Bodyweight training is convenient, can be done anywhere, and can be easily modified to fit nearly any fitness goal. Let’s stop ignoring bodyweight workouts and formulate an effective plan for any goal with modifications, intensity techniques, and detailed explanations of execution.

The Best Bodyweight Workouts

• For More Muscle
• For Strength
• For Conditioning
• For Beginners

Bodyweight Workout for More Muscle

To build muscle, you need to overload the muscle with the right amount of stress so it will respond by getting bigger and stronger. Utilizing bodyweight exercises to accomplish this will take some creativity, but it’s absolutely possible.

One of the few “compromises” made with bodyweight training is that it can be more difficult to directly target certain muscle groups (particularly smaller muscles like the arms and shoulders). Fortunately, these muscles are sufficiently worked by focusing on larger exercises combined with specially adjusted movement to emphasize the smaller muscles.

Focus on modifying certain bodyweight movements to make them more challenging. Using strict form and slowing down each movement so you feel every inch of the motion is essential to reap the most benefit.

The Bodyweight Bodybuilding Workout

The following workout can be done three times per week on non-consecutive days. For example, you can train on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday or Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. You can also simply replace one or two of your traditional gym workouts with one or two bodyweight workouts.

Start slow and deliberate, and perfect your form on each exercise before making them more challenging.

Bulgarian Split Squat

• How to Do It: Place on foot behind you onto a bench or chair. Lower your body straight down until your rear knee is almost touching the floor. To make it more challenging, lower down all the way, drive up halfway, then lower down all the way again, and finally press all the way up. That is one rep.
• Sets and Reps: 3 x 10-15
• Rest Time: 30 seconds between sides.

Feet-Elevated Push-Up

• How to Do It: Begin in a push-up position with your hands and toes on the ground. Place your feet onto a bench, chair, or step behind you. Keeping your body straight, slowly lower your chest to the floor, pause at the bottom, and then press powerfully to rise up. To make it tougher, either have a partner place a weight plate on your back or place a band around your upper back while grasping each end with your hands on the floor.
• Sets and Reps: 3 x 10-15
• Rest Time: 60 seconds between sets.

Inverted Row

• How to Do It: Lie on the floor facing up under a stationary bar set around hip height (or a sturdy table). Grasp the bar with an overhand grip a little wider than shoulder-width. Keep your body straight and your heels on the floor. Pull your chest to the bar and then return to the bottom position without resting on the floor. For more of a challenge, place your heels on a bench or chair to shift leverage and increase the load on your upper body.
• Sets and Reps: 3 x 10-15
• Rest Time: 60 seconds between sets.

Lying Leg Curl

• How to Do It: Lie on the floor with your heels on an exercise ball or a pair of furniture sliders. A towel on a hardwood or tile floor can also work. Put your arms out to your sides for added stability. Curl your lower legs toward you by pulling with your heels. Bring your hips up and keep a straight line from your upper back to your knees. Contract your hamstrings at the top position and slowly lower back down.
• Sets and Reps: 3 x 10-15
• Rest Time: 60 seconds between sets.

Triangle Push-Up

• How to Do It: Begin in a full push-up position with your hands and toes on the ground with your hands a bit inside of shoulder-width. With a rigid body, lower yourself down to the floor and then press up slowly and under control. For more of a challenge, place your feet on an elevated box or bench to shift more bodyweight towards your upper body.
• Sets and Reps: 3 x 10-15
• Rest Time: 30 seconds between sets.

Inverted Biceps Curl

• How to Do It: Lie face up on the floor under a sturdy hip-height bar as if you were to perform an inverted row. Grasp the bar with an underhand grip about shoulder-width apart. Pull your body up and focus on bending mainly at your elbows, allowing your arms to perform a classic curling motion. Squeeze at the top and then return towards the floor.
• Sets and Reps: 3 x 10-15
• Rest Time: 30 seconds between sets.

Bodyweight Workout for Strength

Strength can take many forms and bodyweight training is surprisingly effective for developing power. What’s the difference between pure strength and power? Both cultivate strength. However, power is your ability to move a specific load quickly. Think of Olympic weightlifting or throwing a heavy medicine ball.

Manipulating your bodyweight is a natural and effective way to build more strength and power, either on its own or to enhance your current workouts. (1)(2)

The Strong and Powerful Bodyweight Workout

Try the following workout to facilitate more strength. You can also insert it into any traditional training program as an additional workout to add a different element or to get you out of your comfort zone with something new. Execute the exercises with proper technique and controlled explosive force.

Plyo Push-Up

• How to Do It: Assume the traditional push-up position. Lower yourself to the floor in a slow and controlled manner then rapidly reverse direction applying as much power as possible. You should generate enough power to launch your hands off the floor.
• Sets and Reps: 3 x 5
• Rest Time: 60 seconds between sets.

Jump Squat

• How to Do It: Create a solid base by spreading your feet wider than your shoulders. Bend down into a squat position forming an approximate 90-degree angle at your knees. Utilizing your entire body to generate power, jump as high as you can straight up. Cushion your landing by bending legs. Take the time to set up your stance again before the next rep.
• Sets and Reps: 3 x 10
• Rest Time: 60 seconds between sets.

Negative Pull-Up

• How to Do It: Stand under a pull-up bar on a box or bench. Grab the bar with an overhand grip. Jump up to begin with your chin over the bar and your feet off the box or bench. Very slowly lower your body until your arms are fully extended. Get your feet back on the bench and jump up to the starting position for the next rep.
• Sets and Reps: 3 x 5
• Rest Time: 60 seconds between sets.

Depth Jump

• How to Do It: Stand on a box, bench, or step no higher than 18 inches. Step off the edge — do not jump off. Cushion your landing by bending your knees and immediately reverse direction to jump straight up. That is one rep. Walk back on top of the box or step and repeat for reps.
• Sets and Reps: 3 x 5-10
• Rest Time: 60 seconds between sets.

Bodyweight Workout for Conditioning

While bodyweight training can be programmed for many different goals, it’s most commonly associated with circuit-style workouts to build endurance and conditioning. (3)(4)

With anytime, anywhere convenience and the overall simplicity of programming, conditioning workouts using your own body are a perfect combination. Not needing to rotate between different machines or equipment makes bodyweight exercises an ideal choice for circuit workouts.

The Bodyweight Circuit

This workout is done as a circuit — moving from one exercise immediately to the next and the next, for several rounds. However, one of the most important factors is to avoid rushing through the exercises.

Approach each exercise deliberately while using proper form and technique. Once your form starts to deteriorate, terminate the set and move on to the next exercise.

• Push-Up: Perform a full push-up with your hands and toes on the ground with your hands outside of shoulder-width. Keep a straight line throughout your body. Use a full range of motion from the ground to lockout.
• Squat: With your feet slightly wider than shoulder-width, squat as low as possible before standing fully upright. Keep your feet flat on the ground throughout each rep.
• Crunch: Lie on the ground facing up with your legs bent and your feet flat. Contract your abs to raise your shoulders slightly off the ground. Keep your tailbone and lower back in contact with the ground.
• Walking Lunge: Take a long step forward, descend into a lunge until your rear knee touches the ground. Stand upright while bringing your rear foot forwards. Alternate sides when stepping forward.
• Triangle Push-Up: Set your hands inside shoulder-width. Perform a basic push-up keeping only your toes and hands on the ground. Lower to the ground and extend to full lockout.
• Jump Squat: Stand with your feet more than shoulder-width apart. Squat until your hips are in line with your knees. Use your arms and entire body to explosively stand up, jumping straight into the air. Bend your legs upon landing and stand upright before beginning the next rep.
• Plank: Begin in a modified push-up position with your toes, elbows, and forearms on the ground. Maintain a rigid body. Tightly contract your abs and glutes for 10 to 15 seconds per set.

