mental training

Finding Strength in Strength

December 5, 2017 By Steve Llewellyn 12 Comments

Steve Llewellyn bridge

It has been well documented that exercise is good for our physical health but more recently the benefits of exercise have shown to have a great impact on our neurological and mental health.

Stress, anxiety and depression are conditions which are incredibly common in modern day western society. Our bodies and brains are susceptible to becoming overawed by the increasingly demanding pace of our lives as we attempt to manage a career, family life and eating healthily while still finding time to exercise. Add to this the fact that a rapidly increasing number of adults spend two hours commuting to their day job and then spend eight hours or more hunched over a desk–we have more than a few reasons that self-care gets neglected.

And while the general populous are well informed of the psychological effects of traditional cardiovascular pursuits (mostly running), it is less well known that strength training can have a profound effect on the human brain and a recent study made a direct link between resistance training and a decreased risk of dementia.

My own story draws lots of parallels with the points already touched upon.

I am someone who has experienced feelings of depression and generalized anxiety since my teens. I won’t delve into the reasons and just keep it relevant to the article, instead I want to share how strength and fitness has given me the tools to deal with it.

For years I masked these overwhelming thoughts and feelings through self-medication and isolation from situations which were uncomfortable, thus compounding those original triggers and behaviors.

I wanted to change my thoughts, behaviors and environment and escape the mental prison I had built for myself. Self-medicating was the only (albeit temporary) way out I knew. I had also been prescribed various medications which did not help and probably even made things worse.

It was then at the age of 25 that I decided I wanted to join a gym. I figured I could find a new outlet, a new, healthy obsession that built me up instead of dismantling my already frail body and mind.

So, with the support of an old school friend who had recently got back in touch, I took the plunge and signed a contract at a local chain gym.

It was tough going for a few months at least, out of my comfort zone and into a neon lit space full of people who very body conscious and (in my paranoid head) judgemental of skinny newbies invading their sacred space. On closer inspection however, I realized that I was not the only one who was unsure of themselves. There were lots of people pushing weights, sweating on running machines who looked like they were not necessarily enjoying what they were doing but still they were there, putting in the graft because somehow, they knew it was important. This inspired me to not quit when the going got tough, when I didn’t feel like driving to the gym to workout, when I wanted to lie in bed and eat junk food instead.

Steve Llewellyn crane hold

But gradually, things began to change. I started to notice an increase in energy levels, my physique was changing, muscles were starting to appear, and my mindset began to shift. My mood was more upbeat and my ‘stress cup’ was bigger. When the dark clouds did gather in my mind, they didn’t stay as long, and I could tell myself that they would pass instead of crumbling under the feelings. I started to give thought to how the weekend binges were having on me and I began to question whether I wanted to stifle my newly acquired gains with the habits I knew so well. The biggest shift was in starting to look forward to working out every other day rather than a thing to fear and dread like some necessary evil that must be endured to feel good about myself.

Over time, I curbed the drinking (no more binges) quit smoking and a new-found sense of belief and confidence took their place thanks to my now fully ingrained ‘gym addiction’. A few years later I discovered the magic of bodyweight calisthenics and from then I knew that I had found something that would keep giving back to me as long as I paid my dues.

As we draw towards the end of another year, men and women everywhere will begin a period of self-reflection, they will question the way they look, the way they perceive themselves and then tell themselves they really ought to start looking after themselves more in the new year. Many will join a gym (not for the first time) and will tell themselves they must go. That’s all good. However, it’s a sad fact that most gyms are full to bursting in January with eager new recruits but by March too many have lost patience or will to succeed and fall off the fitness wagon before repeating the same cycle next year.

The irony is that nobody actually needs a gym membership to improve any part of their health. Part of the beauty of bodyweight calisthenics and all the progressions taught at the PCC require nothing but something to pull on and the floor beneath you. And as Al Kavadlo says, “If you don’t have the floor beneath you then you have much bigger problems”.

Steve Llewellyn dragon flag

Even thirty minutes of brisk walking a day in the fresh air can have a hugely positive effect on both physical and mental wellbeing. These days, my training equipment checklist consists of little more than a skipping rope, a pair of gymnastic rings and a tree in the park to hang them from.

Of course, I am not suggesting that doing a bunch of push ups and pull ups will completely rewire your brain and make the pain of having a mental health difficulty go away. I still have days where I feel low for sure. No, I am saying that training my body gives me the most incredible coping mechanism imaginable, which means I can accept myself, my thoughts and feelings without drowning in them. Strength training has given me self-respect and made me a better husband and father, not to mention a pretty decent body for a guy over 40. I am truly thankful for having found strength in strength. Now, as a coach and personal trainer, my mission is to inspire other men just like me to be the best they can be.

