Is it possible to train in prison? Training in confined spaces

We, of course, hope that none of you will end up in places that are not so remote, but being able to work with your own body in a confined space is very important!

Benefits of warming up using only your body weight

You can do them anywhere. Don't have time to go to the gym? Do you travel a lot? Arrested for 5-10 years? You can do this workout anywhere: bedroom, office, suite or solitary confinement.

It's free. Don't have money for a gym membership or to buy your own equipment? This is not a reason not to exercise. With a few simple exercises, you can train all muscle groups for free.

Strength + cardio exercises in one workout. By increasing the tempo and decreasing the rest between sets and exercises, you can increase the intensity of your workout. This workout will only take 30 minutes.

Training area. Paul Wade "Training Zone"

The book "Training Zone" (in the English version it sounds like "Prisoner Training") was written by Paul Wade, who spent 20 years in prison. While serving his sentence, the guy learned to do 50 pull-ups with one arm.

Paul didn't look like an athlete at all. In his youth, he was thin and physically weak. But thanks to the advice of a former Navy SEAL and constant training, he was able to develop muscles and reach the level of a master athlete.

According to Paul himself, thanks to such exercises you can become as strong as athletes in Olympic competitions.

The whole method is built on one principle - you need to train without any weights, without “iron”. Only your own body weight is used.

Paul teaches you how to get stronger by doing exercises the way old school gymnasts did them.

Charles Bronson exercises

Circuit training outdoors! 8 basic exercises from Charles Bronson!

There are 6 basic exercises that involve the entire body. However, by slightly modifying each exercise, you can create over 50 different exercises from the 6 basic ones. If you were locked up for life, I'm sure you could come up with 50 more variations.

Push ups

According to a book he wrote in prison, Bronson does 2,000 push-ups a day. If you start doing 10 push-ups a day, and add 5 every day, you can reach this level in just over a year.

Push-up variations

Push-ups work several muscle groups, including the chest muscles, anterior deltoids, and triceps. Physical exercises can easily be modified to increase difficulty and work different muscle groups.

Narrow / Wide hand position

You can engage different muscle groups simply by adjusting the placement of your hands. A narrow arm position works the triceps, while a wider arm position develops the chest muscles.

Indian push-up

This is a dynamic full-body movement that develops strength and flexibility in the chest, shoulders, back, hips and triceps.

Get into a standing position with your feet slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. Bend over and place your hands on the floor, keeping your arms and legs straight. You should look like an inverted "V". Your buttocks are at the top of the "V" and your head is pointing towards the ground.

To perform an Indian push-up, you need to make a sort of hovering motion. Move your head down and forward, bending your elbows. As your head approaches the ground, continue moving your torso forward, arching your back and lowering your hips. Your hips will now be next to your hands. Make sure your back is well stretched. Return to starting position and repeat.

One-arm push-up

You'll reach "beast mode" status when you can do one-armed push-ups.

Pull-ups

The pull-up is a highly effective exercise that works a number of muscle groups, including the latissimus muscle (the “wing” muscle on the back), biceps, pectoral muscles and forearms.

What's even better is that they can be made anywhere you can hang them. What to do if you are in a hotel? You can do pull-ups on the door frame if it's wide enough, although it will be more like doing finger pull-ups.

Pull-up options

Just like the push-up, the pull-up can be modified to target different muscle groups or make the exercise more challenging.

Keep your head up

Move your hand to a chin-up position and your biceps will work harder and your lats will work differently.

Cross arm pull-up

One hand grips the horizontal bar over the other hand.

Pulling up the saboteur

Grab the horizontal bar with your hands from different sides. raise your head on one side of the bar for one repetition, and then on the other side of the bar.

Narrow / Wide handle

You can vary your grip width to target different muscle groups. Try doing pull-ups with your hands very close or as far apart as you can.

Pull-ups on a towel

Hang two towels on the horizontal bar and grab one in each hand. Pull yourself up. Great for developing grip strength.

One-handed pull-up

You'll reach beast mode status when you can do multiple one-armed pull-ups.

Squats

The squat is one of the most basic yet effective athletic movements. In one exercise you work your quads, glutes, hips and inner thighs.

Squat Variations

Prisoner Squats

These squats are performed with your hands behind your head.

Add weight

If you don't have access to a barbell, you can find objects to place on your shoulders or hold in front of your chest. Just squat with the appropriate weight.

