Prison Workout - The Preparation

The Prison Workout has been much more popular than I had anticipated. Awesome!

I was hoping to gather some friends and family together (at least online) to try something not only healthy, but totally different.  After a few friends forwarded my first PWO email to some of their friends (etc, etc) the idea began to grow into something I had not originally imagined. I can only estimate that as many as 50 people will be participating across the country, if not more.  We have grandmas & grandpas, beer bellies & skin-n-bones, endurance athletes & muscleheads, and quite a few cops (funny so many police officers find the humor behind the Prison Workout name).

I have still been posting videos to the blog....mostly pirated from YouTube and CrossFit.  I am still filtering through a lot of crap videos on the net, but hope to have a more complete library within the next few weeks.  If even after watching my video selections you still do not understand a particular movement, do a YouTube or Google Video search. They've probably got more than 20 clips on any given exercise.  [For my posts: Please click on either the label "Prison Workout" at the end of this post or in the right column...any post I have tagged as part of the PWO will come up with the most recent post at the top.]

A lot of questions have been coming in: "What are the workouts like?" tends to be a favorite.  Like I've said before, you can get ready by doing a lot of pushups, air squats, situps, leg lifts, planks, burpees, and pullups. However, I recommend doing them in a circuit fashion such as these four workouts:

• 10 rounds of: 5 pushups, 10 situps, 15 air squats
  
• 30 rounds of: 2 pullups (or inverted rows), 1 tuck jump
  
• 12 rounds of: 3 burpees, 6 situps, 3 Supermans (5-sec hold, 5-sec rest)
  
• 20 minutes of: 10 leg lifts, Superman (10 sec hold) , and 15 air squats

Lastly, consider making an additional commitment for these 30 days. I recently decided on a "No Chocolate & No Alcohol" period.  I'll likely lose a couple of pounds without drinking German beer at 200 calories per pint!! This voluntary lesson in self-denial can be better explained in my on-going series Luxury Versus Survival. Also, how about reading a new book? I've been reading Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin, profiling the race for the Republican nomination for US President in 1860. Here is a summary of some ideas for the 30 days:

• Follow the Prison Workout daily schedule.
  
• Make some diet "rules"...like no booze or chocolate.
  
• Get a new book to read.

I hope these ideas whet the appetite a bit. Shoot me an email at louis.hayes@comcast.net if you're participating. Remember the 30 days officially begins Monday, October 13th.