How to Do It: Execute proper form for each exercise. Focus on technique, not speed, during each individual movement.

Sets and Reps: 3 to 5 rounds of 10 to 15 reps per exercise.

Rest Time: No rest between exercises, three minutes rest after each round.

Bodyweight Workout for Beginners

Bodyweight training is one of the most fundamental forms of exercise. It’s not only a convenient way of training; it also enables an individual to harness and control their own body and to develop true total-body strength and coordination. It’s one thing to deadlift a significant load but quite another to perform a set of 20 pull-ups.

If you’re a more traditional barbell-focused lifter and want to improve your overall performance, bodyweight training will only enhance your capabilities.

The Beginner’s Bodyweight Workout

This workout is designed to develop the fundamentals of bodyweight training specifically. These foundational movements will serve as a backbone for all other exercises and stimulate an improved neuromuscular connection with each muscle group. This will only help to your advantage in performing different exercises, with bodyweight or free weights.

• Push-Up: Perform a full push-up with your hands and toes on the ground with your hands outside of shoulder width. Keep a straight line throughout your body. Use a full range of motion from the ground to lockout.
• Inverted Row: Set a sturdy bar at hip height and lie on the ground beneath it. Grab the bar with an overhand grip. Maintain a straight line from your shoulders to your toes. Pull your chest towards the bar and lower to full extension.
• Negative Pull-Up: Stand under a pull-up bar on a box or bench. Grab the bar with an overhand grip. Jump up to begin with your chin over the bar and your feet off the box or bench. Slowly lower your body until your arms are fully extended. Get your feet back on the bench and jump up to the starting position for the next rep.
• Triangle Push-Up: Set your hands inside shoulder-width. Perform a basic push-up keeping only your toes and hands on the ground. Lower to the ground and extend to full lockout.
• Squat: With your feet slightly wider than shoulder-width, squat as low as possible before standing fully upright. Keep your feet flat on the ground throughout each rep.
• Lunge: Begin with your feet together. Step forward with one foot. Keep your torso upright while lowering your body until your rear knee touches the ground. Stand upright and return to the starting position. Complete all reps on one side before switching legs.
• Crunch: Lie on the ground facing up with your legs bent and feet flat. Contract your abs to raise your shoulders slightly off the ground. Keep your tailbone and lower back in contact with the ground.

How to Do It: Perform each exercise with proper form. Focus on perfecting technique before increasing reps. Be sure to perform each movement with a slow and controlled cadence.

Sets and Reps: 3 x 10-15 for each exercise.

Rest Time: 60 seconds between sets.

How to Warm-Up

Just because you’re not “lifting weights” doesn’t mean you can skip a proper warm-up. Before each bodyweight workout, perform a simple warm-up to increase your core temperature and improve blood flow.

This gets your entire body ready for the work ahead and helps to prevent injuries. Do each warm-up exercise separately and without going to muscular failure.

The Full-Body Bodyweight Warm-Up

• Jumping Jack: Begin standing with your feet together and arms down at your sides. Slightly jump up and land with your feet spread apart while raising both arms sideways above your head. Jump up again and land in the starting position. That series in one rep. Perform two sets of 20 reps.
• Burpee: Begin standing upright. Squat down and place your hands on the ground. Jump your feet back and land on your toes in a push-up position. Perform one push-up. Jump your feet back in near your hands. Jump straight into the air, bending your knees upon landing. That’s one total rep. Perform two sets of 10 reps.
• Lunge: Begin with your feet together. Step forward with one foot. Keep your torso upright while lowering your body until your rear knee touches the ground. Stand upright and return to the starting position. Complete all reps on one side before switching legs. Perform two sets of 10 reps on each leg.

A Return to Bodyweight Training

With the popularity of bodyweight training increasing and its benefits becoming more and more recognized, it has proven to be a significant training method for anyone, no matter their goal.

Most lifters believe they need a fully equipped gym to build muscle, get stronger, or improve conditioning, but the right bodyweight workout can deliver results and add a different element to any fitness workouts.

References

1. Calatayud J, Borreani S, Colado JC, Martin F, Tella V, Andersen LL. Bench press and push-up at comparable levels of muscle activity results in similar strength gains. J Strength Cond Res. 2015 Jan;29(1):246-53. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000000589. PMID: 24983847.
2. Tillaar RVD. Comparison of Kinematics and Muscle Activation between Push-up and Bench Press. Sports Med Int Open. 2019;3(3):E74-E81. Published 2019 Sep 5. doi:10.1055/a-1001-2526
3. Archila LR, Bostad W, Joyner MJ, Gibala MJ. Simple Bodyweight Training Improves Cardiorespiratory Fitness with Minimal Time Commitment: A Contemporary Application of the 5BX Approach. Int J Exerc Sci. 2021 Apr 1;14(3):93-100. PMID: 34055156; PMCID: PMC8136567.
4. Martins FM, de Paula Souza A, Nunes PRP, Michelin MA, Murta EFC, Resende EAMR, de Oliveira EP, Orsatti FL. High-intensity body weight training is comparable to combined training in changes in muscle mass, physical performance, inflammatory markers and metabolic health in postmenopausal women at high risk for type 2 diabetes mellitus: A randomized controlled clinical trial. Exp Gerontol. 2018 Jul 1;107:108-115. doi: 10.1016/j.exger.2018.02.016. Epub 2018 Feb 19. PMID: 29471132.

Featured Image: DmitryStock / Shutterstock

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Danny Kavadlo, with his brother Al Kavadlo, is an authority in calisthenics and fitness.

The key to effective fitness and training is to know yourself. Introspection’s power will allow you to develop a deep sense of understanding for everything you will learn on your journey.

Danny Kavadlo, with his brother Al Kavadlo, is an authority in calisthenics and fitness.

As he puts it, “It’s important to understand that even with a definitive program, you should always be prepared to improvise. No one who ever met you can make an exact program. There will always be a need for intuition in training.”

In other words, it’s up to you to step up and find out what works.

The Enthusiast and the Casual Exerciser

The world of fitness is an automatic filtering machine that separates enthusiasts from casual exercisers. This separation doesn’t mean to discriminate, but it’s just how it is.

The enthusiast and the casual exerciser don’t think the same, they don’t live the same, and most importantly, they don’t have the same beliefs.

Here’s an example, a casual exerciser will always look to their environment for motivation, but in Al and Danny’s case:

They say, “F**K motivation. ANYONE can workout when they’re motivated! It’s working out when you’re NOT motivated that leads to success. It’s the same thing career-wise.”

The game rules are pretty simple; you have to show up and put in your time. Another level of discipline and strength that perfectionists are in pursuit of is called true strength. Danny and Al describe true strength beyond the physical.

This statement doesn’t intend to discredit the people whose goal is to look good or do the bare minimum to be healthy.

However, in 2021, the real meaning behind the words strength and health has evolved into a raw and philosophical form.

If you don’t already feel inspired by reading this, here’s why you should be. As Danny describes physical strength, “To me, true physical strength is the ability to navigate freely in this world. It’s both pound-for-pound strength and absolute strength. A combination of power, balance, and mobility.”

While many of us may not include either balance or mobility in our training, these aspects are most certainly part of the equation when it comes to long-term fitness.

Challenge Your Strength

To us, building strength isn’t just about lifting heavy weights, running ultra-marathons, or scoring the most points. It’s about self-development and the desire to push yourself beyond your limits to see how far you can go.

