kipping is a major sin in the calisthenics culture it should be avoided at all costs during your calisthenics journey swinging around everywhere is a clear sign someone does not have sufficient power to dominate a movement the use of momentum is often seen as cheating and compensating to make things easier more importantly it's almost impossible to measure progress when form is sloppy and inconsistent those who rely on keeping simply improve by getting better at keeping unfortunately this momentum method does not have a useful carryover to real-world strength training here's what does calisthenics is a trained discipline
which shines through the use of strict fall this means each rep should be completed by using your own body's false production it's truly empowering knowing you are entirely responsible for making an exercise or skill possible yes this is harder yes this is going to be a hit to the ego yes you're going to have to step back at first not keeping is going to reduce the overall output as far as reps and performance are concerned but when the form is pure have confidence knowing you're undoubtedly getting more powerful and strong over time regardless if the
goal is building muscle or strength with calisthenics compound exercises are absolutely king compound training involves exercise which involve multiple large muscle groups the push-up embodies everything that makes calisthenics a well-respected form of resistance training using just our own body weight we can effectively target all the major upper body pressing muscles we're talking the chest or pecs shoulders or delts and the arms being the tricep muscles there are countless variations in terms of hand placement possible with the humble push-up modifying the technique during horizontal pressing is going to emphasize different muscles to a greater or lesser
extent if you're looking for a challenge consider training unilaterally doing this increases difficulty significantly which is awesome for home workouts you're now going to be pressing a greater percentage of your body weight making all kinds of muscle and strength gains don't over complicate the push-up choose a variation which feels comfortable and accomplishes the goal you have in mind next up we have the squat of the upper body the vertical dip this exercise trains similar upper body muscles as the push-up the major benefits include the vertical pressing motion pushing the entire body weight and long-term progressive
overload thanks to the position relative to gravity dips tax the upper body without the core becoming a limiting factor this calisthenics compound benefits significantly from external loading due to the low skill requirements involved for technical perfection adding weight is a guaranteed road to successful progressive overload simply manipulate the weight added to suit your strength level and desired rep range the classic acronym kiss keep it simple stupid is something i tell myself constantly keep pushing keep focused and keep compound exercises a primary feature in your workouts it doesn't matter if you've been training for one day
or 10 years partial range of motion equals partial results the body always seeks comfort and loves nothing more than to stay the same and remain in homeostasis it doesn't want to change short range of motion is used by all experience levels when the body seeks the easy option training under these conditions only exposes working muscles to joint positions it's already good at the result of habitually using short range immersion is less muscle mass and a fraction of the potential strength gain self-coaching involves mentally focusing on proper execution or admitting reality by reducing the volume and
intensity what full range of motion means is going to be different based on the exercise and one's level of mobility a universal rule for all exercises is getting a full stretch and squeeze of the working muscles this involves a joint repeatedly moving from being maximally opened to maximally closed simply take the joint through its full available motion in a way that's suitable for your anatomy and your body now concerning calisthenics strength skills there's definitely a smarter way to train isometric holds here's a nice framework to structure your daily training from you're going to need to
perform a max attempt to serve in calculating training times a higher intensity isometric is more demanding and challenges maximum strength which equals shorter hold times as the intensity is high the volume required to stimulate and adapt is comparatively low a low intensity isometric can be sustained longer which results in biasing more strength endurance obey the inverse relationship between intensity aka hold duration and volume aka total training time and your isometric game is going to be on point okay so you want to build muscle by body weight you're going to need to understand rep ranges and
volume if your main objective is winning the hypertrophy invest time in the 6 to 30 rep range the moderate rep range is preferable for building muscle thanks to efficiently accumulating volume 6 or greater reps is generally accepted as the minimum number to create sufficient mechanical tension for hypertrophy purposes the intensity is high enough to induce tension in the working muscles but not so extreme to overly tax the nervous system moderate rep ranges up to 30 are perfect because this hypertrophy principle becomes even more prevalent the up to 30 rep range might come as a shock
to some of you hear me out just because we're doing calisthenics it doesn't mean we can't borrow from our bodybuilding bros take for example isolation training doing sets of 6 is illogical from a performance and practical perspective low reps on isolation creates unnecessary joint strain without sufficiently stressing the muscles in question don't make the ego mistake often made by gym rats rather when isolating for muscle gain don't be afraid to go higher on the rep spectrum yes it's possible to go above 15 reps and build mass the key with calisthenics is getting a large amount
of recoverable training volume each session stick to the 6 to 30 rep range for successful body weight bodybuilding the main way to increase maximum strength with calisthenics is training in the one to five rep range lower reps bias high amounts of mechanical tension which is a key driver in neural development invested here is going to optimally improve the software of the body aka the nervous system for top end strength the sweet spot for regular training is the three to five rep range why is this a sweet spot well the intensity is still legitimately high while
allowing sound form to be maintained additionally the injury risk is generally lower when strength training for multiple reps compared to maxing out on singles or doubles with that said during training one or two rep sets should be used sparingly reserve this for peaking periods or when absolute max strength is desired remember rep ranges fall on a spectrum with no extreme cutoffs doing six reps won't mean zero strength gain just like doing 31 reps isn't going to mean pure endurance most people associate shorter rest times with working harder which intuitively means more gains right wrong for
compound exercises resting anywhere from three to greater than five minutes is generally recommended for isolation exercises one to three minutes is more than enough being adequately recovered for each upcoming set is the only way to accumulate volume without compromising intensity and technique not resting long enough results in having to drop the reps use an easier progression or lighten the load at the end of the day just use intuition and feeling leaning towards resting more is better than less adopting a training mindset over a testing mindset is the calisthenics secret for sustainable strength it's in our
dna to want results right now and our lack of patience can become an issue i know you too have also fallen into this trap before trying things which are too advanced what we don't see on social media is peak performers spend the majority of their time building strength instead pick a progression of variation a setup and an intensity which challenges you and you only this way perfect form is going to be possible and your body is actually going to respond repetition over and over with a training mindset is going to outperform a testing mindset in
the long run as you know the calisthenics commandments would be incomplete without talking about the scapula strengthening the supporting muscles surrounding and interacting with the scapula has a direct impact on calisthenics mastery an easy analogy is comparing the scapula's role to that of building a house if we want to build a house on a foundation of mud and twigs the size of the building is going to be limited as the house is going to move and eventually collapse a shaky foundation scapular reduces how much torque or rotational force can be generated the shoulder and upper
body as a whole a solid foundation is going to support a bigger and stronger building our shoulders when it comes to calisthenics are no different don't just pay this seriously important aspect lip service follow through and actualize what your body is truly capable of yeah but what about your skinny legs mate training the legs is satisfying in its own right through establishing goals for this area too those involved in calisthenics who want a body which is capable from head to toe should never skip leg day pick your method of choice through the use of body
weight training or adding external resistance we need you building muscle and getting stronger legs for lifetime longevity and being a functional everyday human at the very least you're going to be forced to improve mobility in the lower body if the intention is advanced calisthenics without adequate lower body range of motion moving freely isn't going to be possible don't stress about bigger and heavier legs reducing calisthenics performance relative strength is going to improve when handling your own body weight thanks for watching be sure to share this video with a friend this type of calisthenics knowledge needs
to be mainstream
