PCC Blog

PCC Australia – The Experience of The Century

March 25, 2014 By Darren Manser 26 Comments

When I signed up for the first ever PCC Australia, I knew I had my work cut out for me. I didn’t find out about the event until fairly late, so I only had 3 weeks to get ready for The Century.

The first time I attempted the test, I completed the 100 reps in 8 minutes and 50 seconds. Not bad. I’ll be able to shave those 50 seconds off in the next three weeks, I thought. I decided to send Andrew Read from Dragon Door Australia an email to make sure I was doing it right. Andrew responded to my email very quickly.

“100 repetitions need to be completed within 8 minutes. Once you start the exercise you cannot stop until the desired reps are completed. You must complete ALL ten chin ups in a row.”

Crap, Crap, Crap. I thought I was able to stop throughout the set.

Three weeks out my max rep chin ups was a whopping eight reps. And that was fresh, with no hanging knee raises before. How the hell am I going to do 10 chin ups AFTER holding onto the bar to do 20 hanging knee raises–especially at the end of three days of attempting all sorts of new and interesting techniques?

I then stumbled across Coach Wade’s article about kicking ass in the Convict Conditioning certification. Ideally you need to do 50% more for each activity prior to the weekend.

How the hell was I going to do that? I decided I was just going to keep doing the Century. I’d stop all other training and simply practice the test.

In the beginning I did the century morning and night for two days straight. What a stupid idea! As a result of me being 105kg (231lbs), I’m way too heavy to jump into that much volume. I was now way too sore and the PCC was getting way too close.

After a couple of days with no training, it was time to rethink the strategy and start again.

My new strategy was to do as much work as I possibly could whilst staying as fresh as I could so I decided to do ladder super-sets. I combined the squats and the push-ups and then the hanging knee raises and the chin ups. I based the ratios on what was coming up in the PCC. It looked something like this:

Squat: 4, 8, 12, 16, 20

Push up: 3, 6, 9, 12, 15

Squat: 4, 8, 12, 16, 20

Push up: 3, 6, 9, 12, 15

Squat: 4, 8, 12, 16

Push up: 3, 6, 9, 12

Squat: 4, 8, 12

Push up: 3, 6, 9

This adds up to a total of 184 squats and 138 push ups. All done with excellent form (at the time I thought I was doing a brilliant job, that was of course until I did the PCC and realized how you can polish every little technique to get more out of it).

The ladders for the hanging knee raises and the chin ups looked like this.

Knee Raises: 2, 4, 6, 8

Chin ups: 1, 2, 3, 4

Knee Raises: 2, 4, 6, 8

Chin ups: 1, 2, 3, 4

Knee Raises: 2, 4, 6

Chin ups: 1, 2, 3

Knee Raises: 2, 4

Chin ups: 1, 2

Knee Raises: 2

Chin ups: 1

Total hanging knee raises: 60 reps

Total chin ups: 30 reps

Ideally I would rest for a couple of minutes in between ladders, although sometimes the morning permitted this and sometimes it didn’t. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I have 6 children and I also run my own Natural therapies business, as a Naturopath, Acupuncturist and Kinesiologist. So between my sets I would lift up my 3 youngest children (Bodhi 4, Tyson 3 and Ruby 15 months) up onto the chin up bar, so they could hang. Or I would hold their feet and they would do a handstand.

I would do the routine three or four mornings in a row and then have a rest day. I made a deal with myself that I wouldn’t test myself again with the chin ups before the weekend. I simply didn’t have enough time to recover from a training session like that. I was however, hoping and praying that the adrenaline from the event and the other attendees cheering would help raise me over the bar.

Finally, it was off to Melbourne for me.

The Course was AMAZING. On the first morning, the first thing we did was the hollow position. We drilled this again and again. Then we applied that position to almost everything that we did. WOW!! It is totally amazing how much better a push up feels whilst doing this. I even feel my poor little abdominals now whilst push-upping.

Then onto the next exercise, then the next exercise. Every single section we did across the weekend, I had a first. There was not one activity that I didn’t improve on.

The weekend flew. The generosity of both Al and Danny was definitely one of the highlights of both the course and my life. The support from the other attendees was amazing.

Sunday afternoon we arrived at the Century test. There were a lot of fine looking specimens in the room. My heart rate was jacked. My palms were sweaty. How on earth was I going to hang onto the bar–let alone do the test? I had a massive feeling of letting down Al and Danny if I couldn’t do it. I also thought I was letting down my kids, particularly my boys. (I want to be a good role model for them).

As I watched the other people do the Century I was inspired. Some people were amazing. Some people were only just getting through. A couple of others were not making it. Then for some reason I thought, “The best thing I can do is the best that I can do.” If I hadn’t prepared enough then that’s my fault.

Finally it was my turn to test. I decided to take it nice and easy. I started with getting to 30 squats and decided to have a rest in the top position. (Once you start the set you can’t move your feet with the squats, shift your hand and lift your bum in the push ups or let go of the bar with the hanging knee raises and the chin ups. Although you are allowed to let go of the bar in between the hanging leg raises and the chin ups). Then I did another 10 squats until Andrew, my counter, says, “You’re done with the squats.” This caught me off guard – for some reason I thought I had to do 50. No complaints here!

On to the push ups! I waited maybe 30 seconds to allow my heart rate to fall slightly and then started my set. I moved to 15 reps. I stopped in the top of the push up position, took a few breaths, then did 5 more repetitions to make 20. Then 10 singles from 20 to 30. YES!!!! The push ups were now done.

From the push ups I moved straight across to the hanging knee raises. I wanted to get them done as quickly as possible so that I could have a long recovery before the pull-ups. I’d been practicing hanging knee raises a lot in the last three weeks and I actually got through them easier than I expected. All that was left was the pull-ups!

I had a lot of time left on the clock, so I took full advantage of it. I shook out the tension in the arms as much as I possibly could. I caught my breath and let my heart rate slow down. Before I knew it I was down to one minute and it was time to start the pull-ups.

I positioned my hands on the bar and started my first few repetitions. When I made it to 6 repetitions, I remember thinking, “I can’t believe it, only four to go!” I pulled really hard again – now only three repetitions left. Pulled hard again for number eight. Two to go!!! By this time the other two people who were testing at the same time I was had already finished. All the people were now cheering for me. Pulled hard once more, and I only had one repetition to go.

An image of my 4 year old son pops in my head. I decide that I’m going to do the last rep for him. I yell out a massive “Come on” to psych myself up. The crowd is cheering so loudly, Danny and Al both walk over and are standing in front of me, willing me to complete the last repetition. Andrew, my counter, was cheering too. I pulled as hard as I possibly could whilst only thinking about my son. I must do it for him. Somehow, some way I get over the bar. Everyone cheers. Al and Danny are both jumping up and down. They come over to me and high-five me and give me a big hug. I have tears in my eyes. What the hell just happened? How the hell did that happen? What an amazing feeling. I was then presented with my official instructor shirt and my certificates. Then went outside and cried. I did it!

So what did I learn from this process?

Ideally I should have been 15kg (30lbs) lighter. This would have made all of the movements and the test a great deal easier. More practice before the event would have been good, too. Now that the course is over I am so motivated to incorporate this into my lifestyle, not just as a work out. I am really looking forward to what is possible.

The whole PCC course was amazing. The presenters, Al Kavadlo and Danny Kavadlo were AMAZING with their knowledge and their time. All in all this was THE best course I have ever done. I would thoroughly recommend anyone to do this course.

