Prison workout
Silke Weil finds out if you can achieve better results working out “convictstyle” than paying to hit the gym
The promise:
Calisthenics training has earned itself a nickname, the “prisoner workout”. Because it incorporates intense bodyweight exercises that can be done in small spaces without equipment, it’s considered perfect for convicts confined to their cells. It’s a way to get strong without the frills of fancy gym gear and machinery.
Personal trainer Sergey Brazhnikov specialises in using bodyweight foundations for strength building and says it has the potential to change the way we think about training our bodies with moves that defy gravity. Brazhnikov guided me through two weeks of training to see what I was capable of.
The prison workouts promise to give results that couldn’t be achieved as effectively by doing exercises with equipment.
The history:
The word calisthenics comes from the ancient Greek words “kallos”, meaning beauty, and “sthenos” which means strength.
Notorious UK criminal Charles Salvador (also known as Charles Bronson) has been locked up for decades and confined to isolation many times. He became a fitness fanatic and began creating workout programmes that only needed his bodyweight and a few stray objects. His vigorous regimen gave him extreme strength — he says he can bend a steel prison cell door with his bare hands.
Ex-con Paul Wade also spent time confined in some of the harshest prisons in America, and is now a bestselling author of Convict
Conditioning. He claims: “You will find almost no bodybuilder in any gym today who can perform these simple bodyweight feats.”
The science:
It’s all about your body following natural movement patterns. In Wade’s words: “How can someone be considered to be strong if he can’t even move his own body around as nature intended?”
The 2017 study, “The effects of a calisthenics training intervention on posture, strength and body composition”, by scientists from the Sport and Exercise Sciences Research unit at the University of Palermo, Italy, found calisthenics is an effective physical activity for the improvement of postural sway, strength-endurance and has a positive effect on body composition, and can largely deduct body fat mass.
The study saw physical changes in untrained people who took part in the eight-week controlled training programme for the study. The training can therefore be considered plausible for anyone.
A big reason calisthenics are so special is that the effects of the exercises are impossible to duplicate by weight training. Men who trained noticed changes while, contrastingly, a group who stuck to the fitness regimen they were familiar with, didn’t show much difference in what they could do before and after the trial.
The reality:
I was activating parts of my body I never knew existed and it felt amazing. I’d go to do a handstand and Sergey would point out that my shoulder needed to loosen. After rolling it out (OUCH!) the change would be noticeable. This lived up to the research which says if you get to know your body first, you’ll be amazed what it can do.
Picture the scene: the session starts with a variety of hand and finger stretches because they are victims to lots of pressure. Previously when trying to do handstands it wouldn’t take me long before I complained my wrists were sore. Sergey wasn’t going to put up with that.
When going on to the next move, Sergey would show me the movement I’d be working towards. Every time I would exclaim, “you want me to do THAT!?” He’d then show me the much easier foundation move I’d have to work on for a long time before progressing.
Do you know how hard it is to just hang from rings? Very hard. This is the movement I noticed the most progress with: hanging on the rings in a locked position tensing all over then hoisting myself into an upright position. In the first session I doubted I’d ever be able to do it.
The verdict:
The strength I managed to build up astonished me. When doing the moves, you can’t get away with cheating, and no part of the body can afford to relax. With a specific focus on form, something that can easily be looked beyond when solo at the gym or in a class, I noticed significant improvements like being able to hold my handstand for longer and with the correct posture.
Noticing the progress was a really awesome feeling. Going back each session and hoping that today would be the day I could achieve the next goal, created awesome motivation. I need to keep at it, but after just two weeks of training and the drastic changes, the reason for the buzz around the training is clear. I now have faith that with a little dedication, my childhood dream of being a handstand pro really could come true.