I (29F) have been doing 3 sets of 5 band assisted pull ups for a few months now but can’t seem to get past the second thinnest resistance band. While I do 5 in each set, I often only manage 2 on the second thinnest band then have move to a thicker band for my last 3.

I go to the gym 4 times a week - 2 cardio classes (Mon & Tues) and 2 strength sessions (Thurs & Sun). After doing some research I think I should start doing dead hangs, scapula pulls and inverted rows but I’m not sure how to include them. I know that doing them all in one workout wouldn’t be suitable but I’m not sure how to structure them across my two strength sessions efficiently.

Any advice would be really appreciated!

I know Mike Mentzer had used the two set method to success, but I know he was big into weights and a bodybuilder. I wasn't sure if anyone had tried this for calisthenics style working out? It's pretty much 2 sets, max intensity for each set.

i'm not sure if links are allowed, but here is the link that will further explain the workout. I know this is with weights, but was curious if there was a way to modify it to body weight.

https://mikementzer.org/2-set-once-a-week-heavy-duty-workout/

Previously, I practiced the Kboges training philosophy (fragmenting the workout throughout the week to have small doses of stimulus every day). Therefore, I'm used to high frequency and I like it. Knowing this, I'm doing 2 workouts -->

Workout A:
2x3r negative on the full FL
2x5s Tuck planche

Workout B:
1x3r negative on the full FL
1x5s tuck planche
1x10r regular pull-ups
1x35r regular push-ups.

- I alternate these two every day (A, B, A, B, A, B...).

- I can do 5s on the FL straddle HalfLay but I added negatives to the FL because I hit a plateau)

https://imgur.com/3IIRCqL (FL negative)
https://imgur.com/a/GC9qguE (Tuck Planche)
https://imgur.com/2jr1bru (A good attempt I made recently (I can't do it anymore ;' ) )

Which (and how much) supplementary exercises should be included in front lever/planche training, and why?

As the title says, I’m getting some nerve twangs/jolts through the median and ulnar nerve on my right hand. Both during and after workouts. I’m only 20 weeks in so I feel I’ve caught it early, but what would you guys suggest in terms of resolving the issue? I primarily do calisthenics, along either some isolation movements. I would rather keep training and work around it if I can. Are there any specific exercises you can recommend? Google has proven to be nothing but useless with contradictory info. It’s also probably worth mentioning my press ups are done with a weighted vest which I’m sure isn’t helping but without my reps are in the high 40s/low 50s so I kinda need it. Any advice is welcome 🙏

Hello all,

I am looking at getting a powertower and I am in a situation where I do not have a substantial amount of space to have it out at all times which is why i am searching for one that folds and saves space

I live in a rental and have been told that pull up bars are a no go and wont be happening.

While looking around, I found a few towers like this EverFit foldable tower and a Joroto one.

I thought to ask the people who are more well versed in this stuff as I am not in a financial position to keep on sending money to the gym.

All recommendations and thoughts are welcome, thank you!

Good day all.

I used to be really active in this community when I was a teen entering the world of fitness and mainly trained calisthenics around climbing as that was my main sport. Since then a lot has changed and I sadly don’t climb anymore for a number of reasons. I have replaced it with surfing and freediving.

I honestly speaking haven’t trained calisthenics for a number of years now and my main form of exercise is surfing (2-3 times a week if the conditions allow), freediving (once every week to 2 weeks, again if conditions allow), and then heading out for nature walks/trails (usually +-5 km at a time, 2-4 times a week).

TLDR:
I am wanting to get back into calisthenics for overall wellbeing, full body strength building, and conditioning against common injuries in surfing specifically but also to fight against back pain and frequent injuries in other activities throughout the week. The issue I’m finding is coming up with a routine that fits in with the sporadic nature of surfing and freediving. Since they are completely condition dependant it’s hard for me to plan which days I do what on (like I did with climbing where I trained at a climbing gym that was there 7 days a week) since some weeks I’ll be out surfing 4 days a week whereas other weeks i might go a whole week without surfing.

