Training Without Weights in Prison

Training
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My brother’s friend is in prison, and he’s gonna be there for a while (maybe about 9 more years). He got in a car accident, and people died, so he was put behind bars. (Tested negative for drugs, and he doesn’t remember what happened.) He and my brother have a continual correspondence, and in the letter my brother received today, my brother’s friend asked what kind of workouts he can do to grow and get stronger.

The prison is in Florida, and they have no weights there due to some stupid law. They also only give the crappiest of foods (obviously).

I read a few articles on here involving prison-style training or actual prisoner training. From what I read, I’m guessing it’d be good to do a rest-pause training style with all his plyometrics. This guy knows a shitload about training and dieting, but the whole prison environment threw him off.

Any advice on how to get bigger and stronger in a place with no weights (at all) and limited/shitty food? Help would be much appreciated.

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Chinups where ever he can. Squats and deadlifts using other inmates for weight. Any arm exercise using a towell, sheet, or trashbag or something that you do curls or pushdowns or lat raises or whatever with while another inmate provides resistance by holding on to the ends and applying force in the opposite direction. Pushups obviously; can also be weighted with someone on your back. Planks and situps of course.

There’s a video on Kali’s channel on how to make water filled trashbag dumbbells if that would be an option for him. Handstand pushups against a wall if he can; maybe try to work up to those.

That’s all I can think of off the top of my head.

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Another thing, he doesn’t have any control over his diet, so the best thing for him to do is not even think about it. Worrying over his diet will just make it worse. Can’t worry about what you can’t control, so may as well just save yourself the extra cortisol and make peace with it.

Lotsa guys have gotten jacked as fuck in prison on their shit ass diet. In contrast to people like us who sit at home watching The Voice and changing diapers, he’s in an environment where people get fucking stabbed without much warning. Your body prefers not to die, and the endocrine system will respond accordingly. The hormone levels should help make up for some of the diet’s pitfalls. The more he believes it will work, the better it will work.

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Any and all forms of chins, dips, pushups, inverted rows, squats and lunges, pistol squats… loading them however possible. Have someone overload the eccentric part of the movement by pushing down while he resists.

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[quote]Quick Ben wrote:
inverted rows, lunges, pistol squats[/quote]
Great ones that I left out. With split squats and lunges you can hit your legs harder without needing to find as much to load with.

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[quote]Quick Ben wrote:
Any and all forms of chins, dips, pushups, inverted rows, squats and lunges, pistol squats… loading them however possible. Have someone overload the eccentric part of the movement by pushing down while he resists.[/quote]

This is what I’d say too. The only additions I’d make would be single leg hip thrusts, bodyweight reverse hypers and possibly bridges for the posterior chain. He could also do planks/leg raises/dragon flags for the core. I believe Quick Ben covered the most important exercises though.

Once he can do a good amount of reps on an exercise playing with tempo and decreasing rest periods are really good ways to increase difficulty.

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Glute bridges while using other inmates as weight…

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[quote]csulli wrote:
Another thing, he doesn’t have any control over his diet, so the best thing for him to do is not even think about it. Worrying over his diet will just make it worse. Can’t worry about what you can’t control, so may as well just save yourself the extra cortisol and make peace with it.

Lotsa guys have gotten jacked as fuck in prison on their shit ass diet. In contrast to people like us who sit at home watching The Voice and changing diapers, he’s in an environment where people get fucking stabbed without much warning. Your body prefers not to die, and the endocrine system will respond accordingly. The hormone levels should help make up for some of the diet’s pitfalls. The more he believes it will work, the better it will work.[/quote]

This isn’t entirely true. Most jails and prisons have a commissary where pouches of tuna, little plastic jars of pb, ramen, shit like that. And violence isn’t normally random. There’s a hierarchy where things are generally approved and agreed upon. Also, you’d be surprised what you can get in there. One of my good friends was locked up for a bit over 6 years and he had a fucking iPhone for a bit.

