Tutorial

A Karate Approach to Calisthenics

June 2, 2015 By Owen Johnston 15 Comments

Back of the Wrist Pushups

Like many of my generation, I grew up watching movies like The Karate Kid, Kickboxer, Enter the Dragon, Drunken Master, and Rocky. The larger-than-life characters from these films wowed us with their fighting skills and never-give-up attitudes.

A common theme they all share is that the main character is an underdog who must train hard to become a better fighter and overcome his seemingly invincible opponents. The training methods employed often include some tough calisthenics skills. I’m sure we all remember seeing Rocky do uneven pull-ups in the second film, and dragon flags in the fourth. The perseverance of our heroes, the amazing skills they learned, and the rigorous training methods they endured inspired many of us to take up martial arts and training ourselves.

Bruce Lee popularized the dragon flag as well as other difficult bodyweight feats, like his two finger push-ups. He espoused improving your athletic performance in order to improve your martial performance, as well as to help fully express the human body. Certainly, the martial-calisthenics connection is as old as man, yet Bruce was a great catalyst in the popularization of martial arts in America, inspiring many to train hard like he did. He said, “Life is never stagnation. It is constant movement…as well as constant change. Things live by moving and gain strength as they go.”

I didn’t fully understand the implications of these words until I got into Progressive Calisthenics. There are certainly comparisons to be made between learning progressive calisthenics and martial arts. Coach Wade made some of these comparisons in “The Tao of PCC”. He brought up some important similarities to martial arts. “…nobody can remember a hundred techniques in a fight. What matters are the principles you absorb.” “You learn the form, you absorb the form, you discard the form.”

Our training shouldn’t keep us stuck in a rigid form, but instead be directed to the fullest expression of ourselves with utmost efficiency and simplicity. In Jackie Chan’s older films, many of his characters often went through a transformation from a struggling student to a graceful, efficient and powerful athlete. The training was generally harsh, but once he absorbed the principles of his master’s art, he was ready to face the next challenge!

Like the progressive calisthenics approach, traditional power training and body conditioning methods in Okinawan karate focus on bulletproofing the joints, improving flexibility, and building holistic, functional strength.

One Arm One Leg Fingertip Training

There are a number of progressive bodyweight movements taught in Okinawan karate, including knuckle push-ups, fingertip push-ups and ultimately, wrist push-up variations. The exercises have very direct benefits for “bunkai” or application of kata.

Of course, these exercises shouldn’t replace previous progressions, but supplement them. Also, don’t overdo it with directly training the joints. Be sure to allow plenty of time for your connective tissues to adapt.

To regress any of these variations, you can practice them using an incline (wall, chair etc) or you can simply create less demanding leverage by kneeling instead of performing them from your toes. You could also adapt the Convict Conditioning push-up progression to these variations. (Coach Wade has already covered this for fingertip push-ups in Convict Conditioning 2.)

Warm up your hands and forearms properly before working knuckle, fingertip or wrist push-ups. Afterwards, shake your hands out, and stretch your fingers and wrists.

Like most push-up variations, knuckle push-ups strengthen most of the muscles used in straight punches. Knuckle push-ups also strengthen the wrists and knuckles, and help toughen up the skin. A course of fingertip push-ups, grip work, pull-ups, and proper use of a heavy bag will help you punch as hard as Rocky Balboa!

Fingertip push-ups strengthen the finger extensor muscles. Naturally, they provide direct benefits to strikes using extended fingers. Fingertip push-ups can be progressed by doing push-ups on fewer fingers.

The author, Owen Johnston demonstrates a push-up on just the index fingers and thumbs.

Wrist push-ups strengthen the wrists for various strikes, and have very specific benefits for “ox jaw” and “crane” techniques. This push-up variation is done on the backs of the hands. You can also ease in by having one palm on the training surface instead of having both on the backs of the hands. Practice this way on both sides to maintain symmetry in training.

Wrist Stretches by Owen Johnston, PCC Instructor

A stretch commonly done in gymnastics will be useful in preparing for a wrist push-up progression. Sit in a kneeling position, look straight down at your knees, lean forward slightly and place the back of your hands on the ground, directly in front of your knees. Naturally, leaning forward will put some of your weight onto the backs of your hands, with the fingers turned inward. Cautiously lean into your hands until you feel mild discomfort. Hold this stretch for 10-30 seconds, then come up and shake your hands out. Repeat 1-3 times.

There are “hidden steps” between this stretch and a wrist hold in the top position of a kneeling push-up. First, gradually build strength and flexibility in the wrists with the stretch until you can put moderate pressure onto the backs of your hands with little to no discomfort. The next part of the progression is to move your hands a few inches forward from the starting position and unfold your hips slightly as you start putting pressure on the backs of your hands. Imagine that you are trying to move a little closer to perfect form for push-ups (hips locked out, weight carried through arms and hands). Find the most difficult position that you can hold for 10-15 seconds when you put mild to moderate pressure on your hands. Gradually work towards the full kneeling push-up wrist hold.

A sample progression:
1. Wall wrist push-ups
2. Incline wrist push-ups with one palm on contact surface and the back of the other hand on contact surface
3. Incline wrist push-ups
4. Kneeling wrist push-ups with same regression as in step 2
5. Kneeling wrist push-ups
6. Hold top of push-up position on backs of hands; use same regression as in steps 2 if needed at first
7. Full push-up with one palm on contact surface and back of other hand on contact surface
8. Full wrist push-ups

Programming and volume for wrist pushups are straightforward. Since the joints don’t adapt as quickly as the muscles, and the wrists can tend to be injury prone, be conservative about volume. Practicing wrist push-ups once a week for low sets of low reps is a good rule.

