PCC Blog

Hang Your Way to Better Pull-ups

April 4, 2017 By George Corso 16 Comments

George Corso Al Kavadlo Tree Hang

A basketball coach walks into the gym and witnesses one of his athletes shooting free throws. He makes 1 out of 50 shots. The coach asks the athlete what he’s doing and the athlete replies “practicing free throws.” The coach then asks him a simple question: “Are you practicing making them or are you practicing missing them?”

Pull-ups are kind of like free throws. They take practice, but you have to make sure you are practicing the right way. Though many people feel that they would have an easier time climbing Mount Everest than accomplishing even one pull-up, I hope to show you a different approach that will not only help with your pull-ups, but many other bar exercises as well.

When I started my own practice in calisthenics I was able to get my chin above the bar, but it really was far from a perfect pull-up. I sensed that something was off so I began to film myself doing pull-ups. It’s not always easy to be critical of yourself but I knew that this was an essential element of perfecting this exercise. I broke it down step by step from the first pull to the middle section and then to the top of the bar. Then I studied it in reverse while lowering myself. I found that I was a complete mess!

It made me think back to the story about the free throws. I applied that coach’s criticism to my situation and realized that I was practicing my pull-ups without much regard for quality. It was obvious that I had to make corrections. I started with the initial pull. To my surprise, I found that I was pulling more from my biceps, which caused me to round my shoulders too much. A lack of strength in my scapulae was a real issue. I also discovered a lack of grip strength. In order to fix this problem I decided to scale back and dedicate my pull-up practice to different variations of hanging on the bar in order to work my way back up with proper technique.

Here’s what I did:

Dead Hangs
I started with the basic dead hang. The dead hang is such a great introduction to calisthenics bar training. It not only preps the hands but also decompresses the spine. Plus it opens up the chest so you can gain better shoulder mobility.

Start out with 10-30 seconds at a time. From there you can build to longer hangs. I recommend playing with different grips on the bar as well: Supinated, pronated and alternated grips are all fair game. I also suggest using a variety of different hand widths to add to the benefits of the dead hang. Using different grips will work the body in different ways, which can help you discover where your individual strengths and weakness lie.

George Corso Dead Hang Bar Hang Grip Variations

Active Hangs
The active hang is the next progression. In this variation, you’ll still be hanging with your arms completely straight, but your lats and shoulder blades will be engaged to “pack” the shoulders into their sockets. Adding this move into my programing leveled up my strength more than I could imagine. Active hangs helped me understand the proper muscle sequence in the motion of the pull-up, with scapula depression being first and foremost of the movements. As with dead hangs, I encourage you to explore and play with different grips.

Al Danny Kavadlo Active Hangs

Active Arch Hangs
These are one of my favorites! The active arch hang is one of the most challenging due the the body position needed. The goal is to hang with an arched back, while actively depressing and retracting the shoulder blades. It’s almost like a back bridge combined with an active hang. This will not only increase one’s strength in pull-ups, but will also aid you in someday catching the extremely challenging front lever.

George Corso Active Arch Hangs

Ape Swings
This exercise requires stamina, strength, control and mobility in order to accomplish. Start off in a dead hang with a mixed grip (one palm facing away and the other facing towards you). From here, release the palm that is facing you and rotate your body beneath the bar, switching your grip for the other side. Continue moving across the bar in this fashion, then reverse direction. What I love about this exercise is the control and scapular strength needed in order to bring yourself up enough to grab the bar. Each rep is almost like a one arm scapula pull-up.

George Corso Ape Swings

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George Corso is a PCC, RKC, CSCS, NSCA-CPT, Certified Animal Flow instructor and the co-owner of FORZA in Millbrook, NY. For more information, connect with George on Facebook.

Revive, Restore, Recertify!

March 14, 2017 By Annie Vo 9 Comments

Annie Vo Aussie Pullup Variation

This January marked my ninth Progressive Calisthenics Certification since first becoming PCC Certified three years ago. In that time, I have been a student, an assistant, an instructor, and now, a Team Leader for this organization. I’ve had the privilege of attending and teaching in seven countries spanning three continents, and I continue to grow with each experience. In addition to PCC, I have attended and repeated an extraordinary number of workshops in numerous modalities, from RKC to Gym Jones. I can tell you firsthand the skill building advantages, knowledge development and incredible motivation that come from doing so.

But that wasn’t always the case…

When I started as a personal trainer a decade ago, I had very little practical information or experience working with real clients. I wrestled with what every new trainer feels at this point: Am I an imposter?

I had the good fortune of being introduced to kettlebells early on in my career which lead me to attending my first RKC kettlebell certification. I spent my hard earned money and precious time to see what I could learn. That weekend changed my life. I eagerly attended RKC Level II and continued to read extensively on the topic. Over the years, I found other mentors, systems and methodologies ranging from yoga to powerlifting. I attended courses all over the world to learn from the most experienced trainers and coaches of our time. I can tell you without hesitation, the PCC stands at the front of this list!

Annie Vo's 1st PCC

Between events, I built a solid clientele and got to put my lessons to use, weaving the fabric I began threading years ago. I learned about proper technique, exercises for strength and flexibility, client assessment and ultimately, to see the virtue of each discipline and their own unique philosophies on training. Feeling less like an imposter, I began implementing these methods with my clients, filtering out the minutiae and honing my craft. For many years I felt that this alone, learning the information, was the foundation of my experience as a personal trainer. I was wrong. Well, partially wrong.

