PCC Blog

Progressive Calisthenics - The Official Blog for the PCC Community

leg training

Never Stop Learning: My Top 3 Training Tips

By 21 Comments

Corey Howard Pull Ups

At the age of 41, I can honestly say I’m still learning something new all the time.  There is no straight path to success; it is a crooked and curvy line.  I’ve learned some lessons the hard way in my training, but each setback yields another opportunity to refine my craft.

Here are 3 of the most valuable lessons I’ve learned (and relearned) throughout my time as a trainer and fitness enthusiast:

1. Work Your Legs and Glutes

If you were to look through my training log over the past year, you would see most of my workouts are focused on my lower body.  Unfortunately, this is due to having ruptured my triceps and biceps in the last year, but honestly it’s been the best thing ever.  Even when my upper body has been healthy, I still make my lower half 60-70% of my focus… EACH time I train! Most people would hate this because it’s so physically taxing but focusing on your lower half improves your testosterone levels, builds lower body muscle which helps burn more fat, improves stability in your midsection, improves mobility and helps create more explosive power for sprints and jumps. You just can’t ignore pistol squats, shrimp squats, bridges, lunges, hyperextensions or anything else that puts a beating on your lower half.

Sprinting is also a fantastic way to work your legs with only your bodyweight.  If you truly want to feel the benefit of sprints, don’t sprint on a treadmill! The treadmill takes away from you actively creating force.  Get outside and make your legs plant and propel you forward. Training outside is awesome, and running as fast as you can for a short period is even better. Again, the research on sprint work is off the charts (Coach Wade talks about it as a finisher in his book C-Mass). Sprints will thoroughly cook your lower half quickly and effectively, plus they help build size and burn fat at the same time.  So get out and sprint 20, 30, 40 or 50 yards, in a field, through a parking lot, or up a steep hill. No matter where you do it, make your body move as fast and explosively as you can once or twice a week.

Corey Howard Running

2. Refine The Basics Using Regressions

Two of my favorite exercises are jackknife pull-ups and pike push-ups.  These two are simply amazing for adding size in the lats and shoulders, plus they give you a chance to perfect your pulling and pressing groove. The jackknife pull-up has really helped me re-learn pull-ups.  It’s given me a chance to work on my height at the top as well as given me an opportunity to work various grips without completely loading my freshly repaired elbows. The pike push-up has done the same thing; given me a chance to work on various pressing widths as well as practice my groove.  Don’t scoff at either of these; pairing these two for 5 alternating sets each will leave your lats, shoulders, and triceps feeling it the next day.

3. Stretch!

When I was younger, I mistakenly thought that stretching was a waste of time. Now that I’m older, if I don’t stretch out I’m practically crippled the next day. If you stretch the working muscle group in between sets it not only speeds up recovery but some studies have shown it helps with hypertrophy too.  A healthy person should be able to comfortably squat below parallel with their hands behind their head.  If you can’t physically do this, you need to spend some time working on your movement quality.  I don’t know everyone’s personal movement issues or pains but if I could suggest a few areas to spend some time stretching out: the ankles, hips, shoulder complex and neck.

I’m not going to tell you to spend an hour on this every day, but 10 minutes before and after your workout is a great start.  For the ankles, find a step and stretch out your Achilles.  If your ankles can move appropriately then chances are your knees will move and feel better.  For the hip complex, I’d strongly suggest the pigeon for your glutes and the half kneeling hip flexor stretch.  Healthy hip mobility will allow the body to stabilize itself and let your hamstrings and low back relax.  As for the shoulder complex, I like to use a stretchy band hanging from a pull-up bar.  Hinge yourself forward and let the band pull your arm forward stretching through the lats, then turn around and let it pull your arm back to open up the chest.  Healthy shoulder movement will also help the body stabilize and improve your posture.  Finally some simple head nods and slow rolls will go a long way to ease tension.  Again, this is very elementary but just making time for this will be a great start. For more information, I recommend Al Kavadlo’s Stretching Your Boundaries.