Does anyone have any advice on designing a routine around the sporadic nature of these sports? My main concern being injury prevention.

Thanks all

So when i muscle up i seem to pull around the bar correctly, i turn my wrists over, but i immediately fall and can't push, i noticed that in straight bar dips i am way closer to the bar than in my muscle up attempts and i can easily hold that bottom position there, so i think this is the problem i am running into, but i don't know how to fix it. For context i can do 20 clean pull ups, likely 30 dips and i don't struggle with doing chest to bar pull ups. I tried band assisted muscle ups, but it would always just throw off my movement completely so i decided not to do it.

I think I’m decent shape for my age (38m). 5,8 and 155 lbs. I’ve been doing some sort of sports & gym/bodyweight most of my life. Had to take a bit of a break recently because we had a baby. Getting back into it I’m amazed/appalled how all of my pull-up progress seems to have evaporated. I didn’t used to train them all that much but always was able to do 8-10 and for close to a year had worked my way up to 8 weighted at 20 lbs. Then boom, baby break and it’s been maybe 3-4 months and now I’m somehow back to being able to barely do 6 unweighted. But the weird thing is other exercises don’t seem to have suffered nearly as much. I’m still doing 25-30 pushups just like I did in college, and bench press around the same too. Even my dips, while bad, don’t seem to have suffered nearly as much as my pull-ups. So, is there something about this exercise or is it just me that progress gets lost so dramatically if you don’t continually work on it??

Hey everyone,

I'm working on my muscle up, but I've run into a really frustrating block and I'm hoping someone here has experienced this.

I can do explosive pull ups perfectly fine from a strict dead hang. But the second I add kipping or momentum for a MU attempt, my body completely locks up. Instead of pulling and bending my elbows to transition, I end up doing a massive straight-arm pull. My lats just pull my whole body up and my head goes way behind the bar in a big arc, with my elbows completely locked the entire time.

Because I’ve trained a lot of straight-arm pulling, my nervous system seems hardwired to lock my arms the moment my torso leans back during the kip. I physically cannot force my elbows to bend when there's momentum involved.

Has anyone dealt with this? Are there any specific mental cues, drills (like ice cream makers?), or setup tweaks to break this habit and force my arms to bend?

Thanks in advance!

Hi everyone,

I have a 10oclock to 2oclock Labrum tear in my left shoulder, due to which I experience discomfort. I have been to 2 orthopaedics, one said that the shoulder would need surgery, while the other one said that it should be fine with rehab.

I am trying to rehab on my own by following E3 Rehab's Labrum tear rehab plan, but so far I have not been consistent, and my shoulder keeps getting irritated.

In the meantime, I thought I should try doing some core exercises, just to be productive. But I want to avoid loading my left shoulder because of my injury.

What are some options for bodyweight core exercises that do not load the shoulders? As far as equipment goes, I only have a yoga mat, a resistance band, and some dumbbells available.

Thanks in advance!

Seen here: https://youtu.be/P4SBXSIwNpc

The biggest obstacle I've always seen to true "no equipment" full body calisthenics training is the back. Push ups, squats, lunges and hip thrusts are easy, they all just need a floor.

The only other option I could think of, if you had to train your back while stuck in a blank, featureless plain, is self resisted isometrics. Where one arm is trying against the forces of your other arm

This arm haulers exercise is surprisingly tough when you really limit the rest times. My reps started dropping quick when limiting rest to 30 seconds.

More than anything, it's a conditioning exercise, and you definitely won't see much in the way of back size or strength improvements.

But for maintenance, and for muscular endurance? Not a bad pick. It certainly helps my upper body feel balanced after doing a bunch of push ups. And training isometric back extension is something I havent done a whole lot, so that might yield some benefits

So if you're ever travelling, and have legitimately nothing to do any back training with, not even a solid object to do overcoming isometric rows on, give these a try.