It is a mistake to not revisit the original information.

The pursuit of any skill (not limited only to training) takes consistent practice, attention to detail and frequent evaluation. Many years ago when I first began playing piano as a child, I hated it. There was so much theory, remedial scales and lots of esoterica. Over time I began playing short tunes, incorporating the pedal and experimenting with different tempos. I had achieved a competency that allowed me to read music and remember songs. Eventually, something crazy happened: Piano became fun. I continued to explore and found classical bass, which would become the tool of my first career. Like with the piano, the practice became a consistent habit. It soon became time to find a new teacher, play with a larger orchestra and make professional advances. As the old phrase says, after skill acquisition, “The student becomes the master.”

That really isn’t the case.

Perhaps what people call “mastery” goes beyond having knowledge. To me, it is the understanding that (despite all this information), there is so much more to know. In other words, you can never have a complete command of everything.

The amount you can absorb and retain the first time around is limited. This is why it is so important to recertify your PCC. As both a musician and fitness professional, I can attest to how skills can degrade without further exposure to good coaching and feedback, along with regular practice.

Another reason to recertify is that it is electric to be surrounded by so many like-minded individuals. Training together, sharing stories and investing in the collective experience of learning are priceless. Each event draws professionals and enthusiasts from all over the world who bring with them their own individual experiences (as well as that of their clients). There are very few times in one’s professional or personal lives that offer so many unique perspectives. Everyone comes in with their sliver of the world and they want to share it with you.

NYC PCC Group 2017

There are two dimensions to growth, two timelines that are intertwined. There is the dimension of you the person and then the dimension of the information you have received. You, the person, are constantly changing. You are getting older, falling in love (or out of love), trying new foods, reading new books and traveling to new places. The way that you understand your clients expands because you have expanded. The PCC has also changed over time. The curriculum has evolved. The level of instruction has been refined. The depth of knowledge has deepened.

Not too long ago, paleontologists made the surprising revelation that the Tyrannosaurus Rex walked tilted forward with its tail pointed up, changing the overall posture and gait of the animal. This made it considerably more dangerous and menacing than the slow moving, tail dragging Godzilla of my childhood. Were the paleontologists wrong before or are they wrong now? Well, facts change. Positions on things change when new information is introduced. It has to. Given the information they had at the time, they could not have come to any greater truth. In a way, paleontologists were correct then, but are closer to the truth now. This is the process of growth.

Annie Vo PCC Single-leg squat

When you recertify, you are coming back with new observations, experiences and skills that you didn’t have the first time. You may be in a better place to receive information. In the beginning, everything is new and it is difficult to retain all that is being presented. As you grow, you may find some of the lost information is now relevant. Your needs change over time.

So, why should you recertify? Because you are a different person and it’s a different PCC.

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Annie Vo is one of New York City’s most successful and sought-after personal trainers. As a PCC Team Leader, RKC Team Leader and Level III Gym Jones Instructor, she has taught certifications and seminars all over the world. She has been featured in The New York Post, NPR and Mademan.com. A diverse and complex talent, Annie Vo holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Columbia University and is a renowned classically trained musician. Learn more at annievo.com.

I Am Not An Athlete

March 7, 2017 By Danny Kavadlo 37 Comments

Danny Kavadlo NOOOO!

EDITORS’ NOTE: The opinions expressed in this column belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect that of Dragon Door Publications, its staff or its affiliates.

As you may know by now, I am not one to get bogged down on semantics. Progressive Calisthenics, bodyweight training, and street workout are all terms that I use more or less interchangeably to describe the way I train. I believe that the tendency to over-categorize things is not a worthwhile pursuit. A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.

“Ice cream maker” or “front lever curl”? Say what you like. “Shrimp squat” or “skater squat”? Both work from where I stand. “Aussie pull-up”, “bodyweight row”, “plank pull” and on and on and on. They are all very fine to me.

Numerous items, concepts and phenomena can go by several different names. We often find that the same material has many monikers. Most of the time I encourage folks to use whatever word they are most comfortable with. Danny Kavadlo doesn’t care if you “train” or “work out”—as long as you do it!

But despite the flexibility of linguistics and my openness to expression, words do in fact have meanings. I am a linguist, a grammarian and a fan of proper syntax. I believe in using words correctly, even if many terms are synonymous and phrases overlapping.

In fact, there is one word in particular, that I do feel is used inappropriately in fitness circles, to the point where it’s losing its actual meaning. Perhaps it’s lost its meaning already. The word is “athlete.”

The American Heritage Dictionary defines athlete as:

definition of the word athlete

To me, someone who exercises, even if they train with great intensity and frequency, is not an athlete. Not even if they hired a trainer. Not even if they’re really, really, really good at exercise.

To be clear, I myself am not an athlete.

Yes, I’m trained. (I’m definitely NOT gifted.) I have a good degree of physical strength, stamina and agility. I’m committed to my fitness. Perhaps I’m a motivator, even a role model to some. But I’m not an athlete. I do not compete in any sport, organized event, or other such game or contest. Nor do I train to do so.

