(d'après Boudicca Fox-Leonard)
The author of a unique fitness book says sticking to a strict regime is the key to better wellbeing in lockdown
LJ Flanders shows how to do a forearm plank
Credit: Drew Shearwood
LJ Flanders is well trained for lockdown; not only physically, but
mentally too. These past few weeks of social distancing and isolation
have taken him back to 2011, when he served 18 months in prison.
He knows what it means to have your freedom curbed. Over the weekend, our parks may have filled up with people stretching the limits of social distancing in order to soak up some sun, but Flanders recalls the feeling of looking out of your cell window at a nice sunny day and not being able to touch it. “It’s so near but so far.”
The 30-year-old admits he was lost before his stint in Pentonville and Brixton for GBH after a fight. He’d never even set foot in a gym before then. The only exercise he’d been into was football, saying it was when he stopped playing sport that he got into bother.
“Prison gave me the kick up the backside I needed. And that’s why I’m trying to make a difference now,” he says.
He got fit, qualified as a personal trainer and started writing his bestselling book, Cell Workout. Today he runs a social enterprise (he trains people in his method and also has plans for clothing brand, with garments made by inmates) and his book has sold more than 10,000 copies worldwide. That includes his self-published version in 2015, which was supported by the Prince’s Trust Enterprise Programme and Hodder & Stoughton’s republished version in 2016. Now in its fourth print run, it’s currently available as an ebook on Amazon for £3.99.
It is available to all 90,000 prisoners in the UK (it’s officially on the prison canteen sheet, along with the Bible), and with more time being spent in their cells than ever under lockdown, it’s a vital resource.
Flanders wanted to create a full body workout that strips fitness down to just you and the four walls. No equipment, no pull-up bar, not even a chair. Instead it encourages the use of your own body weight, with a mixture of callisthenics, pilates, yoga and plyometric training.
He knows what it means to have your freedom curbed. Over the weekend, our parks may have filled up with people stretching the limits of social distancing in order to soak up some sun, but Flanders recalls the feeling of looking out of your cell window at a nice sunny day and not being able to touch it. “It’s so near but so far.”
The 30-year-old admits he was lost before his stint in Pentonville and Brixton for GBH after a fight. He’d never even set foot in a gym before then. The only exercise he’d been into was football, saying it was when he stopped playing sport that he got into bother.
“Prison gave me the kick up the backside I needed. And that’s why I’m trying to make a difference now,” he says.
He got fit, qualified as a personal trainer and started writing his bestselling book, Cell Workout. Today he runs a social enterprise (he trains people in his method and also has plans for clothing brand, with garments made by inmates) and his book has sold more than 10,000 copies worldwide. That includes his self-published version in 2015, which was supported by the Prince’s Trust Enterprise Programme and Hodder & Stoughton’s republished version in 2016. Now in its fourth print run, it’s currently available as an ebook on Amazon for £3.99.
It is available to all 90,000 prisoners in the UK (it’s officially on the prison canteen sheet, along with the Bible), and with more time being spent in their cells than ever under lockdown, it’s a vital resource.
Flanders wanted to create a full body workout that strips fitness down to just you and the four walls. No equipment, no pull-up bar, not even a chair. Instead it encourages the use of your own body weight, with a mixture of callisthenics, pilates, yoga and plyometric training.
“I wanted this to be something you could do with nothing around you,” he tells me over the phone from his home in Essex.
He also wanted it to be accessible for everyone – young, old, male and female – with levels of exercises for beginners, intermediate and advanced, broken up into muscle groups. It is the most requested (read: stolen) book in prison, along with Martina Cole and The Secret, and prison librarians have told Flanders that as soon as it is ordered in, it goes out and is rarely returned. He says it has valuable lessons for everyone though, especially as we try to stay fit at home right now.
Take resistance training. “Some people think resistance training is with kettlebells or machines, but it’s basically when you’re pushing against something. If you are doing a press-up you’re pushing against yourself. You can do it on your knees or make it harder by putting your feet on a chair, and that increases the weight you’re pushing,” says Flanders.