As far as training, single arm and leg work where possible, partner resisted work, rest pause and isometrics, countdowns, different challenges likerunning the deck… He’s really only limited by his imagination. I’d look into Ben Bruno’s bodyweight stuff for some ideas to start.

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Al Kavadlo is pretty creative also.

Check out his youtube channel

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As was discussed already…Dips, chins, pushups, and pull ups will be staples. Sit ups all the time. I did a prison style program where I tried to do 1000 pushups and 2000 sit ups every day and I was sore as a motherfucker. Also, if they let you borrow instruments or something…get the heaviest hobby related object he can to add weight to the pushups/dips/pulls. I’d do a lot of neck bridges…a big neck makes you look tough. He could probably do deadlifts against the resistance of his bed which I assume is bolted into the ground, where he’d just lean back and pull as hard as he could from the posterior chain. And of course shower wrestling

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When your buddy gets in there he’ll find out how the other inmates workout, and use whats available. I’ve done my share of time in a few different places, and they all have different set-ups for working out. Dips, chins, pushups, and squats ( inmate on your back) are the same every where, but also different types of ropes made from sheets ( braided ) that allow for all sorts of variety on rows, shrugs, flys. We had a 4ft block wall, where I’d stand on one side, and my buddy would stand on the other side, I had a 6ft long rope with a hoop in each end, I’d pass it under his arms, and hold each end while he let himself fall back staying planked. Then I’d row him, with my chest up against the wall. Awesome exercise, I wish I could duplicate in the gym.

Also watter bags, in most jails the juice comes in clear plastic bags, so you drink them and fill them with watter, then fill pillow cases with these water bags, with handles on top. One place I was at, had water bags from 20lb up to 70lbs, they were a little big and akward, but they worked. Things get found and thrown out once and awhile by the guards, then the imates remake them, and get smarter each time, making things better, nothing but time to figure things out.

The point is, that your buddy will figure all this out when he gets there, getting in with the workout crowd is a good way to do your time, it fills your days, and keeps you safe. most jails lock you in your cell for lunch nowdays, so I would do my abs and cardio in the morning, then have a nap at lunch, while locked down. After lunch we would workout to kill time till dinner, lockdown. On a range of 32 guys, there’s usually 5-8 guys that workout serious everyday, and this becomes your group, other guys are running around trying to get dope or tobabaco, and other contraband. This causes fights and problems, but the guys working out usually don’t get sucked into this nonsense, and when somthing does happen, they will stand as a group, because of this, the workout guys get left alone.

Tell your friend, if he hasn’t gone in yet, and hasn’t done time before, just to sit quietly for a day or two, and see who’s working out. Find the right time to ask if he can workout with them, if he has workout knowlage, it’ll help. Most of the inmates I’ve seen, don’t know much about weights, and nutrition, and since I’m a trainer on the outside, I get treated like a hero, just don’t come off like a know it all, or step on the toes of the guy already designing programs :slight_smile: If he can quietly get himself in with this crowd, his time will go well. It’s not like the movies, it’s just a bunch of guys playing cards, and working out, just mind your buisness on everything else. Goodluck !

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[quote]gregron wrote:
Glute bridges while using other inmates as weight…[/quote]

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[quote]csulli wrote:
Another thing, he doesn’t have any control over his diet, so the best thing for him to do is not even think about it. Worrying over his diet will just make it worse. Can’t worry about what you can’t control, so may as well just save yourself the extra cortisol and make peace with it.

Lotsa guys have gotten jacked as fuck in prison on their shit ass diet. In contrast to people like us who sit at home watching The Voice and changing diapers, he’s in an environment where people get fucking stabbed without much warning. Your body prefers not to die, and the endocrine system will respond accordingly. The hormone levels should help make up for some of the diet’s pitfalls. The more he believes it will work, the better it will work.[/quote]

Your buddy needs to condition his mind as much as his body. Visualization and getting into the mind body connection when he is working out is a must.Every exercise needs to be made as HARD as possible IN THE MIND when he works out.

Also should think about what he reads and studies while in there. A lot of guys come out of jail better mentally as well as physically.

Think “a sound mind in a sound body.”

Josann

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