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Steve Llewellyn is a personal trainer and PCC Instructor from Birmingham, UK who specializes in helping men over 40 discover a passion for becoming stronger, healthier and changing mindset around nutrition and recovery. He runs 1:1 and small group training at The Bodyweight Basement. He can be contacted at bodyweightbasement.co.uk or email: stevellewellyn99@hotmail.co.uk Follow him on Facebook facebook.com/trainersteve99/

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

Unlock the Power of Your Mind for Greater Bodyweight Strength

October 20, 2015 By Logan Christopher 17 Comments

Logan Christopher Demo Straddle Back Lever

When I was growing up I had a fantasy of being strong, quick and agile. Basically, I wanted to be a ninja. As a scrawny and weak kid I was anything but.

Years later as I entered into adulthood I realized that this was something I could actually go about changing, and thus, my long path into strength and exercise began.

Since I didn’t have the best start, I sought out other means to help me gain the super powers I dreamed of. Steroids were always out of the question for me, so what else was there?

It appeared to me that mental training was largely unexplored territory. There was a lot of lip service paid to the idea, but not a whole lot of concrete methods to this seemingly esoteric field.

I had a couple of early and impactful experiences, yet so much of it was fluffy. If someone said to you, “Just exercise,” you wouldn’t actually have any idea or insight into how to do it correctly. Yet in the mental game you’re often simply told to “believe in yourself” without so much as a process on how to do so.

This made me even more determined to get answers. Just like in my strength pursuits, I was dedicated. And after some time I was fortunate enough to stumble upon some great teachers.

In the end I decided it was up to me to write the book I wish I had when I was starting out. And I’m proud to see that John Du Cane saw the need for a book like this to complement all the great physical exercise and health training manuals that Dragon Door has made available.

So when I recently presented at Dragon Door’s inaugural Health and Strength Conference, I noticed a commonality about several examples I used in my presentation on how to become instantly stronger using the power of your mind. Most of them had to do with bodyweight exercises!

Logan Christopher Presenting at Dragon Door's Health and Strength Conference, 2015

I talked about myself being stuck at a single freestanding handstand pushup until I realized I had a mental block. When I removed that through a simple process, I immediately hit a double, followed by a triple, and within a month nailed six reps.

I showed how I improved a friend’s yoga posture…without even focusing on that move at all.

Then live on stage at that event, I took a woman from two one-arm pushups to busting out seven. This was done without a single tip on technique but by getting her nervous system activated in an optimal way through “visualization”. (I put that in quotes because what I do is not the typical visualization that most people are familiar with.)

It’s not that the performance boosting mental training skills only work with bodyweight. Far from it. But maybe there was something to this idea.

One of the reasons you and I love bodyweight exercise is because there seems to be a higher degree of self-awareness that comes into play.

This still occurs with weights, especially if you actually pay attention to it, but even more so in bodyweight, probably because you are both the resistance and the one resisting.

This kind of self-awareness is critical for stepping behind the curtain, so to speak, in your mind, to help you get even better results.

As such, this makes a case for more of the nervous system being at play, rather than just using muscle. And if the nervous system is being used, we can definitely work to optimize it through mental training.

Logan Christopher Coaching Flags
At the recent PCC in Mountain View, the Kavadlo brothers talked a lot about the nervous system activation required in all the moves we did from flags to levers to pushups.

What I’ve found in studying and experimenting with mental training is you can basically change how your nervous system works in regards to any exercise. And the higher the skill component of the move, oftentimes the more impactful the results become.

Muscle is good, but it is only one piece of the strength puzzle, of which there are many more. These include:

Technical ability
Nervous system
Beliefs
Internal dialog
Tendon and ligament strength
Bone strength

Yes, we can get the nervous system to work better through physical things like tensing other parts of the body to create more strength.

We can also approach it more from the mental side. What I like about this is you’ll often find you can do things easier and better, with less effort when you do it right.

After all, who is stronger, the person who can hold the human flag easily or the one that needs to work really hard to do so?

I’m not saying that you won’t ever need to work hard. But when you truly use your mind you may be surprised at just how much further you go.

Your mind governs everything you do, in your workouts and otherwise. So doesn’t it make sense to spend your time maximizing it?

More attention gets paid to learning a new exercise variation, the technical aspects of how to do it, and then programming for training.

Of course this is all important.

But HOW you think about all of the above can do even more to determine your results.

In my new book, Mental Muscle, there are tons of step by step drills, not just theory. In doing some you’ll get to experience tangible results just like you would expect in doing exercises from an exercise book.

So let me take you “behind the curtain” to show you more how your conscious and subconscious mind works so you can put it to use in becoming stronger.