I would like to say a massive thank you to John Du Cane, Paul Wade, Al Kavadlo, Danny Kavadlo and Andrew Read. You have all changed my life in one way or another. I love you all.

Get Stronger by Improving Your Back Flexibility

March 18, 2014 By Keira Newton and Jarlo Ilano 19 Comments

Master RKC Keira Newton Spinal Flexibility

We get frustrated when flexibility work is just an afterthought in an athlete’s program, something done for only a few minutes after the main workout without a lot of thought or effort. The truth is that proper and focused flexibility training especially for your spinal flexibility, can help you get stronger!

Getting stronger from stretching sounds great, doesn’t it?

How is that? One of the ways flexibility work can make you stronger is immediately apparent in terms of form and technique. If you are so bound up in your upper back that you can’t pull your shoulders back in a proper line, your pressing is not going to be as strong, whether it’s pressing a kettlebell or your bodyweight in a handstand.

For instance, Keira remembers when she first started working seriously on her flexibility, that although her shoulders were pretty mobile, her upper back wasn’t. By working on that specifically, she was able to improve her shoulder positioning, and found her pressing strength immediately improved, as well as her hand balancing. Being able to extend correctly at the upper back placed her shoulders in a much better mechanical advantage and she was able to use her strength from a better foundation.

She also recalls one of her teaching sessions with an experienced RKC who was having trouble with her pull-ups. Keira gave her some corrective thoracic mobility exercises and she went from barely doing one, to doing sets of multiple reps. The flexibility work put her in a better position for her pull and she broke out of that plateau. She was working hard and putting a lot of effort in her pulls, but her mobility was holding her back. Once that was freed up, she was able to gain so much more from her efforts.

High tension techniques for strength and power are great. There’s no denying that those techniques work for getting people as strong as possible, but you have to balance out that tension with proper mobility to get the most out of your body. It’s not the act of stretching that will give you strength, but it’s the new options your body will have to get in the best positions to utilize the power and strength that you already have.

A Flexible Spine is a Powerful Spine

There’s a reason the word “backbone” is associated with strength and courage. A strong and flexible back is the foundation for power in the upper body, just as the hips are for the lower body. Thoracic spine (mid-back) mobility affects how well you can use your shoulder girdle and arms, by placing them either in resting positions of weakness or strength.

A kyphotic (flexed) thoracic spine puts your shoulders well forward of the vertical midline of your body and away from your power posture. It’s like trying to push from an unstable platform. You won’t be able to use your strength properly no matter how powerful your muscles.

Most of our full body rotation comes from the thoracic spine, so when you think of rotational work, that involves a great deal of thoracic function. Stiffness here reduces not just your mobility but your ability to apply the proper leveraging and angles for a lot of different strength skills.

Below we will show you comprehensive routines for improving your spinal mobility for forward bending, rotations, and backbending. You’ll probably find that some of the moves here will be easier for you while others will jump out and kick you in the butt! (Guess which ones you should work on more…)

We advise you to go through all of these movements and discover for yourself what you need to improve the most.

Forward Bending Sequence

Forward bending involves spinal joint and hip flexion, and the associated flexibility of the muscles and other soft tissues of the posterior chain. It can be difficult to isolate one specific cause as the key issue if you have tightness. While it’s very easy to say you have tight hamstrings, the fact is that the sensation of tightness in the hamstrings may very well come from an issue in your low back.

This sequence is a demonstration of “covering all the bases,” with a comprehensive approach that can be pared down as you practice and figure out what you need to work on for yourself. A quick run-through of the sequence can give you a baseline as well, and act as a measure for progress.

We begin with a full spinal flexion movement, from your neck all the way to your pelvis. You want to round out as much as possible, then move into full extension (back bending). Though the emphasis is on the forward bend, you’ll want to move into extension as a break in between. It takes the spine through a full range of motion and is a good warmup for the sequence.

In the squat, point your toes out at around 45 degrees. This positioning assists in helping you round out your lower back and go into a posterior pelvic tilt (the pelvis tucking under you). Get your chest between your knees and tuck your chin down, as well as letting your tailbone sink down. Play with rocking back and forth between your toes and your heels. Then sit back and drop down even further. Next, jump into a push-up position. Then drop your hips down to the floor and lift your chest up and out, locking your elbows out if possible. Remember to look up as well, for extension throughout the entire spine.

Do ten repetitions, or more if you feel up to it.

Master RKC Keira Newton Forward Bend Seated Next is a standing forward bend, where you bring your hands to one side and keep them on the ground as you stand up. This is a combined forward bend and rotation. Another variant is to sit back into the opposite hip. So if your hands are to the right of your body, you’ll sit back to the left. Spend a couple minutes going between one side and the other.

The last move in the forward bending sequence is the seated forward bend. With this move, you’ll add a rotation to the forward bend, just as you did in the standing forward bend. With your legs locked out straight in front of you, pick a side and fold forward at a diagonal on that side. Move in and out of the stretch at least ten times on each side, as well as straight forward, and hold the stretch on one side for upwards of a minute.

Back Bend Preparation

Backbending (spinal extension) can be a very uncomfortable and difficult motion for many people. When you add up all the hours we sit, drive, and are parked in front of the computer, you’ll see how rarely we get into backbending positions during our normal daily activities. So it’s no surprise that a full backbend like the bridge posture can be so daunting.

With this in mind, it helps to go through a thorough preparation before going to the limits of your spinal extension range of motion.

The first emphasis is on the thoracic spine (your midback), and improving extension and rotation in this region. Improving mobility in this part of the spine prevents undue strain on the lower back by distributing the motion throughout the spine rather than all on the lower back. In the first exercise in this video, you’ll see that Keira has to emphasize the motion, not straight down but also forward, as her shoulders are so flexible that she isn’t moving at the spine. When she improves her direction of force, you can see that the stretch is now where it needs to be. Work on this for three sets of one minute each.

Next is thoracic rotation, which is essentially extension at the side of the spine you are rotating towards. This in combination with sidebending takes you to the end-range of the extension motion. So you’ll be working on all the structures that need to be pliable for a good backbend.

Keira is demonstrating two movement variations: the first is up on forearms and knees with the back starting in a neutral position, and the second is more on the back of the upper arm and shoulder with the torso bending to the side. When you try these out, you’ll notice that the second variation places you in a sort of pre-stretched position, so you won’t be moving as far. You may skip the first variation if you are already flexible, but even then, the first one is a good warm-up to do. Play with shifting your weight more onto your knees or your arms to find the best angle for you. Start with three sets of 30 seconds on each side.

Last in this video is a more direct back bend preparation and is adapted from a sequence taught by Jarlo’s Ashtanga yoga teacher, Cathy Louise Broda at http://www.purpleyoga.com. It starts with a kneeling back bend, then works on the hip flexors, quadriceps, and shoulder bridges, to fully warm up and prepare the body for more intense spinal extension postures.

In the kneeling backbend, it is key to elongate and lift the spine as you lean back. Pushing your hips forward and lifting your chest up and back will create this “open” spine, and will prevent a jammed up feeling in the low back. Relaxing your hips and buttocks will be difficult at first, but that is another key to a good backbend. 10 – 12 slow repetitions here will do you well.

Next up are lunge stretches with rotation to the side of the front knee. Adding rotation to this position adds depth to the stretch and is a great concept to employ in almost any exercise. You don’t have to do this in full splits like Keira is showing, just go into as deep a lunge as you are comfortable. The effect is still the same. Do three sets of 30 seconds on each side.