Al Kavadlo Overhead Squat

Tony Robbins once said, “The secret to success is learning how to use pain and pleasure instead of having pain and pleasure use you.  If you do that, you’re in control of your life.  If you don’t, life controls you.”  I have chosen to use my pain as speed bumps or opportunities to improve.  I can’t stress it enough: train your lower body three times each week, get outside and run like you’re fleeing the scene, don’t be afraid to take a step back to refine the easier progressions, and stretch out!  It will pay huge dividends on the harder stuff.  Fire it up!

 

***

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 fithubby.com, resultsptonline.com or coreyhoward.com.

The Dragon Pistol Squat

By 25 Comments

Al Kavadlo Dragon Pistol Lead

The first time I ever tried to do a one-legged pistol squat, I failed miserably. Even though I thought I had strong legs from years of weight training, my initial attempt at this calisthenics staple resulted in me falling on my behind. After several weeks of dedicated practice, however, I was able to nail the pistol squat and eventually build up to performing it for reps.

Later on, I discovered an exercise known as the shrimp squat, which finds the non-squatting leg held behind the body, rather than in front, as it is with the pistol. Once again, my first attempt at this new one-legged squat variation was unsuccessful. This time, however, I was able to get the hang of my newfound lower-body calisthenics challenge within a few training sessions. The strength and stability I’d built from pistols had a good amount of carryover to learning this new skill.

As I got more comfortable with the shrimp squat, I began finding new ways to make single leg squats more challenging. By holding both hands behind my back, I discovered I could change the leverage and add a significant amount of resistance without relying on external weights. I was also starting to practice a technique that would later go on to be dubbed the “jumbo shrimp”, which involves increasing the range of motion of a standard shrimp squat by standing on an elevated surface so that the back leg can drop down lower than when standing on the ground.

Raised Shrimp Squat "Jumbo Shrimp" at Encinitas PCC workshop

Legs Get To Work
One of the most common misconceptions about bodyweight strength training is that it can only be progressed so far. After a certain point, many people would argue that the only way to increase the difficulty of an exercise is to add weight. This is especially true when it comes to leg training. Even folks who have come around to the idea that a muscular and highly functional upper-body can be built with calisthenics alone often have a hard time conceiving that the same is true for their lower half.

Though different people define strength differently, there are plenty of bodyweight squat variations to keep your workouts fun and challenging for a lifetime. If standard pistol squats and shrimp squats are no longer difficult for you, don’t start thinking you need to join a gym. Instead, consider giving the dragon pistol squat a shot.

Enter The Dragon Pistol
Like the traditional pistol squat, the dragon pistol requires serious strength, balance and mobility – and in a very unique way. The dragon pistol can be surprisingly taxing on your inner thighs as well as your deep glute and hip muscles. And of course, all the other muscles that you work in a standard pistol will get hit as well.

As we each have our unique strengths and weakness, some people may find this move a lot harder than a normal pistol, while others may not experience a huge disparity. Regardless, I suggest building a solid foundation in standard pistol squats before beginning to work on this variation.

Convict Conditioning Vol 2 Twist

Other than that, I recommend you spend some time working on your hip mobility by practicing twist holds, which you may recall seeing in Coach Wade’s Convict Conditioning Vol 2. Once you’re able to do a standard pistol and a full twist hold, you shouldn’t be too far from the dragon pistol.

 

Elevation Training
Though standing on a bench or other elevated surface when performing a shrimp squat can increase the difficulty of the exercise by increasing the range of motion, practicing the dragon pistol while elevated can actually be a very helpful regression. By allowing your non-squatting leg to drop below the bench, you can decrease the amount of mobility required to perform the exercise. (This same technique of standing on an elevated surface can be very useful when someone is learning to do a standard pistol squat as well.)