A few options for programming wrist training:
1) Adding it to an existing joint specialization session; see Convict Conditioning 2 for a template
2) Doing some wrist stretches, holds and/or pushups as part of your warm-ups for practice (whether karate or a sport that needs strong hands/wrists)
3) Doing some light stretches and other exercises as part of rehabilitating your wrists (of course, this will depend on what exercises your physician recommends)
4) Training wrist holds after a session of pushups
5) There are many other possibilities depending on your own needs, goals, experience, etc.

Back Of Wrist Push up variations

Martial arts and calisthenics can work hand-in-hand to develop all of the qualities needed for the development of strength and technique. I hope that you, dear reader, find my examples of this to be clear and useful. The Okinawan martial arts and the methods that Coach Wade wrote about are ancient, but are still around because they work, and can work well together!

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Owen Johnston, PCC has served as the strength and conditioning coach at Olympia Gymnastics in Moncks Corner, SC since April 2014, and as a gymnastics coach since August 2014. He began his martial arts journey on June 10th, 2002, and is a black belt instructor. For more information, check out his site, http://www.strengthcalisthenics.com.

Upgrade your Life and Looks with the Knee and Leg Raise Chain

May 5, 2015 By Adrienne Harvey 46 Comments

Adrienne Harvey Hanging Knee Raise

The humble but powerful knee and leg raise progressions featured in the PCC Workshop and Convict Conditioning don’t always get as much attention as some of the more visually intense exercises. Even though these moves might not be tailor-made for showing off online, don’t underestimate their importance. These progressions are the sort of “strong silent type” movements which build the muscles and coordination necessary to attempt many more advanced moves. In the context of the Century Test, the 20 knee raises also (along with the bodyweight squats) have the same requirements in the men’s and women’s tests. These 20 knee raises have sometimes been or directly led up to the make-or-break moment in a Century Test.

Testing aside, the hanging knee raise and leg raise progressions are not only great for working on your midsection, they’re a great reason to spend more time hanging on the bar and strengthening your grip. In the video at the end of this blog post, you’ll see just one of the many possible grip variations you can use when practicing hanging knee raises. Almost by accident I started doing a challenging fingertip variation—just because the available overhead support happened to be an I-beam. It was a fun challenge that really raised the difficulty of a few sets of 25 knee raises in my workout that day. Hanging knee and leg raises are also a great way to determine what you need to work on most. What “gives out” first? Your abs? Grip? Shoulder engagement? Start in on a max or near-max set of hanging knee or leg raises and you’ll soon find out!

In a crowded gym with people fighting over the more “traditional” or ab-specific items, all you’ll need to do is find a good overhead bar and you’re set. Out in the “the wild”—on a municipal fit trail (like the one in my video) or even a playground, you can easily get in some ab work, without having to lay on the ground that might be muddy. The powerful knee and leg raise drills leading up to the hanging bar work in Convict Conditioning are extremely valuable, can be practiced anywhere at all, and start at a level where literally anyone can begin and benefit. If you’re still “on the ground” with your knee and leg raise progressions, you can always still work on your strength and strategy with timed hangs on the bar.

To meet PCC standards, you shouldn’t be swinging around with your hanging knee raises. A quick but not-so-easy way to make sure you don’t swing is to really control your grip on that bar. RKC kettlebell enthusiasts will recognize the idea of trying to “bend” or “break” the bar (or in their case the kettlebell handle). In the video below I break some sticks to give you the idea. Thinking of bending the bar in this way will stabilize your upper body and give you a solid foundation for hanging knee raises, hanging leg raises and any number of twisting variations that would otherwise have you looking like an out of control set of human wind chimes. Keeping yourself in control on the bar is a great habit to start developing and to have in your personal toolkit.

Adrienne Harvey Hanging Pike Raise

You can use the hanging knee and leg raises to a work on your grip, and to strengthen your other moves. Really, any time spent working on the bar will have positive effects on your training, strength, and physique. While many of us don’t publically talk about this last item—our physical appearance—let’s get honest about it for a minute. It’s simply human nature for us to want to look our best (at least to our own definitions). While the real benefits of these hanging knee and leg raise progressions are increased usable strength, a great side effect is some muscular development in the midsection. Provided your nutrition is in line, this can result in the coveted six pack, or the “flat tummy” touted in women’s fitness marketing. While I personally think performance and strength are better long-term motivators, having those positive visual side effects certainly doesn’t hurt! I will say that most people seem to have better long term training commitment if outward appearances are not their ONLY motivator.

Having a strong, trained midsection really sets you up for success (and safety, since a strong abdomen protects your back) with all kinds of lifting and other fun activities. I could even go so far as to say that having a strong midsection can generally improve your quality of life. (You can do everything from lift everyday heavy objects without injury to holding your own while trying a new activity like stand-up paddleboarding.)

Once you’re comfortable doing a few hanging pike raises (the PCC term for a leg raise taken up to shins to the bar) and have a reasonable grasp on pull ups, you can also try a fun and useful move called the “rollover”. While some people like to kip into this move, if you have the requisite strength, you don’t have to! Perform about ½ of a pull up, then pull your straight legs up and slightly past the bar, you’ll easily roll right over and be on top of the bar. This is a great way to practice bar dips or negative muscle-ups without burning yourself out trying to get on top of the bar. It’s also a lot of fun and looks cool! Towards the end of the video below, I demonstrate the rollover somewhat slowly so you can see what’s happening. While I had the necessary strength to do this move for a very long time, figuring out the timing of it was the crucial key.

This video is a medley of hanging knee and leg raise tips, variations, and training ideas I’ve put together just for you:

How are you using the hanging leg raise chain in your training?

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Adrienne Harvey, Senior PCC Instructor, RKC-II, CK-FMS, originally RKC Certified in 2010, and RKC Level 2 certified in 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!