The camel pose in yoga is a backbend with arm support, and can allow you to improve your backbending technique with relatively little strain. With the support of your arms you can stay in the position a bit longer than you could just bending back. Remember the details of pushing your hips and chest away from each other to open up your spine. Work up to three sets of 30 seconds on this posture, as that’s a good amount of time to experience this position.

Following the camel is the kneeling quadriceps stretch. If your knees bother you in this position, you can sit on a small stool or a few cushions to take some pressure off. If this doesn’t help, don’t force it and try a standing or side lying quad stretch instead. You’ll be able to do this later, but don’t hurt your knees and put yourself out of commission. The key point here is to avoid a low back arch. Keep your back flat, so the forces of the stretch will be on the upper thighs and not on your back. Take your time and gradually lean back further when you can do so without pain. Three sets of 30 seconds to a minute will work well here.

Lastly, shoulder bridge practice starts you on a more active backbend and is a great way to get a lot of repetitions in with good technique. You’ll pull all of what you’ve practiced so far in the sequence and work on a smooth spinal curve, relaxed hips, and good mobility and strength in the quads. Choose the shoulder bridge variation that works best for you, and perform a couple sets of 10 repetitions to improve your bridge.

Full Bridge

In the full bridge, or “wheel pose” in yoga, you’ll need good flexibility in your shoulders, hips, and the entire back. But you’ll also need proper technique. Important details here are to create that smooth curve and arch, like an archway in a building that can support weight evenly, and simply looks good. You can tell when a person does a bridge and there is a sharp angle in one part of the spine – in that case, there will be more of a strain rather than a curve that distributes forces evenly.

Master RKC Keira Newton Back Bend For a proper bridge, your arms and legs are the support structures and your hips and back should be relaxed and open. Your chest should be projected up and back, toward the top corner of the wall behind you, and your hips should be lifted up and forward, toward the top corner of the wall in front of you. This aiming in opposite directions creates that “openness” in the spine. Breathing should be steady and even, and you should hold the position for 5 to 10 breaths. Again, don’t force things. Take your time and improve steadily.

As you improve you can play with shifting your weight more toward your feet or toward your hands. You’ll find which way is more difficult, and that’d be what you need to work on! It will also lead you back to which of the preparation exercises to focus on. It may be the thoracic extension, or your hip flexors and quads if they are holding you back.

Invest in Your Flexibility

What we’ve shared above will improve your back flexibility and consequently improve your body positioning for every exercise and skill you practice.

It does take time and patience to increase your flexibility, especially if it’s been long neglected. But the payoff is well worth the effort. Set aside some time in your routine to make flexibility a priority and you will be more than happy with the benefits in your strength and power.

***

Keira Newton is an accomplished trainer with many certifications including that of Master RKC, Feldenkrais, FMS, and Z Health. Her combined knowledge of strength training along with flexibility and mobility work has helped hundreds of her clients at dkb Fitness and seminar students to help them achieve their maximum potential.

Jarlo Ilano,PT, MPT, OCS has been a Physical Therapist since 1998 and is a Board Certified Orthopedic Clinical Specialist. He has special interests in the neck and back, shoulder, and flexibility work, combining his clinical expertise with his own training in martial arts and yoga to provide practical and cutting edge knowledge for GMB Fitness.

Who Needs Weighted Pull-Ups?

March 11, 2014 By Corey Howard 13 Comments

Back in late October I started experiencing pain in my right shoulder. Like most of us that place a large priority on our fitness, I ignored it. Dumb move!

As the next few weeks progressed, the pain expanded to my right trap, lat, pec, entire shoulder complex, bicep, plus numbness in my fingers. I’m not sure about the rest of you, but when I’m experiencing pain throughout that much real estate I get concerned and the workouts become kind of nonexistent.

After many doctor appointments over the last couple of months, I’m disappointed to report they still don’t have any idea what’s going on. However, after sitting around hurting, feeling sorry for myself, and not moving, I knew something had to change. My life is fitness. I tell people all the time how important it is to move. When something hurts, there are always ways to keep moving forward. And move forward I have, except this time it’s been exclusively with calisthenics.

As I returned to the gym after a 2 week layoff, I was forced to deepen my calisthenics knowledge. The basic movements were thankfully still easy for me, but I could no longer do weighted pull-ups, which had previously been a big part of my routine. I needed to find a way to keep getting stronger in pull-ups without hanging any weight off my body.

One of the first modifications I used was the “L-Sit Pull-Up”. This movement shifts the body’s balance just enough to make a regular pull-up harder. Not to mention it’s awesome for teaching ab tension throughout the motion!

The L-Sit Pull-Up is done by holding the top of a hanging leg raise, then doing your pull-ups while maintaining the L-sit position the entire time. I must warn you there are a few things you need to keep in mind while performing these. It’s imperative you begin by pulling your shoulders tight into the sockets to create the necessary stability so you don’t swing on your leg raise. Second, keep your legs straight and raise them up under control so you don’t create any upward momentum when you begin your pull. Remember Coach Wade likes slow controlled movements. Third, as you pull yourself up; pull your elbows in toward the midline so your arms aren’t flaired out. This does a couple of things; first, it mirrors the handstand push-up groove and second, it engages the pecs with the lats and creates a solid stable shoulder complex. I’ve seen many clients go from 20 dead hang pull-ups to only 5 on this one. Fire it up!

Corey Howard Performs an L-Sit Pull Up

The next change I made was to toss in some Archer Pull-Ups. We’ve all seen Al Kavadlo do these on his YouTube channel. The Archer Pull-Up is where you pull yourself up to one side then the other. Besides, we all are trying to achieve the one arm pull-up, and this is an amazing progression towards that!

When starting with these I strongly suggest alternating your grip. Turn your palm towards your face on the side you will be pulling towards and your palm away from you on the arm you plan on keeping straight. Next as you begin your pull, think about pulling your elbow to your opposite hip. This is where that L-Sit Pull-Up foundation will come in handy. In other words, if you’re pulling yourself to the right side, pull your right elbow to your left hip. Try and use your straight arm as a guide to keep you moving sideways. I’ve found a false grip or muscle-up hand position works best. Once you can comfortably knock out 7 quality reps or more per side without resting then you’re ready for the final pull-up challenge.

Corey Howard, PCC and RKC Instructor Performs an Archer Pull Up

The last tweak I used to make pull-ups evil is by modifying the grip heights. Paul Wade suggested you use a towel in the Convict Conditioning book, but I like to grab the pull-up bar with one hand and the vertical support structure of the pull-up rig with the other hand. This is similar to an Archer Pull-Up except with a lower non-dominant hand position. You have a few options here to make it harder as you progress. You can either move your hand lower on the pull-up rig, or… If you think this is just simply too easy for you, feel free to hang a stretchy band from the pull-up bar and grab that with your non-dominant hand! The stretchy band will refuse to provide you much for assistance and will scoff as you pull harder against it seeking help. Once you master these I promise you will have the upper body pulling strength of Samson!

Corey Howard, PCC and RKC Instructor Performs a Pull Up with Varying Grip Heights

There you have it. The 3 pull-up variations I switched over to so I could keep building pulling strength. The best part–not a single one of these pull-ups seem to aggravate my shoulder or arm. I’m just like you, and really at the end of the day we all like to get stronger. Grabbing a pull-up bar and pulling your body up with two arms is unfortunately something that many people still can’t do. However there are a few of us crazy dreamers out there that want to defy “normal.” We need to push the envelope and make pull-ups look insanely easy and maybe even knock out a few one arm pull-ups if possible. So go fire up some L-Sit, Archer, or Mixed Grip Pull-Ups. I guarantee you’ll get stronger, and you won’t have to hang weights off your body while doing it!

