INTRODUCTION

Foreword 5
What calisthenics is about 7
History 8
BEFORE YOUTUBE 90s - 2006 9

GOLDEN TIMES 2006 - 2013 10

CRISIS OF SEPARATION 2013-2018 14

SEARCH FOR THE ESSENCE 2018 -... 15

Categories of calisthenics 16
SKILLS 16

STRENGTH & ENDURANCE 16

STREET LIFTING 17

BODYWEIGHT FITNESS 17

WARM UP & TRAINING METHODS 17

Warm up as a category 17
WHAT DOES IT DO? 17

QUALITY OVER QUANTITY 18

WARM UP EXAMPLE 19

Warm up methods 20
FULL BODY WARM UP 20

MOTOR ACTIVATION FOR STREET LIFTING 20

BREATHING WARM UP 20

SKILLS TRAINING WARM UP 21

DYNAMIC STRETCHING VS STATIC STRETCHING 21

FOAM ROLLING 22

POST-ACTIVATION POTENTIATION 26

Training methods and its practical usage 28

 EXPLANATION OF EACH METHOD 28

APPLICATION OF BUILDING STRENGTH & BODYBUILDING

(HYPERTROPHY) 31

APPLICATION FOR ENDURANCE 38

APPLICATION FOR SKILLS & TECHNIQUE 45

HOW TO MIX EVERYTHING 49

THE TECHNIQUE OF THE EXERCISES 50

Basics 50
PULL UP 50

PUSH UP 53

DIP 55

SQUAT AND OTHER LOWER BODY EXERCISES 57

PLANK 59

HOLLOW BODY 60

Statics 61
PLANCHE 61

FRONT LEVER 64

HANDSTAND 66

BACK LEVER 70

HUMAN FLAG 73

Power dynamics 76
MUSCLE UP 76

ONE ARM PULL UP 78

IMPOSSIBLE DIP 81

HEFESTO 83

FRONT LEVER PULL UP 86

PLANCHE PUSH UP 86

HANDSTAND PUSH UP 86

 How do we progress from one progression to another 87

STATICS 87

POWER DYNAMICS 87

BASICS 87

CONDITIONING, BREATHING & MOBILITY 88

Conditioning & functional training in calisthenics  88

HOW TO PROGRAM THE WORKOUT 88

Breathing methods 90
STRENGTH & ENDURANCE BREATHING 90

1RM AND STREET LIFTING 91

STATICS 92

POWER DYNAMICS 92

Stretching & mobility 93

CREATING THE WORKOUT PROGRAM 94

Programming 94
WHAT DO WE NEED TO KNOW BEFORE CREATING 94

HOW TO CHECK YOUR CURRENT LEVEL 97

PROGRAMMING PRINCIPLES 97

HOW TO KNOW WHICH ROUTINE OR METHOD TO USE 99

IMPORTANT THINGS WHEN TRAINING WITH THE PROGRAM 100

WHAT TO FOCUS ON TO MAKE YOURSELF HAPPY 101

WHAT TO START WITH 101

HOW TO CREATE A RELEVANT PROGRAM 103

HOW THE PROGRAM SHOULD BE STRUCTURED 104

HOW DO WE MONITOR THE PROGRESS 110

HOW DO WE CREATE THE NEXT PROGRAM 110

PSYCHOLOGY & APPROACH 111

 Psychology in calisthenics 111

HOW TO BEHAVE WHEN CREATING THE PROGRAM 112

YOU ARE YOUR OWN PSYCHOLOGIST 112

HOW TO MOTIVATE & INSPIRE YOURSELF 115

YOU ARE FOREVER A STUDENT 117

DIET & SUPPLEMENTATION 119

Diet in calisthenics 119

IS IT WORTH FOCUSING ON 119

IMPORTANT THINGS TO KNOW 120

EVERYBODY IS DIFFERENT 124

NEGLECTING THE DIET IN CALISTHENICS 125

SUPPLEMENTS 125

„Muscle-mind connection” 127

BODYBUILDING WITHOUT HEAVYWEIGHTS 127

LISTEN & STUDY YOUR OWN BODY 128

BASIC ANATOMY & PHYSIOLOGY 128

Basics anatomy & physiology principles 128

ENERGY RESOURCES & ENERGY SYSTEMS 128

SLOW-TWITCH VS FAST-TWITCH MUSCLE FIBERS 131

NERVOUS & VENTILATION SYSTEMS ADAPTATION 131

HEALTH 134

Injuries in calisthenics 134

HOW TO STAY INJURIES FREE 134

WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU GET INJURED 136

REHAB 137

FINAL WORD 137

 INTRODUCTION

Ruslan Saibov
• 12 years of strength training experience and 20 years in sports

• 8 years of coaching experience

• thousands of personal & group classes

• more than 30 workshops & seminars in different countries across the globe

• calisthenics coach courses

• 2 european championships and 2 all american championships won in the

strength&endurance category from 2015 to 2018

• freestyle champion of his own city in 2012

• this list can go on and on!



Foreword

Ruslan Saibov is one of a kind. There is a saying “from zero to hero” and it would
fit the story of this guy perfectly! The versatile scientific based approach of Ruslan
has helped thousands of people around the world who wanted to progress and
become a better version of themselves. This book is based on the calisthenics
coach course that Ruslan provided in 2020 and it's made to show you how, teach
you what, explain you when and help you with why. You are now starting to read a
complete guide on how to proceed with calisthenics, how to create the workout
program and what you need to consider in order to succeed.

Ruslan’s approach is unique yet easy to understand. Coaching is this man’s talent.
He is a calisthenics revolutionary who takes care not only of his student’s
performance but also his health, mental strength and he is also a great mentor! 

When Ruslan teaches he has an eye on everything that could affect the progress
and he also adjusts the coaching to one’s lifestyle.

You are holding his treasure in your hands. 

Niccoló Ostengo

5
All of us go through times when we simply don't know what to do in order to
progress and achieve this or that and it doesn't really matter whether you are a
beginner who has just started or an experienced athlete or even a coach who is
just lost after hitting a plateau. We have all been there or going to be there at a
certain point of our journey. 

Here are some common examples:


• You progressed super fast when you started and after a few months you
stopped progressing by doing the same thing that used to work well. You are
desperate and don't know what to do. You watch how others progress on
social media and you feel frustrated, you are close to giving up.

• You are an experienced athlete and you have already achieved some goals of
yours. You are now lost and don't really know how to progress and build your
program in order to use the proper intensity and not get injured. The problem
is that there is not enough useful material online to use.

• You keep getting injured and you don't know what you are doing wrong with
the exercises or programming. You progress fast but injuries occur very often
which throws you back in progress.

• You are a coach and you easily make programs for others but the one who
you struggle with is you. You don't progress much and you have no clue why.


There are many more cases but these definitely sound familiar to you or maybe
someone from your surroundings had the same situation! In this book I am going
to lead you through everything you need to know about how to go with
calisthenics properly. 

It would be a big lie if I said that everything will become easy after reading this
book. Don't get me wrong, it is a big milestone for me to share this book with you!
However, we need to realize that being your own coach takes a lot of courage
since we need to bring ourselves out of our comfort zone most of the time. It's
always easier when someone makes a program for you or coaches you and you
just follow the advice. The truth is, though, that the only one person that knows

6
your real abilities and how you feel about this or that volume/intensity/exercise
perfectly is you! For most of you who has a coach, it will be a much more efficient
cooperation after reading this book. You will start to understand why coaches
choose this exercise over that and why this intensity over that and so on. 

Some of you will be able to create a perfect program after reading this book!
However, we need to remember that for most of you there still have a long road
ahead of testing the book, retesting, analyzing and applying everything to find out
what works for you and what doesn't! It's not done in a month or even two. The
process of understanding your body by listening to it is a lifetime thing. Gladly, I
have been in a game for long enough to share with you the most important things
in calisthenics.

This book touches on the topics that really matter: history, creating a program,
exercises & elements from basics to advanced stuff, basic physiology and
psychology for calisthenics athletes, injury prevention, diet and more!

Now, let me get you through everything you need to know about calisthenics.

What calisthenics is about

I know that probably 99.99% of you already know the definition and what it stands
for but lets go through it just in case!

The common meaning would be a physical activity which consists mainly of

exercising with one's bodyweight or added weight to perform the same movement
patterns as bodyweight. Basically, calisthenics in its pure meaning exclude any
typical “gym” exercises. However, we can mix it up and make so called “hybrid”
trainings which consist of both calisthenics and weightlifting things and I will guide
you through such training programs in this book later as well!

Let's point out some obvious advantages of calisthenics: 

Body control

As well as gymnastics, calisthenics let you master the body control and its
beautiful.

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Security

What is the chance of getting injured by doing exercises with your bodyweight,
starting from the first year of life you learn to walk and do daily activities with your
own bodyweight. Our body is made for this.

Aesthetics

Yes, those who want to quickly get bigger biceps or bigger booty - go to the gym
and train with weights. Of course, the more weight we lift, the faster the muscle
hypertrophy occurs.

However, tell me - considering the long term training, what body would look more
natural and aesthetic? I think we all know the answer for this. Calisthenics body
looks way more natural and “normal” compared to other strength sports. Although,
its only a popular opinion and you can still look super great while lifting weights
only, at this point its a matter of preferences as well.

Health 

Not everyone has a healthy spine, joints, and the body in general.

Some people have contraindications for lifting weights. So what would be the best
option for those people who want to look good without lifting dumbbells and
barbells? Yes, its calisthenics!

History

Considering the fact that a lot of people don't know the history of calisthenics and
why there are so many categories and approaches in this sport, I believe it is
extremely important to go through the history and clarify why calisthenics looks
like this nowadays and what affected the sport with time!

Calisthenics in its first form appeared in the times of Sparta, back then everyone
used to exercise with their own bodyweight and bodybuilding was already present.
After all, those sculptures, statues that are about 2-4 thousand years old… they all
have a better sixpack than me, they look as if people were exercising 7 days a
week. I doubt they were born with such bodies.

8
I guess it's worth mentioning that calisthenics was a foundation for modern
gymnastics! This is probably the main reason why we will never see calisthenics at
the Olympics, even though I hope for the opposite!

But let's move on to the calisthenics we know in the 21st century.

And since the 21st century is the age of IT and social media, it would be
appropriate to talk about who introduced calisthenics to the world and who put the
sport on the fitness map first and how this field has developed over time. We will
break it down into 4 eras:

• Before YouTube 90s - 2005

• Golden times 2006 - 2013

• Crisis of separation 2013 - 2018

• Search for essence 2018 -...

BEFORE YOUTUBE 90s - 2006

Many people are misinformed to think that Hanniball for King or Denis Minin
showed the world calisthenics or street workout.

We know very well that the videos from them appeared with the invention of
YouTube. But the calisthenic groups existed even earlier.

In those days, everyone only cared about the appearance and healthy body, not
planche, front lever, hefesto or the number of followers.

The first group was “RUFF RYDERS” (2002)

This group did not last for a long time, but their message was quite clear - train
outside the gym and improve your shape. Do you want to build a perfect body?
Train calisthenics! They even produced the whole movie in 2002, "Thug workout -
fitness from the streets" which continues to be sold on Amazon but you can also
find it on YouTube for free.  It was the first video that showed bar exercises and
more, using only bodyweight and any equipment. They showed the world the
importance of basics to build a strong, good looking body.

9
The second group was BARTENDAZ (2003)

Leader - GIANT, who was the first one who started working out not only physically
but also mentally. He was one of the first to introduce "motivational talks" before it
became popular. He was just about to be in the Ruff Ryders movie, but something
has got messed up over there, so he left and started his own group. Pay attention
to the name of the group - BARTENDAZ. Later we will have Barstarzz, Barbarians,
Barbothers and so on. It should speak for itself what influence Bartendaz and
especially Giant had on the community.

They had such an amazing impact on the community that they have got invited to
a TV show, the very famous in USA - “THE DOCTORS”, so they could show
people a safer way to build a body.

Both Hannibal for King & Beast Lord Vital (Beastmode) were in this group before
they left and started something on their own.

They basically did things that are now in the freestyle category! The popular quote
of Giant was “Make sure you hang around the right bars so you don’t get behind
the wrong bars”

They have helped a large number of people to change their life of a criminal into
the life of an athlete! 

GOLDEN TIMES 2006 - 2013

This is the time when Hannibal and Denis Minin came out with those mind blowing
videos on YouTube!

Hannibal was quickly named an icon, a legend and other high-profile titles. In other
words, he was the athlete that everyone in calisthenics wanted to be like at that
period of time. It can certainly be said that he was the most popular calisthenics
dude back then. For example, people used to call Denis a "white Hannibal" but no
one ever called Hannibal a "black Minin". So you can clearly see who had a bigger
impact on the bar-world. However its very important to mention that Denis Minin
was the one who affected the eastern Europe the most! 

Hannibal for calisthenics is like Michael Jordan for the NBA - he created the
beginning of what we have now.

10
Even though he was making the so-called "banana planche", he was the first one
to do it among the street fellas, not the gymnasts.

Both Hannibal and Minin were the first to show what real aesthetics are and they
also showed the statics of the modern calisthenics.

BARSTARZZZ

Founder - Edward Checo

They were the first to show what dynamics on the bar are. They were doing 360’s
and flying on the bars way before it became a mainstream. They quickly became a
large corporation and now operate all over the world selling T-shirts and training
plans. Probably one the most popular guy in calisthenics - Chris Heria, he was a
part of Barstarzz and he used them as a platform to grow, then he had left and
started doing his own thing until now.

They also showed the world that calisthenics are profitable.

CALISTHENICS KINGS

Founder - Hit Richards

It was a group specialized in handstands.

The leader of the group showed the world what you can do with the handstand. He
used to be a good friend of Hannibal and Zakaveli.

There are a lot of videos where they are together doing amazing things on the bar.
Unfortunately there is no sign of the group nowadays but Hit continues working
out.

BEASTMODE

Founder - Lord Vital

Beast is the very first rapper in calisthenics and the first man who weighed almost
100 kilos and was able to easily do the front lever, one arm pull ups and other
advanced skills!

He owns the mega-popular Beastmode song which is still being put on speakers
and headphones in parks all around the world. He is also a close friend of Zef and
Hannibal. Lord Vital with his infamous team member Juice were doing short reps
way before me or Matteo Spinazzola. They used the time under tension method to
get bigger and better at full range of motion reps. I will be explaining the time

11
under tension for hypertrophy later in the training methods section. Simply saying,
they did short reps for high volume to get bigger and they did it well.

TEAM WINGATE

Founder - D.O.C. the  Director of Calisthenics

The founder of this group was the first to edit calisthenics videos. The channels
like “YouGottaCthis” or “The Bar-club”, “ TeamWingate” and “StrictlyBarTalk” were
all a part of his work. Without him we wouldn’t get to know the most of the
calisthenics culture not only in New-York or USA but also in the whole world!

He also did interviews with the strongest. He is the one who was responsible for
making calisthenics popular.

BARBARIANS

Founder - Zef Zakaveli

This one means a world to me, even though I don’t belong to the team anymore.

This group showed what quality over quantity is. They introduced the modern sets
& reps to the world. They made exhausting workouts look fun!

They were also the first to go overseas from USA. Surprisingly, it was the workout
festival in Ukraine!

They were the first ever to implement the physical requirements to enter a team,
the infamous “Barbarian requirements”.

THE BAR CLUB, THE BAR COMMUNITY

It was a movement-like organization that was made to gather all the groups of
New-York together to discuss the future progress and goals. They also used to
organize battles every weekend with different teams.

There were battles between the teams and the team members.

There was even a website for people from all over the world to be able to
participate.

They showed the world what the battles are!

EUROPE

Ukraine was the first where calisthenics began to massively get into people’s lives
and disseminate.

12
Denis Minin is the one who was responsible for literally everything in Ukraine when
it comes to calisthenics!

First, he organized the competition in his hometown and then he even organized
the first Ukrainian championship!

In 2011, he invited the Barbarians as judges.

In 2012, he organized the world's first Street Workout Fest, which was attended by
people from all over the world. A few thousand people came to watch the famous
calisthenics stars and to see how athletes were trying to break the unofficial world
records. 

In 2013, Workout Fest was held for the second time and even more stars were
invited, but in 2014 separatist actions in Ukraine impeded the development of
anything, not even talking about calisthenics.

Also Denis created a team that was simply called “Street workout” and the “Street
workout PRO” and they did the tours all over the former Soviet Union area.

   

In Russia it was Danila Cherkasov who was running the calisthenics.

They called it „Ghetto Workout” in Russia to not look like they are copying Denis
Minin’s “Street workout”.

They did exactly the same as Denis but in Russia. 

Later on, Denis and Danila were arguing who was the first one to introduce
calisthenics in Europe.

In Kazakhstan it was Islam Badurgov who organized the team Barbars.

They were the first to establish calisthenics as an official sport.

They used to organize a lot of international competitions with a bunch of

calisthenics stars. They also were one of the first who opened a whole calisthenics
based gym!

Latvia, in my opinion, affected the calisthenics world the most. Obviously, in the
case of the competition.

The founder of “World Street Workout and Calisthenics Federation” - Maris Slezins
had done a tremendous job to bring calisthenics to a whole new level!

2011 - the first, real world championship which the athletes from a lot of countries
took a part of.

The bests were invited and they had to compete against each other. 

13
They have been providing world championships annually since then.

Now the organization works all over the world by certifying calisthenics trainers
and even providing the stages of world championship qualifications in many
countries.

CRISIS OF SEPARATION 2013-2018

After two guys (I prefer not saying names in a bad light here) who had quite a lot of
reach to people all over the world started posting on their social media something
in the style of "street workout is not the same anymore", "freestyle is for chicken
legs", "real calisthenics is doing full body workouts"- people who were following
them, surely, began to lead by their example. Unfortunately it is what it is, people
follow their role models in pretty much everything by losing their identity. It is very
sad that such "influencers" do not keep an eye on what they tend to say.

