Using the Complete Prisoner Workout Program to Enhance Functional Strength

Consider the following scenario:

As you witness a weak, wiry person being found guilty of a criminal offense, you think to yourself how the person before you looks nothing like the stereotypical offender.

Turn the clock ahead several years, and the same person reaches his prison release date. It may seem logical that this person would have an even more frail physique after having been incarcerated for so long. However, you are shocked to discover that emerging from prison is a toned, chiseled individual with impressive muscles.

What could possibly explain this? It has always been your impression that those in prison are not allowed the privilege of working out much in a gym, and therefore you do not understand how this person achieved such drastic changes.

For anyone who has marveled at this kind of occurrence, the truth behind the results is the fact that such individuals have gained the skill of enhancing their functional strength even when they had no access to weightlifting facilities.

Those unfamiliar with this phenomenon should know that methods do exist for sculpting muscle, even when confined to a tiny space for the majority of every day.

Here is the method:

In order to get larger, muscles must be put to use. Stated another way, if you wish to build additional muscle, you must tax existing muscle regularly. The use of dumbbells and other types of weights effectively places the arm and back muscles under the necessary strain. But, the same impact can be achieved by performing basic chin-ups. The muscles themselves cannot differentiate between the work required by chin-ups or by the conventional use of free weights.

Both types of movement employ an identical concept, namely that the muscle must be exerted in order to defeat the resistance presented. So, although conventional weightlifting is a typical way to grow muscles and enhance functional strength, it most certainly is not alone among possible methods.

Researchers in the late 1800s used innovative electromagnetic imaging techniques to learn which types of movements engaged the most muscles, and thereby offered the greatest opportunity to enhance functional strength. They learned that movements in which feet and hands did not move, but in which the rest of the body did move tended to produce the best results, succeeded in using the largest number of muscles, and offered the most noticeable improvements in functional strength.

In contrast, movements in which the feet and hands were active but the remaining body stayed still worked far fewer muscles and resulted in much smaller increases in functional strength.

The bench press is a prime example of this phenomenon. In order to complete a bench press movement, one must hold the body still while moving the hands in order to raise and lower the weight. The push-up, alternatively, allows the hands to remain in one place while the remainder of the body is lifted and lowered.

An additional example is the sitting leg extension, in which the legs are moved, but the body is held in one spot. When performing squats, the feet remain locked in their initial position, and the body continues to move throughout the movement, helping to enhance functional strength.

The bottom line is that push ups are more effective in building functional strength than bench presses, and squats produce greater gains in functional strength than leg extension movements. The reason for this is that the majority of bodyweight exercises engage far more muscles than movements requiring a person to lift weights.

The main point is that greater functional strength can be built by performing bodyweight exercises than by lifting weights.

These principles are the reason that it is possible to increase functional strength and achieve a sculpted physique even if you are confined to a tiny room for the majority of each day. It remains quite possible to gain increased functional strength and refine your muscle tone simply by performing squats, chin-ups, push-ups and other bodyweight exercises.

It is true, however, that the fundamental bodyweight movements described above are only capable of increasing functional strength to a particular degree. Once you have reached that threshold, it will be necessary to engage in more difficult and involved bodyweight movements including the one-arm push-up and the janda sit-up.

Ultimately, though, someone who begins with a thin, wiry body has the ability to develop a finely tuned and sculpted body with enhanced functional strength, even if they are restricted to a very tiny living space.

Janos Kovacs is editor of http://www.bodyweightexercisetips.com a website and blog dedicated to building functional strength and getting that truly fit chiseled look without the "puffy" look of body builders. If you want to look like an Abercrombie model, and not like a steroid-loaded gym rat, visit him at http://www.bodyweightexercisetips.com.