Getting buff behind bars.

Filippo Cardone, 48, used to be able to eat a whole pizza by himself — and his workout routine was almost non-existent.

But in August of 2024, he pled guilty to wire fraud and was sentenced to 37 months of confinement, including 13 months in Tucson Federal Prison and time in a halfway house and on house arrest.

And he didn’t waste his time while locked up. Instead, he developed a “grueling” fitness regimen — including a “Mike Tyson”-like training routine — along with a strict diet that helped him drop almost 90 pounds. He came out a changed man.

“I was the healthiest I had ever been when I got out of prison,” he told The Post.

Cardone launched his career as a floor trader at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, where he traded in the S&P futures pit and NASDAQ 100 futures pit. He went on to invest in real estate and buy commercial properties, including shopping centers and flipping thousands of homes across the country.

But in November of 2023, he was arrested and charged with wire fraud in a scheme involving Bitcoin. He ultimately pled guilty to one count and reported to prison in June 2025.

When he got there, he was immediately confronted with the state of his health.

“The first thing they do when you get to prison is they take down your name and replace you with a number,” he recalled. “I was at 278 pounds and my blood pressure was at 157/117, so I was already really defeated.”

“Going in, I didn’t know what to expect — but I did know that this would be the perfect time for me to get in shape.”

The commissary diet

Inside, Cardone overhauled his diet. On a typical day, he’d eat a packet of about two ounces of shredded beef — off of which he would rinse the oil — as well as a packet of tuna. They each cost $1.95 from commissary.

“It wasn’t a nice tuna can, like a Chicken of the Sea, because you can use the metal to make knives or weapons and stab someone,” he said.

He would put the tuna in a bowl with salt and pepper and mix it with hot peppers to make it “tastier.” The “guys in the kitchen” would also make a “special salad” for him topped with peppers, lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers when they were available.

For added nutritional value, he’d make protein shakes with protein powder, milk and peanut butter every morning.

Other foods that made it into the rotation included bananas, oranges, oatmeal, peanuts and clams, when they were available.

Perhaps most eyebrow-raising was that he tried to keep himself to a restricted intermittent fasting window: All meals were to be eaten between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m., no exceptions.

“I would work out from 5:30 to 7:30 in the morning, do laundry, shower and eat. The rest of the day I would just fill up jugs of water,” he said.

Altogether, he believes he consumed up to around 600 calories a day — and claims even with so little, his bloodwork came back in good shape.

Slammer strong

Then came the fitness routine. With the help of a fellow inmate who would become his close friend and fitness trainer, he embarked on an intense strength-training regimen — a far cry from his more “relaxed” approach of uphill treadmill walks and free weights before jail.

“Strength training ensured I wouldn’t lose muscle, especially as I still needed protein to build up. I had to pivot after I lost so much weight, so to avoid getting saggy, we hung a rake across the dip bar and I would practice pull-ups and lots of squats,” he said.

“If I take my shirt off, you’ll see I don’t have any loose skin or stretch marks. I did it the right way.”

His workouts started at 5 a.m. Cardone tackled a mix of muscle groups in high intensity intervals, including burpees, push-ups, bear crawls, planks, super mans, jumping jacks, pull ups and lunges, all in the “dripping sweat” of the Arizona heat.

One of his “most insane workouts,” though, was what they called the “Mike Tyson,” which involved doing 2,000 push-ups, 2,000 body weight squats, 500 dips and 2,500 crunches.

When it came to equipment, he and his trainer pal had to improvise — including making their own weights with laundry bags that they would fill up with rocks which they would then use to do curls.

He’d also walk — then jog — laps around the yard.

Making progress

To keep track of his progress, Cardone weighed himself on the prison’s “broken down” scale every day. Within four months’ time, he realized he had dropped from 278 to 238 pounds.

“The first 40 pounds are usually the easiest to lose, as that is the liquid weight from water and bloating,” he said.

Six months before his release date, his trainer friend decided it was time to “step it up.” “My body started transforming into muscle and I really built up my shoulders and a strong core,” he said.

“One thing I learned about prison is you have to keep your center and balance and it grows who you are. It’s something you always think about, and my workout routines bring me right back there. It changed my life; it saved my life in that way.”

When he finally walked out of federal prison before entering the halfway house, he weighed 193 pounds, 85 pounds less than when he first stepped in.

He realizes that his time in prison could have been spent very differently given his more prosperous circumstances.

“I’ve got a few bucks, so for a guy like me going into prison, I could have easily flopped and eaten like a fat pig and acted like a big shot,” he acknowledged.

Instead, he decided to keep his head down and blend in among the other inmates.

“Before this experience, no one could tell me what I could or couldn’t do — I had power and money — but every day I do a workout, it humbles me,” he said.

What comes next

Cardone transitioned to a halfway house in July and will remain there for a total of five months before going on house arrest.

In an effort to use his experience to inspire others, he has plans to open performance clubs offering blood testing on premises, plus high-end facilities including saunas, a hyperbaric chamber, steam rooms and red-light therapy.

He hopes to start with five or six locations and imagines opening within three to five years. He also plans to sell his own line of vitamins and protein powders.

“This journey isn’t about money for me, I already have money, it’s about giving back,” he said.