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Progressive Calisthenics - The Official Blog for the PCC Community

strength training

HYBRID STRENGTH TRAINING IS HERE!

November 30, 2021 By Danny Kavadlo Leave a Comment

Hybrid Strength Training by Danny Kavadlo Book Cover

definition of the word Hybrid

Hello I’m Danny Kavadlo. You know me. I have been one of the world’s most visible proponents of bodyweight training for over a decade. I still am. And while I’ll always express the importance of bodyweight exercise, I’ve personally trained in a hybrid style for over thirty years, lifting weights and moving bodyweight side-by-side.

For this reason, over the years, the one question I’ve received more than any other is: “Danny, how do I combine calisthenics and free weights?”

Search no more. The answer is here.

Not only have I practiced hybrid strength training for decades, I’ve spent the last three years putting this book together so I can answer this question for you as completely as possible. Finally… HYBRID STRENGTH TRAINING—How to Get Jacked & Shredded with Calisthenics & Free Weights has arrived!

Danny Kavadlo Performing a weighted Pull-up

There are almost endless variations of every exercise in existence. The exercises included in HYBRID STRENGTH TRAINING are the ones I use because they work, not because they’re trendy. In fact, quite the opposite: because they’re timeless.

All beginners need to start with the basics. Advanced practitioners continue with the basics, and add from there. Fundamental bodyweight exercises are the prerequisite. In other words, if you are unable to perform a bodyweight squat, then there is no sense in putting a barbell on your back.

Calisthenics is the greatest baseline, as well as the oldest and nobles form of strength training. It also gives the highest yield from the least gear. By manipulating the body’s leverage, range of motion and/or muscular emphasis, you can work every muscle in the body equipment free (or equipment lite). Furthermore, having less with which to work compels us to get creative with what we do have.

Employing free weights adds to your baseline, and takes you beyond. Although complete 100% isolation of any muscle is impossible, the nature of training with free weights allows us to target individual muscles and/or muscle groups with greater specificity than other modalities, while still employing our own powers of intramuscular communication. Additionally, free weight exercises are often simpler to scale. (You can adjust the load simply by adding or taking away external resistance, as opposed to calisthenics, which would require altering the exercise itself.) Finally, free weights provide the opportunity to lift a greater absolute load than the weight of an individual’s own body.

Ultimately, we gain the most when we fuse calisthenics and weight training, employing the most effectual exercises from both in order to maximize the value of every workout. Whether you overload your muscles by changing your body’s position (as with calisthenics), adding external resistance (as with weight training) or any combination of the two, you will make gains!

Hybrid Strength Training contains the most detailed programming I’ve ever committed to ink in my career. In addition to the three unique programs (Blue Flame, Red Hot & HELLYEAH!), we discuss training templates, recovery, set and rep schemes, training for max load, weighted calisthenics and much more. I want you to take my programs, exercises and guidance and make them your own, for a lifetime of progressive training.

Check out this video for more info and to get fired up!

Here is what the biggest names in strength have to say:

“I’m honored to call Danny my friend. His impact on my field of strength and conditioning continues to expand daily. This book is part of his legacy. Enjoy.”

—Dan John, Master RKC, author, Never Let Go

“Danny finally did it. I’ve been waiting years for someone to take on the behemoth task of writing a book about combining calisthenics and weight training. What better person to step up to the challenge than Danny f*#kin’ Kavadlo? Hybrid Strength Training is the perfect book for any fitness enthusiast, at any level.”

—Mike Fitch, founder & creator, Animal Flow

“I have been asked countless times over the years to recommend the finest source on combining weight training and bodyweight work… but I have always had to just shrug. Coaches and authors who really understand both disciplines at an elite level are few and far between. But the wait is over. FINALLY that book has been written!”

—Paul Wade, author, Convict Conditioning

I want to know what YOU think of HYBRID STRNGTH TRAINING! Let me know in the comments below. KEEP THE DREAM ALIVE!

-DK

Danny Kavadlo with Barbell

***

Danny Kavadlo helped pioneer the bodyweight fitness craze with Strength Rules, Diamond-Cut Abs and Get Strong, all of which went to #1 on Amazon. He has been featured in the New York Times, Huffington Post and Men’s Health, and is a contributor to TRAIN magazine and Bodybuilding.com. When he’s not traveling the world as Master Instructor for Dragon Door’s acclaimed PCC Certification, Danny works with personal training clients in New York City and virtual clients everywhere. Danny Kavadlo’s long awaited HYBRID STRENGTH TRAINING is available from Dragon Door Publications.

Filed Under: Announcement Tagged With: barbell lifting, bodyweight exercise, calisthenics, Danny Kavadlo, Hybrid Strength Training, strength training, weight 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.

 

****

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/

Filed Under: Motivation and Goals, Progressive Calisthenics Tagged With: behavior, calisthenics, mental health, mental training, PCC Instructor, progressive calisthenics, Steve Llewellyn, strength, strength training

Super Slow Reps for Superhuman Strength

February 16, 2016 By Benji Williford 19 Comments

Lead Photo Benji Williford

A lot of my personal training clients start out thinking that training faster means training better. But working out like The Flash won’t make you superhuman if you are bobbing your head for apples with your elbows flared out over your shoulders instead of actually doing push-ups. Poor form at a super-fast pace is not only allowing momentum to carry you through part of the range of motion, but it’s also potentially causing unnecessary strain on tendons and ligaments, as the muscles that should be doing the work aren’t activated properly.

