Progressive Calisthenics

If You Build Your Pull-up…It Will Come

February 23, 2016 By Beth Andrews 28 Comments

Pull-Up Build Lead Pic

Have you ever heard a voice inside you that says, “I’d like to do a pull up, but I don’t know where to start?”

In the movie Field of Dreams, Ray Kinsella (played by Kevin Costner) was a farmer who heard a voice whisper from his corn field, “If you build it, he will come.” The message was that there would be a reward if he listened and followed through by turning his farm land into a baseball field.

If you’ve seen the movie, you know that Ray took a chance and followed the voice. As a result, he got to fulfill his dream of playing baseball alongside some of the all-time greats as well as reuniting with his father.

If you have been hesitant and unsure of where to start building toward the pull up, then here’s your sign, and here is my whisper:

“If you build your pull-up, it will come.”

Just as Ray was hesitant and unsure, yet through different signs and signals, he took a risk and built his playing field, you can achieve a pull-up if you really want it badly enough.

But first, like Ray, you must do the work. You must plow your corn. Let’s start by working the top and bottom of the pull up.

First, get comfortable hanging on the bar. This can actually be a bit scary for first timers, especially if the bar is high. I have worked with clients that fear they are going to fall because they don’t trust their grip strength. If this is you, then have a friend assist you or make sure that you have a platform to step down on for security.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDftEVZtd04

Focus on actively hanging using both hands for as long as you can stay engaged. That may only be 10 seconds to start or it could be much longer. Either way, do this a couple of days per week, progressively working to longer times, and don’t forget to rest enough between sets so you can give a strong effort on the bar each time. Aim to progressively work your way towards one full minute. You can never hang too long on the bar!

When you have reached a minute on your standard bar hang, you are ready to try a flexed-arm hang. Get someone to assist you up or stand on a platform to get your chin over the bar. Use an underhand grip when starting out. Twice a week should be enough at first, as this type of hang can fry your nervous system when you are new to it and take longer to recover. At first you may only manage a few seconds. This is fine. Aim to gradually build toward a 30 second hold.

I also recommend the Aussie pull-up (aka bodyweight row) as an assisting exercise to help build pulling strength toward a full pull-up. Though the movement pattern is a little different than in an overhead pull-up, the Aussie pull-up can be helpful in bridging the top and bottom of the pull up together. Feel free to use either an overhand or underhand grip. Start with sets of 5 reps at a time, eventually progressing to 3 sets of 10reps. Aim to practice your Aussies 2-3 times a week, while continuing to work your flexed-arm hang concurrently.

Beth Andrews Aussie Pull Ups

Now that the corn is plowed, let’s build your pull-up!

When you can hang on the bar for a full minute, exceed thirty seconds on a flexed-arm hang and do three sets of ten reps of Aussie pull-ups, you have built a good foundation to attempt a chin-up (a pull-up with an underhand grip). Chin-ups are a little easier to begin with for most people. Grab your bar with your hands shoulder width apart and give it a shot! If you are still unable to pull your chin above the bar, here are a few more suggestions:

1- Get a spotter to help you through the full range of motion. The spotter should only assist through the hardest points of the movement. Don’t allow your spotter to do too much of the work for you!

Beth Andrews Pull-Up Spotting

2- Practice negative pull-ups. Simply get into a flex-arm hang, lock in for a few seconds, then slowly lower yourself down with control.

3 – Keep doing the three steps mentioned above, along with with these two additional steps. Once you’ve conquered the chin up, aim to build up to five consecutive reps. Now you’re ready to change over to the overhand grip. Once you can get an overhand pull up, aim to build up to five sets of one rep. Then progress up to five sets of five reps.

If you get stuck or struggle, go back and plow some more corn. Because… “If you build it, he will come.”

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Beth Andrews is a PCC Team Leader, Senior RKC, Primal Move Instructor, and CK-FMS. She is the owner of Maximum Body Training and has over 20 years of training experience. She also runs a successful online training business. For online training or to host a certification, email Beth at: sba1@bellsouth.net

Super Slow Reps for Superhuman Strength

February 16, 2016 By Benji Williford 19 Comments

Lead Photo Benji Williford

A lot of my personal training clients start out thinking that training faster means training better. But working out like The Flash won’t make you superhuman if you are bobbing your head for apples with your elbows flared out over your shoulders instead of actually doing push-ups. Poor form at a super-fast pace is not only allowing momentum to carry you through part of the range of motion, but it’s also potentially causing unnecessary strain on tendons and ligaments, as the muscles that should be doing the work aren’t activated properly.

My first rule for my clients is to focus on proper form. I created the phrase “AF3” which stands for Absolute Form Fit Function. The intention is to master the form, which improves fitness and ultimately, overall function. One antidote toward improper form is slowing down the rep speed. Let’s continue to look at the push-up as an example.

As you probably know, the push-up is essentially a traveling plank. It is a total body exercise and not just for building big pecs. Now do me a favor and go try an extremely slow push-up with full range of motion. Start in a plank with fully extended arms and lower down very gradually, touching your chest to the floor, then push back to fully extended arms.

You might have had some form breaks or even lacked strength to complete the rep. You should have definitely experienced the feeling of total body activation needed to maintain the straight body alignment in the absence of momentum. If you couldn’t do the full range-of-motion, consider modifying the exercise. For example, try placing your knees on the floor. This will shorten your body length (lever) so you will have to push less percentage of your bodyweight. Yes, the regression of an exercise can be an important part of progressing. It’s important to not let your ego deter you from modifications. You can often foster quicker progressions by perfecting “easier” versions of an exercise.

There are numerous ways you can manipulate your rep speed in order to develop better body control. The following is one example of a set of 7 push-ups stretched out over 2 minutes and 40 seconds.

Rep 1- 10 second rep (5 seconds down/negative and 5 seconds up/positive)
Rep 2- 20 second rep (10 seconds down/negative and 10 seconds up/ positive)
Rep 3- 30 second rep (15 seconds down/negative and 15 seconds up/positive)
Rep 4- 40 second rep (20 seconds down/negative and 20 seconds up /positive)
Rep 5- 30 second rep (15 seconds down/negative and 15 seconds up/positive)
Rep 6- 20 second rep (10 seconds down/negative and 10 seconds up positive)
Rep 7- 10 second rep (5 seconds down/negative and 5 seconds up/positive)

Notice how the set starts by climbing up the ladder in 10 second increments for each push-up from rep 1 (10 second rep) through rep 4 (40 second rep). Then at rep 5, it goes back down the ladder by decreasing the time in 10 second increments until you reach rep number 7 (10 second rep). The times listed aren’t absolute, so feel free to experiment with them. The important thing is to move evenly and controlled throughout the range-of-motion. Avoid fast jerky movements or hitting and holding positions.

To keep a solid pace, I recommend either using a stopwatch or a metronome (a device that musicians use to keep a specific tempo). Personally, I prefer the sound of the metronome. There are now free metronome apps available that you can download to your smartphone. Be sure to set the beats per minute to 60 (that equals one beat per second). It takes some concentration when counting to avoid rushing where you should be within a specific rep, which adds another layer and takes this challenge to the next level. It is mind over matter.

Though we’ve been using the push-up as our main example, remember that you can use this method with just about any exercise: pull-ups, squats (even pistols!), skin the cats…the list goes on.

Benji Williford PCC Pullup

Of course, you will move slowly if you only train slowly. So yes, performing fast reps is important. The point is to move fast well. In order to incorporate faster reps, you could use this structure by using the same 60 beats per minute with one set of 7 push-ups and adjusting the times as follows:

Rep 1- 2 second rep (1 seconds down/negative and 1 seconds up/positive)
Rep 2- 4 second rep (2 seconds down/negative and 2 seconds up positive)
Rep 3- 8 second rep (4 seconds down/negative and 4 seconds up/positive)
Rep 4- 16 second rep (8 seconds down/negative and 8 seconds up /positive)
Rep 5- 8 second rep (4 seconds down/negative and 4 seconds up/positive)
Rep 6- 4 second rep (2 seconds down/negative and 2 seconds up positive)
Rep 7- 2 second rep (1 seconds down/negative and 1 seconds up/positive)

Since the first rep and seventh rep are quick, you can even consider making them plyometric to build explosive power. Notice that shorter rep times will inherently eliminate some exercises. For example, it might not be the best idea to do a two second skin the cat.

Experiment with your rep speed but don’t let your ego get in the way. If you need to regress an exercise in order to maintain good quality of movement, then do so. Soon enough, you’ll gain the strength you desire to control any rep at any speed through it’s entire range-of-motion.

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Benji Williford, PCC, RYT, CF-L1 is a Personal Fitness Trainer located out of Eau Claire, WI. Benji believes that, “A successful fitness program is based on positive dialogue between the mind and body.” He can be reached through his website: http://www.benjiwilliford.com, or by email: Benji@ChainReaction-Fitness.com.

Building the Foundation for Spectacular Progress, Programming with the SCC

February 9, 2016 By Adrienne Harvey 22 Comments

Raised Push-up Adrienne Harvey

After reading an online article last week, I had a brief flashback from my early days of strength training—or what I thought was strength training. In the 80s, bodybuilding came into the popular consciousness (along with aerobics and some of the most regrettable workout wear ever) and took its seat as the basis for mainstream strength training. For decades, the general public (which included me in the late 1990s, early 2000s) didn’t know that we were trying to use the ideas of this physique-based sport-specific training to build strength and general health. Most of us thought that doing these moves would help us to get stronger, more in shape, and improve our health—and they did to a point. But like many others, I was often confused because my real-world strength had only mildly increased along with my improved body composition and heavier machine-based lifting.

Also unfortunately, being short meant that many of these “standard” machines just barely fit me. Come to think of it, I remember seeing people of all shapes and sizes fidgeting with the machines in vain attempts to make them “fit”. The other even more frustrating effect was that I felt clumsy, both in and outside the gym. I’d trip over my own feet and just generally felt disconnected… and didn’t know what to do about it. Maybe I just wasn’t a coordinated person?

Fortunately, I eventually learned that I just needed to change the way I was training. And soon after, I noticed my pull-up numbers began to increase as I learned to use my whole body for the lift, not just my arms and upper body as I’d learned to with the bodybuilding approach. And while it was still good that I could even do pull-ups that way, I’d been stuck on the same 3-4 satisfactory reps for a very long time.

When Convict Conditioning was first published, I balked at the early steps, thinking I was somehow magically beyond them. I couldn’t have been more wrong! I needed to start from the beginning and fill in the missing pieces of my training. It was necessary to “get over myself” to realize the extreme value of those beginning steps—especially when building the strength foundation necessary for advanced moves down the line. There are no “hacks” or “shortcuts” that can take the place of a solid foundation.

With all of that being said, it is still difficult for people to know how and where to start with bodyweight training, even if they are experienced with weight training or even if they’ve been training with kettlebells. In Convict Conditioning as well as Al Kavadlo and Danny Kavadlo’s books there are suggested workouts, examples, and instructions on how to customize your own programs. Yet somehow many of us still struggle to know where to start, or how to program a lot of this almost too-simple-to-be-true training for our clients or groups.

In Convict, we’re told to simply work through the progressions, only moving ahead when the reps are comfortably met… not barely met. Over time, we learn not to cheat ourselves when rushing through the progressions. It’s the beginner’s mind concept… and it works! But how do we teach it to others in the context of a session?

The other so-called “problem” with bodyweight training often comes from the lack of restrictions and the fact that it really can be done anywhere. With so few “rules” it can be easy to feel lost instead of liberated at first. This is one of the many reasons I’m thrilled with the new one-day Strength Calisthenics Certification workshops. They teach precisely what you need from the beginning… and more importantly, how to teach it to others. At the first ever SCC in New York, even experienced trainers and exercise enthusiasts found themselves “filling in the gaps” of their training with these powerful basics and the philosophy behind them. We never really outgrow the “classics”.

Aussie Pullups How To

Many of us (and our clients) may first come to basic bodyweight exercises with some baggage and the feeling that we “already know what we’re doing.” We often find that our ideas might actually be stuck back in high school PE class, or from following along with an old exercise video! What a client may remember from PE might be fuzzy at best, and you may find out that they have a bad attitude towards the exercises because sub-standard form has been causing pain! As a trainer (even if you’re training yourself), you need to understand and communicate the value of starting back at the beginning.

The SCC has all the basic building blocks for your own training, and for training others. The 400+ page manual also includes a programming guide for all levels and for multiple goals (including of all things, bodybuilding!) The SCC guide will help you get the coordination-boosting, real-world-strength-boosting, foundation–building benefits for yourself and your client/students. While your creativity will still need to be applied, these ideas will help you create workouts with skill building and movement pattern improvement—along with strength and conditioning.

Below is an example of a workout heavily inspired by the SCC materials and which could be adapted for a variety of beginner-to-intermediate situations.

Start with a warm up. At the PCC and SCC, we teach to warm up with the earlier, and often earliest progressions for the various movements we’ll be training in a given session, I also like to apply this to the Trifecta movements from Convict Conditioning Vol2 (when you go to the SCC, you’ll notice that the bridge and midsection hold moves also appear in the SCC manual), and scale it in much the same way. Some people have been confused with the Trifecta and have tried to jump right in with the later steps, even if they have not yet worked up to them in their regular sessions. Short bridges, beginner seated twists and bent-leg raised holds are great “warm-up” versions of the bridge, twist, and l-sit specified in Paul Wade’s Trifecta… even if you’re advanced or working with advanced students, revisiting those early steps for the first few reps is a great warm-up and “check in” with the body on a given day. Remember, these are active movements requiring active tension for full benefits. The other function of this focused warm up is to get our minds ready to work. Even a loosely structured warm-up can focus our attention on the task at hand, while breaking us away from our minds chattering away about the experiences of the day. In my own training, I think I do warm-ups as much for my mind as for my body!

Shoulder Bridge

Trifecta “Warm-Up” Example:

Short bridge and 5-second holds for three reps
Raised or knuckle-based N-hold (5-10 second holds) for three reps
Straight leg hold or easy twist hold (5-10 second holds) for three reps

Repeat (with the same versions of the exercises, or if you have progressed in your training, you have the option to move up a step or two)*

The SCC-Inspired “Beginner” workout example below uses a blend of the approaches given in the programming guide, but the core of the ideas below were from the section for deconditioned exercisers. The original form of this workout was designed for a deconditioned client with a fair amount of retained strength. I’ve adapted it for a more general purpose, but please tailor it to your own situations.

