Try doing pull-ups with your hands right next to each other or as far apart from each other as you can. Have fun moving your body and exercise together! 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. When your feet are back on the ground, immediately sink into another squat and jump again. Draw the cards and perform the corresponding exercise and reps until all the cards have been drawn. Keeping your knees straight, raise legs by flexing hips until they are completely flexed, or knees are well above hips. The lower-body workout is designed to take 30 minutessee how much time you have left after doing the Tyson Squats and plan accordingly. Just like you would be doing it in a gym with fancy equipment, you can do it at home or at a park with common objects. How it works Let's reach your fitness goals . Once completed, you will have done 380 push-ups. His extreme regimen has given him near-superhuman strength he claims to be able to do 172 push-ups in 60 seconds, pick up a pool table by himself, and bend a steel prison cell door with his bare hands. If youre bored at home or at work, then this is the thing for you. Squat down until your thighs are below parallel. Burpee+Pull-up. * Kick your feet back to a push-up position. The workouts change every week. Prison inmates nationwide have discovered how to build massive, lean, muscled-up bodybuilder bodies. All rights reserved. Take 10 cards out of your deck and place them on the floor about three to four inches apart. Return to the center and lower your body under control. I thought, "What can I do with this? I realized I had a lot saya lot more than these few paragraphs. You can do them anywhere. Ryan Ferguson Abs, The Jaurez Valley Merkin (technically called Push-up) Challenge. Put a broomstick between two stable chairs and you got yourself decline rows. The basketball game there is like street ball. Great for HIIT. Facebook gives people the power to. Fittest Travel is not affiliated with Ryan Humiston and does not make money or commission on the recommendation of this product. Take a standard deck of 52 cards. With a few simple bodyweight exercises, you can create a full-body workout thats completely free. Better still, they can be done anywhere theres a place to hang from. Towel Pull-ups. If have something left after 10 sets, this is the rest of the workout11th set x1512th set x613th set x1414th set x715th set x1316th set x817th set x1218th set x919th set x1120th set x10. Thats one rep. Add Weight. There was a fifteen- to twenty-foot area where they had all the weights. 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. Hello, my name is Ryan T. Ferguson. 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. Simple, yet supremely challenging. When Ryan Ferguson was locked up in a Missouri jail from 2004 to 2013 after being wrongly convicted of murder, he started a routine where he focused on just one exercise a day. Your email address will not be published. Always consult with a healthcare professional before starting any diet, exercise program or dietary supplements. How 'The Amazing Race' Contestant Ryan Ferguson was Wrongfully Imprisoned. Squat down and place the card you just picked up on top of the second card. No, no. Ryan Ferguson Profiles | Facebook If youre looking for a little guidance, though, here are a few suggestions: This is supposedly a favorite workout routine amongst prisoners because they usually have a deck of cards handy. Typewriter Pull-up. Bring your head down and forward by bending your elbows. The strength benefits of bodyweight squats were evident when a bigger and broader Mike Tyson came back to boxing after his three-year stint in a correctional facility. Ryan is a master at finding ways to manipulate angles, rep schemes, grip, isolation, and range of motion to enhance tension on the targeted muscle. If you've ever wondered how prisoners get big and ripped without weights, keep reading to learn about the prison workout. Begin in a squat position with hands on the floor in front of you. You stay by yourself. Youll have achieved top-dog, alpha-male-prisoner, beast-mode status when you can perform multiple one-handed push-ups. 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. To perform the handstand push-up, assume a handstand position. To perform the Hindu push-up, youre going to make sort of a swooping motion with your body. And not only did I read everything, I tried everything. An example of data being processed may be a unique identifier stored in a cookie. Pistol Squat. The suit tells you what exercise youre doing; the number tells you the reps. Face cards count as ten rep; aces 11. You might see the same exercise more than once but youre going to be doing different ones from week to week, for the most part. Pick any exercise you like, set a fairly high number of reps and stretch them out throughout the day. Lay 10 playing cards down on the ground, with 4-6 inches between each card (left-to-right, or forward-to-back). You can adjust your grip width to focus on different muscle groups. Cover photo by Ryan Humiston. The Jaurez Valley Merkin (technically called Push . Our Team Limitless Fitness 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, Smarterthe smartest, realest, and most doable fitness guide you'll ever. I've just recently released a book about surviving prison and how to create your best body. 