Archives for June 2014

New York State of Mind and Body

June 24, 2014 By Danny Kavadlo 18 Comments

Danny Kavadlo One Arm Chin Up at the NYC PCC Workshop

Start Spreadin’ the News

One year ago, when Dragon Door launched the Progressive Calisthenics Certification, we knew we were onto something big. It was an idea whose time had come. As the calisthenics movement exploded worldwide, more and more people wanted to learn about training themselves and others in the art of beautiful strength. A practice we’d been doing for decades started receiving big accolades in the past twelve months.

The Progressive Calisthenics Certification began with a single 3-Day workshop in Dragon Door’s hometown of the St. Paul, and has quickly made its way across the globe. To date, there have been PCCs in places as diverse as Germany, Ireland and Australia, with future certifications scheduled in Sweden, Holland, Italy and more. PCC unites bodyweight enthusiasts from all parts of the world and all walks of life. You could call it a “melting pot.” Reminds me of a place I know well…

Progressive Calisthenics in the New York Times — One year ago. (Click here to read the article)

The Hometown Crowd

My brother (and fellow PCC Instructor) Al Kavadlo and I are native New Yorkers, born and bred in the County of Kings. So was legendary calisthenics forerunner Jasper Benincasa. Many of the earliest, (and most contemporary) practitioners of “Street Workout” are from New York. It’s a magical place. There’s a reason NYC is the quintessential Metropolis: the bright lights of Broadway, the charm of Little Italy, the Coney Island boardwalk.

Like the City itself, the people of New York are known for a great many things, particularly their passion. Just like the people drawn to Progressive Calisthenics.

Whether practicing advanced pull-ups or manipulating mobility, we celebrate every moment.

Al and Danny Kavadlo Archer Pull-ups at the NYC PCC workshop

Fuggetaboutit!

Trainers, fighters, martial artists, athletes and working professionals gathered around and trained side by side. There was no competition. Each individual was focused on being the best version of themselves. We all worked together to bring out the best in each other.

Fellow New York native, forefather of the One-Arm Chin-Up, and training partner of Jasper Benincasa, Jack Arnow was a teacher as much as a student. In his signature style, Jack generously shared his wisdom and knowledge with a new generation of bodyweight aficionados. Jack also demonstrated muscle-ups and front levers. He even did the entire Century test while talking. The man inspires everybody.

Jack Arnow One-Arm Chin-up Comedown at the NYC PCC

Represent

It’s hard to believe that it’s over. After making so many friends and witnessing so many PR’s (levers, flags, pistol squats and more), it seems to have flown by in a New York minute.

Still, the experience we had will last a lifetime. From the bottom of my heart, I am proud of every single one of our newly certified PCC’s. I look forward to having you represent Progressive Calisthenics everywhere. Train hard and be true to you. The posse’s gettin’ bigger.

NYC PCC Workshop June 2014 Group Photo

Keep the dream alive,
-DK

***

Danny Kavadlo is one of the world’s most established and respected personal trainers. He is a Master Instructor of Progressive Calisthenics and the author of Everybody Needs Training: Proven Success Secrets for the Professional Fitness Trainer. A true in-person experience, Danny is known globally as a motivator and leader in the body-weight community. Learn more about Danny at: www.DannyTheTrainer.com.

Progressive Calisthenics: Like Riding A Bike

June 17, 2014 By Wayne Salter 2 Comments

Wayne Salter At Minneapolis PCC With Instructors

This past April, I was fortunate enough to attend the fifth Progressive Calisthenics Certification in Minneapolis, MN. I was a bit nervous about attending: I had recently undergone hand surgery, which kept me from working out for several months. Furthermore, just one month prior to PCC, I was diagnosed with a torn meniscus. At the age of 45, I was wondering if I was biting off more than I could chew. Leading up to PCC, I actually had dreams that would wake me at night of my knee giving out during the PCC’s final physical test, The Century…but luckily the knee held out and so did I!

As a police officer on a SWAT team, my fitness goals include getting in the best physical shape that I can and maintaining it for a lifetime. That means staying lean, strong, flexible and injury free. Unlike many commercial gym-goers, I don’t chase numeric goals or take expensive chemicals. I’m certainly not against mainstream fitness, but there is more to it to me than increased external poundage. Sadly, for a lot of people, it’s all too easy to get caught up in numbers or obsess over one single muscle. Many lose track of the purity of exercise and the unity of the human body, which is made to function as a whole.

Something I love about calisthenics is that just about all the moves require total body tension—elimination of perceived “isolation”. If you are questioning what I’m saying, try knocking out some one-arm pushups. If you can’t do them on the floor yet, then lean against a table, or even the wall, and try some. Seriously, go ahead and give it a shot! You will see that you MUST engage your whole body from your shoulder to your feet, or else you will end up in a twisted heap on the floor!

PCC helped me understand how bodyweight exercises can be adjusted in difficulty from beginner to advanced levels, even to the super-cool bodyweight feats of strength that Al and Danny Kavadlo are becoming famous for. Anyone can jump into the world of bodyweight training at whatever level is appropriate for them.