People often forget that it’s very individual and personal about whether we should
do this or we should not. Everybody has his own goal and his own preferences. If
someone does it, it doesn't mean that we all should do it in order to be called
good, complete, best and so on. Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that we
should do leg workout or improve our lower body. I am saying, that we should
stick to what works for us in the specific category of our sport. To cut the long
story short, do what is best for you. Don't throw everybody in one bag, its not so
black and white in sports. Look, there is so much hate for calisthenics guys who
tend to not build big legs in order to succeed with upper body elements and its
completely fine. When we watch a video on YouTube with someone super strong
at the upper body movements, there is always a bunch of people in the comments
who say “okay, now squat”. Wait a minute! We don't go to the video of Cristiano
Ronaldo scoring 5 goals in a game with saying “okay, now do a dunk like Michael
Jordan” - it would make zero sense. I will never stress this enough, everybody is
different and has different goals. Period.

This is how the negative atmosphere in calisthenics was born.

Calisthenics community was separated into:

• Street Workout - statics & dynamics

• Calisthenics - basics & sets and reps

14
This is the biggest mistake. Street workout is only a small part of calisthenics.
Street workout was not born by itself only.

People who think that these concepts are different are very wrong.

Calisthenics covers literally every bodyweight exercise, while Street Workout is

mostly pull up bar exercises. Do you know what I mean now?

Calisthenics is generally a broader concept than Street Workout.

Suppose there is a tree and monkeys.

The tree has a trunk - Calisthenics.

The tree has its branches - Street lifting, street workout, basics, sets & reps,
dynamics, statics, gimbarr, full body bodyweight training, etc.

And each monkey chooses which branch it likes the most.

Don't get me wrong, this split into sets & reps and freestyle is good. Because, as I
said before, everyone does what they like more and everyone can choose whether
to compete in strength or in freestyle.

But the hate that came from those people who see only black & white in sports is
simply inappropriate.

SEARCH FOR THE ESSENCE 2018 -...

We all know about the fact that calisthenics is not regulated as a sport and each
competition has its own rules.

People are completely confused about what is right and wrong in calisthenics, this
is why there is so much hate about performing this or that exercise “wrong” or
maybe it would be better to say “not as some people expected you to”.

It all starts from the calisthenics leaders in each country who mostly care only
about their own image, followers and most importantly - income. A lot of athletes
gave up on calisthenics as soon as they got a marketing offer from some
companies, some of them changed their sport to crossfit, powerlifting etc. Don't
get me wrong, it's completely fine, I sincerely wish them a happy journey there.
What upsets me is that none of those guys has never actually tried hard to put
calisthenics on the map seriously. They used it as a platform to grow and then
switch to other sports. It confuses their admirers and creates a doubt about

15
whether it makes sense to do calisthenics or not. It frustrates me how those
influencers gave up on promoting calisthenics and started to mix up in their
followers heads. 

To cut the long story short - calisthenics nowadays has a bunch of world
championships that are not regulated by one deliberative body. Each country is
affected by its own calisthenics star and those stars refuse to cooperate between
each other to make this sport greater together and worldwide. Ego problem leads
this sport to nowhere at this point. However, some people are doing great job
trying to unify everybody and finally make this sport official!

Lets hope for the better.

Categories of calisthenics

Now, since we talked about history. Lets briefly go through the main categories of
calisthenics.

SKILLS

It is a gymnastics based category which is definitely the most entertaining one! The
combination of statics and dynamics makes it look fun to watch and most of the
competitions have this category as the main one. 

STRENGTH & ENDURANCE

This one is considered as basics and is less popular than the skills category since
it's less spectacular. It is also a part of competitions, mostly 1on1 battles/races.
The exercises here are usually pull ups, dips, push ups, muscle ups and squats.
However, organizers tend to add some different things every time to make it more
interesting. Battles are both weighted and bodyweight, sometimes mixed.


16
 STREET LIFTING

This is the one that has been getting very popular recently. More and more
competitions start to include this category. This one is usually consisted of the
triple threat exercises - pull up, dip, muscle up, but sometimes there is also a pistol
squat or the regular back squat as a third exercise instead of the muscle up or just
as a fourth exercise. In this category athletes need to perform the most reps with
the particular added weight or conquering the 1 rep with maximum possible weight
added.

BODYWEIGHT FITNESS

This category covers the bodybuilding, rehab programs, conditioning, functional

trainings etc. Basically everything besides the first three.


WARM UP & TRAINING METHODS

Warm up as a category

WHAT DOES IT DO?

"More is better" is a claim that has grown old. First, let's explain what we should
do when warming up. There is usually a popular opinion that you need to sweat
when warming up. This means that the goal is to raise your body temperature, but
while sweating isn't a bad idea, it may not be the exact key for a better
performance. In fact, focusing on warming up the specific muscles you use in your
daily activities or training will do better than trying to raise your body temperature.

It is a problem because most of the rules for the warm up focus on general actions
to raise your body temperature, rather than paying attention to the movement
patterns that play an important role during your training session.

17
 QUALITY OVER QUANTITY

Not everyone has time to warm up for an hour or for a half an hour. You don't even
have to. Many athletes try to look cool and warm up for an hour which makes no
sense and actually shows a bad time management. Most of us simply don't have
time and desire to spend so much time warming up. So, we need to make sure
that we are efficient with it. We need to focus on the movements that would help
us to prepare the body for the particular workout. It actually means that your
workout decides the warm up for you! Surely, there are some complete and
universal warm ups that we can go to every time but if we talk about workout
efficiency, then we need to choose wisely.

Are you confused now? Well, I guess you are. 

Here are things to remember:

• Always warm up the part of your body that you are going to use during the
workout. There is no point to warm up your legs for the upper body training.
Exception would be the training for statics (front lever, planche etc.) where
lower body plays a bigger role.

• Start from some regular “high school” general warm up exercises. I call it this
way because we all know those movements of the regular warm up from
school. For example - rotating your arms back and forth. 

• Continue with the specific warm up. Use the easiest progressions of the
movement patterns included in the workout. For example - doing australian
pull ups to warm up for the regular pull up workout.

• Make sure that warm up doesn't make you tired. You need to have the same
feeling within your body like if you did the very first set of your main workout.


Obviously, I am not going to give you all the exercises for the warm up since it
would take the whole book to explain each and every exercise. However, let's take
an example of the workout and I will explain the warm up in detail.

18
 WARM UP EXAMPLE

THE WORKOUT - PULL DAY 

1st: PULL UPS +20KG: 

10 pull ups - 10 seconds hold chin over the bar - 10 seconds hold head under the bar -
10 seconds hold dead hang 

x5 with 3-4 minutes rest 

2nd: PULL UPS BODYWEIGHT:

Pronated: 3 reps close grip - 3 reps regular grip - 3 reps wide grip

Supinated: 3 reps close grip - 3 reps regular grip - 3 reps wide grip

You can get off the bar to change the grip 

x5 with 3 minutes rest 

3rd: PULL UPS ISOMETRICS BODYWEIGHT:

15 seconds hold chin over the bar + 15 seconds hold head under the bar + 15 seconds
hold dead hang 

x5 with 3 minutes rest

• Every warm up starts from increasing the blood flow. It means that we need to do the
“cardio” activity for 5-10 minutes depending on the environment temperature. It can be
a jump rope, burpees, running and so on. Just make sure to do it with the moderate
intensity, meaning that you should not go too hard.


• Start from the basic rotator cuff rotation with the resistance band or a stick. You can also
do it without the band but make sure to increase the volume of the rotations then. 


• Twist your elbows.

• Twist your wrists.


• Warm up your scapula with retraction/protraction exercises. Literally any scapula

exercise is good for this. I would recommend to start from the easiest - retraction and
protraction without anything. Then I would get the band or stick and use it for retraction
and protraction. Finally, I would go for the retraction/protraction on the bar.


• Twist your torso and back, make sure to move it in different ways so your muscles are
not stiff and ready. Basically any kind of torso rocking is good for this.


• Now it's time for the easiest progressions. Australian pull up, negative pull up, banded
pull up - all of those would be good.


What would be the recommended rep range for the warm up?

10 - 20 reps for each exercise. 

19
Warm up methods

FULL BODY WARM UP

Full body warm up is the general warm up that is usually applied before some
compound exercises like running, playing some team sports like football or
basketball. We need to remember that this warm up should always be head to toe,
meaning that it always starts from the top and ends up on the bottom. Why? 

This is just the way our body wakes up for the workout. If we start from the legs
then the blood pressure will be increased excessively and you can end up feeling
tired after the warm up.

MOTOR ACTIVATION FOR STREET LIFTING

Motor activation here means engaging the most possible motor units of your body
to perform at your best when training. So, we need to take into consideration
something that we have already spoken about in the beginning of this chapter -
start from the easier progressions. Well, apparently, australian pull ups and knee
push ups will not be enough to prepare your body to perform some weighted reps.
Meaning, that “easier progressions” here are bodyweight reps or light weighted
reps and then we slowly progress with the weight until we reach our “working”
weight (the weight we usually do the training with). In simple words - start from 
australian pull ups and then build up the difficulty of every next set during this
motor activation. 

BREATHING WARM UP

There is nothing tricky about it. Breath during your warm up just like if you are
doing some heavy reps. Let your lungs prepare by breathing deeply, holding your
breath for a few seconds sometimes and exhaling fully. Play with it.

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 SKILLS TRAINING WARM UP

As well as the other types of the warm up, we need to make sure to prepare our
body for the skills work.

Whether it is power dynamics (one arm pull up, handstand push up) or statics
(front lever, planche) we need to start the warm up with the easiest progressions in
order to succeed with the preparation to perform at our best.

For example, after a general warm up do some tuck planche raisers and planche
leans before starting the workout to specify your muscle work and point it into
direction of your main workout.

DYNAMIC STRETCHING VS STATIC STRETCHING

Static stretching

It is probably the most common type of stretching. With static stretching, you
stretch a muscle or group of muscles by holding the stretch for a period of time.
The stretch is usually held for 15-60 seconds. 

Dynamic stretching

It is a more functionally oriented stretch. Here we use the specific movements to

move the limbs through greater range of motion. It involves whole body
movements and actively moving to make a joint pass its range of motion without
holding the movement at its endpoint. 

Recent studies suggest that if you stretch before a workout you might actually
have a higher rate of injury than if you don’t. Especially if that stretching is static
stretching. There’s also other evidence to suggest that performing some types of
stretching before a workout might decrease power and speed. Which has led to
coaches and personal trainers recommending that any stretching done before
exercise should be dynamic stretching.

Research has shown a severe decreasing in performance after just two minutes of
static stretching, but most (if not all) of the loss in performance or energy
production is not completely wasted with a short rest and/or when followed by
dynamic warm-up or specific athletic movements.

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While dynamic stretching can help you save time to deal with the small, sudden,
but transient effects of static stretching, applying static stretching before training
does not necessarily reduce performance. For athletes unaccustomed to
performing static stretching, introducing it into warm-up can actually degrade
performance if done just before your main workout. At the elite level, any small
change could potentially have a negative impact on the performance of this small
group of people. This is not the case for most people though. Some seasoned
athletes have been doing a sort of static stretch as part of their warm-up for years.
Telling them to stop may also be unwise.

Researchers believe that static stretching has no direct long-term harm; however
this form of stretching will temporarily (but significantly) decrease the ability of a
muscle to produce force. This decreased muscular strength places an athlete’s
joints at risk of injury by decreasing the body’s ability to stabilize and control
motion. This can lead to tears and sprains of ligaments and strains of muscles.
Obviously, these are unwanted issues. In fact, these are the problems that people
are trying to avoid by performing stretches.

Dynamic stretching has actually been shown to significantly increase the ability of
a muscle to produce force. This has huge implications for athletes, as dynamic
stretching can improve muscular performance throughout a muscle’s entire range
of motion. This effect can protect the body’s joints during activity and actually
prevent injuries that would have otherwise occurred following a standard static
stretching routine. These are the effects that people are usually looking for when
employing a stretching program.

Warming up with movements that reflect the subsequent workout can often be a
more productive use of time. It will reduce stiffness and warm up the muscles in
exactly the way that will be used during training.

FOAM ROLLING

If you are looking for the static stretching effect for your muscles without risking to
get injured - foam rolling is for you! 

Is it beneficial prior to workout?

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Yes, foam rolling can be beneficial to do as part of a warm-up because the act of
moving different body parts slowly back and forth over the roller will increase
blood flow and muscle-tissue temperature. If you exercise regularly, or if you have
muscle imbalances (muscles that are tighter than they should be), stress to the
muscle tissue eventually will lead to the formation of knots, known as adhesions
(scar-tissue). These adhesions can increase tension and cause pain in the muscle,
preventing it from functioning optimally. The foam roller is a great tool to use as a
warm-up because the pressure created on the muscles by the roller reduces the
negative impact of the adhesions while simultaneously decreasing the tension in
your muscles before exercise.

The only problem athletes face when doing foam rolling is that they roll their
muscles for half an hour or even an hour before the workout. We should
understand that post workout rolling and pre-workout rolling are two different
types of rolling.

While rolling a particular muscle for longer than 2 minutes is a good thing to do
after a few hours post workout or at least half an hour after the last muscle
contraction; the warm up by foam rolling focuses on decreasing stiffness and
increasing blood flow in our muscles and needs to be done for no longer than 2
minutes per muscle group. Also, rolling for too long and too hard may cause a
deep muscle tissue injuries and you may get a muscle micro injury before the
workout. So, don't do foam rolling before the workout for too long.

We need to make sure that we do an easy cardio activity before starting the foam
rolling to increase the blood flow and use more benefits from it.

Your joints, elbows, knees, and ankles don't need to be foam rolled.

Here are some mistakes that you should avoid.

You’re rolling in the wrong direction.

If it feels hard to balance on the foam roller, you might be rolling the wrong way.
Likely, you are misaligning the foam roller by placing it parallel to the muscle.
Instead, try rotating the foam roller so that it is perpendicular to the length of the
muscle. Then roll up and down the entire length of the muscle.

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By keeping the roller perpendicular to the muscle or tissue you’re targeting, you’ll
be able to balance better, roll with a steady flow, and increase the surface area you
cover with each roll.

You’re not rolling your upper body.

That includes your pectorals (chest), lats (the broad muscle on the sides of your
mid-back), triceps, and the muscles around the shoulder blades. Some of these
muscles might be a little hard to reach with a big roller, so you might want to roll
them out with a lacrosse ball instead. For example, the spot between your armpits
and chest that gets wildly sore if you do too many push ups and pull ups can be
awkward to drape over a tubular roller, and the muscles in the upper back can sort
of get lost under the shoulder blades. In both cases, it’ll be easier to get a ball in
there to target the tight spots.

You’re not using the right pressure.

If you’re rolling too gently, it may not make much of an impact, and if you’re going
too hard, you could add to the pain and end up tensing up your muscles in
response, which is the opposite of the goal.

Though you can ultimately control the pressure as you roll by pressing all your
weight onto one spot will feel much more intense than if you prop yourself up with
your leg or hand. Different types of rollers can make it easier to apply different
amounts of pressure. Typically, the hollow rollers apply more pressure than the full
cylinder. Full-cylinder rollers are usually a bit softer; the hollow ones usually have
harder plastic in the middle, which puts more pressure on your body with less
effort on your end. So, we cannot really use the same pressure with any foam
roller.

When targeting smaller, deeper muscles, like those in the hip and upper back, try
using either a lacrosse ball (harder) or a tennis ball (a bit softer and gentler). A ball
allows you to target the smaller spots in between bones and really reach the
places you are trying to roll.

To sum it up, it all depends on your preference and how pain tolerant you are. It
shouldn't be too easy and too hard.

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You’re trying to roll out bony areas.

Foam rollers are meant to release tension in soft tissue, so rolling over bony spots
is unnecessary and will probably just be painful. Bony areas include the shoulder
blades, ankles, and parts of the hips and legs (like the knees and shins).

For example, people tend to roll over the shoulder blades while attempting to roll
out the thoracic region (the upper part of the spine). Rolling on these bones isn’t
going to help you, you want to roll the muscles and tissues that are beneath. To do
that, pull your elbows together in front of your body, or simply cross your arms
over your chest, and pull your shoulder blades forward. Then, place the roller
horizontally underneath your upper back, and roll so it moves up and down your
spine.

Same goes for the bony spots in your hips and pelvis, and the spot just below the
hip bone where the thigh bone (femur) begins (called the greater trochanter).
Rolling there is painful and does not help loosen muscles and tendons in the leg.
Instead, locate and roll out the soft areas above and below the hard areas on the
side of the hip to help improve mobility of the leg, he says. If you can’t get in there
with a foam roller, try a tennis or lacrosse ball instead.

You’re spending too much time on trigger points.

A common mistake is to foam roll directly and only on the knots for a long period
of time. People often spend several minutes rolling on areas of pain, only to create
more pain and irritation in those areas. At best, overdoing it in one spot won’t
make a difference in terms of relief, and at worst, it can lead to more pain.

The goal here is to relax the muscle, and sometimes that means you have to start
with the less tensed areas that connect to the trigger point. Instead, roll the general
larger surface around the area for 60 to 90 seconds before targeting the knotted
tissue for 30 seconds at a time. When you loosen up the areas around a trigger
point, you’ll likely indirectly decrease tension a bit in the spot you feel you need to
roll the most. That way, once you focus on the trigger point, it should feel a little
more comfortable to roll.

You’re rolling your lower back.

It’s okay to roll your upper back and mid back, specifically the areas around the
shoulder blades and the lats. But even though you might be tempted to foam-roll
your lower back, it’s not a good idea.

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It’s difficult to balance a foam roller on the lower part of the back. Trying to get into
the right position to roll out the area can ultimately force you to overarch your
spine, which can cause discomfort or even a strain. This can be especially harmful
if you already have too much extension (an exaggerated arch) naturally in your
lower back or any other pre-existing lower-back issue.

Instead of rolling, I would suggest using a lacrosse ball to target the spots along
your spine that feel tight and need to be released, don’t roll in the middle of the
spine, but rather along the muscles that run down either side of it. With the
lacrosse ball, you’re less likely to put your back into a compromised position. If
you have chronic lower-back pain or a past or current lower-back injury, talk with
your medical therapist before using any tools to apply pressure to the area.

You’re not contracting and relaxing your muscles while rolling.

While this isn’t exactly a mistake, it is a missed opportunity for efficiency. If you
contract and relax your muscles as you are applying the pressure with the roller,
you are likely to see better effects.