I had the great honor of having Paul “Coach” Wade write the foreword to Mental Muscle. In his books he’s talked about the mental side of training. In fact, most of the great strength training books over the decades have had at least a chapter devoted to the subject.

If you’re into bodyweight training I highly encourage you to check it out. If it adds just 10% to what you can do, wouldn’t that be worth it?

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About Logan Christopher: Logan Christopher has been called a physical culture renaissance man as he is accomplished in a wide range of strength skills from kettlebell juggling, performing strongman stunts, and bodyweight exercises. He is the author of numerous books including Mental Muscle, Secrets of the Handstand and The Master Keys to Strength & Fitness. In addition, he’s spent the last several years going deep into mental training to find out what it takes to really excel and tactics that can help people instantly improve their exercises. You can find out more about all this at http://www.legendarystrength.com/.

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

February 17, 2015 By Eric Buratty 36 Comments

Al Kavadlo superman push-up

Want to know what it feels like to explode?

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

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

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

Step I: First Things First – Eliminate Distractions!

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

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

Turn away from all timers, stopwatches and clocks.

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

Ditch the mirrors.

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

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

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

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

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

This guy knows what I’m talking about.

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

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

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

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

a) Active Stretch

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

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

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

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

Angelo Grinceri & Rosalia Chann of Couples Calisthenics

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

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

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

Not sure where to start?

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

Burraty Pike To Pancake

Burraty Standing Plow Good Morning

Burraty Bear Crawl

Burraty Staddle Box Jumps 1

Burraty Staddle Box Jumps 2

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

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

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

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

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

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

Aspiration, Inspiration—And The Quest For Enlightenment Through Calisthenics

January 13, 2015 By John Du Cane, CEO and founder, Dragon Door 28 Comments

Al Kavaldo Instructing PCC

Back in the day, I practiced Zazen for a period, including a painfully exquisite five-day retreat. The beginning meditative practice was to count the soft inhales and exhales, with attention at the nostrils. Counting up to ten breaths. Then starting over. When you failed to stay fully attentive to ten breaths in a row, you would go back and…start over. For hours per day…Very challenging indeed, yet finally very rewarding.

And how does sitting like this, completely immobile, counting your breath hour after hour, relate to calisthenics?

It has to do with two breath-related words: aspire and inspire.

Two of the most powerful keys to successful physical cultivation are mastery of the breath and mastery of attentiveness. The word aspire translates simply as to breathe. However, aspire has evolved to mean to dream of, yearn for or set one’s heart on. Thus the meditative Zazen practice of counting breaths becomes an aspirational activity. We breathe consciously as we aspire to greater heights. The final height is known as enlightenment, be it achieved suddenly or gradually.

When we practice calisthenics (“beautiful movement”), we ideally engage in a Zazen-like, aspirational discipline—refining ourselves by extreme attentiveness to every subtle nuance. We enlighten our bodies as we enlighten ourselves mentally and spiritually. There is no division, no separation as we practice in the conscious moment.

Al Kavadlo Zen Hang

In this context, Al Kavadlo’s new title Zen Mind, Strong Body is aspirational in its intent and message. A longtime proponent of conscious practice in bodyweight exercise, Al Kavadlo is a perfect exemplar of how that attentiveness can pay off in real-world results. Al aspired to climb dizzy heights as a physical culturist—and has succeeded both in form and function. You just have to look at his photographs to see a perfect marriage of elegant, symmetrical physique and athletic accomplishment.

Another quality of the dedicated aspirant to physical supremacy is that they are consistent and persistent—harking back to that relentless attentiveness to the breath, hour after hour, day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year… Like the maestro of calisthenic maestros, Paul Wade, Al gets how crucial it is to be patiently progressive in your physical development.

Fools rush in to “tougher and harder” before they are ready—and get hurt, often badly. Amateurs are haphazard and intermittent in their practice—and spin their wheels going nowhere slowly. The remedy? Aspire to attentive, dedicated, progressive practice—as Al so handsomely describes and exemplifies in the pages of Zen Mind, Strong Body.

Al Kavaldo Back Bridge PCC

When I studied at an ashram in India, my avowed intent was to “get enlightened”. Well, I can’t say I achieved enlightenment, in the classic sense of that attainment, however I sure “lightened up.” 🙂 Which is another key to successful physical cultivation, according to Grandmaster Al…a fun-loving, light-hearted, flexible spirit does absolute wonders for your longevity as a progressive calisthenics practitioner. If you want to succeed both big-time and long-term then: lighten up! There is a reason you’ll see Al smiling in pretty well every pose and movement, however difficult: a happy face translates into hard—and sustainable—gains. So, wipe that scowl off your face, buddy—grimaces aren’t going to help you get stronger, just more uptight. Rigidity and over-seriousness toll the death knell for your strength aspirations. Relax, smile—and practice “enlightened calisthenics” instead…

So, for me, much of the value in Al’s Zen Mind, Strong Body is that it will help you get your practice mindset straight. The novice practitioner can save himself a world of grief and poor results by adopting Al’s Zen of enlightened calisthenics. More advanced culturists can use Zen Mind, Strong Body as a mirror—to check if they are on track, or need a course correction or two…

What did Jimi Hendrix say? “Excuse me, while I kiss the sky…”—an inspirational paean if ever there was one…. Which brings me to another important value to absorbing Zen Mind, Strong Body: to be inspired.