Senior PCC Adrienne Harvey Self-Assisted Squat

Review the movement patterns of each exercise for a few reps before starting, this will allow you to take extra time to make any changes before starting the real work sets. You’ll soon know whether there will be an opportunity to move forward in this session or the need to revisit an earlier step. For this workout, we did just a few reps of the assisted squat (with vertical pole or partner), horizontal pulls (Aussie pull-ups, bodyweight rows), incline (hands raised) push-ups, leg raises from the floor. While this can be progressed to any more advanced level, the original intention of this 3x week workout was to build up a reasonably deconditioned person—it can also be a nice way to come back to working out after illness.

Here are the work sets (do two rounds):

Self-assisted squats, 10 reps
Aussie pull-ups, 10 reps
Incline push-ups, 10 reps
Leg raises from the floor, 10 reps

Following this section, some may wish to follow up with some basic conditioning exercises such as jumping rope for time, or a brisk walk home from the park.

Finally, I find that “cooling down” with the version of the Trifecta I described above can be not only a useful way to end the workout, but a way to assess how you feel about the work sets, and to note any improvements as well. It’s subtle, but this “cool down” can really be a big motivator to stay the course!

This is just one example adapted from the SCC programming section, and while most people who train others will agree that most of our clients will be deconditioned, general population people, the SCC programming can also ramp up to spectacular levels of difficulty and challenge.

I hope to see you at a future SCC or PCC workshop!

*Trifecta progression examples for the second round: wrestler’s bridge or full bridges, L-sit from the floor, full twist hold… but remember there’s no reason to rush forward.

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Adrienne Harvey, Senior PCC Instructor, RKC-II, CK-FMS, has been RKC Certified since 2010, and RKC Level 2 certified since 2011. Kettlebell and bodyweight training have been crucial in Adrienne’s personal quest for fitness. A core member of the PCC team, Adrienne loves sharing her knowledge with small groups and individuals. She also loves to develop recipes and workout programs to further support performance, body composition, and of course—FUN. Go to http://www.giryagirl.com for more information about Adrienne.

Calisthenics Neck Training

February 2, 2016 By Robby Taylor 29 Comments

Calisthenics Neck Training Danny Kavadlo

There are a few body parts that often seem limited in training options when working with nothing but your own bodyweight. Neck strength is one of those areas. Sure, you can get a reasonably strong neck from doing wrestler’s bridges and headstands, but these quickly become exercises of endurance, requiring sets of a minute or longer to continue seeing improvement.

Though some coaches would have you believe there are limitations to what can be accomplished with bodyweight training alone, the truth is you can get an extreme workout for every muscle in your body without anything more than a pull-up bar. You just need to be creative!

As practitioners of Progressive Calisthenics know, when you’re able to hold a basic plank for an extended time, you can start to train more advanced skills like the L-sit and the back lever in order to increase the intensity and decrease the time needed to build strength. Wrestler’s bridges and headstands are to neck strength what the plank is to core strength: just the beginning.

Calisthenics Neck Training Headstands2 — Headstands are just the beginning!

Advanced Neck Strength
Essentially, you can break down advanced neck exercises into two categories: planking and hanging. The easier of the two is planking, which consists of 3 main variations. (I say easier, but keep in mind that all of these exercises are very difficult, so be careful and ease in slowly.)

It’s also worth noting that while these are first and foremost neck exercises, you will likely be surprised by how much work you experience with the rest of your body. The good news is that you can scale any of these exercises by placing a hand (or two) on the ground (or bar) for an assist.

Neck Planks
When practicing any of these variants, make sure to use a soft surface and/or wear a hat with some cushioning. The first variation is the front neck plank. Start by performing the negative portion of a push up. At the bottom, touch your forehead to the ground, brace your entire body, especially your neck, and push into the floor through your forehead. Then if you feel you are ready to, remove your hands so the only contact points you have with the ground will be your forehead and your toes. Try to maintain contact with your forehead as much as possible, minimizing any “rolling” that would result in more of the top of your head making contact with the ground.

Calisthenics Neck Training 3

The second planking exercise is a modification of the standard wrestler’s bridge; you could call it a back neck plank. From a wrestler’s bridge, move your head such that the back of your skull is in contact with the ground and your eyes are pointed upward. Forcefully push the back of your head into the floor. The only contact points will be your feet and the back of your head. Once you are comfortable with this, you can work on holding the position with your legs fully extended, such that the only contact points are the backs of your feet and the back of your head.

Calisthenics Neck Training 4

The final planking exercise is a modification of the side plank. Find a low surface upon which to rest your head at about the same level as when doing a side plank. Set your body up in a side plank position with the side of your head resting on the object. Brace your entire body, especially your neck, pushing the side of your head down into the object. When you’re ready, remove your arm, so that the only contact points are the side of your head on the object and the side of your foot on the floor.

Calisthenics Neck Training 5

Neck Hangs
Now on to the hanging exercises! The easier of the two is the back neck hang. Get yourself in the top position of a behind-the-neck pull up. From there, curl the back of your neck around the bar as much as you reasonably can, leaning your head back so that you are looking up. Find a good spot on the back of your head and use it like a hook to suspend your weight from the bar. I find it helpful for counterbalancing to arch your body, so your feet wind up reaching back behind you. With time and patience, you may eventually be able to remove one or both hands.

Calisthenics Neck Training 6

The harder of the two hanging neck exercises is the front neck hang. This one’s a real doozy! From the top of a pull up, with your jaw on top of the bar, curl your head down, driving your chin towards your chest, curling your body around the bar with your neck strength. If you can, remove your hands and hold for time. It will be helpful to hold your legs/arms out in front of you to counterbalance.

Calisthenics Neck Training 7

Although this is likely the hardest variation in the article, it may be the easiest to scale. With your jaw on top of the bar and one or both hands on the bar, you can perform curls essentially by nodding – cycle between the neck position of the front neck hang and an extended position, where you let the angle between your jaw and your neck open, bringing your chin up.

Get Neck-ed
Any or all of these exercises can be used to increase your neck strength far beyond what you would attain through basic neck bridges and headstands, without the need for silly head harnesses or other such gadgetry. Start working these progressions and get ready to say goodbye to that pencil neck. One day you might even find yourself doing a human flag on the top of your head like my friend Danny Kavadlo.

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Robby Taylor, PCC, is a calisthenics enthusiast and personal trainer located in Denton, Texas. Connect with him on Facebook to find out more.

One Rep Away To Undo Laziness

January 26, 2016 By Eric Buratty 18 Comments

LeadPhotoOneRepBuratty

Laziness is a cornerstone of the many excuses people give for not staying active.

In an effort to reduce laziness, we commonly experiment with several workout strategies that offer us an exciting challenge and minimize boredom.

When we think about it, though, many proven strength training programs are boring cookie-cutter routines. These same workout templates have been around forever—as recycled/revamped set-rep schemes that are also available online for free.

If they work so damn well, what’s the issue?

Well, for starters, they’re hard to stick to.

This is because the physiological benefits from a strength training program over the short run aren’t always consistent with our psychological experience over the long run.

In other words, we all enjoy getting stronger by following those cookie-cutter programs until their linear progressions stop working.

Then we no longer experience the same level of happiness from our workouts.

Then anxiety, frustration and boredom settle in.

Then we lose interest and get lazy.

Then we find ourselves hopping around programs like a bunny that lost its energizer batteries.

EricBurattyChart

As we can see, it’s a hellacious cycle of unrewarding time and effort invested. This is what happens when our original goals become more important than our journey.

So . . .

HOW do we adapt our goal-oriented mindset to fit in with our process-oriented reality?

HOW do we embrace the method to our madness without letting our strength program become just another boring cookie-cutter routine?

HOW do we find balance between the physiological and psychological aspects of exercise without losing sight of what we originally set out to accomplish?

. . . We focus on performance.

Even on the most sluggish of days, the way we perform our reps still dictates the type of gains (or lack of gains) we receive. So, once we become more aware of our stronger and weaker days (over the course of weeks, months and years of experience), the key to boosting performance is then through executing variety in repetition.

Let’s go over how to apply some popular rep styles that further maximize performance and minimize laziness.

Please note that, to get the point across in the most objective manner possible, we’ll assume a total body workout emphasis with demonstrations of each rep style coming from the handstand push-up chain of progressions (i.e. pike push up – to target upper body) and the shrimp squat chain of progressions (i.e. foot elevated/Bulgarian split squat – to target the lower body).

ExerciseCollageKavadlos

FASTER “SNAPPY” Reps

This rep style is characterized by a maximum application of force on the acceleration phase of a range-of-motion. Imagine trying to launch off like a rocket or catapult when transitioning from the eccentric/lowering phase to the concentric/lifting phase–especially when our bodyweight resistance makes a movement (initially) feel lighter (until fatigue sets in, of course).

This rep style can be further divided into two subcategories: explosive/ballistic and plyometric reps. The key difference between these two subcategories is that explosive/ballistic reps are performed without “catching any air,” while plyometric reps involve a short but powerful time period off the ground. From a physics perspective, explosive/ballistic reps demonstrate why force equals mass times acceleration (i.e. F = ma), whereas plyometric reps take things a step further to show why power equals force times velocity (i.e. P = fv).

FASTER Upper Body Demo 1 (explosive-ballistic)

FASTER Upper Body Demo 2 (plyometric)

FASTER Lower Body Demo 1 (explosive-ballistic)

FASTER Lower Body Demo 2 (plyometric)

Pros: Improves speed, explosiveness and fast-twitch motor recruitment—which means greater carryover to athletic skills that require considerable force and power production; Permits the use of momentum to support a smoother eccentric to concentric transition—which allows for a higher number of reps to be performed cleanly.

Cons: Decreases total body awareness—which can lead to injury when an individual hasn’t fully mastered a movement or progressed it appropriately; Does not simulate the amount of speed and muscle tension for setting PRs.

When to Use: Ideal for all fitness levels training in the 6-12 rep range (i.e. working with the lower level progressions of “the big six” from Convict Conditioning) – wherein the emphasis is on speed & power output first, muscle-building & size second, and strength third.

Beyond Calisthenics: For those who wish to supplement their calisthenics training with weighted movements, this rep tempo would be most appropriate for exercises like kettlebell swings and snatches, one-arm rows with dumbbells/kettlebells/barbells, as well as barbell push-presses and hang power snatches.

SLOWER “Grinding” Reps

This rep style is characterized by a deliberate application of constant muscle tension throughout the entire range-of-motion. Imagine trying to flex the target muscles for an exercise as hard as possible—as if we’re doing a photo shoot for a fitness magazine cover—while executing a single rep for an exercise.

SLOWER Upper Body Demo

SLOWER Lower Body Demo

Pros: Increases total body awareness—which has implications for injury prevention—even if the rest of mainstream health & fitness media deems a particular exercise as being “unsafe;” Simulates the amount of speed and muscle tension required for setting PRs.

Cons: Decreases speed, explosiveness and fast-twitch motor recruitment—which means less carryover to athletic skills that require considerable force and power production; Does not permit the use of momentum to support a smoother eccentric to concentric transition—which will not allow a higher number of reps to be performed cleanly.

When to Use: Ideal for intermediate and advanced-level individuals training in the 1-5 rep range (i.e. working with the higher level progressions of “the big six” from Convict Conditioning) – wherein the emphasis is mostly on strength and precision in power output.

Beyond Calisthenics: For those who wish to supplement their calisthenics training with weighted movements, this rep tempo would be most appropriate for exercises like Turkish get-ups with kettlebells/dumbbells, heavy deadlifts and front squats with a barbell, goblet style shrimp squats (AKA airborne lunges) or Cossack squats (AKA side-to-side squats) with a kettlebell/dumbbell.

MODERATE “Recovery” Reps

This rep style is characterized by a fluid contraction/stretching of the muscles that may also target strength/stability at a specific point throughout a range-of-motion. Imagine the body as an oscillating wave of potential energy—such as a slinky going down a flight of stairs, a child riding a swing back and forth or Wile E. Coyote jumping off the Burj Khalifa building in Dubai with a bungee cord in an attempt to catch The Road Runner.

From a fitness perspective, we’ll have to fire a large number of rapid muscle contractions every second in order for our joints, tendons and muscles to remain stable under oscillating conditions. The more of these contractions we initiate per second while remaining in a stable equilibrium position, the greater our capacity is to recruit the muscles we need to stimulate contraction/growth or stretching/recovery.

There are a few different ways this can be applied:

Isometric Reps

Upper Body Demo

Lower Body Demo

Dead Stop Reps

Upper Body Demo

Lower Body Demo

Pulsed Reps

Upper Body Demo

Lower Body Demo

Normal Reps

Upper Body Demo

Lower Body Demo

Pros: Reinforces a graceful mastering of the positions and transitions throughout a range-of-motion—which can be helpful in overcoming sticking points and plateaus; Encourages healthy circulation and blood flow to muscles, as well as tendons and joints; Ultimately helps make PRs look AND feel easy; Minimizes the amount of muscle fatigue from eccentric stress—which allows the individual to perform more quality work

Cons: Not as energy-expensive as slow or fast rep styles—so they may not be the best starting point for individuals who are simply interested in taking off a few pounds

When to Use: Ideal for anyone interested in progressing high-tension movements like the family of backbends, forward bends, handstands/inversions, front/back/side levers and mid-section holds, as well as one arm or one leg variations for any of these movements—all while facilitating an individual’s original strength training goals

Beyond Calisthenics: For those who wish to supplement their calisthenics training with weighted movements, this rep tempo would be most appropriate for exercises like paused snatches or clean & jerks (i.e. Olympic lifts from floor or blocks), squats with a barbell on the front side or back side, kettlebell or barbell thrusters, cable bicep curls and close grip barbell bench press, as well as farmer’s walks with heavy weight(s) carried above the head, at the “rack position” or beside the torso.

Wrap-Up

At the end of the day, understand that going faster isn’t always better.

And neither is going slower.

We must get stronger and perform better in all rep ranges with their appropriate tempo to balance the physiological and psychological aspects of any workout program.

Since performance is both mental and physical, expect fluctuations to occur depending on sleep and nutrition quality. Learn to respect body along the way to keep those fluctuations to a minimum.

When energy levels are lower, take the intensity down a few notches, and just have some fun without any formal workout structure.