I am a guy who works out – and I’m proud of it!

Like many of us, athletes dedicate themselves to their craft. But unlike us, their craft is athletic performance – not physical fitness or health. They prioritize their sport. Athletes train and work in extreme conditions to the point where they risk their own well being for a single competitive goal. I most certainly don’t do that.

Yes, I dedicate myself to my craft, but my craft is not a competitive sport. My craft is preaching the word of fitness, writing books and promoting health. My goal is not to out-perform anybody at any specific discipline. An athlete’s is.

That’s the key difference between someone who trains and someone who is an athlete. To us, the training is its own pursuit. Placing in a competition isn’t.

I have tremendous respect for athletes. Most of us do not have the desire to allocate our time the way they do, and I praise them for what they’ve given to the world. The fact that I can perform clean muscle-ups or that I have a well rehearsed human flag does not render me an athlete. We can revere our own outstanding performances while still employing correct language.

To be clear, being athletic does not make one an athlete.

In Other Words

I’ve cooked thousands of meals for my family and friends. Preparing food with my own hands is one of the greatest sources of joy in my world. It feeds my soul as well as my body. But cooking a meal doesn’t make me a chef. My career does not consist of making food for paying customers, designing menus, sourcing ingredients and managing a kitchen staff.

I grow my own tomatoes, garlic, basil and cilantro. I harvest it, slice it, dice it and prepare it. But growing herbs does not make me a farmer.

I sing in the shower, but I’m not a singer.

See where I’m going with this?

The same culture that awards children who place last with trophies for participation wants to dub anyone who ever hits the gym an athlete. Well, they’re not. And that’s not a bad thing. I applaud each and every person in the world who makes fitness a priority. I am proud of everyone who works out. Our achievements are to be celebrated! But let’s not lose sight of the big picture.

Au Contraire

Because of misuse, the word “literally” can currently be used to mean “figuratively.” The word “humbled” is now used in place of “honored.” These words have changed to include definitions contrary to how they were originally purposed in language. Let’s not have the same thing happen to “athlete”.

The fact that we are not athletes is what makes our achievements in progressive calisthenics so cool anyway. We are just people who want to work hard and earn something, while having fun doing it. No one here is willing to get a concussion or a pill addiction to do so. Our goals are not about winning; they’re about improving!

And, yes, I’ve done more pull-ups than most. But if you beat my record, I’m happy for you. It’s not a loss. Maybe you’ll inspire me to do more, not so I can beat you, but because we help each other be the best we can be. It ain’t a game. It’s life.

Keep The Dream Alive,

-DK

Organizing a Group Calisthenics Class

February 28, 2017 By Matt Beecroft 4 Comments

Al Kavadlo Leading Group Fitness
I can still remember my anxiety as I was about to teach my first Progressive Calisthenics class. I found it challenging to train myself, let alone a group of people with varying backgrounds, limitations (both psychological and physical) and fitness levels!

Perhaps you have recently qualified at a PCC, love calisthenics and are looking to share your passion in a group environment. Good luck, my PCC brothers and sisters; teaching calisthenics in a group setting can be tough! Given that most classes are 60 minutes long, devising a system to help people learn new skills and improve their fitness as expediently as possible can be very challenging.

The truth is there is no one “correct way” to structure a calisthenics workout, but there are some basic guidelines and principles that you can follow to ensure your classes are safe, fun and effective.

Here is a 5-step basic blueprint that I use for a one hour class that I hope will help you teach calisthenics in an intelligent and organic way.

The Warm-up

The warm-up serves a number of purposes, yet is often overlooked as a valuable use of time. It’s a great opportunity to check in with the body and the mind to prepare for training. The overall goals of the warm up are to increase body temperature and blood flow, making the muscles more elastic and pliable, and to increase the ROM of joints and start to “dial everything in” for the workout that is to follow.

The warm up should include mobility and flexibility exercises, including thoracic/shoulder, hip and ankle mobility and often the wrist, hands and forearms to prepare the joints and connective tissues for what is to follow.

The warm-up can also include “activation” sets, which involve a few reps of regressions leading up to the primary exercises you are about to practice. For example, you might use a few sets of squats and lunges to warm before working on single leg squat progressions.

Approximate time = 10 minutes

Al Kavadlo Leading Group Fitness
Strength First?

If you are working with beginners, building a proper foundation of strength needs to be your first priority.

For newcomers, following a structured set and rep scheme just like traditional strength training is paramount. Mastering basics like push-ups, pull-ups, squats and lunge variations are the bread and butter of calisthenics training. They have crossover into everything else.

Furthermore, if your students are planning to eventually work up to advanced holds such as bar levers, flags, or freestanding handstands, it is imperative to be looking to increase their time on more rudimentary holds. This means spending time on things like planks, frog stands and elbow lever progressions. The training needs to be structured in order to move to the next progression. A foundation of strength is crucial to achieve those higher level skills.

Or Skills First…

If your students have worked their fundamentals and strength for a while already, then the exercise that requires the highest skill, balance or power demand should be practiced when they are the freshest. Or alternatively, whatever is your highest priority should come first.

If your focus is something like muscle-ups, handstands or elbow levers, then trying to practice them after fatiguing your upper body will likely leave you too tired.