Al Kavadlo Handstand On Arch

Inspire referred originally to the act of breathing or blowing into—with spiritual connotations of higher truth being transmitted. Now, inspiration refers to the urge to do something especially creative or the ability to animate others to transcend their current limitations.

Al is flat-out an inspirational being, whether it be in person, as an author or when leading a calisthenics workshop.

Al is inspirational because his story is one of triumphing physically as the result of diligent, attentive practice—rather than because he was some super-stud athlete as a kid who never really had to work to be as strong as he is. Inspirational message: if Al can do it, so can you and here’s how…

Kavadlo Bros Archer Pull-Ups

Al is inspirational in his books, through the sheer creativity and wealth of fun flamboyance he brings to the show. And I do mean show. Who on earth needs another pedestrian, me-too, by-the-numbers exercise book? No thank you! Al entertains us with a new and exciting spin that ignites us to jump into action and make stuff happen… He additionally inspires with a stripped-down, nuts-and-bolts approach to the methodologies and exercises he advocates.

The Zen Way of Strength places an emphasis on direct experience and listening to your own body as the most powerful forces to employ on your behalf in the ongoing game of physical culture. This too is an inspirational message: trust yourself, be instinctive and—with discipline—you can achieve anything you want…again, Al is the perfect example.

Those of you fortunate enough to have attended a PCC can attest to how inspirational Al is a leader with his brother Danny Kavadlo. Talk about getting fired up! Whatever inspiration can be had from the books, is ten-timed at a PCC… There are those who hide their relative physical ineptitude behind a carefully-constructed façade. Not so Al Kavadlo. What you see is what you get and what you get is pretty darn inspirational. If you want to experience “enlightened calisthenics” in action, you most certainly will at a PCC. Hope to see you there soon!

Zen Mind, Strong Body by Al Kavadlo Now available from Dragon Door Publications:

Zen Mind, Strong Body
How to Cultivate Advanced Calisthenic Strength—Using the Power of “Beginner’s Mind”
By Al Kavadlo

Meditative Movements

December 2, 2014 By Nick Lynch 10 Comments

Al Kavadlo: showcasing the calmest, kip free muscle up I’ve ever seen!

“The body is the subconscious mind.” Dr. Joe Dispenza

At the recent Milwaukee PCC workshop, Danny and Al Kavadlo talked a lot about the importance of the mind and body being one for the success of movement. Danny talked about his belief that the mind and body are not separate, but rather one kickass force of energy. After all, how can you pop up into a flagpole when you’re thinking about filing taxes?

After the Milwaukee PCC, I asked Al if he meditates (no need to ask Danny, he’s got a tattoo of Buddha on his belly!). Al replied, “Calisthenics movements are meditative.” He’s right. If you’re going to achieve a complex calisthenics move, you need to be that move. Calisthenics is profound because you become those movements: you become a human flagpole, a pull-up or a pistol squat. There are no weights, belts or rules to hide behind. The movements are so simple yet extremely advanced and the results are invigorating.

Nick Lynch: focused on not falling and cracking my chin. Better stay up!

The beauty here is that you have to dedicate all of your focus and intention on each movement. To balance on one hand or perform a single arm pull-up hold, you’ll need to trigger all the smallest, most tedious muscles you never knew you had. The mental requirements of calisthenics are profound. Your brain waves become organized and simple: you quickly slip into Alpha brain waves or ‘The Zone’, as we call it in the world of sports.

Most of us live in sustained, high Beta brain waves; we’re over-trained. This comes from too much caffeine, too much stimulation and too much work while we simultaneously neglect our nourishment and recovery time. Calisthenics will require your brain to slip into Alpha waves. The same waves one rides during deep meditation. When we surf the Alpha waves we tend to function better under stress. We allow the subconscious mind to take over and since the subconscious mind is the body, we allow our body to perform with total freedom!