If you want to work your shoulders and you normally do a dumbbell shoulder press, Flanders suggests a handstand shoulder press with legs against the wall. “You’re pressing whatever you weigh,” he explains. “I weigh 74 kilos. You’re essentially shoulder pressing 74 kilos.”
Handstands might not be for everyone, but the simple squat is the foundation of leg training and there are plenty of variations one can play with at home.
“Try altering the position of your feet while squatting, wide and narrow,” says Flanders. “Or lunges, which is a split squat basically and requires a lot more core stability and strength.”
Mobilisation is something that shouldn’t be neglected either. “Just some simple flexion, extension and rotation of your joints will make such a difference,” he adds. “It’s great, particularly for the older population currently in isolation.”
Perhaps the most important lesson he learnt though is how exercise helps you to stay strong mentally. A positive mindset makes all the difference.
Every Sunday while in prison, Flanders would take three pieces of A4 paper and make a schedule for the week ahead. It would have columns for each day from 7am to 10pm.
“When you’re in the prison regime, you have no control over what you do and when,” he says. “But what you can do is make a regime that works for you.
“I knew what I was doing on the hour, every hour and that was a massive help for me. And that’s been how I’ve lived my life ever since. Some people might call it institutionalised, but I think that’s a bit of a negative word.”
Knowing that his cell door would open at 8am meant that hour before prison life started became golden. He compares it to how people working from home right now might approach their day.
“I think a lot of people right now feel lost in terms of their routine and are maybe thinking, ‘Do I even bother getting dressed today?’ but if people could think about what they are achieving before 8am every morning, I think that would be an amazing way to start the day.”
He also wanted it to be accessible for everyone – young, old, male and female – with levels of exercises for beginners, intermediate and advanced, broken up into muscle groups. It is the most requested (read: stolen) book in prison, along with Martina Cole and The Secret, and prison librarians have told Flanders that as soon as it is ordered in, it goes out and is rarely returned. He says it has valuable lessons for everyone though, especially as we try to stay fit at home right now.
Take resistance training. “Some people think resistance training is with kettlebells or machines, but it’s basically when you’re pushing against something. If you are doing a press-up you’re pushing against yourself. You can do it on your knees or make it harder by putting your feet on a chair, and that increases the weight you’re pushing,” says Flanders.
If you want to work your shoulders and you normally do a dumbbell shoulder press, Flanders suggests a handstand shoulder press with legs against the wall. “You’re pressing whatever you weigh,” he explains. “I weigh 74 kilos. You’re essentially shoulder pressing 74 kilos.”
Handstands might not be for everyone, but the simple squat is the foundation of leg training and there are plenty of variations one can play with at home.
“Try altering the position of your feet while squatting, wide and narrow,” says Flanders. “Or lunges, which is a split squat basically and requires a lot more core stability and strength.”
Mobilisation is something that shouldn’t be neglected either. “Just some simple flexion, extension and rotation of your joints will make such a difference,” he adds. “It’s great, particularly for the older population currently in isolation.”
Perhaps the most important lesson he learnt though is how exercise helps you to stay strong mentally. A positive mindset makes all the difference.
Every Sunday while in prison, Flanders would take three pieces of A4 paper and make a schedule for the week ahead. It would have columns for each day from 7am to 10pm.
“When you’re in the prison regime, you have no control over what you do and when,” he says. “But what you can do is make a regime that works for you.
“I knew what I was doing on the hour, every hour and that was a massive help for me. And that’s been how I’ve lived my life ever since. Some people might call it institutionalised, but I think that’s a bit of a negative word.”
Knowing that his cell door would open at 8am meant that hour before prison life started became golden. He compares it to how people working from home right now might approach their day.
“I think a lot of people right now feel lost in terms of their routine and are maybe thinking, ‘Do I even bother getting dressed today?’ but if people could think about what they are achieving before 8am every morning, I think that would be an amazing way to start the day.”
Whether it’s watching the news, writing a journal, spending time with your children, they’re all valid activities. However, experience has shown Flanders that exercise is often the best way to start each day.
“If by 8am you’ve done your fitness session, then you’re going to feel the mood-enhancing benefits of that throughout the day,” he reasons.