Once you have finished your “skills practice” at a particular progression, you can then do some “work sets” of reps/holds of some of related regressions or move onto other exercises.

Approximate time = 30 minutes

Al Kavadlo Leading Group Fitness
Finishers and Conditioning

I am a big fan of finishers and conditioning work at the end of sessions. Finishers and conditioning can be loads of fun and add variety to sessions whilst being very effective for skill and strength transfer. Exercises like bear crawls, inchworms, crab walks, frogger variations, etc. are all great choices. I also like to turn these types of movements into games whenever possible. Something like “crab walk soccer” can be a nice way to make your students forget how hard they are working because they are having fun!

Approximate time = 10 minutes

Cool Down

Not unlike the warm-up, the cool down is often glossed over by many people. It’s a great time to work those flexibility restrictions that might be inhibiting your practice as well as letting your body know that the workout is winding down and it’s time to shift into recovery mode. In addition to stretching, you cool down may consist of joint mobility, diaphragmatic breathing exercises and other body awareness drills.

Approximate time 5-10 minutes

Al Kavadlo Leading Group Fitness

Going out into the world to teach progressive calisthenics can be a daunting task. I’ve been doing it for a while now and still find it challenging. However, it is a lot of fun and highly rewarding to see your clients making progress.

Goals are important, but the process is even more important. Hopefully this basic blueprint will give you a structured approach to your classes while giving you ample scope to make them fun and effective.

Drop me a line a let me know how it goes!

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Matthew Beecroft is a PCC Team Leader, Senior RKC, and CK-FMS certified instructor. He is also a GFM and Animal Flow instructor and Expert Level 2 instructor with Krav Maga Global and a Muay Thai coach who has trained amateur and professional Muay Thai champions. He can be contacted through his website www.realitysdc.com.au or his Facebook page facebook.com/MeetLifeHeadOn

Five Tips for Training the V-Sit

February 21, 2017 By Grace Kavadlo 10 Comments

Grace Kavadlo V-Sit

When I attended my first Progressive Calisthenics Certification, learning to hold an L-sit was one of my goals. It’s a tough move, but I surprised myself and was able to nail it for a few seconds that weekend. Of course once I got the L-sit, I needed a new challenge.

Such is the nature of progressive calisthenics.

This was how I began my journey toward the V-sit, a move which progresses the L-sit by lifting the legs and hips higher, changing the shape of the body from a position resembling the letter “L” to one that looks like a “V.” Due to the shift in balance and leverage, it’s also a lot harder.

I mean A LOT harder.

It’s been almost 3 years since I went to my first PCC, and I’m just finally starting to get comfortable holding a proper V-sit. Like many advanced calisthenics exercises, training for this move requires a lot of patience. It also forced me to reassess several aspects of my training that I did not realize had been lacking.

Here are 5 things I learned along the way that helped me achieve this difficult feat:

1 – Make A Good “Compression”
Before I started working toward the V-sit, I thought I already had a very powerful core. Whereas conquering the L-sit bolstered my confidence, starting over with the V-sit was a humbling reality check. The two moves may not look substantially different, but the amount of abdominal strength required to perform a V-sit is exponentially greater.

Transitioning from an L-sit into a V-sit is not just about lifting your legs higher – you also need to bring your hips farther forward. This means compressing your trunk by drawing your pelvis toward your sternum, and that requires significant abdominal activation, particularly when your legs are above you in the air. It can help to practice other exercises that involve this type of abdominal compression, like “toes-to-bar” hanging leg raises, to better get a feel for this.

I also recommend the “boat pose” from yoga, as it mimics the V-sit, while allowing you to stay seated on the ground. This makes the exercise considerably less difficult while still letting you get a feel for the body alignment needed for the V-sit.

V-sit Variations Collage 2

2 – Elevate Your Training
Practicing this move with your hands elevated on parallettes or yoga blocks can be helpful during your journey to the V-sit. Not only does holding onto something make it less brutal on your wrists, but it also gives you extra room for your hips and legs.

When I first started toying with the V-sit, I would begin by holding a bent-knee L-sit on my parallel bars. From there I started experimenting with sliding my hips forward in front of my hands. This helped me figure out that I needed to shift my weight back in order to move my hips into the proper position. From there I could practice leg extensions, gradually reaching my legs farther in the air each time.

3 – Stretch Your Way to Success
Though many people tend to skip this portion of their training, if a V-Sit is one of your goals then you will probably need to improve your hamstring flexibility.

The classic toe touch or forward fold is a great way to loosen the backs of your legs in preparation for the V-sit, and there are several ways in which you can approach it: You can bend over from a standing position, practice the gym-class style “sit and reach” while on the ground, or even try it hanging with your legs raised and feet hooked beneath the bar. I recommend spending some time in all of these positions as a warm-up for your V-sit practice, as well as throughout the day.

In the beginning, these moves can be practiced with a slight bend in your knees, or with your legs slightly apart. As your flexibility increases (where you can touch your toes without overly rounding your back), you can start to slowly straighten your knees and/or bring your legs together until you are in the full expression of each pose. You may find it helpful to exhale fully as you fold forward. When you reach your “edge,” focus on drawing your abdominal muscles inward to go deeper. It may be helpful to repeat this process several times.

