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Progressive Calisthenics - The Official Blog for the PCC Community

attitude

When You Want to Succeed—Cut to the Essentials and Put Forth Supreme Effort

November 12, 2013 By John Du Cane, CEO and founder, Dragon Door 22 Comments

JDC-SWORD-10161305John Du Cane does his best to cut to the essentials and put forth a supreme effort, be it in Dragon Door business or his own health practices.

Michelangelo commented that sculpting his perfect statue was a matter of chipping away the extraneous stone until the perfect form revealed itself. He also commented that if people had any idea how hard he worked, they wouldn’t marvel so much at the results of his labor. And herein lie two of the secrets to great success in any endeavor: hone your skill at cutting to the essentials—and put forth an unremitting, focused, supreme effort.

As athletes, we are in the business of cultivating ourselves as ongoing works of art. We are physical culturists, dealing with one of the most malleable and frustratingly entropic materials imaginable: our own bodies. Nothing degrades like human flesh left to its own devices. Nothing falters and falls apart like a directionless, undisciplined spirit. The winds of impermanence are constantly blowing against the sand paintings we create of ourselves. Faced with such vulnerability and uncertainty, we continue to cultivate ourselves with pride and diligence, celebrating the transient beauty of our beings—or we disgrace ourselves and degrade into decrepitude.

Two entropic forces contribute to our decline—rather than our glory—as human works of art: Lack of focus and laziness. The road to lack of focus is paved with the baubles of variety. Laziness is a crisis of the spirit, best overcome by the inspiration of hero-figures and the connection to a group of mentors and motivating fellow-seekers.

Variety is a double-edged sword. We need variety to entertain us and to explore potentially rewarding new methods. Yet variety is the Great Distracter, pretending there’s a magic secret over the horizon, whose capture will finally reward us with success. When the real secret to progress is and always has been the diligent application of a few core, essential practices.

Al_gunPCC Lead Instructor Al Kavadlo is a hard-working practitioner of the essentials and a role model for the dedicated cultivation of the body as an ongoing work of art.

In many types of physical cultivation, success can be measured. You document heavier lifts for more reps. You run faster, you punch harder. You reduce body fat percentages. You increase muscle size. You pass physical tests, you enter competitions. You keep a log book (right now, I have set strength goals for myself with kettlebell practice—and a daily log has made a huge difference to my progress.)

For many other types of physical culture—like my own personal practice of Qigong and Tai Chi—progress and success is extremely hard to measure. How do you measure movement skill or internal energy levels? Not easily! Much of the measurement here stems from your own internal monitoring and gauging of your well-being. Cutting down to the essentials and committing to a daily, dedicated practice becomes all the more crucial.

How are you doing these days with your personal physical cultivation? How is the artwork coming along? What could you discard or do differently from now on, to progress as a fine piece of ongoing art?

Filed Under: Motivation and Goals Tagged With: Al Kavadlo, attitude, Convict Conditioning Logbook, goals, John Du Cane, mindset, motivation, strategy, success stories

The Pleasure of Calisthenics

July 9, 2013 By Matt Schifferle 8 Comments

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It’s a pleasant Sunday morning at the gym and my friend is looking at me like I’ve turned into the Mad Hatter.  Someone on the treadmill asks from behind me,“What are you on and how do I get some?”

I’ve just finished a set of pull ups and I’m jumping around the gym like a man possessed. I’m smiling ear to ear and in a state of near euphoria.

“Calisthenics” I answer the guy on the treadmill. “It’s a good trip you should get on it.”

I’ve done all manner of exercise from bike racing to weight lifting over the years but nothing makes me feel as alive as calisthenics. The reason can be summed up in just two words:

Body awareness.

At the PCC, the term body awareness was thrown around quite a bit. Some were crediting it for the reason why the strength of calisthenics transferred so well to sports and activities. Others gave body awareness credit for the power to push themselves beyond perceived limits. But while all that stuff is great, I believe it’s the power to deeply enjoy an exercise that makes heightened body awareness so rewarding.

As a trainer I’ve noticed a relationship between how much a client is aware of their body and how much negativity or enjoyment they experience from it.

In the case of a negative relationship, individuals often regard their body as an opposing force. They relate to their physique as something that must be tamed and (heaven forbid) punished into submission. This often creates an inner conflict through which they have little hope of winning. As I always say, you simply cannot fight yourself and win.

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On the other hand, if someone has a heightened sense of body awareness they tend to foster far less negativity about their body and how it operates. In some cases, they even find the work pleasurable. They understand that the burning muscle and labored breathing isn’t their body punishing them, but rather those are the sensations of applying their own strength and discipline through the power of their mind. They feel strength surging through their body rather than struggle.

Calisthenics is unique in the fact that body awareness and appreciation is required to do the exercises. It’s very difficult to even attempt some of the moves without a high level of physical awareness.

For some folks, the requirement of awareness is scary and intimidating. They can’t distract their attention with a TV or smartphone. For others, like myself, the focus allows us to savor the rich sensations that can saturate our exercise experience.

In either case, turning the attention inward and savoring the sensations of an exercise can be a deeply enjoyable experience. So much so, that it can even make someone who once greatly disliked exercise to jump for joy while doing it.

***

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.

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Filed Under: Progressive Calisthenics Tagged With: attitude, awareness, calisthenics, exercise, fitness, Matt Schifferle, strength training

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Dragon Door Publications / The author(s) and publisher of this material are not responsible in any manner whatsoever for any injury that may occur through following the instructions or opinions contained in this material. The activities, physical and otherwise, described herein for informational purposes only, may be too strenuous or dangerous for some people, and the reader(s) should consult a physician before engaging in them.