It’s about embracing the challenge ahead and taking it in as a lesson. Hence, no one program can change your life. You have to tweak it to fit your own needs and situation.

Regular exercise or training is essential. It regulates your blood flow, gets rid of toxins in your body, and helps you clear your head. But if you’re willing to go deeper and immerse yourself in the mindset, you will learn so much more about yourself and develop more than just physical strength.

According to Danny, “I would also include mental fortitude, emotional wellness, compassion, and willingness to help others, in addition to being physically unyielding.”

Unfortunately, the future of the fitness industry may be uncertain at this point. Many people see it as a luxury when, in fact, it should be an essential business.

Danny Kavadlo says, “While I’m saddened at the devastation to the industry, I’m more saddened by the devastation to overall health that these mandates bring: kids not in school, depression, domestic violence, suicide, alcoholism, and drug abuse. People need to work out now more than ever, and ironically, it’s being discouraged in the name of health.”

If you’re reading this, I hope your next moves include signing up for the gym, spending an extra hour each day learning about your health, or getting creative with your regular programs to test yourself. You may not need a gym to do this.

Al Kavadlo adds, “We don’t discourage it! In fact, Danny and I have been talking about the virtues of working out gym-free for years! So anyone who thinks they can’t work out without a gym is crazy! You don’t need much—or any—gear to get in shape!”

Danny and Al Kavadlo’s book, Get Strong, focuses on explosive calisthenics. It’s an amazing guide to help you develop strength, agility, and combat-ready reflexes, using only your body weight.

If you’re already pretty fit and have no problem doing pull-ups, Danny suggests, “At least ten strict pull-ups before embarking on the muscle-up, but every case is different.”

Training my body to do the muscle-up has completely changed my perception of body mechanics and training regime. It has been gratifying, and I hope that you will get the same value or even more than I have gained.

Most importantly, remember to breathe.

Al says, “It is recommended to exhale when exerting and inhale on the negative phase of an exercise.”

Breathing exercises not only help you activate your core but also assist with recovery.

The post Effective Fitness Requires an Intuitive Mindset appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

There are various forms of calisthenics/bodyweight training that you can do, based on your goals.

With the amount of information we’re exposed to, it”s easy to overcomplicate our training. When it comes to calisthenics, it appears to look unsafe because we see the end product from the best athletes, but calisthenics is for all levels.

There are various forms of calisthenics/bodyweight training that you can do, based on your goals.

It’s important to keep things simple. You need to ask yourself this question “Does my training match my goals?” I see many times that people aren’t training specifically for the goals they want.

They say they want apples, yet they are planting orange trees.

This article is meant to simplify calisthenics training, guide you from beginner to advanced, and show you how all levels can use the body as a paintbrush to create a masterpiece.

General Strength- Beginner to Intermediate

I know the temptation to advance as quickly as possible is significant, but it will only lead to injuries, massive weakness, burnout, and frustration.

If you haven’t done this style of training before, then start with the basics. Work on the big six:

1. Pullups
2. Dips
3. Rows
4. Pushups
5. Handstands
6. L-sit

These are the pillars of calisthenics training because they cover the muscle groups used in many advanced skills. Do this for 3-6 months.

It may seem long, but it is the quickest way to advance.

If you skip this vital stage in your development, you’ll still have to come back to it because the chinks in your armor will show, and progress will be slow.

During this phase, the aim is to learn your first pullup.

For example, get comfortable with doing 12 + reps. As you progress, begin implementing different variations of these moves in the free beginner calisthenics program, Bodyweight Strong.

Use this time to improve your mobility and flexibility so that it won’t restrict you later.

Keep in mind less is more. More time in the gym and more days of training will not make for better results.

As a beginner, train 2-4 days a week. One hour per session is enough time to put in good, quality work while allowing adequate time for your body to recover.

Specific Strength- Intermediate to Advanced

This is when you start to focus on specific goals like static skills, freestyling, and rings.

Choose 2-3 goals to focus on:

• The front lever
• Handstand pushups
• Muscle-up 360s
• 30 Continuous pullups

It really depends on what you want and where you want to take your training.

Design your program in 4-8 week blocks, with your overall training 3-6 days per week.

For example, if your goal is the muscle-up and handstand pushups, each exercise you choose for your program should improve some aspect towards reaching those specific goals.

• For the muscle-up, you work on specific pulling strength, explosiveness, grip, and core.
• Handstand pushups work on specific pushing strength and balance. If it doesn’t improve those aspects, then eliminate it.

I see too many people trying to cover every movement pattern and work on every weakness.

Less is more. You can always change your focus in the next program.

Build Strength

The word strength is used too loosely in fitness, so let’s define it. When I mention strength, I refer to absolute strength as 1 rep max and maximal strength (85% to 90% of 1 RM).

The stronger you are, the more calisthenics skills you can do.

Understand that your body has three energy systems that it uses independently or simultaneously to contract your muscles.

1. Creatine phosphate lasts 1-12 seconds and is used for high intensity and demanding tasks such as heavyweight or difficult bodyweight exercises that you can only do for low reps.
2. The glycolysis and oxidative system are used for muscle building, conditioning, and endurance.
3. The anaerobic system lasts for 10 seconds – 2 minutes. The aerobic system is low intensity and lasts for a long time. This is your endurance training or for daily tasks.

Strength training is taxing on the nervous system, requiring a minimum of 24 hours to recover between strength sessions.

• Train 2-4 days per week.
• Training your absolute strength to failure should be used sparingly to test your current level or gain that motivational boost.
• You cannot train like this all the time because your nervous system will not recover between sessions, and it will ruin your progress.
• Instead, train your maximal strength leaving 1 rep in reserve. If you know/ think that you can do 3 reps of an exercise max (e.g., muscle-ups), do 2 reps for all your sets.
• This builds strength while not overtaxing the nervous system.
• Train high sets in the 4-8 and 1-5 rep range.
• For isometrics (during contraction, the muscles don’t noticeably change the length, and the affected joints don’t move), 1-12s.
• Eccentrics (contraction caused by the muscle’s lengthening) 1-5 reps, each rep 7 seconds long.

Remember, if you feel the pump or burn in your muscles, you’re no longer training strength.

Build Muscle

Run from anyone who says, “You can’t build muscle with calisthenics.”

Your muscles don’t know the difference between bodyweight exercises, weights, or a table.

It can’t identify whether you’re picking up a 6 kg, 20 kg dumbbell, or bodyweight. Your body feels the resistance, intensity, and how taxing a movement is.

How does the training look? A rep range of 6-12 reps (working at 65-85% of 1 rep max) is the most effective way to stimulate muscle growth.

Instead of increasing the weight, you increase the difficulty of the bodyweight exercises.

Choose exercises that are challenging to you in this rep range.

When pullups become easy, do a harder variation such as close-grip pullups. Utilize the same muscle-building techniques you would with weights such as mechanical tension, eccentric damage, metabolic stress, push-pull splits, or drop sets.

The current culture wants to create a rivalry between calisthenics and weights when the reality is you can use both.

Gymnastics is a bodyweight sport, and they utilize weights in their training.

Many sports, football, basketball, athletics, use weights to improve performance, calisthenics is the same.

• Doing weighted calisthenics, such as weighted pull-ups and weighted dips, is a great way to build strength and muscle.
• Bodyweight exercises and weights are great for training compound movements (multiple muscle groups and joints).
• There’s a wide variety of isolation exercises (multiple muscle groups and one joint). With isolation exercise, you can target certain muscles, which is great for improving aesthetics.

