Matt Schifferle

How to Build Your Own Suspension Trainer

November 28, 2017 By Matt Schifferle 8 Comments

Matt Schifferle DIY Suspension Trainer

Suspension trainers are the multi-tool of the calisthenics world. You can do hundreds of exercises with them for almost any goal imaginable. They are ideal for mimicking classic weight machine exercises like chest flys, triceps extensions, and core work. Suspension trainers give you hundreds of exercises that can enhance and supplement your training. Suspending your feet, like in the image on the left, can make planks much more challenging. You can also simulate weight machine exercises, like the triceps extension on the right. A suspension trainer is the closest thing you can get to a truly portable gym. They really come in handy when you need to do pull-ups, rows, and dips while traveling.

Almost a decade ago, I purchased some of the easiest suspension trainers to come on the market. But, I quickly became obsessed with creating my own customized designs. I don’t even want to think about the time and money I’ve spent trying to develop a suspension trainer I was happy with. Every version I created had flaws and drawbacks, so I would scrap the design and start all over again. I quickly became obsessively picky with my designs and drew up a list of qualities I wanted. These included:

Dual anchor points so the straps can be set up at any width to accommodate your unique build and what’s best for each exercise.
Full vertical handle adjustment so the handles can go from an inch above the floor to an overhead reach.
Small and lightweight, so it’s ultra-portable.
Super easy to set up and take down within a minute.
Strong, safe and durable enough for weighted dips and pull ups.
Ergonomic without any rough edges or elements that impede movement.
Universal anchoring so you can hang it from points above that are within and beyond your reach.
Quick and easy infinite handle height adjustment so you can place the handles at any height.
Can easily accommodate a variety of accessories.
Can be made from inexpensive and readily available materials.

I lost a lot of sleep trying to figure out how to make all of these requirements work within one design but I finally got it right with what I call the prusik trainer.

Matt Schifferle DIY Suspension Trainer

The prusik trainer uses rope instead of nylon straps like most other suspension trainers. Rope is the ultimate smart device. It’s reliable, inexpensive and readily available. It allows you to easily customize every characteristic of the trainer to your specific needs, because rope gets its functionality from knots. Nylon suspension straps use metal hardware and stitching which work, but they add bulk, weight and cost. Hardware and stitching also compromise the versatility of the suspension trainer. Once you stitch a loop into a strap, you can’t make that loop bigger or smaller later. Knots give you all of the functional qualities you need without the weight, bulk, cost and lack of versatility. Metal hardware can also wear out nylon straps over time. Knots have much more longevity.

Materials You’ll Need:

Two lengths of 8mm climbing rope 9-12 feet long
Two lengths of 4mm climbing rope 3.5 feet long
Handle material from either PVC or a weight machine handle
Small razor blade and light grit sand paper if using PVC handles
Climbing tape

I buy my rope from outdoor supply stores like REI, where they can cut it to the length I need. If possible, have a professional cut your rope there at the shop. Most shops cut the rope with a heated tool that melts the ends and prevents fraying.

Knots You’ll Need to Know

Bowline knot
Fisherman’s knot
Prusik knot

Matt Schifferle DIY Suspension Trainer Knots

These knots are cinch knots, so the more weight you place on them, the tighter they hold. They are not too complicated, but I do recommend practicing how to tie them correctly before building your first suspension trainer. You can find videos and instructions on how to tie these knots at animatedknots.com.

How to Build a Prusik Trainer

Once you understand how to tie the knots, building a prusik trainer is quick and easy. First, take your 8mm anchor rope and tie a bowline knot into one end to create a two inch diameter loop. This loop will serve as the anchor point you will throw over an overhead bar and feed the handle through.

Matt Schifferle DIY Suspension Trainer Step1 — Tie a bowline knot into the end of your 8mm rope ensuring the loop is large enough to fit your handle through. This will allow you to set up and take down your trainer without having to remove the handle. Be sure to leave some extra rope at each end of the knot to reduce the risk of it coming undone.

Matt Schifferle DIY Suspension Trainer Step 2 — Throw the bowline knot over a sturdy overhead support that can easily support your weight. Thread the other end through the loop and pull it down to lock the rope around the support.

Next, take the 4mm handle rope and feed it through your handle and connect the two ends with a fisherman’s knot.

Matt Schifferle DIY Suspension Trainer Step 3 — Run the 4mm rope through the handle you’ve selected and tie the ends together with a fisherman’s knot. Rotate the rope so the knot is inside the handle.

Next, tie the handle rope to your anchor rope using a prussic knot with 3-4 loops. I find it’s easier to tie the prussic knot around the anchor rope when it is hanging with some tension pulling down on it. You can stand on the end of the rope or ask someone else to gently pull down on the rope it to keep it tight.

Matt Schifferle DIY Suspension Trainer Step 4 — Place some tension on the hanging 8mm rope. Wrap the handle around the 8mm rope 3-4 times. Do this by feeding the handle through the loop on the other side of the handle.

Finally, smooth out the overlapping handle rope so it hugs the 8mm rope. Be sure your prusik knot loops are flat to securely grip the 8mm rope.

Matt Schifferle DIY Suspension Trainer Step 5 — Move the two ends of the prusik knot together and smooth out any overlapping loops so they all lay flat and hug the anchor rope securely.

Be sure the fisherman’s knot remains inside the handle rather than outside it. One reason is the knot won’t rub against your arm while doing push-ups and dips. The other is to prevent the knot from moving to the prussic knot and jamming it. Jamming will compromise the safety of the prusik knot.

Matt Schifferle DIY Suspension Trainer Handle Knot Diagram

What Kind of Handle Should You Use?

You have two options when making the handles for your suspension trainer: PVC pipe or handles from a commercial weight machine. I’ve used both and each option has its pros and cons.

Like rope, the advantage of using PVC is that you can custom build your handle in any length and diameter. People with larger hands may prefer a beefy handle about 1-1.5 inches in diameter and 5.5-6 inches long. Smaller hands tend to work best with a 3/4 -1-inch diameter pipe that’s about 5 inches long. PVC is also inexpensive and available in most hardware stores.

Matt Schifferle DIY Suspension Taped PVC Handles — PVC handles are inexpensive and highly customizable, but they do take a little more work to produce a finished handle that works properly.

The disadvantages of PVC are that it is a bit tricky to cut with smooth edges that won’t wear into the handle rope. If you use PVC, you must make sure each cut is at a 90-degree angle to avoid angled ends that can make rotating the handle feel uneven. More importantly, you’ll need to smooth out the inside and outside edges of the handles to minimize wear on your rope. I cannot stress enough how important it is to make sure the rotation of your handle is as smooth as butter under load. If not, you’ll risk wearing out your rope which can lead to it fraying and failing under load.

I’ve been able to smooth out the ends of PVC with a razor blade and a sanding block. Creating a smooth edge takes a little practice. Shave off the inside lip so that there are no nicks or bumps. Sanding down the ends of each handle takes time and patience, but it’s well worth it for a smooth finish.

Matt Schifferle DIY Suspension Trainer Handle Cuts

Once your handles are cut and smoothed, wrap them in climbing tape to give them a grip texture that won’t slip. Climbing tape has a similar feel to hockey tape but holds up better. The tacky adhesive won’t bleed through over time and it won’t get on your hands. You can also pick up a roll when buying your rope at the outdoor store.

Matt Schifferle DIY Suspension Trainer Tape and Handles — Climbing tape is a useful way to add some grip to the smooth texture of PVC. It’s also more durable and doesn’t leave a tacky residue like hockey or duct tape.