My first rule for my clients is to focus on proper form. I created the phrase “AF3” which stands for Absolute Form Fit Function. The intention is to master the form, which improves fitness and ultimately, overall function. One antidote toward improper form is slowing down the rep speed. Let’s continue to look at the push-up as an example.

As you probably know, the push-up is essentially a traveling plank. It is a total body exercise and not just for building big pecs. Now do me a favor and go try an extremely slow push-up with full range of motion. Start in a plank with fully extended arms and lower down very gradually, touching your chest to the floor, then push back to fully extended arms.

You might have had some form breaks or even lacked strength to complete the rep. You should have definitely experienced the feeling of total body activation needed to maintain the straight body alignment in the absence of momentum. If you couldn’t do the full range-of-motion, consider modifying the exercise. For example, try placing your knees on the floor. This will shorten your body length (lever) so you will have to push less percentage of your bodyweight. Yes, the regression of an exercise can be an important part of progressing. It’s important to not let your ego deter you from modifications. You can often foster quicker progressions by perfecting “easier” versions of an exercise.

There are numerous ways you can manipulate your rep speed in order to develop better body control. The following is one example of a set of 7 push-ups stretched out over 2 minutes and 40 seconds.

Rep 1- 10 second rep (5 seconds down/negative and 5 seconds up/positive)
Rep 2- 20 second rep (10 seconds down/negative and 10 seconds up/ positive)
Rep 3- 30 second rep (15 seconds down/negative and 15 seconds up/positive)
Rep 4- 40 second rep (20 seconds down/negative and 20 seconds up /positive)
Rep 5- 30 second rep (15 seconds down/negative and 15 seconds up/positive)
Rep 6- 20 second rep (10 seconds down/negative and 10 seconds up positive)
Rep 7- 10 second rep (5 seconds down/negative and 5 seconds up/positive)

Notice how the set starts by climbing up the ladder in 10 second increments for each push-up from rep 1 (10 second rep) through rep 4 (40 second rep).  Then at rep 5, it goes back down the ladder by decreasing the time in 10 second increments until you reach rep number 7 (10 second rep).  The times listed aren’t absolute, so feel free to experiment with them. The important thing is to move evenly and controlled throughout the range-of-motion.  Avoid fast jerky movements or hitting and holding positions.

To keep a solid pace, I recommend either using a stopwatch or a metronome (a device that musicians use to keep a specific tempo). Personally, I prefer the sound of the metronome. There are now free metronome apps available that you can download to your smartphone. Be sure to set the beats per minute to 60 (that equals one beat per second). It takes some concentration when counting to avoid rushing where you should be within a specific rep, which adds another layer and takes this challenge to the next level. It is mind over matter.

Though we’ve been using the push-up as our main example, remember that you can use this method with just about any exercise: pull-ups, squats (even pistols!), skin the cats…the list goes on.

Benji Williford PCC Pullup

Of course, you will move slowly if you only train slowly. So yes, performing fast reps is important. The point is to move fast well.  In order to incorporate faster reps, you could use this structure by using the same 60 beats per minute with one set of 7 push-ups and adjusting the times as follows:

Rep 1- 2 second rep (1 seconds down/negative and 1 seconds up/positive)
Rep 2- 4 second rep (2 seconds down/negative and 2 seconds up positive)
Rep 3- 8 second rep (4 seconds down/negative and 4 seconds up/positive)
Rep 4- 16 second rep (8 seconds down/negative and 8 seconds up /positive)
Rep 5- 8 second rep (4 seconds down/negative and 4 seconds up/positive)
Rep 6- 4 second rep (2 seconds down/negative and 2 seconds up positive)
Rep 7- 2 second rep (1 seconds down/negative and 1 seconds up/positive)

Since the first rep and seventh rep are quick, you can even consider making them plyometric to build explosive power. Notice that shorter rep times will inherently eliminate some exercises. For example, it might not be the best idea to do a two second skin the cat.

Experiment with your rep speed but don’t let your ego get in the way. If you need to regress an exercise in order to maintain good quality of movement, then do so. Soon enough, you’ll gain the strength you desire to control any rep at any speed through it’s entire range-of-motion.

****

Benji Williford, PCC, RYT, CF-L1 is a Personal Fitness Trainer located out of Eau Claire, WI. Benji believes that, “A successful fitness program is based on positive dialogue between the mind and body.” He can be reached through his website: http://www.benjiwilliford.com, or by email: Benji@ChainReaction-Fitness.com.

Filed Under: Progressive Calisthenics, Tutorial Tagged With: Benji Williford, bodyweight strength training, progressive calisthenics, push-up, strength training, tutorial

Strength Rules Is Here

November 24, 2015 By Danny Kavadlo 24 Comments

Danny Kavadlo Strength Rules Book Cover

First Things First

I am the luckiest guy who ever lived. When my last Dragon Door title, Diamond-Cut Abs was released one year ago, it was extremely well received. In fact, it became a #1 bestseller!

Diamond Cut Abs Bestseller

I consider it a tremendous honor that my words, programs and experiences resonated with so many. I am grateful that in the months that followed, I received a great deal of correspondence about Danny-style abdominal training. But, interestingly enough, for as many abs-related questions and comments as I received, there were even more inquiries about Danny-style strength training as it relates to the entire body. People loved the abs, but they wanted more! In fact, I had never authored a book about full-body strength training… until now!