Crow Pose and Beyond

April 14, 2015 By Grace Kavadlo 28 Comments

Grace Menendez Crow
Before I ever considered becoming a personal trainer, one of my earliest fitness breakthroughs was the first time I achieved a crow pose in yoga class. It blew my mind! Before then I had assumed hand balancing was reserved for gymnasts and acrobats. As far as I was concerned, it was not appropriate for me and my fitness goals. Man, was I wrong! After that yoga class, I felt inspired to improve my crow practice and learn more about the world of hand balancing.

Adding this powerful pose to your routine has more benefits than just showing-off. Crow pose strengthens your entire upper body, including your shoulders, arms, and even your abs. It can be a great way to train your brain, too! If you have ever attempted to hold a crow pose for even a few seconds, you can attest to how much focus and concentration is involved in the process.

Crow-gressive Calisthenics
Like all bodyweight skills, you can vary the intensity of the crow pose in several ways to make the move more accessible to beginners, or challenge even the most advanced hand balancers.

Though the general idea remains the same – using the backs of your arms to support your lower body while you balance on your hands – there are a lot of subtleties that are often overlooked when learning how to perform the crow pose.

Before you begin, I suggest doing a few wrist rolls as well as opening and closing your hands and fingers as a warm-up. Placing your entire body weight on the smaller muscles of the wrists and hands can be pretty intense. Ease into your practice, listen to your body, and let’s have fun with the crow pose!

Froggy Bottom
The earliest progression toward the crow is what is sometimes known as a frog stand. Start in a deep squat position and place your hands on the floor in front of your feet. Your arms should be inside your legs with elbows pressing into your inner thighs. Keep your hand placement fairly wide when starting out.

From here, begin to bend your elbows to around 90 degrees as you tip forward, lifting your feet off the ground. You can also ease into it by lifting one foot off the floor at a time. Focus on keeping your chest lifted and squeezing your thighs into your arms as you attempt to balance. The more contact you have between your arms and legs, the easier it will be to balance. Think about looking in front of your hands rather than in between them. It can also be helpful to place a pillow or mat in front of your hands in case you are afraid of falling.

If you are finding it difficult to lift off, I suggest elevating your feet on a low platform with your hands on the ground to allow more clearance. I’ve also coached people into finding the balance by starting from a tripod position with their head on the floor and pushing off the mat back into frog stand.

Al Kavadlo Frog Stand

Crow Up
Once you’ve got the hang of the beginner version, you can try placing your hands in a narrower position to begin working toward minimizing the contact between your arms and legs. For this variation, which we can call a full crow, only your knees will be on the backs of your arms, instead of your inner thighs. You should also start working toward reducing the amount of flexion at your elbows. Point your toes and squeeze your thighs together to help generate enough muscle tension to allow you to balance. Remember to keep your eyes focused on a spot a few inches ahead of your hands to help you counter-balance.

Al Kavadlo Crow

Let It Crane
The next step in the series is what’s sometimes known as the crane pose. This variation may take a while to build up to as it requires serious strength, intense focus and extreme wrist flexibility. However, if you’ve been “milking” the earlier steps, you will eventually conquer this pose. For the crane variation, there is little bend at all in the arms, and the knees are placed further up the backs of the triceps, until they are practically in the armpits.

Start in the same squat position as before, only this time your arms will be locked. Stand on your toes and lift your hips high as you lean forward, bending your knees in towards your armpits (or as high as you can place them on the backs of your arms). Point your toes in towards each other as you tense your midsection and attempt to balance. Keep your gaze a few inches inches in front of your hands and lift your heels toward your butt. Focus on utilizing your abdominal strength to keep your hips nice and high.

AlKavadlo Crane Stand

And Beyond…
The above variations will give you plenty to practice in order to tighten up your hand-balancing game. However, there are still more progressions that you can work on to make even the advanced crane seem tame. You can practice the crow on your fingertips, with your hands reversed, or even on the backs of your hands! You can also work on single-leg variations. No matter where you fall in the crow continuum, you can always find a variant that will challenge and excite you.

Grace Menendez Crow Variations

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Grace Kavadlo, PCC, HKC is a personal trainer and group exercise instructor located in New York City. She is a columnist for Bodybuilding.com and can be seen in several Dragon Door books, including Coach Wade’s Explosive Calisthenics. For more information about Grace, check out her website, www.DieselGrace.com

Strength Cycling for Continuous Improvement

April 7, 2015 By Juan De Jesus 35 Comments

Juan De Jesus Human Flag

Though progressive calisthenics training brings plenty of benefits, ranging from increased flexibility, control, and of course, strength, your body perceives it as a stress. As such, the body builds resistance toward it, which manifests in you getting stronger. Twenty push-ups today might force an adaptation, but twenty push-ups a month later might not.

One way to continue getting stronger on a consistent basis is to pick harder exercises as time goes by (you could begin with band-assisted pull-ups, then full pull-ups, then clapping pull-ups, etc), or by adding reps to your sets (do 3 sets of 30 squats today, 3 sets of 32 next time, etc). Most calisthenics trainers will recommend these two main variables in order to make their workouts harder and induce an adaptation.

At some point, however, our recovery cannot keep up with our want for reps or added difficulty. We’ve all been there: you were supposed to do 15 hanging leg raises today (couple more than last time), but you just could not go past 12. So what do you do?

If you can’t make the reps in one set, I propose simply adding more sets. Look at this cycle:

Juan De Jesus Calisthenics Chart

This is actually a personal example of a 7-week cycle I did with one-arm push-ups. I was only able to manage 3 reps in one set before week 1. Clearly, with such a hard exercise, doing 3 sets and adding reps on a weekly basis would burn me out incredibly fast. So instead, I chose sets of one less rep (sets of 2 reps), and did more and more sets each session! By the time week 3 rolls, doing sets of 3 is actually quite easy (you’ve gotten very strong after a 9 sets of 2!), so you cut the sets down, and begin doing sets of 3. Then add more sets. Repeat as necessary. Deload when you’re feeling fatigued.