Jump squats

Perform the squat as usual, but when you reach the bottom, jump up as high as you can. When your feet hit the ground, immediately dive into the next squat and jump again.

Pistol Squat

This is a full squat on one leg. The leg that is not squatting is straightened forward during the exercise. When you're at the bottom of a squat, you look like a pistol, hence the name. It may take you several months to do this.

There are entire routines that will help you perform this herculean feat, but there is one exercise that will help you move directly to pistol squats.

Simply place a pole or some other strong object in front of you and squat on one leg. Use the pole to pull yourself up. Eventually, you will be able to do this squat without any aids.

Dives

During diving, the triceps, pectoral muscles, shoulders, and forearms work. Prisoners simply place their hands on a chair and their feet on the floor or bed.

Hanging Leg Raise

Not only does it work your abs, obliques, and rib muscles, but it also works your quads, hamstrings, forearms, and shoulder muscles.

Hanging Leg Raise Variations

Straight leg raises

Raise your legs straight, bending your hips until they are fully flexed and your knees are significantly higher than your hips.

Leg raises with bent knees

If you can't do straight leg raises, you can modify them by bending your knees and lifting them toward your chest.

Full straight leg raise

Do the straight leg raise as usual, but instead of stopping when your legs rise above your hips, continue the exercise until your toes touch the bar.

Straight leg raise with towel

Hang two towels over the bar and hold one in each hand. Perform straight leg raises while holding towels.

"Wiper"

Perform a straight leg raise, and when your legs are in the top position, tighten your abs and turn your legs to one side. Turn the other way. This is one exercise.

One-arm straight leg raise

You have achieved "beast mode" status if you can perform several one-armed straight leg raises and hold the top position for several seconds.

Burpee

Burpees are a full body exercise. This simple movement tests both your strength and aerobic capacity.

Burpee Variations

To perform a basic Burpee, follow these instructions:

1. Start in a squat position with your hands on the floor in front of you.
2. Move your legs back into a push-up position.
3. Immediately return your legs to the squat.
4. Jump up as high as possible from a squat position.

Burpee with push-ups

Do a regular burpee, but after your legs are in the push-up position, go ahead and do a full push-up.

Burpee with Indian push-up

Instead of a simple push-up, do an Indian push-up.

Burpee + pull-up

Stand under the horizontal bar so that you can jump to it. Do a regular burpee, but as you jump up, grab the bar and do a pull-up. Repeat. Did you hear that? It was the sound of your dying soul.

Reverse push-ups

Place your hands on the chair, place your feet on the bed, and do push-ups. To make the exercise more challenging, place something heavy on your lap. This exercise primarily works the triceps, as well as the pectoral muscles, shoulders, and core.

This is interesting: when Mike Tyson was in prison, he came up with his own squat pattern. It is necessary to lay out 10 cards on the floor in a straight line, the distance between the cards is 10 cm. When doing a squat, you take the first card, step to the right, do a squat, put the first card on the second. Do a squat and collect both cards. Continue this way until all the cards in the row are gone.

https://youtu.be/nqbFPN0SkLI

Deck of Pain

This is supposedly a favorite workout among prisoners, as they usually have a deck of cards at hand.

Take a standard 52 card deck. Assign one of the exercises (or one of the variations) to each of the four suits. So you'll end up with something like:

• Clubs: Push-ups
• Peaks: Pull-ups
• Diamonds: Squats
• Worms: Hanging Leg Raises.

Start pulling out cards. The suit tells you which exercise to do, and the number indicates the number of repetitions.

Finish with ten burpees to get you in a good mood.

Squats

As has been noted more than once, squats are the main and most effective sports exercise aimed at developing the muscles of the back, hips and buttocks.
And if you end up in prison, you still have to sit on the courts, whether you like it or not. Prisoner Squats. They differ from traditional ones in that during execution, your hands should be held behind your head.

We recommend reading

• Which people in the zone are respected the most? Hierarchy in prison
• How to survive in prison for an ordinary person. Adviсe

Jump squats. Plyometric version of squats. Do prisoner squats and, when you lower yourself to the bottom, explode into a jump as high as you can on your return. When your feet touch the ground, immediately perform the next repetition.

Pistol squats. You will only gain respect when you do one-legged squats at least a few times. When performing prisoner squats, extend one leg straight out in front of you as you squat. Your lower body has become vaguely pistol-like, hence the name. To complete this titanic work and do at least a few repetitions, it will take you more than one month filled with pain and suffering.