Dragon Pistol Raised Regression

Toe the Line
If you’ve spent some time working on pistol squats, you’ve probably at some point experienced a cramp in your non-squatting leg as you fought to keep it in the air. This is common when learning the dragon pistol, too, only the cramping may take place in your hip and/or inner thigh instead of your quads. To minimize this issue, many people find holding the toe of their squatting leg to be helpful, particularly in the bottom position.

The dragon pistol also has quite a bit in common with the shrimp squat, as both moves begin with the non-squatting leg behind the body, rather than in front. As such, you may find that holding your toe behind your back at the top of a dragon pistol (similar to how you would in a shrimp squat) will allow you to control your leg as you gradually extend it into the bottom position (which more closely resembles a pistol squat, only with the extended leg threaded behind the squatting leg). Note that your hand will reach across to the opposite toe for this variation, whereas in a shrimp squat it is more common to hold the toe on the same side. So if you’re going for a dragon pistol on your left leg, you would hold your right toe with your left hand.

Al Kavadlo Dragon Pistol How To

When practicing these progressions, I recommend keeping your training volume low. Warm up with a few easier moves (basic squats, split squats, maybe a few pistols and shrimps) then get into practicing your dragon pistol progressions (elevated, holding your toe, etc). When starting out, stick to just one or two reps at a time – a total of 10 reps per side in one training session is probably plenty. If you go slowly and focus on staying in complete control of your movement, you won’t need to do a whole lot of volume.

I’ve only recently begun experimenting with this move, so don’t take my guidance as the final word. I’m sure I will learn a lot more as I go. Feel free to share your experience with the dragon pistol squat in the comments below.

***

Al Kavadlo is the lead instructor for Dragon Door’s Progressive Calisthenics Certification. Recognized worldwide for his amazing bodyweight feats of strength as well as his unique coaching style, Al is the author of five books, including Raising The Bar: The Definitive Guide to Pull-up Bar Calisthenics and Pushing The Limits! Total Body Strength With No Equipment. Read more about Al on his website:www.AlKavadlo.com.

Lower Body Calisthenics

By 50 Comments

Corey Howard One Arm Plank With Cast

One of the best things that happened to my training was rupturing my triceps in late May. It was devastating! Right after the injury happened, on the way to the ER my 10 year old son said, “Dad now you won’t be able to do push-ups for a long time!” He was right. After surgery it was 3 full months before I could do anything upper body related and even then that would only be light pulling movements. That being said, it was the best thing to happen to my training. I couldn’t do any upper body training, I couldn’t touch any weights, and the only thing left to train was calisthenics only for legs and abs. To most people that sounds like Hell, but to me it sounded like fun!

When you look at some of the calisthenic practitioners online, you notice they have a lean muscular athletic look, yet typically don’t carry a ton of thick lower body muscle. The week of my surgery, Dragon Door published Paul Wade’s book, C-Mass, where he shows how to add size using calisthenics. This ignited my plan. For 12 weeks I would train legs and abs twice a week using only bodyweight movements. My goal was to gain two full inches on my thighs and glutes, and at least an inch on my calves. I emailed Al Kavadlo, told him about my injury and to expect an article about my journey. Here are some things I learned over the last 12 weeks…

First, know your progressions! Paul Wade gave us all an excellent training guide in Convict Conditioning. For success, you need to know what level you’re at in the pistol squat progression, and how many reps you can do. This way, if you can only do three reps, you know to work on adding reps. Or if you’re proficient with a movement, you can pair it with an “easier” exercise to thoroughly exhaust the muscle. An example of how this worked for me was pairing sissy squats with shrimp squats, or pistol squats with split squat jumps. Over time I developed some proficiency with shrimp squats, so I did sissy squats first to make them more difficult. This exhausted my quads and cut the total number of shrimp squats I could do in half.

Corey Howard Shrimp Squat

Adding a plyo movement immediately after a high skill movement like pistols also pushed the limits of my ability. Remember, your body has no idea if you’re holding a dumbbell or simply tweaking a calisthenic movement, it just knows you’re asking it to work harder and generate more force. By pairing various squat or bridge progressions, you can really push the limits of your lower body.

