Jailhouse Strong: Bodyweight Finishers

Finishers test your testicular fortitude, provide a great “pump”—and are a hell of a lot of fun. Shoulders Most shoulder development exercises in the weight room are open kinetic chain, meaning the force you produce makes the weight move. Close Kinetic Chain exercises move your body as you produce force, like a sporting or combat situation. Bottom line: Close kinetic chain movements are more natural and more functional. Try this at the end of your next shoulder workout: Handstand Push-Ups: Few things scream Jailhouse Strong and functional power like a pair of marble slabs for shoulders. Without weight, handstand push-ups offer the best way to develop the shoulders. For those new to the movement, place the back of your head near the base of a wall, put your hands alongside your head (fingers pointing toward the wall), and then kick your feet into the air until they reach the wall. From this inverted position, perform a push-up. Doing this workout: Jailhouse Method (reverse pyramid) – The Jailhouse Baker’s Dozen is a total of 91 repetitions, where set 1 is performed with 13 repetitions, set 2 is 12 repetitions, set 3 is 11 repetitions, etc. Each set descends by one less repetition. After each set is performed, walk 16 feet (8 feet across your cell and 8 feet back). Your goal is to do this in 7 minutes, if these are too difficult, try the handstand push-ups in the downward dog yoga position. If this is too easy, do a Jailhouse 20 (total of 210 repetitions) in less than 10 minutes—the best anyone has reported to us, so far, is 8:04 on a Jailhouse 20. Prepare for pain, prepare to grow. Back Bill Kazmaier, the strongest man of all time, said, “Strong man equals strong back.” At the end of your next back workout, try this finisher: 100 pull-ups with the Total Repetition Method –meaning achieve the desired number of reps in the fewest number sets possible. Using the Total Repetition Method,100 pull-ups might look something like this: Set 1 – 15 reps, Set 2 – 12 reps, Set 3 – 11 reps, Set 4 -10 reps, Set 5 – 10 reps, Set 6 – 9 reps, Set 7 – 8 reps, Set 8 – 7 reps, Set 9 – 7 reps, Set 10 – 6 reps, Set 11 – 5 reps. The goal is to complete it in 12 minutes; we recommend alternating grips between sets. If this is too difficult, try inverted rows; if it’s too easy try triangle chin-ups or one-armed chin ups. The broad-backed street soldier commands respect from the Scotland Yard to the prison yard. Chest No one can deny the effectiveness of heavy bench presses and inclines in building a massive chest. This push-up routine at the end of a chest workout will make most advanced bodybuilders cry “uncle.” Aim for 15 minutes—if this is too difficult opt for the “girl” push-up variation or even push-ups against a wall. The Deck of Pain: A favorite of street soldiers and hardened cons, the deck of pain is a way to use the slick gambler’s favorite tool for more than just Five Card Stud. Take a 52-card deck and shuffle the cards so that you have no idea what card will come up next. Flip the first card and do however many push-ups the card says. So, for numbered cards, do the number of push-ups that coordinate with the number on the card. For picture cards (jack, queen, and king) do 10 push-ups. And, for the aces do 11 push-ups. Once completed, you will have done 380 push-ups. A big “hood”, as they call the chest behind bars, commands respect in any “hood”. Legs Sporting chicken legs may make your “organ” look bigger, but the world’s saddest song on the world’s smallest violin will be your theme song in a combat situation—if this is you. Bodyweight aficionado and Muscle & Fitness Online Editor, Eric Velazquez, says, “Bodyweight squats end up hitting quads more after a heavy squat day because of body positioning. I do them all the time.” Heavier Power Squats force an athlete to sit back more while squatting, placing a greater amount of the load on the posterior chain. Because bodyweight squats are more of a squat down motion, they absolutely torch the quads. Try this Tyson Squat workout at the end of your leg day—your goal is to make it through twice in 10 minutes. If this is too hard, try once in six minutes; if it’s too easy, try the squats with a one-second pause at the bottom or opt for lunges. Start with 10 cards and line them up 2-4 inches apart. Squat and pick up the first card, then move to the next card and place the first card on top of the second card. After which, you squat twice more to pick up each card individually, before moving to the third card. Walk to the third card and squat twice to stack each card, then squat three times to pick up each card before carrying the cards to the fourth card, and proceed with the pattern. You will continue this pattern of individually stacking and picking up the cards until you move through all 10 cards in the line. At that point, you will have completed 100 squats. You can add cards as your strength and endurance increase. Final Thoughts Bodyweight finishers are fun, challenging, spark new growth and are highly functional. Instead of pumping out light weights on machines, try a method that has built prison powerhouses for decades. Checkout What the hype is about: ]]>