***

About Corey Howard, PCC, RKC, CK-FMS: Corey Howard strives to constantly become stronger, and to help others to achieve their fitness goals. He is the owner of Results Personal Training, and can be reached at www.resultsptonline.com or www.coreyhoward.com.

Turning Up the Mind-Muscle Connection

March 4, 2014 By Matt Schifferle 27 Comments

Matt Schifferle PCC

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

#1- Distraction dilutes the mind-muscle signal

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

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

#2- Mind-muscle signals become habitual

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Step 1- Set your Position

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

Step 2- Set your Tension

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

Step 3- Apply Resistance

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

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

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

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

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

– Muscle follows mind.

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

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

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

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

Yours in strength,

-Matt Schifflerle

****

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

The Missing Link to the One-Arm Push Up

February 18, 2014 By Todd Cambio 21 Comments

Al Kavadlo One Arm Push Ups

I love body weight exercises. I think they should be the basis of any training program. Body weight movements can be used for warming up, for cooling down, for flexibility and mobility. Then, once you learn these movement patterns, they can be progressed to truly test one’s individual strength. Things like pistol squats, pull-ups, handstand push-ups and one-arm push-ups are incredible exercises, which is one of the reasons I gravitated towards Convict Conditioning. This book has been instrumental in bringing my skill set to the next level. I use it to train myself as well as my clients. It has helped me clearly structure a periodized workout plan for my clients with clear goals and progressions.

When I design my training programs, I train opposing muscles groups or movement patterns. For every action – there is an equal and opposite reaction. For example, we all know that the push up is a fantastic upper body strength exercise – but when overused, it can cause some issues. The big muscle groups like the upper pectorals; shoulder and the internal rotators of the arm and shoulder can become shorter and tighter than the external rotators and scapula retractors. This tightness can possibly cause a forward rounding posture and possible neck and shoulder injuries. So to make sure I don’t cause these possible issues, I always have an opposite movement paired with the exercise, in this case, the body row. This is my push/pull relationship method of training.

The body row is the sister exercise to the push up, however, it is much less utilized. It also incorporates almost all the same muscle groups as the push up. The exception is that the prime movers are the back of the body (posterior chain) as opposed to the front (anterior chain) of the body. Most of the attention goes to the Pull Up as the ultimate body weight back exercise, which is of course an awesome exercise, but until my clients are strong enough to do them correctly, the Body Row rules the roost!

So, what is that missing link you may ask? It’s the Body Row. Actually, since we are talking about the One-Arm Push Up, it’s the One-Arm Body Row!

In fact, as I progress up the ten steps in Convict Conditioning Push Up Series, I progress up my own steps to a one-arm body row.

In Convict Conditioning, the horizontal pull is what I call a body row. I use the Lebert Equalizers for my horizontal pulls because I can add some great variety to the pulls as well as bring them with me to where ever I want to train, inside or outside. Always having a place to do a pull up is sometimes an issue. So, if I am outside and want to add in some pulls, I can.

The Body Row is similar to Convict Conditioning’s Pull Up Series Step Two, but with a different tool. Here is the point where I branch off from the Pull Up Series and add a few alternative steps with the Equalizers that translate to a better one-arm push up.

I will not go into great detail about each body row movement because I am sure if you are following Convict Conditioning, you get the main points on proper form. I will point out the basics though, which are pretty straightforward. When you get into your starting position with the Equalizers (EQ), dig your heels into the ground and fire your glutes to keep your hips locked and aligned. Grab the black grips with a firm hold to fire the forearms. Keep a neutral spine as you pull yourself off the ground. When you progress to the single arm body rows, it is much like a single arm kettle bell swing in that your body will want to rotate on you. Do your best to keep your shoulders parallel to the floor. Your core will get quite a workout here too!

Convict Conditioning Push Up Steps with correlating Body Row Movements:

Step 4 – Half Body Row – Mirrors the Half Push Up (the ball under the glutes is to help cue you to keep your hips up)

Todd Cambio Half Body Row

Step 5 – Full Body Row – Mirrors Full Push Up

Todd Cambio Half Body Row

Step 6 –Single EQ Chin up – Mirrors Close Push Ups

Todd Cambio Half Body Row

Step 7 –Single Leg EQ Body Row – Mirrors the Uneven Push Up

Todd Cambio Half Body Row

Step 8 – One Arm Half EQ Body Row – Mirrors the One Arm Half Push Up

Todd Cambio Half Body Row

Step 9 – One Arm EQ Body Row – Mirrors the One Arm Push Up

Todd Cambio Half Body Row

So there you have it, a push/pull relationship that not only enhances your one-arm push up but also increase your overall body weight strength.

Todd M. Cambio, CSCS, HKC is the owner of Precision Fitness in Westerly, RI. He is a strength and conditioning coach that specializes in sports performance and obstacle course race training. Todd is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist, a Spartan Group X Obstacle Course Coach, a published author and Master Body Weight Trainer & Presenter for Lebert Fitness. See what Todd is up to by visiting www.ToddCambio.com.

I Failed the Century… and What I Learned as a Result

February 11, 2014 By Marcus Santer 41 Comments

Al and Danny Kavadlo in NYC

“Nothing happens without hard work, time and discipline.”
Al Kavadlo

I know, it’s a real cliche. But like most cliches, it contains an element of truth—I hit 40, looked at myself and my life and thought, “Is this it? Is this all I’ve done?” And because I couldn’t afford to buy a Porsche, I decided to do the other cliched thing men frequently do when they hit 40, I decided to get into the best shape of my life. Not that I was in bad shape to start with, but I definitely had that ‘Skinny Fat’ thing going on.

I’d spent the last 10 years focusing solely on Qigong (think Chinese Yoga if you’ve never heard of Qigong) to take care of all my physical, emotional, mental and spiritual needs. But looking in the mirror at my 6 month pregnant belly, I had to accept that as good as Qigong had been for helping me say goodbye to depression and thrive in spite of the stresses and strains of modern 21st century living, when it came to keeping me physically strong and looking good, it simply wasn’t delivering the goods.

Something had to change.

Now there’s something you should know about me before we go any further. When it comes to research I’m a bit OCD, because when I commit to something I go all in. But I won’t commit to anything until I’ve really done my homework. Know what I mean?

This formula has helped me to succeed in most things I do:

1) Work out what I want to achieve.
2) Find a Method that has a proven track record for delivering what I want to achieve.
3) Find a good teacher that teaches that Method
4) Work my arse off: Persistence, discipline, tracking progress.

Using this formula I discovered:

1) I wanted to get into the best shape of my life.
2) When it came to physical exercise, calisthenics was my preferred method because it could help me grow strong and I didn’t have to waste $1,000s on equipment, memberships and so on.
3) The best source I could access was something with the odd title: Convict Conditioning.
4) I was ready to invest the required hard work, time and discipline.

The 3 things I loved about Convict Conditioning which made it stand head and shoulders above any other information I could find back in 2011 were:

Paul ‘Coach’ Wade is direct with a no bullshit approach to getting strong.
The progressive, step by step nature of his system.
A focus on ‘The Big 6′.

I dived in and here are the results: I’m stronger now at age 42 than I was when I was 22. I look and feel better too. And it’s all thanks to ‘Coach’ Wade and the brilliant Convict Conditioning.

Why I Took the PCC in Sweden

“Welcome to the most advanced, evolved, engineered piece of fitness equipment in existence… Your own body!”
Danny Kavadlo

I’m always keen to offer the best to my own students, it’s important I’m doing everything I can to help them live a happier, healthier and longer life. And based on my own experience with Convict Conditioning I soon began encouraging them to pick up a copy and get practicing too.