I knew I had something unique to bring to the table and here it is… Strength Rules.

Full Disclosure

Just prior to the writing of Strength Rules, my life went through some unprecedented and unexpected changes. Things that I thought would last forever fell apart. On New Year’s Day 2015, a ten-year relationship with the woman I thought I would spend the rest of my life with ended. Fast.

Things change. I’ve never needed strength more than I have in the past year. I went from being a family man to a full time single dad. I had to be strong for myself, but even more so, for my son. It was at this time when I realized that a book about full body physical strength simply would not be enough…. My next work would have to be about mental strength, spiritual awareness and emotional fortitude as well.

Danny Kavadlo Truth

So There You Have It

Strength Rules is my most personal work to date. The project is about perseverance, endurance and overcoming obstacles. It contains over seventy-five bodyweight exercises, including Plyo-Muscle-Ups deconstructed like you’ve never seen before, not to mention my in depth take on One-Arm Push-Ups. This book is about working hard and mindful practice–making the time to train, prioritizing what matters most and not taking “No” for an answer. We cover living a healthy life, harvesting physical prowess and fostering a positive mental attitude. Strength Rules focuses on walking face-first through the fire, and coming out stronger for it. Not in spite of it, but because of it!

Danny Kavadlo Muscle-Up

Everything is fair game in these pages and I pull no punches. Be prepared not only for my unconventional take on nutrition, but also on the supplement businesses, equipment manufacturers and even the medical industry!

Danny Doc

Further, Strength Rules contains workouts, progressions, supplemental stretches and some amazing (and far out) images. It even has the long awaited return of Danny’s Dos and Don’ts! I can’t wait for you to check it out!

But Don’t Take My Word For It

In the words of Olympian, scholar and author Dan John (from the foreword):

“This book is about true strength. The old kind of strength where heroes were people, like Beowulf and Ullysses, who protected the community first. This book is about empowering yourself and others. Strength Rules by Danny Kavadlo is so good you can’t ignore it.”

Danny And Wilson
Strong to the finish.

****

Danny Kavadlo is one of the world’s foremost authorities on calisthenics, nutrition and personal training. He is the author of the Dragon Door titles Strength Rules, Diamond-Cut Abs and Everybody Needs Training. Danny is known for his minimalist philosophy, simple approach and motivational talents.

A true in-person experience, Danny is a Master Instructor for Dragon Door’s Progressive Calisthenics Certification. He has been featured in the NY Times, TRAIN, Men’s Fitness and is a regular contributor to Bodybuilding.com. Learn more about Danny at www.DannyTheTrainer.com

Filed Under: Progressive Calisthenics Tagged With: calisthenic strength training, calisthenics, calisthenics strength, Danny Kavadlo, Danny's new bestseller, nutrition, Strength Rules, strength training

A Meeting of Minds and Muscle—The Dragon Door Health and Strength Conference

August 25, 2015 By Al Kavadlo 9 Comments

Al Kavadlo Presenting at Dragon Door Health and Strength Conference 2015

Earlier this month, I had the privilege of presenting at Dragon Door’s first-ever Health and Strength Conference. The event took place over two full days, consisting of lectures, Q&A sessions, and networking opportunities with heavy hitters from various corners of the fitness world.

Nearly 100 coaches, trainers and exercise enthusiasts gathered to listen, discuss and share their varied experiences with one another. Plus there were some pull-up bars, kettlebells and other strength training implements on hand for anyone who had the urge to get some reps in before and after the various presentations.

My brother Danny and I each gave our own separate speeches; Danny spoke about achieving a chiseled set of Diamond Cut Abs, while I lectured on the topic of Zen and how it relates to calisthenics.

Danny Kavadlo Presenting at the 2015 Dragon Door Health and Strength Conference

Including the Kavadlo brothers, there were a total of 13 presenters, each with their own unique stories and experiences. Knowledge was spread, insights were shared and thoughts were provoked. Though the presenters came from various backgrounds and areas of expertise, the similarities and common themes present throughout the weekend were hard to ignore.

Almost everyone spoke about the importance of consistency, while many speakers also stressed spending a good deal of one’s training time developing strong fundamental movement patterns. Whether it was powerlifting legend Marty Gallagher stressing the importance of the squat, deadlift and bench press, or Steve “Coach Fury” Holiner extolling the strength and conditioning benefits of DVRT training exercises like the sandbag clean and press, using your body’s musculature as one cohesive unit was a theme that came up again and again. This concept should also be familiar to anyone who’s practiced progressive calisthenics. Regardless of what modality you prefer or which system you find most effective for your goals, the basic movement patterns (squat, hinge, push, pull, etc.) remain the same.

The business of personal training was also a hot topic at the conference. Equinox’s top manager Rolando Garcia gave a wonderful presentation on the fitness industry, focusing on all the crucial components of success in the personal training industry, other than the actual training itself. Rolando got into some of the least talked about, yet most important topics for fitness professionals.

Other presenters included Dr. Chris Hardy, Max Shank, Zach Even-Esh, Andrea Du Cane, Jon Bruney, Phil Ross, Logan Christopher and Mike Gillette. Though these presenters spoke on a wide variety of topics, including everything from training senior citizens to training for a professional cage fight, similar ideas about cycling intensity, managing stress levels, and staying in tune with the body kept coming up.