Hi
Im 25 y.o male, 179 cm and 82 kg, I am skinny fat, I have a weird posture but thankfully no pelvic tilt as I know, with no training experience at all. When I do push ups (I try me best to do it in the correct form), I max at 2 and the third becomes a wrong one, just to know my level. I want to start my journey but I don’t really know where to start from. I want to burn fat and build muscles at the same time if that’s possible and I want to get into calisthenics in general. Gemini told me I should train every other day, which I saw some guys in this field don’t do, and some train until failure and some stick to reps and sets only, Im lost and I don’t know how to start. Any help is appreciated in advance!

When doing monkey bars, are you supposed to come into a full dead hang every time you catch the next bar, with your arm completely extended?

Or is it better/normal to use momentum and swing continuously from one bar to the next without fully stopping in a dead hang?

I'm wondering what the proper technique is, especially if the goal is to build grip and upper-body strength rather than just get across as quickly as possible.

I tried doing it today , I was able to move from one bar to another slowly and complete the full line. But my arm was slightly bent and not in dead hand. I was concerned about dead hanging as that would be very hard on my shoulders when hanging momentarily with one arm before swapping

TLDR: Barbells take long warm ups. Pistols need high reps and you have to do those reps slowly to keep balance. Bulgarian Split Squats require kind of long warm ups and because they are unilateral you have to do 2x the sets. Regular bodyweight squats require tons of reps. Am I missing something?

My current routine is a little eclectic, but centered around the six movement patterns in the recommended routine. I workout daily for (maximum) 40 minutes first thing in the morning. I can comfortably fit at least 2 of the other exercises into each session including warm up, mobility, etc, but I have to give squats their one full workout. For the past year, my variation of choice has been bulgarian split squats. I currently do 3x10 (70lbs) [this is plenty as long as I am strict about really keeping the "back leg is just for balance" mentality and not allowing any seesaw motion]. I find it takes quite some time to get neurologically warmed up for that between both the weight and the balance component. I tried rushing through the warmup before. It resulted in injury. I also personally have to do a little bit of nerve flossing to prevent numbness during the movement. I am content with this because I can progress without indefinitely adding reps but I feel as though I might be missing something-though of course there is tremendous value in finding something imperfect and just sticking to it. Upper body work and even RDLs take far less time.

In the past, I focused on pistol squats for a year or two. I found the high rep sets very time consuming. In order to do sets that pushed my muscles and not just my balance, I found I needed to practice the movement (just a little) every day and have sessions where I really pushed myself once a week (though that could be more frequent if I had the time). A set of 30 was a good challenge, but just a single set was taking quite some time-staying balanced required moving slowly and then I had to do the other leg too. Adding weight is possible, but then form decay starts to become more risky.

I have considered buying a squat rack, but much of the information I've looked at online (Jeff Nippard, Renaissance Periodization, Eugene Teo, etc.) seems to say that barbell squats, while great for getting really really strong, require even more time than single leg variations due to warming up. I also have long femurs which gives me pause about this significant space investment. The people listed above seem to love their leg press/hack squat machines, but that requires driving to a gym.

I have tried the K Boges style of super high rep bodyweight squats. While this takes little to no warm up (50-100 of them is one of the first parts of my warmup), the sets themselves take pretty long and I already do a lot of cardio biking to work. I found I could get a pretty good quad pump in 2 minutes by going fast and skipping the top ROM, but progressive loading seems like an issue. If I hold a dumbbell, I'm going to need to move more slowly.

One thing that seems promising is to do quick pump reps of BSS: just the bottom part of the ROM. Use one hand to hold a dumbbell and the other touching a wall for balance. I get to failure pretty fast this way. Anyone else do that?

Mindful Mover does his pistols with arm support and a weight vest. That would be a financial investment for me and I wonder how long I'd feel the need to warm up for that although I know he doesn't take long. Does anyone else do pistols this way? Does it work for you?

So I guess this is me just kind of musing after my split squat session. The spirit of reddit is to start a conversation, right? What do you do?

I’ve seen a few ads on it and I’m wondering if it’s any good or not. I’ve seen a lot of apps “gamifying” things so i can see the appeal for an app like this for calisthenics.