The other option for handles is to buy weight machine handles with a nylon strap. You can find these in many fitness equipment stores or online.

Matt Schifferle DIY Suspension Weight Machine Handles — Commercial grade weight machine handles are perfect for building your own suspension trainer. Just cut off the nylon strap and you’re good to go!

These handles are more expensive than PVC, but they are a commercially produced product designed for physical training. They are a good fit for most size hands, have smooth edges and provide a sure-grip texture. Most of them will come with a nylon loop attached. You can feed your handle rope through the D-ring on the loop, but I just cut it off to save bulk and weight. The D-rings can also get in the way of your arm or elbow during pushing moves.

So, that is my DIY prusik trainer. In a future post, I’ll share some of my favorite exercises along with some fun accessories you can add to the trainer. Feel free to drop any comments or questions down below.

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Matt Schifferle, PCC Team Leader a.k.a. The Fit Rebel made a switch to calisthenics training 5 years ago in an effort to rehab his weight lifting injuries. Since then he’s been on a personal quest to discover and teach the immense benefits of advanced body weight training. You can find some of his unique bodyweight training methods at RedDeltaProject.com and on his YouTube channel: RedDeltaProject.

Three Keys to Unlock Calisthenics Muscle

February 7, 2017 By Matt Schifferle 9 Comments

Al Leading PCC

Building muscle has always been my main objective and it probably always will be. This is just as true with my calisthenics training as it was when I hoisted the iron. I wouldn’t have anything to do with progressive calisthenics if I harbored even the slightest doubt that it could pack on beef.

I fully believe it’s possible to gain muscle with calisthenics, which I know is a perception that’s a little left of center from many who seek bigger arms and a wider back. I credit my unusual perception to the fact that I don’t think like most people when it comes to building muscle, much less building it with calisthenics. Here are some of the biggest ways my mind has shifted over the years:

It’s Not About My Routine

I follow a very simple workout routine that’s based off of the Veterano plan in Convict Conditioning. It’s simple, basic and easy to wedge into my schedule. One thing’s for sure, I certainly don’t credit it with building muscle.

I depend on my routine like a rocket depends on a launch pad. It provides structure, balance and points me in the right direction. Beyond that, I don’t expect much else from it. I don’t believe it’s the key to building muscle or dialing in some secret combination that’s going to bring me success.

My routines are simple, but that's not why I build muscle. — My routines are simple, but that’s not why I build muscle.

I also don’t concern myself too much with rep ranges. I don’t shoot for a specific range of reps that’s supposedly best for building muscle. I’ve been successful with low reps, high reps and everything in between. As far as I’m concerned the best rep range for building muscle is always how many reps I can do now, plus one more.

It’s Not About My Diet

I used to eat super clean back in the day. The funny thing is, I made much faster gains when I loosened up and ate a pretty liberal diet. These days, there’s not a whole lot I won’t and don’t eat, from steamed broccoli to ice cream.

When it comes to muscle hypertrophy, a healthy diet is part of the recovery process. This means a good diet should remove stress from your life, not increase it. This goes for both physical and mental stress. A diet that causes guilt, cravings and unsatisfied hunger is an unhealthy diet. After all, how can a diet be considered healthy if it’s just one more thing you need to recover from? That’s like taking a vacation that stresses you out!

Most of my diet is pretty basic. Lots of plant foods and some protein at each meal is key. I keep treats as treats and generally stay away from beverages with sugar and calories. I eat what I like, when I like and how I like. Most of the time that means whipping up a stir fry or a kale salad with salmon. Sometimes it means ordering pizza and downing a beer or two.

I also don’t “eat big to get big.” I’ve tried that method many times but it always just made me softer. Admittedly, I have eaten more when I’m making gains from time to time. The difference is I’m not making gains because I’m eating more. I’m eating more because I’m making gains. I just listen to my body and trust that it will ask for more when it needs it. If it’s not telling me it needs more food then I respect that as well.

It’s Not About My Equipment

I used to work for a store that sold home fitness equipment. Everyday I heard the idea that getting results was all about using the right equipment. I crammed my small apartment full of gadgets and doo-dads believing it was the key to success.

It’s funny how things change. These days, all I want is a solid pull-up bar and I’m good to go. I’ve learned that 99.99% of success in training depends on how you use your muscles, not whether a weight machine is designed with the correct “vector articulation angles.”

This is why I’m always a fan of simple equipment like a pull-up station, kettlebell or gymnastics rings. The less you have to think about your gear, the more you can think about what you’re doing.

So if it’s not so much about the diet, the routine or the equipment, what is it about?

Well, to be honest, there’s not much I concern myself with. In fact, there are only 3 things I ever think about when it comes to my training:

Matt Schifferle Tension Chart

Pretty much everything I do boils down to just those three things. Even though that list is pretty short, each aspect of muscle tension can become a discipline in and of itself. I’ve made it my mission to study and learn as much as I can about each one to help me build more muscle.

To start off, I’ve become obsessed with tension control. Ever since I came across the book Muscle Control by Maxick, I’ve made it a habit to practice tensing my muscles on a daily basis. Granted, I’m not striking a bodybuilding pose in the middle of a meeting. I just lightly tense up my lats, abs or glutes a few times throughout the day. It’s not much, but I’ve found this habitual tension makes a massive difference in controlling my muscle tension in my workouts.

I also don’t rely on a certain technique to control my muscle tension. If I want my triceps to work harder in pushups I know it’s up to me to make it happen. Controlling muscle tension is the responsibility of my mind, not necessarily the exercise I’m doing.

I’m also constantly working on dialing in my technique to adjust the resistance of every exercise I do. My Taekwon-Do instructor always taught me to think like a technician in my training. We would drill down to the slightest details that might seem trivial, but can make all the difference in the world.

For example, when doing a push up, where is the weight on your hands? Is it more towards the palm or the fingers? Speaking of fingers, which fingers have more weight on them? Are you gripping with your fingers to tense up your hand and forearm? Which fingers are gripping harder? Are they pulling tension towards your thumb? Which direction is the thumb pointing? Is any of this changing as you lower yourself to the floor? Does it change even still when you push back up? How about if you pause at the top? What happens if you slightly twist like Angelo Grinceri teaches in Intrinsic Strength Training?

There's a lot more to pushups than just pushing up. — There’s a lot more to pushups than just pushing up.

I could keep writing pages about every little detail but the point is, all of these technical details serve to not only help control where tension is in the body, but how much of it is in various muscles. The slightest technical shift can make a huge difference in how much tension is in a given muscle. Every workout I do is an experiment to discover and master these small adjustments to make my muscles work as hard as possible.

Third, as Coach Wade explains in C-Mass, stimulating muscle growth is about working the muscles to a high state of fatigue. This is why I’m always working on increasing the time under tension with any exercise. Sometimes, this means doing an extra rep. Other times, It’s just half a rep or even just holding an isometric position for a couple of extra seconds at the end of the set. As long as I’m enduring just a little bit more time under tension I’m stimulating some muscle growth.

Finally, I don’t get too caught up in numbers and quantification. Sure, I keep a workout log but what’s most important to me is how an exercise feels from one workout to the next. Controlling muscle tension is just as much an artistic and sensual experience as cooking, painting or playing music. If you’re finding it easier to pop up into a handstand or do a pull up, you are making progress even if the numbers in your log don’t immediately increase.