Any active treatment works better than a passive one. Your nervous system will
adapt better if you are actively working by contracting and relaxing your muscles.
The more you can actively get your muscles moving from a contracted, tense state
to a lengthened, relaxed one, the better. Using this technique, you’ll likely notice
bigger improvements in your mobility in less time.

When you find an area of tightness, keep the pressure of the roller on that spot for
30 seconds, and as you do, move the connected joint slowly to contract and
release the muscle. For example, if you are rolling your calf, apply the pressure
with the roller underneath your leg, keep it on the tender spot, and point and flex
your foot back and forth 10 times. Another example is the quads. Find the tender
spot while you are lying face down on the roller, and hold there as you bend and
straighten your knee 10 times.

POST-ACTIVATION POTENTIATION

Post-activation potentiation (PAP) is the phenomenon by which an athlete’s power

can be improved following moderate to high intensity muscle contractions prior to
the main workout.

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It is about conditioning your body with the specific exercise before doing some
activity to have a positive effect on performance. This could mean more power or a
slight increase in strength. It usually causes an increase in performance through
some type of muscle contraction or near maximum intensity prior to attempting to
beat your personal best.

It supposedly provides a short-term memory of greater activity of muscular

contraction that can be applied immediately for the next task with an enhanced
performance.

A simple example - we do 5 sets of one pull-up with 60-80% from our 1 rep max to
improve the short-term muscle memory that would adjust to this stimulus, so then,
the smaller weight will feel lighter than before. 

This is how I actually did my first 40kg muscle up. I did a few sets of 70kg pull up
and then attempted my personal best in muscle up, I improved tremendously.

Obviously, we cannot and we should not practice this type of warm up each
training, but once a month would be good to beat your personal best.

We can also use the same pattern to increase the speed and power for the
bodyweight exercises. For example, complete a few sets of 1 pull up with 50% of
your 1 rep max before doing some bodyweight one arm pull ups or even before the
one arm pull up training.

I always say that everybody is different and we cannot put everyone into one room and
make them do the same warm up and expect them to have a great performance. What
we need to do is to test a few things, decide what works the best for us and then
implement it into our warm up routine on a daily basis.

There are people who do only the general warm up and they feel great. There are
people who use the foam rolling only and they achieve great results. It varies from
athlete to athlete. 

There is no “the best” warm up method or the best exercise to do before the workout.
There are only things we can test, analyze, retest, optimize and apply!

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Training methods and its practical usage

EXPLANATION OF EACH METHOD

When we speak about calisthenics and training methods, we can apply pretty
much everything here. We should remember that it is not so black and white in
training. There is no magic workout method that will help you with everything. We
should realize that our approach needs to be complex, compound and complete.
When creating the workout program we need to implement most of the workout
methods to have zero weak points. Lets discuss the training approaches and what
do they stand for.

EMOM

An EMOM workout, short for every minute on the minute, is a form of interval
training. The challenge is to complete a predetermined number of repetitions (reps)
of a particular exercise within 60 seconds. Then, you use whatever time is left in
that minute to rest before moving on to the next set. 

It can be 5 minutes or 60 minutes or even longer than that. How do we know what
number of reps and sets we need to do? Well, it depends! I will explain how to
work with EMOM for strength, endurance, skills or hypertrophy later in this chapter.

AMRAP

It stands for ‘as many repetitions (or rounds) as possible – so, no mentioned rest
until the clock stops. As well as the EMOM, this method can be applied for 1
minute or 30 minutes. 

PYRAMIDS & LADDERS

Pyramid training is a stepped approach to sets and repetitions. It usually starts

from the bottom reps to the top reps. It can be done with the weight or the
repetitions, or both. Simply said,  you start heavy and gradually decrease the
weights or reps or you start light and gradually increase the weight or reps. 

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DROPSET

This is actually an excellent example of the inverted pyramid. A drop set is a

method in which you focus on completing a set until failure, or the inability to do
another repetition. Then, you lighten the load by 10–30%, and repeat, with little to
no rest in between sets. Basically, you start from your best and then gradually
decrease the load.

HIGH INTENSITY WITH LONG REST

This one is pretty easy to understand. It is a method where we are supposed to go

“all in” and work until failure or near failure and then rest for 10-15 minutes to
recover and then hit the same or a bit decreased intensity again. The goal here is
to achieve the maximum lactic acid fulfillment within your muscles and then rest
until its gone.

LOW INTENSITY WITH SHORT REST

This one is the opposite from the high intensity with long rest. Here, we are
supposed to work under 50% of our maximum effort with a short rest of 2-5
minutes. The goal here is to achieve the minimum to medium lactic acid fulfillment.

MYO REPS

This is one of my favorites and we all do this one without even realizing it. The
point is to perform the first set to failure or near your maximum and then the
following sets (5-10) are performed at much lower volume than the first set with the
short rest. An example of this would be easier to understand: my first set is 50 pull
ups, then I rest 30-60 seconds and do 5 sets of 10 pull ups with 30-60 seconds
rest. 

GREASE THE GROOVE

This one is something in between the high intensity with long rest and low intensity
with short rest. When using this workout approach we are supposed to do half of
our max reps with approximately 5-10 minutes rest for several sets. In simple
words, we need to make sure that we are going to complete all the sets with the
same number of reps with the same rest time. An example would be: if my
maximum is 60 pull ups then I would need to do 10 sets of 30 pull ups with 5
minutes rest.

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SUPERSET

This one is extremely versatile. It can be done in the grease the groove, high
intensity with long rest, low intensity with short rest, AMRAP, EMOM… well, pretty
much in every method. The goal is to have more than one exercise in the set. 

SPLIT

It is a compound workout method that means dividing the muscle groups per
workout. It is probably the most famous method within bodybuilders - biceps &
back on Monday, triceps & shoulders on Tuesday and so on.

ISOMETRICS

Isometric exercise is also known as static training. Examples include the chin over
the bar hold during the pull up, front lever hold, wall squat sit. It involves holding a
position rather than moving as in the case with dynamic (isotonic) exercise. It is
very useful for people who have some weak point of the particular movement, for
example if the athlete struggles with finishing the pull up at the top part, the chin
over the bar hold is the thing to do! Surely, Isometric training does not improve the
strength and hypertrophy as much as other methods. However, when done with
isotonic exercise (dynamic) it has a tremendous carryover to your strength and
control of your body. For example, you could do 5 pull ups - 10 seconds chin over
the bar hold - 5 pull ups, or 10 seconds hold on the bottom of the dip and then 10
full reps. 

TEMPO REPS

Tempo is defined as the rate or pace that an activity is performed. Therefore rep
tempo (also known as rep speed) is the rate at which you perform reps in a given
set. For example, the descending part of the dip is 3 seconds and the ascending
part is only half a second. It increases the control over the movement and the body
tremendously.

SHORT RANGE OF MOTION

This technique requires a shorter range of motion of the particular exercise while
maintaining proper body alignment and form in general. This method is mostly
used for high volume and serves as the unblocking method for your body & mind.
It helps to put your muscles under a longer time under tension which increases the

30
capacity to sustain a longer load and also builds a bigger muscle. It also helps with
the weak points of the movement. For example, if I have a bad starting point of the
pull up, then I would do the starting phase for reps.

WEIGHT RAMPING

This one applies for weighted workout. We are supposed to start with the lowest
possible weight for 1 rep and then increase the weight set by set until we reach our
1 rep maximum. It is supposed to be done with 2-5 minutes rest in between the
sets.

TIMED ROUTINES

It would be the best to understand with an example.

You have 5 minutes and you need to complete 50 pull ups + 100 push ups within
those 5 minutes. Exercises in the timed routines can be done in specific order or in
any order. Time varies from 30 seconds to 60 minutes and longer. Basically, you
have a predetermined number of reps to be done under a certain amount of time.

We should also remember that we can mix those methods one with another. EMOM
can be done in a drop set or weight building set or even a pyramid; grease the groove
or myo reps can be done with supersets or even timed routines, and the list goes on.
We can literally do anything and mix them up!

APPLICATION OF BUILDING STRENGTH & BODYBUILDING

(HYPERTROPHY)

I linked these two categories because one simply does not go without the other!
The beauty of calisthenics is that this sport doesn't really distinguish strength and
hypertrophy. Most workouts will simply improve both. However, what could make a
difference is your diet. I will be explaining the nutrition later.

Let's take a look at both in comparison.

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HYPERTROPHY VS. STRENGTH

Muscle building aims to induce hypertrophy of muscle tissue with the muscle
gaining overall size. On the other hand, strength training aims to increase the
functional ability of the muscles.

A few key differences come to mind when comparing hypertrophy and strength
training. Hypertrophy training requires a higher training volume with more frequent
workouts and shorter rest periods in between sets. The workouts include more
sets and reps with a lower weight. 

Strength training has a lower training volume (fewer days, longer rest periods) but
higher intensity. The goal is to work with bigger loads with fewer reps and sets.

Even nutrition and diet needs are different between the two. Bodybuilding, or
hypertrophy training, uses training protocols that focus primarily on enhancing
muscle size, so a balanced nutrition program that supports low body fat
maintenance and sufficient protein to gain muscle is vital.

The nutrition plan will also change depending on the category that is involved.
Strength training uses nutrition for the recovery and repair of muscles. 

When it comes to calisthenics there is a confusion within the inexperienced

athletes who strongly believe that we can apply the same rep range of the typical
isolated weighted bodybuilding to bodyweight compound exercises. We simply
can not. Why? Well, since there are barely any isolated exercises in calisthenics we
need to increase the rep range (reps) or the volume (sets) in order to stimulate our
muscles properly. For example, instead of 4 sets of 8 reps we would need to take 8
sets of 8 to break down the muscle as good as if you did a regular gym exercise
with some weights.

Obviously, when we talk about heavy weighted stuff in calisthenics, we surely can
use less reps to get the needed pump. 

To make it simple for you to understand - use the rep range that makes you
struggle for the last few reps but it's still not your maximum. For instance, if you
max bodyweight pull ups is 20 - use 15-17 reps as your workout rep range. The
same pattern goes with the extra weight, you just need to know your personal best
in reps with the certain weight and just cut 2-5 reps and do 6-10 sets with it. 

However, the rep range varies depending on the type of the workout method that
we use. 

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EMOM  for hypertrophy & strength

Bodyweight - around 25% off your maximum reps for 5-20 sets.

Added light weight - around 25% off your 1RM (maximum weight for 1 repetition);
around 25% off your maximum reps with this weight for 5-20 sets.

Added medium weight - around 50% off your 1RM (maximum weight for 1
repetition); around 25% off your maximum reps with this weight for 5-20 sets.

Added heavy weight - around 75% off your 1RM (maximum weight for 1
repetition); around 25% off your maximum reps with this weight for 5-20 sets.

The amount of sets varies from 5 to 20 but it completely depends on how your
body reacts to this load and for some people it can be 5 sets to feel like you have
the pump of your life and for some people its 20 sets or more.

AMRAP for hypertrophy & strength

We barely get to use AMRAP for hypertrophy. However, when it comes to the
volume that affects your muscle growth the most - AMRAP can be a good and
very fast way to catch up with the volume of the workout.

There are no specific numbers or rest time. All you need to do is to complete as
many reps with the good technique as possible under the certain amount of time.
You can do it bodyweight or weighted and it doesn't really matter as long as you
give your best. I love giving this type of the routines to my students because all I
need to do is to give a specific amount of reps of one or more exercises included
into AMRAP and tell them do as many as you can of those. Simple yet effective. 

PYRAMIDS & LADDERS for hypertrophy & strength

This one is very good when we talk about reaching volume without feeling it much,
due to the variable reps the every next set. Those who have tried pyramidal
workout once in their life know that you can reach even 300 pull ups per training
without actually feeling it. The trick here is that the high intensity happens only at
the top of the pyramid on the way up and the way down. In the case of the ladder,
the highest intensity is in the end only. So, we mostly work with bodyweight or
added light weight here in order to succeed with the ladder and not to make it only
a 1-2-3-3-2-1 type of thing. The volume here matters. For instance, if your
maximum in pull ups for reps is 10 - then you can use the ladder up to 7 or 8. If
your maximum is 5 reps then you can do 1-2-3-4-4-3-2-1-1-2-3-4-4-3-2-1 to

33
reach the volume. The goal is not to reach your maximum effort here, but to reach
maximum possible reps done in total per training. However, if your maximum is 50
pull ups it doesn't mean that you need to do pyramids in the 40-50 reps range, it
means that you can rest shorter in between the sets and make the pyramid longer
by going up and down multiple times.

DROPSET for hypertrophy & strength

It is probably one of the most loved methods for hypertrophy.

Bodyweight - Start at you maximum repetitions and then decrease the reps by 1-5
reps all the way down. The more reps you can do the more you need to take away
from the previous set and vica versa. Rest as long as you need to be able to
perform the next set, usually it's around 3-5 minutes.

Added light weight - Start at your maximum repetitions and then decrease the reps
by 1-3 reps all the way down. The more reps you can do the more you need to
take away from the previous set and vica versa. Rest as long as you need to be
able to perform the next set, usually it's around 3-5 minutes. The only difference
between the bodyweight and lightweighted dropsets is the amount of reps that
you drop since it is obvious that you can do less reps with the added weight.

Added medium weight - Here we can apply the same method as in the previous
two techniques (bodyweight and lightweighted) or, we can drop the weight instead
of reps. Take around 50% off your 1RM and do max reps with it, then drop the
weight by 2-5 kilograms and try to perform the same amount of reps from the
previous set. Rest around 3-5 minutes in between. However, I prefer resting as
long as I need to be able to perform the next set. 

Added heavy weight - Start from 80-90% off your 1RM and do 1 rep with it, then
drop the weight by 2-5 kilograms and here you can choose whether you want to
go down by the weight and keep it at 1 rep only, which means resting from 30
seconds to 2 minutes; or you want to go down with the weight but the reps go up
by 1, which means resting longer.

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Example of the first method:

1 set - 1 rep with 50kg

1 set of 1 rep with 45kg

1 set of 1 rep with 40kg

All the way down with 30-120 seconds rest in between.

Example of the second method:

1 set - 1 rep with 50kg

1 set of 2 reps with 45kg

1 set of 3 reps with 40kg

All the way down with 2-3 minutes rest in between.

SPLIT for hypertrophy & strength

This one is a traditional muscle group split. 

Push/pull/legs or push/legs/pull or whatever split possible. The goal here is to

divide the pulling muscles from pushing in order to not overload your body too
much. This works good in calisthenics if we load our muscles well enough. Split
automatically means working near failure every time because we get to rest
enough time until the next session that targets the same muscles. We can use a
hybrid approach of training here. Meaning that we can mix gym with calisthenics. It
is easy to understand - use the same principles of the other training methods
explained in this chapter but just divide the exercises by pull and push. The most
common pull exercises: pull ups, rows.

The most common push exercises: dips, push ups.

Where do we fit in the compound exercises such as muscle up? Well, muscle up
has almost nothing to do with hypertrophy and it only displays the gained over
time pull and push strength.

HIGH INTENSITY WITH LONG REST for hypertrophy & strength

It is a method where we are supposed to go “all in'' and work until failure or close
to failure and then rest for 10-15 minutes to recover and then hit the same or a bit
decreased intensity again. The goal here is to achieve the maximum lactic acid
fulfillment within your muscles and then rest until it's gone. It can be done with
bodyweight only or lightweight, medium weight. It is a good method to work until
failure and build up a total volume.

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LOW INTENSITY WITH SHORT REST for hypertrophy & strength

This one is the opposite from the high intensity with long rest. Here, we are
supposed to work under 50% of our maximum effort with a short rest of 2-5
minutes. The goal here is to achieve the minimum to medium lactic acid fulfillment.
It can be done with bodyweight only or lightweight, medium weight. It is a good
method to reach a decent volume.

MYO REPS for hypertrophy & strength

This one was explained a bit earlier. The most important thing here is to use
bodyweight or lightweight, medium weight. This one kills two birds with one shot -
it gives us the volume and the work near failure.

GREASE THE GROOVE for hypertrophy & strength

As well as the Myo reps, this method was explained in details earlier. The easiest
way here would be to do it with bodyweight only and added lightweight. It is a
decent way to hit the volume while not killing yourself during the workout.   

SUPERSET for hypertrophy & strength

The greatest thing about supersets, whether it's a set without leaving the bar or
just a routine with more than one exercise included - it's alway going to give you
the near failure load and a decent volume. There are no limitations here - it can be
done with any weight or bodyweight. 

ISOMETRICS for hypertrophy & strength

Isometric hold doesn't have much to do with muscle building nor strength.
However, when used properly it can increase the stimulus that is being put on our
muscles. For example, instead of just repping out tons of pull ups, add isometrics
in the beginning or in the end to increase the time under tension and also to put
more stress on the muscle fiber. It is a good tool to make a low rep workout feel
like you have done tons of reps.

36
TEMPO REPS for hypertrophy & strength

Playing with time under tension for both concentric and eccentric phases of any
movement has been one of the main tools to gain more muscles and strength over
years! Studies show that eccentric based time under tension increases the chance
of building muscle. Meaning that, spending more time on eccentric phase with the
rapid concentric phase for multiple reps help more than focusing on repping the
volume only. It can be 2-5 seconds for the specific phase. 

An example of the concentric based TEMPO reps:

1 second eccentric + 3 seconds concentric.

An example of eccentric based TEMPO reps:

3 seconds eccentric + 1 second concentric.

We can use bodyweight only or any weight up to 80% off 1RM here. 

Since TEMPO reps are more the way of doing reps than actual training method, we
can use it in EMOM, MYO or any other workout method!

SHORT RANGE OF MOTION for hypertrophy & strength

Just like “TEMPO reps”, short ROM is just the way of doing reps. We can use it in
pretty much any workout method. The trick here is that we can get a constant
tension on your muscles which creates more room for the protein (if consumed
accordingly) to build up the muscle fiber which transfers to strength eventually.

WEIGHT RAMPING for hypertrophy & strength

This is the whole opposite of the “DROPSET” principle. 

The goal here is to build the additional weight with every next set.

We can do it in two ways:

• 1st - 1 rep each set and only the weight increases.