Katie Petersen: focused while performing one of the most difficult variations of a pistol squat

What?! Total freedom of movement! When was the last time you truly experienced that? If you’ve attended the PCC or practice single limb exercises, you’ve been there even if only for a brief moment. If you’ve played sports you’ve been there, if you’re intently reading this article you’ve been there. Even if you’ve never attended a PCC, practiced single limb movements or played sports…you’ve been there! You’re human and at one point or other you’ve been an infant, toddler and child. Kids live without conscious thinking for the first few months of their lives. They’re fearless and free with movement. Adults teach them safety and other laws of society essential for surviving. Unfortunately, we don’t always pay much attention to the upkeep of our freedom to move as we age.

The good news? You’ve already surfed the Alpha waves so you can surf them again. To begin, I recommend picking up Paul Wade’s Convict Conditioning. Follow the simple progressions and don’t rush. Enjoy the slow but steady progress you’ll make following the simple movements, which will add up! Also, practice some meditative movements. This can be a simple task of washing the dishes slowly and quietly, walking around the house without stomping, and closing a door without letting it slam. These meditative movements will easily transfer to smooth calisthenics and strength training.

Adam Von Rothfelder: you can be a big guy and perform the flagpole with a smile on your face.

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PCC Instructor and RKC Team Leader Nick Lynch is a Strength and Conditioning Coach at Milwaukee School of Engineering University (MSOE). He owns Superb Health Milwaukee, a kettlebell studio in Milwaukee, WI. He has 13 years of full-time training and coaching experience and a lifetime of wellness education. Nick lives in Milwaukee, WI with his wife Natalie and son Weston.

The Joy of Troubleshooting Progressive Calisthenics

September 2, 2014 By Adrienne Harvey 41 Comments

Adrienne NYC Push-Up

One of the many things I enjoy about teaching at PCC workshops as a Senior PCC Instructor is helping people get past where they’ve been “stuck” on a given progression. This is also very rewarding with my own clients at home, but since I know them so well, it’s a bit easier to predict where they are having trouble. With a room full of new people—most if not all of who are very physically accomplished—the task of helping them troubleshoot their progress takes on a new level of difficulty. And since I don’t know them very well, what I like to do is to help them determine where the “sticking point” really is, and why the problem is occurring.

From there it’s much easier to figure out what needs work. The bigger hope is that by going through this process, the attendee will learn how to evaluate their own future issues and be able to do the same thing for their clients!

Some of the most enjoyable moments at a PCC workshop surround the privilege of watching the “light bulb” come on for someone. While most of the time people assume that someone can’t do a move just for a lack of strength, this isn’t always the case. Other sticking points can be related to coordination, mobility, an unfamiliar movement pattern, a lack of proprioception in a new position (upside down!), fear, or any number of very mental reasons.

The following are a few examples of successful troubleshooting, and the train of thought in each. The first and last are from my own struggles, the middle two are from a recent PCC Workshop. Hopefully these examples will give you ideas to try in your own practice, and if you’re an instructor, with your clients or students.

To Me, There Was a UNIVERSE of Difficulty Between These 2-3 Steps

I am still very much in pursuit of a feet together, straight-leg, full on, no excuses, held for time, press flag. Mainly because you just don’t see women do them, or if you do, it’s in the context of an extreme straddle position, which while it is still very impressive, is not nearly the feat of strength I want to demonstrate. Watching Al and Danny pop up into the human flags at will, and at length at any PCC workshop inspires an incredible amount of very motivating envy.

kickup to chamber press — This is more difficult than it looks…

Having conquered the clutch flag, which I can do on any given day, for time, reliably, and have now coached tons of other men and women to do, I originally approached the press flag with a false sense of security. I took to the first step of “support press” rapidly, and the same with the press hang. Though it took a whole lot of practice to feel comfortable with that unusual grip. I studied the photos in Convict Conditioning Vol 2 a bit obsessively, I watched videos. I found video of a woman in Russia who does not seem to be affected by gravity, but by watching her, gained a LOT of knowledge. I even went so far as to attend a couple “pole fitness” classes (stop laughing) and quizzed some of their most advanced teachers and students about that unusual and at first very not-secure-feeling grip.

While I could do the press hang, and was even able to lift my feet (legs straight and together) reasonably high off the ground after a while, when I tried to kick up into that overhead vertical position to come DOWN to the press flag, some part of my body was putting on the brakes. Suddenly, my grip seemed unsure, just thinking about kicking up with that much force was making my palms sweat right through my trusted “secret weapon” known as “liquid dry hands”. What was going on?

“Just kick up really hard,” the guys said. Then I realized something very significant. While I don’t like to make training very “gender specific” this is one area that’s of obvious concern—center of gravity! Guys typically will have their center of gravity within the upper body (and closer to the pole on a flag) than women who typically will have a lower center of gravity around the hips. That’s certainly the case with me. This explained why kicking hard enough to get my hips high enough to be over my head was causing a little mental distress.

