Josh Bryant - Jailhouse Strong

Jailhouse Strong

By

Josh Bryant and Adam benShea

Jailhouse Strong

JoshStrength, LLC and Adam benShea

Copyright 2013

All rights reserved, including file sharing, the right to reproduce this work, in whole or any part, in any form. All inquiries must be directed to Josh Bryant and Adam benShea and have approval from both authors.

WARNING! - Before starting any training program, please consult your doctor or other health care professional. You are agreeing to take full responsibility for any potential risk associated with anything put into practice from this book.

Contents

Im going to get right to the point, because when it comes to getting Jailhouse Strong, every second counts.

If the reason you bought this book was to get bigger and stronger in less time using the least amount of equipment possible, then do yourself a favor. Skip this forward and go right to Chapter I - dont worry, I wont be offended in the least because what you have in your hands is the tool that will help you achieve exactly that. But if youre curious why, then read on.

When Jailhouse Strong was originally presented to me, I wasnt quite sure what to expect from it and wasnt certain there would be anything for me to learn. Throughout my twenty-year career of writing about fitness, Ive spoken to hundreds of trainers, exercise physiologists, coaches and the like the world over. Each had their own fitness philosophy for getting maximum results but some of them came with their own personal agenda behind their philosophy.

The individuals that shared their secrets in this book arent fitness models motivated by a paycheck. They arent celebrity trainers pushing the next new way to exercise in order to hawk their wares. They are men with nothing to gain by sharing their tricks and tips. Their only motivation is the pure satisfaction of knowing theyve imparted what they have learned about building a powerful body as quickly as possible onto someone else. But more importantly, they are men driven to be Jailhouse Strong for one specific reason that you and I will hopefully never understand.

That reason is pure survival.

As someone that has seen it all in the exercise and fitness world, that is why Jailhouse Strong made such an impression on me, and why Im certain it will make an impression of you and your body as well.

Before reading this book, I was under the notion as you may be right now that the obvious reason many convicts are blessed with amazing strength and bodies that defy belief is that they have nothing but time on their hands to focus on their physiques. That might be true, but what I quickly discovered and what should have been obvious to me from the start is that despite having all that free time, guys on the inside need to build a better body as quickly as humanly possible.

Thats because when your incentive is pure survival, finding the shortest route to the greatest results is your only choice and thats exactly what Jailhouse Strong has brought together in one package. The techniques in this book are proven methods that achieve maximum results in less time using minimal equipment because for guys on the inside, there really isnt any choice but reach your goals under that type of strict criteria. Its a street-smart approach to exercise that proves once-and-for-all that the only thing holding you back from the body you want isnt not being able to afford the right type of supplements or having access to certain pieces of high-tech gym equipment.

The only thing holding you back is yourself.

BenShea and Bryant have pulled together all of the tactics relied on behind bars for survival, so that you can make your mark on the outside. Use them wisely, and I confidently say, youll stay Jailhouse Strong for life.

Myatt Murphy, C.S.C.S.

Fitness expert and author of Ultimate Dumbbell Exercises and Testosterone Transformation

From Jean Valjean in Les Misrables to Mike Tyson, our society is filled with tales of men coming out of the clink broader, bigger, and badder. While the idea of sharing an 8 x 8 cell with a violent sex offender may not be inviting, the strength gained from a jailhouse-style training regimen has an obvious allure.

Anyone who has seen a documentary on prison is familiar with the image of a workout yard filled with jacked cons. This picture begs the question: how do prisoners get so big and strong, while remaining lean and ripped, year round? There are a number of reasons for the freakishly strong inmate, and once they are understood, anyone from the corporate worker to the elementary school teacher can emulate the physical habits that produce such results. Of course, there is one habit you do not want to replicate: actually being in jail. With that in mind, this book will help you build a physique like prisoners on the inside, while still living and enjoying the freedom of being outside prison walls.

The benefits of Jailhouse Strong workouts are numerous:

They can be done anywhere: in a cell, a basement, or a hotel room.

They are functional. These workouts are meant to ready your body for the demands of a physical confrontation (making that next trip to your boss office or your father-in-laws house feel like a walk in the park).

They require minimal equipment. Often, all that is needed is your own body weight.

Lastly, they are just a hell of a lot of fun.

This jailhouse workout program is organized by body part (upper body, lower body, core, and total body) and real world, unarmed combat skill training drills.

To better understand how cons construct their workouts, develop slabs of functional muscle, and produce real results in less than ideal conditions, we sat down with a number of former prisoners, notorious hard men, seasoned street brawlers, and physical freaks.

We first talked to Angelo Barefoot Pookie White, a founding member of the infamous Crips. Barefoot is now a minister, serving the law of the Lord, instead of the code of the street. However, he looked back with a degree of fondness on his experiences on the LA streets of the 1970s and his three stints behind bars. From these memories, he shared stories of heavy lifting as a means to prove ones worth during the early days of the Crips. He also spoke with overt fondness for the initial founder of the Crips, the greatest street fighter in the City of Angels, the late Raymond Washington.

Dorian Yates is best known as the six-time winner of the prestigious Mr. Olympia contest, but a less-known part of his story is the six months that he spent behind bars. In jail, Yates was introduced to serious lifting, and found his passion for the iron. Dorian shared the physical routine and mental mindset that he cultivated behind bars, which would continue to serve him during his illustrious bodybuilding career.

While he does not have the reputation of Dorian Yates, Tyrus Hughes of Metroflex Gym in Plano, Texas is another bodybuilder who shared his training regimen from his time in prison with us. Tyrus story was interesting because it was in prison that his body went through a complete transition from a post-adolescent kid, small in size and strength, to a developed man, large in bulk and width.

One up-and-coming IFBB professional bodybuilder who had an intriguing story to tell about his time on the jailhouse weight yard was Cory Mathews. He was very open to talking about his apprenticeship in jailhouse-style strength training.