The lower-body is naturally powerful, so bodyweight training can only go so far. That’s why weighted squats, deadlifts, hip thrusts are excellent for building muscle.

Match Training to Goals

I always say there’s no perfect way to train. It depends on your abilities and goals.

Make sure your training matches your goals, and train specifically with them in mind.

Train like a powerlifter if you want to do those advanced calisthenics skills.

Train like a bodybuilder if you want to be in the best shape of your life.

Train like an athlete if you want to be crazy fit or do freestyling.

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The Determination to Get Strong

Like most young boys, I had lots of energy and a big desire to get strong in spite of my environment—or maybe because of it. Gyms were out, as we were too young and poor for them anyway, so I started out in fitness doing classic calisthenics exercises like push ups and sit ups on my own. I still consider these exercises to be two of the very best for people of all age groups and fitness levels.

Push ups lead to pull ups. Pull ups lead to dips. I inherited a dusty, old bench and some weights from an uncle. Soon bench press, curls, and military press were incorporated. Squats and deadlifts came later. I lifted weights for the next twenty years or so in conjunction with a steady, intense dose of calisthenics. The often-perpetuated notion that you must choose between external weight training or bodyweight training is one of the silliest concepts I’ve ever heard. The two are not mutually exclusive. They both make you strong, and work fantastically in conjunction with one another.

I was content with my hybrid training until the year 2006 when I saw something at a downtown park that blew my mind: a muscle up.

Game changer.

At this point, I switched my training to almost exclusively calisthenics. This wasn’t because it was “better” or any more worthy than weightlifting, but simply because I was excited. Deep in my heart, I wanted to master that muscle up, and that would take time. Nothing comes easy and I needed to devote effort to this cause, so I allocated more time to bodyweight training, which left less time for weights.

Training for Longevity

We train to be fitter and stronger and to navigate through this life with greater vitality and longevity. Training the muscle up and other street workout “money moves” made me feel more alive than I’d felt in a very long time. My passion for training was ignited all over again and I was on fire.

In the last eleven years since I first witnessed that muscle up, outdoor calisthenics has grown to an immense level of popularity. Although many consider this a “movement” (a word that gets thrown around a lot these days), I consider it a return to the basics. After all, bodyweight training has been around since the dawn of man, and precedes the invention of barbells, kettlebells, and isolation machines. Some people are profoundly inspired by this resurgence, as I was. Others are not and I get it. It’s easy to look at YouTube or Facebook and get bombarded with images of extreme calisthenics or seemingly impossible moves and simply write them off as party tricks. Well, they’re not.

In fact, the following five exercises are some of the most amazing demonstrations of strength and skill in the entire exercise kingdom. Each of these movements fuses power, mobility, and balance. Not only do they require great muscular recruitment, but they also demand a practical rehearsal of the movement patterns themselves. For that reason, it is important to be patient. Some are harder than they may appear, but like all exercises, they can be learned with discipline, hard work, and consistency. Anything can.

Furthermore, it is important to have a solid foundation in the basics before attempting these “money moves.” Make sure you’re up to snuff in your push ups, pull ups, squats, lunges, and dips. That’s where it begins. What follows is how far it can go. Enjoy the ride!

The 5 Street “Money Moves”: 1. The Muscle Up

As you know, this was the exercise that changed it all for me. Many people view the muscle up as a combination of a pull up and a dip, and while it does borrow from both, the muscle up is truly a unique exercise in its own right.

To perform a muscle up, hang from the bar with an overhand grip and your hands positioned slightly narrower than you would for a pull up. Lean back and pull the bar all the way down to your sternum. At the top of your pull, reach your chest over the bar and extend your arms. Unlike a strict pull up, the body does not travel straight up and down in a muscle up; it must maneuver around the bar in a different movement pattern. I recommend extending your legs in front of you as a counterweight to help you keep your balance during this transition. It will take some practice to get a feel for the timing. Respect the journey.

The 5 Street “Money Moves”: 2. The One Arm Push Up

The first time I and so many others from my generation saw a one arm push up, it was performed by Sylvester Stallone in the motion picture Rocky. This left an indelible mark on the Danny Kavadlo of yesteryear. Clearly, I’ve been working on this one a long time.

Start in a standard push up position, but with your feet further apart and your hands closer together. I recommend keeping your feet apart because this wider stance can help eliminate any wavering or “snaking” at the hips (which is virtually impossible to eliminate with your feet completely together). In other words, the body should be a moving plank.

Keep tension throughout your entire body and remove one hand from the floor, placing it at your side. Bend at the elbow and shoulder of your grounded arm and lower your chest toward the floor, making sure to keep your elbow close to your side. Pause briefly with your chest approximately one inch from the ground, then press yourself back to the top, maintaining tension in your abs, glutes, and legs the entire time. In time, you can even attempt one arm plyometric push ups like the Italian Stallion.

The 5 Street “Money Moves”: 3. The Pistol Squat

Even guys who can barbell back squat an enormous amount of weight can find the pistol squat to be extremely challenging, even humbling. I know I did. Because of the incredible amount of mobility and balance required for this exercise, even seasoned squatters need to proceed with caution.

Begin your pistol squat by standing upright and lift one leg forward in the air with your knee fully extended. Reach your arms in front of you and bend from the hip, knee, and ankle of your standing leg to squat down as low as possible. Pause when your hamstrings come in contact with your calf, keeping tension throughout your body, then return to the top position.

The 5 Street “Money Moves”: 4. The Human Flag

The human flag is perhaps the single most breathtaking visual in the street workout stratosphere. Picture it: A human being suspended horizontally in the air with no points of contact than only their two hands on a vertical object. Whoa.

Let’s give it a try.

Begin the human flag by placing your hands onto a vertical pole. They should be slightly wider than shoulder width apart. Keeping your bottom arm locked and your grip tight, kick up into a horizontal position with your body perpendicular to the pole. Brace every muscle in your body as you press with your bottom arm and pull with your top arm. Positioning your body at a slightly lower (or higher) angle and/or tucking one or both knees are good ways to train until you are capable of achieving the full expression of the human flag.

The 5 Street “Money Moves”: 5. The Front Lever

The front lever is straight out of the school of “harder than it looks” exercises. When people first see it, they often don’t realize what it takes to properly execute it. I assure you, this beast takes some time to tame.

To perform a front lever, start out in an active hanging position, with your hands firmly gripped to a bar, your scapula retracted, and your shoulders packed. Make sure there is tension in your entire body. Keep your elbows locked and squeeze the bar tightly as you pull your body up until it is parallel to the ground. It can be helpful to envision driving the bar down toward your hips. Flex your lats, abs, glutes, and quadriceps in order to maintain a straight body. Hold this position, then lower yourself back down.

Embrace the Challenge

Remember, my friends, you don’t have to be from the streets to practice. These exercises are for everybody who is ready for a unique physical challenge. Train hard and have fun. That’s what it’s all about—now go get that money!

The post The Top 5 Street Workout Money Moves appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

It is easy to get caught up in trendy accessory work or fancy exercises and tools, although time and again we are reminded that Mr. Miyagi was right: the most basic ways of training are almost always the most effective. Want to bicycle kick a goal in a soccer game? Practice the bicycle kick every practice. Want to deadlift 500 lbs.? You’re going to have to deadlift consistently. The same applies with calisthenic or bodyweight skills.

In this article I am going to outline a simple progression to help you master any calisthenic movement using a technique that is not so secret: motor patterns.

You’ll never be able to do a human flagpole unless you practice the human flagpole.