Forward Bend Collage

4 – Use Helping Hands
When performing this move, proper hand positioning is important for success. If your hands are placed too far away from your body it will be difficult to generate tension between your arms and your torso. Furthermore, turning your hands out and pointing your fingers to the sides (or behind you) can allow you better leverage to lean back farther without tipping over. You can also practice “tenting” your hands to help you find a little extra clearance when you begin practicing the V-sit on the floor.

5 – Don’t Forget to “Tri”
There is an immense amount of triceps strength needed in order to do any type of L or V-Sit. You also need strong lats, a powerful chest and iron forearms. One of the best pieces of advice I’m continually reminded of every time I’m at a PCC event is to “get great at the basics.”

This means you need to do your push-ups, pull-ups, squats and knee raises. Anytime you find yourself at a plateau with a new skill, you can always return to these foundational exercises. Yes, you need proper technique and training to conquer the V-sit, but that journey begins with perfecting the basics.

The V-sit takes practice and patience to achieve, but you’ll never get there if you don’t try!

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Grace Kavadlo is a PCC Team Leader, 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 Al Kavadlo’s Zen Mind, Strong Body and Paul “Coach” Wade’s Explosive Calisthenics. For more information about Grace, check out her website, www.DieselGrace.com.

Progressive Calisthenics Returns To The West Coast!

February 14, 2017 By Danny Kavadlo 4 Comments

2017 Mountain View PCC

The date was Thursday, February 9. I rose at the crack of dawn, ready to board a plane from New York to San Francisco. I was intent on instructing, along with my brother Al Kavadlo, our fourth Progressive Calisthenics Certification in the Golden State of California. To say that I was excited would have been an epic understatement. My soul was on fire!

This three-day workshop, which covers all the Street Workout staples like push-ups, pistols, muscle-ups and more was scheduled for Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Evolution Trainers, one of the Bay area’s premier training studios. The staff is world class, the facility is breath-taking and most importantly of all, the team of PCC participants slated to attend was absolutely top-notch!

Mountain View PCC 2017 Partner Pistols

But I almost didn’t get to meet them…

The evening before, a billowy blizzard fell over the North East. I woke up to find the city streets of Brooklyn, New York covered with over twelve inches of snow. Schools were closed, people called out of work, the trains were delayed and of course, the airline cancelled my flight. In fact, this airline cancelled all their flights out of John F. Kennedy airport.

But as those of you who’ve read STRENGTH RULES know, Rule # 10 of Danny’s Dos & Don’ts is “Don’t take No for an answer!” So I went to the airport anyway.

Amazingly (and slightly aggressively), I re-booked on a more sympathetic airline. After some persuasion, I was able to get on a flight scheduled to depart at 11:00am. At 6pm, I finally boarded the plane. At 7:30 I was in the air. Just before midnight, we finally touched down. HELLYEAH! Silicon Valley, here I come!

It is an incredible feeling to bring primitive movement and physical strength development to a part of the country so well known for specialized science and technological modernity. It’s a perfect union of cerebral innovation and primal instinct.

CEREBRAL PRIMAL

I cannot say enough kind words about this fantastic group of PCC candidates, who came from around the globe, hailing from across the United States and even as far as Brazil and Australia! As has become commonplace at these workshops, this tribe of calisthenic killers was not limited only to fitness trainers, martial artists and athletes, but was inclusive of everyday enthusiasts, like local tech professionals, physicians and working professionals. There was even a renowned journalist in the house! And of course, everybody there was a calisthenics freak! If you attend a Progressive Calisthenics certification, then no matter what your background is, you are one of us!

Support Press NICK

In classic PCC fashion, multiple PR’s and first time feats of strength were achieved. From flying human flags, to mighty muscle-ups, to stealthy hand balancing and bridge work, it was amazing to see everyone in the room get better and better as we trained together. In addition to the world-class coaching from the instructor team, the boundless energy of every single person in the room undoubtedly contributed to so much excellence.

This life-changing weekend flew by in the blink of a proverbial eye. I will miss my newfound brothers and sisters of the PCC family, but I know I’ll see them soon! This weekend lived up to and far exceeded my high expectations. There is truly nothing like an in person experience.

Congratulations to all the new PCC Instructors in the house. Welcome to the family!

The posse’s getting’ bigger,

-DK

PCC Mountain View 2017 GROUP

Three Keys to Unlock Calisthenics Muscle

February 7, 2017 By Matt Schifferle 9 Comments

Al Leading PCC

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

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

It’s Not About My Routine

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

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

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

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

It’s Not About My Diet

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

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

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

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

It’s Not About My Equipment

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

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

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

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

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

Matt Schifferle Tension Chart

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Perfect Calisthenics Workout Routine

January 31, 2017 By Tim Ponticello 11 Comments

Al Kavadlo Pistol Squats

As human beings, we have a tendency to look for the magic bullet that will solve all of our problems. In calisthenics, the often sought after “magic bullet” is the perfect calisthenics workout routine.

Have you ever caught yourself muttering things like…

“What’s the routine that will get me the same results as Al?”
“Just tell me exactly what to do!”
“Do you have a workout routine you recommend?”