When energy levels are higher, kick the intensity up a few notches, and add in some structured work sets to earn that breakfast, that holiday meal or that dinner out with family & friends over the weekend.

When in doubt, do a little of both!

After all, a wise person once said, “for every action, there’s an equal and opposite amount of laziness we kill.” 😉

Have any favorite rep styles? Or how about a movement flow that combines one or more rep styles?

Share them in the comments below!

****

Eric Buratty is the health & fitness coordinator at MMA & Sport in the suburbs of Montgomery County. When he’s not fine-tuning his superhero core powers, he helps self-starters move their bodies with more integrity in both one-on-one and group workout settings, writes actionable health content and seeks out further education to help others prevent health problems instead of cure them.

Get to know Eric better and stay updated on his content by connecting with him on Facebook.

PCC CHINA—East Meets West

January 19, 2016 By Annie Vo 17 Comments

PCC China 2016

Becoming a Progressive Calisthenics Certified instructor in New York City last June was an amazing experience, but it was just the beginning. The PCC was one of the most incredible and educational certifications I had ever attended and I couldn’t wait to take it to the next level. It had been a long time since I was so excited about training and it was obvious to me that I needed to play a larger role.

As a long-standing RKC Team Leader, I had already taught and assisted at numerous RKC and RKC-II Workshops, helping scores of future RKC Instructors prove their mettle. But my first time assisting at a PCC Workshop was a brand new life experience unto itself, one that I’ll never forget.

PCC China Support Press

From the moment we touched down in the Forbidden City, it became clear that this was going to be a unique adventure. There were motorized rickshaws on the roads, steam billowed over street food carts and the energy of a billion people lined the sparsely marked streets. I saw high-rise buildings, booming shops and markets—and people everywhere. Elements of the old world blended with cutting edge modern cityscapes. There is something very special about being in a place where nothing is familiar. Not knowing what you are looking at, or understanding what is being said is liberating in a way. It forces you to make observations, be patient with yourself and be in the present. Preconceived notions are irrelevant, and so are your predictions!

Upon our arrival, our hosts, Beijing Technology Publishing Company and Ruben Payan and Cami Pipkin from Powerful Human, treated us to a world-class experience. We tasted authentic Beijing Duck from the ancient tradition and rare yellow Chinese wine brewed by monks. We learned the proper way to prepare and enjoy this specialty delicacy and delighted in all the other small dishes of dumplings, squid and sea cucumber. We were humbled by their generosity as we left with an unforgettable meal and newly acquired life-long friends.

PCC China Food

Prior to this event, I had heard that Convict Conditioning had record-breaking sales in China, but nothing could have prepared me for the overwhelming turnout of PCC Beijing. There were over 40 calisthenics enthusiasts, fitness professionals, competitors and general seekers of knowledge in attendance. We had participants from all parts of Asia, including China, the Philippines, Indonesia and India. They ranged in age from 15 to 50 years old.

The Kavadlo brothers, in classic form, taught the PCC curriculum with tremendous energy, passion and dedication. They brilliantly adapted the core principles of progression and calisthenic strength training, along with the aid of master translator and fitness aficionado, Tommy Wang. Working back and forth, nobody missed a beat. The passion for calisthenics and community removed any and all possible cultural barriers. The crowd went wild.

PCC China Flag

It was very clear that these participants had read the book many times. They had practiced the moves. These men and women were here to learn. And they were prepared to throw down!

PCC China Back Lever

PCC China Uneven Pull-Up

I appreciate everybody who participated and gave from within. Prior to the event, I wondered how many participants would understand us since we are English speakers, and I’m certain many of them felt the same way. They put themselves on the line just as much as we did. With the help of our hosts, we created a space for learning and sharing, despite any and all cultural barriers, through our shared passion for calisthenics.

PCC China Annie Coaching Bridge

This new crop of PCC Instructors showed up knowing that we didn’t speak their language, but trusted that we’d communicate with them anyway—and we did. Progressive Calisthenics is its own language. Time and time again, bodyweight training has a way of smashing boundaries and uniting our sisters and brothers from around the world.

PCC China Al Danny Kavadlo Uneven Pull Up

I want to express my deep gratitude to everybody in attendance for opening their hearts, minds and physical bodies to the experience we shared this weekend. It is our mission to continue growing with all our friends around the globe, through this universal interest in personal development.

It was a whirlwind. My mind is blown.

PCC China Group Photo

***

Annie Vo is one of New York City’s most successful and sought-after personal trainers, having worked with clients from all backgrounds and disciplines, including athletes, celebrities and everyday professionals. Annie has been featured in The New York Post, NPR and Mademan.com. She is known for her no-nonsense training style and minimalist philosophy, as well as her talent for bringing out the best in everyone who crosses her path.

CALISTHENICS: 20/16 20 Exercise Tactics and 16 Programming Approaches to Keep the Dream Alive (Part Two)

January 12, 2016 By Paul "Coach" Wade 147 Comments

LeadImageAlDannyPhoto1

Apparently one of the movie sensations of 2015 was Fifty Shades of Grey—a flick about the pleasure you can get from absorbing punishment. Well, I didn’t see that pile of crap myself, but I can see we have plenty of dedicated masochists in the house today…you came back after reading Part One. Good for you!

This article ain’t about making that mythical “new start” for the New Year—new starts are easy as pie. It’s keeping going that’s hard, good buddy. With that in mind, the first part of this article was about new training techniques and approaches to keep things fresh. This second half is about finding some new programming approaches to help you express freedom and creativity in your training. You’re not meant to use ALL the stuff I present to you here—just take it as the ramblings of a crazy mind. Who knows? Hopefully by the end of this article, you’ll have some fun new toys to whip out when you feel the urge.

Enough smut. Let’s go!

#1. MASTER THE SQUARE OF PROGRAMMING

I’m a big believer that athletes should develop their own programs—teach a man to fish, and all that jive, huh? With this in mind, I want to expose you to a useful bit of PCC theory we use to help coaches and trainers visualize the basics of programming.

There are four basic variables of any program:

Mode is what you do;
Volume is how much you do;
Intensity is how hard you do it; and
Frequency is how often you do it.

Imagine these four as axes on a square—the “corners” of the square being maximum (highest reps, intensity, volume, and the peak complexity/skill of the mode—e.g., compare kneeling pushups with high-skill hand-balancing):

Diagram1_image2

Now, in theory, any workout you care to imagine will make a pattern on this square. By visualizing different patterns, you’ll be able to understand all these four variables’ roles in a program. For example:

a. Injury rehabilitation

This requires lots of volume, lots of frequency, and low intensity, over very easy-skill exercises. So the square pattern might look like this:

Diagram2_image3

b. Skill training

Learning complex bodyweight skills—such as an elbow lever—also requires lots of practice (volume and frequency). But you should keep fresh, which means lower intensity. So the square pattern will look more like this:

Diagram3_image4

c. Hypertrophy training

The muscles need plenty of rest (low frequency) but moderate volume if they’re going to grow. You need fairly basic exercises, and you need to work them hard (intensity):

Diagram4_image5

d. Strength training

Sets are moderate to high, reps are low—making the total volume somewhere in the middle. Intensity is high, exercises are big and basic:

Diagram5_image6

What’s that? You disagree with the data pictures in the squares? Perfect! The beauty of this approach is that you can tailor your own squares. What line graphs are to understanding and displaying economics, the square of programming is to understanding and illustrating programming theory. Think of it as a shorthand. Look at your personal goals, then see where your own workouts fall in the square.

Neat, huh?

#2. UNDERSTAND YOUR REPS!

One of the biggest favors you can do in programming your training is to understand the role that reps play. It sounds obvious, but if you want to get strong, you are going to do it more efficiently with sets consisting of low repetitions. If you want muscle growth (hypertrophy) you need more reps. For a mix of strength and size, you need somewhere in the middle. For rehab purposes—you need higher reps still

Enough jawing—a picture is worth a thousand words. Memorize this chart, then eat it.

Chart1_image7

Yep, you’ll find these type of charts differ slightly. But you’re reading my article, so I guess you want my opinion on the matter. Just for you, brown eyes—in black and white.

AlKavadloPlayingNinjaChina-001

#3. NINJA PCC STRENGTH TACTICS

I’m often asked the best way to train for strength—not mass, just strength. In the PCC Instructor’s Manual we put out eight tactics which should be considered the foundation of all strength training—honestly, I can’t put it better than I did there, so I’m going to share them with you here:

Keep strength work brief and focused. Strength and volume are mutually exclusive. Focus on low reps, and take plenty of rest in between sets when strength training.

Warm up. The nervous system can take time to “wake up” and generate maximum strength output. Gradually increase the difficulty of your work sets (without burn-out) during a training session to tap into your full strength potential.

Brace yourself. The idea of “bracing” when the body is needs to exert or absorb force (the two are the same) is an ancient one. Prior to your technique—whether static or dynamic—deliberately flex all your muscles, and keep them tense as you train. This would comprise an excessive energy drain during a higher volume set (e.g., a hypertrophy set), but when applied during low-rep pure strength training it works well.

Grip/root. Generating tension in the hands during training increases upper-body power by amplifying nerve branches running through the torso to the arms and hands. Powerlifters have used this technique for decades, gripping the bar hard during deadlifts and bench presses. Grip the bar as strongly as possible during bar work, and focus hard on “gripping” the floor with your fingers during pushups. When your feet contact the floor (e.g., squats), employ the same tactic with the feet, by generating static torque in the legs, calves and feet, and bracing the lower legs. This is called “rooting”.

RaisedPushUp_image8

Inhale to improve leverage. Breathing in a big lungful of air prior to a positive movement can increase strength on many techniques. When the lungs are full, pressure inside the trunk increases, making the torso more “solid” as a leverage base.

Utilize controlled exhalations. Learn to “hiss” as you exhale during negative movements. This will dramatically tighten the trunk muscles and core. Controlled exhalations can increase force production during a punch or a kick; this is why boxers and martial artists seem to hiss when they strike powerfully.

Find your psych. High levels of strength are associated with hormones like epinephrine, which can be produced by emotional arousal. You are unlikely to see a strength record broken by a relaxed athlete—learn how to apply controlled aggression.

Employ plyo. Explosive movements (jumps, clapping pushups/pullups) force the body to rapidly recruit huge numbers of motor units, amplifying neural facilitation. Performed before work sets, plyo temporarily raises the baseline of strength.

Expensive manuals of strength have been based around these eight simple techniques, which can double a novice’s strength in a matter of months if applied consistently. You’re welcome.

#4. 1-10-1

This is a very traditional approach to bodyweight training that’s about as old as the dinosaurs. It got popular again in the 70’s and 80’s when Arnold S. (yeah, that Arnold S.) discussed it in several training articles.

It’s a beaut for getting a lot of training under your belt on the basics like pushups, squats and pullups. Just pick an exercise you can do for over ten reps and hit it like this:

Set #	Reps:	Set #	Reps:
1	1	11	9
2	2	12	8
3	3	13	7
4	4	14	6
5	5	15	5
6	6	16	4
7	7	17	3
8	8	18	2
9	9	19	1
10	10

Gupsidedown_image9

It’s a basic pyramid, allowing you to get 100 reps in total over 19 sets. Training this way has a lot of pluses: it’s high volume, and allows you to build in a lot of reps into your program without getting too fatigued; it also works great as its own warm-up. Sure, this is not the program for you if you’re on the hardcore edge of your training—trying to eke out another rep on a tough exercise, or master a new step—but it’s an excellent device to help you build on the basics. And who doesn’t need more of the basics? The basics are like exercise candy, baby!

#5. TIMED WORKOUTS—THE PRESSURE VALVE

I feel sorry for modern trainees for a lot of reasons. The prevalence of steroids and dumb expectations is one reason. The utterly mental obsession with programming is another.

I’ve been called a throwback and a Neanderthal for my programming ideas: or, to be fair, my LACK of ideas! When I started training we generally picked up a few bodyweight exercises from watching others do them, then we did them. We trained hard as we could, increased our reps and got stronger. We didn’t really talk much about programming.

Folks today are obsessed with programming. Maybe it’s the internet—I dunno. But they talk about rep ranges, cycling, periodization, percentages…Jeez, if training had been like this when I started, I might not have bothered. I wouldn’t have understood that shit!

I hear from a lot of guys in a similar position. They want to train hard—they are aching for it—but their routine is getting them down. They find it boring, constraining, being stuck in a workout rut: but they’ve expended so much time and energy working on the “perfect” program, they feel constrained to follow it.

My solution: for a few weeks, throw your program in the garbage. Seriously. Replace it with a stopwatch, and do this:

Set yourself a fifteen-minute period every other day for training.

Try to give yourself access to a bar, a basketball, and the floor.

Do NOT plan your workouts hours ahead of time!!

Take five minutes before training to put some ideas together about what to do. No more.

Feel free to change your plan “on the fly”. Improvise.

Do not repeat workouts. Try to keep fresh.

Try to train as nonstop as you can for the fifteen minutes.

This is actually a surprisingly refreshing, exciting method of training. The best thing about it is that it completely removes any mental pressure than has built up, and is cramping your training. You might be thinking—fifteen minutes….damn, that ain’t long. But trust me, when you are faced with filling that time, nonstop, you’d be amazed what you can pack in there!

AlWallSplit_image10

And what should you be looking to pack in there? This is where the creative fun starts…anything you like that’s bodyweight is game! Here are some options:

Mobility work: twists, hamstring stretching, joint rotations, Egyptians, teacups…all groovy.

Skill-strength work: any exercise you can barely perform for a single rep? Great! Keep returning to it during your training session!

Pushing: pushups, jackknife pushups, chair dips, tiger bend pushups

Pulling: Aussie pullups, pullup variations

Cardio: Burpees, star jumps, running on the sport, jumping jacks, shadow boxing, up-and-downs—all for nice, high reps.

Grip work: Fingertip pushups, timed hangs

Inverse work and balances: Handstands, headstands, elbow raises, crow stands

Leg work: Pepper in plenty! Squats, close squats, shrimp squats, lunges, broad leaps, vertical jumps, spin jumps, etc.

Soft tissue work: any sore spots? Time to massage out the trigger points you’ve been neglecting!

See what I mean? That’s plenty to pick from right?

Don’t forget—you don’t need to stick to a strict rep range, or even a strict order. You can do ten pullups, or ten sets of one. You can do five sets of pushups, or none. You can start the session with grip work, then return to it later. It’s your call—you’re free again!