But the majority of my students are as far away from the ‘ideal’ customer the Convict Conditioning sales page is targeted at as you can get. And unfortunately most were unable to get the benefits simply because they couldn’t get past the marketing. So I began looking for a way to teach my Qigong students calisthenics but in a way they would find accessible.

Marcus Santer with the awesomely talented Kavadlo Brothers--two of the instructors from the epic Sweden PCC — Marcus Santer with the awesomely talented Kavadlo brothers at the epic Sweden PCC

Something else you should know about me—it’s important to me that I’m suitably qualified to safely teach somebody something before I start. But trying to find a suitable calisthenics based instructor training course was proving to be a bit of a non-starter.

I saw that Dragon Door started teaching PCC courses in the USA, but I couldn’t quite stretch to traveling to the USA from the UK for a 3 day course. So you can imagine my delight when I saw there was going to be a PCC workshop put on in Sweden. I didn’t hesitate for a second. I signed up straight away and began working on:

‘The Century’.

The Century really bothered me because it’s the gateway between you and the right to call yourself a PCC instructor.

I knew I could do 40 body weight squats
I knew I could do 30 push ups
I knew I could do 20 hanging knee raises

But the 10 pull ups, hmm. Now I was worried.

On a really good day with a following breeze I could just about crank out 11. So how the hell was I going to crank out 10 after doing the 3 other exercises in The Century and under 8 minutes? But before heading off to Sweden, I’d managed to do The Century twice and I was optimistic I’d be able to pull it off on the day.

Boy, how wrong was I!

After two and half days of awesome, mind blowing calisthenics tuition from Al, Danny and Adrienne I was exhausted. So when it came time for The Century test, here’s what happened:

Squats – Pass
Push ups – Pass
Hanging knee raises – Pass
Pull ups – I got to 6 and I knew I was in trouble.

Hanging from the bar trying to get my 7th pull up was an experience I won’t forget in a hurry. Agonizing inch by agonizing inch I finally strained my chin over the pull up bar. “7!″ my examiner, Adrienne shouted.

I could hear the other PCC students urging me on. In spite of wanting to let go of the bar, the iron determination I’d forgotten I had simply refused to let go. I took a deep breath and pulled the bar… Slowly I ascended, millimeter by millimeter as the support of the group gave me strength I didn’t have. Ah, but this was no Rocky movie—I got 1/2 way and my arms simply stopped pulling.

It felt as if someone was setting fire to my muscles, and I had zero left in the bank—but still I wouldn’t let go!

I heard someone behind me shout, “Change your grip!” At the time, I had an overhand grip on the bar, the ‘pull up’ position. The underhand, ‘chin up’ grip can, for some people, make life a little easier. And somehow I managed to change my grip and gave it another go.

Nothing.

I hung there for what felt like an age and then it was ‘game over’ as my feet landed back on the floor with a heavy thud.

I’d failed The Century.

What Happened Next?

“There’s a lot of failure on the road to success and that’s good.”
Danny Kavadlo

After 3 days of full on calisthenics awesomeness (I did my first non-handed head stand and some other cool stuff) I simply didn’t have enough juice left in the tank. And hey, what use is a test if everyone passes? It’d be a pretty poor test right? Because then the only requirement for success would be being able to afford the cost of the workshop. You’d literally be buying your qualification not earning it. And that doesn’t work for me.

Luckily the generous people at Dragon Door give you 90 days to submit video evidence of you completing The Century. So the first thing I did was grab myself an accountability partner. Because if there’s one thing I’ve learned about getting something done it’s this—having someone to hold me accountable increases the likelihood of me getting the job done. It’s amazing what I can do if I know I’ve made a promise to someone else I’m going to do it.

The second thing I did was grab Danny and ask him how I should practice to nail The Century. His advice was to practice The Century.

So twice a week for the following 4 weeks I did that. And twice a week for the following 4 weeks I failed. Again and again and again. And then on 8th December, much to my amazement I finally did it. The video’s here if you want to watch it.

One of the most valuable lessons I’ve learned on the road to passing The Century is that failure really is just a stepping stone to success, that you can only really fail something when you give up.

Summing Up

Group photo from the legendary PCC Sweden Workshop

I was a little nervous about traveling from the UK to Sweden on my own to attend a 3 day calisthenics workshop. Would I make a fool of myself? Would I be too old? That kinda crap. But I was delighted to discover all my concerns were unfounded. A friendlier group of dedicated and friendly students you couldn’t wish to find. And as for the instructors, well, awesome isn’t a big enough word to do them justice.

So, if you’re on the fence about attending a PCC workshop. Based on my experience I’d tell you to book your spot ASAP and take advantage of the generous early bird discounts Dragon Door offers.

Thanks for reading and I hope you’ve found something of value in this article.

Kindest regards,
Marcus

Marcus Santer helps people to live happier, healthier and longer lives through the practice of Qigong. He is the founder and chief instructor over at Qigong15. The author of 4 books covering all aspects of Qigong his mission is to make Qigong as popular as Yoga, Tai Chi and meditation, because he believes Qigong is quicker to learn, less physically demanding and gives greater benefits than Yoga, Tai Chi and meditation all put together. You can find over 500 posts showing you how to live a happier, healthier and longer life through Qigong on his blog, Qigong15.com

Handstands Will Make You Better at Everything

February 4, 2014 By Mike Fitch 28 Comments

Yeah, it’s a bold statement, but hear me out. The mechanics of successfully performing a handstand will amp up all of your other exercise endeavors, making you stronger, more stable, and better coordinated, while the discipline required to master the move will make you a better human being overall. It will force you to take a long, hard look at the time you are willing to invest in reaching a specific goal. It will also allow you to win money in a bar bet, steal the spotlight at any wedding and of course get the girl (or guy). Results may vary on the last three.

For thousands of years, athleticism has been demonstrated through feats of bodyweight strength and skill, with fit individuals judged not just by their bodies’ tone, but by how skillfully they could use their bodies. Even in the golden age of bodybuilding, Arnie and the boys were known to challenge each other post workout with hand balancing and bodyweight strength contests. We then saw a lull in these activities, with the popularization of the fixed-axis weight-lifting machine and single-plane isolation “robot training,” but luckily for you and me (and the human race), the idea of skills practice and self-mastery is making its way back into fitness.

My favorite field, progressive bodyweight training, includes a multitude of exercises that are always sure to elicit an envious “I’ve always wanted to do that!” Pistol squats, muscle-ups, human flags, HAND BALANCING – these moves are sure to catch the eye of any fitness enthusiast. And the great thing is that any of these feats are possible to learn with the proper progression training, time commitment, and, most importantly, consistency.

Just as it takes a baby about 12 months of daily conditioning and practice to eventually stand on their own, it can take an adult months or years of repeated practice to build the neural grooves associated with a perfect handstand. Are you willing to invest that kind of time? I can guarantee that it will be one of the most humbling and gratifying journeys that you’ll experience.

While performing a great handstand is certainly a worthy goal unto itself, you’ll find that the skills you build in the process will transfer over into your other training, making you a better athlete and enhancing your quest toward a better body. Here are some examples of the tremendous carry-over you’ll see:

The Kinetic Chain

Let’s start with a simplified definition of the very complex concept of the kinetic chain: everything in our body is connected to everything else. A handstand is a prime example of the connectivity of the kinetic chain, with each position, alignment, and movement requiring constant communication and neuromuscular efficiency in order to maintain that perfect balance. If just one thing changes during our hand balance, such as flexing our toes instead of extending them, then our body must immediately adjust to this new shift.