Look, I get it… it’s easier to have a formula and just show up to do the work. It’s not as easy to craft your own personalized calisthenics workout routine based on your unique goals, needs, and abilities.

But unfortunately, the cold hard truth is that using a cookie-cutter routine will not only be unspecific to your goals, it can be downright dangerous. Just imagine if you have a leg injury and the workout routine has you performing pistol squats.

Ouch!

As Al mentions in his Make Your Own Workout blog post, “While many fitness guides spoon-feed the reader with rigid specific regimens to follow, I’ve chosen to empower my followers by leaving the suggested program design open-ended.”

I 100% agree with this approach. Every calisthenics trainee is a unique individual with unique needs and goals. For example, if you want to master the front lever – your training routine will likely look much different than someone who wants to master the one-arm chin-up.

The same thing goes for injuries. If you’re working through a shoulder injury for instance, your training routine will look vastly different than someone who has healthy shoulders.

There are simply too many variables at play to follow cookie-cutter routines.

For me personally, I like to use other routines as inspiration to create my own, and I highly encourage you to do the same. If you see someone post a calisthenics routine, take a look and see if you can morph it to fit your unique needs, abilities, and lifestyle.

“Dang-it Tim! You’re not helping me much here! Can’t you give me something?”

Okay, okay. I hear you. How does a “skeleton outline” of a great calisthenics workout routine sound? In other words, an overarching structure you can start with to eventually customize and build your own routines?

Kavadlo Bros Raised Push-ups

Depending on who you talk to and which calisthenics circles you run in, this structure may vary slightly. But in general, the structure is as follows:

Warm-up / Mobility
Skill Or Technique Work
Strength Work
Endurance / Cardio
Cool-down / Flexibility / Pre & Rehabilitation Work

Warm-up / Mobility
I think most everyone would agree that the warm-up should go at the very beginning of a workout. As Paul “Coach” Wade mentions in Convict Conditioning, imagine your muscles as a thick slice of mozzarella cheese. What happens when you pull it out of the frig and give it a tug? It crumbles to bits, right?

But what if you took that same slice of cheese and microwaved it for a few seconds before pulling on it. It would be all soft and stretchy.

Soft and stretchy muscles are what you want before you get into the core of your workout.

The warm-up is important for several reasons, but it can be boiled down to two major factors:

Helps prevent injury
Improves performance

There are several warm-up techniques you can implement into your calisthenics workout routines. One is to just use a generalized warm-up routine like the You Are Your Own Gym Warm-up Video. Another technique is to do easier variations of the exercises you plan to do in your workout.

For example, if you plan to do pistol squats in your workout, you might want to warm-up with normal bodyweight squats. Or if you plan to do one-arm push-ups, you could warm-up with a few sets of regular pushups.

If you have specific mobility weaknesses, you’ll want to address them in the warm-up. For example, I suffered a shoulder injury from back in my weightlifting days that still haunts me to this day. Although minor at this point, I always add lots of shoulder mobility exercises (such as shoulder dislocates) into my warm-up to ensure my shoulders are good to go for the workout. If you plan to work handstands in the skill portion of your routine, I highly recommend warming-up your wrists with a few mobility and stretching exercises.

You’ve successfully warmed up once you’ve got the blood flowing, raised your heart rate, and broken a light sweat (typically 5-10 minutes).

Skill Or Technique Work

Skill or technique work is the bridge between your warm-up and the main strength portion of the workout. In this part of the routine you are focused on developing your bodyweight skill & technique goals. For example, handstands, elbow levers, and L-sits are common skill goals. Any exercise that requires more balance/technique than strength can be considered skill work.

Tim Pontecello Handstand — Handstands are a classic example of “skill work”

As you progress in strength, it is common for a bodyweight exercise to previously be categorized as strength work, but then re-categorized to skill work as strength improves. For example, if you’re just starting out the L-sit progressions might be too difficult to put in the skill portion of the workout. You could first include them in the strength portion, and then after a few weeks or months move them to the skill section once they become easier.

While some strength is required for skill work, it should mostly be balance/technique. Front levers, for example, are not skill work for most of us. The end of the skill phase should leave you feeling fired up and ready to go for your strength training exercises, not drained.

Skill work comes before strength work because you have not yet exhausted your muscles in the main strength training portion of the workout.

Strength Work
Strength work is the meat & potatoes of the workout. This is where you’ll perform your bodyweight exercise progressions. For example, if your goal is the front lever, you would include front lever progression exercises here.

Structuring this part of the workout routine is another post in and of itself. For example, should you do full body or split workouts? How many exercises should you do? How long should you rest between sets?

Again, the answer is there is no right answer. It is 100% dependent on your own unique goals and abilities. For example, someone interested in hypertrophy (increasing muscle size) would likely want to train in a different rep range than someone who is primarily interested in gaining strength.

Similarly, a beginner would train differently than an advanced trainee.

You might hate me because I’m not going to give you a cookie-cutter formula that you can go and apply right away. However, since the majority of trainees are in the beginner to intermediate training phases, I’ll throw out a few rules of thumb that you can use as inspiration to get started:

Choose approximately 3-6 exercises total (1-2 push, 1-2 pull, 1-2 leg)
For strength, rest 2-3 (and up to 5 if necessary) minutes between sets
The 3-8 rep range gives you a nice blend of strength and hypertrophy
Beginners will likely benefit more from full-body routines as opposed to split routines
Order the exercises such that the ones you want to progress in most are completed first

Endurance / Cardio

This section is entirely optional. If you have cardio goals, this is where to include them in your workout routine. Alternatively, you could do cardio on your off days. The take-away here is that cardio should be included after strength work, not before it.