I’ve actually started using this template for many of my exercises, and with amazing results! In 6 weeks, I was able to move my handstand push-ups from 4 rep-max (RM) to a 7 RM. For those math geeks out there (like myself), consider a 4RM is about 90% of a 1RM while a 7 RM is close to 82% of a 1RM. So the ratio of your new 1RM to your old 1 RM is of 0.9/0.82 = 1.10. You could say this is akin to boosting your 1RM in a barbell lift by 10% in a measly 6 weeks!

Juan De Jesus Handstand

I obtained a similar result by making my 3RM with one-arm pushups into a 6 RM in 7 weeks. I attribute these exceptional improvements to two main things. First, every session is somehow a bit harder than the one before. (As I mentioned before, your body sees training as a stress. In order to cause strength gains on a weekly basis, you need to train hard, rest well, and make the next session a bit harder somehow.)

Second, because I expect to build up to high volume with many sets, my choice of reps-per-set is conservative at the beginning. So for the first four weeks or so of these cycles, I stay away from failure and really get to concentrate on tension, technique and form. When the cycle gets tough and your sets are much closer to failure, you’ll find strength coming out of nowhere because you built up this foundation at the beginning of the cycle.

Once you’re satisfied with your max, switch to a harder exercise. This is a vital part of progressive calisthenics!

Juan De Jesus One Arm Chin

Note that the idea of adding sets instead of reps in order to get stronger is incredibly flexible. It is more suited towards max-strength exercises (one where you could perform 3-8 RMs) since adding reps on a weekly basis to the sets can be quite difficult when the exercise is so tough. But it certainly does not have to be twice a week as I’ve chosen to do. A routine that works an exercise 3-4 times a week would also work well. Here, you might prefer to just do 1 more set than the session before until you feel confident enough to increase the amount of reps on each set. Then you’d decrease the sets, do sets of more reps, and build back up.

To the beginner student of calisthenics, it is certainly advisable to stick to a few sets, concentrate on form, add reps, and switch to a harder exercise once you’ve squeezed all the strength gains possible from your previous exercise. However, the more seasoned calisthenics enthusiast might need one more tool in order to burst through plateaus. I’ve certainly needed it myself when I find my reps just won’t climb no matter how hard I push. At that point, manipulating the amount of sets might be exactly what you need to bring about continuous strength improvements.

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Juan De Jesus is a Sophomore at MIT studying Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. His enthusiasm for bodyweight and minimalist training was born in high school with his workout club Body Strength by Calisthenics (BSC) and has stayed with him ever since.

The Meathook

March 31, 2015 By Al Kavadlo 32 Comments

Al Kavadlo Meathook — PCC Lead Instructor Al Kavadlo demonstrates the meathook.

Using all of the body’s musculature together as one cohesive unit is among my favorite aspects of bodyweight training. Iso-lateral calisthenics moves like the “one arm push-up” are misleadingly named, as they require strength throughout the entire body—not just one of its appendages. Few iso-lateral moves demonstrate this full body harmony better than the little known (and perhaps more aptly named) “meathook” exercise.

Hooked on Calisthenics
Though a full body movement, the meathook still emphasizes certain areas. It requires tremendous grip strength as well as monstrous shoulders and lats, plus a powerful core. If you don’t have those attributes yet, practicing toward this move can help you build those areas along the way.

Before you are even ready to begin working toward the meathook, however, the first step is to be sure that you have a solid foundation in push-ups, pull-ups and hanging knee raises. I recommend getting to at least 30 push-ups, 20 hanging knee raises and 10 pull-ups before you even consider attempting the meathook. (Those numbers may look familiar.) I also suggest you get comfortable with full range-of-motion, straight hanging leg raises before working toward a meathook. You should to be able to get your shins all the way to the bar before you move on to the next step.

Al Kavadlo Hanging Leg Raise — Get comfortable with full range-of-motion, straight hanging leg raises before working toward a meathook.

Wipe Out!
The windshield wiper is a very challenging exercise in its own right, but it is also a crucial lead-up step toward the meathook. Once you’ve met those initial requisites, your next step is to start working on windshield wipers. Begin by hanging from an overhead apparatus, then raise your shins to the bar and begin rotating your legs and hips toward one side. Aim to get your legs parallel to the ground before reversing direction and lowering them to the opposite side.

Once you get comfortable performing several windshield wipers in a row, you’re almost ready to attempt the meathook, which you can think of like a static windshield wiper held on just one arm. Naturally, before you’re ready for all that, you’ll need to get comfortable performing a basic hang on one arm. These can be surprisingly tough when you are starting out. I advise you to use the progressions in Convict Conditioning 2 to build toward a one arm hang if you aren’t there yet.

Al and Danny Kavadlo Windshield Wipers — The windshield wiper is a crucial lead-up step toward the meathook.

Hook It Up
Though grip strength is an important prerequisite, remember that the meathook involves a lot more than just the ability to hang on to the bar. Your lats and shoulders need to be very strong and stable to hold the meathook, plus you will need powerful abdominals and obliques. Do not attempt this move until you’ve built up to a solid one arm hang and can do several consecutive windshield wipers.

Once you’ve satisfied those requirements, you are ready to rock and roll! Begin by grasping the bar tightly, then perform a windshield wiper toward your dominant arm. When your legs are all the way over to the side, lift your hips toward your elbow, folding your body around your arm. It may take some trial and error to get a feel for finding the “sweet spot” but at a certain point, you will feel your balance shift.

Al Kavaldo Windshield Wipers — The elbow of your primary arm should wind up down by your hip.