Hand balancing is, obviously, performed on your hands, so that’s a great place to start thinking about how everything is connected. Your fingers are some of the densest areas of nerve endings on the body, and have the best tactile feedback and positioning capability. Kicking up into your handstand initiates a sort of neuromuscular “super highway,” with all of those little finger receptors sending and receiving information throughout the body. Your body’s communication must be perfectly orchestrated to keep you in balance, like a super effective emergency dispatcher taking calls, sending reinforcements, and keeping you safe (aka preventing you from crashing onto your head.)

The body has to adjust to the hand placement in relation to the shoulders; to the elbows being over the wrists but under the shoulders; and the hips, where are the hips in relation to the shoulders?; and it goes on. So if we do this efficiently, and amp up our body’s abilities to communicate and make minute adjustments in a flash, you may already see how handstand training can benefit other athletic goals. But, I promised that handstands will make you better at everything, so let’s keep on going.

Al Kavadlo Performs a Handstand

Internal Tension

A tense body is a strong body. Why is it so easy to balance a ruler or a bat vertically on your hand? Because the object is rigid, with no bends or “leaks.” Whether you are lifting your own body or grinding out a 1000 pound deadlift, the concept is the same – you need to create a rigid structure from which you can pull, push, lift or balance. In Progressive Calisthenics, there is no room for any part of your body to lose connection or leak tension, and you learn very quickly about any leaks in your chain. Mastering total body tension will not only accelerate your handstand training, but will be directly applicable to most of your other training as well.

Grip Strength

In addition to “tense the whole body,” you’ll hear a lot of HB coaches tell you to “grip the ground.” In our foot we have the luxury of a heel which plays a clever game of leverage to make walking and standing fairly easy tasks. Unfortunately, we don’t have the same advantage in our hands. So, the fingers must DIG into the ground, countering the body’s tendency to over balance (topple over), or let up to counter an underbalance. It’s this constant battle between the finger extensors and flexors trading off between the rolls of agonist and antagonist that keeps us upright. And along the way you’ll be conditioning for some brutal forearm strength.

Shoulder Stability

Few exercises can compare to a handstand for building shoulder stability. And let’s face it, nobody is going to be staring in amazement while you’re performing more band internal/external shoulder rotations.

The shoulder – so incredible, so complex, and so commonly abused – can be an important source of power, but also a source of hidden weakness impacting your training in ways you don’t even realize. Over repetition syndrome, poor form, and especially faulty postures can create imbalances that lead to injury or instability. But even if you don’t feel pain, if your body senses a weakness in the shoulder, it will automatically restrict the amount of power passing through that joint, and can actually dial down the surrounding muscle excitation. I’m going to assume that everyone would rather be tapping into all of their strength for their efforts. As the saying goes, “you can’t shoot a cannon from a canoe.”

In Hand Balancing, the shoulder is the first line receiving all of that information from the sensors in the hands and forearm musculature, reacting to the head and hands below and the rest of the body above. The muscles at the shoulder joint have to fire up like a synchronized light show to adjust to the constantly changing center of gravity over such a limited base of support, from the deeper muscles like Supraspinatus, Infraspinatus, Teres Minor, and Subscapularis (rotator cuff), to the bigger and more powerful Lats, Pecs, and Delts. Even with the elbow completely locked, the heads of the Bicep and Triceps that cross the shoulder joint play a role in stabilizing the shoulder. And that’s not even mentioning the other muscles that keep your Scapula strapped to your back.

Simply put, handstands will make you stronger through increased activation and stabilization.

Spinal Stabilization

Handstands require not just spinal, or core, stabilization, but true multi-planar stabilization involving inversion of the body.

Now, I realize there are many views on spinal stabilization and some debate over its efficacy and “functional” carryover to life or sport (“You have to draw in to activate TVA!” “No, bracing is the only way!” “Let’s fight!”). But we can probably all agree that the surrounding musculature of the spine (ie the core) needs to be able to properly stabilize to protect the spinal cord, and that the spine needs to be able to fight gravity’s constant pull, distributing the load while generating force and, more importantly, accepting external forces (whether that’s gravity, or a linebacker). It flexes, extends, rotates, laterally flexes and in the case of the handstand, stays perfectly still, and STABLE.

When we are upright, we know that the core musculature should be firing to allow for gait pattern as in walking or running, or bending over to snatch up a kettlebell. But get inverted and everything changes. The anchor or base is now the shoulder girdle, sitting on top of those mechanically disadvantaged hands. So now the spinal stabilizers have to figure out how to balance the pelvis over the shoulders, with the big legs riding on top. This is true multi-planar stabilization! In a hand balance, all of the spine’s muscular units have to play their part to keep the spine in perfect alignment – i.e. spinal stabilization.

GETTING STARTED: TUTORIAL

I am constantly asked, “What’s the key to learning handstands?” And there is a clear answer: “To get good at handstands, you practice handstands.” There is no other weighted exercise that will make you better at handstands – you just need to put in the time to practice the handstand-specific progressions and conditioning exercises. It IS skill specific training.

So here’s the part where you get to see what you’re made of. Are you willing to put the time in to taking this challenge on? Are you ready to approach it with discipline, practicing often, even daily if necessary? You are no longer trying to merely increase your reps; now you are working to improve yourself, master difficult skills, and achieve long-term goals.

I can tell you from my own experience that the handstand can be an allusive opponent. I first learned an arch-back style handstand, which is common for most beginners, before I was challenged by a gymnast friend to learn the flat back style. That process of re-educating took months! It was probably a year before I could easily switch between the two, along with other body positions, and stay up for multiple minutes. I learn more about Hand Balancing every single day and am humbled by it constantly. I’m certainly a lot better now than I was a few years ago, and I definitely have more goals yet to reach. It’s clear to me that it’s a life-long practice. There’s no turning back now.

Intro to Handstand Conditioning: The Wall-Assisted Handstand

Begin your handstand training with the simple Wall Assisted Handstand. It may seem like the most basic conditioning exercise, but remember, a baby has to crawl before he could stand. The exercise itself is as simple as it sounds, but I have some tips to help make it wildly successful for you:

First of all, you should have your front, not your back, facing the wall. Otherwise you’re automatically training in an arch back handstand. While the arch back is a legitimate handstand in itself, the mechanics are different and you may not get the same benefits I mentioned earlier.
Follow these steps to get yourself safely into place: Start by facing away from the wall. Bend forward and place your hands on the ground at roughly shoulder width. Place your feet on the wall and walk them up until the body is elongated. Walk your hands towards the wall until they are about 6 inches or so away from the wall (this may vary – just find a distance that feels comfortable psychologically). The toes should be pointed with the top of the foot flat on the wall.
Once in position, SET the body: Grip the ground with your fingertips. Lock the elbows completely, driving down into ground, creating as much space as possible between your toes and the ground. When you successfully fire the traps, the space between your ears and shoulders will close. Squeeze the glutes and quads, and draw in or brace the abdominal wall. Make sure not to hinge at the hips.
Don’t forget to breathe!
Time yourself to see how long you can hold this perfectly tensed handstand. Your goal is to first work up to one minute, then two. Once you can hold for two minutes, begin bringing your hands closer and closer to the wall.
And here’s an important Bonus Tip: If you’re not used to twisting or summersaulting out of a handstand, be sure to leave enough strength to get back DOWN the wall!

