Getting huge in prison

[Just a Shot Away]

So I talked to a prison guard today for a little bit, and somehow we got on the subject of "300" which naturally transitioned to their workout/nutrition plans.

He didn't seem very impressed, and proceeded to tell me about how the only thing that you need to do to get huge is sleep a ton and work out twice a day. He told me about how there's these huge dudes walking around that live on a 2,000 calorie a day diet (just mainly proteins and carbs, and they eat a lot of peanut butter apparently). He says they work out in the morning, and then again at night using mainly bodyweight exercises like pullups and pushups, and squat with their cellie on their backs. Then they also sleep a good portion of the day in addition to all night.

I mean, damn. 2k calories a day for these huge motherf'ers?? Am I missing something here? I've always wondered how they were able to do it, and it still boggles my mind. Maybe my problem isn't that I'm not eating enough, it's that I'm not SLEEPING enough and not working out enough. He also said that at his prison, the inmates don't get protein powders. :crazy:

 

[56andre]

Yea, I’d say one main factor here is that the inmates have a $hit load of testosterone jump’n around.

Dangerous situations raise test. Levels as we all know, & the fact that they are locked up means that they have very likely been in danger.
Maybe they were in a gang??? Constant danger there!

Maybe they are innocent & are pi$$ed off that they got convicted, getting pi$$ed raises test. & there are a lot of pi$$d off guys in jail both innocent & guilty!!!

Other factors:

-Safety
(when your big you have less chance of being hassled, or raped!!!)

-Time
(what more do you have in the “can” but time)

I think the first point is the main.

 

[Cure]

They also do less.
When you are sitting in a cell all day, you have more recovery/rest time to build muscle, and additionally, they basically ONLY burn calories during their workouts, so their basic calorie requirment is lower than someone trying to gain weight who has a hectic shedual.

Cure.

 

[Kerpal]

I think genetics plays a large part here. Sure, a few prisoners are quite muscular and lean, but watch Lockup on MSNBC. The vast majority don't look to be in good shape at all. Most of them are just skinnyfat.

 

[Just a Shot Away]

Yeah I mean, they're not in the greatest "shape" since most of 'em still carry around a lot of fat. But out on the yard, a good percentage are just MASSIVE dudes. I think if I could get close to that, I could just focus on losing the fat and be where I want to be.

Maybe more naps in the middle of the day is key, haha. I don't know. Or maybe peanut butter is a magic body building food.

 

[Drum&Bass]

Actually dangerous situations are more likely to produce cortisol than testosterone. Cortisol breaks down muscle tissue and cause other bad things to happen in the body.

I agree that you really dont need to over do it on the calories. The KEY ingredient to successful growth and strength is SLEEP and lots of it.

Your basically keeping the mileage low on your car which increases longevity and performance. Now imagine keeping low miles and maintaining your car but never really driving it anywhere this is what will help you maintain mass but its not optimal for looking ripped and probably not so great for conditioning...(probably why so many of them are chubby)

For the rest of us...we work 8 hour days, stay up late and increase our mileage, so yea we're gonna need more calories cause we keep our engines running for longer times...

 

[Colossus]

The ONLY way to get big is to consume a high-calorie, nutrient-rich diet, complimented by a weighttraining program that is consistent and features progressive resistance.

It's as simple as that.

Yup.

Likely these guys were pretty big when they went to jail. You could certainly achieve a lean, dry look working out 2X a day and eating that little, but you sure as hell arent going to GAIN weight; that's nigh impossible.

To promote an anabolic environment, you need a steady, properly-timed influx of nutrients and consistent amino acid levels in the bloodstream. The amount of sleep they get could definitely help, but the raw building materials just aren't there.

 

[The Message Boy]

Espi says,

The ONLY way to get big is to consume a high-calorie, nutrient-rich diet, complimented by a weighttraining program that is consistent and features progressive resistance.

Dude idk about that one, I've been around guys everyday that I KNEW didn't eat much and they were well over 250lbs and buff looking.

