What if youre in a hotel? An approachable way to incorporate prison-style bodyweight training into your workout program is through a series of 30-minute workouts in a three-day split as follows: Your prison upper-body workout centers on two movements: the push-up and the pull-up. Eventually, you can take off these training wheels and do a freestanding one. . At that point, you will have completed 100 squats. The first one is simple but effective as hell. Perform a prisoner squat as you normally would, but when you reach the bottom of the squat explode up and jump off the ground as high as you can. The Benefits of Bodyweight Workouts You can do them anywhere. Hanging Windshield Wiper. Draw the cards and perform the corresponding exercise and reps until all the cards have been drawn. Get ready to be sore. To perform the handstand push-up, assume a handstand position. First, you buy the regular game, then you download the extension pack, then you get the download-only character, then you get the new skin for the downloaded character and you continue this cycle until you run out of money and self-esteem. The Juarez Valley Push-up Merkin Challenge 2. But Bronson is hardly the only inmate whos managed to gain impressive strength without access to barbells, nutritious food, or supplements. You often talk about how fitness was key to your survival in prison. Unlike the Jailhouse Method, the Juarez Valley Method is, well, like a valley. Two decades before Ryan Ferguso n competed on Season 33 of The Amazing Race, he was arrested at the age of 17 for the murder of a man he had never met before. In 2004, 19-year-old Ryan Ferguson spent his days locked in a Missouri jail doing curls with a five-gallon coffee jug until he couldnt feel his arms. Keep your sternum at the bar. The short answer is creativity and repetition. This serves as your interval rest period.". * Immediately return your feet to the squat position. When you turn up an ace, do 11 push-ups. Youll have achieved top-dog, alpha-male-prisoner, beast-mode status when you can perform multiple one-armed straight leg raises and hold yourself in the top position for several seconds. Kids Workout Exercise at home with Ryan!!! First, push-ups build muscular density in what cons call their hoods (the chest) and their back arms (the triceps). You should not use the information on this site for diagnosis or treatment of any health problems or for prescription of any medication or other treatment. The traditional prisoner bodyweight squat is performed by placing your hands behind your head. I was in a cell block, I didnt see weights for eighteen monthsI was doing pull ups on the stairs, I was doing dips on my bed, I was doing push ups on the floor, I was doing sit ups, and I was running around a little cube, essentially. Assign one of the above exercises (or one of their variations) to each of the four suits. You might set up a system where every half hour, you perform ten push-ups. * Take a step forward to the fourth card, and repeat this process until youve made it through all ten cards. "After each set is performed, walk 16 feet: 8 feet across your cellor motel room, in this caseand 8 feet back. Do this twice, preferably without resting between squat sequences. Draw the cards and perform the corresponding exercise and reps until all the cards have been drawn. Card tables cause fightsI stayed away from that. I was sitting my cell probably about eight months before I got let out. I read anything and everything I could get my hands on. If you enjoyed the first full gym program, youll love this one too. bedroom, office, hotel room, or solitary confinement. Ryan Ferguson Abs, The Jaurez Valley Merkin (technically called Push-up) Challenge. To perform the Hindu push-up, youre going to make sort of a swooping motion with your body. If you've ever wondered how prisoners get big and ripped without weights, keep reading to learn about the prison workout. If you start doing 10 push-ups a day and add 5 more each day, in a little over a year, you can get up to that level. Thats it. Return your body to the center and repeat on the opposite side. Since 1957, GQ has inspired men to look sharper and live smarter with its unparalleled coverage of style, culture, and beyond. Listen to our podcast with Josh Bryant about how to get jailhouse strong: Want to start taking action on the content you read on AoM? Mixed Grip Pull-up. So you could have something like: * Clubs: Push-ups * Spades: Pull-ups * Diamonds: Squats * Hearts: Hanging Leg Raises Start drawing cards from the top. If they're too easy, try more advanced variations of each exercise. If youre bored at home or at work, then this is the thing for you. ! For face cardsjack, queen, and kingdo 10 push-ups. Flip the first card and do however many push-ups the card says. Perform a straight leg raise while holding onto the towels. Repetitions are performed in descending order on all odd-numbered sets, but repetitions are performed in ascending order on even-numbered sets. This program is also $19.99 and I highly recommend this one as well, especially for anyone training in a home gym or even in hotel gyms. Our prisoner burpee workout is done in Juarez Valley-style with 5-count jumping burpees. A Jailhouse 30 is a total of 465 repetitions. Rotate to the other side. Below Ive highlighted six main bodyweight exercises that work the entire body. Chin-up. Updated by the minute, our Dallas Cowboys NFL Tracker: News and views and moves inside The Star and around the league . Handstand Push-up. Hello, my name is Ryan T. Ferguson. It alternates between high and low rep sets, sort of the opposite of a pyramid rep scheme. To get started, go to Ryan Humistons website and sign up with your email. Theres a ton of volume in this one. After a decade behind bars for a murder he did not commit, Ryan Ferguson learned that physical strength and confidence are keys to survival - he now shares his strength secrets in Stronger, Faster, Smarter--the smartest, realest, and most doable fitness guide you'll ever read. 1. Once you try the workouts, youll understand better why theyre named the way they are. If you are doing dips at home on a chair, put