Wall Walking Handstand

Expect to be humbled by this isometric conditioning. But keep up with your handstand practice, and it will absolutely fast track your way to being better at EVERYTHING!

For more information on Hand Balancing, check out our new 5-part video series, Hand Balancing for the Bodyweight Athlete, available as downloads or on DVD.

Mike Fitch is the Founder/President of Global Bodyweight Training, a fitness company providing training, education, and promotion of bodyweight training disciplines, as well as creator of the popular Animal Flow program. Mike’s current interests lie in exploring how bodyweight training disciplines can be integrated with skills-based practices, and multi-planar, fluid movement. He’s been featured in Men’s Health, Shape, and Fitness Magazine, as well as on The Doctor’s, Good Morning America, and LIVE with Kelly and Michael.

Goals, Goals, Goals

January 28, 2014 By Steven Low 12 Comments

Almost everyone I’ve talked to knows the importance of incorporating training goals to improve your performance. Basically, training goals allow you to build a routine around them that is specific to them.

For example, if you’re training for the planche, then you typically want to be working on planche isometrics as well as some other type of pushup motion – such as one arm pushups, pseudo planche pushups, or another similar motion such as dips to supplement your strength gains. You would make sure that your sets have at least 2-3 minutes rest between them (if not a bit more) to ensure muscle recovery. You would also ensure that you would have 3 or more sets of an exercise to ensure sufficient volume for building strength. Finally, you would attempt to progress on exercises as much as possible each week to make sure that you’re not stagnating.

Likewise, if you were working on gaining pure hypertrophy you’d want to have a mix of repetition ranges between about 5 and 12. You’d want to have about 30 seconds to about 2.5 minutes rest between sets. You’d want to make sure you’re mixing compound exercises and isolation exercises together in some sort of bodyweight and weights hybrid routine.

Each of these types of routines have specific goals, and from the goals – if you know what the literature says on training information – you can accurately build a routine towards your goals. That was the main thrust of my book Overcoming Gravity. To help trainees learn to build routines towards their goals in the area of bodyweight training.

Now, I didn’t talk as much about goals for other physical activities, which is the purpose of this article. From what I have observed most people do not understand that they even need to do this, much less have the information they need to know on HOW to do it. So let’s talk about some examples.

If you sprain your ankle or hurt your back lifting something, what would the common layperson do?

What would a doctor tell you to do?

If you guessed RICE – rest, ice, compression, and elevation – for the ankle, and muscle relaxers and rest for the back you’d be correct. However, these methods actually prolong your recovery from injury. This is what most people don’t understand, but it makes sense to them when you explain it.

For instance, if you went to a physical therapist after spraining your ankle or injuring your back would you choose to not do anything they told you to? Of course not. A physical therapist would typically work on the injured area to figure out if there are any potential imbalances or other issues that need to be rehabilitated. They would give you non-painful range of motion exercises with concurrent stability exercises, and they may use modalities for pain. They would also give you a home exercise program that you would be doing all of the other 5-6 days with exercises that you would need to do at least 1-2 times a day (if not more) when you’re not in therapy.

This happens across the board with any type of injury – even catastrophic injuries such as knee replacements, rotator cuff surgeries, or ligament repairs, or any other type of major surgery. Early mobilization, muscle activation, and stabilization exercises are the key to better outcomes.

So if you get injured, the best thing to do is never pure rest. There is always something you can be doing to rehabilitate it. In a lot of these cases, a common layperson or even an experienced trainee may need to see a professional to get specific injury advice. This is what I would recommend if an injury has not significantly healed within about 1-2 weeks with non-painful mobility, stability work, and other types of early rehabilitation.

No one wants to be injured for 1-2+ months and have no clue on how to make it better. Don’t do this to yourself if you’re injured! The goal behind an injured part of the body is to restore the stability and range of motion, manage the pain well, then move into more specific rehabilitation. This goal underlies all of the recommendations above.

Now, this information is good, but let me get into some of the more applicable information for everyone else.

For example, let’s take someone with a tight back from a previous back injury – from say, 6 months ago. Or even a tight back from just having one come on from hard training. Or how about a tight shoulder or elbow tendonitis that comes on after training hard?

What is the typical recommendation for these types of situations that aren’t exactly injuries but require some amount of prehabilitation?

The common thread with these types (that is echoed across Facebook, other social media, common training articles, forums including Reddit, CrossFit, Performance Menu, American Parkour, and other various forums I visit) is that you need to do soft tissue work. Most of this includes some sort of massage, foal roller, lacrosse ball, or other implement that helps to loosen the area.

I’m going to suggest to you that this is incomplete information. Why is this information incomplete?

The body has nociceptors in place to tell you if you are putting an area at risk of injury which will signify pain to your brain. Likewise, it has mechanoreceptors and other sensory feedback that will tell the body if an area is unstable or potentially at risk for injury.

What does a body do when there’s pain or instability? It tightens up the muscles in an attempt to protect the area from further damage. This is why all of the muscles around an injured ankle get stiff and tight.

What does it do if there’s potentially an overuse injury developing? It tights up the muscles again to protect the area, and signals to the brain a nagging type of pain or discomfort.

You see, many people use soft tissue work to loosen up the tight muscles that comes with previously injured areas or areas that are starting to develop overuse injuries, but they don’t do anything afterward to follow it up. This is why foam rolling without any follow-up is incomplete.

Most people’s goals are to get back to training, usually for optimal performance. Foam rolling in this case is definitely incomplete and does not get you back to the goal. Why? Because people have to continue foam rolling week after week if the back does not get less tight or improve measurably.

This is where you see your progress stagnating. If you’re beating your head against the wall not making progress then you need to change something up. As Einstein said, the definition of insanity is…

Let me give you an example of what someone would do if they have a tight lower back, especially from a previous injury.

So if you went into physical therapy, the physical therapist would likely work on your back to loosen up the tight muscles because they are not conducive to good movement. However, this soft tissue work would be followed up with muscle activation exercises, especially if there was a lot of previous pain.

Typically, these would include exercises specific for the tranverseus abdominus muscle because when there’s pain, the timing of the body’s activation of the muscle for core stability is thrown off. Then this training would be followed up with specific isolation exercises which would develop into compound exercises. This approach works for the majority of back related injuries.

So if you have a tight back, foam rolling is generally OK as long as there is no pain and it loosens up the area. But if that’s all you do for it then it’s incomplete. You will likely have to foam roll it indefinitely before and after every training session.

If you do foam roll or use other soft tissue work you should be following it up with exercises for prehabilitation. TVA activation is pretty specific, but a lot of the pilates and yoga poses emphasize keeping the core tight while doing leg lifts, bird dogs, hip bridges, and other exercises that work pretty well. Following this up with one of the best exercises for trunk stability, the reverse hyperextension, is typically right on the money. Performing reverse hyperextensions in a slow and controlled manner works most of the back muscles in an eccentric pattern which helps them to fire and turn on in the correct pattern again.

In conclusion, if you take nothing else away from this article, take these:

Everything you do for training should have a goal.

If you are doing prehabilitation work, it should be with the expectation that the area you’re working on is improving either in performance or getting better. If it’s not, then there’s something you’re missing.

Likewise, your warm up should have a specific goal. Your flexibility training should have a specific goal. Your skill training should have a specific goal. Your sleep you should have a specific goal. Even your nutrition should have a specific goal.

You should be looking to optimize and improve all facets of your training. And to do that you need goals. And you need to modify aspects of your training or your life to align with your goals.

Don’t keep beating your head against the wall with no results.