Example:

1 rep of 5kg

1 rep of 10kg

1 rep of 15kg

All the way up until you reach your maximum.

The rest is around 30-120 seconds.

37
• 2nd - you set a certain amount of reps, usually its 2-5 reps and you only

increase the weight and try to complete each set with the same rep range while
increasing the weight every next set.

Example:

5 reps of 5kg

5 reps of 10kg

5 reps of 15kg

All the way up until you reach your maximum weight for this rep range.

The rest is around 2-3 minutes.

TIMED ROUTINES for hypertrophy & strength

This one works just like the AMRAP. However, here we can set the final score of
the routine. For example, we need to complete 100 pull ups under 10 minutes.

It is a great way to reach the volume and work near failure.

APPLICATION FOR ENDURANCE

When someone does high volume training in calisthenics, people tend to use the
word endurance to describe one’s ability to perform multiple sets without getting
tired. In fact, it is actually the strength endurance. Strength endurance is the
specific form of strength displayed in activities which requires a relatively long
duration of muscle tension with minimal decrease in efficiency. I am not saying that
it's not endurance training if someone is doing 60 sets of 10 pull ups within an
hour, I am saying that it wouldn't be possible without strength. In calisthenics,
those two are the best friends. Strength doesn't go without endurance and vica
versa. I want you guys to understand one thing: the principles are not going to be
so different in between the implementation of the methods for endurance and
strength.

It's not because I just didn't want to give you something, its just because strength
compliments endurance and the other way around! 

Let's take a look at how we can work towards it. I am going to use the word
endurance to describe the strength endurance. 

38
EMOM for endurance

Bodyweight - we can do it and we actually need to do it in a few ways:

1st - around 40% off your maximum reps for 5 sets

2nd - around 30% off your maximum reps for 10-20 sets

3rd - around 20% off your maximum reps for 20+ sets

There is no magical amount of reps and sets though. We just need to remember
that we need to work with low rep, mid rep and high rep range in order to succeed
with every aspect of endurance.

You can use light weight, mid weight and even heavy weight here and it will still
improve your sustainability of performing multiple sets without fatigue. 

The amount of sets varies from 5 to 60+ but it completely depends on how your
body reacts to this load and for some people it can be 5 sets to feel like you have
the pump of your life and for some people its 20 sets or more.

AMRAP for endurance

AMRAP is probably one of the best endurance based methods. We need to

complete as many rounds or repetitions as we can within a certain amount of time.

There are no specific numbers nor rest time. All you need to do is to complete as
many reps with the good technique as possible within a certain amount of time.
You can do it bodyweight or weighted and it doesn't really matter as long as you
give your best. 

PYRAMIDS & LADDERS for endurance

This one does not have any differences compared to the strength & hypertrophy.
Luckily we can hit both with pyramids!

This one is very good when we talk about reaching volume without feeling it much
due to the variable reps the every next set. Those who have tried pyramidal
workout once in their life know that you can reach even 300 pull ups per training
without actually feeling it. The trick here is that the high intensity happens only at
the top of the pyramid on the way up and the way down. In the case of the ladder,
the highest intensity is in the end only. So, we mostly work with bodyweight or
added light weight here in order to succeed with the ladder and not to make it only
a 1-2-3-3-2-1 type of thing. The volume here matters. For instance, if your
maximum in pull ups for reps is 10 - then you can use the ladder up to 7 or 8. If
your maximum is 5 reps then you can do 1-2-3-4-4-3-2-1-1-2-3-4-4-3-2-1 to

39
reach the volume. The goal is to not reach your maximum effort here, but to reach
maximum possible reps done in total per training. However, if your maximum is 50
pull ups it doesn't mean that you need to do pyramids in the 40-50 reps range, it
means that you can rest shorter in between the sets and make the pyramid longer
by going up and down multiple times.

DROPSET for endurance

Bodyweight - Start at your maximum repetitions and then decrease the reps by 1-5
reps all the way down. The more reps you can do the more you need to take away
from the previous set and vica versa. Rest as long as you need to be able to
perform the next set, usually it's around 3-5 minutes.

Added light weight - Start at your maximum repetitions and then decrease the reps
by 1-3 reps all the way down. The more reps you can do the more you need to
take away from the previous set and vica versa. Rest as long as you need to be
able to perform the next set, usually it's around 3-5 minutes. The only difference
between the bodyweight and lightweighted dropsets is the amount of reps that
you drop since it is obvious that you can do less reps with the added weight.

Added medium weight - Here we can apply the same method as in the previous
two techniques (bodyweight and lightweighted) or, we can drop the weight instead
of reps. Take around 50% off your 1RM and do max reps with it, then drop the
weight by 2-5 kilograms and try to perform the same amount of reps from the
previous set. Rest around 3-5 minutes in between. However, I prefer resting as
long as I need to be able to perform the next set. 

Added heavy weight - Start from 80-90% off your 1RM and do 1 rep with it, then
drop the weight by 2-5 kilograms and here you can choose whether you want to
go down by the weight and keep it at 1 rep only, which means resting from 30
seconds to 2 minutes; or you want to go down with the weight but the reps go up
by 1, which means resting longer.

40
Example of the first method:

1 set - 1 rep with 50kg

1 set of 1 rep with 45kg

1 set of 1 rep with 40kg

All the way down with 30-120 seconds rest in between.

Example of the second method:

1 set - 1 rep with 50kg

1 set of 2 reps with 45kg

1 set of 3 reps with 40kg

All the way down with 2-3 minutes rest in between.

SPLIT for endurance

This one is a traditional muscle group split. 

Push/pull/legs or push/legs/pull or whatever split possible. The goal here is to

divide the pulling muscles from pushing in order to not overload your body too
much. This works good if we load our muscles well enough though. Split
automatically means working near failure every time because we get to rest
enough time until the next session that targets the same muscles. It is easy to
understand - use the same principles of the other training methods explained in
this chapter but just divide the exercises by pull and push. The most common pull
exercises: pull ups, rows.

The most common push exercises: dips, push ups.

HIGH INTENSITY WITH LONG REST for endurance

It is a method where we are supposed to go “all in'' and work until failure or close
to failure and then rest for 10-15 minutes to recover and then hit the same or a bit
decreased intensity again. The goal here is to achieve the maximum lactic acid
fulfillment within your muscles and then rest until it's gone. It can be done with
bodyweight only or lightweight, medium weight.

41
LOW INTENSITY WITH SHORT REST for endurance

This one is the opposite from the high intensity with long rest. Here, we are
supposed to work under 50% of our maximum effort with a short rest of 2-5
minutes. The goal here is to achieve the minimum to medium lactic acid fulfillment.
It can be done with bodyweight only or lightweight, medium weight.

MYO REPS for endurance

This one was explained a bit earlier. The most important thing here is to use
bodyweight or lightweight, medium weight. This one kills two birds with one shot -
it gives us the volume and the work near failure.

GREASE THE GROOVE  for endurance

As well as the “Myo reps”, this method was explained in details earlier. The easiest
way here would be to do it with bodyweight only and added lightweight. It is a
decent way to hit the volume while not killing yourself during the workout.   

SUPERSET for endurance

The greatest thing about supersets, whether it's a set without leaving the bar or
just a routine with more than one exercise included - it's alway going to give you
the near failure load and a decent volume. There are no limitations here - it can be
done with any weight or bodyweight. 

ISOMETRICS for endurance

Isometrics are not too useful to progress in reps or endurance when done by itself.
However, when used properly it can increase the stimulus that is being put on our
muscles. For example, instead of just repping out some pull ups, add isometrics in
the beginning or in the end to increase the time under tension and also to put more
stress on the muscle fiber. This will make your muscles work against the previously
created resistance and this is incredibly useful. It teaches your muscles to maintain
the stability under the fatigue.

42
TEMPO REPS for endurance

Playing with time under tension for both concentric and eccentric phases of any
movement has been one of the main tools to gain more muscles and strength over
years! In endurance, it helps our body to learn how to control the speed and the
ballistic movements. 

It can be 2-5 seconds for the specific phase. 

An example of the concentric based TEMPO reps:

1 second eccentric + 3 seconds concentric.

An example of eccentric based TEMPO reps:

3 seconds eccentric + 1 second concentric.

We can use bodyweight only or any weight up to 80% off 1RM here. 

Since TEMPO reps are more the way of doing reps than actual training method, we
can use it in EMOM, MYO or any other workout method!

SHORT RANGE OF MOTION for hypertrophy & strength

Just like “TEMPO reps”, short ROM is just the way of doing reps. We can use it in
pretty much any workout method. This one is a 100% endurance booster. Let me
explain it:

We have the stretch and shortening cycles when it comes to our muscles
(concentric and eccentric movements put together) and when we perform a single
pull up - we get 1 stretch and shortening cycle done. So, there is a thing which is
called muscle adaptation and if we use it wisely with short range of motion, we can
become the next calisthenics endurance star. The point is - shorten the range of
motion to do more stretch and shortening cycles to get used to more reps. Your
body will adapt the volume and you will unblock not only the muscle barrier but
also a mental barrier of performing more reps. Surely, the form improves with time
and you become the real machine.

43
WEIGHT RAMPING for endurance

This is the whole opposite of the “DROPSET” principle. 

The goal here is to build the additional weight with every next set.

We can do it in two ways:

• 1st - 1 rep each set and only the weight increases.

Example:

1 rep of 5kg

1 rep of 10kg

1 rep of 15kg

All the way up until you reach your maximum.

The rest is around 30-120 seconds.

• 2nd - you set a certain amount of reps, usually its 2-5 reps and you only increase
the weight and try to complete each set with the same rep range while increasing
the weight every next set.

Example:

5 reps of 5kg

5 reps of 10kg

5 reps of 15kg

All the way up until you reach your maximum weight for this rep range.

The rest is around 2-3 minutes.

TIMED ROUTINES for endurance

This one works just like the AMRAP. However, here we can set the final score of
the routine. For example, we need to complete 100 pull ups under 10 minutes.

It is a great way to reach the volume and work near failure.

SUMMARY

It is so beautiful when we look at the training approach for endurance and strength
separately and then when we compare them. The training approach is the same
and we can't just do one type of strength workout and expect our 1RM to grow.
We need endurance to prepare ourselves to beat our personal best. On the other

44
hand, we can't improve in endurance without the strength to perform the next rep.
Do you understand what I mean? So many people make it so difficult for
themselves and think that you need to only do a specific amount of sets and reps
to gain more strength or endurance. The truth is, we need to use as many rep
ranges, different volumes and approaches as it is only possible. I really cannot
stress this enough - stop trying to make it so difficult for yourself and make sure to
have a complex workout program that covers each and every aspect of your
training, so that you can gradually progress!

Surely, we can have more high volume based workouts to improve endurance or
we can have more low rep with medium or heavy weight workouts to improve the
strength. We all have certain goals that we need to accomplish and we need to
prioritize everything but the fact that we need to work on both separately and
together remains.

I will explain about combining everything later.

APPLICATION FOR SKILLS & TECHNIQUE

When it comes to skills in calisthenics, picking the workout method is not as easy
as in strength & endurance category. While we can literally use any workout
method with the other calisthenics categories, skill training requires a bit more
specific approach. Skills need the specific motor units of your body to be activated
during this or that element. In order to achieve the best motor activation we simply
need to practice the movement in the best progression possible. We need to
remember that just like in strength & endurance training we need to cover all the
possible parts of the body that a particular movement requires to be activated. It
means that we should work in all possible ways by using different approaches. 

Let me guide you through this.

EMOM for skills

Surprisingly, most people believe that EMOM works only for endurance. In fact,
this is extremely wrong. This workout method allows us to improve the “feeling” of
the movement, which means a better motor units activation. Obviously, we
shouldn’t do EMOM for 60 minutes in skill training. Instead, we can set it on 5 or
10 minutes. How hard should you go every minute? If it's a static hold like planche

45
or front lever, then we should stick to 2-5 seconds holds every minute. If its a
power dynamic move like one arm pull up or handstand push up, then we
shouldn't go further than 2-4 reps. The point of the EMOM workout for skills is
having enough time to recover before the next minute, so we really need to take it
easy and choose the adequate progression which does not make us too
exhausted. The goal is to feel the movement better and activate your body
smarter, not to get tired. To sum it up, do not do anything that lasts longer than
5-10 seconds in the EMOM workout for skills.

AMRAP for skills

This method is the one that can improve your endurance in the skill training. It can
improve your ability to sustain longer performance, which would help during the
competition for example. You can do it for reps and for rounds. The only thing we
should remember when practicing skills for endurance is that the form is the
priority; if you notice a huge drop in the quality of your performance, then you
should move to the easier progression (regression).

DROPSET for skills

This one is great for skills! We can start at our longest hold and then decrease the
duration of the hold as we go down in the drop set. The same would be with reps,
we can decrease the reps every next set. Keep in mind that we should rest
adequately in between the sets to be able to maintain the proper form.

HIGH INTENSITY WITH LONG REST for skills

Honestly, there is nothing better than this in order to improve your skill. You get to
perform at your best and then you rest as long as you need to feel good for the
next set. In this case, we can push the limits. Most of the bests in calisthenics
skills category train this way most of the time. If they do planche for example, they
hold it as long as they can and after that, they rest 10-15 minutes and then they
repeat it.

We should do it in the first part of the skills training when we are fresh before
proceeding to regressions or other training methods in the same training.

46
LOW INTENSITY WITH SHORT REST for skills

While the previous method is good for the first part of the training, this one is good
for the second one! The best way to use it is picking the easier progression of the
exercise and performing it at low or medium intensity (not more than 60% from
your best) with relatively short rest, around 3-6 minutes. The point of the last two
methods is that we should use both in the same training session.

The specificity of skill training is the regression during the workout: we start from
the best possible progression of the element and then we regress as we get tired.
The regression often requires less rest in between the exercises due to the less
motor units needed, this is why we can use both in the same workout.

SUPERSET for skills

Everyone who has ever done more than one skill without leaving the bar knows
what superset is. Superset in skills is basically freestyle (combo). This one is
necessary for those who prepare for the competition. However, if you don’t
compete we can still use it and also improve the skills when combining some of
them into one set! It improves the ability to perform under previously exhausted
muscles (for example holding the front lever after holding planche). We just need to
remember to rest 10-15 minutes in between to be able to maintain the form.

SPLIT for skills

We definitely cannot put every possible skill in calisthenics into one training
session. I don't recommend to do more than 3-4 different skills in one training. This
is why the proper split is a must. We can divide the elements by pull, push and
compound exercises. The best way is to do all of them separately. For example: 

Monday - pulling skills: one arm pull up, front lever.

Wednesday - pushing skills: planche, handstand.

Friday - compound skills: muscle up, human flag.

We can also mix them up. There is nothing wrong with doing front lever with
planche in the same day, especially if you are not interested in more than one skill
training a week and you want to only learn how to do 2-3 skills for now.

ISOMETRICS for skills

Well, every static skill is an isometric exercise. Thus, it doesn't need to be

explained. On the other hand, when it comes to power dynamics, the isometric

47
holds in different positions of the movement is a good thing to do in order to help
your body adapt the load and learn how to activate everything. For example, chin
over the bar hold by using only one arm is a crucial exercise to learn the one arm
pull up. 

TEMPO REPS for skills

While doing it the same way as for strength would be possible only for advanced
athletes who could do it with planche push ups for example, we cannot say the
same about beginners and even intermediate athletes. However, using a slower
tempo when performing some power dynamics such as front lever pull up or
planche push up its necessary to keep everything under control and do the reps
slowly.

SHORT RANGE OF MOTION for skills

It has nothing to do with isometric holds. Although, when we speak about power
dynamics it helps tremendously. It is obvious that we cannot perform the full range
of motion front lever pull ups right after learning how to hold the front lever for a
few seconds. Instead, we use half rep to help our body to adjust. Half rep is a must
when we speak about power dynamics like handstand push up, one arm pull up,
front lever, hefesto, human flag pull up etc.

TIMED ROUTINES for skills

I love doing timed stuff with skills. For example, the goal is to hold the front lever
for 60 seconds, but in total. The trick is that we hit a certain volume that improves
out strength & endurance in a particular skill.

We can also do the most hold or reps under a certain amount of time.

Just like I mentioned in almost every skill training, we need to maintain the proper form
in order to have the best outcome. Remember to use more than one workout approach
to be complete in skill training.

48
 HOW TO MIX EVERYTHING

This is probably the first question you asked when finished reading about workout
methods. There is nothing magical and secretly hidden with this. We simply need
to cover every aspect of training if we want to progress without injuries. 

According to my database of students, more than 90% of people tend to workout

4 times a week. Thus, how can we cover everything with 4 days a week? 

We need to improve our strength & endurance, technique or skills, mobility

(stretching and mobility will be explained later on). We need to set the priorities and
pick whether we are gonna have two strength & endurance days or two skills and
technical days. When saying technical, I mean that not everyone is interested in
skill training so this person can work on the better form in basic exercises such as
pull ups and push ups.  The biggest mistake most people make is that they think
that if they train skills for 4 days, the progress will be fast. Unfortunately, it is false.
To improve in skills, we need more brutal strength which is achieved by grinding
with basic exercises; furthermore, we need to improve or maintain our mobility to
not get injured. To improve in strength, we need to work on our technique to not
get injured when improving and we also need the mobility and stretching included
into the program to help us recover faster and of course, avoid the injuries.

Do you see the point? We need everything and we cannot simply workout for only
one thing every day  like there is no tomorrow. The only thing to figure out is the
priority and what to focus on.  I will be explaining everything about priorities and
how to actually put everything together in the creating the program section.

49
 THE TECHNIQUE OF THE EXERCISES

In order to succeed with the program we need to know the technique of the
exercises and their progressions. Let's start from explaining the technique of the
basic exercises. 

Basics

PULL UP

The classic pull up has its two variations.

The hollow body with shoulder width grip - works best for weighted training and
low rep range. In this one we place our elbows a bit more in front of us.

The straight or a bit arched body with wider than shoulder width grip - the best for
high volume and fast reps. In this one we place our elbows more to the sides.