#6. THE HEAVY-LIGHT SYSTEM

You beautiful, fresh-faced hunks of gorgeousness are too young to remember, but back in the seventies and eighties, there was a war going on in gyms. Not the Cold War, or a war between Man and Machine—a war of bodybuilding styles.

In one camp were the heavy lifters. They claimed that unless you were bending bars with giant weights, and getting stronger on a diet of doubles, triples and singles, there was no way you could reach your brawny potential. On the other side were the muscle pumpers, or spinners; these guys insisted that bombing and blitzing the muscles with higher, exhausting, pumping reps was the true key to getting truly swole.

Eventually, thesis and antithesis found their synthesis, and bodybuilders began using the heavy-light routine. This involved beginning your bodypart training with the biggest weights on compound exercises you can handle. From there, you move to higher rep exercises to engorge the muscles and keep them pumped and primed. A nice solution, no?

You can also explore this general method with bodyweight training. There are several ways to go about it, but here’s what I suggest:

Pick an exercise you can barely perform for one repetition: maybe a strict handstand pushup for shoulders. (This is the “heavy” portion.)

After warming up, perform that technique for five single repetitions.

Take at least a minute between reps—more if you want to.

Now pick two pumping exercises for the same area; say, pike pushups and handstand inverse shrugs. (This is the “light” portion.)

Perform two sets of each “pumping” exercise, aiming at 10-15 reps.

Rest less than 30 seconds on the lighter work.

This approach might seem old-fashioned and mixed up to modern athletes—but if you can stomach it, it actually has a lot going for it. For a start, it allows you to explore your full strength potential when you’re fresh, allowing you to constantly master newer and harder bodyweight feats. (Don’t forget—you can use holds, like levers or free handstands, for the “heavy” bodyweight stuff—since it’s one rep, you don’t need to be moving.) The lighter (but harder and more painful!) work ensures that your muscle mass will always be constantly growing.

HeadstandNYCPCC_image11

I’d advise cycling three workouts:

Horizontal push/pull (pushup progressions, Aussie pullups or back levers)
Lower body and abs (squats, leg raises or front levers, bridging)
Vertical push/pull (handstand work, pullups)

This template allows for a lot of finagling—you can go three times in a row, three times a week, and so on. Give it a shot, handsome.

#7. DEFAULT MODE—CLASSIC CONVICT CONDITIONING

Most of you reading this will have a pretty good idea of what the Convict Conditioning view of sets and reps is. But a few of you won’t, which is why I want to take a moment to outline it here. Convict Conditioning is at the opposite end of skill work, and is heavily set in the muscle and strength building portion of the square of programming. There are some minor variations, but at its heart, Convict Conditioning couldn’t be simpler:

Warm-up well with 1-4 lower intensity sets
Perform 2 hard sets of 8-10
Rest until recovered between sets
Take 48 hours+ before hitting the same exercise again
When you reach a rep target, find a way to make the exercise tougher
Wash, rinse, repeat

This, ladies and gents, is what foolproof basic training looks like. Convict Conditioning is essentially old school, intense, power/bodybuilding-type training—which is why so many bodyweight aficionados, mired as they are in gymnastics-born systems—find it difficult to accept. Convict Conditioning is about gradually and progressively using bodyweight training as a tool to build muscle and raw strength. It is NOT about using skill-type methods to teach the nervous system into performing bodyweight “tricks”. This can be done quite quickly—but so what? If you are performing Convict Conditioning-style bodyweight work, and someone tells you to stop, because you could progress faster through the steps using skill-style or GTG training, run to the hills. They do not understand the system, nor what you are trying to achieve. It’s like a skinny guy walking into a gym and telling a bodybuilder to quit his methods and switch to Olympic lifting, cuz “you’ll be able to get a heavier clean and jerk much quicker that way”. The two are different things!

DannyChicagoWrestlersBridge_image12

Is the Convict Conditioning way “best”…? Well, best for what? For becoming a skilled gymnast, no. For racing through progressions, no. For building a blend of muscle and strength simultaneously? Yep, I believe it IS the best. Yeah, you can apply other methods, but if you are looking for a method to use as the backbone of your training, something you return to over and over, you could do a lot worse. I say that with no ego—two hard sets and home? C’mon, I didn’t invent that shit. It’s been around since the pyramids, and will be around—and working well—long after I’m gone.

#8. SUPER HARDCORE: 5 X 5

If there’s a “classic” set and rep scheme for mass and power in the weightlifting world, this is it—the hallowed 5 x 5. 5 x 5 was heavily used and promoted by super-stud Reg Park, who was “Ah-nold’s” hero back in the fifties. Reg not only built the most badass physique on the planet (yep, he took gear—sorry but he did), he also moved more weight than Charlie Sheen has done coke, being the second man ever (after big Doug Hepburn) to bench press 500 pounds—and this was in the damn fifties, when the average man would have trouble rolling that weight.

How did he do it? He did it with his classic 5 x 5 routine: a method that became so popular, it’s still the mainstay of many hardcore routines to this day. There are many variations of this workout, but the basic one involves:

Picking 3-5 BIG exercises—no isolation fluff!

Perform five sets of five reps

The first two sets should be progressive warm-ups

The final three sets should be with the same weight: your top weight

If you can’t get five on the last three sets, continue training with that load until you can

When you can get five on the last three sets, jack up the load a little bit

Like most other basic approaches, this one can be stolen for bodyweight. Is it perfect? Hell no. But it’s a change, and sometimes that’s what the body—and mind—really needs.

Just pick a bodyweight strength exercise you can perform for 6-8 reps, if you’re pushing all out. Then perform two warm-up sets with easier drills (two sets of five reps) then hit your hardest exercise for three sets of five. Like Park said—if you can’t get fives on the last three sets, stick with that exercise. If you can get the three sets of five, move to a harder variation. Do this for a few of the big exercises—pushups, pullups, squats, handstand pushups—and you have a serious strength and size workout on your hands.

The trickiest part of repurposing weights programs for bodyweight use is having enough progressions at your fingertips. When you want to move forward with a barbell, you can just slap five pounds on the bar and repeat. But with bodyweight, you need to be more subtle. Tiny progressions can be made, however, if you have the right knowledge—the “hidden steps” as I can them. Slight shifts in hand or foot position; limb alignments; different body angles; depth changes. This was the real reason that I worked on the Progressive Calisthenics Certification with John Du Cane and Al Kavadlo. I wanted to create an entire generation of super-bodyweight trainers and coaches, with a toolbox of progressions so vast, that any programming method would become possible!

Don’t ever listen to goofballs who tell you that you need to use “special” programming approaches for bodyweight. It’s not true—whether you are performing dumbbell bench presses or one-arm pushups, your muscles have no idea whether you are performing calisthenics or hoisting a bar. They only contract and relax—that’s it. They don’t go onto Reddit to discuss the nuances of their day. If a collection of sets and reps works for weight-training, it will, under most circumstances, work for bodyweight!

#9. HUNDRED REP SETS?

Let’s face it—if you were to look at the rep ranges of the average calisthenics athlete throughout their career, you’d be faced with a mind-blowing level of tedium. What’s your favorite rep range? 6-8? 8-12? Truth is, we’re creatures of habit. Once we find rep ranges we like, we usually stick with ‘em. That’s no bad thing: until we get bored.

Let’s change things up. Kiss them single and double digits goodbye, and let’s go triple. You haven’t lived unless you’ve performed a hundred reps straight on a calisthenics exercise:

Set #	Reps:
1	100

The method couldn’t be simpler. Grind away at an exercise until you hit a hundred. Probably best not to start with pushups though—unless your last name is Kavadlo.

https://youtu.be/9GL17uq_tB4

If you’re new to this method, start with light stuff—kneeling pushups, half squats. You’ll be amazed at the feeling these “easy” exercises give you in your muscles. As well as enjoying the burn, you should savor these high-rep delicacies, knowing that you are building your circulation, lactic acid/waste removal systems, releasing endorphins and natural analgesics, nourishing the joints and basically just being cool as f**k.

As you gain in strength and stamina, every dedicated athlete should aspire to this kind of level:

Close squats x 100
Pushups x 100
High incline pulls x 100

What? You want to do them all in one session? God damn, you stud! What a workout! Let me know how it feels to be awesome!

#10. ABBREVIATE TO ACCUMULATE

Human instinct is to overcomplicate anything we think about a lot. Unfortunately, the Golden Truth of programming is the opposite of this—if in doubt, simplify.

I recently read a program designed for the absolute beginner who wanted to get as big and strong as possible. I couldn’t believe it—there were about twenty exercises over three workouts! There were flyes and lateral raises, machine movements, this and that. You’ve probably seen similar routines yourself.

This is totally wrong. Getting big and strong—quick—is like beating someone up. If you really want to destroy someone, don’t hit them all over their body, in dozens of places. Pick only a small number of places and pound them there—over and over and over again. It’s the Principle of Concentrated Energy. This is Sun Tzu, Von Clausewitz shit I’m giving you here, son!

HollandPushUpPCC_image13

Those of you (the smart ones) familiar with my training philosophy will know this already, but it bears repeating. To get bigger and stronger, cut back. Cut back your exercises and your sets. You only have so much energy—neural energy, muscular energy, hormonal energy. You need to pour that energy where it counts: the big efforts on the big exercises. It’s pure Pareto Principle: 80% of your gains come from 20% of what you do. So put everything you can into that 20%!

If you are deadly serious about just getting as big and strong in calisthenics as fast as possible, do this:

Pick three movement types: a vertical push (the pushup family), a vertical pull (the pullup family) and a lower body move (the squat family)

Begin with fairly easy versions of the exercises to learn form, condition your joints and build psychological momentum

After a light warm up, perform two hard work sets

Work hard to build reps—while keeping your form pure. The harder you work, the faster you will progress

Every time you meet a rep goal, move up to a slightly harder exercise (use the rep targets and progressions in Convict Conditioning)

Progressive bodyweight training really is as simple as that. Why do we constantly wring our hands over it, and overcomplicate it? You could write that shit on a match box.

At first—when the exercises are easy—you should be able to perform all three exercises per session; either three days per week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday) or on alternate days. As you get stronger and it takes longer to recover, take two days off between workouts. When progress slows down again, think about performing pushups on day one, squats on day two, pullups on day three, and repeating on a six-day cycle, with one day off each week.

One final tip—if you are really serious about jacking up your strength—emotional and physical—in 2016, grab hold of my favorite strength book: Strength Rules by Danny Kavadlo. I don’t get paid a red cent for promoting his book, but I’d be dishonest if I didn’t tell you this book is awesome. I learned a huge amount from it. Get it and build your year around it. You can thank me in 2017!

#11. BODYBUILDING: “GOLDEN AGE” PROGRAMS

One of the less fashionable ways to use bodyweight nowadays is by applying a bodybuilding template. Why? Because the idea of bodybuilding—isolating different muscles—is seen as very dysfunctional. Calisthenics naturally lends itself to total body training. But you know what? Screw being hip—let’s do it!

One of the classic bodybuilding programs is the old three days on: push, pull, lower body. On push and pull, you’re going to be working 3 different movement-types during each session; four, for lower body:

A. PUSH:

Horizontal pushes (pushup variations, elbow levers)
Vertical pushes (handstand pushups, handstands)
Triceps work (bodyweight extensions, tiger bends, dips)

B. LOWER BODY: Squat progressions

Squat progressions
Bridge progressions
Leg raise progressions
Bodyweight calf work (one-leg raises, jumps, etc.)

C. PULL:

Horizontal pulls (Aussie pullups, front lever work)
Vertical pulls (Pullup progressions)
Biceps work (close pullups, supinated Aussie pullups, etc.)

This is another template that stands a lot of tweaking. In the sixties, the big bodybuilders would generally do this three-session cycle over three days (Mon to Wed), really hitting their heaviest weights and busting ass. Over the next three days (Thu to Sat) they’d repeat the cycle with somewhat lighter days, taking Sunday off completely to recharge for the next week. Hardgainers can still follow the routine, but doing the three days over Monday, Wednesday and Friday, rather than twice per week. Most drug-free bodybuilders fall somewhere in the middle, perhaps taking a day off after leg day and before the next cycle, thus spreading the three workouts over five days rather than three or seven.

AdrianVSit_image14

In my humble opinion, an even better way to work the three-day cycle is to mix up the upper-body work: swap biceps to the push day, and triceps to the pull day. Why? Well, for starters small muscle groups like arms can be worked more frequently and still grow. But the most important reason is intensity: after pushups and handstand work, most athlete find it impossible to give their triceps a damn good beating. But after pullups? Triceps are still fresh for the slaughter. Same principle for biceps. Check it:

A. UPPER-BODY I:

Horizontal pushes (pushup variations, elbow levers)
Vertical pushes (handstand pushups, handstands)
Biceps work (close pullups, supinated Aussie pullups, etc.)
Hanging forearm drills

B. LOWER BODY:

Squat progressions
Bridge progressions
Leg raise progressions
Bodyweight calf work (one-leg raises, jumps, etc.)

C. UPPER-BODY II:

Horizontal pulls (Aussie pullups, front lever work)
Vertical pulls (Pullup progressions)
Triceps work (bodyweight extensions, tiger bends, dips)
Fingertip pushup drills

The best way to hit this for most athletes?

DAY 1: PUSH/BICEPS

DAY 2: LOWER BODY

DAY 3: OFF

DAY 4: PULL/TRICEPS

DAY 5: OFF

Like I said before—this isn’t set in stone. No programming is. You can skip the rest days if you’re raring to go, or add in more if you are always sore/not recovering. Nothing bugs me more than coaches who say; use my program as it is, or not at all…don’t change a thing! Athletes are not retards. They are individuals, with brains. If they don’t have ideas, experiment and start working stuff out for themselves, they’ll never learn what works for them. They’ll always be dependent on external “experts”.

Still, I guess that works well for the experts, right?

#12. WE COULD TAKE IN AN OLD STEVE REEVES MOVIE…?