Juarez Valley Method

Inmates at the Juarez Valley prison in Mexico, one of the most dangerous prisons in the world, use the following training regimen.

Choose an exercise. You only need to do one thing according to the scheme. Let's say, for example, you can do push-ups.

The repetition scheme looks like this:

• Set 1: 20 reps
• Set 2: 1 rep
• Set 3: 19 reps
• Set 4: 2 reps
• Set 5: 18 reps
• Set 6: 3 reps
• Set 7: 17 reps
• Set 8: 4 reps
• Set 9: 16 reps
• Set 10: 5 reps
• Set 11: 15 reps
• Set 12: 6 reps
• Set 13: 14 reps
• Set 14: 7 reps
• Set 15: 13 reps
• Set 16: 8 reps
• Set 17: 12 reps
• Set 18: 9 reps
• Set 19: 11 reps
• Set 20: 10 reps.

According to this scheme, you need to do 210 repetitions.

Before each approach, take 5-10 steps to rest. Goal: Complete this circuit as quickly as you can.

Burpee

The burpee is the final exercise of this workout, but it is followed by several more interesting moments.
Burpees are used in their training by some soccer teams, CrossFit practitioners, and elite military units. This simple movement perfectly develops the body's endurance, since almost all muscle groups are involved in its implementation. Classic burpees. Get into a squat position and place your hands on the floor in front of you. With an explosive movement, move your legs into a push-up position. Immediately return them to their original place. Squat jump as high as you can.

Burpee with push-ups. Do burpees as usual, but once you get into a push-up position, do it, and keep doing it.

Burpee with pull-up. Stand under a crossbar or horizontal branch in advance, so that after the jump you can reach it and do one pull-up. Repeat. Have you heard this sound? This soul is trying to leave your long-suffering body.

Driving along the ditch

Instead of doing the maximum number of repetitions in a given period of time, you can move along a groove, completing a certain number of repetitions throughout the day. You can do 10 push-ups every half hour. So in 12 hours a day you will perform 240 push-ups.

I'm moving through the groove with pull-ups. I have a pull-up bar hanging in the doorway of my closet. Anytime I walk past him and do 5 pull-ups. The amount of reps I'm able to accumulate throughout the day always surprises me.

Push ups

Bronson does 2,000 push-ups every day. We recommend starting with 10 push-ups a day and adding 5 each day. Here is another good push-up routine that will give you great results.

This is interesting: Ryan Fergusson from Missouri was wrongly accused of murder. In prison, he came up with his own training - only one exercise is performed every day, but 500 repetitions. The repetitions can be divided into any number of approaches, but you need to complete all approaches within 60 minutes.

Content

• 1 Bodyweight training program 1.1 Strength development
• 1.2 Gaining muscle mass

Fresh blood

The program is designed specifically for those who are just starting to master bodyweight training. I highly recommend this program to anyone who wants to build a good foundation and intends to train in the Training Zone for a long time. The program includes four basic exercises and is designed for two workouts per week.

• When you first start exercising, your fitness may be poor and muscle soreness can sabotage your strength. Therefore, the program provides sufficient time for recuperation.

• The program includes only four of the Big Six exercises. Bridges and handstand push-ups require higher levels of contractile force and joint strength - these exercises can only be performed after the basics have been mastered.

• Muscles develop faster than joints. That's why this program gives soft tissues that are new to this activity time to get used to the new load.

• Follow this program or create a similar one and train the beginning levels of the Big Six using it. Once you have completed Level Six of all four exercises above, move on to the next program.

Good behavior

This may be the best basic bodyweight training program out there. It includes all the Big Six exercises and is designed for three workouts per week. Good Behavior is an advanced level of the Fresh Blood program, but still provides plenty of rest time to allow the body to recover. Although the program is designed for intermediate levels, advanced athletes will also find it very effective for long-term exercise. If you decide to dedicate yourself to strength training, you should return to the basics - the Good Behavior program - from time to time - no matter your skill level.

• “Good behavior,” if desired, can be included in the schedule of anyone, even the busiest person in the world.

• The program can (and should) be used by all athletes, regardless of their level of training, intending to achieve a decent level of strength.

• For those who recover well from exercise, the program may represent unnecessary precautions. Therefore, rest days can be used by athletes for other sports - running, martial arts, boxing, etc.