STARTING POINT FINISHING POINT

50
Here are the main points we need to focus on when performing a pull up:

• The wider the grip, the smaller the range of motion, the more reps we can
do. However, to prevent those pull-ups from looking „weird".  I recommend
grabbing the bar on the shoulder width + a half of that width, so it's
something like shoulder width and an additional half of it. 

• The thumb is always under the bar (closed grip), this way we activate more
muscles and get more control over the movement.

• The elbows go to the sides as much as possible (45 degrees or more) as

long as it is comfortable, not everyone has the mobility to be able to pull up
with the elbows pinned completely to the side. 

• Control your back and don't let your body arch too much. 

• The pelvis is tilted and the core is tight - so that there is no “banana” shape
in your pull up body position. 

• Scapula is always retracted and shoulders depressed.


We should apply the same technique when using the easier pull up progressions.

Pull up progression:

• Strengthening the scapula in any possible ways.

• Face pull up - lay down on the floor or stand on your feet. Grab the
resistance band on your shoulder width and raise your arms above your
head like if you are going to perform a pull up. Stretch the band to the sides
a bit and perform an imitated pull up movement.

• Australian pull up - use the low bar or rings. Adjust the angle of the body
positioning to the point where its still easy to maintain a straight body from
head to toes but challenging enough to complete a pull up. Perform the pull
up as if you were supposed to do the regular one on the bar.

51
 STARTING POINT FINISHING POINT

• Legs assisted pull up - use the bar which is not higher than your chin.
Perform the pull ups with your feet under the bar. Use minimum help from
your legs to perform the pull up.

• Isometric holds - perform static holds in different parts of the movement.

• Resistance band - band is a good tool to decrease the load that is being put
on your muscles and learn how to activate your body.  

52
 • Attempts - this is the most important part. Attempt it from jumping, from half
way etc. 

PUSH UP

STARTING POINT FINISHING POINT

When it comes to the most optimal push up technique in a calisthenics way, here
are the things to focus on:

• Strengthening the scapula in any possible ways.

53
 • Hands placed shoulder-width apart or slightly wider.

• Elbows go 45 degrees from/to the body as we perform the push up. It can
also be done with your elbows close to the body, it is up to your preference.

• Palms are pointed inwards to 45 degree (healthier for the wrist).

• Shoulder blades tightened and shoulders depressed.

• Core tightened.

• Legs are always together.

• Chest opens when going down and comes back to the neutral stance when
going up.

I recommend using parallettes or low bars for push ups. This way the range of
motion is bigger and the wrist is in a healthier position.

Push up progressions:

• Inclined push up - do the push up on an elevated surface for your arms. This
way we decrease the load and can maintain the technique.

• Knee push up - use your knees instead of feet, make sure to keep your body
straight from head to knees. We decrease the load this way. 

54
 • Isometric holds - do static holds in different push up positions to strengthen
your body. 

• Short range of motion - do half reps to strengthen your body.


DIP

STARTING POINT FINISHING POINT

Form points:


• Legs are always together.

• Elbows 45 degrees from the body but it also can be done with elbows close
to the body. It depends on your own preference.

55
 • Keep your scapula in a neutral position and shoulders depressed.

• As you go down, make sure to not bend your body like if you would do
crunches. Maintain the straight line in your body.

• We do not lie down on triceps, do not bow down (avoid doing sit-ups on
dips).

Same thing goes for the straight bar dips on the single bar.

Dip progressions:

• Strengthening the scapula in any possible ways. 

• Deep push up - perform it on two parallettes/fists and go as low as you can

with the chest to put more load and prepare your body for the load on dip.

STARTING POINT FINISHING POINT

• Short range of motion - do partial reps to strengthen your body  

• Isometric holds - use static holds in different phases of the dips to condition
your body.  

56
 • Assisted dip - it can be a resistance band or you can place your feet on
something behind you.

SQUAT AND OTHER LOWER BODY EXERCISES

When it comes to the squats, jump squats, lunges and pistol squats, we have
some really important things to remember about when performing any of the
mentioned exercises:

• Move around your hips, not your knees. Make sure to have this hips “hinge”.
Meaning that you should squat with your hips and not with your knees.

• The knees are always in one line with the feet. However, if the knees cross
the toe line there is nothing wrong with that as long as it matches our
mobility and does not put any ache under the knee cap.

• The pelvis is stable and slightly tilted.


• Core is always tight. Brace your core as hard as you can.

• Stand on your feet like if it was a tripod and “grab” the ground with it. 1st
spot is your heel. 2nd spot is your big toe. 3rd spot is your pinky/little toe.
Focus on those 3 points to be stable all the time during any lower body
exercise.

57
We can use short range of motion, isometric holds, negative and assisted
progressions for the lower body exercises. I am not focusing on the lower body
exercises much here because I am not going to say anything in this book that you
couldn't find online by yourself or knew before.


SQUAT

STARTING POINT FINISHING POINT

LUNGE

STARTING POINT FINISHING POINT

58
PISTOL SQUAT

STARTING POINT FINISHING POINT

PLANK

Plank is one of the most underrated exercises, especially when we speak about
learning some advanced skills where we need to maintain the straight line within
the body. This exercise helps to understand your body better.

ELBOWS PLANK STRAIGHT ARMS PLANK

59
The main point to focus on are:

• Scapula is always protracted. Protracted does not mean that you need to
create a hump at your upper back. Just stretch (protract) your scapula to its
end point.

• Legs are always together. The wider you place your legs the easier the plank
becomes.

• Brace your core. Try to suck in your stomach to activate your deep core
muscles.


In order to progress with this exercise from scratch we can use the incline version.

HOLLOW BODY

Hollow body is an another exercise which is really underrated, especially when we

speak about learning some advanced skills where we need to maintain the straight
line within the body. This exercise helps to understand your body better.

60
The main point to focus on are:

• Lower back is glued to the ground.

• Legs are always together and slightly raised above the ground

• Brace your core. Try to suck in your stomach to activate your deep core
muscles.

• Raise your shoulder blades slightly above the ground level.


In order to progress with this exercise from scratch we can use the tuck version.

Statics

PLANCHE

What muscles are activated?

The main muscle used in this exercise is the anterior deltoid, but the abdominals,
chest, shoulders, upper back, lower back, and glutes also play important roles.

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Progressions:

• Protracted scapula dips; hollow body hold  with resistance (bands or

kettlebells); planche lean and planche lean push ups; glutes activation and
lower back strengthening.

HOLLOW BODY WITH RESISTANCE PLANCHE LEAN

• Tuck planche and tuck planche holds; advanced tuck and advanced tuck
raisers; straddle tuck raisers; press to handstand with/without the wall.

TUCK PLANCHE ADVANCED TUCK PLANCHE

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• One legged kicks/holds (one leg straightening in the tuck position); straddle
opening (two legs straightening and entering the straddle planche position).

ONE LEGGED PLANCHE

• Straddle Planche with the band assistance; tuck planche and advanced tuck
push ups.

• Straddle planche attempts.

• In order to achieve the full planche we need to practice it with the band and
make sure that we can hold straddle planche for at least 10 seconds strong
and clean enough.

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The form points:

• Arms are straight.

• Scapula is protracted. However, the neutral scapular position is also good.

Remember to not make a hump in your upper back.

• Core is tightened.

• Elbows are pointed backwards, biceps is facing forwards.

• Glutes are activated and squeezed.

• Legs are tight.


FRONT LEVER

What muscles are activated?

Shoulders, chest, back, core, glutes and legs. The main muscles are pretty much
all the mentioned ones besides legs.

Progressions:

• Hollow body, various static core exercises such as l-sit holds (both bent legs
and straight legs); pull ups; scapula work.

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• Tuck front lever and advanced tuck front lever holds, dragon flags.

TUCK FRONT LEVER ADVANCED TUCK FRONT LEVER

• Tuck front lever and advanced tuck pull ups; straddle front lever and one
legged front lever; front lever raisers.

ONE LEGGED FRONT LEVER STRADDLE FRONT LEVER

• Band assisted full front lever; straddle front lever pull ups; holding a front
lever lower or higher than the horizontal level.

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 • Attempts of the full front lever.

The form points:

• Straight arms. However, if you keep your arms bent just a tiny bit its
completely fine.

• Retracted scapula. Don't try to squeeze it hard, retract it but the position will
look like it's in the neutral position due to the gravity and resistance of your
bodyweight. Use this cue to retract your scapula properly - make your
armpits disappear.

• Core is tightened.

• Glutes are activated.

• Legs are tight and together.

• Elbows are facing forwards or diagonally to the side.

HANDSTAND

What muscles are activated?

The main shoulder and chest muscles used in a handstand are your anterior and
medial deltoid, and your pectoralis major and minor. The major muscles of your
back involved: serratus anterior, erector spinae, trapezius, latissimus dorsi and

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quadratus lumborum. However we should remember that during the static
movements we engage our whole body, especially in handstand.

Progressions:

• Frog stand; wrist strengthening; any core and glutes activation work. 

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 • Pike push ups.

STARTING POINT FINISHING POINT

• Tripod head stand.

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 • Wall assisted handstand (back to the wall and belly to the wall).

• Resistance band assisted or partner assisted handstand.

• Attempts.

Form points:

• Toes pointed - pointing your toes helps to tighten up your legs and keep
them straight. It is one simple change that could easily transform your hold
time!

• Legs straight - if your legs are bent and leaning out at awkward angles they
will make balancing much harder. Keep them straight and together, stacked
directly above your hands.

• Pelvic tilt - the pelvic tilt refers to a slight tilt in your pelvis, specifically a
posterior tilt where you almost have your hips turned under your core as
opposed to an anterior tilt where your butt sticks out.

• Hollow body - the hollow body position is used regularly in handstands to

help maintain balance without bending your legs, hips, arms or anything else.
To actually get straight, your body will feel like it is slightly bent in that hollow

69
 body position, and it will be very useful later on with handstand push ups
and presses.

• Core sucked in - it will help to maintain the proper body position and it will
also help to control your body better when losing the balance a bit.

• Head tight - keep your head tight into your shoulders, don’t try to look out in
front of you, instead look right down between your hands.

• Elevated shoulders - push from your shoulders. It will help you to actually
balance in a straight line instead of using a tremendous amount of strength
of your shoulders to keep you up.

• Hands at shoulder width - spreading your hands wide in a handstand is

going to make it more difficult. Instead keep your hands narrow directly
under your shoulders, and you will find you are instantly more stable.

• Straight arms - keep your arms straight so you don't have to use strength
and get tired fast.

• Point your hands straight or a bit outwards for the better balance.

• Bend your fingers a bit so you can balance with them.


BACK LEVER

What muscles are activated? 

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The back lever will emphasize the posterior chain muscles of the body. The lower
back and hips are used strongly here, though you'll also need good abdominal and
arm strength to keep you in a nice horizontal line from your neck to your toes.

Progressions:

• Any kind of lower back and glutes strengthening exercises.

• Skin the cat + advanced skin the cat (legs extended).

STARTING POINT FINISHING POINT

• Tuck back lever and advanced tuck back lever.

TUCK BACK LEVER ADVANCED TUCK BACK LEVER


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 • Attempts to straighten one leg from the tuck position.

• Negatives in the straddle back lever.

• Full back lever negatives.

• Attempts to hold in positions above or below the horizontal level.

Form points:

• Arms are straight.

• Scapula is in the neutral position.

• Depressed shoulders.

• Core is tight.

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 • Lower Back and glutes are activated

• Toes are pointed out.

• Legs are tight.


HUMAN FLAG

What muscles are activated?

The main muscles involved are the delts, lats, and obliques. Obviously, it is a full
body exercise like any other static element.

Progressions:

• Hold at the bottom of the ladder - grab the ladder and push from your
bottom shoulder while pulling with your upper arm. Do not raise the body,
stay down with only your shoulders and arms active.

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• Advanced holds at the bottom of the ladder - do the same thing as
described in the previous progression but elevate your body a bit more.

• Holds at the top of the ladder - get into the position where your toes face the
sky and hold this position.

• Negatives from top to bottom in straddle and eventually in full.

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 • Holds below and above the horizontal level in straddle and eventually in full.

Form points:

• Your palms should face each other. Meaning that your bottom palm is
supinated and your upper arm is pronated.

• Your bottom arm is never bent. Your upper arm can be bent a bit but ideally
both arms are straight.

• Core is tight.

• Glutes and legs are activated.

• Make sure to push from your bottom shoulder and pull with your upper
shoulder.

• Toes pointed out.


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Power dynamics

It is called power dynamics because it takes power to perform a dynamic (isotonic)

movement. 

MUSCLE UP

What muscles are activated?

Since it is a compound upper body movement, the main working muscles are
shoulders, arms, back, core and chest. However, in order to perform the clean
muscle up rep we need to control our lower body with glutes and legs.

STARTING POINT TRANSITION POINT FINISHING POINT

Progressions:

• High pull up for the explosive strength.

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 STARTING POINT FINISHING POINT

• Low bar dip with the elbow drop for the better transition.

STARTING POINT TRANSITION POINT FINISHING POINT

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 • Muscle up transition hold for the better control during the transition.

• Jumping muscle up or band assisted muscle up to learn how to move.

Form points:

• Retracted scapula.

• Use the arc shaped movement as you go up to be able to get over the bar
more comfortable.

• Shoulders are depressed.

• Core is tight.

• Keep elbows inside, don't let them flare out, unless mobility allows you to.

• Keep an overhand grip to make transition easier.


ONE ARM PULL UP

What muscles are activated? 

The lats, chest, shoulders and surely biceps.

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STARTING POINT HALFWAY POINT FINISHING POINT

Progressions:

• One arm based grip strengthening and scapulae strengthening.

• Archer pull up and typewriter pull up.|


ARCHER PULL UP

STARTING POINT FINISHING POINT

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TYPEWRITER PULL UP

STARTING POINT FINISHING POINT

• Isometric holds in different phases of the movement with/without band.

• Different range of motion work (starting point, halfway point, finishing point).

• Attempts from different range of motion and from jumping.

Form points:

• The most comfortable and optimal grip is the neutral grip.

• Retracted scapula and stable, depressed shoulder.

• Keep the elbow of the pulling arm close to your body as you go up.

• Core is tight.

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 IMPOSSIBLE DIP

Since it is a variation of the triceps extension, the triceps is the main working
muscle here. Scapulae, shoulders, forearms and core are responsible for the
movement stabilization here.

STARTING POINT HALFWAY POINT FINISHING POINT

Progressions:

• Any kind of triceps extensions.

• Short range of motion impossible dip.

• Half rep impossible dip.

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STARTING POINT HALFWAY POINT FINISHING POINT

• Isometric holds in different phases of the movement with/without band.

• Negatives.

• Assisted impossible dip with the band.

• Attempts to go lower and lower as you progress.

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Form points:

• The wider the dip bars the easier it is to perform the impossible dip, choose
the dip bars accordingly.

• Retracted scapula and stable, depressed shoulder.

• Keep the elbows close to your body as you go down and up. Elbows are
rotated backwards.

• Core is tight.


HEFESTO

I personally don't recommend doing hefesto since it has the triple threat: it can
mess up your wrist, it can tear your biceps and also it can rip your pec minor. It is
extremely uncomfortable to perform this movement which is not even worth doing
besides calisthenics freestyle competition.

However a lot of young people want to learn this so here are the main muscles
activated: forearm, biceps, shoulders, chest and upper back.

STARTING POINT FINISHING POINT

Progressions:

• Strengthening your grip and forearm with reversed hanging and back lever
exercises.

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 • Korean dips.

STARTING POINT FINISHING POINT

• Hefesto pull up (bottom/starting point) and hefesto dip (it is basically very
low korean dip).

HEFESTO PULL UP

STARTING POINT FINISHING POINT

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HEFESTO DIP

STARTING POINT FINISHING POINT

• Half reps.

STARTING POINT FINISHING POINT

• Negative reps.

• Band assisted reps.


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Form points:


• Use the false grip or the overhand grip to make the transition easier.

• Try to keep your elbows aligned with your wrists and shoulders.

• Try to keep your chest in the stable position as if you walk in the park. Do not
allow the chest to open too much.


Honestly, it's close to impossible to describe the proper form of the exercise which
is dangerous in its nature.

FRONT LEVER PULL UP

Follow the same pattern as was described with the static front lever hold. Do pull
ups with the easiest progressions and then step up as you progress. Apply
isometrics and short range of motion methods. Bands are also a great tool.

PLANCHE PUSH UP

Follow the same pattern as was described with the static planche hold. Do push
ups with the easiest progressions and then step up as you progress. Apply
isometrics and short range of motion methods. Bands are a great tool too.

HANDSTAND PUSH UP

Follow the same pattern as was described with the static handstand hold. Do push
ups with the easiest progressions and then step up as you progress. Apply
isometrics and short range of motion methods. Use the wall as assistance.

Obviously, I didn't explain all the possible methods, exercises and techniques because
there are thousands of exercises for each skill or basic exercise. I showed you the most
important and working ones! You can always play with it and try something else.

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How do we progress from one progression to another

STATICS

You should be able to perform a 10-15 seconds decent hold of the particular
progression in order to safely move on to the next progression.  Use progressive
overload when adding intensity in your workout after mastering the element. As
you program your workout - start from the hardest possible progression for you
and then regress as you get tired.

POWER DYNAMICS

You should be able to easily perform a particular progression and feel full control
over your body when doing a progression in order to move on to the next
progression.  Use progressive overload when adding intensity in your workout after
mastering the element. As you program your workout - start from the hardest
possible for you progression and then regress as you get tired.

BASICS

When learning the basic exercises you should be able to easily perform 10-15
decent reps before moving to the next progression. Use progressive overload
when adding intensity in your workout after mastering the element. As you
program your workout - start from the hardest possible for you progression and
then regress as you get tired.

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 CONDITIONING, BREATHING & MOBILITY

Conditioning & functional training in calisthenics 

When we speak about calisthenics it is a conditioning and functional training in the

first place! 

Calisthenics or bodyweight training is often described as functional. But what

differentiates some training from being functional, and other training not being
functional? At its core, functional training means that it is relevant to movements in
real life; using compound (or many muscle group) exercises, rather than isolation
(one muscle group). As far as we are concerned, calisthenics barely has any
isolation exercises. Hence everything we do is a functional training! We just need
to make sure that we implement as many exercises as we can into the routine in
order to target every movement of our daily life.