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. Theres a reason football teams, CrossFit practitioners, and elite military forces use the burpee in their workouts. * Squat one time each to pick up the three cards one by one. Ferguson began to dedicate his attention to exercise and health after he was imprisoned. 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. All other photos are taken from the program. Then they had the leg extensions, the machine bench pressbut you couldnt change the motion or move the bench around. For 30+ more push-up variations, check out this post. By clicking on these links, the price of any products will not be increased and will not affect the cost of any products your purchase. So I decided I was going to write this book. You should look like an upside down human vwith your butt being the point of the v and your head pointing down to the ground. The goal is to complete this circuit as fast as you can. I graduated in May 2015 from Virginia Tech with a double major in Accounting (CPA Candidate) and Finance (CFA). 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. Squat down and place the first card on the second card. The only time I had in my cell was 10:30 to 12 oclock. He was exonerated in 2013. How many of us really understand that every moment counts, and that physical strength and confidence enable our . Kids Workout Exercise at home with Ryan!!! - YouTube A set of 10 reps of bicep curls takes you about a minute or less to perform, thats not a whole lot of time your muscle spends being stressed out. Add it to the pile, then perform three squat reps. 200 total reps, your choice of ab exercises: WWII, Ski Abs, Flutter kicks or LBC. 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. Now, itd be easy to take Bronsons claims with a grain of salt. The workouts change every week. One of his best friends turned on him, and gave damning (false) testimony that . Keep your sternum at the bar. Follow this simple guide to perform one: No celebrity trainer invented the Juarez Valley Methodit's straight out of Cereso Prison in Juarez. Pull-ups Pull-ups are a highly effective exercise that works a whole host of muscle groups, including the latissimus dorsi (the wing muscles on your back), biceps, traps, pecs, and forearms. Drive through the heel of your lead foot and extend both knees to raise yourself back up. Monday-Wednesday-Friday training days are recommended if youre doing this program three times a week for recovery. The Juarez Valley Push-up Merkin Challenge 2. It was metal and it was gratedyou couldnt just grab the stairway. Each set descends by one repetition. Chris Castellano is a travel fitness specialist and the author of Fit For Travel. If you need to go to your knees, go to your knees. If this is too audacious for you, start at a pyramid of 4 or 5 reps, but start today. To view the purposes they believe they have legitimate interest for, or to object to this data processing use the vendor list link below. Slowly bend your elbows and lower your inverted body towards the ground. After finishing the full gym program (twice), I bought Ryans 30-Day Garage Gym Program. I was spending a lot of time on it. According to the book Jailhouse Strong, the convicts inside Mexicos Juarez Valley Prison one of the worlds most dangerous prisons use the following rep scheme for their bodyweight workout. Assuming youre up for 12 hours a day, thats 240 push-ups every day. Hanging Leg Raise Variations, Straight Leg Raises. And thats similar to what you did in prison? Bring your head down and forward by bending your elbows. When your head gets close to the ground, continue moving your torso forward by arching your back and lowering your hips. Eventually, you can take off these training wheels and do a free-standing one. A plyometric version of the squat to build explosiveness. It all comes down to how hard you push yourself. Your email address will not be published. This isnt about getting stronger or losing weight. Tyson squat is named after Mike Tyson and it is, as you can imagine, a squat exercise. Theyre hustling; theyre selling cigarettes or drugs. The most daunting thing about Ryan's workouts is the volume. Ryan W. Ferguson (born October 19, 1984) is an American man who spent nearly 10 years in prison after being wrongfully convicted of a 2001 murder in his hometown of Columbia, Missouri.At the time of the murder, Ferguson was a 17-year-old high-school student. Burpee Variations Basic Burpee. Hes set many prison fitness records as well, including one for most push-ups in an hour: 1,727. Program, Strengthen Your Tribe: A Report on the Atomic Athlete Vanguard, The Best Riddles for Kids (With Answers! Once youve got your desired weight, simply squat. * Squat once and pick up the first card. 