I’m finding a lot of people think PCC is just about learning some “cool” moves, but it’s much more. It’s learning techniques to use your body weight to do functional-type exercises and to be able to adjust the level of difficulty to fit a person at any fitness level – plus body weight exercises improve your body awareness, balance and flexibility.

PCC Instructor, Wayne Salter, Demonstrates a Clutch Flag I love analogies. The following is how I see calisthenics:

Calisthenic progressions can be compared to the use of a baby’s walker or even a circus performer’s unicycle, not to mention many things in between, all of which apply the principles of PCC. A baby’s walker is short and close to the ground, with several points of contact to the floor. This is similar to a modified push up on your knees – making the body shorter puts leverage in your favor, hence creating an easier regression. It is also similar to how a wide stance makes for an easier squat when compared to a narrow one.

Next, a toddler can progress to a tricycle – a little higher and with three points of contact. After a while, a child can ride a bicycle with training wheels – still three points of contact, but the points are closer together and the body is positioned higher, just like with the mighty pushup, which can be made easier by placing your feet farther apart and, conversely, tougher by bringing them together or even lifting one foot off the floor. Placing your feet on an elevated surface adds to the challenge as well.

Next is the classic bicycle. Even higher still, and with only two points of contact. A bicycle requires the rider to maintain balance. Many bodyweight exercises incorporate this element… Do you see a pattern? Handstands and Gecko Push-Ups are great examples of how balance affects the challenge. I tried and loved (and bought) a pair of Neuro-Grips at the PCC. If you really want to step up your game, try experimenting with push-ups, planks, or even L-Sits on these bad boys! You’ll see what I mean.

Wayne Salter PCC Neuro-Grips L-sit

I believe anything is possible. If a person has the desire, they can progress to the unicycle, one-arm pull-ups, pistol squats, elbow levers, and more. Like a unicycle, there is only one point of contact in these advanced variations.

A person can approach any particular exercise and pick it up at an appropriate level for them. The exercises and all their variations continue to make me stronger, leaner and more flexible – plus I’m strengthening my joints which goes a long way towards injury prevention.

Although I was partially attracted to PCC because of how physically impressive some of the advanced moves are, I also took home more practical knowledge and experience than I could have previously imagined. With a Progressive Calisthenics Certification, I’m not just looking forward to sharing the information with others, I’m looking forward to having a great time doing it, which is also what it’s all about. Working out shouldn’t be a chore – it can be fun… just like riding a bike!

Danny Kavadlo On Bicycle

***

Wayne Salter served in the Army in the 82nd Airborne for four years and was a full time personal fitness trainer before becoming a police officer. He can be reached at: wayne0218@yahoo.com. He can also be reached through his website: www.exercise-guide-to-lose-weight.com

PCC Germany: Engineered for Excellence

June 11, 2014 By Al Kavadlo 18 Comments

Al and Danny Kavadlo demonstrate hanging L-Sits at a bus stop in Munich, Germany — PCC Lead Instructors Al and Danny Kavadlo hanging out in Munich.

Last weekend my brother Danny and I traveled to Munich, Germany to lead a Progressive Calisthenics Certifcation at PCC instructor Robert Rimoczi’s new gym, KRABA.

We were met with a warm welcome (literally – the weather was beautiful!) and got to spend three fun-filled days teaching Progressive Calisthenics to a great group of energetic, talented bodyweight athletes.

Between the various pull-up bars, flag poles and all the open space for floor training, KRABA was easily one of the best facilities we’ve ever had the pleasure of using for a PCC event!

Al and Danny leading the PCC in Munich Germany at KRABA

As always, a mix of both fitness professionals and enthusiasts showed up to hone their bodyweight skills and take on The Century to attempt to earn the title of PCC instructor.

Calisthenics practitioners from eight different countries including Italy, Scotland and even the USA were in attendance.

Just like every PCC event, we spent three days practicing push-ups, pull-ups, pistol squats, back bridges, headstands, handstands, human flags and more!

The weekend was filled with exciting new achievements and personal bests from all the attendees!

At the end of the weekend, we had a whole bunch of newly certified PCC trainers – and perhaps even more importantly – a lot of new friends! We can’t wait to go back and do it again next year!

Thank you to Robert Rimozci and our wonderful assistants Steven Graves and Moritz Rammensee for their help throughout the weekend. Check out KRABA’s Facebook page for more photos from the event.

If you’d like to attend the Progressive Calisthenics Certification, take a look at the complete schedule of upcoming PCC events, including newly added dates in Wisconsin and California. I hope you will come join our growing PCC family!

We’re Working Out!
Al

Group photo from PCC Germany in Munich at KRABA 2014

***

Al Kavadlo is the lead instructor for Dragon Door’s Progressive Calisthenics Certification. Recognized worldwide for his amazing bodyweight feats of strength as well as his unique coaching style, Al is the author of four books, including Stretching Your Boundaries, Raising The Bar: The Definitive Guide to Pull-up Bar Calisthenics and Pushing The Limits! Total Body Strength With No Equipment. Read more about Al on his website:www.AlKavadlo.com.