Why is that?

Most forms of cardio are less taxing on the central nervous compared to strength work. You also haven’t really tapped into the endurance capacity of your muscles too much yet (unless you’re specifically training endurance with your rep scheme). So you can still get a fairly decent cardio session in after strength training. But doing the reverse (cardio before strength training) would most likely negatively affect your strength work.

Again, if your primary goal is endurance / cardio, then it might make sense to put it before your strength work. But in general, if you’re someone who wants to progress in calisthenics (and I’m guessing you are) then you should do cardio either on your off days or after strength work.

Cool-down / Flexibility / Pre & Rehabilitation Work

The cool-down is the place to include static flexibility stretching, additional mobility work, and pre/rehabilitation exercises.

If you have a specific injury that you’ve worked around in the core of your workout, the cool-down is the best place to include rehabilitation exercises for that specific injury. Or if you have an area of tightness, hone in on that particular area during the cool-down. Again, the structure of this section is entirely dependent on your particular goals or problem areas.

What does your calisthenics workout routine look like? Do you use an overarching structure similar to the one outlined in this post? Let me know in the comments below!

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Tim Ponticello is a calisthenics enthusiast who is on a mission to help others master their body weight and learn a few cool-looking skills in the process. When Tim isn’t hanging upside-down on his rings, he loves to snowboard, cook, read a great book, and visit new restaurants with his girlfriend. You can learn more about Tim at timothyponticello.com.

Finding Balance Between Mind and Muscle

January 24, 2017 By Steve Opalenik 5 Comments

Steve Opalenik Balance Mind Muscle

I grew up in the perfect storm of cheesy action movies and the rising star of Arnold Schwarzenegger. Visions of attaining the perfect physique filled my head, and snapshots of Arnold from Commando carrying a tree on his shoulder filled my vision boards. But as I grew older, I found that the oversimplified pursuit of a chiseled body was useless if I did not take the time to stop and smell the roses.

Many times, my younger self would feel guilty about taking a rest day or skipping a workout to spend time with family and friends. Unfortunately, it cost me quite a bit of time off due to injuries and overexertion. My approach was far from balanced, and was driven solely by ego. Even after those early injuries, I still could not see the error of my ways. It wasn’t until years later that I found a healthy, balanced approach that was able to relax my body and mind, while exercising them as well.

Discovering a technique known as Progressive Muscle Relaxation helped me find that balance. PMR is a technique for learning to monitor and control your muscular tension that was developed by Dr. Edmund Jacobson in the early 1920s. The main idea is to create tension in a specific muscle area, and then relieve that area of the tension. In doing this, you are able to monitor your body as it physically relaxes, and get a decent amount of muscle work in as well.

The technique is comprised of three parts: breath control, body scanning, and dynamic muscle tension. It is important to understand these aspects individually before trying to blend them together into a cohesive practice.

Breath Control:

The first thing to practice before diving into progressive muscle relaxation is breath control. There are a million and 20 articles and YouTube videos out there on breathing techniques and philosophies, all of which offer some interesting insight on the subject. For our purposes, we are going to focus on cyclical breathing, also known as square breathing.

The idea is basic in nature, but has a complex bodily reaction. To start, you should understand why it is sometimes called square breathing, it is simply because the breath has 4 parts to it: a 2 second inhale, a 2 second pause (this is not holding your breath, but rather a pause between inhale and exhale), a 2 second exhale, and another 2 second pause between exhale and inhale. It is sometimes called cyclical breathing due to the nature of the breath as it flows between each transition to form a circle (isn’t it cool how your breath can be both a circle and a square?). It is also an important image to hold when breathing, as it’s not just a breath in and out, but rather a breath in that goes to the lungs and diaphragm and then returns to complete a circle through your respiratory system with the exhale and pause. It is also of import to note that the breath is not shallow in nature – you are not breathing into your chest – you are breathing much deeper, into your diaphragm and lower dantian, which is at the center of your body, 2 inches below the navel, and 2 inches back inside the body.

Body Scanning:

The concept of the body scan has its origins in the history of meditation and prayer, as well as being revitalized recently with the mindfulness movement. Without delving too deep, it is the internal scanning of your own body, while in the practice of meditation, to notice stuck points of energy, emotions, or physical maladies. Generally, it is progressive in nature, as you have a fixed starting and end point. These points may vary, but generally it’s good to start at the top of your head, and work your way down toward the feet. A body scan can also vary in length of time as well. You can do a relatively quick scan focusing on parts of the body for 30 seconds at a time, and spending more time on areas in which you sense the sensation of stuck energy, or you can do a longer practice, spending a minute or two at each area, and allocating more time to any “stuck areas.”