***

About Steve: Steven Low, Senior PCC and author of Overcoming Gravity: A Systematic Approach to Gymnastics and Bodyweight Strength, is a former competitive gymnast who, in recent years, has been heavily involved in the gymnastics performance troupe, Gymkana. With his degree from the University of Maryland College Park in Biochemistry, Steven has spent thousands of hours independently researching the scientific foundations of health, fitness and nutrition. Currently Steven is pursuing a doctorate of Physical Therapy from the University of Maryland Baltimore which provides him with insights into practical care for common injuries. His training is varied and intense with a focus on gymnastics, parkour, rock climbing, and sprinting. He currently resides in his home state of Maryland. His website is http://eatmoveimprove.com.

Yoga, Calisthenics and the Journey of a Lifetime

January 23, 2014 By John Du Cane, CEO and founder, Dragon Door 30 Comments

**John, the Yogi who came in from the cold.**

As a teenager in the sixties UK, I was highly athletic. I played wing in Rugby, had a mean long jump and high jump and could sprint like the wind. Two of my track buddies at high school went on to great fame: the iconic musician Nick Drake and Mark Phillips, who went on to marry Princess Anne.

I also loved weight lifting and was drawn to pumping iron. Unfortunately the strength coach/trainer at my school was pretty darn clueless and I would lift away without much direction at all—either from him or any literature on the subject.

What I also discovered, in 1966, was the just-published Light on Yoga by B.K.S. Iyengar—which changed my life. I used this seminal and highly inspirational book to teach myself Yoga. Scary, perhaps, but finding a teacher in those days was challenging to say the least. By age nineteen, I could pull off a headstand while in a full lotus, had an eye-popping ability to rotate my abs, as a ridged column, through 360 degrees, with the method known as Uddiyana Bandha, plus a whole lot of other impressive looking stuff.

I enjoyed looking cool, feeling cool and being proud of what I could do physically. If that doesn’t motivate you to practice physical culture, I don’t know what to say…

At the age of twenty-five I finally traveled to India to study Yoga and meditation. Ironically, there in India, I switched my allegiance to Qigong and Tai Chi as my principal discipline for physical cultivation. The Hatha Yoga I had studied had had a transformative impact on me, but it did involve almost solely holding static postures. Qigong and Tai Chi opened up a different world that was motion-based and much more satisfying for me personally.

However, those crucial dozen years where I dove deep into Yoga gave me immense flexibility benefits that have extended to my current age of 64. For instance, without having rigorously practiced the headstand since my mid-twenties, I can still move effortlessly into a full headstand. Same for the full lotus and many other cool poses.

Naturally forty years of martial arts, kettlebells and other bodyweight exercise have helped me stay in nice shape into my sixties. However, I do believe that my years as Yogi John gave me a crucial foundation that I am eternally grateful to have laid for myself.

So, when Al Kavadlo presented his latest masterpiece, Stretching Your Boundaries to me, I was thrilled and immediately impressed by the spectacular way Al tied together Yogic stretching and flexibility methods with calisthenics. Along with Paul Wade, Al has been leading the inspirational charge in a new appreciation for the healing and athletic benefits of bodyweight exercise.

What I also love about Al’s work—and never more true than for Stretching Your Boundaries—is the aesthetic and the philosophy of physical culture he brings to the table. “Calisthenics” means “beautiful strength.” Strong, flexible, healthy, graceful body—with a mind and spirit to match. Al perfectly embodies that “beautiful strength-beautiful spirit” ideal, in my opinion. He brings a Zen lightness and equanimity to his practice. But he also brings the kind of sharp-mindedness and rigor to his physical cultivation that is another hallmark of Zen. We had Zen and the Art of Archery. Now we have the Zen Art of Stretching Your Boundaries.

I love, also, Al’s emphasis on the importance of joint health, circulation and breath work. The older you get, the more you need to move and breathe well. And nothing needs more movement for health and well being than the joints.

Just as Iyengar inspired me and millions of others to take up Yoga, Al is inspiring a new generation to improve their mobility, strength and health by integrating yoga and calisthenics in dramatic new style.

Let’s remember: we have the one body only to work with, a precious treasure that can be abused and trashed—or burnished, refined and transformed into an ongoing piece of living artwork. In Stretching Your Boundaries, Al hands you a priceless set of methods to refine your physical being. I urge you to take full advantage.

Yours in Strength,

John Du Cane

On Street Workout

January 14, 2014 By Danny Kavadlo 21 Comments

Danny Kavadlo Performs a Human Flag in the streets of New York City

There is no denying it: The phenomenon known as Street Workout has built a mighty following over the years, a following that grows exponentially every single day.

What started with minimalist calisthenics crews in New York has spread across these great States, and all over the planet. While not exactly the same, Progressive Calisthenics and Street Workout do have a lot in common. Just look at the wild success of PCC Sweden (where participants trained on actual urban scaffolding!) and next month’s sold-out PCC Australia, not to mention upcoming events in Germany, Holland and Ireland. Clearly, the principles of Street Workout have become an international sensation. A movement, if you will.

And we are not slowing down. You can’t ignore us. Street Workout is just so damn fun and good for you! It sometimes seems like the fitness world is nothing more than a bloated bastion of isolated movements and impractical applications. Street Workout is a breath of fresh air.

A variety of exercises demonstrated simultaneously by participants and PCC Instructors at the 2013 PCC in Sweden

Do It Anywhere
To begin, it encourages us to tap into the creative, even artistic, part of our cerebrums. Whereas commercial gym members use multiple thousand-pound machines to train one muscle at a time, we can look at a pole, fence or street sign and come up with a dozen exercises on the spot. The ability to observe and use your surroundings is a human trait that’s dying these days. Free your mind. Further, unlike a gym, there’s no fee for this club. We welcome all comers.

I used to know a guy who would drive 40 minutes each way to a gym to train for 45. He could have ran flights of stairs, done dips on a bench and pull-ups off a ledge in a fraction of the time. Hell, he could have done push-ups right there on the street—that’s what I’m talkin’ about!

Al Kavadlo Performs a Push Up on Cobblestones

Real Strength
Street Workout is more than just efficient and visually impressive—it also makes you really freakin’ strong! By encouraging harmonious full body movements over isolation and non-cohesion, this style of training builds real world power! Modern classics like high-altitude pistol squats and scaffolding pull-ups employ more muscle groups and promote greater overall strength than traditional gym exercises like leg extensions or biceps curls. I’m a lot more impressed by someone who can confidently pull his or her body up and over a real object, than somebody who moves a weight straight up and down a machine!

Danny Kavadlo Performs a Pull Up on New York City Scaffolding

It’s Fun
We are born with a primal urge to be outside. We’re animals, not built to sit under florescent lights in climate controlled, window-less rooms all day. It’s bad enough that so many good people have to do this at their jobs. Why do it during your workout?

Have some fun. Breathe the air. Feel the sun. Outdoor training makes you feel like a kid again.

Wilson on the playground

Community
This is the best part of all. Whenever and wherever there is a gathering of Street Workout enthusiasts, it’s like reuniting with old family, even if you’ve never met. The passion and energy are that intense. I can’t explain it, but there is a special kinship in our world, just as there is in the calisthenics community overall. I treasure being a part of it.

In his groundbreaking book, Raising the Bar, my brother and PCC Lead Instructor Al Kavadlo refers to it as “The Bar Brotherhood”.

The Kavadlo Brothers

When all is said and done, working out, like life, should be full of challenges, fun and adventure. No training style embodies these elements quite like Street Workout does. So what are you waiting for? Let’s hit the pavement and train!

***

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