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The Muscle Building Advantages of Calisthenics

January 10, 2017 By Matt Schifferle 30 Comments

Matt Shifferle Neutral Grip Pullup

I’ve been building muscle with bodyweight training ever since Convict Conditioning was first published. When I attended the first PCC, a few people told me they thought I still lifted weights because I had a decent amount of muscle. Not that I can blame anyone for their doubt. I was once one of those guys in the gym hogging up the preacher curl machine telling everyone that you needed to lift weights to build muscle. It’s funny how things change; now I believe calisthenics is one of the best muscle building methods, bar-none. Most of reasons for this belief are because of 5 massive muscle building advantages calisthenics offers you.

Advantage #1 Low maintenance training

Even die hard weightlifters admit that bodyweight training offers unmatched convenience and deficiency. You don’t need a gym or fancy equipment, nor do you need to wedge a long workout into a busy schedule. You just simply drop down to the floor or grab on to a bar and you’re in business.

While many admit to these advantages, others are unaware of just how convenience and efficiency are essential toward packing on muscle. This is due to the fact that building, and maintaining, a muscular physique requires months and even years of consistent training. The convenience and efficiency of calisthenics makes it easier to continue your training even as life becomes turbulent. This ensures your training stays consistent long enough to build the success you want.

Advantage #2 Technical progression

Building muscle through calisthenics isn’t really any different from building it with weights except for one thing: With weight lifting you keep your technique fairly consistent while adjusting the load you lift; with calisthenics, you use a consistent load while you modify your technique.

Progressing an exercise through technique requires you to develop more than just strength and muscle. You also need to develop the “softer” qualities like balance, stability, flexibility and muscle control.

When I first started training in progressive calisthenics I was humbled by how much I needed to work on these softer qualities. At first, it felt some of the exercises were not building strength or muscle because they were more about flexibility or stability. Eventually, I discovered that developing these softer qualities was the key to more muscle growth. The more I improved my softer qualities the more harder qualities like strength and power progressed as well.

Advantage #3 Emotional and mental focus

Effective training requires much more than tense muscle and proper technique. You need to put some heart into what you’re doing to reach beyond what you can currently do.

There’s just something about moving your body through space that requires more mental and emotional focus. Consider the difference between running on a treadmill versus hiking along in a path in the wilderness. These days, commercial gyms place televisions and similar electronic devices on their cardio equipment to stave off boredom and mental fatigue. Such distractions are not necessary and even unwelcome with bodyweight training. Through using exercises that require as much growth within your heart and mind you build the quality of your training and not just the intensity.

Advantage #4 Intellectual challenge and growth

Progressive calisthenics requires you to continuously analyze and improve how your body works. It strips away the false promise that your success depends on having the perfect routine or using the right equipment. This leaves you with little else to think about except to learn how to use your body better which is the true essence of effective training.

I wasn't able to do a pistol squat until I learned how to use my hips in a better way. — I wasn’t able to do a pistol squat until I learned how to use my hips in a better way.

Every workout is a lesson in how you are currently able to use your body and the weaknesses that you need to work on. Maybe you lack hip strength in your squats or perhaps your shoulders shrug from fatigue during push-ups. All of these little experiences invite you to explore how to adjust your technique and muscle control to improve how well you use your body.

Advantage #5 Workouts that are simple, disciplined and focused

I live by the 3 tenets of simplicity, discipline, and focus. Calisthenics embodies all three of these tenets perfectly because it requires mental and physical focus, continuous discipline and of course a simplistic approach to training.

It takes a lot of discipline to remain focused on simple workouts. The modern media constantly churns out advice that can quickly make training more complicated and fancy. Before you know it, you’re using a room full of gadgets to perform fancy exercises in a routine that’s based on rocket science. All of this fancy and complicated stuff might feel important, but it ultimately distracts you from what matters most.

Building muscle means focusing on just 3 things:

When your training involves little more than pushing yourself off the floor or lifting up your legs, there’s not a lot of clutter to distract you from working your muscles longer and harder. It may not be fancy, but that’s the point. The most exciting results are often produced from methods that appear boring at first glance.

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The Centerline Principle of Strength & Power

April 26, 2016 By Matt Schifferle 20 Comments

Matt Schifferle Centerline

I first learned about the magic of the centerline principle in martial arts. Everything from powerful kicks to dodging punches involved moving in relation to the center of my body as well as the center of my opponent.

As it turns out, the centerline is not only the key to powerful kicks but also developing strength and muscle when applied to progressive calisthenics.

Technically, your body has 3 center lines, one for each plane of movement. The scope of this post is focusing on the centerline that divides your right and left side along the sagittal plane.

Each plane has its own centerline. This article focuses on the frontal plane centerline. — Each plane has its own centerline. This article focuses on the sagittal plane centerline.

Focusing on your centerline is critical towards your strength and muscle building efforts. It opens the door towards developing more muscle control as well as improved performance. It also greatly reduces stress around your joints. Even your balance and agility will greatly improve by directing your muscle tension towards your centerline.

MattSchifferleMusculardiagram The image to the right shows how the muscles are arranged to direct muscle tension inwards towards the centerline. Almost every muscle has at least a few muscle fibers that direct force inwards towards the spine. This is yet another reason to practice back bridge progressions, as they develop all of the muscles in this image. While the bridge is classically described as a move for the posterior chain, it is also one of the best techniques for developing tension towards the centerline.

Knowing about the centerline is good, but it’s even more important to know how to use it in practical application. Below are three lessons on how to apply the centerline principle in your training.

Lesson #1: Avoid the “splat”

The centerline principal works because it encourages the tension in your muscles to converge between the right and left halves of your body. This serves as a powerful transfer of physical energy up against gravity.

You can find evidence of this even in nature, as anything that has been pushed up against the force of gravity is the result of two converging forces. A common example is the Rocky Mountains here in my home state, which were formed through converging forces deep within the earth pushing upward.

Converging forces push mountains up against the pull of gravity, just as they lift you up as well.

On the contrary, an object that does not have converging force holding it together eventually flattens out. A quick example is dropping a snowball or a glass bottle against a concrete sidewalk. As gravity pulls against the object and it meets an unyielding surface, the matter of the object spreads outwards. This is what I call the “splat effect” and it can happen to your body anytime you are working against gravity.

Gravity causes objects to spread out against the ground or floor. In this push up, I have to use my chest muscles to keep my elbows from spreading outwards.

Through directing your muscle tension towards your centerline you gain stability and muscle control so you can more effectively drive yourself up against the pull of gravity.

Lesson #2: Progressively apply force closer to your centerline

Many of the progressions in Convict Conditioning involve moving the hands and feet closer together. Close push-ups and squats are a great example of this. When you employ this style of progression you are putting force in a more direct perpendicular line against gravity. This brings you a host of benefits including greater flexibility, balance, muscle control plus more range of motion in the joints. It also forces you to be stronger since you are pushing your centerline in the most direct vector against gravity for the greatest distance possible.

Going narrow in grip or stance is a great way to make use of the centerline principle.

It’s important to understand that simply pulling your hands or feet closer to your centerline is only part of the progression. You also want to pull your elbows and knees closer in as well. To a certain degree, you can even pull your shoulders and hips in slightly. I like to think of trying to make myself as narrow as possible. This helps me draw myself inward sort of like a guy sucking in his gut on the beach, only now I’m pulling myself in sideways as opposed to front to back.

Lesson #3: “Screw” your limbs inwards

Many of the muscles in the legs and arms “wrap” around your body’s bones and joints, sort of like stripes on a candy cane. Even muscles that look like they run straight up and down the limb have an origin and insertion point that is slightly offset from one another. The reason for this is to partially create inward torque along the limb as you move about. This inward torque is very important for creating that converging force within the body when doing unilateral movement such as throwing a ball or taking a step.