Back in his day—the drug-free forties and fifties—Steve Reeves was the greatest bodybuilder in the world. His physique was so impressive—previously unheard of mass, combined with classical lines—that it led him to Europe and made him, for a brief time, the highest paid movie star in the world.

https://youtu.be/nisz2sMQ6d8

Reeves built the bulk of his muscle on plain vanilla training: the whole body done a deal three times per week, with just one working set. Yep, Reeves used weights, but it doesn’t mean we can’t rip off his template and apply it to bodyweight training:

Burpees: 20 reps
Australian pullups: 10 reps
Jackknife pushups: 10 reps
Jackknife pullups: 10 reps
Pushups between chairs: 10 reps
Close squats: 15 reps
Bridge pushups: 10 reps
One-leg calf raise on step: 20 reps
Incline tiger bend pushups: 10 reps

You might need to tailor this workout to meet your strength level: feel free to drop or add reps, or alter the exercises. This is just an idea, folks.

Often we make our training too complex. We overthink it. Reeve’s original-style routine is a great way to go back to basics, and get a good honest workout under our belts.

Make no mistake, this kind of template can be very powerful. Reeves himself claimed that he put on thirty pounds in his first summer of training this way! Ironically he was later disparaging of this kind of “simplistic” training, saying that he’d moved on to more sophisticated methods. Maybe that was a bad move—Steve put on thirty pounds of muscle in his first three months with this method, but didn’t gain twenty pounds over the next two decades.

So much for sophisticated!

#13. JOE HARTIGEN SETS

One of the most perfect set-and-rep schemes I ever came across was invented (or reinvented) by my mentor, Joe Hartigen. I wrote more about the Hartigen Method here, but it fits in really well in this article. It looks like this:

Warm up: with easy sets of 5 reps

Set #	Reps:
1	5
2	4
3	3
4	2
5	1

Looks simple huh? It is!

Just pick the hardest exercise you can perform with great technique—five reps should be very close to failure. Warm up with a few easier exercises—but keep to five reps. Then, get stuck into your work sets. Do your five rep-max set, and rest for a minute or so. Now, draining as that set was, after a minute you can probably still manage four reps, right? So do it. Another minute’s rest and you can manage three, and so on—right down to one.

AlFingerTipPushups_image15

I love this method, which is why I’ve talked about it before. This is an elegant way to train. Unlike methods like 5 x 5 and 1-10-1, it allows you to get your hardest effort out the way immediately, and with the most efficiency.

Those of you who’d like to learn a little more about Joe’s broader training philosophy, check the article I wrote here.

#14. GERMAN VOLUME vs CALISTHENICS

This is another method drawn from the weights world—bodybuilding specifically—just to show you future greats that you don’t have to limit your mindset, just coz you are working with the greatest gym ever—the human body.

In C-MASS I discuss the difference between building strength and building mass. This confuses some folks, so I keep it stripped back: high load/tension is what builds strength. Stress/chemical drain is what builds mass. Typically, bodyweight athletes have taken their techniques from gymnastics, which is really more about building strength than mass. That’s why you have so many skinny guys performing amazing bodyweight feats. The trouble is, athletes interested in bodyweight then look at all these skinny guys and think: damn—calisthenics doesn’t build any beef at all!

Not true. You just need to apply bodybuilding methods—which drain the muscles—as opposed to gymnastics methods, which prime the nervous system.

Say what you like about their methods, but bodybuilders know how to program for mass!

With that in mind, here’s a classic pure mass method, straight from the Eastern Bloc. Although the name, German Volume Training, sounds kinda scientific and intimidating, this method is simpler than you might think, and actually translates effortlessly to bodyweight work. Pick an exercise you can perform 20-30 reps with, in good form. Then perform ten sets of ten reps with that exercise, with sixty second’s timed rest in between sets:

Set #	Reps:	Set #	Reps:
1	10	6	10
2	10	7	10
3	10	8	10
4	10	9	10
5	10	10	10

Pick only one exercise for this method
If you can’t make the full hundred, note your reps and try to improve each session
Scale back your other exercises to a minimum during this protocol
Use the method for one exercise only, twice a week
After a month, return to regular training

I know this approach will have the low-rep skill-strength lovers pissing down their pant legs, but trust me—it works. At first, achieving the full ten sets of ten will be impossible. Your muscles will be screaming, your body pumping out more stress hormones than an actress getting a lift home with Bill Cosby. But persevere. Radical jumps of muscle size have been noted on this routine.

You’re a crazy radical, right? You’ll try something nuts once in a while? I knew it. That’s why I love ya like I do.

#15. HEAVEE DUTEE, BABEE!

In Convict Conditioning I advocate damn hard training on all work sets. I don’t however, advocate going to complete failure; I believe you should always leave a little bit of energy in your limbs in case you need them to defend yourself, or for another emergency situation. It’s how I was taught, and it’s how I teach now.

That doesn’t mean I think training to failure is a “bad” thing. It’s more like following through when you go to the bathroom; you don’t mean to do it, but sometimes you just push a little too hard. We’ve all been there. My ultimate view of training-to-failure is simple: your adaptation (how big and strong you get) is in direct proportion to the intensity of the stressor (how hard your training is). In other words, the harder you train, the better you get. Modern babble aside, everyone who has trained long-term knows this in their heart of hearts. You know it too, right?

Mentzer_image17 The king of High Intensity Training was Mike Mentzer. He shocked the training world with his one-set-to-failure philosophy, and he practiced what he preached. It was hard to argue with those results, either: back in ‘78 he was the first ever bodybuilder to win the Mr Universe with a perfect score. Many in the know also thought he was the winner of the highly controversial 1980 Mr Olympia, which was actually taken by a well out-of-shape Arnold S., who entered as a last minute contestant.

What would Mike make of bodyweight training? Actually, we have a pretty good idea, because his mentor—the famous Nautilus machine inventor, Arthur Jones—was, ironically a big fan of bodyweight work. He went so far as to write that pullups, dips and one-leg squats would maximize any athlete’s muscle mass.

Fancy some calisthenics, Heavy Duty style? I suggest this:

DAY 1:

Pullup progression:
8-10 strict reps (to failure)
2 forced reps
2 ten second negative reps

Handstand pushups:
to failure

DAY 2:

Squat progression:
10-15 strict reps (to failure)
2 forced reps (or self-assist)
10 reps (with an easier progression: to failure)

DAY 3: OFF

DAY 4:

Dip progression:
8-10 strict reps (to failure)
2 forced reps
2 ten second negative reps

DAY 5: Off

Repeat cycle

That was fun, eh? But screw “fun”, Paulie…is this program any good? Yes and no. If you want to ramp up your muscle and strength over ten next ten weeks, and you have a partner willing to help with the forced reps, go for it. But after ten weeks you’re gonna start dreading training. You’ll find little niggling injuries. You’ll get colds. These are all really your system’s way of avoiding the pain. For long-term results, if your training ain’t fun, it’s not gonna happen.

…Speaking of fun…

#16. ULTRAREPS: 1000 PUSHUPS IN 12 HOURS

Low reps and keeping fresh—strength as skill—is the dominating approach in bodyweight strength, and it has been in years. And there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s all a part of God’s Great Creation. Like dysentery, or pubic lice.

But let’s be honest—it’s gone too far. You’ve got athletes terrified of reps. Scared crapless of actually pushing themselves, and busting their butts on basic exercises like squats, pushups and pullups. The way some of these dudes today program, you’d think their dicks would drop off if they hit double digits on an exercise.

I’m here to tell you: that’s bullshit. There are times a man (or woman) needs to push themselves way beyond what they ever thought they could do. Doing this builds huge chemical stores in the muscles, massive stamina and intestinal fortitude.

In jail there is one bodyweight challenge which is taken very seriously indeed. The man who completes it earns instant respect as one of the true “black belts” of cell athletics. Forget singles, doubles and triples. Forget twenty rep sets. You thought a hundred reps was big boy stuff? How about a thousand reps in a single day?

DannyKavadlo_image18

It might sound impossible—and for most people, even very experienced calisthenics athletes, it is. But if you lay the groundwork and prepare for it methodically—a lot like training for a marathon—it can be achieved. You can achieve it. Before we get to anything resembling a program, here’s some Cliff Notes on the prep:

The pushups need to be tolerable. Getting the chest 4-6 inches from the floor is acceptable, as is moving fast. Slow and controlled is great, but if you try that shit here it WILL kill you.

Yeah, you need to get good at pushups before you do this. Unless you can do fifty reps in a regular set, don’t even think about this.

You also need good recovery ability throughout the day. Unless five hard sets of pushups (doing double figures) is easy, keep trying until it is.

You also need good recovery ability day-to-day just to get through this training. This is really just the result of consistent, fairly frequent training over the last few months. Unless you can perform pushup sessions with minimal soreness the next day, don’t try this at home.

Once you meet these basic criteria, you can think about beginning the real training. Obviously, a thousand pushups can’t be achieved by strength training—it’s all about stamina. The key to a successful build-up is gradually developing this stamina. If there is a “secret” to acing the 1000 Pushup Challenge, it’s this: many small drops fill the bucket. The easiest way (!) to make the grand is not by huge, mega-sets, but by lots of small sets, frequently.

Think about the math. If you woke up and tried to bust out 150 pushups straight away, you’d probably exhaust yourself for the rest of the day. But if you did two sets of twenty every half hour, over twelve hours this would equate to 960 pushups. You’d only need to make 40 before bed, and you’d hit the grand.

This is the best way to approach your conditioning. There are several ways to go about this—I’ve used and endorsed several—but here’s a good one, lasting just eight weeks:

Strip back your other training to zero over the next eight weeks. Pushups hit the entire body; from the arms and torso to the legs, and even the toes. Don’t worry, you’re conditioning ain’t going nowhere.

Work out every other day. (Remember—you’re building stamina here, not muscle.) Your goal is ten sets of pushups, max reps. Take two minute’s rest between sets. Constantly try to bring up your numbers through the eight weeks. Ten sets of 25 is a good start, although much higher reps are possible with time.

One day per week, have a “test” day. On test day, you’re going to be skipping the usual ten sets, and trying to build up your stamina throughout the day. Stamina can be developed a LOT quicker than strength. Test days should build in volume like this:

WEEK 1: Perform one set of 25 every hour over ten hours (250)

WEEK 2: Perform one set of 25 every half hour for five hours (250) then every hour for the next five hours (125) (TOTAL: 375)

WEEK 3: Perform one set of 25 every half hour for seven hours (350), then every hour for the next five hours (125) (TOTAL: 475)

WEEK 4: Perform one set of 25 every half hour for ten hours (500) then every hour for two hours (50) (TOTAL: 550)

WEEK 5: Perform one set of 25 every half hour for twelve hours (600)

WEEK 6: Add a second set of 25 reps to hours 1-3 (675)

WEEK 7: Add a further second set of 25 to hours 4-6 (750)

WEEK 8: Add a final second set of 25 to hours 7-9 (825)

TEST DAY: From here, you should be good to give the challenge a try the following week. Your goal on challenge day will be to hit two sets of 20 every half hour for 12 hours—you will add a twenty-fifth session of 2 x 20, or 4 x 10—or whatever you can manage to get forty reps!—before collapsing into bed. This makes 1000.

Some final tips:

Take two days off after every test day. You’ll need it.
This prep is flexible. If you can’t meet the test day standards on a given week, keep training until you can.
Take the final four days OFF before you attempt the challenge. Stretching is fine, but no pushups. This will allow your muscles to overfill their energy reserves. Don’t panic—you won’t regress.

Can you really do this?! Of course, if you want it. The body was designed to perform bodyweight exercise, and it can do better than you give it credit for. Yoshida of Japan did 10,507 pushups non-stop. You can do this, bro.

———

Phew! That’s quite a little programming journey we took there, huh? From low reps to ultrahigh reps, from strength training to pure bodybuilding, old school to bleeding-edge. Quite a little mental tour.

Was this info-dump systematic? Nope. Was it logical and consistent? Hell, no—it half the stuff in there contradicted the other half. (Like the Bible.) But that was the point of these two articles—freedom, change, variety. Acquiring ability to break off the shackles of our usual training and have the guts and motivation to try something new—trust me, that is how we keep in the game, year in, year out.

Remember, there are good routines and bad routines, but there are no perfect routines…and any calisthenics training is better than just quitting, because athletes who quit regret it down the line and wish they’d kept their hat in the ring. I guess from that perspective, “perfect” is whatever keeps you training, right?

Thanks for reading this—or skipping to the end and pretending you did. Either way, old Coach had a fine time sitting writing this for you guys and gals. I really, really hope you can take something from it that helps ya, however small. Please hit me up in the comments with any thoughts, questions, or just to say hi. I will answer all of you, and have a fantastic time doing so!

Big love again goes out to Adrienne and all the Kavadlo clan for the huge help they gave me in delivering this little ankle-biter.

***

Paul “Coach” Wade is the author of Convict Conditioning, Convict Conditioning Volume 2, the Convict Conditioning Ultimate Bodyweight Training Log, and five Convict Conditioning DVD and manual programs. Click here for more information about the Convict Conditioning DVDs and books available for purchase from Dragon Door Publications.

CALISTHENICS: 20/16, 20 Exercise Tactics and 16 Programming Approaches to Keep the Dream Alive (Part One)

January 5, 2016 By Paul "Coach" Wade 190 Comments

Al Kavadlo Hanging Leg Raise

My beloved bodyweight brothers and sisters!

2016 is here, and that means I get to quit that set of pushups, blow the dust off my old laptop (my computer, not my junk) and write an article for the folks who really matter—you guys! Jeez, have I missed ya! How you been? Good? Staying out of trouble? …Why not?

I know the drill. Every time New Year rolls around, dudes and dudettes promise themselves one of two things: they either promise that THIS is the year that they’ll start working out; or—if they already work out—THIS is the year they’re gonna make those big-ass changes they really yearn for.

Well, I’m not gonna help you with any of that. Sorry. (But if you do want to make this year the year you begin bodyweight, I wrote an article for you here, or if you want to make this the year of the big transformation, read this.)

Don’t get the wrong idea. I still love ya, baby. But this year I want to try and help you with a third kind of promise. It’s not as big a leap as starting out, or as sexy as a transformation, but it’s possibly the most important thing you can do if you want to really get anywhere with calisthenics.

What am I talking about? Keeping at it.

It’s sad but true, but just keeping working out—week-in—week-out—is something that a HUGE number of potentially legendary athletes really struggle with. They might have great genetics, massive pain tolerance, and a perfect program, but most folks seem to just suck at not quitting.