Once your hips are in position, begin to loosen the grip on your secondary hand, gradually transferring all of your weight to the other arm. When you feel confident enough to completely release your secondary hand from the bar, do so carefully.

You’re now holding a meathook – Congratulations! Stay here for a few seconds, then slowly reverse the movement and try it on the other side.

If you are unable to take your other hand away, try removing a finger or two instead. Over time you can work toward relying on your secondary arm less and less as you progressively build the strength to perform the full meathook.

Once you’ve gotten the “hang” of getting into a meathook this way, you can start building up to longer holds and experimenting with different methods of getting in and out of position. The meathook can also be useful for bridging the gap toward one arm pull-ups and the rarely seen one arm back lever.

There are many uses and applications for this move; feel free to experiment and get creative!

***

About Al Kavadlo: 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.

The Hand Truck Workout

March 24, 2015 By George Corso 20 Comments

George Corso Handtruck Workout

My clients count on me to be an innovative trainer. In fact, I’ve always enjoyed finding new and effective ways to work with people way before the trend of ‘being different just to be different’ became popular. So it wasn’t much of a surprise when my client Lorraine came in for her training session at my studio carrying a dolly that she grabbed from her dumpster at work. Her dad had made it but decided to get rid of it so she brought it with her and said “I have a very bad feeling that you can make good use of this”. Immediately my wheels started turning with all the fun ways I could use this thing. I took my time and experimented. I found movements that were safe and distinctly purposeful for my clients.

After a lot of thought and even more practice I came up with 24 useful ways to train with the dolly. Most of them stem from the prone position but each one remains unique with different neuromuscular firing patterns. Like all bodyweight training regimes, every exercise is a progression to more advanced movements. These movements are all accomplished with a “slow is smooth, smooth is fast approach. (Thank you Phil Dunphy.) They all not only require stability, but also an understanding of how the muscles of the body have to behave as one cohesive unit.

Here are the exercises in order from beginner to advanced.

THE PLANK WALK. I believe that the plank walk is the most important exercise of the 24 exercises I have listed. This one movement will set you up for all of the rest. It is excellent for developing control and discipline and it teaches a client how to become patient when learning and performing a new exercise. The plank walk is performed by keeping the body rigid while the forearms are resting on the dolly. The only parts of the body that are moving are the feet and ankles while you SLOWLY move towards your destination. It is imperative that this be mastered before moving on.

The next 4 videos demonstrate the plank walk:

Plank Walk
Injured Bear Crawl
Wheel Barrow
Reverse Wheel Barrow

Series 1 Hand Truck Workout

Be sure to continue to move slowly during the next progression.

THE TRAVELING PUSHUP. Now we will be adding additional movements. In the introductory phase we kept the body rigid while traveling with the dolly. Next we will be moving the body in different planes of motion while emphasizing control. Bodyweight practitioners discipline themselves to move with utmost precision in order to reap the greatest rewards. This is important to convey to the newcomers to this kind of conditioning.

The next 4 videos demonstrate the traveling pushup variations:

Traveling Pushups
Travel Bus Driver Pushups
Single Leg Wheel Barrow
Rotational Wheel Barrow

Series 2 Hand Truck Workout

THE TRAVELING V WALK. During the next series of exercises there is more emphasis on the transfer of weight onto the shoulders. This series is ideal for the client who wants to progress to walking on their hands in an inverted position. These selected exercises will definitely help them attain that goal. The traveling v walk will specifically strengthen the wrists. It also aids in teaching the client the proper forward lean that is needed while also adding flexibility to the wrists.

The next 4 videos demonstrate the traveling v walk and the variations:

Traveling V Walk
Traveling Inch Worm
Tuck Walk
Swimmers

Series 3 Hand Truck Workout

THE 360. The next series is called the 360 because there is a shift from developing strength towards developing stability. These exercises require control and concentration from the client. There is an emphasis on 100 percent body compression as well.

The next 4 videos demonstrate the 360 and its variations:

360
Side Walk
Bus Drivers
Single Arm Walk

Series 4 Hand Truck Workout

THE LEG SEQUENCE. This series emphasizes balance and leg strength. I was trained as a track sprinter and have come to the conclusion that it is important to isolate the hamstrings and fire up those fibers first by performing some bridges before moving on to squatting and lunging techniques.

The next 4 videos demonstrate the leg sequence:

Hip Bridges and Leg Curl
Straight Leg Bridge
Injured Animal Run
Pistol Sweeps

Series 5 Hand Truck Workout

PRESSING. These last 4 exercises will require that clients move while pressing. Your clients will need adequate shoulder stability and full body awareness before moving on to this advanced series. If your client has stalled in a particular calisthenic movement, these applications may help him or her to achieve a goal that at one time seemed impossible, or your client may just feel like these are achievements on their own! Either way, whatever your level, proceed slowly and own the move!

The next 4 videos will demonstrate the press sequence

Hop off the Press
Rotational Hop Press
Sweeping One Arm Press
Press and Slide

Series 6 Hand Truck Workout

You can pick up a dolly at the local hardware store and easily incorporate it into your training. Use your imagination and come up with variations specific to your clients’ needs. I use this piece of equipment in group training, with one on one, and during my own training. My clients love to tell me how much they have come to hate the dolly but always admit in the end that they love the results they are seeing!!!!

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George Corso, CSCS, NSCA-CPT, PCC, RKC, I360, WKC, is the co-owner and founder of CORSO. Over the last 15 years, George has been a successful varsity track and field coach, working with athletes to reach district and state championships. He actively trains in the art of Jeet Kune Do (JKD) as a level 3 student. George can be contacted at george@corsofit.com.

3 Steps to Getting “In the Zone” for EVERY Workout

February 17, 2015 By Eric Buratty 36 Comments

Al Kavadlo superman push-up

Want to know what it feels like to explode?