Screwing in your limbs is a little counter intuitive at first because your arms and legs torque in opposite directions to one another. Your right arm and left leg torque in clockwise while your left arm and right leg torque counterclockwise. It’s sort of confusing at first, so I just keep in mind that the knees and elbows both torque inwards. The knees torque in towards your centerline as they bend in front of you, while your elbows toque inwards as they bend behind you.

As the elbows torque in or out the tension in the back follows towards or away from the centerline.

It’s important to note that torquing your legs inwards doesn’t mean your knees cave inwards. When your torque is applied there should be very little lateral movement in both the knees and the elbows. This is why I refer to applying limb torque as “locking up” the limb. It makes it stiff and stable just like twisting a towel makes it stiffer.

MattSchifferleTowel1 — Lock it up! Applying torque on your legs or arms will make them more stable.

Lock it up! Applying torque on your legs or arms will make them more stable.

If you can apply all three of these centerline lessons you’ll quickly discover more strength, stability, and power than you’ve had before. More importantly, your strength will become more functional and you’ll prevent joint stress that will erode your health and vitality. Just like any aspect of progressive calisthenics, using the centerline principle takes time and practice, so be patient with it. Also, look for opportunities to apply it even if it doesn’t impact the moving limbs. You’ll be amazed at how torquing in your arms can improve abdominal activation with hanging knee raises. Keeping your hands together is also a great way to make narrow and single leg squats more challenging.

Best of luck with your training and let me know if you have any questions down below in the comments!

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Matt Schifferle a.k.a. The Fit Rebel made a switch to calisthenics training 5 years ago in an effort to rehab his weight lifting injuries. Since then he’s been on a personal quest to discover and teach the immense benefits of advanced body weight training. You can find some of his unique bodyweight training methods at RedDeltaProject.com and on his YouTube channel: RedDeltaProject.

The Push-Up Lever

November 17, 2015 By Matt Schifferle 36 Comments

Push Up Lever Lead

Give me a lever, and a place to lay, and I shall make crazy gains.
– Archimedes (probably)

There are a million reasons why I love calisthenics. Aside from the obvious, calisthenics has allowed me to unleash my inner mad scientist and build a variety of “devices.” It’s amazing what you can create with a little imagination and a few trips to the hardware store.

Most of my designs are home made versions of commercially available products such as suspension straps and calf blocks, but one of my favorites is a unique way to load extra resistance onto a standard push-up that I call the Push-up Lever.

PushUpLever The struggle to load the push-up…

She may not look like much, but that simple plank of wood solves many issues that have plagued anyone who’s tried to add resistance to a standard push-up.

In the time of 10-15 B.C. (Before Calisthenics) I used to do a lot of weighted bodyweight exercises. Most moves were pretty simple, like using a dip belt to load pull-ups, but push-ups were always a struggle for me. I’ve used weight vests, weighted backpacks, stretch bands and stacking weight plates on my back. While all of these methods did produce more resistance, that hard work came at a steep price. Loading the back or neck produced a lot of stress on the spine which felt unnatural and awkward. In some cases, like with sandbags or plates, the weight was difficult to load on my back, plus the load was always prone to shift forcing me to compromise my technique. Using items like bands or chains caused loading on sensitive pressure points like the neck or lower back.

Weight vests seemed to be an ideal solution, but they were expensive and hard to adjust. Even adjustable weight vests required opening numerous pockets and removing small weights. It just wasn’t worth the hassle so I seldom adjusted the load. Despite my effort, I always felt most methods didn’t work very well. I wanted some serious resistance and a plate on the back or a chain around the neck only brought marginal difficulty.

I figured there had to be a better way, so I started to meditate on the ways progressive calisthenics makes push-ups harder. One of the classic methods is to do push-ups on the knees and then make the lever of the body longer by doing them on the toes. So I asked myself, is it possible to further extend the lever of the body out beyond the toes?

That question was the inspiration the Push-up Lever.

What is a Push-up Lever?

The Push-up Lever is the world’s first complete push-up amplification device. Unlike methods that simply load more resistance on pushing muscles, the push-up lever amplifies all of the technical requirements of the push-up. This includes not only the muscles in the arms and chest, but also improving the strength in the core, hips, and legs. It also requires greater scapular control and even more tension in the feet. Many people claim they are sore in their abs and hips the next day after trying it for the first time.

The beauty of the lever is it doesn’t place any excess weight or pressure on your spine, but instead places it on your hips, which can handle the load in a much safer way and with far more control. It’s also something you can easily adjust by sliding where your hips are on the lever. The more you extend the lever out beyond your toe,s the more difficult it makes your push-up.

The further you slide the board up your hips the easier the move becomes!

Not only is the lever easier to use and adjust, but it can challenge even the strongest athletes. This is because it makes the traditional push-up more difficult in 2 ways. It makes the lever of your body longer so you have to work against more resistance. It also makes your whole body lift against gravity. So not only are you working with a mechanical disadvantage but you’re also lifting more of your own body weight.

The Lever forces you to lift your entire body directly against gravity, not just your upper torso.

You can use any long slender object as a push-up lever. Pipes, barbells and even small trees can suffice, but I much prefer a 2 x 4 or a 2×6 plank of wood. Make sure any board you use is straight and not warped. Also look out for splinters. You may wish to sand it down and varnish it for a nice finished look.

How do you use a push-up lever?

Using the push-up lever requires a slightly different technique than a standard push-=up. Since the board rests on your hips, you need to slightly elevate your hips so they are the same height as your shoulders throughout the full range of motion. It can take a little bit of practice to use this type of push-up, however I find it to be natural and very useful.

Push Up Comparison

Also, be sure you have the strength to do your push-ups from the floor up. If you struggle to maintain control of your push up while “kissing the baby” with your chest to the floor, you may want to work on the lower range of your push-up for a few weeks before giving the push-up lever a try.

To use a push-up lever, simply lay down as you would in a push-up position and place the board against your hips at the appropriate length. Wrap your feet around the board so you’re “hugging” it with your thighs and the back of your knees. Some people prefer to use a flat foot against the board but I’ve always found more control through dorsi-flexing my feet and pressing my toes straight into the board.

Push-Up Lever Up and Down

Place your hands in the position you would normally do a push-up with and make your entire body tight, especially your quads, hips, and core. From there, simply do a push-up while pressing your hips up against the board and holding it tight with your legs. The first few times you do this you might feel like you’re sticking your butt up in the air, but I promise you’ll quickly become used to the new position.

Beware of the pressure from the lever pushing your hips down causing your back to sag.

If you’re using the lever at the half point of the board you should have a gap between your upper back and the lever as you push upwards. If the board is touching against your upper back you’ll need to lift your hips up even more to prevent the pressure of the lever going to your spine.

Notice the end of the board against my upper back and the gap between the board and my hips and knees. This places the pressure against my shoulders and causes pressure along the spine.

Here the gap between the board and the upper back is seen while my hips and legs are locked into the lever.

As you lower yourself down to the floor you want to “lead with your chest” so your hips stay at the same height of your shoulders through the full range of motion. Ideally, both your chest and hips should arrive at the ground at the same time and then lift up at the same rate of speed.

Once you have the technique down you can use the push-up lever for any push-up variation you normally use. Wide push-ups, close push-ups, alternating push-ups, medicine ball push-ups, etc.

Want even more resistance?

The classic push-up lever will offer a substantial amount of resistance and challenge to your classic push-ups. If you’re of the masochistic type and want even more resistance you can use the lever to safely add actual weight through the power of leverage.

This is done through adding weight pegs on one end of the lever with a small carabiner to suspend it off of a set of suspension straps or gymnastics rings.