So what’s the solution? In reality, athletes quit bodyweight training not because they are injured, and not because they don’t get results. Consistency in training is a mental game. The late, great Vince Gironda once said that most athletes should train hard on a program for three weeks, then take a week off (!) and begin a totally new program, repeating this every single month. Vince understood that although an athlete’s BODY can absorb repetitive training almost indefinitely, the MIND gets easily stressed or bored with a given method of training very quickly.

Now, I don’t believe you need to lose a quarter of your training time every month, but Vince had a point. Variety—freshness, freedom, novelty—is the best possible solution for the kind of mental stress or staleness that makes folks layoff or quit their training. So that’s exactly what this blog post is gonna focus on. I’m gonna add to your training toolbox here, kid—in Part One of this post, I’m going to give you TWENTY fresh ideas—techniques, challenges, tips and tools—to throw into your training to shake sh** up when you start to get bored. In Part Two, I’m gonna give you SIXTEEN programming approaches—sometimes complete templates, sometimes more focused concepts to help you explore rep ranges, frequency, and so on.

Twenty/sixteen…2016…see what I did there?

Let’s hit it, gorgeous!

#1. GO CAVEMAN

Remember when you were a kid, and bodyweight training was natural—and fun? You ran, climbed trees, played games. And you didn’t even know you were doing calisthenics, right? Let’s learn a lesson from this. If you are starting to feel stale, trapped and bored with the old straight sets of the same movement-families, how about shaking things up and going “caveman”?

What I mean by “go caveman” is simple; look at your regular strength exercises, and try to see what functional movement patterns lurk underneath those joint movements. For example: in the real world, nobody needs to do a perfect one-arm chin. But they may need to use their arms in a similar way, by climbing. Nobody does a perfect one-leg squat, but you do need to sprint. And so on.

2treeclimbing

Here’s a list of some “caveman” calisthenics:

Climbing: Use a climbing wall, a tree, or natural terrain. Develops the pulling muscles of the back and arms, finger strength, coordination and mobility.

Running: Use sets of sprints, or better still hit a natural terrain with inclines, declines and stuff to duck under and jump over. Turning on the speed or hitting those hills will strengthen every lower body muscle, from toes to hips.

Quadrupedal movement: Get on the floor and crawl; run; roll—just use all four limbs. There are dozens of movements to try here, and they all build excellent arm and should strength, while ironing up that midsection.

3Crawlinggroup

Swimming: The above three activities will give anyone a total-body workout—you want to add an X-factor, go for swimming. Awesome for the joints, great stamina, and bulletproofs and heals sore shoulders. Hell yes, it’s bodyweight!

How should you use this list? Here’s a good way. When your regular training gets too stale—too heavy, stressful, or monotonous—take a month off your regular calisthenics work, and spend 4-6 sessions a week doing nothing but these four types of caveman “play”. Don’t try to be too systematic about it—just put the time in, and make it fun. In four weeks, you will have retained all your strength, but added extra balance, coordination and new skills, while refreshing your joints. Plus, you’ll have lit a fire, and be raring to get back to the regular movements.

These are just the basics—you can get much more sophisticated in your caveman work, which has a long history in physical culture. The PCC Instructor’s Manual has an in-depth chapter on “Natural Movement Patterning”. If you want to get more into this side of things, you could do worse than research the philosophy of the modern master of natural body-movement, Erwan Le Corre. Erwan is a training genius, and long-time friend of the PCC—check out my interview with him here.

#2. EXPLORE HAND-BALANCING

This concept comes in the “something different” category.

If there is an “art within an art” in calisthenics, then it’s gotta be hand-balancing. Back in the first half of the 20^th century, hand-balancing ability was seen as a sine qua non of a strength athlete. Weightlifters and bodybuilders (like Doug Hepburn and John Grimek) did their thing with bars and weights, but they worked hard at hand-balancing too. If you couldn’t hold a handstand, then you were a goddamn pussy!

4Onearmelbowlever

Hand-balancing involves an entire catalog of techniques involving bodyweight inversion via strength and balance. It’s a discipline, almost a system, of itself. It’s not just holding a handstand. It involves all kinds of free handstands, tiger bends, various floor levers, hand-walking styles and techniques, partner tricks, and the crucial transition between hold sequences. It also includes preliminary drills such as the crow stand.

I spent many years obsessed with the art of hand-balancing: particularly the technique of kicking up into a handstand from a one-arm elbow lever. For a long time that technique, to me, was a “one-arm handstand”—and I thought I was the only person in the world who could do it. I later learned that countless others could: and better!

A long time after my experience with that technique, when I began teaching bodyweight to more newbies, I eliminated almost all hand-balancing from my system (although you still see the crow stand in there, a little throwback). Why? Because I discovered that handstands were more effective for strength-building when you took the balance element out. I stand by that principle, but it still doesn’t lessen the awesome respect I have for hand-balancing.

In addition, hand-balancing is exciting. Fun, in a way many “safer” calisthenics skills aren’t. If you’re looking to insert something new and powerful into your training, hand-balancing may be the way to go.

For decades, the greatest resource for the old-school hand-balancing philosophy and training was the iconic York course #1 and #2. These beauties used to be available on the old Sandowplus website, however sadly this is no longer the case. Luckily, full copies have been preserved on David Gentle’s site:

York Hand-Balancing Course No. 1

York Hand-Balancing Course No. 2

Even if you aren’t interested in pursuing the training, these old courses make for a great read. David is doing the world of physical culture a HUGE service by preserving lots of invaluable old texts like this alive (and FREE) in his online library. If you read the courses (and if you do Facebook) please go and like his page on Facebook to let him know you’re supporting the great work he’s doing.

#3. GO MOBILE

Sometimes when we want to call Time Out on our strength training, it’s not due to staleness or boredom. One big reason is joint pain. Calisthenics is the safest form of training for your joints and soft tissues, but even so sometimes you’ll get aches and pains. It makes you paranoid.

Provided you aren’t carrying an acute injury—which needs to heal—the solution is usually to check your form. If that doesn’t get the job done, reducing frequency and volume probably will.

That said, there are times you will feel the need to take a brief layoff from hardcore, ball-busting strength movements. If you are doing it to save your joints, the best strategy is to devote 3-6 weeks to pure mobility training.

5Germanhang

“Mobility” is different from “flexibility”—which, frankly, I have no use for outside of a rehab context. Mobility involves the use of strength to increase a joint’s range-of-motion. Working on mobility movements every day (or maybe 6 days per week) will not only refresh your joints and increase your range-of-motion; done properly it will increase your neural efficiency and your ability to use your bodyweight when you return to the hard stuff.

Mobility work should feel natural—and, done right, it should complement and mirror other bodyweight training to a remarkable degree. All bodyweight aficionados who want to master mobility should go right to the source: Stretching Your Boundaries by Al Kavadlo.

That book is an incredible, next-level view on bodyweight mobility! I’m not saying this to sell you another Dragon Door book—just the opposite, that book has cost me money. When it came out, I was lining up to produce a book on mobility; but once I read Stretching Your Boundaries, I realized, genuinely, that it was the last word: simple, elegant, perfect. Better than anything I could write on the subject.

Thinking of quitting because of sore joints? Get this book, absorb it, and take five weeks using it every day. It’ll revolutionize you. Then get back in the War, soldier.

#4. PUT AN INCH ON YOUR PIPES

Oh yeah—now we’re talkin’, kid.

Sometimes when your training is in a slump, you need to back off. Sometimes, you need to change things. But sometimes, what you REALLY need is to double down, and work harder—really kick yourself in the ass. The best way to do this is set a challenge you really want to meet. Putting an inch on your guns in a month? Sounds good to me!

Here’s how we’re gonna do it.

6Al

Pick two triceps exercises, and two biceps exercises. The first biceps/triceps exercise should be TOUGH—five reps should be a struggle. The second should be a “FEEL” exercise—that you can control well, to burn the hell out of your muscles. You should be able to get about 10-15 reps on these.

Good choices for “tough” triceps work: handstand pushup variations, one-arm pushup variations, etc. For tough biceps work, stick with asymmetrical vertical pullups. Find progressions that match your own strength level.

Good choices for “feel” triceps work: incline French presses on a low bar, tiger bend pushups, close grip pushups. For biceps, some kind of horizontal pull, with your palms supinated (facing you).

Your arms workout will be the same for the next two months:

TOUGH TRICEPS EXERCISE: Warm up, then: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
TOUGH BICEPS EXERCISE: Warm up, then: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
FEEL TRICEPS EXERCISE: 4 sets of 8-15
FEEL BICEPS EXERCISE: 4 sets of 8-15
Horizontal bar hang: 1 x minute

Take about a minute’s rest between tough sets; 20 seconds on the feel exercises.
Perform the tough exercises as straight sets; do the feel exercises superset (i.e., a triceps set, then a biceps set, etc).
As you get stronger, you may need to switch to harder exercises to keep the rep range right. That’s cool.
Forget torso work—you’ll get plenty of it with the arm pushing and pulling.
Train lower body just once a week: a few hard sets of squats, light bridges superset with lying leg raises, and possibly some calf work and mobility.

How often do you do this workout?

-Week 1, do it twice.

-Week 2, do it three times.

-Week 3, do it four times.

-Week 4 do it twice.

Then—on the final day of week four—perform the workout three times in a single day, with at least two hour’s rest between sessions. I know this sounds nuts, but the stress it puts on your arms is unbelievable. Eat plenty.

Don’t blame me if your t-shirts don’t fit this Spring, stud.

#5. LORD OF THE RINGS

Sometimes the key to kick-starting your training involves a new tool. Now—generally speaking, dude—I am a bodyweight purist. To me, the bulk of your training should involve the floor, a horizontal bar, and maybe a wall and a basketball. Run to the hills if someone says you NEED something more than this to assist your bodyweight training, because, 9 times out of 10, that item will actually water down your training and make it worse.

There are times, though, when sprinkling in a new bit of kit is the spark plug you need to set your training alight. In these cases, using new gear might be acceptable. One example might be parallel bars. I’m not a big fan of them, but hell—a lot of advanced athletes swear by them. Another example of an ancient bodyweight tool—and one I mentioned in Convict Conditioning—are hanging rings.

Rings Of Power Example

Hanging rings are fairly affordable now. They are available on the internet, they’re easily and rapidly adjustable, and can be slung from plenty of different locations. You can do pressing exercises (pushups, dips), pulling work (pullups, horizontal pullups, levers), hanging leg raise stuff, and assistance squat work (assisted squats, one-leg squats), etc.

Best of all, you can use progressions on these beauties: the higher the rings, the less the angle of your body and the easier the pushups are. Likewise for pulls. Can’t do a ring pullup? Sling the rings low enough to reach while sitting, with your legs extended. Then try a seated pullup, keeping your heels on the floor as a pivot.

I could give you dozens of progressions, but there just ain’t the space here. Want to know the best place to start? Get Gillette’s now-classic Rings of Power. The best part of the book? It stars our very own PCC wonder girl, Adrienne Harvey!

#6. BODYWEIGHT ISOMETRICS: “THE LITTLE 3”

Training getting boring because the exercises ain’t challenging enough? You stud! Now that’s what I love to hear!

I’m a big fan of an up-down-up-down lifestyle. And I don’t just mean in the bedroom, you dirty birds. I mean that, for muscle and functional strength, I love exercises with nice ranges of motion where you lift, pull or push yourself up and down for reps. Plenty of reps!

For those of you getting bored with the up-down-up-down stuff, throw some isometrics into your game. Now, as a known bodyweight zealot, I’m often asked my option on isometrics. Isometrics just means “same length”, and refers to exercises where you don’t move. The first basic kind is where you just tense your muscles, unloaded—bar pulls are an example. The second kind is where you load your muscles with a proportion of your body’s weight, and try like hell not to fall over—an elbow lever is an example. As for whether I dig isometrics? Well, I like the first kind…but I LOVE the second kind!

For the second kind of isometrics, you are typically (though not universally) looking at a group of exercises called levers. Levers involve supporting the body extended non-vertically from a limited fulcrum point. (Phew.) Levers not only require total-body strength to keep aligned; they also demand impressive trunk and limb strength, balance, coordination, and intense concentration. Levers are great!

You bodyweight strength princes and princesses looking to explore isometric levers should start with the “Little 3”. The Little 3 are basic levers which work the entire body, front, back and side:

L-sit

L-hold. This is a midsection classic! Just push down through the floor (or bars, in the photo) and lift your locked legs off the ground. A killer for the abs, hips and thighs; but the pressing motion also works the lats, triceps and pecs. This one can feel impossible at first—the abs just aren’t accustomed to pulling the pelvis up so high—but with diligence it will become easy as pie.

Elbow lever. Another trick too cool for school. Just lean forward on your palms and tilt your straight body off the floor. More balance than strength, but it does work the shoulders, chest and arms, as well as the entire back of the body, which has to tense to stay aligned. If you have any weak spots or shitty muscular coordination—forget it.

clutch flag

Clutch flag. The front and back of the body is done a deal—howabout the sides? Hug that bar and lift! Another really neat trick that builds strength in the hard-to-reach lateral chain of muscles.

Don’t tell me these are too goddam tough. You should know the drill by now—NOTHING is too tough for us, Kojak! We just use progressions to get there. Can’t perform an elbow lever? Do a plank. Do a lever from a table, with your feet dangling off the ground. Can’t do an L-hold? Do it off a chair with the knees bent. Straighten them over time. As you get stronger, return to the floor and try again with bent knees. No clutch flag? Again, bend those knees until you can extend just ONE leg. You’ll get there. A benefit of levers compared with most up-and-down work is that you can perform them more frequently; sometimes every day. Explore. Experiment.

The Little 3 are wonderful basic holds which are interesting, productive, fun to learn and impressive to non-trainees. They also work real well together; you can learn all three together much quicker than if you learn them separately, as much of the lever patterns carry-over. What are you waiting for? Go master them. When you’ve achieved all three I’ll show you how to level up in your isometrics work to “goddam!” status. (You guessed it. There’s a “Big 3.”)

#7. EXPLOITING EXPLOSIVES

In Convict Conditioning, I advised all my bodyweight students to perform the bulk of their movements slowly and under control. Why? Because if momentum is moving the weight, then your muscles aren’t. Slower movements not only build peak strength, they also fatigue the muscle cells more rapidly, for max size gains.

But—and, like that Kardashian chick, it’s a BIG but—there are exceptions to the rule. Those of you paying attention will have noticed that in every exercise chapter of that book, I also included an explosive exercise, to be performed at high speed, with maximum power.