Drill the Pattern

Creating a motor pattern is ingraining a movement into your central nervous system by doing it over and over again. The best way to do muscle ups, planches, and handstands is by doing them over and over again until they are permanently embedded in your central nervous system. The key to this technique is to always practice the full movement or position. I consistently see more advanced bodyweight movements being broken down, with athletes isolating certain parts of the movement. This neglects the motor pattern and is not the best way to condition the muscles for the movement. Now I know what you’re thinking, “but I can’t even do one muscle up, so how am I going to get better at them?” The answer is by performing these exact movements, but with various levels of assistance.

Instead of breaking down the movements into steps, perform the full motion of the exercise in this order of assistance: a plyometric box, assistance bands, and a partner. The plyometric box will support almost all of your weight in the beginning (the only move that will differ is the handstand where a wall will be used). A plyometric box can also be used to shorten the lever arm if needed. For example, putting the box under your thighs in the planche or under the hips in the human flag instead of at the end of the lever, which would be at the end of the feet. Over time put less of your weight on the box or wall, and use more of your strength to perform the exercise.

Once the movement with the plyometric box becomes comfortable, use various levels of assistance bands before moving on to working with a partner. Your partner can critique form and give you a little momentum boost or a tiny bit of extra support. For example, in the human flag your partner should be all the way at the end of your feet, just barely supporting them with a couple of fingers. Your partner can also help increase your muscular endurance. Start holding the human flag by yourself, then have your partner give you two fingers or support after five seconds, four fingers of support after ten seconds, and support a good portion of the load after fifteen seconds. For handstands, use a partner to form two columns on either side of your feet with their hands. When your feet begin drifting forward or backward too much, your partner will give your feet a small push back to the center.

Mastering the Muscle Up

This technique is simple and effective. When I first started getting into advanced calisthenics I could not perform a single muscle up. I could do nineteen strict dead hang chest-to-bar pull ups, but I couldn’t get past the transition of the muscle up. I had the strength and conditioning, but the movement felt foreign. I tried tons of different progressions, breaking down the movement, isolating certain parts, but still, nothing. Then one day it clicked, why not just do the full movement? Once I started using assistance progressions to establish the motor pattern of the movement, I finally became comfortable with the full movement and the muscle up came easy. I did my first muscle up in less than two training sessions. The next week I could do three repetitions without any assistance, the week after that five, and so on.

Since that day I have used assistance progressions to motor pattern almost every advanced calisthenic movement. I have seen clients who were stuck on certain movements for months, have a breakthrough in just one or two sessions using this simple training technique.

Here is the full list of motor pattern assistance progressions for the muscle up:

1. Start out standing with two feet on a plyometric box in the height of the dip position.
2. Next, squat down while performing the muscle up but keep all of the weight on the box, rather than using your upper body strength. Do this over and over. This is the best way to get used to the false grip, the transition, and the overall feel of the movement.
3. Over time, put less of your weight on your feet and use more of your upper body strength to perform the movement. Once you can perform five reps using two feet, use only one foot to hold your bodyweight. Then use only the tiptoes on one foot.
4. Next, use an assistance band under your knees. Start with a band that gives you 50lbs of assistance, then use a band with 30lbs of assistance, and a band with 15lb of assistance.
5. Finally, have a friend push up the bottom of your feet for a little momentum.

Work on the on the full movement every single time to master the motor pattern, then make the assistance less and less as you become stronger in the movement.

Master the Basics

Training new and advanced movements with this technique will make progressions and programming seamless. There is no need for accessory work or complicated isolations. You will progress by building muscular endurance in each assistance. For static hold movements such as the planche, human flag, or levers, lighten the assistance when you can perform a static hold for 30 seconds at the current progression. For repetition movements such as the muscle up, handstand push up, or one arm pull up, build up to 5 repetitions at each assistance level before progressing. If you can’t perform the movement with full assistance, then you most likely have a mobility impairment that would need to be addressed before training.

Always perform the full movement to pound that motor pattern into your central nervous system. Get out there, be creative, find new environments, have fun, and soon you will be swooning people with your calisthenic skills.

Protect your body from the aches and pains of bodyweight training:

Prep Your Joints for Muscle Ups

The post Motor Pattern Training for Advanced Calisthenics appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

If you’re a fan of the Convict Conditioning book and DVD series, or of bodyweight training in general, you would be interested to know that this popular series from Dragon Door now includes a log book. The Ultimate Bodyweight Training Log is offered by Paul “Coach” Wade as a supplement to his Convict Conditioning program.

The book opens by stating the importance of log books in relation to progress. Keeping track of your goals and work is an important part of success as an athlete. The book starts with a few words of wisdom and then launches into over two hundred pages of the meat and potatoes, the log itself. After that there are a few charts and progression logs. Overall, it’s a very simple design that I like.

In the log section, each time you turn the page you get a page for the log itself and a page with a bit of exercise wisdom or inspiration. There are over one hundred days worth of logs, each with bonus advice of some kind. As it is, the book will last most people six months to a year.

The half dozen workouts presented are solid and basic bodyweight workouts with a progression from beginner to advanced. You can also use the progression charts at the end of the book to formulate your own plan to take your bodyweight routine to the next level. If you’re like me and are always paging through your Convict Conditioning book trying to find the pages with the progression numbers, these charts in this log book are a welcome resource.

I’m a fan of the simplicity and straightforward nature of this log book. Some readers may prefer a more stylized log book with more information, like the CrossFit-focused WODbooks. However, personally, I find this one less confining albeit a bit too expensive.

The “Convict Conditioning Ultimate Bodyweight Training Log” is available for $29.95 at DragonDoor.com.

The post Book Review: “Convict Conditioning Ultimate Bodyweight Training Log” by Paul Wade appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

I love calisthenics. Bodyweight exercises and their weighted versions are very effective and the most versatile method of resistance training. You can do them anywhere at any time, even if you have no equipment at all. If you do want to add weight or variety, with a little imagination the objects and features around your own home or your town can provide endless opportunities. This is something that Al Kavadlo understands.

If you’re a fan of calisthenics like me, chances are you’ve at least heard Al’s name. And for good reason, thanks to his childhood love of pro-wrestling, Al has a larger than life personality that shines through in his products. His new book, Pushing the Limits, is a follow up to his previous book and DVD set called Raising the Bar. In the latter Al focused on three primary bar exercises. Although a bar is a simple piece of equipment most people have right in their homes or nearby at a local playground, in Pushing the Limits no equipment is needed at all. It’s just you.

No excuses allowed any more about time, space, or money. Al provides the form, function, and philosophy of his three favorite floor exercises. I know you might be thinking, “Just three exercises in a whole book?” Well, not quite. These three exercises are more like your goals, and for each of these three goals Al provides a path of exercise progressions and alternate versions that could last you many years to come.

The book doesn’t give a direct program to follow. That might sound like a bad thing, but for an experienced coach and athlete like myself, I’d much prefer a book like this than one with endless charts of exactly what to do each day. I like to experiment and have fun when I exercise, and that’s exactly the spirit with which Al approaches training. But never fear – if you’re just starting out, Al gives you guidelines to follow, advising you on how to progress to each stage, but never micromanaging. Honestly, goal-oriented training with a focus on just a few objectives is probably the best way for any of us to train anyway.

As for the book itself, it’s fairly well designed and loaded with pictures and details. You might find the price a bit steep for what it is, but I suppose it’s cheaper than a gym membership. If you’ve been around the bodyweight training block, and have other calisthenics training books of similar type to this one, you may not find a lot of new stuff here either. Nothing will surprise the experienced gymnasts among our readers.