As the weekend went on, we came to see that whether our roots are in strongman training, calisthenics, or any other discipline, we all have the same vision to become a better version of ourselves each day.

Surrounding yourself with others who pursue excellence can be a wonderful source of inspiration. The energy (and synergy) of the group was undeniable. We all walked away from the weekend buzzing with new ideas and ready for the challenges ahead.

Dragon Door Health and Strength Conference Group Photo 2015

Hope to see YOU at next year’s conference!

****

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.

Filed Under: Motivation and Goals, Workshop Experiences Tagged With: Al Kavadlo, Dragon Door Authors, Dragon Door Publications, Health and Strength Conference, motivation, strength training

Strength Cycling for Continuous Improvement

April 7, 2015 By Juan De Jesus 35 Comments

Juan De Jesus Human Flag

Though progressive calisthenics training brings plenty of benefits, ranging from increased flexibility, control, and of course, strength, your body perceives it as a stress. As such, the body builds resistance toward it, which manifests in you getting stronger. Twenty push-ups today might force an adaptation, but twenty push-ups a month later might not.

One way to continue getting stronger on a consistent basis is to pick harder exercises as time goes by (you could begin with band-assisted pull-ups, then full pull-ups, then clapping pull-ups, etc), or by adding reps to your sets (do 3 sets of 30 squats today, 3 sets of 32 next time, etc). Most calisthenics trainers will recommend these two main variables in order to make their workouts harder and induce an adaptation.

At some point, however, our recovery cannot keep up with our want for reps or added difficulty. We’ve all been there: you were supposed to do 15 hanging leg raises today (couple more than last time), but you just could not go past 12. So what do you do?

If you can’t make the reps in one set, I propose simply adding more sets. Look at this cycle:

Juan De Jesus Calisthenics Chart

This is actually a personal example of a 7-week cycle I did with one-arm push-ups. I was only able to manage 3 reps in one set before week 1. Clearly, with such a hard exercise, doing 3 sets and adding reps on a weekly basis would burn me out incredibly fast. So instead, I chose sets of one less rep (sets of 2 reps), and did more and more sets each session! By the time week 3 rolls, doing sets of 3 is actually quite easy (you’ve gotten very strong after a 9 sets of 2!), so you cut the sets down, and begin doing sets of 3. Then add more sets. Repeat as necessary. Deload when you’re feeling fatigued.

I’ve actually started using this template for many of my exercises, and with amazing results! In 6 weeks, I was able to move my handstand push-ups from 4 rep-max (RM) to a 7 RM. For those math geeks out there (like myself), consider a 4RM is about 90% of a 1RM while a 7 RM is close to 82% of a 1RM. So the ratio of your new 1RM to your old 1 RM is of 0.9/0.82 = 1.10. You could say this is akin to boosting your 1RM in a barbell lift by 10% in a measly 6 weeks!

Juan De Jesus Handstand

I obtained a similar result by making my 3RM with one-arm pushups into a 6 RM in 7 weeks. I attribute these exceptional improvements to two main things. First, every session is somehow a bit harder than the one before. (As I mentioned before, your body sees training as a stress. In order to cause strength gains on a weekly basis, you need to train hard, rest well, and make the next session a bit harder somehow.)

Second, because I expect to build up to high volume with many sets, my choice of reps-per-set is conservative at the beginning. So for the first four weeks or so of these cycles, I stay away from failure and really get to concentrate on tension, technique and form. When the cycle gets tough and your sets are much closer to failure, you’ll find strength coming out of nowhere because you built up this foundation at the beginning of the cycle.

Once you’re satisfied with your max, switch to a harder exercise. This is a vital part of progressive calisthenics!

Juan De Jesus One Arm Chin

Note that the idea of adding sets instead of reps in order to get stronger is incredibly flexible. It is more suited towards max-strength exercises (one where you could perform 3-8 RMs) since adding reps on a weekly basis to the sets can be quite difficult when the exercise is so tough. But it certainly does not have to be twice a week as I’ve chosen to do. A routine that works an exercise 3-4 times a week would also work well. Here, you might prefer to just do 1 more set than the session before until you feel confident enough to increase the amount of reps on each set. Then you’d decrease the sets, do sets of more reps, and build back up.

To the beginner student of calisthenics, it is certainly advisable to stick to a few sets, concentrate on form, add reps, and switch to a harder exercise once you’ve squeezed all the strength gains possible from your previous exercise. However, the more seasoned calisthenics enthusiast might need one more tool in order to burst through plateaus. I’ve certainly needed it myself when I find my reps just won’t climb no matter how hard I push. At that point, manipulating the amount of sets might be exactly what you need to bring about continuous strength improvements.

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Juan De Jesus is a Sophomore at MIT studying Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. His enthusiasm for bodyweight and minimalist training was born in high school with his workout club Body Strength by Calisthenics (BSC) and has stayed with him ever since.

Filed Under: Progressive Calisthenics, Tutorial Tagged With: calisthenics, Juan De Jesus, programming, programming your training, strength, strength training, training, training template, tutorial

The Bodyweight Revolution

April 15, 2014 By Paul "Coach" Wade 146 Comments

Al and Danny Kavadlo
The Kavadlo brothers are the face of
the Dragon Door bodyweight revolution!