I think the biggest thing is if the programs/routines/progressions it provides actually align with the widely known standards for calisthenics. Not that any routine or program is perfect; but would be interested to see how it is and if it would help beginners start their calisthenics journey.

Other than that, I think it’s cool to see more involvement with calisthenics. However if apps like this are just using self-improvement and the calisthenics community to gain clout, not so keen on that

Does anyone else find parallettes way more comfortable on their wrists?
I have a cyst in one of my wrists, and putting my hands flat on the floor with my wrists bent around 90° can get pretty painful, especially when doing push-ups or similar movements.
I started using parallettes instead and it’s made a huge difference for me. Having my wrists in a more neutral position takes a lot of the discomfort away, and I can actually train those movements without constantly thinking about my wrists.
Kind of surprised I didn’t start using them sooner. They’re probably one of the most useful pieces of equipment I’ve bought for my training.
Anyone else use parallettes mainly because of wrist comfort?

I was watching someone doing barbell rows with quite a heavy weight when it struck me. It was a jerkier movement than the deadlift and the person doing it had to keep the barbell always in the air. The hip was in a hinged position so no question of being squeezed or tucked in. Rather the person was in slight anterior pelvic tilt. The only thing keeping the person's spine from collapsing under the sheering load of the barbell was his well braced torso.

Then it dawned on me, why at all are we advised to tuck in our pelvis or squeeze our glutes to come into a stacked position during calisthenics movement like pushups, inverted rows, etc? Why isn't proper bracing of the core not enough?

Most of the time, the advice to a beginner asking how not to sag at the hips or butt high during pushups is to squeeze the glutes and the core will take care of itself in the movement. Is it really so? What if their TvA, obliques are really really weak? I am not talking of the rectus abdominis muscle because it is mostly the asthetic part of the core musculature. Does squeezing the glutes in a plank or inverted row position necessarily ensures that the core will be braced in the movement? If not, is glute squeezing at all necessary for strength training? Can't bracing alone keep the body stable in calisthenics?

I have a telescopic pull up bar, but I was thinking of buying a cheap pull up bar that hooks onto the top of the door frame so I can have one for my living room as well as bedroom, but I'm a bit worried, because the door frame is the strongest. It can hold my weight if I hang on it, but it creaks a bit and could probably pull away if enough pressure was applied.

I read that the type of pull up bar I'm talking about applies more of a rotational force, and not too much downward force on the top of the door frame. Is this true?

This is the pull up bar I'm talking about: Zeno pull up bar

I've starting to get into calistenics, and am interested in performing a handstand against a wall.

Am I right in saying shoulder strength is limiting factor here?

E.g. in the starting position, if I am upside down agains the wall, with my head on the ground, I am not able to lift myself at all.

What would be the best way to achieve a wall handstand? I am not too interested in the balance aspect yet, just the strength aspect. I want to have the strength to lift my body upside down, and then focus on balancing of the lever of the legs.

Thanks.

56 yo male, 228 lbs, on and off exercise mixed with a sedentary job. I have spinal stenosis and some moderately herniated discs. Stenosis is narrowing of the spinal column so lots of nerves get pinched when you do extensions, deep squats, etc. So a fair bit of the recommended routine is out for me. I’m really trying to get fit before my body falls apart. I found so much conflicting advice on Internet sources that I’m not sure how to proceed, I’ve gone so low as to resort to Google Gemini. I asked it to suggest some alternatives. Are the alts actually decent? I don’t need a perfect program but I would like to get as close as possible to the original exercises. Oh, I also have arthritis in my wrists so do fist push-ups. Dips are a problem. I also have 360° tears of both shoulder labrums. But that doesn’t see to be holding me back too much yet. Anyway, I’ve done this program once and was able to do everything in it. But I don’t know if it’s any good. My alts are in parentheses:

First Pair
3x5-8 Pull-up progression
(Band-assisted scapular pulls)
3x5-8 Squat Progression
(Split squats, wall sits/ assisted squats)