PushUpLeverWeightPegs

In this position, you’ll use the lever backwards as the weight is suspended above and forward of your body. You’ll use the pivot point very close to your feet but still keep the load of the lever on your hips.

Be aware that it won’t take much weight to significantly load your push-ups. Most of the guys I’ve introduced this set up two will use no more than 10 to 15 pounds of weight. I’ve had powerlifters max out through as little as 40 pounds!

These chains only weigh about 12 pounds but they feel like a 225# bench press!

Using the lever in this way is the same as before where you will place yourself underneath and tighten your legs around the lever and push yourself up off the floor while driving your hips into the board.

While the push-up lever can be a great addition to your push-up program, it’s in no way a substitute for good old fashioned progressive calisthenics. When I first discovered it I made the mistake of using the lever for most of my workouts while neglecting the progressive steps towards the one arm push-up. Even though the lever helped me grow much stronger, I still had to fight to rebuild some of the muscle control and coordination I had lost from neglecting the advanced push-up techniques. Ultimately, the push-up lever is just one more tool for your toolbox. It can help you get stronger, but you still have to do the work.

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Calisthenics Regressions for Strength Progress

June 23, 2015 By Matt Schifferle 29 Comments

Al and Danny Kavadlo demonstrate regressed push ups

I once attended a very high level Taekwon-Do seminar taught by an Olympian ranked 3rd in the world. I was looking forward to learning a lot of advanced techniques–yet here we were, all of us black belts, simply learning how to stand still.

The instructor spent the rest of the day drilling us on how to improve the techniques we all learned years ago. Even though we never strayed beyond the “easy” kicks and punches, we all became much better by the end of the weekend. Since that seminar, I’ve taken that lesson to heart not only with Taekwon-Do but also calisthenics.

It’s always important to train your foundation no matter how advanced you become.

When I first discovered Convict Conditioning, I made the mistake of rushing into the more advanced steps. This was despite ample instruction not to do that in chapter 11! Even though I could (barely) meet a regression standard, I figured I had passed that level and no longer had any need for that technique. After all, I could do loads of close push-ups, so why would I ever need to practice push-ups on my knees?

But, just like my Taekwon-Do, I’ve learned that I’m never above the earlier steps. There are always a few nuggets to discover with the earlier steps no matter how many reps I can do of the more advanced techniques. Here are a few examples of how the earlier steps can still hold some value to your training.

1: Warming Up

It would be considered foolish to load a bar with your maximum working weight for your first set, yet that’s exactly what I used to do. I would go from 0-100 mph as I cranked out reps of the the hardest step I could muster. Is there any wonder why I was plagued with muscle control issues, balance issues, and sore joints after a few weeks?

These days I always start my workouts with some of the first level steps of each exercise. If I’m practicing bridges I still start with step 1 (short bridges) to wake up my posterior chain and loosen up my hips. As a bonus, this approach to my practice also allows me to fully dial in my mind-muscle connection. My body and mind will both be warmed up for the next steps. It also helps me get a feel for the state of my body, so I know if I can push hard or if I should take it easy that day.

2: Muscle Building High Fatigue Drop Sets

In Paul Wade’s article, “the Diesel 20”, he mentions using easier techniques to highly fatigue a muscle group towards the end of a workout.

On of my favorite methods is to start with archer push-ups, then drop down to the narrow push-ups, then normal push-ups, and finally push-ups on the knees.

Like all drop sets it can be sort of funny to shake and struggle with an “easier” step. Watching myself struggle to get 6 knee push-ups is always a great way to keep myself humble. — Like all drop sets, it can be sort of funny to shake and struggle with an “easier” step. Watching myself struggle to get 6 knee push-ups is always a great way to keep myself humble.

3: Filling in Tension Gaps

For the longest time I’ve always noticed my back and biceps muscles would fully contract at the top of a pull-up but they tend to relax a bit towards the bottom of each rep.

Mark Shifferle Keep Tension on Back Muscles

I refer to these points as tension “gaps”. These gaps can be detrimental to muscle development, strength, power and can place more stress on the joints.

One of the best ways to fill in these gaps is to use an easier technique and practice proactively tensing the muscles at these weaker points in the range of motion. By going to the Jackknife pull-up, I was able to work on maintaining the tension in my back while keeping my shoulders and arms tight at the bottom of each rep. This is much easier on the earlier steps because my muscles are not overridden by a much higher level of resistance.

4: Learn What’s Missing

Many times I’ve struggled to advance because I was missing a critical technical detail.

The worst example was my journey into single leg squats. Again, I was foolish and just breezed through some of the earlier steps thinking I was above them. Within a couple of months, I was doing 10 single leg squats on each leg. The catch was I was tilting and moving all over the place and sometimes had to slightly bounce out of the squat. I also had to do them on an elevated surface so my front leg could extend below the level of my supporting foot.

After a year, I developed tendonitis in my right knee and it got so bad I had trouble walking up stairs. I struggled to figure out what was wrong for months, and was sometimes on the verge of tears with frustration. As a mountain athlete I need strong and healthy legs to hike, ski and pedal and here I was hobbling around like an old man.

I finally swallowed my pride and started all the way back at step 1 in the squat progressions. By the time I had made it to narrow squats, I had learned that my legs had exceptionally unbalanced development in the hips and hamstrings.

I still make close squats a staple of my training to keep my muscles balanced

It’s been over a year now and I’m back to doing single leg squats. Now there is no bounce, no tipping or wobble and I don’t need an elevated surface. Even though my numbers are far lower than before, my legs have never been stronger or healthier. I would never have figured out where my technique shortcomings were unless I went back and explored the earlier steps to a deeper level.

5: Learning to Use the Body Better

I believe Progressive Calisthenics is more than just a system for building strength and muscle. To me it’s a vehicle towards understanding my own body and learning how to use it better. Using the earlier steps has always been exceedingly helpful towards doing this. I can always control myself and dial in cleaner technique with an earlier step than I can with an advanced step. My mission is to learn why the earlier steps are so much cleaner and more stable. Once I know why, I work on bringing those qualities up to the more advanced moves. Of course, as my advanced moves become better so do my earlier steps and the whole process starts over again. In this way the quality of the earlier techniques feeds into the more advanced moves and the advanced moves make it possible to learn even more from the earlier moves. It’s a cycle that’s infinitely progressive.

In the martial arts, the student is always encouraged to retain the lessons they learned at the previous ranks. There’s a reason why students are encouraged to have a “white belt mindset.” The color black is made up of all of the rank colors that come before it so when you wear a black belt you’re still wearing a white belt, a green belt and so on. The earlier belts, and the exercises they represent are never discarded. They simply remain in the mix. The same thing is true for calisthenics, the earliest steps are never discarded but are recycled and re-purposed.

Discard nothing and gain everything!

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Technical Convergence

January 20, 2015 By Matt Schifferle 44 Comments

Al Kavadlo Push-up

Like many modern fitness enthusiasts, I first approached fitness in a very fragmented way. I used many exercises and different pieces of equipment to work on each separate muscle group with an individual focus. I also had a fragmented approach to conditioning. I had exercises for strength, exercises for endurance, exercises for flexibility, exercises for balance, exercises for rehab, and for muscle activation. I even had the same approach to my diet–individual supplements for protein, fats, carbs, vitamins and minerals.

This approach was like taking a chain and trying to bend each single link at a time.

Matt Shifferle Chain Metaphor As you can imagine, this approach has some serious disadvantages. While it is possible to emphasize a few choice links, the amount of actual workload you can place on those links is very limited. Compare this with pulling on the whole chain with your entire body, and placing far more total tension on each link.