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. 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. Rinse and repeat until you have all 10 cards in your hand and you have completed 100 squats total. Narrow hand placement works the triceps, while a wider hand placement emphasizes the pecs. By simply adjusting the placement of your hands, you can emphasize different muscle groups. If you cant do a straight leg raise, you can modify it by bending your knees and raising them into your chest. Advance to the next card. 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. If youre on the fence about buying any of Ryan Humistons programs, just do it. Narrow/Wide Hand Placement. Another day I would do pull-ups. Just one simple movement tests both your strength and aerobic capacities. Burpee+Pull-up. When I was done I realized I had three pages, and it was going to be harder to copy three pages. Yesterday, for example, after a brief warm-up I did pull-ups and bent over rows. How many of us really understand that every moment counts, and that physical strength and confidence enable our . A friend and I would go work out, wed run, and we came back in and we drank a glass of chocolate milk and ate a peanut butter and honey sandwich for recovery. A pistol squat is a one-legged full squat. Ryan Ferguson | Personal Trainer at Kickoff Get ready to be sore. Manage Settings Chin-up. No pull-up bar? You have fifty guys on the basketball court, fifty guys on the handball court, and a lot of times theyre just messing around. Below Ive highlighted six main bodyweight exercises that work the entire body. Lunges are another popular option because they target the quads and glutes without requiring much space. They would bring in coffee at five oclock in the morning in this round jug. Stand underneath a pull-up bar or tree branch that is high enough that you have to leap to reach it. 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. I wouldnt Q this workout live, but it works as a virtual Q. PAX can modify and take extra time between sets as needed. Mike Tyson Squat Workout Tyson did this body squat routine while in prison; it doesnt sound too hard but its a real killer: * Line up ten cards facedown in a straight line on the ground with 4 in-between each card. A lot them, theyre just talking, telling stories, and out of them who have forty or fifty who really want to get in shape, and they understand that health and fitness can take them somewhere. But somehow Im achieving better results. If you get done early, feel free to do the 500 reps! Tyson did this body squat routine while in prison; it doesnt sound too hard but its a real killer: To learn how Tyson trained his body (and mind) before he was in the slammer, pick up a copy of The Warrior Monk Philosophy of Trainer Cus DAmato: The 5 Strategic Principles That Turned Mike Tyson Into a World Champion. Thats one rep. One-Arm Straight Leg Raise. You can make them more difficult by placing weighted objects in your lap. Better still, they can be done anywhere theres a place to hang from. Draw the cards and perform the corresponding exercise and reps until all the cards have been drawn. * Immediately return your feet to the squat position. Assign one of the above exercises (or one of their variations) to each of the four suits. Bend down and place your hands on the floor while keeping your arms and legs straight. Pick an exercise. Sources Convict Conditioningby Paul Wade Jailhouse Strongby Josh Bryant Solitary Fitnessby Charles Bronson. Strength+cardio in a single workout. Basketball helped me develop a lot of relationships. Proceed with this pattern until you've moved through all ten cards in the line. Pull-ups are a highly effective exercise that works a whole host of muscle groups, including the latissimus dorsi (the wing muscles on your back), biceps, traps, pecs, and forearms. Just one simple movement tests both your strength and aerobic capacities. I told my dad, I told my girlfriend. * Leap up as high as possible from the squat position. Each exercise in the text section of the workout features a short video clip and GIF of him doing the exercise. The only change I made was going slightly heavier on the weight but I kept in mind Ryans principles about using a light enough weight that youre not sacrificing form or tension. 