How to Use Body Weight Exercises to Build Strength Using the Prison Workout Routine
When my wife and I were in San Francisco recently, we toured Alcatraz, one of the world’s best known prisons. As the saying goes, “if you break the rules, you go to prison. If you disobey the prison rules, you end up in Alcatraz.” No matter if you are placed in the toughest or least onerous prison, you will almost certainly be limited to a small area in which to live. Even though that is the case, it is still possible to do effective workouts while incarcerated…not that I would suggest turning into a criminal simply to exercise more. Despite the fact that you are in a small space and have no workout equipment, it is possible to perform bodyweight exercises for strength gains.
One of the best features of a prison workout regimen is that it can be followed in virtually any environment. You won’t find a much more confining situation than being in prison, therefore you have no reasonable explanation for failing to exercise. How can bodyweight exercises help you gain strength?
Using only your body weight, there are many different types of exercise combinations that can be accomplished. Here are a few examples of the exercises that have given me great results. A big benefit of bodyweight exercises is that the majority of them involve movements of a compound nature. Muscle growth is greatly enhanced by compound movements. Consider the different muscles necessary to complete a chin up or a push up as opposed to the narrow range of muscles necessary for bicep curls and other isolation exercises.
The burpee is a terrific movement that offers a complete body workout. From a standing position, do a squat and throw your legs back so you are in pushup position. Complete a push up and quickly draw both legs back under and spring up back to a stand. Not only will you get a great arm and leg workout, but you’ll also get a fantastic cardio benefit as well.
Perhaps the top staple of any bodyweight routine is the pull-up. All you need is something overhead to hang from. A wall-mounted pull-up bar will fit the bill for this exercise. You can do several different types of pull-ups such as the wide grip, narrow grip, overhand grip and the underhand grip, among others.
Dips: get two chairs or any other object that you can support yourself on. If you’re not in prison, you can get a real dip station as well. To complete a dip, just lower your body until your arms are parallel with the ground and then push back up quickly. These provide a great chest and triceps workout.
Pushups: no upper body weight routine is complete without pushups. No equipment or accessories whatsoever are necessary for this exercise. As with the pull-ups, there are many different types of push-ups that you can do to mix things up such as decline push-ups, which work the upper chest; closed grip push-ups that work the triceps; as well as wide grip, dive bomb, one-armed, Hindu and even regular push-ups.
Squats: this is as basic as can be. Simple squat down and back up over and over. Too easy? You can try out one-legged squats or even squat jumps.
For extra lower bodyweight exercise you should try out a variety of plyometric exercises. These include lateral jumps, depth jumps, leap ups and step ups, all of which help to increase strength in the calf, hamstring and quad regions.
You could do crunches all day, but those won’t really help your abs. By utilizing a simple plank routine you can achieve much more. Are you of the belief that planks are little more than light yoga movements? Talk to me once you have built up to 3 minutes on all three kinds of planks.
Anyone who is truly interested in using bodyweight exercises for strength ought to read Convict Conditioning. This provides a beginner’s template for how to go from doing simple bodyweight exercises to doing advanced bodyweight strength exercises.
There is no need for expensive equipment or gym memberships, as these exercises pit you against your own bodyweight. This is the core foundation of what the prison workout routine is based on.
