I am bouncing around cking different threads trying to find some piece of info that I can use and I bump into my good old friend virus(TM) and the rest of the yap pack, Just wanted to say:hi:
Yap pack? Not the most original but it kinda goes together so I suppose you at least tried. :good Keep up the good work fellow yapper.
Having worked in our local jail for over 6 years before working the road. I have literally seen thousands of inmates come through the system. Our facility did NOT have any type of weight equipment. Here is what I would summarize. They would try to find ANYTHING to simulate weights. One common thing was to fill up their trash can with water and lift that. It was a normal size rubbermade. Converting quart size into gallons and how many lbs in a gallon of water, it would make the trash can over 75 lbs. without filling it all the way up. Many people respond to ANY kind of training. Especially if they have never lifted/trained before you can expect alot of gains doing any type of resistance training. They also used other people to replace weights, such as person sitting on their back or pushing down on them while trying to do push ups. Body Weight exercises will improve you and get you stronger just like weight lifting will. There is nothing magical about it. For example, in a push up your are lifting between 65-75% of your bodyweight (depending on which calculations are being used). So, if you weigh 200lbs. you are "benching" between 130-150. Now when you elevate your feet it is more, when you do a one arm pushup correctly it is more etc. etc. Just as if you added more weight to your bench. But...but....I'm king **** because I can do a handstand pushup! Good for you, that means you could probably come close to shoulder pressing your weight if you were lifting weights. Again, there is nothing magical if you are upside down using your body or standing upright and using weights. It all comes down to progressive overload and recovery. Both methods work, but it is ALOT easier to add more weight to a bar than it is figuring out how to make your body weigh more to use it.
I don't see why you got to go racist with it. I understand that some people are blessed more than others, but calesthenics does an excellent job of building your body up proportionately and creating a great deal of real life, injury free, strength, that you don't always get with weights.
Again, ignoring my post a few above where I talked about how inmates actually train in some facilities and it isn't JUST bodyweight.