Dynamic Tension:

The beginnings of dynamic tension have roots dating back to old-school strongman Charles Atlas. It’s a simple practice that literally pits muscle against muscle. Dynamic tension focuses on tensing the muscles of a certain body part and then moving said body part against the tension, utilizing isometric movements through a wide range of different muscles, and muscle relationships. This is the physical act of creating the tension aspect of progressive muscle relaxation. Picture the flexing techniques of a bodybuilder. Their routines utilize the ability to flex a specific part of the body, while relaxing other parts of the body at the same time.

Steve Opalenik Bridge

Now that we have formed a basic idea of the individual aspects and concepts of progressive relaxation, let’s Voltron these bad boys, and focus on the practice itself.

Begin either standing, lying or seated. Whichever position, it is important to have a relaxed posture, maintaining a straight spine with arms and shoulders relaxed, and legs slightly bent.

Start with one big breath in and out, breathing down to your dantian. Then close your eyes and take ten more breaths focusing on the principles of square breathing. When you finish the tenth breath, begin your body scan at the top of your head, and work your way down the body, contracting your muscles at each point for 30 seconds as if doing an isometric hold. After thirty seconds, release, and focus on bringing breath to these muscles for an additional 30 seconds. Concentrate on feeling the blood flow to your muscles to nourish them. As you continue breathing you should feel your muscles becoming heavy and starting to relax.

As your mind/muscle connection improves, you will be able to feel your heartbeat/pulse within the blood flow to the muscles. Don’t be disheartened if you can’t yet, it takes a long time to get this feeling. Keep practicing and it will come with time. Generally, you follow this practice all the way down to your feet, hitting major and minor muscles groups on the way down including your nose, eyes, chin, throat, shoulders, biceps, triceps, forearms, hands, chest, back, abs, glutes, hamstrings, quads, calves, feet, etc.

When you reach the end of your body scan, take 10 breaths, followed by one deep breath and slowly exhale. When you feel comfortable, open your eyes if they are closed, and feel the weight of your body in a full relaxed state.

Just like anything, this practice can take time to develop and feel comfortable in, and often, when you are beginning, it is helpful to have someone guide you with auditory cues to help you focus and move through your body. Don’t be disheartened if you can not make it through your whole body with your first attempt, instead, when you next try the practice, focus on hitting the major muscle groups, and in time you can begin to refine and define the areas that you want to target.

These concepts of Progressive Muscle Relaxation, when married with concepts of exercise and dynamic tension, help to bring balance to our whole selves by exercising BOTH our bodies and minds. So in reality, you ARE able to relax but also get a good workout in at the same time, which gives a new definition to a rest day.

Steve Opalenik Group photo

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Steve Opalenik is a PCC instructor, licensed mental health counselor and calisthenics fanatic located in Massachusetts. He is the president of The Promethean Project (theprometheanproject.weebly.com). Connect with Steve on Facebook for more: facebook.com/prometheancounseling

Progressive Calisthenics Returns To New York!

January 17, 2017 By Danny Kavadlo 8 Comments

Danny Kavadlo Human Flag NYC PCC 2017

The first PCC of the New Year was held in my hometown of New York City this past weekend, and if it’s any indication of what’s to come, then it’s clear that 2017 will be another incredible year for the Progressive Calisthenics Certification!

In our fourth foray into the Big Apple, over thirty-five calisthenics freaks assembled to train, learn and grow together. We started the weekend as strangers, but ended it as family. As my brother and fellow PCC Instructor, Al Kavadlo would say: Hey hey hey! That’s what PCC is all about!

Hey hey hey! That’s what PCC is all about!

There was a mix of calisthenics practitioners, martial artists, dancers, everyday working folks and lots of personal trainers at this one. Attendees came from as far as England, Canada, Bermuda and Puerto Rico to take part. The bodyweight community is even more widespread than we’d imagined.

This man came all the way from Canada to re-certify!

This event was particularly exciting for many reasons. To begin with, it was the first PCC where Dragon Door partnered with CRUNCH fitness, one of the largest gym organizations on the planet. This alliance truly illustrates how much the calisthenics movement is growing. This partnership will undoubtedly lead to the continued education of more and more trainers in the future. No wonder there were so many in attendance! They came from many locations to improve themselves as personal trainers, fitness professionals and even human beings. The future is bright!

Crunch Trainers Side Planks

This weekend’s PCC was also host to some very special guests including living legend Jack Arnow, who dropped some time tested wisdom and demonstrated several septuagenarian feats of strength! Our Street Workout photo contest winner, Steve “Grizzly” Opalenik was in attendance as well. Additionally, Martin Dubovic from Street Workout magazine not only attended the course, but also documented the whole event. Be on the lookout for a special all-star video coming soon!

Street Workout contest winner Steve “Grizzly” Opalenik lets his freak flag fly!

The three rigorous days of push-ups, pull-ups, dragon flags and muscle-ups, as intense as it is, seems to fly by in a flash. That’s why it’s up to us to stay in touch, preach the gospel and spread the word!

NYC PCC Dragon Flag

Personal bests were achieved, lessons were learned and strength was celebrated. It was a weekend we’ll never forget, and as everyone who’s ever attended a PCC already knows, there is no substitute for an in-person experience. With more events scheduled this year in Boston, California, London and Poland, we hope to see YOU soon! The posse’s getting bigger.

Keep the dream alive,

-DK

NYC PCC at Crunch Gym Group Photo 2017