Fitness Programs Inspired by Criminal Workouts From Prison
January 6, 2012
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Posted by billspaced
Guest post by Elaine Hirsch
Working out can be overwhelming for many people. Stepping into a weight room, you'll find a plethora of weights, machines, and contraptions which can cause more confusion than the training they provide. Today, a shift towards working out with less equipment and free-flowing techniques, such as Zumba are becoming prominent. Another source of inspiration comes from the workouts used by prisoners, where according to Criminology Degree, the number of prisoners continues to increase year-over-year.
MIND
With little to do yet many spare hours to occupy oneself, a mental rigidity towards the training of your physical body is a natural outcome of this harsh environment. The best inspiration for creating a rock-hard body is staying alive. Borrow this mindset from the inmate and you will begin to sculpt a healthy body.
BODY
The best part of the prison inspired exercises is that they are all weight bearing. Meaning, one does not need barbells, dumbbells or big costly machines to create a solid steel body. These exercises use one’s own body weight and a space range of no more than 3' by 5.'
Pull-Ups
Find a sturdy bar that is higher than your own head and grasp tightly. Let your arms straighten as you hang. Then, slowly pull your chin up to meet the bar. Be sure to keep your elbows close to your body when you bring your chin up to the bar.
Seated Triceps
Sit on the floor with your legs in front, knees bent and feet on ground. Place each hand on floor alongside your buttocks with fingers pointed straight ahead. Situate yourself so you can lift your body up so only your hands and feet are touching the ground. With arms slightly bent, dip your body down and then up as you straighten arms.
Squat Jumps
Standing, bend knees and place hands on ground as if you are in a crouching position. Jump straight up and upon landing immediately resume the starting position. Attempt to touch the ceiling on your jump. Attempt to become as small and tiny as possible on your crouching position.
Push-Ups
The classic push-up must be a part of the prison inspired workout. If you ignore all other upper body exercises, do this one every day. Push-ups work all the muscles in the back, chest and arms so daily sets of about 15 reps will work wonders for one’s state of rip-ness.
Plank
Yoga has given the exercise world some pretty great things but the Plank may be the ultimate exercise of all times. Begin the Plank as though you were attempting to do a push-up but do not dip down. Alignment is everything with the Plank so aim for a totally straight body in which your buttocks are not higher than your back or dipping towards the floor.
SOUL
When one’s body is tended to, one’s soul becomes calmer and more at peace. The prisoner knows all too well the soul searching that is undertaken during those long periods of isolation. Carve out time every day to experience this soul work. Isolate yourself from the world around you, if only for 20 minutes. Finally, take time to give thanks for the freedoms you do have to do these workouts in your own space.
Categories: Exercise
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Tags: Fitness Programs Inspired by Criminal Workouts From Prison
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Another type of exercise that fits this type of workout is known as burpees. It's a free weight, full body exercise that strengthens muscles and improves endurance.
For those interested, start by standing position shoulder width apart, and then squat down. Drop your hands to the ground and kick your feet back as if though you were gonna do a push up. Do a push-up, and then pull your legs forward so that it is tucked between your hands then jump up into the air with your hands up over your head.
The best visual I can give you is on Youtube here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_Dq_NCzj8M
It's amazing to know that prisoners somehow get something good for themselves by being in prison. With a lot of time for physical and mental activity, it is indeed true that most prisoners are able to grow physically, mentally, and spiritually while behind bars. This is such an inspiring post. Thanks for sharing.
Great list to build muscles. This is a very helpful post for people who would like to stay fit. Well if practiced with a good diet and discipline, a healthy and good-looking body is not impossible to achieve.
I like the practical tips. I am never a fan of going to a gym (I'd rather do sports or run). But I have to try these points when I get some free time.
Nice article, never saw it this way before
This was a very motivating article. I use to train hard daily. I've been in a little rut, because I got bigger than I wanted so I stopped gaining mass. This seemed to make me lazy. My question is, do you think it's possible for me to maintain my intensity in the gym and not get bigger? If so, what would you suggest?
Great article. A lot of people don't realize that you don't need a whole lot of weight to build muscle rather it's about how much tension you put on the muscle.
Thanks! billspaced for the wonderful idea discussed…….
The point discussed is really serious and emphasized on the areaswhich should be looked over…….
I appreciated your great advice about freedom to workout and the killer workout done without weight.
Thanks, Bob Williams
http://www.learnhowtobuildmusclefast.com/
Go for higher reps–get harder and lose some body fat. Intensity is lifting as heavy as possible for the reps you’re doing. That last rep should be nearly impossible. That’s intensity!