Box jump

Spending some time training this way is useful for a number of reasons. Firstly—it makes you fast and explosive. That should be enough! But it also makes you agile, increases coordination, builds up joint resistance, and “primes” the nervous system for greater strength gains down the road. Bodyweight explosives are also interesting—a challenge, and real fun to perform. This makes knowledge of PROPER explosives training a real useful tool for that toolbox on a rainy day. Although why you’d need your toolbox more on a rainy day, I got no idea. Maybe the roof is leaking? Whatever.

So how do you go about explosives? Here’s a good way to start: add one solid power movement to each of your sessions. Apart from that, follow these simple rules:

Always use explosives at the beginning of your session, when you’re freshest. Trying to jump on tired muscles can lead to accidents. Also, proper explosives rev up your nervous system and help with later, slower sets.
Warm up well before any explosives.
Beginners should avoid exotic stuff and work mainly on a power diet of jumps and explosive pushups.
Limit reps on explosive work. You’re looking for stimulation, not exhaustion. Once the crispness and spring is gone, you is done.
Start slow and be progressive. One clap pushups become two claps, become behind-the-back claps, and so on.

Explosives are pretty cool. Looksee.

https://youtu.be/NkUk-S11blo

Over time you should begin to move from simple power work—the jumps and explosive pushups—to more sophisticated movements like kip-ups, muscle-ups, and flips. What’s that you’re saying? Paulie, there’s no way I could ever do ninja stuff like a backflip! Well, you’re wrong, knucklehead. You just need to start slow and—like all bodyweight—use the right progressions. And because I love the hell out of you all, I wrote those progressions down for ya in minute detail in Convict Conditioning 3: AKA Explosive Calisthenics.

Please check it out—it’s my personal favorite-ever book that I wrote, apart from all them other books.

#8. JOIN THE CIRCUITS

A couple years back I had a middle-aged athlete write and say he was laying off his training for six weeks coz he’d broken his wrist. I asked him: Too much jerking off? He responded, correctly, by telling me that there was no such thing as “too much”.

I always advise folks to keep training through injuries where they can. But what do you do with a busted wrist? No pullups. No pushups. No bridges. Damn. At least you can jerk off with Mr Lefty and pretend it’s a foreign chick.

What I advised this guy to do while his wrist was healing was to focus on leg work. Let’s face it—calisthenics athletes often get “chicken legs” bull thrown at them. Working a little extra on those legs can’t hurt at all. My student followed the routine I wrote for him, and in six weeks put an inch on his thighs, a quarter inch on his calves, and massively increased his definition in his lower body. Plus, he actually improved his stamina and cardiovascular capacity during his “layoff”.

Lunge

This was the program I gave him: to be performed with two days off between workouts.

Warm-up: mobility exercises/light squats-5 mins

One-Leg Squat: 5 sets x max reps (per leg)
Straight bridges (performed off forearms, not palms): 3 sets x max reps
Vertical leaps: 5 sets of 2
Sprints (100—200 feet): 5 sets x max effort
Leg circuits: pick 5 exercises and perform each for ten reps. 3-5 circuits

Exercises for leg circuits (pick five at random each session):

Bodyweight squats
Hindu squats
Sissy squats
Half-squat with calf raise (two second hold at top)
Tuck jumps
Side kicks
Side-to-side squats
Alternating high steps (on a bench)
Alternating lunges
High kicks
180 degree spin jumps
Wide stance squats

#9. BODYWEIGHT ISOMETRICS: “THE BIG 3”

What’s that? You’ve already mastered the Little 3 levers I gave you in tip #6?! But that was only three tips back! How did you…?

Ah, never mind. I trust ya.

When you’re at the point where the Little 3 are easy—you can hit them for a few seconds any time of the day, and they feel more like warm-ups than real “work”—you’re ready to move up to the big boy stuff: the “Big 3”. The Big 3 are the most impressive and valuable levers in calisthenics—the front lever, the back lever, and the side lever (more commonly known as the press flag):

Front Lever

The front lever. On an overhead bar, pull your knees up over your chest, and extend them until the body and arms are straight. Simple as hell, difficult as f***. If you are getting bored with leg raises as an ultimate front-of-body builder, this needs to be the next step. Try it and find out why.

Back Lever

The back lever. Opposite of the front lever. Grab an overhead bar, and spin your legs through your arms, straightening your bod to razor-like perfection. All muscles have to work to maintain position, particularly the spine and upper-back. A legendary exercise for building mobility and strength in the shoulders.

Flag

The press flag. Grab a vertical bar as in the photo, and jump/swing your legs out to the side, then hold. What? You can’t do it? Only one in a hundred thousand people can, because you need the kind of shoulder, arm and side strength (lats, obliques, serratus, hips) that you normally only find on folks who have turned green after getting pissed off.

As you have probably figured out by now—you read my stuff, so I KNOW you are intelligent, as well as good-looking—working your way up to these levers is about increasing leverage. Start with the body as squashed, as compact as possible, and “unfurl” to become as straight as possible, as in the photos. Begin the front and back levers hanging with your knees tucked in; extend them over time. Eventually, you’ll be able to extend just one leg. Then two legs, bent at the knees. Then you’re there. The principles are similar for press flags—a full progression system (including clutch flag progressions) are included in Convict Conditioning 2.

#10. SPICY SPICY GRIP

Productive training is all about those damn basics—the bodyweight squats, pushups, pullups, bridges and so on. Everyone who wants to become a calisthenics master needs to learn to love these bastards, but there’s no doubt about it—if you are performing them day in, day out, they can start to get pretty boring.

At times like this—when your training is going well, you’re adding reps and strength, but you’re getting a bit bored—ya gotta add some variety. Training can be like food: throwing a dash of spice into a bland meal can revolutionize a dish. Why not pepper some grip specialization into your training to shake things up and add variety? Often this kind of little trick is enough to keep you training through the grey times.

Al Bar Hangs

Grip work is best at the end of a session, so you don’t screw up your other upper-body work. Other than that rule—you can make this stuff up! I talk progressions and workouts in Convict Conditioning 2, but you don’t need that to get started. Keep it fun and challenging.

Howabout:

Timed hangs: Hang from the bar. How long can you manage? Add a second every session, and soon you’ll have grip stamina that would beat the hell out of a powerlifter or bodybuilder.

Towel work: Hanging from a bar is tough for most people. Try it from a towel! Loop a big towel over a bar and hang on for dear life. Unlike most hanging, towel work requires giant thumb power to complete the chain. Try it with one hand and you’ll see.

Fingertip pushups: So many styles—so many progressions to choose from. If the floor is impossible, go for a wall or an incline. If the floor is easy, howabout an asymmetrical position? One-handed? What about using individual fingers, or thumbs? If it was good enough for Bruce, it’s good enough for you.

Finger holds: In the barbell world, grip monsters love one-finger deadlifts and pulls to unleash the full potential of each digit. The bodyweight version is even better—digital hangs. Can you hang from a horizontal bar with just your index and inner fingers on both hands? Just the index? Pinkies and middle fingers? For huge tendon power, better get testing.

A little grip work is fun and very beneficial for strength—one or two exercises per session is enough, as long as you balance out the holds with fingertip pushup sets. Think you’re a real champ? Pick an exercise from each of the four categories above, and perform all four in circuit fashion, as hard as you can. Do five circuits and I promise you, you’ll know what your forearms are for tomorrow morning.

#11. EQUILIBRIUM TRAINING

Now this one is real interesting. Just throwing it out there, to see what you all think. It may intrigue ya—you may have no interest. That’s cool, too.

You train for strength, right? And speed. And maybe endurance. But who out there is seriously training their vestibular and proprioceptive systems? In other words, who is training for balance?

Equilibrium, or balance, is a crucial aspect of health and fitness. In fact, one of the more reliable indicators of biological age is the simple one-leg test—if you can stand on one leg with your eyes closed for more than twenty seconds, you’re doing okay. Check this here chart to discover your “Balance Age”.

Balance is essential in all athleticism. But I know hardly any athletes who train for it. If you are interested in this approach, it might prove to give you some supplementary work that’ll bring some fun into your workouts.

Ideas:

One-leg balances for time

Asymmetrical yoga positions (on one leg or otherwise)

Side planks with one arm and leg extended

Headstands

Handstands

Spinning and standing on one leg

Walking along a solid line (i.e., a brick wall—a series of posts, etc.)

Slacklining (cool with the kids, I hear—thanks, Adrienne!)

#12. WAY OF THE DRAGON

Sometimes the best way to renew our training is to search for a different vibe. We might be doing similar stuff to what we were doing before, but if the package feels different—we won’t get bored. It’s a win-win.

1 arm straddle handstand

A great way to insert some glamour into your bodyweight training to explore the way martial artists approach the subject. Practitioners of the oriental fighting systems—kung fu, karate, tae kwon do—these guys have centuries of thought and practice behind what they do, and they are inevitably crazy about bodyweight. Just check out tapes of modern Shaolin training to see how seriously these monks take calisthenics.

If the western, scientific, linear, American double-progression-style of bodyweight training is losing some of it’s meaning for you, think about exploring the way bodyweight is performed in traditional martial arts. These arts involve tons of training in ten areas:

Katas (movement forms): body control, coordination, conditioning, power striking, etc.
Pushes and pulls: various pushups, pullups, etc.
Leg exercises: horse stance, low stepping forms
Sensitivity drills: chi sau, striking/blocking drills
Animal drills: eagle claw, monkey, tiger, etc.
Agility: rolls, flips, tricks, tumbling
Extreme mobility work: “teacup” training, joint work, box splits, etc.
Balance techniques: plum blossom poles, asymmetrical tai chi movements, etc.
Breathing exercises: chi gung, iron shirt work, etc.
Meditation

All of this is bodyweight work. All of it is useful, and it might just suit you. One of my favorite martial arts bodyweight manuals is the old classic Dynamic Strength by Harry Wong. Check it if you can!

#13. ROPE-A-DOPE

Another super old-school bodyweight tool! Rope training is vouched for by everyone from the military to sixties Batman. I’m not talking about those piss poor ropes in modern gyms—you know, the ones they lay across the floor so you can play ribbon with ‘em. I’m taking about ropes you actually CLIMB, bitch!

Get a thick length of climbing rope (it has to be thick as you can get, for grip—narrow rope is no good) and secure it to a high girder or branch (20 foot is about perfect). Then climb that sucker. Ropes build incredible pulling strength and arm size, but they also work the torso and midsection more than most people realize. One of my personal heroes in calisthenics, Harvey Day, said that rope climbing was THE toughest abdominal exercise. He was right.

rope climb

Be ready for a challenge, and—as ever—you can make this shit progressive.

-Climb up and down with legs and both arms

-Climb up with legs and both arms/climb down using only arms

-Climb up and down using only arms

-Climb up with the legs in a L-hold

Experts begin their climbs seated on the floor—in an L-hold! This means the legs cannot help with the climb at all. By the time you can do this, your biceps will look like goddamn steel softballs. There are other progressions from there—mostly built around speed (time yourself for distance or reps) and volume (how many climbs can you make?).

#14. SURVIVE THE CENTURY

I said earlier that a challenge is as good as a rest when it comes to keeping your ass training. Now, if you’re REALLY looking for a challenge, why not try the coolest calisthenics gauntlet in the whole damn world: The Century.

I know the vast majority of you reading this will be aware of The Century. For those who aren’t, it’s a bodyweight strength test over four different exercises performed back-to-back for a hundred-rep total (hence the name). Check it:

Men	Women
40 Squats	40 Squats
30 Push-ups	30 Knee Push-ups
20 Hanging Knee Raises	20 Hanging Knee Raises
10 Pull-ups	10 Australian Pull-ups

Want to see what a perfect Century looks like? Check these videos from Al Kavadlo and Adrienne Harvey.

https://youtu.be/FtRnPCWhWgU

Working towards The Century isn’t just a motivating challenge: it’s a killer program in itself. The entire body is worked; form on the basics is tightened up; and because the exercises are performed with no rest, you wind up with a killer cardio workout, too.

The Century is designed as the final PCC test, to be performed after three grueling days of bodyweight training. If you’re headed to a PCC—now that’s a challenge to motivate ya!—check out this awesome article on The Century by Adrienne Harvey.

#15. I DON’T WANT NO DISSENSION! JUST…DYNAMIC TENSION

About twenty years ago if you’d talked to anyone in fitness about building up your body with calisthenics, they woulda immediately shot back with one name—Charles Atlas.

Atlas—real name Angelo Siciliano—was a legend in the physique world for developing the bodyweight-only system known as Dynamic Tension. Anyone my age who bought a comic book EVER remembers the ads vividly—the scrawny dude getting sand kicked in his face (in front of his gal! Not cool!) only to go into hiding and use Atlas’ secret techniques. A little while later, he would return to the beach, jacked up, find the bully, and rip off his head and s*** down his neck. Then he f***ed the bully’s mom, while she was still grieving. Probably at the funeral. Actually, yeah. At the funeral. That’s how I remember the ads, anyway.

Comic

Atlas fused basic calisthenics training drills with isometric tension techniques to create his system—a system which, all in has, has to be one of the most successful training programs the world has ever seen, any way you want to slice it. If you’re devoted to bodyweight—maybe working through Convict Conditioning or a similar system—and you’re looking to explore something a bit different for a while, why not go old school and give it a try?

I know a lot of folks have attacked Atlas’s methods over the years. So what? Here’s the reality: no training system is perfect, and virtually no athlete goes their entire career using just one system, anyway. So if you give Dynamic Tension a try and find out it’s not for you, that’s cool. I’m betting you’ll learn a thing or two along the way. And that’s what it’s all about.

One proviso though. If I see you at the beach, please don’t kick sand in my face. I bruise real easy.

#16. PAIN WEEK

Here’s a fun little number to shake yourself out of a funk. When a body part needs specialization, the sensible way to train that area is to up the intensity and volume a little, allowing plenty of time for rest and recovery.

Feel like screwing with “sensible”? Try “pain week”, which was a common bodybuilding tactic in gyms in the seventies and eighties. (You don’t hear about it much now, which is why I thought you might want to know this stuff.) When your training is getting tedious, pick a body part that’s lagging for you—let’s say, chest, for example. Now, instead of slightly increasing frequency and volume, we are gonna jack them up massively, by working this area every day, for five days straight.