your feet on something thats slightly higher than your chair and you can do decline dips. Lets say for this example, youre going to do push-ups. Im sure you can find a bar somewhere to use. I thought, "What can I do with this? I realized I had a lot saya lot more than these few paragraphs. Your hips will now be near your hands. Simply grab a pole or some other sturdy object in front of you and lower yourself into a one-legged squat position and use the pole to help pull yourself up. Required fields are marked *. It was good but I think Ryans training style is more conducive to a body part split. Ryan Ferguson is an American man who spent nearly a decade in prison for the 2001 murder of Kent Heitholt. Pull your head to one side of the bar for one rep, and then to the other side of the bar on the next rep. Narrow/Wide Grip. When your head gets close to the ground, continue moving your torso forward by arching your back and lowering your hips. Instead of having a set time period where you try to crank out as many reps as you can, with greasing the groove, youre performing reps throughout the day. No, he gained such frightening strength that hes been known to bend steel doors with nothing but his bare hands and do up to2,000 push-ups a day. Begin in a squat position with hands on the floor in front of you. You never call fouls unless you get really beat up. Yesterday, for example, after a brief warm-up I did pull-ups and bent over rows. Im sure you can find a bar somewhere to use. Grab the bar with an overhand grip slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. This article was originally published in August 2015. Theres a reason football teams, CrossFit practitioners, and elite military forces use the burpee in their workouts. You get the point, right? It was really good because I could get on the court, and I know that my game is going to impress them and theyre going to respect that. Youll have achieved top-dog, alpha-male-prisoner, beast-mode status when you can perform multiple pistol squats. During these decades behind bars, and often confined to isolation, Bronson has become a fitness fanatic, creating workout programs that require only his bodyweight and a few odd objects. They have about twenty fid machines that people used. When I was done I realized I had three pages, and it was going to be harder to copy three pages. It was quite largeit probably held four gallons, five gallonsand we would wrap the laundry bag through the handles and we would do curls with that. Descend until your rear knee nearly touches the ground. Forget your run of the mill fitness magazineroutine of the month, work with what you got and get creative with it. Holding the first card, take a step forward to the second card. So if you drew the 5 of diamonds you would do five squats; if you drew the king of clubs, you do ten push-ups. When did you first realize that? Its almost like White Men Cant Jump. There are entire routines to help you accomplish this Herculean feat (and perhaps well hit on it in the future), but one of the best exercises to help you segue into a pistol squat is to perform the assisted variety. Lets say for this example, youre going to do push-ups. After that I did curls, and then a bit of cardiorowing machine, 1,000 meters at a decent pace. All rights reserved. You just got yourself an incline bench press. Make them work for you. It was metal and it was gratedyou couldnt just grab the stairway. Basketball helped me develop a lot of relationships. However, with a little tweaking of each exercise, you can create over 50 different exercises from just these six basic movements. Endless, monotonous, countless reps thats how Britains most famous prisoner, Charlie Bronson, got huge. In the middle they meet! One-Armed Push-up. I dont have any more nutrition than you have. The completion of this pyramid totals 100 pull-ups. The Jailhouse Method is a descending order of repetitions. In just one exercise, you work your quads, hamstrings, glutes, hips, and inner thighs. Does Cardio Burn Muscle? We and our partners use data for Personalised ads and content, ad and content measurement, audience insights and product development. For men who are locked up, being strong and looking strong isnt just about aesthetics and personal development; the appearance of size and prowess acts as a deterrent to attack and can be necessary for survival. Ryan then took his findings and developed a new program with the results in mind. Itll have you cranking out pull-ups for reps in no time. Towel Straight Leg Raises. Shift your hand into a chin-up position, and youll work your biceps more and train your lats in a different way. Even for a bodyweight pro, a Tyson pistol squat workout is no walk in the park. Better still, they can be done anywhere theres a place to hang from. While you might not have access to a barbell, you can find odd objects in your environment that you can hoist up on your shoulders or hold in front of your chest. Home; . You can adjust your grip width to focus on different muscle groups. If you get done early, feel free to do the 500 reps! If the doorframe is wide enough, you could do some pull-ups from there though, theyll be more like finger pull-ups. Hang two towels from your bar and grip one in each hand. Return to the center and lower your body under control. Strength+cardio in a single workout. Keep your sternum at the bar. When researching potential workouts, I came across several articles on prison workouts which piqued my interest. Continue with Recommended Cookies. Step forward with one leg, flexing the knees to drop your hips. He was exonerated in 2013. Pistol Squat. The program was very similar to the full gym program but there was one major difference: the equipment used. That really helps survive prison. It's ideal for the "one exercise per day" training plan, where you do a single exercise per day, rotating between an upper-body push, upper-body pull, and lower body exercise, i.e. They had a stairway and there was no backing to it. Push-ups are not only beneficial for building muscular endurance and explosive power, but they can be done in a number of variations that allow you to hit