54.7k Followers, 745 Following, 542 Posts - See Instagram photos and videos from Ryan Ferguson (@lifeafterten) lifeafterten. Fergusons true-life nightmare is chronicled in the documentary dream/killer, which screened last month at the Tribeca Film Festival. Commando Pull-up. I would walk the length of the 50-foot cell and back and do 25 push-ups. To get started, go to Ryan Humistons website and sign up with your email. Push-ups According to the book he wrote in prison, Solitary Fitness, Bronson performs 2,000 push-ups a day. Unlike the Jailhouse Method, the Juarez Valley Method is, well, like a valley. I had no friends. Flip the first card and do however many push-ups the card says. 3 exercises. But this didnt matter. Squat Jumps. Brett and Kate McKay January 31, 2020 Last updated: September 25, 2021. The PPL program has a push day, pull day, and leg day and can be done 3 times a week for 60 days or 6 times a week for 30 days. Ryan Ferguson - Senior Accountant - Cvent | LinkedIn The information provided on this site is for informational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for advice from your physician or other health care professional or any information contained on or in any product label or packaging. You can monitor your progress using this setup and youll get periodic email reminders and updates. One-Armed Push-up. Take a step forward to the fourth card, and repeat this process until youve made it through all ten cards. I would do five pull-ups then walk back and forth and then another five pull-ups. It hasnt changed at all except for the rowing machine. One hand grips the bar overhand and the other underhand. What if youre in a hotel? Now, itd be easy to take Bronsons claims with a grain of salt. If you cant do more than one stinking pull-up, see our do more than one pull-up workout. Locked up for 5-10 years? Each workout has a video of Ryan demonstrating the exercises and making a few jokes. Squat Variations Prisoner Squat. After each set is performed, walk 16 feet: 8 feet across your cellor motel room, in this caseand 8 feet back. 542 posts. Step forward with one leg, flexing the knees to drop your hips. With this situation in mind, who better to look to for an example of achieving more workout results with fewer amenities than the jailhouse denizen? Youve got to make yourself stronger, faster, and smarter if you want to survive in there. I took that to heart. Pull yourself up until your sternum is at the bar. The overall design and layout remain the same but Ryan introduces some new exercises and variations in this program. Each set descends by one repetition. Dont have time to make it to the gym? Take a standard deck of 52 cards. Universal Nutrition Animal Stak Review | Natural Testosterone Booster, Follow This 10-Minute Stretching Routine to Get Rid of Back Pain, Marine Workout: Train Like 21st Century Soldier, What Is Strength and Conditioning? Burpee With Hindu Push-up. For hypertrophy and endurance, simply do one set of each exercise for as many reps as you can. And they had a volleyball court. 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. Think of it as a modern day video game. There are times when you're on business trips and away from the comforts of home. Now, move your body toward one hand, taking some of the weight off the opposite hand. 1. 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. In prison, you gotta adapt. Itll have you cranking out pull-ups for reps in no time. An additional benefit of pull-ups is that they can be completed in a number of ways, each of which targets different muscles while offering a means to stave off mental fatigue. For the Deck of Pain neophyte, shoot to complete the deck in less than 15 minutes. Ryan then took his findings and developed a new program with the results in mind. The two most famous methods are the deck of pain and Tyson squat. For instance, once you can do 100 push-ups in a single go, start doing them with a clap, then add a behind-the-back clap, then start doing them on your fingertips, etc. Strength+cardio in a single workout. You might set up a system where every half hour, you perform 10 push-ups. Return to the starting position and repeat. 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. There was no gym in the county jail where you were held during trial. Next time, instead of reps, do them for time. I always start with a compound move two. This workout comes from Mexico's toughest prison. In the garage program, its all dumbbell, barbell, and bodyweight exercises. Regardless of any road blocks to the pig iron, the basics of training are simple: Where there's a will, there's a way. No excuses. If you cant do a stand-alone handstand, use a wall to assist you. Got a deck of cards? Ryan finds ways to sufficiently stress a muscle with whatever is available. The Prisoner Workout: Killer Bodyweight Exercises for Small Spaces There isnt any order to it, really. As you can see above, youve got a lot of choices when it comes to exercises to create a bodyweight workout. Im sure you can find a bar somewhere to use. Stronger, Faster, Smarter: A Guide to Your Most Powerful Body It was good but I think Ryans training style is more conducive to a body part split. The Benefits of Bodyweight Workouts You can do them anywhere. * Holding the first card, take a step forward to the second card. 