Close Push Ups

Utilizing pain week is simple. Pick five exercises, and perform five DAMN HARD sets of each exercise, each on a different day. That’s all you do—nothing else that week. Take the weekend off as a well-deserved rest, and go back to your regular workouts on Monday. (Trust me, you’ll be grateful about it.)

For chest, Pain Week might look like this:

MON: Pushups between chairs: 5 x max

TUE: Parallel bar dips: 5 x max

WED: Clap pushups: 5 x max

THU: Muscle-ups: 5 x max

FRI: One-arm tripod pushups: 5 x max

SAT: OFF

SUN: OFF

Monday’s workout should be tough, but otherwise fine. On Tuesday you should be a little sore, which will make things extra tough. Wednesday, your pectorals will feel deep-fried and scream during every rep of every set. Strangely, by the time Friday rolls around, your pecs will feel as if they’re starting to adapt—but you’ll still be glad to put the madness behind you.

The best part of Pain Week is that it actually seems to work. Using this method, you actually CAN noticeably improve a lagging body part in a real short span of time. Don’t believe me? Try it.

#17. THE “PERFECT 10”

I can’t take credit for this one. This is from a buddy of mine and former tactical firearms officer Mike Barnard. When he read about my “Big 6” exercises—squats, pushups, pullups, leg raises, bridges and inversions—Mike wrote me and told me about his list: the “Perfect 10”.

Mike’s theory was that a perfect athlete—with control, strength, stamina—would be able to achieve these ten bodyweight feats:

Pistol squat: 25 reps per leg. Hip, knee and ankle strength, mobility and endurance.

Pushup: 100 reps. Vertical pressing strength and stamina.

Pull-up: 50 reps. Pulling strength and stamina.

Muscle-up: 10 reps. Horizontal bar dominance; explosive pulling and pushing strength.

Elbow lever: 1 minute hold. Balance-strength-stamina.

Human Flag: 5 seconds. Huge lateral chain power.

Front lever: 10 seconds. Total-body strength plus anterior chain.

Back lever: 10 seconds. Total-body strength plus posterior chain.

L-hold: 20 seconds. Contractile hip and abdominal power.

Free handstand: 30 seconds: Shoulder and arm strength, plus ultimate inverse balance.

So—how do you stack up on this “perfect” list?

Mike was in the process of working towards all these feat when we last spoke—and he already had a WARNING: this list is only for athletes who are already real badasses, or those with big, BIG ambitions to get there.

But maybe you fit that category? If not you, then who?

#18. MUSCLE CONTROL

This one also comes under the “something different” category.

Back in the day—let’s call it a century, or roundabout—one of the popular disciples of strength was muscle control. Like a hybrid between yoga and Dynamic Tension (which hadn’t been invented), muscle control was the art of maximally contracting and relaxing all the muscles of the body, rhythmically and separately.

Before you think: what’s so hard about that shit? Stop and consider it for a second. Yep, maybe—inspired by Arnold—you can tense your pecs in time to the beat. But can you really control each row of your abs separately? Can you pull one shoulder-blade up while the other one goes down?

For a really great example of this art, google British athlete Tony Holland.

Most of you older guys will be nodding your heads; you will have heard all about muscle control. Before you younger guys laugh too hard, remember that Bruce Lee was influenced by muscle control methods; you can see it in his warm-up sequences. That shoulder mobility comes from Western muscle control training, not kung fu. In fact, muscle control not only increases coordination, neural recruitment, circulation and mobility, it also helps ease joint pain. It’s a helluva workout.

Bruce Lee

Muscle control theory was pioneered by a strongman who went by the stage name “Maxick” (changed from the more vomit-y “Max Sick”). In fact, for many years, muscle control was called Maxalding. Maxick used his training methods on himself. The legendary Eugen Sandow said that Maxick had achieved a level of physical conditioning that, in his opinion, could never ever be bettered.

Sick wrote in depth about his ideas and techniques, and he had a huge number of followers during his lifetime. Luckily his works are all now public domain and you can enjoy them for free. The full library can be found here.

#19. TRY PARKOUR

If the semi-static pushes and pulls of bodyweight bodybuilding or strength training are getting you down, you need to get in touch with what your body was made for in the first place. Move!

I’ve been aware of the ideas behind parkour since before most of you were born. (Yeah—I’m THAT ancient.) But it’s nothing new. What is?

One of the biggest thrills (and surprises) I’ve had over the last decade or so is seeing this new wave of Hérbertisme training, parkour, become mainstream. You see kids getting off their asses and Xboxes and doing it in the park, in the street—everywhere. You don’t need to buy anything to get into it, and your imagination and effort is what unlocks your ability; not any drugs, money, equipment. God, it’s cool—it’s just the kind of thing the world of physical culture needs. And the talent some of these young athletes possess blows me away time after time.

I wish this stuff had been better known when I was a kid: I woulda eaten it up with a spoon. I have actually built some parkour drills into my explosives training, over the past few years, and loved it. I’ll never be great, but I continue to surprise folks with my agility.

So don’t think you are too old for this stuff. If you want to start, begin slow and master the basic drills. Over time, you’ll be able to link some moves and freestyle.

#20. BAR-ONLY TRAINING

Here’s a tip to shake up your training straight from Joe Hartigen. I recall one occasion when someone I knew a little bit who worked out pretty hard asked Joe how to improve his upper-body mass and strength with a quick turnaround. I think he was expecting a sets and reps answer, but he didn’t get one. Joe was real concise. He said something along the lines of: only use the bar when you train. Nothing else. That was it.

Al Kavaldo Muscle Up

In fact, if you are looking for upper-body gains, this weird advice is actually gold. If you’re only working on the bar, all your exercises are hanging. That’s a grip and core workout every damn rep; not to mention circulation, as your blood is pumping hard the whole time. You’ll be doing plenty of pullups for your lats and biceps. Goodbye floor work for your trunk—hello leg raises and front and back levers which work the torso like nothing else. Pretty good for the whole body, actually. Standard pushups are fairly easy—if you want to press using the bar, you’ll need horizontal bar dips and muscle-ups, which are Nth-Level pec and triceps builders.

Joe gave no rules, but if you’re serious about this I’d think about doing nothing but a bar workout, every other day for no more than twelve weeks. I’d alternate between pulling days and pushing/levers/abs (although there’s gonna be a ton of carry-over).

If you’re interested in this idea and want some more technical instruction, the finest manual of bar calisthenics is by my pal Al Kavadlo. Check out Raising the Bar.

If this works for you—hey, remember Coach taught you this great tip right? If it’s a total failure, remember—this old crap wasn’t my goddamn idea.

——–

There you go—straight from me to you, twenty training ideas to keep you interested, invested, and in the calisthenics game for the rest of the year. At least! In Part Two of this article we’ll look at programming tips and tricks to help you even further out of any slump you might find yourself in. Big thanks go out to Al, Danny and Grace for letting me use their awesome photos, and more thanks too to the lovely Adrienne for all her help with this post.

Now, I don’t get on the net much—yes, that statement dates me for the elderly bastard I am, but so be it. I’m just not that type of guy. The biggest pleasure I get from posting here is that it gives me the chance to speak to all you cool bodyweight athletes and soon-to-be athletes from all over the world. So please, please—I’m gonna be checking this page for the next two weeks. I would LOVE to hear from all of ya: old friends and new friends alike. If you have any questions, I would really get a kick out of trying to help you, and I answer all comments. I don’t care if you’re completely new, or a “lurker”: don’t be shy. There are no stupid questions. So shoot me a line, studs and studettes!

***

The Top 10 PCC Blog Posts of 2015

December 29, 2015 By Al Kavadlo 19 Comments

PCC 2015 Collage What a great year it has been for calisthenics and the PCC! Danny and I traveled all over the US and Europe in 2015, bringing the Progressive Calisthenics Certification to new places like California, Italy and the UK.

In addition to reaching new markets, many of the venues that had previously hosted the PCC, like Trainingscentrum Helena in Holland, and Soho Strength Lab in New York City, saw even larger attendance than at last year’s events.

While I was fortunate enough to connect with hundreds of you in person this year, the PCC has impacted hundreds of thousands more through this blog.

With the year coming to an end, it’s become an annual tradition for me to take a look back and select my favorite blog posts. Once again, it was hard to pick ten, but I did my best!

Here are my favorites, in no particular order:

–The man, the myth, the legend, Paul “Coach” Wade kicked off the year by telling us how to add 20 pounds of muscle mass in one year with calisthenics. Did any of you give it a shot?

–My brother and PCC Master Instructor Danny Kavadlo explained why there’s no reason to be afraid of getting hurt during a workout.

–Senior PCC Adrienne Harvey reminded us that revisiting regressions such as the short bridge and shoulderstand squat can lead to surprising advancements in our training.

–PCC standout Matt Schifferle explained how understanding the concept of technical convergence can take your training to the next level.

PCC NYC Raised One Arm Pushups –It’s always an honor to get a blog post from a calisthenics legend like PCC Instructor Jack Arnow.

–PCC Instructor Eric Buratty wrote this entertaining and informative post about getting in the zone for your workout.

–Right after earning his Progressive Calisthenics Certification, newly-minted PCC Instructor Eric Bergmann passed along some great advice to avoid the 99 rep curse and complete the PCC Century test.

–While PCC Instructor Ali El-Khatib updated us a full year after taking the cert to explain how his life had changed following the PCC.

PCC NYC Wrist Stretches –My wife and fellow PCC Instructor Grace Kavadlo penned this helpful tutorial on the crow pose and its variations.

–And lastly, I had fun ironically pointing out that talk is cheap.

That’s it! Enjoy the articles, have a Happy New Year…

…and Let’s Do Some Pull-ups!

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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 five books, including 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.

Calisthenic Conditioning Boosts Brain Power

December 15, 2015 By Joe Schwartz, DC 15 Comments

Al Kavadlo, One-Arm Elbow Lever If you look around most mainstream gyms, you’re likely to see people using fancy-looking machines to try hitting each part of their bodies individually. This “isolation principle” of weight training gained popularity with the rise of bodybuilding, where it is effective in sculpting individual muscles in isolation and hoping to counterbalance that effort with each muscle individually, putting them together in a “Frankenstein” fashion to build a muscular physique.

Putting all the cells and body parts of a cadaver together, however meticulously, will not create a person capable of performing the miraculous feats humans are capable of performing. The problem lies in that a muscular physique alone does not translate into athleticism nor overall health. It is largely for appearance, and in some cases, raw strength. This is not to say that all those with muscular physiques are not athletic. Athleticism is a talent that is either practiced or naturally present. Just as talent alone is not enough, however, a muscular physique is not enough in the pursuit of overall health and optimum performance.

Critics of calisthenic conditioning often claim it lacks a progression element typical in weight training or machine resistance such as plate loaded or hydraulic cam or cable devices. Truth be discovered, there are near infinite progressions for every calisthenic exercise placing greater demand and stimulating progressively increasing power and strength.

So what does this have to do with brain power? Simple: The more you force different groups of muscles to work together to overcome a challenge, the more recruitment of brain, nervous system and muscle activation you achieve. Practicing this pattern over time makes you more efficient in executing similar challenges. It makes your system smarter! This is how we are designed to function, not in individual parts, but as a whole. This explains ancient systems of exercise and conditioning like martial arts, Yoga, and other physical practices dating back to the dawn of man. It wasn’t until recently we became attracted to the notion of isolation training for aesthetic outcomes and thought we were smarter than the ancient wisdom that brought us here.

Danny Kavadlo teaching at a PCC Workshop
The “Chain of Command” Principle

Like an elite military or business system, your brain’s recon teams bring information in for central processing and a proper response. Practicing these responses regularly with varying degrees of challenge builds reactions that are more reflex in nature than thought-based. Receptors in muscles, joints, tendons, fascia and other body parts perform the recon work. They gather information about the environment in response to gravitational stresses. This is where the juice is. Vary those stresses in multiple planes of action with varying degrees of difficulty and bingo! Practice consciously so you can react well in stressful situations.

In my studies and 30-plus years of clinical experience, I see one common element in people suffering the wide array of health problems. This common element is that people do not move enough and when they do, it is not in a beneficial way. All their effort goes into a rather mindless propulsion of a machine typically while seated. No attention is given to practicing consciously challenging movements! Often these efforts to “exercise” are misguided and result in repetitive strain or outright injury, which causes many people with good intentions to quit entirely.

Defining Exercise

My definition of exercise is any activity you engage in regularly that counteracts the stress and strain of what you do most of your day (at work and during leisure time). We sit too much. We do not move our eyes enough. We do not challenge our balance and equilibrium enough. We do not challenge our muscles to work together in synchronized patterns to evoke the brain and muscle “memory” required to sustain optimal brain health and physical conditioning. Calisthenic conditioning directly addresses these deficits. Moving your body and recruiting muscle and joint receptors in novel ways builds protein in these nervous system pathways in unison rather than simply building proteins to make a muscle larger. Keep in mind the age old principle that you either “use it or lose it”. Nowhere is it more profoundly true than in the brain and nervous system. To make the best use of time invested in a conditioning program it makes sense to engage the brain, nervous system, musculoskeletal system, and mind all at once while exercising. Comparing calisthenic conditioning to isolation exercises performed on machines, treadmills or other cardio machines is a “no brainer” (sorry, couldn’t resist the pun).

Clutch Flags at a PCC Workshop
Calisthenic exercises (ideally in a natural setting) provide huge potential benefits and rewards. By moving your body against gravity in various patterns and planes you establish and condition your “chain of command”. In the absence of a natural setting, the movement of your head and body while performing calisthenic exercises should be adequate to improve your health far better than sitting on a circuit training machine pumping out repetitions of isolation exercises. The “chain of command” I refer to in simplified terms is your brain, nervous system, muscles, joints, and connective tissues, along with the parallel connections between the nervous system and every cell and tissue of your vital organs. A healthy brain and nervous system, an athletic physique, and the ability to perform impressive physical feats into your later years are just but a few side effects of calisthenic conditioning. Healthy blood chemistry, balanced mental state and ideal body composition are but a few more benefits. It is well worth the effort to re-establish your physical and mental potential for optimal health and well-being.

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Joseph A. Schwartz, DC has 31 years experience as a practicing chiropractor with an emphasis on neurology, rehabilitation, nutrition, strength and conditioning. His mission is to empower others so they may exceed their expectations for vibrant health and well-being.