Conditioning means improving your body in general to function better. Body

conditioning exercises target your whole body, using lots of different muscles to
strengthen, shape and tone your body. They may combine several types of
exercise, such as flexibility, strength, and resistance training.  

Get your blood flowing, heart pumping, and muscles flexing with the exercises. For
best results, incorporate a few of them into your daily routine, or do a longer
session two to three times per week. 

You need to implement compound exercises into your workout. It can be just a
burpee or the muscle up. It can also be a mix of the exercises such as a few pull
ups with a few push ups for many rounds.

The goal is to target most of your muscles at the same training session by
switching tasks.

HOW TO PROGRAM THE WORKOUT

To program a conditioning or functional workout we just need to remember all the

possible exercises and put them down on paper. Just do not go for more than 10
exercises per training.

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It can be a circuit like: 5 burpees - 5 muscle ups - 5 jump squats - 5 l-sit raisers - 5
pull ups - 5 push ups - 5 squats. The point is to engage more than one muscle
group at a time (meaning in one routine).

By training multiple muscle groups at the same time, you are helping your body
function better as a whole. You are training it to be a system and not just individual
parts that work independently. Both your mind and muscles will learn how to
recruit multiple muscle groups to get a job done instead of relying on just one.
Recruiting multiple muscle groups is going to prevent strain injuries that happen
from using one muscle group. It also improves coordination, balance, and body
awareness, which will help you avoid unnecessary injuries.

We can do just one-two routines per week which would target the conditioning &
functional training. It doesn't have to be the whole training for conditioning. We just
need to learn how to recruit our muscles better.

Here are some examples of the routines for you:

• Everything needs to be done as fast as possible in the following order.

1st round: 30 squats - 20 burpees - 10 pull ups - 5 muscle ups 

2nd round: 27 squats - 18 burpees - 9 pull ups - 4 muscle ups 

3rd round: 24 squats - 16 burpees - 8 pull ups - 3 muscle ups 

4th round: 21 squats- 14 burpees - 7 pull ups - 2 muscle ups 

5th round: 18 squats - 12 burpees - 6 pull ups - 1 muscle ups 

Rest 3-5 minutes in between the rounds.

• Alternating EMOM x100

Alternating EMOM means that you are going to have a few exercises to complete
one after another, exercises change every minute.

1st exercise - 10 burpees

2nd exercise - 10 dips

3rd exercise -  10 pull ups

4th exercise - 10 jump squats

5th exercise - 10 toes to the bar raisers

So its 20 sets of each exercise.

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Example: 

1st minute - 1st exercise

2nd minute - 2nd exercise

3rd minute - 3rd exercise

4th minute - 4th exercise

5th minute - 5th exercise

All you need to do is to repeat this circuit 20 times.

Breathing methods

The way you breathe has a lot to do with your athletic performance as well as your
quality of life. Breathing powerfully affects every system in your body
(cardiovascular, nervous, endocrine, lymph, immune, digestive, and of course,
respiratory).

Breathing properly can decrease stress and muscle tension; calm your nerves;
sharpen your focus; minimize negative and distracting thoughts; reduce fatigue;
and promote stamina. Unfortunately, proper breathing is often an overlooked
component of athletic training.

Lets just make it clear that you need to breath in with your nose and breath out
with your mouth. Well, at least in most of the methods. Some techniques require
breathing through the nose only.

STRENGTH & ENDURANCE BREATHING

Breathing is something I devote a lot of time to in my trainings. This is something I

put first, breathing comes first before all the stuff in my trainings. 

So, let me guide you through my technique of breathing when it comes to strength
and endurance workouts.

Push ups/dips/bar-dips

You might have noticed in my videos that I breathe in the opposite way. The
traditional breathing is inhaling during the eccentric part of the movement and
exhaling during the concentric part of the movement. While there is nothing wrong

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with the regular breathing method, I recommend you master the reversed
breathing. Why? Well, we have the red blood cells in our body that are responsible
for delivering the oxygen to our muscles. During the concentric phase of the
movement, our heart pump the blood, so those red blood cells get into those
muscles. So, in the moment of the muscle contraction, during the maximum effort
we breathe in (reversed breathing). Thus, we have a better chance of delivering
more oxygen to our muscles. Which basically means being able to perform better.
Breathe in when going up and breathe out when going down. However, it is worth
mentioning that the regular/traditional breathing is better when we do slow reps
with weight for example. The reversed breathing is here for the fast reps. It is really
important to use both methods. For example, when I do push ups for maximum
reps I start with the reversed breathing for the fast reps and then I slow down when
I get tired and I switch my breathing for better comfort. 

Pull ups
Sadly, the reversed breathing is not so effective on pull ups. Well, at least not for
everybody, unlike pushing movements. Here, it depends on how you do your pull
ups. I have mentioned earlier in the book that we have two styles of doing pull ups.
The one with the open chest can be good with the reversed breathing. The one
with the hollow body can be problematic with the use of the reversed breathing
since we don't really move our chest and it will be more comfortable to inhale on
the easiest (descending) part of the movement. Test it and see for yourself. As I
always say, there is no black and white in training.

Muscle ups

I have tested so many techniques and none of them worked as good as exhaling
during the whole way up and inhaling during the whole way down. 

It helps to contract your muscles and it also provides a good core stability if we hit
the bar with the chest. If we hit the bar with the chest during an inhaling motion,
we will just stop breathing (not by choice) and get off the bar.

1RM AND STREET LIFTING

When working with the weight that allows us to go fast, we can use the reversed
breathing. However, most of the time we should use the traditional breathing.

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If we speak about repping out the maximum weight, we can use the so called
“Valsalva maneuver”

It is performed by moderately forceful attempted exhalation against a closed

airway, usually done by closing the mouth, pinching the nose shut while expelling
air out as if blowing up a balloon. So, you literally need to inhale the maximum air
and hold it while performing exercises for 1-2 reps. As soon as you finish the reps -
start breathing normally. The Valsalva maneuver creates a lot of internal pressure in
your torso. This increase in abdominal pressure turns your normal day-to-day,
sponge-like core into a stiff, telephone pole-like core. This helps to brace your core
better which makes everything easier and it also pushes all those red blood cells
into the muscles with the speed of the super sonic.

Breathing for the rest of the exercises should/can be traditional in most cases. Try
different methods for each exercise and see what works best for you!

STATICS

There are three ways of breathing which you need to test for yourself:

• Breathing in and out with your nose only. The breathing is short and fast to
not let your core lose the tension.

• Breathing in with your nose and breathing out with your mouth. The
breathing is calm and deep to not let your core lose the tension.

• Valsalva Maneuver - works best for short holds. However, there are athletes
who can hold the breath for 30 seconds of the planche.

POWER DYNAMICS

If we speak about 1-2 reps we can use Valsalva Maneuver easily to boost the
power. However, if the time under tension is longer than just a few seconds, I
would recommend to stick to the regular/traditional breathing pattern.

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Stretching & mobility

Unfortunately, I simply cannot show you every single stretching and mobility
exercise. There are just too many and it should be very individual. However, it is a
must do for everyone who exercises on a daily basis.

Let's first find out what it is all about.

Mobility training benefits any type of workout but is often neglected, especially in
calisthenics. So many people miss out on the benefits of it. With more mobility, you
will be less likely to develop chronic injuries or hit plateaus. Mobility also remedies
existing injuries and benefits form and performance. 

So, what mobility actually means?

Most people know what flexibility is. But often, people confuse this with mobility.
There is a difference between the two. Flexibility refers to the ability of your joints
to move pain-free and without stiffness through a range of motion. For example,
flexibility is when you are able to lift your leg further with the assistance of your
arms. 

However, with mobility, you are able to control the whole range of motion with just
the muscles. Mobility refers to the strength of the muscle in this range of motion.
For example, you would be able to control the entire movement of the leg with just
the leg muscles. 

Mobility is essential because it prepares our bodies for the stress of training. It is a
vital contributor to reducing the risk of injuries as well as improving technique and
range of movement. It is important to note that strength alone isn’t enough to have
good mobility.

There is no one-size-fits-all exercise and you need to do the mobility training

accordingly to your training. You need to find out what muscles you use the most
in your training and be aware of your mobility training that targets those parts of
your body.

Doing a 10-20 minutes stretching & mobility routine which consists of the
exercises focused on your main working muscles daily is a MUST.

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 CREATING THE WORKOUT PROGRAM

Programming

This is the most wanted and the main topic of this whole book. Before proceeding
with explanations I want you to understand that you are not going to become the
next calisthenics guru after finishing this book. The book is full of knowledge that
you need to test, analyze, retest and only then optimize to use. I am here to show
you how it is done. Nevertheless, the real game starts when you get to use
everything what is said in here.

So, every programming starts from deciding the priorities. If you make the program
for yourself, you need to look at yourself in the third person. In order to succeed
with this, I am going to give you the coaching form that I usually use to start
training someone.

WHAT DO WE NEED TO KNOW BEFORE CREATING

• Age: Age is a very important factor. It decides the load, intensity and volume
for the athlete. Obviously, the older you are the more time you need to
recover. The younger you are, the less time to recover is needed. We all are
different and we should listen to our body. 

• Height: It is a deciding factor for those who care about how fast they can
reach this or that. Unfortunately, we cannot change our anthropometrics. Tall
people will always need more time to progress. It happens because of the
length of your limbs which automatically increases the range of motion in
basic exercises or increases the leverage in static elements, which makes
everything harder yet possible! 

• Weight: Weight is extremely important. Before expecting yourself to progress

like those superhuman guys on Instagram, make sure that your weight is
adequate to your height and you are not overweight. The diet is crucial and it
will be explained later.

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• Experience in any sports: It decides how fast our body can learn and adjust.
Those people who used to train in some kind of sports in their childhood
tend to have a better understanding of how their body works and the
muscle-mind connection (proprioception) is also on point there. 

• Calisthenics experience: Surely, it is much needed to evaluate your level.

However, some people make a mistake when think that their level in
calisthenics completely depends on how long they have been training. Well, I
have seen people who have been training for more than 5 years and they are
still beginners because their workout program is poor or they don't have the
program at all. In order to evaluate your fitness level you need to test your
maximum, instead of counting how many years you have been training and
how many calisthenic exercises you know.

• Priority goal (1-2): This is crucial. Most people don't have goals, hence they
don’t have the plan. We need to understand how critical it is to have
predetermined goals before starting anything. Otherwise, everything is
meaningless. Some people want to be the best, some just want to be healthy
etc. I want you to decide what your priorities are. There shouldn't be more
than 2, because we can lose the focus when there are multiple goals. Priority
goal requires at least 2 trainings a week.

• Secondary goal (2-3): It is not a must have, however, it's always nice to have
some secondary goals to do the minimum work for. One day those
secondary goals will become your primary goals. It requires 1 training a
week.

• How many days per week: This one makes a difference. We should
remember that if you have 7 days available to workout, it does not mean that
you can workout everyday. We need to consider our recovery capacity,
which decides the frequency of the training. In order to do that, we need to
test several options of how many days you can train a week. In simple
words, try to workout for 3 days and see if its enough, then try to workout 7
days a week and see if its too much. It varies from person to person.

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• How many hours per day: Just like with the previous criteria, if you have the
whole day for the workout it does not mean you can workout that much. We
should build up the training session to 3 hours, not longer. First of all, it
depends on what level you are at and how long you can workout during one
training session. So, you need to test it and optimize the workout time
accordingly.

• Max bodyweight reps: It is necessary to evaluate your current level and your
weak points - pull ups, muscle ups, push ups, dips.

• Weighted 1 rep max: this one is necessary if you plan to implement even the
workout with the light weight. We simply need to know what weight we need
to consider light or heavy for us - squat, muscle up, pull up, dip, dead lift.

• Skills level: we need to evaluate our skill level by testing the progressions. It
is a starting point with the programming the skill training as well - planche,
front lever, one arm pull up.

The exercises for the personal best are optional here, it depends on your goals.

• Previous injuries: We need to consider the fact that injuries tend to come
back and we need to be cautious with the exercises that hurt us in the past.

• Present injuries: We need to consider the fact that current, present injuries
need an attention and if you are not able to treat it by yourself, then you
should seek help from specialist.

• Health problems: Things like asthma or diabetes matter when programming

the workout. You should consult with your doctor before starting any kind of
sport if you have any of chronic illnesses.

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 HOW TO CHECK YOUR CURRENT LEVEL

Lets start from the fact that you can be a beginner with 0 pull ups and you can be
a beginner with 20 pull up. Sometimes, testing you max reps is not enough. In
most cases we need to evaluate the bigger picture. Bigger picture means recovery
capacity and how fast your muscles gets filled with the lactic acid. We should also
consider the fact that we can be advanced in basics and beginners in skills. If you
consider yourself an advanced athlete in pull ups but your push ups form is simply
out of place - you cannot consider yourself a complete advanced athlete. What I
am trying to say is that we need to look at every aspect of training to actually
evaluate the general fitness level and create the program. Remember that the
program needs to be eventually close to perfectly balanced, but do not expect to
have it right away. Sometimes it takes years to find out what works the best for
you.

PROGRAMMING PRINCIPLES

• Make sure that the workouts are fun. Make sure it's something you want to
do. Surely, it's not always pleasant! Otherwise we would stay in the comfort
zone forever. What I mean with “fun” is that you don't just create the
program for a week and then copy paste it for the rest of the year. Firstly,
because your body will get used to the same thing which is being done over
and over again. Secondly, because you will just get bored. Keep the concept
but use different workout methods that I have explained earlier.

• Make sure to cover all the aspects: mobility, strength & endurance, technical
or skills work and sometimes cardio as an extra. Just like I said before, we
should prioritize something depending on the current goal but we should not
forget about the bigger picture.

• Keep in mind to add load, intensity and volume adequately. Meaning that we
need to gradually scale the progress. Add intensity slowly yet steady. If you
rush with it you will feel it immediately - you will just walk around exhausted
24/7.

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 • Remember about “deload”. A deload is a period of time in which you take
things easier in the workout by using lighter weights or reducing your training
volume. Deloads typically last a week and encourage recovery before
another period of harder training with heavier loading. Even if your body
doesn't absolutely need to deload, it's still a good idea. I recommend you to
do a deload every 4 to 10 weeks, depending on how long you've been
training and how hard the trainings were. As a general rule, people with more
experience who are training intensely need more frequent deloads than
people who are new to training or training more comfortably for fun.

• Use the cycles approach. For example, create a program for 4 weeks:

1st week - light work

2nd week - medium intensity work

3rd week - medium to heavy load

4th week - hard work

5th week would be a deload

Than, you repeat the cycle but the 1st week would be a bit harder than before, so
would the rest of the weeks. This is how you progress gradually.

• The load/work/intensity/volume is being calculated weekly, not daily.

Meaning that during the 4th week you are not supposed to work until you are
near passing out, it means that you increase the overall intensity of the week.

• Use the same methods frequently to have a better outcome. We should use
the same method at least every 2 weeks to put in a decent, needed work into
this direction.

• Use different intensity of the training days during the week. We need to keep
in mind that we simply cannot workout until failure every day. Build your
week this way - prioritized strength & endurance example:

1st workout - light work (technical work for example)

2nd workout - medium load - (strength & endurance)

3rd workout - medium to hard work (some serious load for skills)

4th workout - heavy load (strength & endurance)

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To understand it easier - gradually build the training intensity during the week. You
can also vary the intensity!

Prioritized skills example:

1st workout - medium to hard work (skills)

2nd workout - light work - (strength & endurance)

3rd workout - heavy load (some big load for skills)

4th workout - medium load (strength & endurance)


This way we do the less prioritized work on a light day to recover actively for
the main workouts while still helping the overall strength to improve.

• Everyone is different and priorities are even more different, so we need to

test, analyze and optimize.

• Rest and diet are more important than the actual workout. So many people
get injured because they simply don't rest enough. If you want to gain
strength, you need some muscles work to be done. When muscle tissue
goes through the breakdown (catabolism) it needs to go through the
rebuilding (anabolism) process during the next 24-48 hours in order to finish
the recovery process which directly affects your performance. Rebuilding
process requires enough protein to be consumed, the diet principles will be
explained later on. The point is - remember to rest well and eat adequately.

• Warm up is a must. When I say warm up I don't mean jumping for 30

seconds and then twisting your wrists a few times. I mean a decent 10-20
minutes warm up which is focused on the part of your body that you are
going to target during the training session. Too many people neglect it and
get injured.

HOW TO KNOW WHICH ROUTINE OR METHOD TO USE

It is pretty easy, we set the particular concept for the particular day in a week.
Then, we pick the routine that we feel like doing on this day, and we adjust/modify
the routine according to the concept of the day. For example, we choose a heavy
load on strength & endurance workout on Monday and we just pick the routine and

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adjust it to the way it can be a heavy load for us. Then, if it is a light technical/skills
day on Tuesday, we can choose some methods and apply it according to the
amount of intensity and load on this day.

So, we have a bunch of workout methods and a lot of routines we can create or
take from the internet and apply to those methods. There is no rule for the routines
to pick, there are particular, predetermined concepts for certain days in a week
that we can apply the methods/routines to. The golden rule to apply is to use every
single method in one month/program.

You might be confused now. Let me explain more.

We know how many days we can workout in a week, right? We know what are our
priority goals and secondary goals, true? We know, that its very needed to pick
some heavy and light days, some strength, endurance, technical days, right?

So, by having so many workout methods we can apply them on the particular day
with the heavy, moderate, light intensity/volume concept. You do this by the way
you feel, there are no rules. We only need to remember to use the most, or even all
of the methods within one training program (usually its one month). When building
the next workout program for the next month we can switch some routines and
methods. For example, routines that we did on heavy days can go for light days
and vice versa!

IMPORTANT THINGS WHEN TRAINING WITH THE PROGRAM

We need to realize, that it is not going to always be “beautiful and sunny” for us
when it comes to training. Sometimes we come to the gym or to the park and we
feel like a complete disaster. There are too many factors that can affect our
performance, it starts from the weather and it ends up with what you ate yesterday.
While it is pretty hard to predict how you will be feeling when designing the
program, we can adjust the training accordingly when this dark day comes.
Meaning that we can lower the intensity and the volume while maintaining the
concept of the training. 