Matt Schifferle Pulling Diagram

The fragmented approach also uses up a lot of time and energy when starting at one end of the chain and pulling on each link for 5 minutes before progressing. It took a lot of time and energy to work down the entire chain. But, when I started pulling on the entire chain, I got much better results even though my total workout time and personal investment was substantially reduced. If I pulled the whole chain for just 15 minutes, the workout might be shorter but the total time and tension on each link was far greater.

Matt Schifferle Chain Diagram 1

The other disadvantage to my segmented approach was that it caused imbalances to crop up over time. Like many eager young bucks in the gym, I started off wanting to grow bigger and stronger in some areas, like my arms and chest while other muscles like my hips and shoulders were neglected. This also went for certain aspects of my training where I was more interested in things like strength and power but not very interested in balance or flexibility. As a result, I had large imbalances due to less emphasis on certain links in my chain and an over emphasis on others.

Matt Schifferle Chain Diagram 2

These imbalances caused many injuries and progress in my training became almost impossible. I didn’t know it then, but Mother Nature herself was holding me back. Over the years, I’ve learned that Mother Nature doesn’t care if someone is strong, fast and ripped or fat, slow and weak. Her priority is to keep the body in a state of balance or homeostasis. As I strengthened certain links Mother Nature would force me back into homeostasis by causing pain and fatigue. She weakened those strong links to balance them with the weaker ones. Even though this would weaken my entire body, nature’s priority was balance.

Matt Schifferle Chain Diagram 3

When I started with bodyweight training I was suddenly focusing on a more holistic approach that required me to develop all of my links at once. The results were simply astonishing! Pain evaporated like a puddle in the desert. Strength and speed came in waves and sports performance hit all time highs. Because I was pulling on entire chains, my weaker links finally started to get stronger. Now the powerful law of Homeostasis was helping me rather than holding me back. As those weak links became stronger they fell in line with the stronger links and reached that state of balance. Now I was balanced by making weak links stronger instead of forcing strong links to get weaker.

My training was also only taking a fraction of the time and energy compared to my previous approach.

Matt Schifferle Chain Diagram 4

Looking back, I recognize just how technically divergent my training was. Sometimes, I was even trying to limit the involvement of those weaker links! I used various supports and wraps to ensure my weak links were not holding me back. If I was trying to work my biceps, I isolated them and made sure not to use my back and shoulders. I used to think this meant I was really focusing on my goals, but now I realize I was just creating more imbalance and the potential for injury. I was also holding back my stronger links.

Short term sacrifice for long term gain

Using the entire chain is sometimes frustrating for people who are new to Progressive Calisthenics. Most of the time this frustration comes from folks who have built up some links to be stronger than others through fragmented training.

A chain is only as strong as its weakest link, so when many people start to pull on the entire chain they often get feedback from the weaker links. I hear this a lot when someone tells me that we’re doing “triceps push ups.” Or if I coach them to a narrow-stance squat, and they tell me it’s not a leg strengthening exercise but rather a balance exercise.

To a large degree, these individuals are correct because it is a triceps push up or it is a balance exercise because for that individual those are the weak links within their chain. However if they have the discipline to pursue the training long enough they will find that those links become stronger and then the next links will become the priority in their training. When this happens the triceps push up suddenly becomes a shoulder push up and the squat is no longer about balance but maybe more about flexibility or perhaps strength in the the muscles in the front of the shin.

The trick is sticking with the training long enough for the weaker links to catch up. It can take a lot of self control because someone might be focused on feeling their pecs get a pump, or their quads burning that they abandon the full chain exercises for a fragmented approach that easily satisfies the sensation of pumping up those target muscles. The down side is that while pulling on a single link may feel more focused, the long term potential of developing that link is limited.

Here’s a quick example:

Two guys want to get ripped for next summer’s beach vacation. Mr. Push Up can’t get to a gym so he’s stuck doing push ups in his basement. His buddy, Mr. Pec Fly, gets a membership to Bob’s Emporium of Pecs and Biceps and heads straight to the Chest-o-matic 9000 pec machine.

Al and Danny Kavadlo

At first it seems like Mr. Pec Fly has made the right choice. Every week he keeps adding weight to his machine and his chest is looking strong and pumped. Meanwhile, Mr. Push up is still struggling to build his shoulder stability and his triceps seem to be getting more of pump than his chest. However as beach season approaches, Mr. Pec Fly starts to wake up each morning with nagging aches in his right shoulder and can’t lift quite as much weight on the pec fly machine. He starts losing his motivation to train and his results back slide. Meanwhile Mr. Push Up has finally strengthened his weaker links, and now his push ups are pumping up his chest like crazy. Not only that, but his shoulders and triceps are also looking great and he’s sporting a hint of a 4-pack. Mr. Pec Fly wishes he could work his triceps but his sore shoulder won’t let him use any of the push-down machines and he usually skips his abs because he doesn’t have the time and energy at the end of a long workout to do a bunch of core exercises.

By mid-summer Mr. Pec Fly has quit the gym and keeps wearing loose fitting T-shirts while Mr. Push Up keeps looking for excuses to take his shirt off. He not only looks great, but feels great because all of his links are strong and healthy. While Mr. Pec Fly feels like his body is fighting him on every rep, Mr. Push Up senses that his body wants to keep getting stronger. He’s even come to expect progression with every workout! He’s working with his body, not against it.

While the push up is often used as a strength exercise for the chest and arms, it demands the strength of the core, hips and hands. It also requires flexibility in the wrists, stability in the shoulders, plus endurance, breathing, coordination and even awareness of where you are in space. As you progress in your training, you will not only develop more strength and muscle, but the advanced techniques also demand more of these other aspects of your conditioning. Technical convergence is the idea that the level of resistance you can place on a muscle is also directly in proportion to other aspects of your fitness required for you to perform a particular technique.

The technical convergence of progressive calisthenics requires every link to be strong. If any links are weak, they will be strengthened thus enhancing the stress the rest of the links in the chain can endure.

Al Kavadlo Chain Weighted Dips

People often tell me that the great thing about weight lifting is that you can increase resistance simply by placing more weight on the bar or moving a pin on a stack. I used to believe that adjusting the resistance with such ease was great, but my tune has changed. I spent so many years focusing on adding weight to the bar that I couldn’t tell that my technique was actually getting worse. I was technically divergent! Now I think “Yes, you can increase the resistance but you don’t have to improve anything other than your strength.” With bodyweight exercise, you have to earn that resistance, which is a built in safeguard to ensure you can control and use it in the most productive way.

Don’t avoid your weak links, seek them out and give them the love they deserve with the Big Six. They work every tiny link from one end to the other.

Right now, it’s -5 here in Denver but I promise you beach season is right around the corner and your weak links aren’t going to get strong on their own. The clock is ticking!

Tick tock………..

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The Bodyweight Arm Training Revolution

July 29, 2014 By Matt Schifferle 29 Comments

Al and Danny Kavadlo bare their calisthenics arms — PCC Lead Instructors Al and Danny Kavadlo showing off their calisthenics arms.

“Matt I thought we were friends. How could you do this to me?!”

My buddy Tony is standing in front of me, all 295 pounds of him. He’s a powerlifter who considers benching 315 a warm up.

“My biceps feel like they are going to explode. I can hardly get my triceps to relax they are so pumped up. How could you do this to me?” He says with a smile on his face.