Second Pair
3x5-8 Dip progression
(Knee-bent bench dips)
3x5-8 Hinge Progression
(glute bridges; wall hinges)

Third Pair
3x5-8 Row Progression
(Horizontal Row)
3x5-8 Push-up progression
(Pushups)

Core Triplet
3x8-12 Anti-Extension progression
(Dead bugs)
3x8-12 Anti-Rotation progression
(Posterior tilt planks)
3x8-12 Extension progression
(Double knee to chest /or seated flexion)

I have only been training for a handstand seriously for about a month, but I have found that, unlike planche and l sit training, I have considerably more difficulty both with the kick up and even counter balancing while on the paralettes vs. the floor. Sure enough, none of the youtube articles I have read on the subject suggest practicing on paralettes as a regression, but I was curious about the biomechanics of why that might be. Anything on paralletes is easier on the wrist, but is it necessarily eliminating a critical source of balancing also? For what its worth, I know that my bigger issue in both stomach and back to wall practicing is getting my hips aligned with my shoulders, but I am just curious if there is something I am missing here.

Hey everyone! I’ve been trying to learn more about squats and their effectiveness for building the glutes, and I’m curious about what people with more experience would recommend.

I know there are quite a few different squat variations, and I’ve seen people say that some are much better for glute development than others. I’m particularly interested in whether the type of squat makes a significant difference when the main goal is to grow the glutes.

I’m also wondering how much technique and stance affect glute activation. Does going deeper generally make a squat better for the glutes, assuming you have the mobility to do it properly?

Hey everyone.

I started doing bodyweight workouts some time ago. I tried different things and found a routine I like and can stick to. All exercises are progressing but my chin ups. I hope I can get some tips here.

I normaly train one day and rest 3 days after that. At the moment this is the rest I need. I can easily go for four rest days if needed. Everything from two days or less didnt work for me.

I perform every exercises with moderate speed and go close to failure. Legs I do a little less intensity, because I ride my bycicle a lot.

I split my training into two days. I felt like I need some different exercises and fitting all in one day was too much;

Day 1: squats, push ups, rows, shoulder press with a kettle bell (I hold it with two hands. In a curl manner I get the bell to my chest and then push it above my head), hanging knee raises and good mornings

Day 2: lunges, chin ups, dips, shoulder press with a kettle bell, twist ( I sit on the flor and take a weight and twist it on the other side and repeat that) and kettle bell swing.

As I said, everything sees progress but my chin ups. I can do one and get the second one to around 0.5. I dont see why I should not be able to progress from here, since I started with one dip too. I dont like the helper things for pull and chin ups...

Thank you all. And I come from weightlifting. So I am not untrained.

Hey everyone. I've been training pullups since March of last year (started with not even being able to do a single rep) and have kept doing it until now, with gradual gains in strength. I kinda stopped going to the gym for a few months in between due to personal reasons, but I kept repping a few intense sets around twice a week during that period. About two months ago, I started to become more consistent and serious with strength training again, and that also included pullups, of course. The problem is that at the start, it felt like I was progressing great, adding about one rep every week or so. I felt light every time I started a set. Since a few weeks now though, my strength has dropped a little. I feel heavy even at the start of the session; and while before I used to be able to put out 9-10 reps on my first set, now I can barely do 7-8. I don't know what's caused this because I've basically changed nothing. One year of gains only to plateau so early. I'm not sure whether it's a volume thing, or a recovery thing, or a training style thing. I'm just at a loss for what to do.
I do get sore in my biceps for a few days after every single session, though, which is a little weird since a lot of my friends don't get as sore as I do. I have tried going on a deload for a few weeks, but that didn't help either. I make sure to get at least 8 hours of sleep every night and I eat plenty of protein as well. I just don't understand what's the problem.
I train 3-4 sets of 7-8 pullups 2 days a week, and all my focus is on building strength. I wanna move to weighted pullups as soon as possible. Any suggestions would be of great help, thanks in advance!