Different people's bodies respond differently to different things. One of the reasons I dont' use a personal trainer, they preach "theories" they read out of a book instead of trying this or trying that to see what your body responds to and THUS, creating your own path.

 

[OldbutSTRONG]

I thought all the huge guys in prison just took massive steroids along with their smuggled drugs, smokes, and whatever they can bring in.

 

[Quiksilver]

Message boy, there's a difference between taking advice from a 150lb PT with no clientele and 3 months lifting experience, instead of a guy with 10-20 years of good training under his belt and a repertoire of successful clients(IFBB pros, Olympians, and professional athletes, not to mention hundreds of successful average joes.

Disregarding the 150lb green PT is common sense.

Disregarding the guy who puts Gold medals around peoples necks, who puts substantial muscle mass on athletes while keeping them lean, and who triples your strength on the main lifts.... Disregarding him for the sake of individuality is childish.

 

[The Message Boy]

Not what I'm saying Quik, it's just that some people don't get results from some of those "tips" and I've had personal trainers give up on me and say my genetics were ****ed up and I had no hope.

 

[Quiksilver]

Not what I'm saying Quik, it's just that some people don't get results from some of those "tips"

Umm...

The ONLY way to get big is to consume a high-calorie, nutrient-rich diet, complimented by a weighttraining program that is consistent and features progressive resistance.

Dude idk about that one

So you are saying that there is another way for Average Joe to get as big and strong as his genetics will allow, that doesn't involve eating a good high cal diet and weight training?

Please do share this info.

 

[Just a Shot Away]

So you are saying that there is another way for Average Joe to get as big and strong as his genetics will allow, that doesn't involve eating a good high cal diet and weight training?

Please do share this info.

Hey man I know this wasn't directed at me, but I'm just trying to figure this one out. I'm not saying that you guys are wrong, but obviously there's something going on in this prison that is not immediately apparent. I mean, the prison guard was pretty explicit in regards to training and diet. I don't know if I buy that they're able to get that big because they don't do as much during the day as an average person. Plenty of inmates have jobs, and walk around the prison in a somewhat liberated manner. They're washing dishes, cooking, doing laundry, etc...add that to their twice-daily workout and it seems they have a pretty average calorie burn rate when compared to someone who isn't incarcerated. All this in combination with the excess cortisol they got going, due to always having to watch their back to avoid getting shanked/jumped.

The equation that keeps popping up is that you have to eat more calories than you burn in order to gain mass, so it's logical to assume that if you eat LESS calories than you burn that you will lose mass. But these guys don't. I'm thinking it's gotta be the sleep schedule. They just get a s.hitload of sleep and it lets them have a lot more recovery time.

Btw, Espi has really trained IFBB pros and Olympians? That's impressive.

 

[The Message Boy]

Quik that's the thing, I don't know. I posted in my fitness journal that I get definition results from just doing pushups and guys like you laughed at me lol.

All I'm saying is Quik, obtaining fitness goals is not JUST tied to some routine you read out of a fitness magazine by a fitness guru. Think for one second, if those guys were CORRECT most of the time, why in teh hell are MOST Americans still fat and overweight?

> They promote "diets" not eating lifestyle changes. For example, don't eat wheat bread, what kind of advice is that? How the hell am I supposed to stay on a diet like that for years? They said stay on it for a while until I reach my goals then cycle off, well, according to their theory when I cycle off wouldn't the **** come back?

Why not just promote eating an overall healthy lifestyle and about 4-6 small meals a day? Why tell me SPECIFICIALLY what I must eat, DESPITE the fact if even I even like the **** they are telling me to eat?

> They promote the newest fad in workouts every f'in month. One month you are not supposed to lift weights 3 times a week, the next one you are. One month you shouldn't do more than 6 reps the next month you can.

I mean Quik I'm sorry lol, it's bull**** lol.

PLUS, in this thread's topic, how then do you explain BIG guys in the gym that are obviously NOT folllowing Mr. Fitness Guru's training tips because they dont' have the resources to do so?

Are there guys in prison that looked f'ed up, hell yeah. But we are talking about the guys that are BUFF, explain it.....