Tony’s just gotten a taste of two of my favorite arm blasting exercises. They are simple, efficient and they don’t require a single ounce of iron. They are also somewhat backwards to classical strength training for the biceps and triceps. So when Tony said it was his arm day and wanted something different, I didn’t pull any punches.

The classic approach to weight lifting work involves holding a weight or cable attachment in the hand. Good technique is classically done with a body that doesn’t move much and a neutralized elbow.

Classic Arm Training Diagram

The bodyweight approach works the opposite way. The objective is to lock the hand in place, neutralize the body and move the elbow as much as possible.

Bodyweight Arm Training Diagram

This New Approach Has Some Big Advantages:

Less stress on joints.

The joints of the body typically become more stable and less likely to move into stressful positions when the extremities are against an unmoving object and the body itself moves through space.

More energy on target muscles.

Since there is less energy spent trying to prevent the body from moving (you actually want it moving around) you can spend more effort towards actually performing the movement and working the muscles in the arms.

More functional carry over to pull ups and pressing movements.

The curling exercise is still very much a pull up style movement. The triceps extension is also a style of push up. Just like with pull ups and push ups, you keep your hands in place and move your body using the action of the elbow joint. This is neurologically similar to push ups, dips, rows and pull ups. This means that you’ll program your nervous system to engage your biceps and triceps more during all pushing and pulling exercises. So you won’t just be hitting your arm muscles during these two moves, but you’ll also place more emphasis on those muscles with almost every upper body bodyweight movement in your calisthenics arsenal.

Carry over to Olympic lifting.

Some of my clients who practice Olympic lifting report a carry over to exercises such as cleans. I believe this is due to the fact that both of these moves train you to become more conscious of using your elbow as opposed to just trying to move the hands into an ideal position.

It’s easy to adjust resistance mid-set or even mid-rep.

Both moves have a variety of ways you can adjust the resistance on the fly. You can dial-in the perfect level of resistance and make adjustments as necessary even during those last few reps.

The bottom line is this–by reversing the classical weightlifting arm strategies with calisthenics, you open the door for unbelievable levels of tension applied directly to your biceps and triceps with more comfort and safety. How’s that for a formula for success?

The first exercise is the triceps move known as the Tiger Bend. You can do this move on any elevated platform or edge of a counter. Park benches and sturdy table tops work particularly well.

Place both hands about shoulder width, palms-down with a thumb-less grip. If you’re using a narrow surface, your hands may need to be placed next to each other, which will be fine.

Bend your elbows downward and forward without letting them flare out to the side. The key is to keep your elbows pointing down to the ground, creating a gap between your arm and torso as indicated with the blue triangle in the picture. Tense up your triceps and shoulders as hard as possible, and tense your lats to stabilize your back.

Low Bar Setup Position ArmTraining

Apply resistance by stepping your feet back so some of your weight goes directly to your hands. Once your feet are firmly planted, push directly down with your hands and push your elbows up and away from the surface your hands are pressing down on. (See blue arrow below.) This should cause your body to lift up and back as indicated by the orange arrow. Once your arms are fully straight begin coming back down by bending your elbows down and forwards.

Low Bar Arm Training Top of Movement

Regressions and Progressions:

I love this exercise because it’s so easy to progress and regress it. Moving your feet back will place more weight on your hands and increase the resistance. Moving them closer will do the opposite, making the move easier.

You can also change the resistance by putting your face in a different place in relation to your hands. Bringing your chin between your hands will be easier, while bringing your nose or forehead between your hands will be respectively more difficult. You can also make this move much easier or harder by selecting hand placements at different heights. Just like the push up progressions, the more your body tilts towards the floor, the harder the move will become. Placing the hands on a higher surface will stand your body up more and take away some of the resistance. If you want some additional assistance, you can simply place one foot in front of the other to help lift you into position on those last few reps. Lastly, you can also bend your body in half a little at the hips. Again, this will bring more of your body weight to your feet to make the exercise a little easier. Straightening out your body into one straight line will make the movement more difficult.

The biceps exercise is very similar, only now you face the other way. Since this is technically a pull up style exercise, so bars or handles you would usually use for moves like Australian pull ups will be ideal.

Place your hands on the back side of the bar with your fingers on top of the bar. Once again, a thumb-less grip may be ideal, but I’ve also used a thumb grip without much trouble.

Tense up your biceps and push your elbows away from your rib cage with your hands right next to your chin. It’s still ideal to keep your elbows in front of your torso as you can see from the blue triangle below. This position will ensure maximum tension on your biceps.

Chin Up Position Flexed Bodyweight Arm Training

I recommend using a slight kink in the hips rather than keeping your body straight. This will allow a bit more flexibility in your motion and lend itself to a more natural motion.

Chin Up Position Bodyweight Arm Training

Lower yourself down and back by bringing your elbows out and upward (blue arrow) which will cause your body weight to fall away from under the bar(orange arrow). Return to the starting position by bending your elbows down and forward to maintain that elbow position in front of the ribs.

Performance Tips:

-It’s a good idea to keep tension on your target muscles at all times. It’s tempting to relax at the bottom or top of each rep, but maintaining tension on the muscle is key in maximizing your progress.

– A little goes a long way. If you need to adjust your resistance, just moving your body an inch or two can make all of the difference in the world. Sometimes even moving your feet a couple of inches or slightly straightening your knees can be more than enough.

– Towels are a great addition to these moves. They can provide a neutral grip which many people find more comfortable. Plus they are great for building up that grip. Nothing complements your bis and tris like a pair of beefy forearms.

Bodyweight Arm Training Towel Variation

– Once you’re more comfortable with the motion of the exercises, work on tensing other muscles in your body as much as possible. Adding more tension to your back, shoulders, hips, hamstrings and even your chest can bring these moves to a whole new level and your results will follow.

– Be patient and use light resistance for the first few weeks. These moves can take some practice to get everything dialed-in just right. Making the movement of the elbows the focus of the exercise can feel a little strange at first, especially if you’re used to the classic method of curls and extensions. Keep tweaking the position and movement of the elbow, and it will feel natural before too long.

– Listen to your joints. both of these moves can place a massive amount of tension through your biceps and triceps. Sometimes people find their joints need some time to become accustomed to the high degree of tension running through the muscles. It’s always okay to use a shorter range of motion and a lower level of resistance at first to allow the tendons around the elbow to strengthen up. Take your time easing into the exercise over a few weeks. Once they are accustomed to the exercise, feel free to use a big range of motion. By then your elbows will be bulletproof!

Good luck with these two movements. If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to ask in the comments down below.

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Turning Up the Mind-Muscle Connection

March 4, 2014 By Matt Schifferle 27 Comments

Matt Schifferle PCC

“You must be crazy! How can I possibly have weak glutes and hamstrings?!”

I’m at the chiropractor and I’m finally throwing in the towel on my lower back pain. I’m not a model patient.

“Do you know how much I deadlift and use kettlebells? Those things are like glute and hamstring blasters.” Then he told me something that changed everything about how I used exercise for the next 10 years; “Matt, exercises don’t work your muscles, only your brain can do that.”

I thought he was nuts but then he hit me with the science of what he was talking about.
“It’s simple; the signal instructing certain muscles to contract and how they work doesn’t come from a weight or a special exercise. Your brain creates a signal, it travels through the nervous system and eventually reaches the muscle fibers as your mind instructed. Everything about how the muscle behaves comes from your brain.”

Mind Muscle Connection Chart — Everything about how the muscle behaves comes from your brain. Diagram © Matt Schifferle 2014

It was a simple lesson, but over the years it has completely enveloped my entire approach to all aspects of my training. From calisthenics to bike racing and even walking has taken on new meaning due to this mind-muscle connection.