Here’s what I did over the period of several weeks:

Increased my confidence in the necessary grip by practicing it more and more, even just hanging there!
Practiced the kick-up with and without the grip being in question. I found some bars that were parallel (think gymnastic stall bars, or a welded-in-place ladder) and allowed me to wrap my hands fully around this neutral grip. With increased confidence in this practice grip, I felt ok enough about really LAUNCHING myself into the air at nearly full force! From there I was able to dial back and learn exactly how hard I’d need to kick up.
I put it all together and was finally able to kick up while gripping a pole, and stay up there with my feet pointed towards the ceiling. Eventually I became comfortable enough with this that I could find the places where the leverage was and was not so favorable, and found the next areas of STRENGTH I’d need to build up to keep progressing towards the full flag.

She Had All the Strength She Needed…

At a recent PCC, an attendee was obviously more than strong enough to nail an elbow lever, but somehow didn’t know that quite yet. Similar to my own experience with the flag above, we just needed to mentally put two and two together.

First of all, having seen the other moves that this particular attendee could already do, I knew that her abdominal strength was more than sufficient for a great elbow lever from the ground. But, she was struggling on the ground, and having a hard time finding that “floating feeling” balance that’s often a combination of body position and leverage. Fortunately there was a box nearby of nearly the perfect height.

She was able to experiment on this raised platform in two crucial ways that led to two PRs in a row:

Standing next to the box, she was able to pay close attention to the position of her arms/elbows and her trunk. She was also able to now see how to “push forward” to balance her body on elbows that were not as bent as they might look when others perform the elbow lever.
Once the arms/elbows/chest were in the right place, she slowly but steadily was able to bring her legs up from the ground higher and higher. In the time it took to blink, I saw her absolutely nail a perfect elbow lever then hold it—legs perfectly straight. Then, when John Du Cane came by with his camera, she tried it again and held it for so long that no one could believe that this was her second-ever elbow lever!

A virtuoso performance of the elbow lever by Al Kavadlo

Just be Nearby So I Don’t Feel Like I’ll Fall on My Head

Sometimes all we need is a little confidence or reassurance, and that’s when a training partner, or empathetic instructor can really make a world of difference. This PCC attendee had longed to do a handstand but had a significant amount of fear of falling over—even while using the wall for support. This is very common since we are all much more accustomed to being “right-side up”.

We talked about headstands, crow stands and all those things she was doing very well, then moved towards the wall. What was the issue? Part of it was similar to my own with the progressions towards the human flag. She was afraid of kicking up too hard and falling over. So I got very close to spot (while also being sure not to be kicked), and made her promise to keep her elbows straight.

At first she didn’t kick hard enough, but that first push towards the wall was in itself confidence-building. The next kick was too hard, but no biggie, while staying in communication I helped her steady her feet until she was ready to come down. The next kick up was closer to ideal, and she didn’t need my help at all. She did it again with me nearby once more, then felt confident enough to start practicing them on her own. From that point I saw her do TONS of handstands with the wall during the rest of the breaks that day!

That Elusive Clutch-Lever…

Adrienne Clutch Lever Danny — In this magic show, Danny gets to wear the cool hat, but I’m doing the hard work…

Diamond Cut Abs by Danny Kavadlo coming soon

I was very excited to be asked to appear in some photos for Danny Kavadlo’s upcoming book Diamond Cut Abs, and of course wanted to be in as many cool photos as possible. When they first described the photo seen above, I wanted to make sure it happened no matter what. Of course it involves the clutch lever and holding it for a bit, so that the synchronized “acting” Danny is doing in the photo would have the desired effect in the photo.

Al and Danny Clutch Lever — NOW it makes sense…

There was just one problem, for some reason I just couldn’t get the clutch lever move that day. I’d done it at home several times, I’d done it after a PCC workshop ages ago when we were all just hanging around, playing with moves and socializing. Today was NOT my day. I was frustrated with myself, and was doing a mediocre job of hiding it. So as we stood there troubleshooting it, I kept applying my secret weapon “Liquid Dry Hands” while listening intently to Al and Danny.

Then Al popped up and did one. Sure enough, right after seeing him DO a clutch lever, the move mentally clicked into place for me. BOOM. I had it. At least that time, but the timing of the photo was off, so we had to do it again, and again, and I started to stop being able to do it. I said, “Al!!! Do it again!” I needed another dose of “monkey see, monkey do” and sure enough, I could do it again. And we got the shot. It’s one of many very cool photos in Diamond Cut Abs which is a really fantastic book. Can’t wait to see it all in print!

The take-home conclusion from this odd “monkey see, monkey do” situation was simply that I needed to spend more time on this move, to really fit into it and understand—mentally and physically—where I am in space, and how to reliably replicate that feeling on the spot. The prescription = more practice.