If, on the other hand, training with no equipment is new to you, this is a great book to get. Al takes his time describing each move, and its benefits. He supports getting to know each exercise in depth before proceeding – a good practice for people at any level. And he walks the walk, demonstrating each exercise, even the easiest ones, as though he does them himself every day.

In addition to Al’s freestyle method of training, which I think is ideal, he also is very up front about himself, which I find to be a rare and satisfying aspect of his work. He describes his own history and his own present training, where others are silent. When you read Al’s work you’ll know exactly what it took for a scrawny teenager to become an accomplished and successful athlete and coach, and Al will be the first to tell you he’s got a lot more work to put in. I don’t know about you, but to me that’s inspiring.

“Pushing the Limits” ebook is available for $39.95 at DragonDoor.com.

Read our review of Al’s first book Raising the Bar

Al has been featured as a coach here on Breaking Muscle, too. Check out his free four weeks of bodyweight progressions and an excerpt from “Raising the Bar.”

The post Book Review: “Pushing the Limits” by Al Kavadlo appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Working on a bar for fitness is a special thing when you think about it. Unlike a lot of floor exercises you are pretty much required to lift your entire weight, often with only your arms. That alone makes it a daunting task. Add into that moves where you whip your whole body around a bar, and you’re moving into gymnastics territory, which appeals to a whole new set of internal blocks about being upside down or falling from a suspended place.

The pullup itself has almost a mythical status as an exercise. It’s one of the most humbling exercises there is, and as such, is one of the most impressive to see done with mastery. One such master is Al Kavadlo, author and presenter of the Raising the Bar book and DVD. In this series, Al focuses on pushing the limits of human ability using nothing but a pullup bar.

To start, the book and DVD are separate products. Each follows the same basic path and covers the same content so I’d recommend picking one over the other depending on your preferences. Some of the exercises are complicated enough that it helped me to be able to actually see them performed by Al and his brother Danny.

Each of these products covers a few basic bar lifts, namely the pullup, dip, muscleup, and levers, as well as handstands and handstand pushups to balance out the musculature. With a goal-oriented focus on just a few lifts, Al takes you through a progression of the exercises that will allow you to master the ultimate versions of each. There are also fun alternate versions, and in the DVD the brothers demonstrate even more twists and variations that are possible.

Production wise, these are great products, with good quality and good design. Al himself had a huge hand in the design, putting much of each work together personally and even performing the music heard on the DVD. The level of care and love for what he does shines through in all of Al’s work. Although the book might be a bit pricey for what it is, a lot of effort was put into a solid product and it will save you the cost of a gym membership anyway.

The brothers can come off as a bit over the top, which might bother stuffy people when watching the DVD. If you think that’s you, stick with the book if you decide to purchase only one of these items. Their antics add a bit of levity to the DVD, however, that I personally think adds to its aura. Al smiles like a masochist when he exercises, which, in turn, makes me want to enjoy training that much more.

Bottom line, if you are interested in a great progression of bar exercises with some details and versions you haven’t heard of before, I recommend this series. You probably don’t need both the book and the DVD. If you’re looking at getting just one of these two, I’d personally recommend the DVD. Not only do you save a little money, but seeing the moves done gives you a little more and provides added motivation to get out there and hit the bar yourself.

As a final note, this is something that needs to be said that, to me, adds a ton to these products. Al is clearly a very approachable and likable guy and seems to be ever accessible on his blog, where he provides quality information for free, which I think makes anything he charges for worth double the going rate. A good trainer you can actually talk to? That wants to be talked to? Unheard of in this industry without paying top dollar. But that’s Al. Honestly, I want to be friends with Al, that’s how much I respect the guy. Let’s get a beer Al.

“Raising the Bar” DVD is available for $29.95 at DragonDoor.com.

“Raising the Bar” Book is available for $39.95 at DragonDoor.com.

NOTE: Al Kavadlo will be a featured coach here on Breaking Muscle starting 3/25/13. Keep an eye out for book excerpts and free coaching advice from Al!

The post DVD & Book Review: “Raising the Bar” by Al Kavadlo appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Crisis or Motivation?

We’ve all heard the expression “mid-life crisis,” a term coined by psychoanalyst Elliot Jaques in 1965. It refers to a time in life when an individual reaches roughly half of his or her expected lifetime, and reflects deeply upon life and accomplishments.

We’ve all heard stories of people buying sports cars, having affairs, traveling to far-away places, or following other impulses in an attempt to regain the vigor of youth that has seemingly slipped away.

Though our reactions vary, we all feel the pinch of the mid-life. It’s hard not to when we’re often told we reach our physical prime in our twenties and it’s “all downhill from there.” This sort of thinking is problematic, however.

MOVE IT: A Primer on Motivation and Goal-Setting

Your Strongest Days May Well Be Ahead

In a culture dominated by cubicle dwellers, video game junkies, and sedentary couch potatoes, many of us have never tested the limits of our strength or endurance. We have no idea if our physical best did indeed occur in the past, and if we are now over age forty, it’s hard to believe our physical best may still lie ahead. We have no clue.

While your days on the high school basketball team may seem long ago, and you’re not exactly running marathons every weekend, I’m here to tell you that you have not peaked. Not by a longshot. Your strongest days may well be ahead.

LEARN MORE: Sitting at Your Desk Is Eating Your Muscles

Don’t Fight It – You’re Getting Old

Right before I turned forty I experienced several major life changes almost simultaneously: a girlfriend left suddenly, I got laid off from my job, and a new landlord tried to illegally evict me from my apartment building.

Fast forward another couple years and I began to notice changes in my body. I wasn’t rebounding as quickly from the occasional scrape or low-grade illness and I felt more sluggish in general.

Friends my age told me to shrug it off, that this sort of thing came with age, but that answer didn’t sit right with me. As a lifelong martial artist, I became fixated on fighting back and, luckily for me, I found an answer that has been working.

For the past year and a half I’ve been following a regimen of progressive bodyweight strength training (calisthenics), based on a book called Convict Conditioning (CC for short). I’ll admit the title is a little sketchy and may mislead potential buyers, but the information inside will change your workout perspective, if not your life.

Top 6 Ways to Know You’re a Mature Athlete: An Honest Look at Our Aging Selves

Progressive Calisthenics – Strength Without Equipment

Convict Conditioning (as well as its sequel, Convict Conditioning 2) is a manual on how to gain strength using virtually no equipment at all. Instead, the author promotes progressive calisthenics as the way to get seriously strong.

There are “The Big Six” exercises – pushups, leg lifts, pullups, squats, bridges, and handstand pushups – as well as exercises for developing the grip, the neck, and the calves. Other than a pullup bar and a basketball, virtually no equipment is needed to achieve high levels of strength working creatively with bodyweight alone.

I’ve found the secret to CC is its emphasis on progressive training over time. As a 43-year-old professional I’m not interested in getting injured, and I’m not looking for the promise of quick (and often unsustainable) results overnight.

BONUS: 180 Free Bodyweight Workouts!

Do The Time

At its core, progressive training, using this book or any other method, is about taking a particular strength building exercise (like pushups, for example) and scaling it from easy to difficult over many steps.

This method assures that anyone can improve over time, no matter the starting point. Practically speaking, this means beginners can start at a more comfortable place, like wall pushups, while those who are already incredibly strong can work one-arm pushups.

LEARN MORE: Kinetic Analysis of the Push-Up: Which Version Is Hardest?

There are many levels of difficulty in between these points, such as pushups off a desk, pushups from the knees, etc.

The most effective result of this type of approach, in my opinion, is that it greatly minimizes the chance of injury, while allowing slow and consistent gains in strength that are sustainable over time. To me, the best exercise routine is one that provides a clear, consistent, and gradual path to your goals.