Second, don’t be afraid of reps. It frustrates me when someone says, “Any more than 5 reps is cardio.” Really!!! If you want to add size, anywhere from 1-20 reps should be performed. Embrace reps. Think about bodybuilders, typically they perform 4 sets of 12 with a shorter rest period between sets. Basically they are increasing the amount of time the muscle is under tension.

Corey Howard Single Leg Bridges

So if you do 20 single leg bridges per leg, then immediately follow it up with 15 glute-ham raises you’re increasing the time under tension for your posterior chain. Things like this will create muscle growth as well as a deep soreness the next day! Don’t be afraid to push a set to failure, especially with lower body calisthenics. What’s the worst that can happen? Maybe you fall on your butt while doing pistols? If you’ve been doing your bridges it will only cushion the blow! This simple philosophy reminded me what it’s like to step off a curb and have my legs collapse!

Third, two sets will work. Why on earth do we need 4 sets of anything? For the last 12 weeks I never took a movement past 2 sets. Once you’re warmed up and locked in, fire up the grueling sets. After pushing the reps to as many as possible and doing it twice, the muscle gets the message that you need it bigger and stronger. Two working sets also gives you time for other movements, and that means you can play with some variety.

So what happened at the end of 4 weeks? I added an additional 2 inches on my thighs and glutes, and an inch on my calves. Twenty-four ab and lower body calisthenic workouts later and I have a meatier, stronger, more powerful lower body than I ever have. Keep in mind, I’m not a newbie to strength training. I’ve been working out for 22 years! After all that time, even I can add size using only calisthenics!

A side benefit from this has been the carry over. As I start with some upper body work I’m noticing that I really haven’t lost much strength, despite surgery, a cast, and upper body inactivity. If your foundation is strong, you will be strong. If anyone is interested in what I did or would like to see some of my workouts, just message me or comment below. I’d love to help. I will warn you though, none of it was easy! Fire it up!

Corey Howard added 2" to his legs after 12 weeks calisthenics only leg training

***

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.

A Look at the 3 Way Kick

By 8 Comments

matt_shifferle1There is nothing like a strong pair of legs.

You can keep your strong core, wide shoulders and massive arms. My experience has taught me that all of the strength and conditioning in the world is practically worthless without a strong set of legs.

But hold the phone, strong muscles alone won’t build strong legs. True strength for the field, court or mountain requires much more than a lot of horsepower in the engine. In order to fully unleash your lower body strength you must also possess the following:

– Balance and control

Strong muscles without balance and control is like putting a massive engine in a car with bald tires and worn out brakes. Either you’ll never use all of that power or you’ll end up crashing. Control ensures you can use all of the power you have and use it in the most effective way.

– Flexibility

For every muscle you contract there is one that must lengthen. When the muscles are tight and resist lengthening you’re literally fighting your own tension. Becoming even a little more flexible ensures that you’ll have less resistance holding you back in everything you do.

– Strength and stamina in supporting muscles

When it comes to leg strength, we tend to focus on the bigger muscles in the legs like the quads, hamstrings, glutes and calves. These are important for sure, but what about some of the smaller and more subtle muscle groups like the ones in the feet and hips? While not the biggest or most powerful lower body muscles, weakness in these smaller muscles can greatly handicap the bigger muscles.

Calisthenics is a very effective way to condition all three of these characteristics. It’s impossible to even attempt moves like lunges and single leg squats without developing balance, flexibility and strength in the supporting muscles.

That being said, it doesn’t hurt to further develop those weak links in the lower body chain. Doing so can make your weakest link so strong that your entire body can reach new levels of performance.

The following video showcases an exercise which is great at developing your balance, flexibility and strength.

This exercise does wonders at unlocking some of the lower body strength that’s been dormant in your lower body. Just running through this routine a few times before each leg workout will leave your legs and hips feeling brand new within a few weeks. It’s also a great cool down afterward to refocus your mind.

***

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.