How did you move past a sticking point? Have you discovered a special “micro step” of your own? Please share it with us in the comments below!

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About Adrienne Harvey, Senior PCC Instructor, RKC-II, CK-FMS, Primal Move Nat’l Instructor: Originally RKC Certified in 2010, and RKC Level 2 certified in 2011, kettlebell and bodyweight training have been crucial in Adrienne’s personal quest for fitness. A core member of the PCC team, Adrienne loves sharing her knowledge with small groups and individuals. She also loves to develop recipes and workout programs to further support performance, body composition, and of course—FUN. Go to http://www.giryagirl.com for more information about Adrienne!

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

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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.

How Bodyweight Exercises Use Your Brain To Create Strength

October 8, 2013 By Ryan Hurst 20 Comments

It’s an exciting time in the world of strength and fitness. We’re seeing a lot of converts from weight training to the types of bodyweight exercise taught in Progressive Calisthenics.

Many of these “converts” find themselves humbled and surprised by the incredible challenge presented by bodyweight exercise, even after spending years developing strength and skill with barbells, dumbbells, and the like. As they continue to practice and improve, they find strength that wasn’t there when they trained with regular weight lifting exercise.

So what is it about progressive calisthenics that is so different and unique from weight training?

One of the big benefits of this type of training is how stimulating it is to the nervous system. The simple act of moving your body through space, as opposed to moving an implement, switches on the connections between your brain and body.

At the risk of sounding trite, it really is a “natural” and innate process to take your body and hang, swing, climb, pull, and jump through the air. Movement since we could walk upright has been meant to get us somewhere, and moving our whole body – not just parts of it – is what we were born to do.

Of couse, I’m preaching to the choir here, but by understanding how the exercise movements in Progressive Calisthenics stimulate the brain, we can learn to leverage that connection for greater strength and skill development.

Movement, Muscle Memory, and the Mind-Body Connection

As noted above, much of the “secret sauce” comes from movement.

When performing progressive calisthenic type exercises, from pushups to pistols, and from rings to monkey bars, the majority of the time we’re moving our head around in space, which we’re not used to doing with barbells and machine exercises.

I teach both children’s and adult classes and I see how a lot of people who come from a weight lifting background have trouble when they first start up at our gym. They get dizzy and disoriented quickly when doing certain movements while the kids don’t seem to have any of the same issues. Maybe it’s because kids get to roll around, swing on the monkey bars and do normal “kid stuff”, while the adults are stuck in their offices most of the day and then work out on machines a few times a week.

This increased head movement lends an incredible amount of sensory information – the visual position changes, vestibular (inner ear) stimulation, and even the sensations on the skin from the air we’re cutting through.

All of these compound to stimulate our brain and the connections between it and every part of our bodies.

So-called muscle and body “memory” is actually the result of the repeated body motions strengthening the neural pathways used in those particular skills. With repeated practice, we grease the groove, and bodyweight movements tend to be learned in a faster and more stable manner because of all those sensory inputs. It’s actually easier for the body to “remember” these moves as opposed to the dull and forgettable lifting exercises.

The catchphrase “movements, not muscles” refers to training full body patterns versus isolating body parts to build up certain muscles. In a whole body move such as a one arm pushup, it’s the coordinated engagement of all of your muscles that creates a successful repetition. You’re not working on your chest or triceps alone; your whole body works together to perform the exercise.

This full body connection is key to athletic performance and will improve your ability in your chosen sport.

4 Bodyweight Exercises that Blow Their Weighted Counterparts Out of the Water

There are many examples of bodyweight exercises that better utilize this neurological connection than their weighted counterparts.

Below, I’ll highlight how four such exercises leverage increased stimulation to recruit the entire body in tasks that might otherwise isolate just a few muscle groups.

1. Pull-up vs. Pulldown

A prime example of the difference between a bodyweight movement vs. a weighted movement is the bodyweight pull-up compared to a pulldown. There is the obvious difference of moving your whole body in a pull-up, but there are also a few other key differences that make pull-ups so much better than a pulling on a cable.

First, aside from the infamous kipping pull-ups, it’s much more difficult to cheat on a pull-up. Pulldowns by their very nature encourage cheats like laying back or heaving on the handle when you get fatigued. Similarly, it’s easier to rest a bit using a machine, since you can wiggle and shift a little, whereas in a pull-up, you’ll need to concentrate and dial in your form even more when you are tired. And of course, the whole body “tightness” that you need to perform a good pull-up can’t really be done on any machine.

2. Jumping vs. Any “Cardio” Machine

You’ve likely been in a gym and seen people chugging away on treadmills, stairsteppers, and bikes going nowhere, and you just know deep down there isn’t much that would be more boring for the mind and spirit. That’s why you see so many people on them with earbuds on or staring at the TV!