If you have been keeping track of the fitness world over the last five years, you have definitely heard the term bodyweight revolution used by writers and teachers.

Lots of folks have used this term, but few—if any—have defined it.

To me, if there is a common theme behind the modern bodyweight strength revolution, it’s this:

Cutting edge athletes and coaches are starting to break down the distinction between bodyweight training and externally-weighted methods for adding strength and muscle mass.

What does that mean?

Well, up till fairly recently, the fitness “status quo” treated bodyweight training and, say, weight-training very differently. Weight-training was done to get ya big and strong as possible. To achieve this, you were supposed to follow three basic rules:

  1. Train hard for strength and mass. (A given. No pain, no gain, bitches!)
  2. Be progressive. (The goal is always: add weight to the bar!)
  3. Focus on load, not reps. (Folks will ask: how much can you bench? Not; how many reps?)

Fairly simple, huh?

And it worked, too. For the last fifty or so years, barbells and dumbbells have been the “go-to” method for bodybuilders and strength trainers alike. Some coaches and exercise ideologists have gotten so wrapped up in the romance of the iron, that they have told us that these tools are the only way to maximize muscle and power. (This is horseshit, but you know that already, right?)

Compare this model with bodyweight training. Over the last forty-plus years, personal trainers, writers and fitness coaches have been force-feeding the world with a philosophy of bodyweight training which is built on the following three principles:

  1. Train moderately for skill or conditioning. (e.g., soccer drills, circuit training)
  2. You can’t be progressive with load. (Sure, you can add weight to pullups, but then you are weight-training, right?)
  3. Build to high reps. (How many pushups can you do?)

Notice something? The bodyweight training principles are pretty much the diametric opposite of the weight-training principles! Why? Because it was figured that there was no point in treating calisthenics like a PROPER strength and muscle discipline, coz there was no way to make the load progressive. For this reason, bodyweight training ceased to be viewed as a power and strength method. It became relegated to a “fitness” method, or for a warm-up, prior to the weights. Worse still, it was viewed as a means for “light toning”. (Puke now, ye who have the buckets readied.)

Recent conditioning icons have shattered this illusion, and are actually bringing intelligent athletes round to the notion that you can break any bodyweight exercise into progressive chunks—all the way from easy rehab work, up to the hardest strength exercises know to mankind. I’m talking about revolutionary books like Al Kavadlo’s Pushing the Limits! and Raising the Bar; Brooks Kubik’s wonderful Dinosaur Bodyweight Training; and Pavel’s breakthrough Naked Warrior.

Bodyweight can’t build total-body strength? Give me a break!
Bodyweight can’t build total-body strength?
Give me a break!

This is the idea at the very heart of the modern bodyweight revolution. If you can use external weights progressively—in hard sessions designed to build load over time—why can’t you do the same using your body’s own weight? The answer is, of course, you can. You don’t need to treat bodyweight as a gymnastics or sports skill, or as a warm-up, or as a simple endurance discipline. You can do it progressively, just like weight-training. All you need is a solid understanding of the science of bodyweight progressions. And this is why the Progressive Calisthenics Certification (PCC) organization was born, to catalog and disseminate this traditional knowledge to anyone in the fitness world who wants it.

A lot of athletes—specially those already in the bodybuilding or powerlifting world—have taken this breakdown in the barriers between regular lifting and bodyweight training approach real literally. Hell, why not apply regular lifting templates to bodyweight training? This is what many have tried to do; and in this article I’ll discuss some ways of doing it. I’ll also show you a good alternative used by my own teacher, Joe Hartigen.

The CC-Style Template

When it comes to sets and reps, I generally prefer a real simple, old school, American-style double progression. You warm up with some fairly easy exercises, then hit your major technique hard for two-to-three sets. When you hit your rep goal, you move to a tougher exercise. Don’t go to failure—always leave a little energy left in your limbs to complete an exercise safely, or in case you need to defend yourself. That’s the Convict Conditioning approach—and trust me, it works just as well for weight-training as it does for calisthenics. Many old school bodybuilders and strength athletes have used this kind of program with great success—it’s not a million miles away from the sort of training performed by old school strength marvels like Doug Hepburn, or modern-day bodybuilding champions like Dorian Yates.

Dorian Hepburn
Hepburn—like all the ultra-strong old-timers—used bodyweight training alongside his lifting. He also trained infrequently, going all-out with low sets. Sound familiar?

Popular Strength/Mass Templates

Of course, there are other rep/set formats than the CC approach. Dozens. Here’s a roll-call of a few well-known ones:

  • The 5×5 system
  • Pyramid training
  • Ladders
  • Heavy singles

All of these popular weight-training approaches can be used with bodyweight—in fact, they are being used right now. But no method is perfect, and there are problems when applying these methods.

Using singles is a good example. A heavy singles workout might consist of, say 10 sets of 1 rep, using 85% of your max. This is pretty easy to accomplish if you are working with your bench press; but it’s a lot tougher to translate it to your bodyweight pushups. For a start, how do you define “85%” of effort accurately? Which pushup progression do you select? With the bench press, you can add a tiny increment, maybe 2lbs to the bar every so often. How do you add such microscopic increments to your pushup form? How do you maintain this system, long-term with such fuzzy variables? You are kinda pissing in the wind here.

