Weightlifting routines in prison are dictated mostly by availability of equipment and restriction of time to exercise. A few institutions are equipped with barbells, exercise machines and complete weight sets. Others have no equipment at all. Whether facilities are available, weightlifting and other forms of exercise is encouraged at most prisons and has been touted by some as an effective method of building self-confidence and fostering rehabilitation. The trick for prisoners is developing a routine that will also add muscle and burn fat.
No Equipment
Conditioning without equipment is typical in prison. Most prisoners have only "a sink, a toilet, their bed, and a few square feet of space," according to coach and teacher Michael Paladin. To overcome these limitations, many prisoners do up to 20 repetitions of a single, multimovement exercise called a burpee: Start with your hands over your head and then move down into a squat. Kick your legs back, as though doing a pushup and touch your chest to the ground with elbows bent. Pull your legs back in, and stand up to return to the starting position.
Limited Equipment
Augmenting the burpee to achieve a more effective workout is easy, even with only a couple of pieces of equipment. With the addition of a simple pull-up bar, you can execute a pull-up after the last step of the burpee circuit. This will work your shoulders, biceps and chest. If you have two dumb bells, place them on the floor. Use them as stands for your push ups and squats. In the final move of the burpee routine, flex the dumb bells to your shoulders and press them overheard to work your shoulders, chest and arms.
Bar Bells and Dumb Bells Only
Having access to only barbells and dumb bells doesn't limit a prison workout. Exercise guru Cameron Scholtz outlines a method of achieving a full body workout over three days with only those two pieces of equipment. On the first day, work your chest and arms with pushups, dumb bell presses, lateral raises, shoulder shrugs, front arm raises, standing lateral arm raises, tricep dips and crunches. On day two, work your back and biceps with chin-ups, barbell curls, dumb bell bicep curls, one-arm wrist curls, forearm curls, one-arm rows and bicycle crunches. On day three, you can choose to use dumb bells or not in working your lower body with squats, lunges, floor hip extensions, bridges, floor hip abductions, calf raises and sit-ups.
Full Equipment
Having access to a range of equipment doesn't change the fact that most prisoners do not have unlimited time to use equipment. That's either because recreation time is restricted or not enough equipment is available for every inmate. If prisoners have access to a fully loaded weight bench, they can do the bench press, incline bench press, dumb bell press, pullovers, dumb bell flys, pushups, dips, upright rows, military press, behind the neck press, power clean, chin-ups, lat pull-downs, bent-over rowing, dumb bell rows, tricep curls, leg curls, leg extensions and squats.
References
- "Time"; Building A Better Thug?; Jon D. Hull; April 11, 1994
- Health & Fitness Solutions; The Prison Workout: A Total Body Exercise Routine; Michael Paladin; May 13, 2007
- CactusJuice.com; Prison Workout; Cameron Scholtz; May 6, 2007
- Strengthtech.com; Inmate Workouts Exercise Programs for Those in Prisons; March 2003
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