 

[EFFORT]

1. Genetics
2. Steriods
3. Drawing a conclusion from a minority and not majority
4. Your definition of big

 

[The Message Boy]

EFFORT says,

1. Genetics
2. Steriods
3. Drawing a conclusion from a minority and not majority
4. Your definition of big

1.) Ha! That's why I hate Personal Trainers Effort. They make you follow sum bullshyt theory based crap, then when it doesn't work, they say your GENETICS are fvcked up.

2.) I meant to say guys in prison in the last post. Idk, maybe they are on steriods? I do know they ALL can't be.

3.) The ol' exceptional to the rule huh?

4.) BUFF looking guys.

 

[EFFORT]

1.) Ha! That's why I hate Personal Trainers Effort. They make you follow sum bullshyt theory based crap, then when it doesn't work, they say your GENETICS are fvcked up.

Theirs a wide range of trainers. Its apparent that you haven't been working with good ones. Even if your genetics are bad, you can still build a body that turns heads naturally, it'll just take more effort.

2.) I meant to say guys in prison in the last post. Idk, maybe they are on steriods? I do know they ALL can't be.

I was referring to guys in prison

3.) The ol' exceptional to the rule huh?

All depends on your definition. I see huge as 250+ with a bf less than 14%. And that isn't the majority inmate. If you see huge as 160-200lbs range and less than 14% that would explain a lot. We also haven't specified any specific info.... What country are we talking about? What race of inmate? What state/province/territory? What reference points are you using here? Just a lot of unclear information and generalizations and this is why discussions like this come around end the same way.

4.) BUFF looking guys.

What does Buff mean to you? 250lbs @ 12% bf? 200lbs @ 10% ? etc? Everyone has a definition, so this adds to the confusion. If the OPs definition of huge is 175lbs at 8% bf , when someone else thinks huge is 230lbs @ 11%, we end up discussing different things.

bold

 

[Just a Shot Away]

All depends on your definition. I see huge as 250+ with a bf less than 14%. And that isn't the majority inmate. If you see huge as 160-200lbs range and less than 14% that would explain a lot. We also haven't specified any specific info.... What country are we talking about? What race of inmate? What state/province/territory?

This is a prison in Central California, and race didn't really factor into this conversation. But statistically, far more blacks and hispanics are incarcerated at this prison than whites.

Also, the dude I was talking with said that he sees "guys like that" when we were talking about "300." I know you don't consider this big, but personally that's all about I want to achieve. I think Gerard Butler was around 220 in that shot, at around 6 or 7% bf. So whether or not we have the same definition of "huge", I think we can agree that there's a high percentage of inmates that are at least this big, and if they leaned out they would look similar to the 300 actors. And that's all I was really asking about.

 

[backbreaker]

This is a prison in Central California, and race didn't really factor into this conversation. But statistically, far more blacks and hispanics are incarcerated at this prison than whites.

Also, the dude I was talking with said that he sees "guys like that" when we were talking about "300." I know you don't consider this big, but personally that's all about I want to achieve. I think Gerard Butler was around 220 in that shot, at around 6 or 7% bf. So whether or not we have the same definition of "huge", I think we can agree that there's a high percentage of inmates that are at least this big, and if they leaned out they would look similar to the 300 actors. And that's all I was really asking about.

guy in the pic is not 6-7% body fat brah. I have less fat than him and I'm not 7%. he's about 11-10%. his abs are really just starting to be visable

his abs, and face are no where near enough defined to be be at 7%


http://anabolicminds.com/forum/weight-loss/86686-body-fat-pics.html

that is a good visable reference when reffering to body fat.

 

[speakeasy]

There needs to be a real study on what's going on in prison. A lot of people have asked this question and there seem to be few clear answers. I don't believe most these guys are getting steroids behind bars, nor do I believe they are getting protein powder. And the food that prisons serve is basically just empty calories, **** like mac and cheese with baloney and prisoners buy a ****load of junk food from the commissary. I just don't know how these guys are doing it.