A bigger problem with most training systems is that they waste the athlete’s precious energy. A really great rule of thumb in muscle and strength work is that the degree to which your body adapts is proportionate to the stress you put it through. But what athletes constantly forget is that the muscle-building and strength stimulus is based on your best set, it’s not spread over your other sets! As I’ve said elsewhere:

Paul_Blog4To put that shit simply, if you want to get diesel, you need to do a lot of work in a single, relatively brief set. Your peak set! Trouble is, a lot of athletes are in the habit of exhausting themselves before they reach that peak set.

Bodybuilding is possibly to blame for this. Back in the seventies and eighties, it was all about “pyramiding”; you would typically warm up with 15, 12, 10 and 8 reps before knocking out a few peak sets of 6-8—then you would reverse the process. (You go up in weight, then down, hence the term “pyramid”.) The problem with this was that by the time you had done the first four sets you were too shot to do very much in your peak sets! Then you would repeat all those lighter, higher-rep sets again, just adding more volume to eat into an already overloaded recovery system.

The same problem is true of the popular “ladders” method of training. With ladders, you start with one rep—say, a pullup—then take a short break, and do two pullups. Break, then three. All the way up to your peak set, of, say, five reps. Then you take a short breather, do four reps, then break, then three, and so on down to one rep. See the problem with this? If your peak/best set here is the five rep set, you will have already done TEN reps of that exercise before you reach it! If the five reps really represent your best, then doing ten reps of the same beforehand is definitely going to adversely affect your performance in the five. In essence, ladders are a good way of doing a lot of work, but a pretty imperfect way of doing high quality sets.

5×5 is a more traditional method—it was used by Arnold’s hero, Reg Park, back in the fifties.

Big Reg Park
Bodyweight back work: Big Reg Park
rocking some behind-the-neck pullups.

Park’s method was to use two warm-up sets of five, then three sets of five with the heaviest weight you can handle for a particular exercise. Once you can hit the 3×5, you go up in weight.

It’s a simple (and pretty effective) idea. The problem—in terms of hitting one great, “peak” set—is that it makes you hold yourself back. You are inevitably (even if only subconsciously) holding yourself back from giving your all on the first hard set, in order to get the five reps on the final two sets. You need to do this, because if you really gave your all grinding out five reps on the first heavy set, you would be pretty unlikely to be able to repeat that twice. So with 5×5 you never have the motivation to really give your all and hit that one peak set.

Enter the Mentor: Joe Hartigen

One template which doesn’t contain any of these problems was taught to me in the 1980’s by my mentor, Joe Hartigen. Joe was a bona-fide calisthenics master, and although he was in his seventies when I met him, he was much more powerful than me, and remained incredibly strong in pulling movements right up to the final year of his life. Joe had forgotten more about training methods and the history of physical culture than I will ever know, and I learned virtually all the progressions in Convict Conditioning from him.

Despite the fact that Joe was an icon to me—and several others in San Quentin—we didn’t train in exactly the same way. We had different backgrounds, for one thing. I came from a “new school” calisthenics approach, one based on building up high reps in squats, sit-ups, pullups and (especially) pushups. In fact I would often return to these high-rep workouts—often ultra-endurance bodyweight work—throughout my time inside, particularly in Angola. (Think “thousand pushup days” and you got the idea.)

Joe was very much a man who favored lower, more intense, higher quality reps. He typically shook his head when he looked at my training journals, and—likewise—I must admit that when I was younger and dumber, I possibly looked down on his methods as a bit old-fashioned. Like a cool photograph, but colored in sepia. In later years, I realized he was right on the money, and although I modified my own training to better match his thinking, our workout styles were never quite the same.

The Hartigen Method

When it came to sets and reps, Joe had a pretty fixed method for working out. I’ve never heard a name for this scheme, so I’m gonna call it The Hartigen Method (although there’s no way he was the first to use it). This approach is simple to apply, allows for the use of real hard exercises, and is progressive—so I thought I’d put it out there for any ex-lifters or strength athletes looking for a new way to work with bodyweight exercises.

Here’s how it works:

1. Pick the hardest exercise you can do for 5 reps in good form.

2. Warm up, and perform a 5 rep set.

3. Rest approximately 1 minute. Shake your muscles loose as you rest.

4. Perform 4 reps of the same exercise.

5. Rest approximately 1 minute. Shake your muscles loose as you rest.

6. Perform 3 reps of the same exercise.

7. Repeat this procedure until you have performed a single rep.

That’s it! In essence, Joe picked an exercise he could do five good, strict reps with, and did 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

It’s that simple. Joe’s theory was that if you could bust out five reps of an exercise you were working on, then after a minute’s rest, you should be able to do four reps. After another minute, you should be able to do three, and so on. Joe felt this rep scheme offered low reps for strength and muscle, but also enough reps—fifteen total—to give an athlete plenty of hard practice on an exercise, but without burning out.

Plus, using this method you can hit an exercise hard in under ten minutes. Even if you were working with four exercises in a workout (two or three would be better!) you could be done in half an hour. Joe’s method works great with weights, too—kettlebell presses and rows would be a wonderful superset, if you’re that way inclined. (5 presses, a minute’s rest, 5 rows, a minute’s rest, 4 presses, etc.) You could superset pushup and pullup exercises the same way.