DO MORE: Everything You Need to Know to Do a Perfect Pistol

Look Strong, or Be Strong?

Some may write off Convict Conditioning-style training as another fad, but calisthenics have been around for centuries. Most old-time strongmen are renowned for their feats of strength involving advanced calisthenics and gymnastic movements.

There have been trends in modern times that promote “getting ripped,” or developing “washboard abs.” I’ve noticed that while the allure of looking good may never go away, the desire to simply look strong is gradually being replaced by a desire to actually be strong.

Lofty Goals, Clear Path

Admittedly, it takes a certain kind of individual to get into this sort of exercise routine. I started blogging about my experience with Convict Conditioning as a means to keep myself motivated and accountable.

Many of my readers are attracted to the minimalist mindset and to the extreme difficulty of the goals the author sets out as ultimate challenges to achieve over time: the one arm pushup, one arm pullup, and one arm handstand pushup.

I also find that many people who are attracted to this concept of minimalist, austere, and often solitary training are in their late thirties and forties. For many, like me, a light bulb went off in their head – an indication that it’s now or never to discover how strong they can be, and, in some cases, how strong they will ever be.

It’s an opportunity to bulletproof their bodies against the effects of growing older as they face the inevitable, albeit gradual, decline in physical ability – all while guarding judiciously against injury.

FIX WHAT AILS YOU: The Dynamic Duo of Shoulder Impingement

What Can You Accomplish?

Read our reviews of “Convict Conditioning” and “Convict Conditioning 2.”

Photos courtesy of Shutterstock.

The post The New Mid-Life Crisis: Testing Our Limits Before We’re Too Old appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Who would have thought prisons would be the last bastions of true fitness? This is the idea put forth by Paul Wade in his books Convict Conditioning and Convict Conditioning 2. Wade’s story is a unique one, in and of itself. If you’ve read some of the Convict Conditioning story excerpts that we’ve featured on Breaking Muscle, then you know he is a nearly twenty-year veteran of the penal system. He learned about bodyweight exercises and calisthenics from the professionals – hardcore convicts without access to equipment.

In a strange twist of fate, while the outside world evolved gyms into body-building based, non-athletic endeavors, those inside prison walls had no choice but to rely on their bodies and basic, minimal equipment to get strong. According to Wade they are the ultimate proof that calisthenics and old-school exercises work.

In the first Convict Conditioning book Wade focused on the six fundamental strength movements (push up, squat, pull up, leg raise, bridge, handstand push up), as well as the associated progressions and variations. In this second installment, the focus is “strength-calisthenics” and some of the more peripheral parts of the athlete’s body.

In the first section of Convict Conditioning 2, Wade addresses:

1. Forearm Strength
2. Grip Types and Progressions
3. Fingertrip Push Ups
4. Flag Types and Progressions
5. Neck Strength and Bridges
6. Calf Training

In section two Wade goes on to talk about “bulletproofing” your joints, mobility, flexibility, and what stretching actually consists of. He gives detailed instruction on how to strengthen up your joints and tendons in a healthy way, while also building flexibility. He outlines a plan for developing mobility in your body addressing all three areas – anterior, posterior, and lateral – so that your body is balanced, not just in strength, but also in stretching.

At this point Wade goes into detail about various holds he recommends for prehab/rehab:

1. Bridge Holds
2. L-Hold Progressions
3. Twist Progressions

In section three of the book Wade ventures outside the gym, but still sources the prison for expertise. Here Wade discusses aspects that contribute greatly to the success of training, but are often overlooked as factors – sleep, stress, drugs (although most of us won’t ever be offered “pruno”), and alcohol. Wade also delves into nutrition, complete with a prison-based meal plan. To wrap up this section he discusses tactics for healing from injury and basic mental skills to keep your mind in the strength game.

One of the plusses about the book’s layout are the pages clearly outlining the progressions for the movements. The order of exercises are listed, as well as the pages in the book where they are explained. The book is clearly illustrated and in great detail, with hundreds of full-color photographs. Wade also intersperses stories of his prison life throughout the book, which also add a bit of “color.” On the other hand, if you’ve read the first book, you might feel like you’ve read some of this same material, but the organization of the book makes it easy for you to skip ahead.

If you’re a hard core calisthenics fan or just a regular person looking to add some solid, bodyweight movements to your protocol, this book would be a great addition to your library. I enjoyed reading through this book for all of the following reason: Paul Wade’s vast technical knowledge, finding a variety of progressions and movements to work into my own exercise routine, and the entertainment and education of Wade’s prison stories.

Convict Conditioning 2 is available at Dragondoor.com for $39.95.

The original Convict Conditioning is also available at Dragondoor.com for $39.95.

You can also read Paul Wade’s prison story or try three weeks of his workouts.

The post Book Review: “Convict Conditioning 2” by Paul Wade appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

EDITOR’S NOTE: While we normally interview our featured coaches, that was not possible with Paul Wade. In fact, Paul Wade does not do interviews and does not allow photographs of himself. Why? Because the “convict” in Convict Conditioning is no joke.

The following in an excerpt from Coach Wade’s book Convict Conditioning:

Old School vs New School Calisthenics

When the barbells and machines began to really take over in the second half of the twentieth century, all of the hard-earned, ancient knowledge regarding bodyweight training became considered redundant.

Immaterial to the modern age. Dazzled by the new gadgets and the methods associated with them, fewer and fewer people continued using these ancient old school methods and they began to die out.

Today, bodyweight strength training has been almost totally replaced by weight-training with machines, barbells, and dumbbells. Bodyweight training is seen as the feeble sibling of these newer approaches, and has been relegated to the sidelines. The old school skills and systems dwindled through disuse and became lost. All that survived was the basic minimum.

Today, when people – even so called strength “experts” – talk about bodyweight training, they only really know the beginners’ movements – pushups, deep knee-bends, etc.

To this they add a few useless and pathetic modern exercises, like ab crunches. These exercises are given to school children, weaklings, or are done as warm ups or to develop light endurance.

Compared to the traditional, strength-based attitude, this approach could be called new school calisthenics. Old school calisthenics – which involved bodyweight systems designed to progressively develop inhuman power and strength – have almost died out.

Almost.

The Role of Prisons in Preserving the Older Systems

There was one place that the old school calisthenics never died out; a place where the older systems were perfectly preserved, like an ancient insect trapped in amber – in prisons.

The reason for this is obvious. The massive revolution in training technology, which killed off old school calisthenics on the outside, never occurred in prisons.

Either that, or it occurred very late. The barbell and dumbbell-based gyms that became the rage in the fifties and sixties? Not in prisons. Very primitive weight pits didn’t start appearing until the late seventies.

The “indispensable” strength training machines upon which most gyms became built in the seventies and eighties are still largely absent from prison gyms.

In effect, this means that – while the rest of the strength training world was undergoing a huge “modernization” during the twentieth century – prisons were like a bubble.

The traditions that were being killed off in gymnasiums up and down the country stayed alive in prisons, because they weren’t choked to death by technology and the money associated with novelty gimmicks.

During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the guys who got incarcerated and knew how to do true bodyweight training based on strength – the gymnasts, acrobats, circus performers and strongmen – passed their knowledge on to other inmates.

This knowledge – old school calisthenics – was gold in prisons, where no exercise equipment at all was to be found, with the exception of the bars overhead and the floor below. And being physically strong as well as agile was essential – those days were tough.

Life in prisons today is harsh, but going back a century or so, things were even harder. Beatings and cruel treatment were a part of the expected daily grind, and inmates killed and seriously wounded each other as a matter of routine.