No, I’m not referring to those whack pre-workout supplements.

I’m referring to what it feels like to get “in the zone,” which naturally occurs during your superhero-like workouts. These are the moments when you look and feel deceptively stronger to the naked eye. These are the moments that ultimately allow you to push your limits.

Since we’ve all experienced those days where we feel like crap and less motivated to train, it’s time to put a cap on that mental and physical stress once and for all. Here are three steps for a stronger workout and improved recovery rate, EVERY time.

Step I: First Things First – Eliminate Distractions!

Turn off your computers, mobile devices, and yes, even “high energy” music.

Responding to emails, text messages and social media notifications during the time you’ve set aside for working out is a good way to kill your training progress all together—due to their emotionally distracting capabilities. Playing “high energy” music may also upset the balance you want to achieve between feeling overly excited and feeling too calm.

Turn away from all timers, stopwatches and clocks.

Reaching the highest level of performance possible during a given workout requires an attentive mind and body. Therefore, it would be silly to try and gauge your performance in the moment right in front of you if you’re too focused on beating the clock. While in a utopian-like society we would make linear progress, the mind and body simply do not work like that. So, in reality, we must respect our body’s dynamic progress capabilities without training on the nerve from elapsed time.

Ditch the mirrors.

Mirrors create the illusion of space—which can sometimes be helpful in the short run for teaching body awareness. However, in the long run, too much reliance on mirrors can slow down your reaction time, affect your force and power development and interfere with your body’s natural balance and stability. These are the EXACT qualities you need to be mindful of when successfully getting in the zone

Step II: Select Your Secret Weapon – Choose a Movement for the Type of Workout You’re About to Do.

Choose a Jump Variation for workouts involving more lower body volume AND for total body workouts.

Here’s a video I put together that features some fun options for you to try.

Choose a plyometric Pushing Variation for workouts involving more upper body pushing volume.

This guy knows what I’m talking about.

Choose a plyometric Pulling Variation for workouts involving more upper body pulling volume.

Unless you’re proficient with chest to bar pull-ups or kipping muscle ups, stick to the horizontal axis for some explosive Australian pull-ups.

Step III: Get in the Zone – Activate Your Nervous System.

Regardless of what your current fitness levels are like, when you last worked out or what time limitations you may currently have, it’s imperative that you hit a warm-up that’s specific to the workout you’re about to perform. This is because the way you spend your first 5-10 minutes is the best indicator of how the rest of your workout will go. So we’re all on the same page, a solid warm-up will typically involve any of the following elements.

a) Active Stretch

Danny Kavadlo Toy Soldier — Danny Kavadlo demonstrates the “toy soldier”

b) Isometric or Dynamic Core Move (examples: plank or leg raise)

c) Lower Level Big Six Movement from Convict Conditioning for higher reps

d) Lower Intensity Cardio Exercise of your choice (light jog, jumping jacks, wall or some moderately paced mountain climbers with a training partner if you have one (see below))

Angelo Grinceri & Rosalia Chann of Couples Calisthenics

If you have a training partner, some moderately paced mountain climbers for as little as 15 seconds at a time will surely warm-up your core, and get some blood flowing through your entire body. Talk about killing two birds with one stone!

We’ll now kick up this baseline warm-up a few notches with that plyometric move you selected in Step II above. This is because, the more athletic your warm-up is, the better your chances are of putting yourself into the zone. Perform a superset between that plyometric movement and your warm-up movement(s).

In order to make the plyometric movement look and feel as graceful and explosive as possible, you’ll perform 3-5 reps ONLY at various points throughout your warm-up. Ideally you’ll want to get away from counting with such few reps as this habit encourages you to train on the nerve. But that’s the approximate range for those of you who need quantitative satisfaction in the beginning.

Not sure where to start?

I recently performed a total body workout that consisted of pike push-ups, hanging V-leg raises, reverse lunges and straight leg bridges for reps. So, to give you an idea of how to apply this info, here’s the specific warm-up sequence/circuit I used prior to that workout.

Burraty Pike To Pancake

Burraty Standing Plow Good Morning

Burraty Bear Crawl

Burraty Staddle Box Jumps 1

Burraty Staddle Box Jumps 2

You’ll learn to feel this, but your performance WILL increase with each successive set/rep of your plyometric movement if you’re completely engaged in the moment right in front of you. It should also go without saying that this info can be applied toward workouts with weights for those of you who choose to supplement your calisthenics training.

By the end of your warm-up, you should feel ready to do more—with noticeable improvements in performance—but should NOT at any time feel excessive metabolic fatigue, out of breath or as though you’re doing the Valsalva Maneuver.

In sum, here are some key benefits you’ll experience from getting in the zone for EVERY workout.

Mood-uplifting, “neural-charge” effect—wherein eustress exceeds distress from an exercise standpoint
Greater body awareness through free space—remind upper and lower extremities of each other for total body synergy
More control over body momentum—reinforce a strong carryover between “loading” and “landing” positions (i.e., eccentric and concentric phases in a range-of-motion)
Make exercise fun, playful and less routine-like.

Do YOU have any favorite strategies that help you get in the zone for your workouts? If so, I’m sure we would love to hear about them. Just drop your tips in the comments below!

***Eric Buratty brings five years of experience to the DC Metro Area as a Certified Personal Trainer, Progressive Calisthenics Instructor, Nutrition Consultant and Sports Injury Specialist.
For more information about Eric, check out his website, EricBurattyFitness.com.

Increasing Frequency: How to Work Out More Without Overtraining

February 5, 2015 By Silvio Bauer 26 Comments

Silvio Blauer Pistol

If you are anything like me (which means people call you crazy, but that’s another story) you love to work out. You cannot go a day without training and you feel itchy when you miss a workout.