Making progress
Progression couldn’t be simpler with this method. When you can do all 15 reps—that is, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1—for three workouts in a row, you move to a slightly harder version of the exercise. As with all bodyweight strength, having an extensive toolbox of progressions is key to moving forward; it’s also why the PCC Instructors’ Manual includes hundreds of progressive exercises.

There will be times you don’t get 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. You may only get 5, 3, 2, 1, 1. That’s fine, and to be embraced. When you don’t get the full 15, use these principles to move forward:

Try to add a rep (or two) next time; shoot for 5, 4, 2, 1, 1, then 5, 4, 3, 1, 1, and so on.

Whatever you get, always push yourself hard on the first set—that’s your peak set.

Adding reps on the earlier sets is more valuable than adding reps on the final sets.

Never do more reps than you are aiming for; stick with 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

Aim to perform ALL five sets, even if those sets are very low rep; e.g., 3, 2, 1, 1, 1.

Exercises, post-set work and warm-ups

Joe often performed more exercises than I stuck to. Most people today would probably call his routine imbalanced. In particular, he loved hanging exercises, and would do all kinds of weird variations of pullups, leg raises, levers, holds and hangs. Strangely, despite being such an aficionado of hanging work, he would typically do only three exercises for the rest of his body—one-leg squats, flat one-arm pushups, and some kind of inversion; handstands, but often headstands (I rarely saw him do inverse pressing, these were typically static). I have watched Joe do bridges, and do them easily, but like the man himself, these were an exception rather than a rule.

Whatever his last exercise of the session was, Joe would often make his very final set harder by completing a ten second dynamic-tension isometric at the top position of that very last rep. He’d follow this with a slow negative of about ten seconds. He claimed that this little “trick” for finishing his workout told his body that the session was over, and increased his hormonal profile. I’m not sure that’s true, but if Joe’s physique—at over seven decades—was testament, then he knew what he was talking about.

Al Kavadlo Push-Up
No matter what exercise you finish with,
you can squeeze it at the top for an isometric benefit.

What about a warm-up? Interestingly—like Reg Park—Joe never went over five reps on his warm-up sets. He would typically do two or three warm-up sets of five reps, and he always applied Charles Atlas-style dynamic tension during his warm-ups. If he was doing an exercise like one-arm pullups, he would perform an exercise about half as tough on his warm-ups—two-arm pullups. Always five reps. Why not more? Joe felt that you should always train to meet your goals. His peak sets were always five reps, so he thought if he did more in his warm-ups, his body would get confused and start adapting to higher reps instead! I’m not certain I agree with that, but it gives you some food for thought, eh?

I often advocate using progressive exercises when warming up—maybe start with a real easy exercise for high reps, then follow with a slightly harder exercise for less reps. But Joe only ever used one exercise technique in his warm-ups, no matter how many warm-up sets he did. I used to wonder why, for example, he’d perform two sets of regular pullups before his one-arm work; why not one set of regular two-arms, then something harder, like assisted pullups? I asked him once. Because I can make the two-arms as hard as assisted pullups, dumbass! he replied. And it was true. His capacity to tense his muscles during training—dynamic tension—was so profound, he could make seemingly easy exercises as seem as hard as advanced ones. He was able to adjust the intensity of any exercise by 100% or 1%, just using the power of his mind.

That was how profound his body wisdom was. Not many athletes could aspire to this level, although it’s possible with time and patience. I still admire the man to this day!

Lights Out!

Well, that’s it from me. Thanks again for reading—it means a lot to this dopey fella that you guys and gals still take the time to read my weathered musings. I hope this article has given you a new idea to play with. Looking for a lower-rep strength and mass routine that fits well with bodyweight? Give The Hartigen Method a try…tonight!

Oh, and if you liked hearing about Joe’s attitude to training, check this article out. I wrote it for my good buddy Neil Bednar.

You could do a lot worse than modeling your training around old Joe’s philosophy. That brother was something else!

***

Paul “Coach” Wade is the author of five Convict Conditioning DVD/manual programs. Click here for more information about Paul Wade, and here for more information on Convict Conditioning DVD’s and books available for purchase from the publisher.

Filed Under: Progressive Calisthenics Tagged With: Al Kavadlo, bodyweight exercise, calisthenics, Danny Kavadlo, Kavadlo brothers, Paul Wade, PCC, PCC Workshop, Progressive Calisthenics Certification Workshop, pull-ups, push-ups, Raising the Bar, squats, strength training

Push-ups for a Better Bench Press

April 8, 2014 By Corey Howard 9 Comments

Al Kavadlo Push-upAs someone who loves a challenge, I get excited when someone tells me it’s impossible to get strong using only calisthenics. Though at first I was skeptical, too, I’ve learned firsthand how effective bodyweight training can be.

Most coaches tell us that to get stronger you need to keep adding weight to whatever lift you want to improve on. If you want to bench press more, they say to use some sort of pyramid training and ramp up the weight each session. With the exception of Stanford, that’s what’s taught at most collegiate and high school strength programs. Imagine the frustration on a 16 year old kid when I tell him I won’t let him bench press until he can perform 20 quality push-ups off the floor!