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 couldn't feel his arms. Updated by the minute, our Dallas Cowboys NFL Tracker: News and views and moves inside The Star and around the league . Straight Leg Raises. The results were great, so when he announced the release of his first 30-day program, I jumped on it. Pick an exercise. "If I mess with this guy, its not going to be worth my time.". They have about twenty fid machines that people used. Start with the basics and gradually add more variations and other elements. Youll have achieved top-dog, alpha-male-prisoner, beast-mode status when you can perform multiple one-handed pull-ups. Take an underhand grip with one hand and an overhand grip with the other. The Juarez Valley Push-up Merkin Challenge2. In the middle they meet! Youll have achieved top-dog, alpha-male-prisoner, beast-mode status when you can perform multiple pistol squats. This is a 20-set workout (modified to 10 here), featured in the book Jailhouse Strong. Do the following sets and reps1st set x20 Merkins2nd set x1 Merkin3rd set x194th set x25th set x186th set x37th set x178th set x49th set x1610th set x5Modify as needed. At that point, you will have completed 100 squats. You played a lot of basketball in prison. It also has a text layout with the exercise order, reps and sets, and picture demonstrations. Squat down and place the card you just picked up on top of the second card. Hang two towels from your bar and grip one in each hand. By training one muscle group, I really mean youll isolate and destroy it. ; I could tie this with my own experiences. It was a lot more when I was in there, because I was like, "Just do this, do these moves, forget that other stuff.. When its all said and done, youll have completed 210 reps. The Exercises Below Ive highlighted six main bodyweight exercises that work the entire body. Below we highlight bodyweight exercises used by prisoners the world over to get strong and stay strong. They want to hang out with you. Youll hit each body part once a week but you will be destroying it in that one workout with volume. 3 exercises. Ryans push-pull-legs (PPL) program is designed to be done with 3 workouts a week for 60 days or 6 workouts a week for 30 days (advanced lifters). For example, a Juarez Valley 10 would be the following: Set 1: 10 reps. Set 2: 1 rep. Set 3: 9 reps. Set 4: 2 reps. Set 5: 8 reps. Dont have the money for a gym membership or purchasing your own equipment? The completion of this pyramid totals 100 pull-ups. Mix and match the exercises to your liking along with a set and rep scheme to create your bodyweight workout. It doesnt matter how many sets you break this up into, just try to get to that 500 rep count before 60 minutes is up. However, with a little tweaking of each exercise, you can create over 50 different exercises from just these six basic movements. How To Get Jacked Without Even Touching Weights SpotMeBro.com Six months later, twenty or thirty people would be coming in from their workouts and going to their rooms and grabbing chocolate milk and peanut butter and honey sandwiches. In order to maintain balance, youre going to have to call on your core and other smaller stabilizing muscles. Stronger, Faster, Smarter: A Guide to Your Most Powerful Body by Ryan When youre at the bottom of the squat, you sort of look like a pistol, hence the name. Plus, there are photos of Ryan doing each exercise. There were two or three cable machines. Exercise to Failure For hypertrophy and endurance, simply do one set of each exercise for as many reps as you can. A plyometric version of the squat to build explosiveness. Between each set, walk 5-10 steps for a rest and then get back into it. By increasing the tempo and decreasing the rest between sets and exercises, you can turn a bodyweight workout into both a high-intensity cardio session and a strength workout. Prison Workout - F3 Churham Rotate to the other side. This serves as your interval rest period. Prison Muscle: taking cues from the incarcerated for building size Squat down until your thighs are below parallel. I dont have any more nutrition than you have. To perform a basic burpee, just follow these instructions: Burpee With Push-up. Dips work the triceps, pecs, shoulders, forearms, and core, and you dont need a fancy dip rig to do them. The only places you really interact are on the card table or on the basketball court. Make sure to get a good stretch in your back. Theres a reason football teams, CrossFit practitioners, and elite military forces use the burpee in their workouts. Repeat. I highly recommend each one of them. Copyright 2023 Fittest Travel LLC. And the great thing about it is that the exercise can be easily modified to increase difficultly and work different muscle groups. Even for a bodyweight pro, a Tyson pistol squat workout is no walk in the park. After that I did curls, and then a bit of cardiorowing machine, 1,000 meters at a decent pace. Its amazing how much work can be done with something as simple as a deck of cards. Second, pull-ups offer a means to build the upper back into the V-shaped tapered look that fills out prison denim as well as the corporate blazer. He no longer demonstrates the workout in the video section. 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. . If you cant do a stand-alone handstand, use a wall to assist you. Ryan has chosen a theme for each week, keeping with his dark sense of humor.