Sometimes we are so sore on a training day and we have the whole workout
planned but it's obvious that with this kind of soreness we simply cannot perform
even half of the training. In this case, we should take an additional rest day and do

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cardio accompanied with some mobility & stretching work after. However, there are
situations when advanced athletes can handle this soreness with a decent warm
up and keep grinding. Like I always say - it depends and varies from individual to
individual.

WHAT TO FOCUS ON TO MAKE YOURSELF HAPPY

Many people fail at celebrating the process because they demand something
extraordinary from themselves during each workout. We should keep in mind that
some things in training take years to be understood and to be learned. Do not kill
your vibe by expecting to progress after each training. The workout you do today
may have an outcome only in a few years if you stay consistent. You should never
think about comparing yourself to someone else except your own self. Many of us
fail at progressing without injuries after comparing your progress to someone’s
progress on Instagram. So many people get frustrated after watching someone
achieving the first muscle up in a month while they have been training for months
and there is no progress. Look, everyone’s timing is different. As I mentioned
before, there are many factors that determine how fast or how slow we progress, it
starts with the length of our limbs and it finishes with your genetics.

WHAT TO START WITH

Okay, we already know our level. What now? Now, we need to do the testing
program for a month and see how our body reacts to the load that we applied. I
want you to understand that it is simply impossible to create a perfect program
from the first try. It takes a lot of time to understand your body. This is why we
need to test, analyze, retest and optimize. Meaning that you cannot expect fast
results in programming. Anyways, lets see what steps we need to take in order to
make a program. 

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Lets take a 4 days a week workout availability with 1,5h to 2h available time per
day and the goal is to progress equally in skills and strength & endurance.

• Pick 4 workout approaches (methods) from the list that we discussed earlier.
Two for skills and two for strength & endurance. You can surely pick even
one approach but it will simply not be enough to progress properly by
improving in every aspect with different given intensity and workout method
used.

• Keep in mind that you need to make a variable intensity. 1 light day and 1
heavy day for skills. 1 light day and 1 heavy day for strength & endurance.
This way your will not overtrain.

• Don’t use more than 2-4 routines per day, unless its an EMOM workout
which generally takes less time. If its 2 routines - feel free to use 10 sets in
each. If its 4 routines - 5 sets per routine would be enough. 

• Implement a mobility & stretching  routine independently. It means that you

don't need to have a whole workout mentioned in the program for mobility. A
10-20 minutes routine 3-5 times a week is enough. Remember, that mobility
and stretching training is as essential as good sleep at night - you simply do
it because your body needs it.

• As soon as you finish writing the first week of your first month program, do
the other weeks with the same concept. Meaning that if there are skills on
Monday and Thursday - keep it the same for the rest of the month. What you
need to do is to change the workout principles while maintaining the volume
and intensity approximately. In simple words, do not change the general
load, only the method.

• Workout always starts with the warm up, the workout itself and the cool
down. Cooling down means a little jogging, some light exercises in the end
(usually core exercises) to help your body come back to the resting
condition.

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 • Cardio is a must. It doesn’t have to be done everyday. It can only be 20-30
minutes every second day. The goal of doing cardio is not only to lose
weight. It helps to boost your energy levels and strengthens your heart.

• Deload is a must. Without lowering the intensity and volume for at least a few
days after every training program (every month or two) you will most
definitely get overtrained sooner or later. Trust me, prevention is better than
rehabilitation.

HOW TO CREATE A RELEVANT PROGRAM

As we spoke earlier, you really need to test different things to find out what is the
best for your body. Let me walk you through the most important signs of the
relevant program.

• It never makes you break the form. Form is different from the range of
motion. Meaning that you can shorten the range of motion of the movement
while still performing it properly.

• It always makes you happy after you finish. If you feel depressed during the
workout it means that the program was made incorrectly and you simply
demand too much from yourself. 

• It never makes you feel sore for longer than 48 hours after the workout.

• It is never the same workout during a month. Don’t copy and past the
workouts just because you are too lazy to think. Use the same load but in a
different way.

• It is never too easy. Make sure to not make your light workout days way too
easy for your current level. You need to catch a minimum lactic acid
fulfillment within your muscles.

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 HOW THE PROGRAM SHOULD BE STRUCTURED

For the better understanding I am going to show you an example of the program
that I have made for one of my students. 

You can see how the concept is the same if we compare the training from stage 1
to stage 2. The goals of the student are to learn how to muscle up, improve
handstand push ups and overall strength & endurance. I used a mixed style of
programming. I did pull/push/leg split + skill day and mixed day. This shows you
how you can mix up pretty much everything. Try to screen the program and see
how the methods vary from training to training while the load is approximately the
same.

Available time: 1,5h to 2h

Goals: to learn how to muscle up, improve handstand push ups and overall strength &
endurance

STAGE 1 

TRAINING #1 

PULL DAY 

1st: PULL UPS +10kg:

5 pull ups - 10 seconds hold chin over the bar - 10 seconds hold head under the bar - 10
seconds hold dead hang 
x5 with 3-4 minutes rest 

2nd: PULL UPS BODYWEIGHT:

Pronated: 3 reps close grip - 3 reps regular grip - 3 reps wide grip
Supinated: 3 reps close grip - 3 reps regular grip - 3 reps wide grip
You can get off the bar to change the grip 
x5 with 3 minutes rest 

3rd: PULL UPS ISOMETRICS +10kg:

10 seconds hold chin over the bar + 10 seconds hold head under the bar + 10 seconds
hold dead hang 
x5 with 3 minutes rest 

You can see how I used weights to complete the routines more efficiently by considering the
available time. 

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TRAINING #2 

LEGS + CORE
 
1st: EMOM x10 - 5 reps single leg squat 

2nd: SQUAT SIT HOLD + SQUATS: 

30 seconds hold + 15 squats 
x5 with 1.30 minute rest 

3rd: 
15 seconds l-sit hold + 15 v-ups 
X5 with 3 minutes rest 
4th: 

EMOM x10 - 10 closed legs squats 

I hope you didn't think that you can neglect the leg workout. Legs are extremely important for
your longevity in workout and legs activation is crucial to have a better muscle-mind connection
(proprioception) in general. Strong and conscious leg muscles allow you to maintain a perfect
form during calisthenics elements.

TRAINING #3 

PUSH DAY 

1st: DIPS +10kg: 

TEMPO reps - 3 sec down + explosive UP 
10 sets of 6 reps 
Rest 3 minutes 

2nd: 20 push ups in one minute 

Rest 30 seconds 
40 push ups in 2 minutes 
Rest 1 minute 
60 push ups in 3 minutes 
Rest 1.30 minute 
80 push ups in 4 minutes 
Rest 2 minutes 
100 push ups in 5 minutes 
Form can be compromised 

3rd: DIAMOND PUSH UPS:

EMOM x10 - 8 reps 

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 I used TEMPO reps, EMOM & timed routine in the same workout. It means that we can mix the
workout methods in one training session.

REST DAY

Make sure to have adequate rest before doing technical or skills work. This type of training
requires a fully rested and ready to go body.

TRAINING #4 

1st: MU: 
EMOM x5 - 1 low bar dip with resistance band
EMOM x5 - 1 high pull up with resistance band
EMOM x5 - 3 seconds MU transition hold with resistance band

2nd: HSPU: 
• 6 sets of 2 HSPU belly to the wall
• 5 sets of max hold halfway HSPU
• 4 sets of 1 HSPU back to the wall
Rest 3-4 minutes in between

I used EMOMs to help the athlete’s body understand the new movement (muscle up) better by
not resting too long so the mistakes can be quickly solved. You can see that I used the
regressions in the HSPU training by starting from the hardest and finishing with the easiest.

TRAINING #5 

MIXED DAY 
10 dips - 10 pull ups - 10 push ups - 1 banded MU
9-9-9-1
8-8-8-1 
7-7-7-1 
6-6-6-1
5-5-5-1
4-4-4-1
3-3-3-1

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2-2-2-1
1-1-1-1
And up 
Rest as long as you need to complete everything without breaking the set

This right here is a typical pyramidal training to reach a great volume without feeing it much.

REST DAY

STAGE 2 

TRAINING #1 

PULL DAY
 
1st: EMOM x5 - 5 reps +10kg

2nd: EMOM x5 -6 reps +5kg 

3rd: EMOM x5 - 7 reps bodyweight  

4th: BODYWEIGHT
2 minutes of chin over the bar hold (in total) 
2 minutes of head under the bar hold (in total) 
2 minutes of dead hang (in total) 
As fast as possible

Is there any significant difference if we compare the same training from the last stage? Well,
there is no difference if we speak about volume and intensity. This is how we can program the
workout, by considering the total reps and time under tension of the training. Also, it is very
important to optimize the same workouts every week by testing and analyzing.

TRAINING #2 

LEGS + CORE 

1st: 30 seconds squat sit with 10kg + 15 v-ups + 30 seconds squat sit with 10kg + 15 v-
ups 
You need to complete everything in one go 
x5 - Rest 4 minutes in between 

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2nd: 30 sec hollow body hold + 30 seconds burpees (max reps under 30 seconds) X5 -
Rest 5 minutes 

3rd: 200 lunges (100 each leg) with 10kg as fast as possible 

4th: Max reps of toes to the bar raisers on the bar under 5 minutes

Volume is approximately the same but the exercises are a bit different and the training methods
are changed.

TRAINING #3 

PUSH DAY 

1st: DIPS +5kg: 

2 dips/10 seconds hold on the bottom of the movement (the deepest stage of the dip), 4
dips/10 seconds hold,6/10,8/10,10/10. Then 8 dips/5 seconds hold,6/5,4/5,2/5. 
Complete it with the minimum amount of breaks. 

2nd: PUSH UPS: 

This is a push ups ladder, but you need to multiply each number to sets. For example if
you do 1 rep – its 1 set of 1 rep, 2 sets of 2 reps, 3 sets of 3 reps, 4 sets of 4 reps …. Until
you cant do it anymore and break the set. 
Rest in between 10 seconds max. 
You can't rest in the plank position. 

3rd: EMOM x10 - 10 diamond push ups 

Volume and intensity are the same but routines are completely different. Instead of TEMPO reps
we have isometrics with reps. Instead of timed routines we have a high volume push up ladder.

REST DAY

Rest before the skill work.

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TRAINING #4 

1st: MU: 
• 3 attempts without the band
• 3 attempts with the band
Rest 3 minutes in between
• EMOM x5 - 1 high pull up 
• EMOM x5 - 1 low bar dip


2nd: HSPU:
EMOM x5 - 2 HSPU
EMOM x5 -  1 HSPU
EMOM x5 - 5 seconds halfway HSPU hold

I used regressions for the muscle up as you can see and EMOMs for the HSPU. Basically, I
switched the methods for the skills in comparison to the last stage. This is an example on how

TRAINING #5 

MIXED DAY 

1st: 
EMOM x5 - 15 DIPS 
EMOM x5 - 12 DIPS 
EMOM x5 - 9 DIPS 

2nd: 
EMOM x5 - 3 TOES TO THE BAR RAISERS
EMOM x5 - 6 L-SIT RAISERS

3rd: 
EMOM x5 - 8 PULL UPS 
EMOM x5 - 7 PULL UPS 
EMOM x5 - 6 PULL UPS 

4th: 
EMOM x5 - 20 PUSH UPS
EMOM x5 - 15 PUSH UPS
EMOM x5 - 10 PUSH UPS

Volume is the same as last week but the approach is different.

REST DAY

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I could share a hundred workout programs with you which would make no sense,
because you would just copy it. I want you to realize that every single program is
different and you really need to figure out what works the best for you. Sometimes
it takes years to find out! I have been making programs for the past 8 years and I
still make mistakes like everyone else. The point that I am trying to share is that
you need to take everything that I say in the book and try. With every next program
you make you will be understanding everything that I say in here more clearly. 

HOW DO WE MONITOR THE PROGRESS

It is pretty simple. We just need to test our maximum and compare how everything
has changed comparing to the last results. However, numbers don't always show
the progress precisely. How you handle the same volume tells a lot, how fast you
start to recover tells a lot, how fast you are being able to complete the workouts
tells a lot. Remember to look at the bigger picture, not only numbers. There are
cases when athletes don't progress for years in numbers but they progress in their
training or body shape in general. 

When is it best to test your maximum? It is individual. Some people perform better
before the deload and some perform better after the deload. You need to try both
and decide what works best for you.

HOW DO WE CREATE THE NEXT PROGRAM

There are no super secrets about this. If you have not achieved your goals yet,
then there is no point of changing your program completely. However, if you don't
see any results after the program, it's very important to figure out the cause. The
problem in 0 progress can be:

• Not enough volume or intensity, the program is simply too easy.

• Too much volume and intensity, the program is just too hard.


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How do we figure out what exactly is the problem? Easy, watch how you feel
during the program. Take notes, write your own feedback after completing this or
that routine. So, based on the progress or no progress we make adjustments, not
changes. 

When making the next program we need to improve the intensity and the volume
of the workout, otherwise we will be stagnating. Meaning that you can repeat the
same program concept but with a bit more reps, less resting time in between the
sets. It is called the progressive overload.

What if we reached our goal and now we want to change it and work for
something new? Well, in this case we need to start from scratch and create a new
program concept.

Sometimes we just want to add something into the current concept. In this
situation we need to figure out where we can implement it. Just make sure to not
add too much, so you will not lose your focus.

PSYCHOLOGY & APPROACH

Psychology in calisthenics

Psychology is underestimated when it comes to sports. No, it does not mean that
you need to see your doctor every week to check your mental health. It means that
we need to take care of ourselves inside our heads.

Let me explain. Many people fail at something because they expect fast results.
People fail because they demand too much from themselves. Athletes get
frustrated when they hit a plateau (stagnation) and start asking themselves if this
sport is good for them. While I could keep going with those mistakes many people
make, let's discuss some topics and how we should go through our obstacles,
doubts etc.

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 HOW TO BEHAVE WHEN CREATING THE PROGRAM

• Do not, ever, set the time frame for your performance goal. Look, everybody
is different. Asking around about how long it took him or her to achieve this
or that is not going to bring anything good for you. When setting the time
frame to achieve something we forget about those possible obstacles during
our journey that can affect our process. If you set the deadline and
experience an injury which slows you down, you will most likely try to speed
up your training program to make it on time right after you heal up. Which will
lead to even more injuries. So, do not set the deadline. Keep working
towards it. Slow and steady!

• When creating a program for yourself, try to behave like a coach that wants
to keep you healthy and interested in training. Do not act like a coach that
only wants to make you feel tired. Look, the phrase “no pain - no gain” is not
in trend anymore. Keep it healthy!

• Remember that your rest days and diet are even more important than your
workout. If you have the perfect program but you do not recover well, then
you can throw the program out of the window. It will never work if you don't
consider everything. Make sure to add intensity adequately to stay injury
free. Make sure to eat clean and well to recover faster. Make sure to work on
your mobility to be able to perform better. It is never just working out hard, it
is very complex and we should remember this.


YOU ARE YOUR OWN PSYCHOLOGIST

Learn

The cool thing about humanity is that if you have a problem, the chances are that
someone somewhere has already had the same problem and come up with a
solution. All you have to do is find it.

And this definitely applies to calisthenics. You should try to find the cause of the
problem, not someone or something to blame. All the answers you need are
already out there. Maybe you did eat good enough, maybe your sleep pattern was

112
messed up lately, maybe you are stressing out about something important and it
drains your energy. Try to dig deep down and find out!

You can surely ask people around if they had the same problem or something. Just
remember that different things work for different people. You are unique and
someone else’s answers aren’t all going to automatically work for you.  You still
need to keep looking for the answers within yourself.

Be your number one fan and best friend

Many people fail because they look for the support from the outside while the best
thing to do is to support yourself! You are the one responsible for everything that is
going on in your life and only you can solve it. Only you can support yourself as
hard as no one ever would.

Even if your family or friends are not supporting you. There might be a healthy
reason:

Maybe your family and friends are too busy with their own problems.

Maybe your family and friends are not capable of caring enough.

Maybe your family and friends are so different from you that they can’t relate to
your needs.

We all, without exceptions go through this:

• Feeling down, feeling hopeless, you don’t know what to do.

• You are feeling bad about yourself for what you did.


When the negative voices in your mind start their party, do not let them crash in
and do whatever they want. Meaning that we shouldn't just sit down, cry and wait
until it's gone. Take action to make yourself better! We all know what makes us feel
better - being productive at something we like and doing something good for
yourself. 

Learning to be your own best friend takes practice. It took me years to really
develop and grow the kind of voices I needed to hear in my mind. But if you keep
at it, they will come. 

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Question yourself

When we go to someone with something, what we are really looking for is another
person’s perspective.

We all need someone to show you the possibilities when you’ve lost hope of a
better tomorrow.

We all need someone to help figure out how to better meet your needs when life
has exhausted you.

And yes, it’s great if you can find someone else to offer you the perspective you
are looking for. But if not, you can learn to look at things from a different
perspective yourself. You can learn to challenge your current perspective and offer
yourself alternatives.

Your feelings are your feelings and you can’t really argue them away. I think trying
to convince yourself to feel opposite of what you are feeling is a giant waste of
time.

But your thoughts and beliefs are fair game for questioning. It would be pretty
arrogant of anyone to claim that the thoughts that pop up in their mind are 100%
accurate and rational and objective all the time.

So instead of automatically trusting all your thoughts and beliefs, learn to question
them.

Is it really so bad or it is just a minor obstacle that happens to everyone?

What would the average unambitious person do? Are you this person?

Are you really a total failure or is it that something specific is not going as well as
you would like? How could you change it?

What specific problems are you struggling with? What steps can you take to solve
those problems?

If you don’t know how to solve the specific problems you are having, where can
you look for solutions?

A statement closes the mind, because you convince yourself that it is true. A
question opens a mind. Use questions as the tool to find the cause and the
solution.

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 HOW TO MOTIVATE & INSPIRE YOURSELF

This is probably the problem that we all face from time to time. Important thing to
remember is that motivation comes and goes, it never stays forever. What really
matters is your dedication. How do you become consistent and dedicated without
being motivated 24/7? Well, you just need to trust the process! Nothing good
happens if you quit, unless it's smoking or boozing.

