Prisoners who work out and look good from a poor diet

If nutrition plays such an important role for fitness and working out, how do some prisoners look so ripped, toned and fit behind bars? I know they work out every day at yard time but they have the worst diet and I doubt their prison meals contain much protein. And no protein shakes or energy bars either.

a reply to: Marcus069

Oh ... they're getting protein alright.

a reply to: Snarl

What are they getting their protein from? A bit of measly rice?

originally posted by: Marcus069
a reply to: Snarl

What are they getting their protein from? A bit of measly rice?

you have the color right

a reply to: Marcus069

I think he means high velocity protein.

a reply to: Marcus069

They can order protein bars and such through commissary if I remember correctly. It doesn't invalidate what you are saying, but they do often times have access to more than just their meals.

a reply to: Snarl

rofl!

originally posted by: Snarl
a reply to: Marcus069

Oh ... they're getting protein alright.

LOL.

Plus they have canteen where they can buy stuff but even then it doesn't seem like healthy food.

Maybe some of them get extra food through intimidation?

Commissary. you can either have outside people send you money, or you can work a job making next to nothing, but what else you gonna spend it on, the pub?

a reply to: Marcus069

I'm not sure why they look good, some of them.

I have a brother in law who does look better when he comes home. His brother says it's because he's spent all that time away from toxins getting healthy. They even fixed his teeth and they looked better than some folks I know who have gone to a dentist locally and got false ones!

Maybe they lose the layer of fat (from eating crap on the outside) and the muscle just shows up better? I don't know but it isn't, IMO, an 'across the board' statement. I've seen some folks who look bad, physically, in or out,

Perhaps genes play a role also.

Contrary to public opinion prison food is highly nutritious.

First of all they eat PROPER poritions...

An example of a meal from a state prison is as follows:[8]

2-3 ounces of meat or meat byproduct
half a cup of vegetables
three-quarters of a cup of a starch
three-quarters of a cup of salad with dressing

Source

No fats or other crazy things. Low sugar and salt. A healthy meal. Not what 70% of Americans eat.

There are laws protecting prison food and rights.

Prisoners eat a LOT like the military. The military has it worse in some aspects. SOS bars and MREs.

a reply to: Marcus069

You have 69 in your ATS name and you missed that joke....SMH

Just watch Shawshank and consentrate on 'the sisters''

a reply to: Marcus069

You're underestimating the amount of exercise they're doing; underestimating how long they've been exercising; underestimating how bad the typical American diet is for getting or staying "in shape"; overestimating how many prisoners are "ripped"; and completely neglecting the "survival of the fittest" mentality.

Changing the diet is an example of "addition by subtraction" for many people. One of the quickest ways for the average American to lose weight is to completely cut out sugary drinks like sodas. Ever wonder why?

And most males frantically exercise to be able to protect themselves when they're literally surrounded by criminals all day. I was in the best shape of my life when I did a lot of business in the streets. That's because there are always threats around you and you never know when "drama" will happen. Ironically, I prefer it when people handle it "hand to hand" over handling it w/guns, because guns involve bystanders and allow any belligerent douchebag to be a threat.

ETA: (facepalm) This post seems pretty negative. I didn't mean it to have a negative tone at all. My bad on that, though I don't know how to phrase it in a lighter way. Meh.

Not all look good. Look at OJ , he's a fat mess now.

We knew a guy who went in looking like a fat nerd, he came out all hot and fit, I had to ask who is that guy.

Most do look better, so I think it proves exercise plays a far greater role than diet in looking fit. It's both though , but exercise is key.

They have gyms to go to and they can make deals with whoever gets the kitchen job. I've heard the kitchen job is the best job to get because they can barter for smokes or 'extras' they want by giving out food. I was told that by an ex con who had a kitchen job. They're all bartering in there.

a reply to: Marcus069

Prisoners can work out in their cell too, I think. You know, like crunches and push-ups. Getting fit is easier when you have good motivation. The motivation could be boredom, security, or maybe they want to stop getting made fun of. I don't know the statistics but the majority of prisoners are probably not very smart and unintelligent people seem to make fun. Smart people do to but there is just something about idiots. There are probably a lot of the "aw, look at his shoes, dawg" type in there.

Some people get fat in prison. I figure these people must get most of their exercise when on the outside, from running around and going places. So, sitting around and having family send you a lot of food and money helps.

I think I'd just draw and read a lot if I were in prison. Oh, and get beat up.

originally posted by: paperdoll
Prisoners can work out in their cell too, I think.

My right arm would be gigantic, they would call me Lobster Man.

This is an easy one to answer. Almost all people that go to jail are new to exercise, when i went to jail and started training i did nothing special, just had a break from booze and drugs, ate better than i did when i was out, and most importantly i was brand new to wwight training. I was a skinny guy weighing 10 stone at 6 feet tall. After 6 months i was 12 stone, lean and most of my gains was pure muscle mass. I had stretch marks everywhere from the rapid growth i was experiencing.

Since i was released 8 years ago after a 2 year stretch i came out weighing 15 stone and lean around 12% body fat. I decided to educate myself a lot in excercise and diet programs as ive wanted to be a personal trainer and in 8 years ive learned a lot.

What also contributed to my massive gains in jail was for the first time in years instead of having low testosterone levels due to alcohol and drug consumption my test skyrocketed, and being in an environment where one has to have the alpha male mindset only contributes to your test levels.

Also what else ive learned is theirs 3 ways to cause muscle growth, 1 is progressive overload by constantly adding weight to your exercises each every couple of training sessons by small increments. 2 swap from doing low reps high weights to high reps low weights every 4 weeks. And 3, this is what most people seem to forget is training frequency. I used to train each muscle group once a week but if i was lacking in any given muscle i would train it twice or sometimes 3 times a week to bring said muscle out better.

The logic behind high frequency is simple enough, look at builders and how much they lift heavy weights everyday at work. Im yet to see a builder with scrawny arms after a few years on the job (im a builder too) so as ive demonstrated and proved, frequency is a big factor in growth and with all the time one has in jail all one can do is train, eat and sleep everyday.

I hope this has answered your questions and you find the information given informative.

P.s since i came out of jail 8 years ago im forever stopping and starting training and have never come close to the growth ive had in jail, with working from job to job location, drinking with the lads after work and recently overcoming opiate addiction its been madness, lol the one thing i do love though is when i first start training after being off for several months is the rapid muscle growth i get, as all those new to excercise get dramatic effects for a few months. Even the guys that stop training for months on end then start again are back to being beginner level.

What he said (above).

New exercise routine and a clean diet will do the trick.

Maybe exercising out of boredom too so they are unintentionally burning off more calories than consumed - CICO is the bottom line to losing weight and getting lean. A 500 calorie deficit per week is equal to a pound of weight loss per week. One pound of fat equals 3500 calories (give or take). Although the meals in prison may not be top quality food items, they have to be balanced in terms of macro's (fat/protein/carb) ratio. Similar to military meals.