your muscles from unusual angles. I didnt know I was going to get let out at the time. Comment * document.getElementById("comment").setAttribute( "id", "aebe3ad26e78715e4ed2606d9dc07c4e" );document.getElementById("f81540e449").setAttribute( "id", "comment" ); Statements on this website have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Youll have achieved top-dog, alpha-male-prisoner, beast-mode status when you can perform multiple one-handed push-ups. Get started. There are entire routines to help you accomplish this Herculean feat (and perhaps well hit on it in the future), but one of the best exercises to help you segue into a pistol squat is to perform the assisted variety. Thats it. Try doing pull-ups with your hands right next to each other or as far apart from each other as you can. Burpee Variations Basic Burpee. Rinse and repeat until you have all 10 cards in your hand and you have completed 100 squats total. I told my dad, I told my girlfriend. Take a step forward to the third card, squat down, and place one of the two cards in your hand on top of the card on the ground. Once youve got your desired weight, simply squat. Within the first few days I remember speaking to my father and he told me, "Son, I cant protect you. With a few simple bodyweight exercises, you can create a full-body workout thats completely free. In order to maintain balance, youre going to have to call on your core and other smaller stabilizing muscles. Youve got to make yourself stronger, faster, and smarter if you want to survive in there. I took that to heart. In the garage program, its all dumbbell, barbell, and bodyweight exercises. It's true that Rome wasn't built in a day, but it would never have been built at all without laying the first foundational brick. You can plan out your reps or just do them as you feel. For men who are locked up, being strong and looking strong isnt just about aesthetics and personal development; the appearance of size and prowess acts as a deterrent to attack and can be necessary for survival. Why did you decide to the write a book about fitness? If you are pregnant, nursing, taking medications, or have a medical condition, consult your physician before using our products. Its really rough. In contrast, the Juarez Valley Method keeps a steady level of difficulty throughout the workout. So if you drew the 5 of diamonds you would do five squats; if you drew the king of clubs, you do ten push-ups. Copyright 2023 Fittest Travel LLC. If you cant do more than one stinking pull-up, see our do more than one pull-up workout. Drive through the heel of your lead foot and extend both knees to raise yourself back up. Return your body to the center and repeat on the opposite side. I do greasing the groove with pull-ups. $25 discount applied when you get started from this page! Assuming youre up for 12 hours a day, thats 240 push-ups every day. So I decided I was going to write this book. Youre not downloading a PDF or getting a hard copy. Hes set many prison fitness records as well, including one for most push-ups in an hour: 1,727. Full Straight Leg Raise. There was a fifteen- to twenty-foot area where they had all the weights. I would get a minimum of 500 push-upsregular, elevated, diamond push-ups. Hanging Leg Raises This is a core blaster. Im currently doing this program and love it. Towel Pull-ups. Push-ups According to the book he wrote in prison, Solitary Fitness, Bronson performs 2,000 push-ups a day. Perform a straight leg raise as you normally would, but instead of stopping when your feet rise above your hips, keep going until your toes touch the bar. When youre at the bottom of the squat, you sort of look like a pistol, hence the name. The Art of Manliness participates in affiliate marketing programs, which means we get paid commissions on editorially chosen products purchased through our links. Did you hear that? Did all those reps and lack of proper nutrition kill his gains and just make him good at doing push-ups? So how do they do it? This is a dynamic full-body movement that will build strength and flexibility in your chest, shoulders, back, hips, and triceps. The rep scheme looks like this: So on the odd sets, youre starting from 20 reps, going down a rep every odd set, and on the even sets, youre starting from 1 rep and going up a rep every even set. Prisoners will put their hands on a chair with their feet on the floor or propped up on the bed. ; Take an underhand grip with one hand and an overhand grip with the other. When cons don't have access to the iron (as is the case in the California penal system), they train legs by putting a fellow inmate on their shoulders while doing squats. * Leap up as high as possible from the squat position. As always, modify as needed. He recently participated in the Tri-State N. Getting to the point where I could take care of myself, it was evident form the very beginning that it was going to be absolutely necessary. He has been featured on The Points Guy, Blacklane, and PolicyGenius, and is a U.S. Army veteran and a firefighter in NYC. Keeping your knees straight, raise legs by flexing hips until they are completely flexed, or knees are well above hips. Then I did seated rows. Squat down and place the card you just picked up on top of the second card. Each of these prison workouts should take 30 minutes or less. Incline, decline, hanging, hand stand position, all different angles that work different muscle groups. Do one bodyweight squat. If the doorframe is wide enough, you could do some pull-ups from there though, theyll be more like finger pull-ups. There are giant sets: four exercises targeting a specific muscle back-to-back and youre doing 20 reps of each. Perform a straight leg raise, but when your feet come to the top positions, brace your abs and rotate your legs to one side as far as you can. Pull yourself up. And not only did I read everything, I tried everything. Shuffle the deck, set a timer for 60 minutes, assign an exercise to each suit and let the fun begin. I decided I was going to write out a one-page fitness guide for themyou know, stay hydrated, eat at the right times, do these ercises, do the right kind of cardio.