Great list of ways to exercise. This is a very helpful post for people who would like to stay fit.
People don't realize that it isn't necessary to go to the gym for a good workout. It's possible to workout anywhere
- George
<a href= "http://markwahlberg-workout.com">mark wahlberg workout<.a>
People don't realize that it isn't necessary to go to the gym for a good workout. It's possible to workout anywhere
- George
<a href= "http://markwahlberg-workout.com">mark wahlberg workout</a>
I know on a lot of movies you see prisoners doing pushups or in the yard bench pressing. This is a good workout for someone who works long hours and does not have any workout equipment or time to go to the gym. You can also do these exercises in their variated forms. For example, instead of push ups you can do spider-man pushups. Instead of straight pullups you can do side to side pullups.
Its great to use bodyweight exercises for higher reps and these exercises have their place but you cant beat 1-3 rep max's for building pure strength. And this is hard to achieve with just the body as resistance.
Thanks! billspaced for the wonderful idea discussed…….
The point discussed is really serious and emphasized on the areaswhich should be looked over…….
23 hours a day locked up in a cell means they have to make do with whatever they have. Necessity is the other of invention. I have seen some prison docos where the guys would sit on each others backs to add extra weight as well, something to keep in mind if there are no extra weights around to use. <a href="http://sixpackhabits.com/health-benefits-from-walking-how-walking-can-improve-your-life/">Health Benefits From Walking</a>
Wow, this is nice. I know many prisoners are kept healthy while being in prison. I am quite interested with the mind workouts being done by the in-mates.
Great post. Yea I have come to realize, the more I study fitness, that workouts for building muscle are sometimes best left simple. Bodyweight exercises, like you were describing, are very good examples of such. If you look at gymnasts most of how they train is by using just bodyweight exercises and they are some of the strongest athletes in the world.
Cory
Great information on how to utilize a small space and your own body weight to improve health. The first point is right on spot- you need to workout to stay alive. If we can some how get this mindset then getting that perfect body that we always want is not far.
Really appreciate this post. It’s hard to sort the good from the bad sometimes, but I think you’ve nailed it
Good article never heard of the plank before so I have learnt something
Very unique topic you have here. I never knew about this kind of blog before and what I want to say is that their ways can be helpful to us because they are really working hard everyday to have a physically fit body.
I've always wondered how guys go into prison and come out huge, even though they cant get the right diet and protein. We here that you have to eat more calories and protein, but how do they do it inside?
The title of this post got my attention and so I had to read it. I'm glad I did, because I enjoyed reading it. Thanks for sharing! (:
I used to think that only eating well and playing with workout materials would buff me up but this post really inspired me and changed my view of working out and also gave knowledge about mind and soul aspects. Thanks for such a good the post. Keep it up.
Thank you for sharing this knowledge – It´s great to read and it inspires.
You have some good information here. A lot of people do not know how to do workouts properly. Good form is important when lifting weights.
Nice article, i agree with the post. Nowadays people are too busy involved in social relations, jobs and what not. What i like about bodybuilding is that you can bypass all that, get to know a deeper understanding of yourself and thereby become more humble. Personally when i started working out i was like pretty arrogant and deluded, thinking i was somebody, but the weights never lie and turned out i was nobody. Now i am gaining a lot of weight and strenght and i have become like very humble. To me bodybuilding is spiritual, body mind and spirit must all connect. I have made my own program http://www.buildbodymassfast.com , This program DOES require heavy lifting, but from what i ve seen on television even inmates nowadays are allowed to work out in a gym, doing heavy squats and what not.
thanks for this great list. i'd love to share it on my german page! pat
To get in shape and lose weight, I also tried regular exercises, diets, Zumba, yoga but nothing worked well for me. Then I decided to follow several kickboxing bootcamp classes at http://www.personaltrainertoronto.com and what do you think happened? Surprisingly, I lost 20 pounds and got fit as well! So, kickboxing proved to be the best workout for me!!!
Excellent advice! Push-up in childhood helped me build my chest muscles. Now I show excellent results in the bench press. Visit my blog http://topworkoutsformen.com, there are great tips on nutrition and training
Hello outstanding website! Does running a blog like
this require a great deal of work? I have no expertise
in programming however I had been hoping to start my own blog in
the near future. Anyway, if you have any suggestions or techniques for new
blog owners please share. I know this is off subject but I just wanted to ask.
Cheers!