“Fitness isn’t about what you do in the gym or in your workout, it’s about everything you do outside of that. You’re going to be more encouraged and inspired to get on with the rest of your day if you’ve started it with something positive for yourself.”
How much does he think people should aim to exercise? “An hour every day! What’s stopping you right now?”
Flanders clearly used his time inside well, and has transformed his own life.
While he acknowledges that this is a tragic time, with lives being lost, he also hopes many of us will take the opportunity to consider what it is that we want to do with our lives.
“I really go into Buddhism in prison,” he says. “Just because you’re in jail you can’t think your life’s on hold. You’re getting older day by day, so you’ve got to use the opportunities. Think to yourself, I’ve got this time. I’m going to be creative and productive.
“When you’re in prison you’re stripped to your bare bones. It doesn’t matter who you are outside, you’re a bit of a number inside. And you have to find what positives there are. And it’s the same right now.”
Press-ups x 5 reps
Butterfly sit-ups x 5 reps (legs in diamond shape)
Squats x 15 reps
“If by 8am you’ve done your fitness session, then you’re going to feel the mood-enhancing benefits of that throughout the day,” he reasons.
“Fitness isn’t about what you do in the gym or in your workout, it’s about everything you do outside of that. You’re going to be more encouraged and inspired to get on with the rest of your day if you’ve started it with something positive for yourself.”
How much does he think people should aim to exercise? “An hour every day! What’s stopping you right now?”
Flanders clearly used his time inside well, and has transformed his own life.
While he acknowledges that this is a tragic time, with lives being lost, he also hopes many of us will take the opportunity to consider what it is that we want to do with our lives.
“I really go into Buddhism in prison,” he says. “Just because you’re in jail you can’t think your life’s on hold. You’re getting older day by day, so you’ve got to use the opportunities. Think to yourself, I’ve got this time. I’m going to be creative and productive.
“When you’re in prison you’re stripped to your bare bones. It doesn’t matter who you are outside, you’re a bit of a number inside. And you have to find what positives there are. And it’s the same right now.”
15- minute AMRAP
(as many rounds as possible)Press-ups x 5 reps
Butterfly sit-ups x 5 reps (legs in diamond shape)
Squats x 15 reps
‘Get off the bunk bed’ workout
(Perform exercise for 30 seconds. Complete the workout two to four times)Squats
Full plank single-knee tuck: draw knee to elbow and then back to full plank.
Lunges
Vertical toe-reach: lie on back with legs towards ceiling, reach up with straight arms towards feet.
REST 30 SECONDS
Star jumps
Press-ups: lower down with elbows hugging ribs
Heel taps: lie down with knees bent and feet on floor. Reach right hand to right heel, and then left hand to left foot.
Reverse Table top: Sit with knees bent and hands behind you and lift your hips up high.
For more information visit cell-workout.com
To support Cell Workout's social enterprise visit crowdfunder.co.uk/cell-workout-made-in-hmp-crowdfunder
____________________________________
LJ Flanders shared his story
For 14 months a prison cell was my gym...by the end I knew I wanted to help others get fit and never go back there
From Pentonville on remand to personal trainer in demand.
After being locked up for more than a year, LJ Flanders,
from Essex, overhauled his mind and body and has now turned his life
around to become a fitness expert and author…
Think of the words “exercise” and “prison” and images of sculpted men
doing press ups and lifting weights like Robert De Niro in Cape Fear
spring to mind.
But in reality exercising within the confines of four very small walls in nothing so glamorous – or easy.
Essex based author LJ Flanders knows this from experience. The 26-year-old has gone from Pentonville inmate to personal trainer and businessman after deciding to turn the negative aspects of a 14-month stint in the north London prison, into a positive.
As David Cameron last week pledged to bring in the “biggest shake-up of prisons since the Victorian era” and vowed to crack down on levels of violence, drug taking and selfharm behind bars, LJ is one of the rare but amazing success stories of the overcrowded prison population.
LJ used his time behind bars in 2011 to educate himself and improve his chances of making something of his life once released.