Here are some of the biggest lessons I’ve learned in how the mind-muscle connection has changed my calisthenics training:

#1- Distraction dilutes the mind-muscle signal

Anything that pulls your thoughts away from the exercise literally dilutes the signal you’re sending to your muscles. TV, talking, smart phones, even some types of music are now training enemy #1.

No TV, no smart phones, just a horizontal base and a truckload of focus.

#2- Mind-muscle signals become habitual

Habit is simply repeating the same mental signals over time. This repetition causes those signals to become easier to create and more powerful in their application. Of course habit can be both a great benefit and a massive detriment to your training. If your usual signal is to use your lats while doing pull ups you’ll use them in other activities as well. However, if you’re not in the habit of using them, they won’t turn on no matter how many pull ups you do.

#3- The signal can change at various points during the range of motion

It’s not uncommon for a signal and thus a muscle contraction to change during an exercise. At some points during the range of motion, it may be stronger and other points it may be weaker. Some common examples can include triceps relaxing at the bottom of a push up but contracting very powerfully at the top and glutes to shut off at the bottom of a squat while they may kick in halfway up towards standing.

Working to maintain the signal throughout the full range of motion makes a huge difference in the strength of the muscle as well as the integrity of the joints.

#4- It takes practice to get the muscle to do just what you want it to do

It’s common to not really feel a muscle turning on the first few times you try to use it more during an exercise. Sometimes it takes some time for the signal to develop and beat a neurological path to the muscle. I found this to be the case with my abdominals during the leg raise progressions. At first it felt like my abs were hardly doing anything, but the more I focused on turning them on, the more they eventually got into the game. Now hanging leg raises result in a deep abdominal burn and more powerful contractions even though the actual workout hasn’t changed much. Don’t be discouraged if nothing feels different at first. Keep concentrating and things will change very soon.

#5- Small and stubborn muscles may be due to a weak mind-muscle connection

My shoulders have always been a weakness for me. It didn’t matter how many shoulder exercises I did, they just wouldn’t grow and really develop. Once I started working on the mind muscle connection with my shoulders I was surprised to find how weak the signal was. Once the signal became stronger my shoulders grew like crazy. This was also the case with my hamstrings as I mentioned before.

It’s hard to believe that Matt ever had small shoulders!

#6- Exercises, and tools are simply templates for developing the mind-muscle signal

One of the biggest lessons about the mind-muscle connection was that there’s nothing in there about supplements, gadgets or fitness dogma. The root cause of all things muscle comes from the brain, not a product you can buy in a store.

As for a particular exercise, each movement places a certain demand upon a set group of muscles, but it’s a rough template for where the tension needs to go and how hard the various muscle contract. It’s up to your own focus and skillful concentration to refine the tension and direct it to the target muscles.

The million dollar question is: how can you develop and refine the mind muscle connection?

There are many techniques, but the common element is simply trying to build and control the tension in a select number of muscles through your own focus and concentration.

When I’m trying to really dial in my mind muscle connection I use what I call the P.T.R (Peter) method. Here’s how it would work with a classic push up.

Step 1- Set your Position

The first thing is to take your time setting up your position for the exercise you wish to do. This should be a pretty relaxed thing to do. In the case of push ups, I like to start my push ups laying on the floor so all of the muscles are relaxed. I then take my time placing all of my limbs and joints in the most perfect position I can. I check the position of my hands, elbows, shoulders, spine, hips, neck, even the placement of my fingers is something I really focus on getting just right.

Step 2- Set your Tension

Once I’m in position, I fire off the mind-muscle signal by tensing the muscles I want to involve during the exercise. I’m still laying on the floor, all of the tension is entirely proactive. I’m just flexing the muscles I want to engage as hard as possible. This can include my chest, shoulders, hands, lats, abs, triceps, quads and forearms. Lately I’ve been focused on getting my triceps more involved with my push ups, so I’ve been focusing more on tensing up the triceps.

Step 3- Apply Resistance

Once the tension is set just the way I like then I slightly lift myself off the floor and begin my set. Once the resistance is applied, the tension in the muscle grows much more, only now it’s flowing along the channels already established in step 2. So if I’m working to get my triceps more involved they now carry more of the resistance of the exercise.

The P.T.R method conditions you to really dial in the tension of any exercise you choose. It builds your ability to direct and alter the tension in your muscles at will so you can modify that tension however you wish.

P.T.R. works with any technique. Matt builds his lats with pull-ups.

Contrast this with simply dropping down and firing off push ups as fast as possible. The position and tension your body uses is going to be much more reactive rather than proactive. If you’re used to using your shoulders more than your triceps during the push up then that same pattern of signal will be generated. It’s not a bad thing, it’s just that it’s much more difficult to focus and change the mind-muscle connection and thus how your mind is asking your muscles to perform. Your old movement habits will take over both good and bad.

In closing I want to leave you with a couple of mantras I’ve used with my clients to reinforce the awareness of the mind-muscle connection:

– Muscle follows mind.

– Exercise doesn’t work muscle; your focus and concentration works the muscle.

– Nothing different happens in your training until you chose to make it different.

– Exercise technique is more than just keeping your back straight or toes pointing forward. Technique is about refining the mind-muscle signal. Thus technique isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.

– Effecting training isn’t just about blood sweat and tears. It’s about learning how to engage and use your body in a more effective way.

Yours in strength,

-Matt Schifflerle

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A Look at the 3 Way Kick

October 1, 2013 By Matt Schifferle 8 Comments

There is nothing like a strong pair of legs.

You can keep your strong core, wide shoulders and massive arms. My experience has taught me that all of the strength and conditioning in the world is practically worthless without a strong set of legs.

But hold the phone, strong muscles alone won’t build strong legs. True strength for the field, court or mountain requires much more than a lot of horsepower in the engine. In order to fully unleash your lower body strength you must also possess the following:

– Balance and control

Strong muscles without balance and control is like putting a massive engine in a car with bald tires and worn out brakes. Either you’ll never use all of that power or you’ll end up crashing. Control ensures you can use all of the power you have and use it in the most effective way.

– Flexibility

For every muscle you contract there is one that must lengthen. When the muscles are tight and resist lengthening you’re literally fighting your own tension. Becoming even a little more flexible ensures that you’ll have less resistance holding you back in everything you do.

– Strength and stamina in supporting muscles

When it comes to leg strength, we tend to focus on the bigger muscles in the legs like the quads, hamstrings, glutes and calves. These are important for sure, but what about some of the smaller and more subtle muscle groups like the ones in the feet and hips? While not the biggest or most powerful lower body muscles, weakness in these smaller muscles can greatly handicap the bigger muscles.

Calisthenics is a very effective way to condition all three of these characteristics. It’s impossible to even attempt moves like lunges and single leg squats without developing balance, flexibility and strength in the supporting muscles.

That being said, it doesn’t hurt to further develop those weak links in the lower body chain. Doing so can make your weakest link so strong that your entire body can reach new levels of performance.

The following video showcases an exercise which is great at developing your balance, flexibility and strength.

This exercise does wonders at unlocking some of the lower body strength that’s been dormant in your lower body. Just running through this routine a few times before each leg workout will leave your legs and hips feeling brand new within a few weeks. It’s also a great cool down afterward to refocus your mind.

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Matt Schifferle a.k.a The Fit Rebel made a switch to calisthenics training 5 years ago in an effort to rehab his weight lifting injuries. Since then he’s been on a personal quest to discover and teach the immense benefits of advanced body weight training. You can find some of his unique bodyweight training methods at www.RedDeltaProject.com.