I’ve certainly been there while traveling or when I was stretched thin from work and social commitments. I get a bit moody and my feet start trembling. You may call me addicted.

But all this name calling is total nonsense, because there is a sound way to develop the resilience necessary to work out daily. The good news: I’m gonna tell you about it.

Ready? Good, let’s get to it then.

Why Go High Frequency?

So, let’s first consider the why before we delve into the how. There’s a good number of reasons why it’s pretty neat to be able to work out daily.

Habit building: People who struggle working out consistently might find it harder to collect enough will power 3 times a week compared to working out daily. But how can working out less often be harder? Because that way, it’s not a habit. When I come home after work, I change into my workout clothes, find a pull-up bar and do my workout. I don’t ponder about this, I just do it. It’s automatic. By working out only 3 times a week, it’s tempting to postpone a workout because every time, it’s a decision that has to be made.
More practice time: If your main goal is mere strength, a high frequency (HF) program is what you need. The more often you practice a certain skill, the faster your progress. And if you, like me, have a long wish list of feats of strength you want to accomplish, that additional practice time gives you room to sneak in one or two more moves you can practice.
Plateau busting: When you’re stuck with a progression, say, pistol squats, what can you do? Well, do a lot of pistols or pistol regressions. Do them every day. I dare you to not get better at a move by doing this.
Toughening up: When you finally buy into the HF training method, you forget about your excuses. It’s not a big deal anymore when you feel a bit stiff or sense a light muscle soreness. You’ll also learn to really listen to your body, how a good warm-up can do wonders and you will enjoy an enhanced ability to recover from your workouts.

If these are not good reasons to train more often, I don’t know what is.

However, here is what an HF program is not:

An ideal bodybuilding method: Most of the Monday-Wednesday-Friday routines come from the bodybuilding community. And if all you want is bigger guns, HF training as described here is not your best bet. I’m not saying you cannot build muscle with this (in fact I gained visible mass from doing pistols every day). It just might not be optimal for mass gaining.
A very structured routine: I’ll describe this in detail below, but to implement HF, you have to learn to go with the flow. Therefore, I recommend this only for strength trainees who A) know exactly what they want from their training and B) have enough experience to scale their workouts.

Now, if you want everything from the first list and can manage to miss out on the second one, here is what you need to do.

How to Implement High Frequency Training

Silvio Blauer

I came across the idea of HF training first by reading Squat Everyday by Matt Perryman. It’s an awesome read and, though it’s geared towards weightlifters, really useful for every fitness enthusiast because it’s about much more than just squats. It’s about questioning sport’s “science” and challenging your belief system from time to time.

I never thought I could train that often because I got really sore from my workouts. I was a big fan of the High Intensity Training (HIT) Method and therefore destroyed myself with every workout.

Now, my dentist told me that this won’t work if I wanted to work out almost every day. Here’s a diagram that illustrates why this is the case.

FIV_triangle

I call this the FIV triangle (I’m actually not the first person to come up with this diagram. I first saw this in an article by Alex Zinchenko). The orange dot in the middle is metaphorical you. You can be everywhere inside the triangle. The nearer you are to one corner, the more distant you are from the other two.

Now, when you want to work out very often, the first thing you have to do is do lower intensity and lower volume workouts (volume meaning the total number of sets you do each week, for every muscle respectively).

frequency-FIV

This is an extreme case and probably resembles something like working out 2 times a day, every day. If that’s you, I envy you for your spare time.

A useful method to implement higher frequency training would work with two things:

Scale every workout so that the dot does not come near the lower corners of the FIV triangle (intensity and volume).
Skew the FIV triangle so that a higher frequency is possible with intensity and volume being the same.

The skewed triangle below would resemble a good case of strength focused HF training.

high-frequency-FIV

This means we’re doing HF, medium high intensity and low volume.

To produce this kind of training regimen, you need to learn the Art of Going with the Flow and to push through some light discomfort. To elaborate this further, let’s take the pistol as an example.

Say you want to get really good at pistols and you therefore try to do them every day. Depending on your level of strength, the pistol can be a very demanding and therefore intense exercise. So doing 5 sets of 5 pistols (5×5) every day might be too much.

That’s exactly when you need to listen to your body: If you did a few intense sets of pistols on Monday, scale down on Tuesday. Maybe do a couple of sets of light bodyweight squats followed by one good set of pistols.

Maybe Wednesday and Thursday are medium intensity and you feel good to go again on Friday for a higher intensity workout. I plotted an exemplary weekly course of intensity in the diagram below.

intensity_curve

As you see, the intensity (the orange line) throughout the week varies significantly. This is to keep the balance between volume (dark grey area under the curve) and recovery (light grey area between curve and maximum intensity line).

Now we can see why the FIV triangle makes sense: If you keep intensity at maximum every day, there is no recovery. You can go high intensity, but therefore you need to have rest days (so intensity zero).

The low intensity days are nothing more than active recovery. In fact, doing lighter regressions of an exercise helps promote blood flow to your muscles and your joints, which in turn speeds up recovery and prevents injury. Spiffy!

There is no exact method how to scale each and every workout, because everybody is at a different level, both in strength and recovery ability. That’s something you need to experiment with yourself.

The neat thing about adopting this varied intensity scaling and HF training is that it makes you more resilient. You will get sore less often and will enjoy faster recovery. That’s mighty useful if you want to participate in a PCC Workshop, by the way. You won’t be beat up so much after the three days and can take The Century Test like a breeze.

So once you get the hang of taming your inner beast during your workouts, you can work on skewing the FIV triangle so that you can take more frequency with the same intensity and volume.

But do yourself a favor and be deliberate about your workouts. That means, keep a workout log and write out your workout beforehand on that specific day, based on how you feel. You can correct your plan during the workout but try to keep this at a minimum.