As I was talking with a student of mine named Caden during his first session at my facility, the topic of bench pressing inevitably came up. We discussed my background in competitive powerlifting and, as you would expect, he wanted to know how much I could bench. After telling him my best competition lift he responded with a story about how some other kid at his school can supposedly press more than me. So of course I had to know what his own best effort was on the bench.

day_3_100_2“One hundred thirty-five pounds… once,” he stated. For those of you that have trained young teenage athletes, you know they need proof before they believe anything you say. So I decided to challenge him a bit. I told him I could help him improve on that 135×1 in only 4 weeks without even putting him on the bench. In fact we would be using a steady diet of push-ups. Caden scoffed at me. Why wouldn’t he? Remember the old school thinking at most high schools?

“Alright, but it’ll never happen,” he promised.

Let’s stop for a second and quickly compare a textbook push-up to a text book bench press. In a push-up, the hands are under your shoulders while the body is elevated and tight (abs, lats, glutes and thighs) to prevent any sagging or arching. As you descend it should feel like you are screwing your hands into the floor, the lats get tighter, and the elbows stay close to the body. Everything is tracking straight and tight. Then once your nose or chest touches the floor you reverse the motion as slow or fast as you want. Speed will build explosive strength and slow will teach you to grind out a heavy rep for strength.

Compare that to a textbook bench press; before you lower the bar to your chest, the shoulder blades should be retracted, glutes are tight and feet are driving into the ground. As the descent begins it should again feel like you are screwing your back into the bench, tightening the lats, and keeping the elbows near the body. Then after the bar touches the chest you can drive the meaty part of your thumbs into the bar almost as if you were rotating your elbows in and driving yourself away from the load to lock it out over head.

Notice any similarities?

CadenPush-upNow let’s take those same principles and apply them to Caden. On day one he could not do any of this. Once he was on the floor it kind of looked like a saggy banana getting tazed. We needed to tap into the Convict Conditioning principles and start teaching push-up technique against a wall. As he grew more proficient, his push-up got closer to the floor. It’s important to note that although we always had a specific number of reps in mind for each day, once technique failed, his set was over. Many times he wanted to crawl under the bar and “just try” the bench press again, I happily refused to allow that. Remember sometimes young teenage clients need proof or an “A-ha moment” before they buy into you or your system.

Caden’s “A-ha moment” came 4 weeks later. After dialing in the pushup similarities to the bench press in his warm ups, we loaded the bar with 135. He gave me a solid 5 rep effort. If you use one of those 1-rep max calculators, that’s roughly a 20lb increase in max effort strength in 4 weeks using nothing but pushups. For those of you that are wondering what other “assistance work” I had him do? It was all calisthenics- bridge progressions, bodyweight squat progressions, lying leg raises, and horizontal pull-ups. Caden never touched a weight his first 4 weeks in my facility.

Calisthenics work! Fire it up!!

Caden1 ***

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.

Filed Under: Progressive Calisthenics Tagged With: bench press, carryover, Corey Howard, push-ups, strength training

Who Needs Weighted Pull-Ups?

March 11, 2014 By Corey Howard 13 Comments

DannyKavadloHang

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

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

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

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

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

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

Corey Howard Performs an L-Sit Pull Up

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

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

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

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

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

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

***

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

Filed Under: Progressive Calisthenics Tagged With: advanced, Al Kavadlo, archer pull-ups, calisthenics, Convict Conditioning, Corey Howard, Injury, progression, pull-up progressions, pull-ups, Raising the Bar, strength training

Handstands Will Make You Better at Everything

February 4, 2014 By Mike Fitch 28 Comments

Mike Fitch Handstand

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

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

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

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

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

The Kinetic Chain

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

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

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

Al Kavadlo Performs a Handstand

 Internal Tension

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

 Grip Strength

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

Shoulder Stability

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

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

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

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

Free Standing Handstand

Spinal Stabilization

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

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

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

GETTING STARTED: TUTORIAL

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

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

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

 Intro to Handstand Conditioning: The Wall-Assisted Handstand

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

  1. First of all, you should have your front, not your back, facing the wall.  Otherwise you’re automatically training in an arch back handstand.  While the arch back is a legitimate handstand in itself, the mechanics are different and you may not get the same benefits I mentioned earlier.

  2. Follow these steps to get yourself safely into place:   Start by facing away from the wall. Bend forward and place your hands on the ground at roughly shoulder width.  Place your feet on the wall and walk them up until the body is elongated.  Walk your hands towards the wall until they are about 6 inches or so away from the wall (this may vary – just find a distance that feels comfortable psychologically).  The toes should be pointed with the top of the foot flat on the wall.

  3. Once in position, SET the body:  Grip the ground with your fingertips.  Lock the elbows completely, driving down into ground, creating as much space as possible between your toes and the ground.  When you successfully fire the traps, the space between your ears and shoulders will close.  Squeeze the glutes and quads, and draw in or brace the abdominal wall. Make sure not to hinge at the hips.

  4. Don’t forget to breathe!

  5. Time yourself to see how long you can hold this perfectly tensed handstand.  Your goal is to first work up to one minute, then two. Once you can hold for two minutes, begin bringing your hands closer and closer to the wall.

  6. And here’s an important Bonus Tip:   If you’re not used to twisting or summersaulting out of a handstand, be sure to leave enough strength to get back DOWN the wall!

Wall Walking Handstand

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

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

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

Filed Under: Progressive Calisthenics Tagged With: carryover, coordination, hand balancing, handstands, Mike Fitch, progressive calisthenics, skill training, 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.