The handful of guys who trained for strength in their cells did so to literally stay alive.

They trained furiously and with enormous seriousness – being powerful was a life or death matter! In this sense, those inmates from our past were no different from the Spartans led by Leonidas sixty-eight centuries ago. They all depended on their power to survive, and in order to develop that power they trained in traditional calisthenics.

The Origin of Convict Conditioning

To this day, prisoners all over the world still train using old school calisthenics. During my decades inside the nation’s prisons, I’ve been obsessed with strength and fitness. Over time, this changed into an obsession with bodyweight training – calisthenics.

Only after several years inside did I begin to understand the true nature and value of productive bodyweight exercise, and it took years after that until I was able to piece together the “secret history” of old school calisthenics, and the role that prisons have played in preserving these arts.

In my time, I’ve read everything I can about training and exercise, and ways of developing the body with little or no equipment. I’ve had the privilege of seeing how hundreds of unbelievably strong and athletic prison-trained men work out, using only their bodyweight.

Many of these guys have had phenomenal ability and practically Olympian strength and fitness; but you’ll never see them or get to read about their training in magazines due to their personal histories and lowly place on society’s ladder.

I’ve seen what these men can do, and spoken to them in depth about their methods. I’ve been honored to befriend and spend long periods with the previous generation of convicts, guys who were old enough to remember the strongmen who were actually trained by the strongmen of the second Golden Age of physical culture; guys who met the old strongmen, heard their theories and knew how they exercised.

Following their lead, I’ve trained myself day and night with merciless techniques until my body ached and my hands bled; I’ve coached hundreds of other athletes, further honing my knowledge of bodyweight exercise.

I’ve made it my job to find out more about old school calisthenics than any other man alive.

Over the years, I’ve collected dozens of notebooks and taken the finest ideas and techniques from all the systems I’ve learned on the inside, to develop the ultimate form of calisthenics… a method that can be used progressively to develop titanic power, agility and fitness; a method that requires no special equipment, minimal time and minimal complexity in application.

This system represents the best of the best of what I’ve learned. It is the system which is known today as Convict Conditioning, and it’s the subject of this book.

But despite the name and the origins, Convict Conditioning isn’t just for prisoners—it has a whole host of benefits to offer anybody who wants to become extremely powerful and fit while staying at the peak of health.

Read other excerpts from Paul’s books:

• How I Learned My Craft: Doing Time
• The Forgotten Art of Bodyweight Training

To follow Coach Wade’s three weeks of workouts here on Breaking Muscle follow this link: Strength & Conditioning Workouts from Paul Wade

Convict Conditioning and Convict Conditioning 2 are available through Dragon Door.

The post Convict Conditioning: Old School vs New School Calisthenics (Book Excerpt) appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

In this week’s book excerpt Paul talks about the merits of bodyweight training and how it has disappeared from mainstream fitness:

The Forgotten Art of Bodyweight Training

Walk into virtually any gym in the world and you will find any number of pumped up steroid users who think that they are “strong” men because they have eighteen-inch arms, can bench press a heavy bar, or look big in a tank top or T-shirt.

But how many of them are truly powerful?

• How many of them have genuine athletic strength they can use?
• How many of them could drop and give you twenty perfect one-arm pushups?
• How many of them have spines that are strong enough, flexible enough and healthy enough that they can bend over backwards and touch the floor?
• How many have the pure knee and hip power to squat right down to the ground and stand up again – on one leg?
• How many of them could grab hold of an overhead bar and execute a flawless one-arm pullup?

The answer is:

Almost none.

You will find almost no bodybuilder in any gym today who can perform these simple bodyweight feats. And yet the kind of bloated poser you see strutting the average gym floor is viewed by the media and the modern public as the epitome of strength and fitness.

The bodybuilder-type has become the accepted status quo of ultimate conditioning. This seems like total insanity to me. What does it matter how much weight you claim to be able to lift in a gym or on a special machine? How can somebody be considered to be “strong” if he can’t even move his own body around as nature intended?

Becoming Strong

The average gym junkie today is all about appearance, not ability. Flash, not function. These men may have big, artificially pumped up limbs, but all that the size is in the muscle tissue; their tendons and joints are weak. Ask most musclemen to do a deep one-leg squat – ass-to-floor-style – and his knee ligaments would probably snap in two. What strength most bodybuilders do have, they cannot use in a coordinated way; if you asked them to walk on their hands they’d fall flat on their faces.

I don’t know whether to laugh or cry when see the current generation of men duped into handing over a fortune in overpriced gym memberships and for weights and other exercise gadgets, all in the hope of becoming strong and powerful. I want to laugh because I admire the con trick for what it is – a perfect grift. The fitness industry has duped the whole world into thinking it can’t get by without all this equipment; equipment it then sells to the mark, or rents out at exorbitant prices (in the case of gym membership). I want to cry because it’s a tragedy; the average modern trainee – who is not on steroids – makes little gain in size from year to year, and even less progress in true athletic ability.

To become hugely powerful, you don’t need weights, cables, fancy machines, or any other crap that the industry or the informercials are brainwashing you into thinking you can’t do without. You can gain Herculean strength – genuine brawn and vitality – with no special equipment at all. But to unlock this power – the power of your own body – you need to know how. You need the right method, the art.

Such a method does in fact exist. It’s based on traditional, ancient forms of training, techniques which are as old as training itself. This method has evolved by trial-and-error over the centuries, and has proved its superior ability to transform flimsy men into steel-forged warriors time and time again. This method is progressive calisthenics – the art of using the human body to maximize its own development. Calisthenics today is seen as a method of aerobics, circuit training or muscle endurance. It isn’t taken seriously. But in the past – before the second half of twentieth century – all of the world’s strongest athletes earned the bulk of their power through performing calisthenics progressively – to become stronger and stronger, day by day, week by week, year after year.

The Forgotten Art of Bodyweight Training

Unfortunately you will not be able to learn this art in any gym in the world. It has become lost to the vast majority of athletes during the modern era – quite recently in fact. It has been mercilessly pushed out of the light of day by a childish fascination with the plethora of new training technologies that have sprung up over the last century or so; everything from plated barbells and dumbbells to cable machines and hundreds of other novelties. The knowledge of how to perform calisthenics properly has been choked, nearly strangled to death by the propaganda of fitness manufacturers who want to sell you your right to train your own body and mind.

Because of this assault, the traditional arts of calisthenics have become degraded, relegated to high school fitness methods for children. “Calisthenics” currently involves pushups, pullups and squats; all fine exercises, but done for high repetitions which will build stamina though develop little in the way of strength. A real master of progressive calisthenics – “old school” calisthenics – also knows how to build maximum raw strength. Much more than the average trainee could possibly hope to develop with a barbell or a resistance machine. I’ve seen men trained in old school calisthenics who were powerful enough to break steel handcuffs, tear apart a chain-link fence, and punch a wall hard enough to take big chunks out of it, splitting the bricks in the process.

How would you like that kind of awesome bodily strength?

I can teach you how to develop it in the pages of this book, but you won’t get it from going to a gym or doing high-rep pushups. That kind of raw, animal ability to unleash your body’s own powers only comes from knowing how to do old school calisthenics.

Read other excerpts from Paul’s books:

How I Learned My Craft: Doing Time

Old School vs. New School Calisthenics

To follow Coach Wade’s three weeks of workouts here on Breaking Muscle follow this link:

Strength & Conditioning Workouts from Paul Wade

Convict Conditioning and Convict Conditioning 2 are available through Dragon Door.

The 16-Week Ultimate Bodyweight Challenge is available through Breaking Muscle Training.

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