Refreshingly LJ has taken full responsibility for his past actions. When he was 21 he was involved in a fight which spiralled out of control. It landed him 14 months behind bars for the crime of GBH He says: “There was nobody else to blame except me. I was young and found myself in a situation that got totally out of hand in a split second.
“I’m a different person now, I’ve learnt a lot and I now spent as much time as I can visiting prisons to help other inmates, to show them you can be whatever you want to be if you work hard enough.”
It was while he was in Pentonville that LJ came up with the idea for his book, Cell Workout. He coped with long periods of confinement by trying to keep fit in his cell. But this wasn’t always easy.
“With limited access to the gym, I began working out in my cell,” he said.
“But unlike you see on TV and in films there are only so many standard press ups or sit ups a person can do without getting bored!
“It was then that I began thinking up specific exercises that can be done within a small space and without access to accessories and fancy weights and equipment.”
This new found passion soon led to LJ studying for a City and Guilds personal training course and in turn to him securing a job working in the prison gym.
LJ then found he was inundated by fellow inmates asking him to come up with structured workouts for them – exercises they too could do while locked up in their confining space.
He says: “I was spending 23 hours a day in my cell. It was hard. Like most people will tell you though the most difficult part was being away for so long from friends and family. That’s what gets you the most. It’s a lonely time.
“For me exercise really helped me to cope with it all, both physically and mentally.
“But like a lot of people who are interested in their personal fitness, I only knew the basics of training, using weights and cardio. After scouring the prison library looking for sources to help write these programs, I soon realised that information was very limited, barely skimming the surface of what I was looking for.”
Eventually LJ put pen to paper, and came up with various exercises for each body part, writing the descriptions and drawing diagrams to go with the text. This became the blueprint for his book.
When he was released from Pentonville, LJ embraced his new found fitness regime and became a personal trainer at a Virgin Active gym in Chigwell. He also decided to publish his Cell Workout book to reach a wider audience.
“Once I got out I had access to the Internet and spent hours researching the topic. Months later I finally had a clear vision of what I wanted my book to be – a definitive and extensive guide to bodyweight training.
That is exactly what I had wanted but couldn’t find, when I needed it most.”
LJ was helped in making his book idea a reality by the Essex Innovation Programme and The Prince’s Trust who helped him through the logistics of publishing. Cell Workout is now selling well on Amazon and has even sold in America and across Europe. LJ is keen to point out the exercise regime is ideal for anyone who has a shortage of space in which to work out, including people living in flats or bedsits.
“Although it was born out of exercising in a prison cell the exercises are for everyone,” he said.
LJ nowworks as a personal trainer with clients across Essex and also is in the process of starting his own educational and fitness business to support prisoners and especially young offenders.
He has visited several prisons lately to take inmates through his high intensity cell workout programme – though this time entering through the front door as a visitor.
He added; “I also talk about how I ended up in prison and how I have changed my life.
“I hope to encourage others to do something positive when they get out. I especially want to work closer with young and vulnerable prisoners who have a high chance of re-offending because of the lack of education support in prison and in their backgrounds.”
LJ also says the biggest lesson he’s learnt from life on the inside is not to take people for granted: “I’ve got an massive appreciation of what I have in life – a wonderful girlfriend, family and friends,” he said.
“Prison is not a nice place, it’s daunting and I never want to go back.
There are a lot of others out there who feel the same, they just need a bit of support. Becoming an author is something I never thought could have happened to me, but I have.
“It’s given me a tremendous sense of achievement and I want to help others get that same feeling.”
ý L.J will be making a personal appearance at Basildon Library in St Martin’s Square, on March 8 at 7.30pm as part of the Essex Book Festival.
Tickets cost £7 for adults, £5 for under 25 year olds.
Call 01206 573948 or log onto essexbookfestival.org.uk or www.cell-workout.com
But in reality exercising within the confines of four very small walls in nothing so glamorous – or easy.
Essex based author LJ Flanders knows this from experience. The 26-year-old has gone from Pentonville inmate to personal trainer and businessman after deciding to turn the negative aspects of a 14-month stint in the north London prison, into a positive.