C-MASS: A gift for the PCC community!

June 3, 2014 By Paul "Coach" Wade 180 Comments

[ssba_hide] Around seven months back, I wrote a two-part post for this blog, called The Ten Commandments of Calisthenics Mass. I wrote it because, in my experience, many athletes know how to use bodyweight to build strength and skill—but very few really understand how to use calisthenics as a powerful tool to maximize dense muscle mass.

I didn’t realize it when I was writing it, but the piece turned out to be the most popular post ever published on the blog. I love hearing from the bodyweight athletes out there, so I was real happy to get, and answer, ten comments. But then I got twenty. Then fifty. Eventually, the piece had hundreds of comments, and I had a mountain of questions by email, too. The article had really hit a nerve—a huge amount of blog readers were clearly starving for more information on old school bodyweight bodybuilding. A lot more.

AlfredMoss
Many modern trainees have been taught that only external weights build muscle, and bodyweight is simply for fitness. A century ago, the opposite was true. Most of the truly muscular men—like Alfred Moss—used calisthenics to get big, and only ever employed super-light dumbbells for conditioning.

Then a member of the community had a smart idea. Somebody suggested—for convenience sake—that we weld the two posts together, and throw in a bunch of the questions and answers I’d been discussing. We could publish this as a short PDF, free to members of the PCC community.

This was a great idea, but I decided to go one better.

You see, I’m passionate about bodyweight bodybuilding. I love it. And talking to all you guys and girls on the blog had ignited that fire hotter than ever! I wanted you all to love it too, to see calisthenics mass-training the way I have always seen it.

So as I was putting the little PDF together, something happened. I started to really get into it…found I was setting down all of my “secrets”…my favorite exercises, my hard-won tactics, my long-held theories about bodybuilding routines…

…and before I knew it, I had added over a hundred dense pages of totally new material! I made this little book into a big book, representing the last word on bodyweight mass building!

When I was done, I crammed this new volume with dozens of cutting-edge bodyweight training shots, as well as old school photos, instructional illustrations, graphs and tons of other cool stuff! After months of effort, I was finally as proud as a new poppa. I called my latest baby C-MASS—for calisthenics mass—and I’m not lying when I tell you that I love this book at least as much as Convict Conditioning.

Here she is!

I know what you are thinking—probably what I would be thinking, reading this post. I’d be thinking: okay…he’s gonna try and sell us something now. He said the book would be free to the PCC community, but because the book has so much extra content, he’s decided to cash in on it.

I would think that too. But I’d be wrong. When it comes to my bodyweight brothers and sisters, I’m a man of my word. Only for the PCC community and regular readers of this blog, I’m giving you the chance to get your FREE copy of C-MASS, today.

[Offer is now closed]

Simply enter your details, and as soon as Dragon Door staff have verified that your request is appropriate, they will shoot you your own complete digital copy of C-MASS! (In the form, there’s a question asking why you qualify for a copy of the manual. Just tell them that you are a follower of the blog, a member of the PCC community, or whatever else makes it right.)

This gift-offer has a window of one week—the webpage above is temporary and will close on Tuesday, June 10^th. I worked real hard on this book, and I would dearly love all of you reading this to receive this little gift from me. So please grab it now!

What’s the catch?

There is no catch. The gift is yours, no-strings-attached. However, note that Dragon Door has already been selling C-Mass as an inexpensive e-book and is working on the design for a paperback version, which should be published in a couple of months. So, perhaps you’ve already got the sucker! Then consider this a second copy you can share with someone who could really use it.

I’m not the only one who has worked on this project out of love, either—the entire PCC team has taken part! When I told them I was writing a new book, Al Kavadlo and his brother Danny offered to donate all the high-quality photos I needed. They asked for nothing, and bent over backwards (in the case of the bridging images, literally!) to get me everything I asked for. Likewise, John Du Cane threw all his support behind the project, donating PCC event photos and handing me all the resources I needed to get this thing done. What a goddam gentleman!

Even the lovely-but-super-busy Senior PCC Adrienne Harvey threw in a great photo—plus, it was the Girya Girl herself who took the amazing cover shot! The entire team pulled together for this. It is a true honor to work with such talented people, people who will drop everything, just for a chance to give something back to the bodyweight community.

The PCC team put this together as a labor of love, just to show our heartfelt gratitude to all of you—the amazing PCC community who have supported us SO MUCH over this, our first year. I’m not just talking about all you future-legends who attended our certs, or the phenomenal athletes who have won the right to bear the letters PCC after their name. I’m also talking about all the wonderful folks who have spread the word, checked out this blog, made a comment, or just plain shown interest in what we are doing.

Guys—you are amazing. Thank you so much for being with us. With you enlisting in the Bodyweight PCC Army, this first year has been mind-blowing. Next year is gonna be even better!

…so what are you waitin’ for? Go get your free book!

Paul

PS. If you enjoy it, please come tell the world here.