded to that point…

Agreed. But I also agree with what he (SS) is saying. It seems pointless but whatever.

BTW just out of curiosity, I know a medical professional i.e. one who is qualified and allowed to write prescriptions - in his mid-thirties, with a successful medical practice, and who’s admitted to dabbling in prohormones in the past - AND who’s been training longer than a decade with a principal focus on gaining size, many of those years along with NPC competitors.

Based on this short profile alone, would you reckon he’s staying natural?

And if he isn’t does it make sense for him to come clean about his usage?

My point is - what is even the point?

[quote]Quick Ben wrote:

[quote]super saiyan wrote:
How many times can one person rehash the same topic?

This isn’t rhetorical. I would like a concrete answer so I can know when the madness will end.[/quote]

The madness will end whenever you want it to, dude. Whatever message PX wants to preach, there is no reason for you to keep showing up at the sermon.
[/quote]

[quote]Depression Boy wrote:
Anyhoo, the folks in the video don’t look assisted for the most part. But the queston is what they looked like BEFORE they went in.[/quote]

I think that’s the big question. How many people go in, looking more ‘typical’, and come out with a champion caliber physique that really does exceed what most people would expect to be able to develop in a similar situation.

S

NO SHIT, genius…thats Phil Hernon.

[quote]mbdix wrote:

[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]

This guy i don’t think did it naturally. [/quote]

What do you all think about getting big on bodyweight exercises like pushups? Assuming the inmates didn’t have access to weights, were able to eat enough to get be in a caloric surplus, and did not have access to steroids, what else would they do other than pushups and such?

Quote 1:

“you can’t get big from doing pushups, they JUST build endurance.”

Say I just banged out 50 with perfect form and struggled to concentric failure on the last set. Then say I did a rest pause and banged out another 8 reps and then another 4 all to concentric failure (with 15 second rests). I have given my body the same ‘intensity’ (defined as the struggle, not 1RM%) that my body would see if I had done bench presses DC style.

Also, if one year later, I gained 30 pounds, and I could bang out 300, 25, and 8 using the rest pause method with perfect form, would I not be ‘stronger’ than before? Most likely would be ‘more muscular’ than before as well. IMO of course.

Quote 2:

“I walk all day/jog all day and that doesn’t make my legs huge, so doing endless pushups won’t make your chest huge”

I’ve never taken a walk/jog so far that I physically couldn’t get ‘one more step’. There’s always a point during max pushups that I will come across a struggle just as ‘intense’ as a struggle on a heavy bench press.

By the way, that ‘struggle’ seems to get people strong and huge (and maybe the pump?). Jim Wendler advocates a set to concentric failure on his 5/3/1 program then back down to some high rep pump sets. Also, look at Prof X, lifting to concentric failure and doing a pump set.

I went to prison 10 years ago. There were weights where I was at. Very old school York Barbell, but they had everything basic that you needed for a hardcore dungeon gym. They had a weight pile out on the yard with a roof over it, and then a quite large weight room in the basement. While I can’t say I know every single thing that went on or was available in there, I never heard of any gear available. Guys were making a big deal about smuggling creatine and selling it for ridiculous prices.

In spite of that, there were some really strong guys in there. I would see entire groups of guys benching and they would just keep ramping up, 315, 365, 405, some even 455. If I had to give a rough description of how people tended to work out, and how I did while I was in there, it would be similar to Eastern Europeans who work out for several sessions a day in between naps and laying around. You pretty much have nothing to do but work out and rest. No pump work was usually done, it was all about lifting heavy weights.

People would go work out in the morning, take a nap, come back in the afternoon, then come back in the evening. There was plenty of time to rest. Nutrition isn’t great, you don’t get a lot of quality protein, but there are a lot of starches available and you can get a lot of calories that way by all you can eat oatmeal and grits and such.

Also, you hear a lot of bodybuilders talk about the atmosphere at Gold’s out in LA, or powerlifters talk about the importance of atmosphere and good training partners at a hardcore gym. Now picture the atmosphere lifting in a prison full of aggressive convicts putting heavy weight on the bar and screaming at you to “PUSH THAT SHIT! I AIN’T PULLIN IT OFF YOU! PUSH IT OR ITS GONNA CRUSH YOUR ASS!”, especially when you’re half scared of the monsters screaming it at you.

I’m sure people will still say juice was available in there, but aside from pot and some painkillers and shit being available, it wasn’t really like that. You generally got paid 65 cents a day to work in the kitchen or something, hardly enough to afford cycles, and syringes are really hard to hide. I saw in there that you can get big and strong without perfect nutrition, and you can train frequently with heavy weights provided you get adequate rest and don’t do a lot of bodybuilder type intensity techniques.

Just my experience.

Ive been at one where the commissary only carried tuna and no other meat, well besides the “mystery meat” served at lunch. interestingly this was one of the gyms which had weights, IIRC. Cigarettes and (occassionally) dope were pretty much the only things Ive seen being passed around “freely”, though other drugs do get sold by certain COs, only to get confiscated by certain others. While gear was available at 3 of the places I’ve been in while cooling heels in between diesel therapy (google this one) we didnt even have any idea what we were injecting most of the time. Some of these fuckers are a riot.

That said, I’ve been a “guest” at places with pretty much most equipment you’d ever need to bodybuild. Seen a guy get shanked in his throat while he was repping with 3 plates on the incline bench. The best part is - he survived.

[quote]Lanfair wrote:
While I can’t say I know every single thing that went on or was available in there, I never heard of any gear available. Guys were making a big deal about smuggling creatine and selling it for ridiculous prices.

In spite of that, there were some really strong guys in there. I would see entire groups of guys benching and they would just keep ramping up, 315, 365, 405, some even 455. If I had to give a rough description of how people tended to work out, and how I did while I was in there, it would be similar to Eastern Europeans who work out for several sessions a day in between naps and laying around. You pretty much have nothing to do but work out and rest. No pump work was usually done, it was all about lifting heavy weights. People would go work out in the morning, take a nap, come back in the afternoon, then come back in the evening. There was plenty of time to rest. Nutrition isn’t great, you don’t get a lot of quality protein, but there are a lot of starches available and you can get a lot of calories that way by all you can eat oatmeal and grits and such.

Also, you hear a lot of bodybuilders talk about the atmosphere at Gold’s out in LA, or powerlifters talk about the importance of atmosphere and good training partners at a hardcore gym. Now picture the atmosphere lifting in a prison full of aggressive convicts putting heavy weight on the bar and screaming at you to “PUSH THAT SHIT! I AIN’T PULLIN IT OFF YOU! PUSH IT OR ITS GONNA CRUSH YOUR ASS!”, especially when you’re half scared of the monsters screaming it at you.

I’m sure people will still say juice was available in there, but aside from pot and some painkillers and shit being available, it wasn’t really like that. You generally got paid 65 cents a day to work in the kitchen or something, hardly enough to afford cycles, and syringes are really hard to hide. I saw in there that you can get big and strong without perfect nutrition, and you can train frequently with heavy weights provided you get adequate rest and don’t do a lot of bodybuilder type intensity techniques.

Just my experience.[/quote]