For the first few HF weeks, plan out your workouts lighter than you think you can handle. If after a week you think your workouts have been a joke, scale them up a notch.

Maintaining High Frequency Training

Silvio Blauer L-Sit

There are a couple of things to keep in mind when riding the HF horse. Firstly, warm-up properly with dynamic stretches, mobility drills or very light regressions of your target skill. After your workouts, I recommend some good old-fashioned stretching. Specifically stretch the muscles involved in your HF training.

After about 2 weeks of experimenting with pistols every day, I felt that my legs got really tense and stiff. It wasn’t soreness, just a slight tiredness. So I took a day off, did a nice recovery routine, had a couple of beers (I’m German, that’s how I recover 😉 ) and jumped on the pistol wagon again the next day.

So yes, you can take a day off once in a while. Just know that you won’t die from working out with slightly sore muscles. There have been so many times when I felt like I didn’t have enough energy for a productive workout, but after a good warm-up, it usually turned out great.

You also don’t have to implement this for all your skills and moves (but you could, I guess). I did this with pistols to finally master them with ease. But you could incorporate this for just about any skill like one-arm push-ups, elbow levers or dragon flags.

So there it is. All you need to know to toughen up and practice as often as possible without burning out. Happy tricking!

-Silvio

***

Silvio is a full time medical engineer who loves to practice and teach calisthenics in his free time. He enjoys creating workout plans for his friends and spreads the word about PCC over at his blog, NeatStrength.com. He writes about minimalist fitness and can also be reached through his Facebook page: facebook.com/neatstrength.

Technical Convergence

January 20, 2015 By Matt Schifferle 44 Comments

Al Kavadlo Push-up

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

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

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

Matt Schifferle Pulling Diagram

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

Matt Schifferle Chain Diagram 1

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

Matt Schifferle Chain Diagram 2

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

Matt Schifferle Chain Diagram 3

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

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

Matt Schifferle Chain Diagram 4

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

Short term sacrifice for long term gain

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

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

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

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

Here’s a quick example:

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

Al and Danny Kavadlo

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

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

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

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

Al Kavadlo Chain Weighted Dips

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

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

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

Tick tock………..

****

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

Hill Training

November 25, 2014 By David Mace 19 Comments

Al Kavadlo On A Hill

There is a common misconception that you require heavy weights to strengthen your legs effectively. The counter-argument to this is the mighty pistol squat, but leg training shouldn’t end there. There are many great exercises that require no equipment, and are not possible to perform in a gym.
All you need is a steep hill!

The Workout

I perform this workout once a week. The exercises are split into three different sets, and between sets I train a selection of mid-section / core exercises, such as leg raises, bridges and planks.

Below is a short demonstration video of this workout, along with my training partner Yury. You’ll get the impression that we were knackered afterwards!

Important note – before attempting any of these exercises you should ensure that you can perform them on a level surface.

Sprints

Sprinting is probably the first exercise that many will think of when I mention hill training; it is a great explosive exercise for building strength as well as cardiovascular fitness.

To progress/regress simply adjust your speed or use a hill with a different incline. Backwards sprinting is a good variation that will put more emphasis on the hamstrings.

Lunge Walk

From a standing position, step one leg forward as far as you can. Squat down until the back knee is just above the ground, from here step the back foot up to the front foot. Repeat with the other leg.

For an increased challenge, take your back foot straight through into the next lunge. Leaning forward will place more emphasis on the glutes.

David Mace Lunge

Broad Jumps, Hops, Frog Jumps

Time for some explosive exercises!

Start off with simple broad jumps. Placing your feet shoulder width apart, squat down and jump as far forward as you can. Ensure to land on the ball of your foot and squat as you land to cushion the impact; use your arms to gain extra momentum. It’s important that the knee tracks along the line of the toes as you land. Repeat until you reach the chosen distance.

David Mace Jump

Next, hop up the hill with one leg to get a unilateral workout. Start with your weaker leg, repeat the same distance with your stronger leg; this way you are working both legs equally.

Frog jumps are one of my favorite exercises. Don’t try this exercise until you have a strong deep squat. Go into your squat, balance on the balls of your feet, from here bounce up the hill. The key with this exercise is to bounce low but long, so as not to waste energy.

David Mace Frog Jump

Start out easy with this one, with a handful of jumps. Gradually increase the distance over the following sessions.

Crawls

Crawling is one of our most natural movements. Performing this up-hill turns it into an extremely challenging exercise. This will work your entire Anterior Chain, which are the muscles at the front of your body.

When crawling, your leading arm should be opposite to your leading leg. Try to keep your hips as low as possible, and for increased difficulty keep your knees off the ground.

I could go on and on about the benefits of crawling, but that’s a post for another day.

David Mace Crawling

Crab Walks

We’ve worked the Anterior Chain, let’s get into the Posterior Chain!

With the front of your body facing upwards, balance on your hands and feet with your knees at a 90 degree angle.

This exercise is easier to go backwards as you’ll be driving with your legs then rather than your arms. For an extra glute challenge, try to keep your hips up high. This is harder than it sounds.

David Mace Crab Walk

Taking it Further

All of these exercises can be performed backwards or even sideways to alter the muscles worked, but first ensure you get the basics right.

I plan to progress to more challenging exercises in the future. There are lots of advanced crawling patterns that could be attempted, such as bear crawls, Spiderman crawls and commando crawls. Furthermore, I intend to try partner exercises like wheelbarrows, piggy-backs and fireman’s lifts. So stay tuned.

***Dave Mace is a full time programmer and a part time calisthenics enthusiast, who loves to teach PCC to friends and co-workers. Success for him is measured in helping others (and himself) to achieve their maximum potential and doing things that you once thought were impossible. He can be contacted through his website, Maximum Potential Calisthenics, or at his Google+ and Facebook pages.