Jumping exercises are the polar opposite of these machines. Propelling our bodies up for distance or height while landing accurately and safely requires our full attention and concentration. And there’s nothing better for getting the heart rate going than fast and powerful jumping.

Of course, everybody thinks they know how to jump, and in this case, nearly everybody is wrong…

By learning to jump with correct form and developing precise control over our technique, the jump takes on whole new levels of neurological stimulation that go far beyond simple power output.

3. Pistol Squat vs. Any Weighted Squat

I’m sure I don’t have to tell you what an awesome exercise the pistol squat is. It builds strength, flexibility, and balance like nothing else. But what sets it apart from weighted squats – of which there are many variations – is the difficulty with cheating and breaking form.

When performing weighted squats, breaks in technique can sneak up on you without you noticing. When the weight gets piled on and you’re cranking out the last reps, it’s fairly easy to lean forward, let your knees buckle, and raise your butt first when standing up. With the pistol, on the other hand, doing any of those things could throw off your balance, so you’re more likely to maintain a safe and stable line. Of course, there are many ways people cheat when it comes to the pistol, but it is harder to do so than with the barbell squat.

As with other exercises mentioned, one of the benefits of the pistol is the lack of a heavy load on the back. Since back issues can be a problem for so many people, heavy barbell squats can be bad idea until the back is properly rehabilitated.

4. Inverted Bodyweight Row vs. Barbell Row

One of the most important advantages of the inverted bodyweight row over the barbell row is safety. To perform the barbell row safely, without risk of injury, you need to have good form and an already strong and stable low back. If you practice barbell rows without an already stable core, you could hurt your back pretty badly. Add in trying to hold good form when you get fatigued and you’ll be skirting the edge of a cliff.

With the inverted bodyweight row, that particular issue doesn’t exist. So if you have any back issues to begin with, bodyweight rows are the way to go. Don’t be fooled, though. The bodyweight row will still work pretty much the entire body, and will probably help you to improve your core stabilization.

Of course, this list could go on, but I think you get the idea.

Stimulate Your Body, Stimulate Your Brain

The exercises listed above are just a few examples of the advantages of training with bodyweight movements over training primarily with weights. There are some general benefits, though, that should be reiterated.

When you move your body through space, rather than staying still and moving weight around your body, you stimulate your brain through providing increased proprioceptive input. What this means is building a sense of where your body is in space.

Proprioception is what allows you to bend your elbow or flex your foot a precise amount or in a precise way, even if your eyes are closed and you can’t see what you’re doing – you still feel it.

Once upon a time, it may not have been as important to specifically address proprioception, but today, we spend most of our time sitting still. As a result we spend less of our time engaged in activities that increase proprioceptive input naturally, such as running, climbing, and just generally moving the body. To combat the perils of prolonged sitting, it’s important to engage the body in coordinated movements that increase the proprioception that would otherwise be neglected.

An additional benefit of most bodyweight exercises, including all of the exercises listed above, is the required full body coordination and tightness.

For instance, when you do a pull-up, if any part of your body is loose, you’ll leak power through the loose parts and wind up fatiguing quicker and not getting the full benefit of the exercise. Continued practice in maintaining this full body tightness and form carries over to a lot of athletic endeavors, because it strengthens the neural pathways that are devoted to the control of those muscles.

Moving yourself around in unusual angles and with harder leverages creates strength and flexibility in the best way possible. You learn to have powerful and graceful control of your body in a lot of different situations.

It’s also important to approach training with a sense of fun and excitement in developing your strength and flexibility. Exploring how your body moves and experimenting with different movements helps you to look at your strength in a whole new way.

As I mentioned earlier, I teach both kids and adults and it’s great to see adults moving with the same freedom and abandon as their kids. I love teaching exploratory bodyweight exercise and even more, I love how it’s gotten folks to enjoy and have fun with their training again.

Here’s some examples you might add to your routine:

Maximizing Your Mental Movement Muscles

Though this mind-body communication is baked right into Progressive Calisthenics, there are a couple of things you can do to be sure you are getting the most out of the work you put in:

Pay attention to your movement in space. This increases proprioception and develops coordination.
Take a note from Al Kavadlo and remember to smile. Have fun with the movements and enjoy exploring new skills and learning as you go along.

The benefits of bodyweight exercise are endless, as anybody involved with the PCC method knows. It’s a good idea, though, to understand the details behind why you’re feeling much better from this type of exercise performance. You can then adjust your technique and your exercises as needed to improve even more.

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In former lives, Ryan Hurst has been a gymnast, a swordsman, and a yoga teacher. Now he teaches an integrated approach to strength and movement skill at http://gmb.io/