As David Cameron last week pledged to bring in the “biggest shake-up of prisons since the Victorian era” and vowed to crack down on levels of violence, drug taking and selfharm behind bars, LJ is one of the rare but amazing success stories of the overcrowded prison population.
LJ used his time behind bars in 2011 to educate himself and improve his chances of making something of his life once released.
Refreshingly LJ has taken full responsibility for his past actions. When he was 21 he was involved in a fight which spiralled out of control. It landed him 14 months behind bars for the crime of GBH He says: “There was nobody else to blame except me. I was young and found myself in a situation that got totally out of hand in a split second.
“I’m a different person now, I’ve learnt a lot and I now spent as much time as I can visiting prisons to help other inmates, to show them you can be whatever you want to be if you work hard enough.”
It was while he was in Pentonville that LJ came up with the idea for his book, Cell Workout. He coped with long periods of confinement by trying to keep fit in his cell. But this wasn’t always easy.
“With limited access to the gym, I began working out in my cell,” he said.
“But unlike you see on TV and in films there are only so many standard press ups or sit ups a person can do without getting bored!
“It was then that I began thinking up specific exercises that can be done within a small space and without access to accessories and fancy weights and equipment.”
This new found passion soon led to LJ studying for a City and Guilds personal training course and in turn to him securing a job working in the prison gym.
LJ then found he was inundated by fellow inmates asking him to come up with structured workouts for them – exercises they too could do while locked up in their confining space.
He says: “I was spending 23 hours a day in my cell. It was hard. Like most people will tell you though the most difficult part was being away for so long from friends and family. That’s what gets you the most. It’s a lonely time.
“For me exercise really helped me to cope with it all, both physically and mentally.
“But like a lot of people who are interested in their personal fitness, I only knew the basics of training, using weights and cardio. After scouring the prison library looking for sources to help write these programs, I soon realised that information was very limited, barely skimming the surface of what I was looking for.”
Eventually LJ put pen to paper, and came up with various exercises for each body part, writing the descriptions and drawing diagrams to go with the text. This became the blueprint for his book.
When he was released from Pentonville, LJ embraced his new found fitness regime and became a personal trainer at a Virgin Active gym in Chigwell. He also decided to publish his Cell Workout book to reach a wider audience.
“Once I got out I had access to the Internet and spent hours researching the topic. Months later I finally had a clear vision of what I wanted my book to be – a definitive and extensive guide to bodyweight training.
That is exactly what I had wanted but couldn’t find, when I needed it most.”
LJ was helped in making his book idea a reality by the Essex Innovation Programme and The Prince’s Trust who helped him through the logistics of publishing. Cell Workout is now selling well on Amazon and has even sold in America and across Europe. LJ is keen to point out the exercise regime is ideal for anyone who has a shortage of space in which to work out, including people living in flats or bedsits.
“Although it was born out of exercising in a prison cell the exercises are for everyone,” he said.
LJ nowworks as a personal trainer with clients across Essex and also is in the process of starting his own educational and fitness business to support prisoners and especially young offenders.
He has visited several prisons lately to take inmates through his high intensity cell workout programme – though this time entering through the front door as a visitor.
He added; “I also talk about how I ended up in prison and how I have changed my life.
“I hope to encourage others to do something positive when they get out. I especially want to work closer with young and vulnerable prisoners who have a high chance of re-offending because of the lack of education support in prison and in their backgrounds.”
LJ also says the biggest lesson he’s learnt from life on the inside is not to take people for granted: “I’ve got an massive appreciation of what I have in life – a wonderful girlfriend, family and friends,” he said.
“Prison is not a nice place, it’s daunting and I never want to go back.
There are a lot of others out there who feel the same, they just need a bit of support. Becoming an author is something I never thought could have happened to me, but I have.
“It’s given me a tremendous sense of achievement and I want to help others get that same feeling.”
ý L.J will be making a personal appearance at Basildon Library in St Martin’s Square, on March 8 at 7.30pm as part of the Essex Book Festival.
Tickets cost £7 for adults, £5 for under 25 year olds.
Call 01206 573948 or log onto essexbookfestival.org.uk or www.cell-workout.com
____________________________________
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