If you watch a motivational video on youtube or if you watch your favorite athlete’s
video, you will surely get motivated and fully inspired for a bit of time. However, it
will go away in a few days and the reality will hit you. What to do when the
motivation is gone?

Here are simple strategies you can try:

• Understand your why. Sometimes it's not so much the what or the how that
matters, but your why is the purpose behind what you're doing. Being clear
about what you're working for can give you the stimulus to stay on course.

• Define your goal. Defined goals put your ideas into action mode. It's the vital
step between planning and doing. 

• Create a clear vision. If you want to succeed, you must create a clear
compelling vision, something that you can relate to and resonate with. If it
doesn't speak to your heart, it won't motivate you to stay on target. Create
the highest grandest vision possible, because you can achieve only what you
see.

• Produce a plan. Once you have a goal in place, a plan will take your vision
and break down the steps you need to get it done. A goal without a plan, as
we know, is just a dream.

• Look for the bigger picture. When you have to stay motivated, think of the
bigger picture. How does this relate not only to yourself but to others? How
will it contribute to something important? Where will this make a difference?
To accomplish more, think bigger.

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• Keep it positive. Positive thoughts lead to positive actions, and self-affirming
statements will help you to achieve your best. Take control of how you think,
how you feel, how you act. Positivity will help you make the choices that lead
to accomplishment.

• Approach tasks in new ways. Sometimes just getting started might be the
problem. A different approach might give you a new perspective and more
energy.

• Break goals into manageable tasks. One important key to your success will
be your ability to break down your goals into shorter-term and smaller single
tasks. Keep things manageable. Meaning that in order to succeed with the
bigger goal we need to succeed with the small parts of it. It builds up day by
day.

• Get organized. Manage your life according to the goal you set. Set a decent
routine for yourself.

• Tackle procrastination head on. Don't make excuses or waste time

rationalizing why you haven't already started. Instead, try to uncover the real
reason for the delay and get to work immediately. The best way to begin
something is just to begin. Doing something for 20 minutes is more valuable
than 20 hours of thinking about doing something.

• Stop multitasking. Don't divide your attention but give your full and
undivided self to the task at hand. When you do, your chances for success
go way up. Meaning that you should not have 10 different goals at a time.
Remember, focus is important.

• Starve your distractions. Do what you need to do to stop being distracted by

people, tasks, or electronics. Devise strategies to help you start and
complete tasks without any distractions or interruptions.

• Stay in the zone. Your best and most productive work is usually done when
you're in the zone. Ask yourself how to create the perfect environment for
you to do your best work and keep at it until you're done.

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 • Choose success. Choose to be successful, then stick to your choice and see
it through to a conclusion. By creating a mental picture of yourself
successfully completing a job, you can increase your chances of success.

• Keep it fun. If you seriously want to stay motivated, find a way to make it fun.
Fun is not the enemy but a great motivator.

• Stay optimistic. Belief that you can accomplish something is essential to

your ability to do it. Optimism is the foundation of progress.

• Reward yourself. Learn what it takes to get yourself to complete dreaded

tasks and set up a system of rewards for completion. It works best with
cheat meals. Deserve it!

• Visualize yourself succeeding. Visualization is a powerful technique that can

help you to focus, stay motivated and achieve your goals. By creating a
mental picture of yourself successfully completing a job, even the worst
tasks can feel like part of achieving something big.

Remember, motivation starts within yourself. Find it, keep it and make it work for
you.

YOU ARE FOREVER A STUDENT

Being a student is more than just being in class, taking tests, and making good
grades. It’s about constantly learning and challenging yourself and continually
learning from the world.

Many successful individuals are outstanding because they always view themselves
as students. Living life as a student, always learning, proposing new ideas, and
asking others for their opinion and advice can give you great ideas to implement in
your life. It is not enough just to be a student at the beginning. It is a position that
one must assume for life. Learn from everyone and everything. At every step in life,
there is the opportunity to learn. When starting a new project, sometimes it’s good
to start from scratch — to focus on all there is left to learn and all the room we
have left to improve.

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Turn Mistakes into Opportunities

Mistakes are an opportunity of introspection and self-assessment. Every mistake

has some hidden lessons to learn from. Whenever you make mistakes, try to find
out where you went wrong and what lesson you have to learn to enhance your
wisdom. When you apply the wisdom gained through making mistakes it becomes
a positive experience in your life and that in turn paves the way to be successful in
your life.

Mistakes are not obstacles unless you become the victim of negative thinking. To
be successful in your life, think of your mistakes as a learning experience and an
opportunity for growth.

Try New Things Regularly

Trying new things not only keeps your brain sharp but also feeds the mindset
growth. When you broaden your perspective, you start to realize there is far more
left to learn about the world than you ever imagined. There are countless reasons
to try new things in your life. Trying something new doesn’t mean that you have to
risk life. As an example, try street lifting instead of skills and see what happens. Do
more pull ups than push ups or the opposite and see what happens. Go workout
on the empty stomach. Travel to new places. Order something new from the menu
at your local restaurant. When you try new things, you’ll realize that new
experiences are life-changing. Trying new things can even help you progress in
something you have been stuck at for years. So try new things and realize how it
can positively impact your life.

Keep a to-learn list & set Goals

Keep a list of things you want to learn. You may want to learn a new kind of sport
or skill — whatever motivates you, write it down. If you set goals for learning,
you’re much more likely to accomplish them. Whatever it is you want to learn, write
it down on your “to learn list” and check it off as you go.

To keep growing, you need to clearly define your goals. Smart goal setting is one
of the tools to ensure constant growth.

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Research showed that precise and ambitious goals increase the performance of an
individual. As we already agreed, life long learners are people who care about their
performance, hence they never stop improving. Developing a list of goals and what
you want to learn is an excellent way to decide what the best option to start on
first is.

Smart people learn from everything and everyone. Stupid people already have all
the answers.

DIET & SUPPLEMENTATION

Diet in calisthenics

IS IT WORTH FOCUSING ON

Nutrition can help enhance athletic performance. An active lifestyle and exercise
routine, along with eating well, is the best way to stay healthy. There is a bunch of
different diets that I am not going to explain since it is all available online.
Although, I am going to guide you through the basic knowledge and useful habits
that can change your performance.

Having a good diet can help provide the energy you need to finish a workout, or
just enjoy a casual activity. You are more likely to be tired and perform poorly
during sports when you do not get enough:

• Calories

• Carbohydrates

• Fluids

• Iron, vitamins, and other minerals

• Protein

The ideal diet for an athlete is not very different from the diet recommended for any
healthy person.

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However, the amount of each food group you need will depend on:

• The type of sport

• The amount of training you do

• The amount of time you spend doing the activity or exercise


People tend to overestimate the amount of calories they burn per workout so it is
important to avoid taking in more energy (calories) than you expend exercising.

Everyone is different, so you will need to learn:

• How long before exercising is best for you to eat

• How much food is the right amount for you


IMPORTANT THINGS TO KNOW

CARBOHYDRATES

Carbohydrates receive a great deal of attention in sports nutrition due to the vital
role they play in athletic performance.

Carbohydrates are typically the preferred fuel source for many athletes, particularly
for high intensity and long duration exercise. This is because they supply ample
glycogen storage and blood glucose to fuel the demands of exercise.

To maintain liver and muscle glycogen stores, athletes will need different amounts
of carbohydrates depending on their exercise volume.

For moderate amounts of intense training, defined as 2–3 hours per day of intense
exercise performed 5–6 times per week, I suggest consuming 5–8 grams per
kilogram of body weight, or 250–1,200g, of carbohydrates per day for athletes who
weigh 50–150 kg.

For high volume intense training, defined as 3–6 hours per day of intense training
in 1–2 daily workouts 5–6 days per week, I recommend 8–10 g/kg of body weight,
or 400–1,500g, of carbohydrates per day for athletes weighing 50–150 kg.

For example, an athlete weighing 150kg who performs high volume intense
training would look to consume roughly 1,200–1,500g of carbohydrates.

Healthy carbohydrates for an athlete’s diet may include whole grains, such as
brown rice, quinoa, oats, and pasta, and starchy vegetables, such as potatoes.

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PROTEIN

Protein also plays an essential role in sports nutrition, as it provides the body with
the necessary amount of amino acids to help build and repair muscles and tissues.

Athletes doing intense training may benefit from ingesting more than two times the
recommended daily amount of protein in their diet.

For example, the dietary reference intake for adult females is 46g, and for adult
males — 56g. That is why it may be beneficial for athletes to consume nearer to
92g and 112g of protein or more, respectively.

I suggest that many athletes can safely consume 2g of protein per 1 kg of body
weight daily, compared with the average people intake of 0.8 g/kg.

The optimal protein intake may vary from 1.2 to 2.0 g/kg of body weight per day.

Higher amounts of protein can help athletes avoid protein catabolism and slow
recovery, which can contribute to injuries and muscle wasting over time.

For moderate amounts of intense training, an athlete should consume 1.2–2 g of

protein per 1 kg of body weight, which translates into 60–300g of protein per day
for an athlete weighing 50–150 kg.

For high volume intense training, I suggest 1.7–2.2g of protein per 1 kg of body
weight per day, or 85–330 g of protein for an athlete weighing 50–150 kg.

Healthy protein sources include:

• lean meat and poultry

• fish and seafood

• eggs and dairy products

• beans and lentils

• nuts and seeds

• soy, including tofu and tempeh


FATS

Fats are essential in the diet to maintain bodily processes, such as hormone
metabolism and neurotransmitter function.

Including healthy fats in the diet also helps satiety and can serve as a
concentrated fuel source for athletes with high energy demands.

I recommend athletes to consume moderate fat intake, representing around 30%

of daily calories. However, they can safely consume up to 50% of their daily
calories as fat to meet higher volume training needs.

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Athletes seeking to decrease their body fat may reduce fat intake to 20% of their
daily calories.

Healthy fat sources include oily fish, olive oil, avocados, nuts, and seeds.

WATER AND OTHER FLUIDS

Water is the most important, yet overlooked, nutrient for athletes. Water and fluids
are essential to keep the body hydrated and at the right temperature. Your body
can lose several liters of sweat in an hour of vigorous exercise.

Clear urine is a good sign that you have fully rehydrated. Some ideas for keeping
enough fluids in the body include:

• Make sure you drink plenty of fluids with every meal, whether or not you will
be exercising.

• Drink about 2 cups or 480 milliliters of water 2 hours before a workout. It is

important to start exercising with enough water in your body.

• Continue to sip water during and after you exercise, about 1/2 to 1 cup (120
to 240 milliliters) of fluid every 15 to 20 minutes. Water is best for the first
hour. Switching to an energy drink after the first hour will help you get
enough electrolytes.

• Drink even when you no longer feel thirsty.

• Pouring water over your head might feel good, but it will not get fluids into
your body.


Teenagers and adults should replace any body weight lost during exercise with an
equal amount of fluids. For every pound (450 grams) you lose while exercising, you
should drink 16 to 24 ounces (480 to 720 milliliters) or 3 cups (720 milliliters) of
fluid within the next 6 hours.

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ACHIEVING DESIRED WEIGHTS FOR COMPETITIVE PURPOSES

Changing your body weight to improve performance must be done safely, or it may
do more harm than good. Keeping your body weight too low, losing weight too
quickly, or preventing weight gain in an unnatural way can have negative health
effects. It is important to set realistic body weight goals.

You can obviously implement a specific diet into your regimen by  yourself.
However, i would recommend all the young and unexperienced athletes who are
trying to lose weight should work with a coach or dietitian. Experimenting with
diets on your own can lead to poor eating habits with inadequate or excessive
intake of certain nutrients.

Speak with a professional to discuss a diet that is right for your sport, age, sex,
and amount of training.

SUFFICIENT CALORIES

Athletes require sufficient calorie intake to match their energy expenditure through
activity.

Athletes who train intensely for 2–6 hours per day 5–6 days of the week may burn
over 600–1200 calories per hour while exercising.

As a result, athletes engaging in this level of activity may require 40–70 calories per
1 kg of body weight per day, compared with the average less active individual,
who typically requires 25–35 calories per 1 kg of body weight daily.

Athletes weighing 50–100 kg may require 2,000–7,000 calories per day. It also
notes that athletes weighing 100–150 kg may need to consume 6,000–12,000
calories daily to meet training demands.

It is always better to count the caloric needs and then follow them.

Weight maintenance, loss or gain completely depends on amount of calories you

consume. Increase it and decrease it accordingly.

MEALS TIMING

The timing of meals and snacks can be vital to an athlete’s performance. The
timing and content of meals can help support training goals, reduce fatigue, and
help optimize body composition.

Guidelines for the timing and amount of nutrition will vary depending on the type of
athlete.

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For example, the strength athletes consume carbohydrates and protein up to 4
hours before and up to 2 hours after exercise.

It is also important to consume protein both before and after exercise for strength
athletes.

By contrast, endurance athletes would need to consume mostly carbohydrates

and a small amount of protein roughly 1–4 hours before exercise.

Meal timing plays an important role in optimizing recovery and performance and I
recommend athletes space nutrient intake evenly throughout the day, every 3–4
hours.

Some people may find that consuming meals too close to the beginning of
exercise can cause digestive discomfort. It is therefore important to eat an
appropriate amount and not exercise too quickly after eating.

Athletes need to plan their diet to optimize their health and performance. They
should consider their calorie and macronutrient needs and ensure they eat a varied
diet that provides essential vitamins and minerals.

Hydration and meal timing are also vital for performing well throughout the day.

Both amateur and professional athletes may benefit from consulting with a sports
nutritionist or coach to help them plan the optimal diet for their individual needs
and goals.

EVERYBODY IS DIFFERENT

Everyone needs a different approach to diet. It depends on your age, weight,

height, how active you are etc. Consuming enough calories with the balanced
macronutrients is as essential as breathing the fresh air.

We simply cannot put everyone into one bag and say only this diet works. Those
“professionals” who do so are extremely arrogant. 

Some people can find a plant based diet efficient for them and some can find it
absolutely inefficient. Same goes for each type of diet. What we need to do is to
test, analyze, retest, optimize.

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 NEGLECTING THE DIET IN CALISTHENICS

There are many youngsters who think that look is everything. It is surely an
important thing to look good. However, we will never be forever young. Well, at
least biologically. Having a healthy and balanced diet from an early age is crucial
for longevity in training. We cannot expect any phenomenal long term results if we
neglect the diet. 

Poor nutrition often stops athletes from reaching their full potential. I don't mean
that we need to exclude cheat meals. We are only humans and we need to indulge
some “bad” stuff sometimes. However, it cannot be done whenever we want to.
We need to deserve a cheat meal. Keep it 80% healthy and clean and 20% “dirty”
during a week.

SUPPLEMENTS

While there are millions of supplements that an average person needs to take. We
need to focus on something that could boost our energy levels and recovery.

A balanced diet and healthful lifestyle that includes enough sleep should be
sufficient to give most people the energy that they need for their daily activities.
However, athletes push their bodies to peak performance, so these individuals
may need an energy boost.

Vitamin B

B vitamins are vital for releasing energy in the body as they aid the metabolism of
carbohydrates, fats, and proteins.

Having a vitamin B-12 deficiency can make people feel weak and tired. As vitamin
B-12 primarily occurs in animal products, vegans and vegetarians are more likely
to develop a deficiency in this vitamin.

Iron

Iron deficiency is common in athletes and can affect performance. Vegetarians or

vegans should take extra care to ensure that they meet their required daily intake
of iron, as plant-based iron is less available to the body.

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People should speak to a doctor before taking iron supplements and be sure to
request a blood test to check their iron levels. Taking too much iron can cause
uncomfortable and even dangerous side effects.

Those with sufficient iron do not need to take a supplement.

Calcium and vitamin D

Calcium and vitamin D help the body build and maintain healthy bones, teeth, and
muscles. These vitamins can help athletes maintain muscle mass and reduce the
risk of injuries, such as bone fractures.

Calcium is available in many foods, including:

• dairy products, such as milk and yogurt

• fortified nondairy milks, such as soy milk

• dark green vegetables

• fish with soft bones, including sardines and salmon


Creatine

Most athletes use creatine because it is an essential aid for sports performance.
People can get creatine from red meat and seafood, but it is also available as a
supplement.

Supplementing with creatine can increase muscle mass and improve strength
when a person combines it with strength training. However, the increase is
minimal.

Ashwagandha

Ashwagandha is an Ayurvedic herb. Some studies explored the effects of

ashwagandha on endurance in healthy athletic men and women.

People who received the root extract of ashwagandha had a significant increase in
physical endurance after 8 and 12 weeks of treatment compared with the
participants receiving a placebo.

Another study tested the effects of ashwagandha on the endurance of elite

cyclists. After 8 weeks of treatment, the cyclists taking ashwagandha took longer
to feel exhausted doing a treadmill test than the cyclists who received a placebo.

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Protein powder

Protein powder is a popular nutritional supplement. Protein is an essential

macronutrient that helps build muscle, repair tissue, and make enzymes and
hormones. Using protein powder may also aid weight loss and help people tone
their muscles.

If an athlete consumes enough protein from regular foods there is no need for
supplementation.

„Muscle-mind connection”

BODYBUILDING WITHOUT HEAVYWEIGHTS

To put it simply, it is the ability to focus tension on a specific muscle or muscle

region to make it deliberately contract. It’s a skill that means you’re able to actively
shift weight from one part of the body to another, and something that relies on an
area of the brain that’s known as the ‘neuromuscular junction’, where the mind
meets the body. 

Those that rely on a mind to muscle connection will need to use a greater amount
of brain fibers to execute the task, and by being able to create tension in specific
muscles, they will be able to develop strength and size in the targeted places, and
offer better quality muscle contraction and an all round better workout.

A large part of resistance training workouts is about how long the brain can
concentrate for any set period of time.

Proprioception (muscle-mind connection; also understanding one’s body) happens

with time. By trying various workout method and approaches your central nervous
system starts to receive more clear impulses and it starts to take a better control
over muscles.

It comes with experience and it allows to build strength & muscles without using
tons of loads by simply contracting your muscles properly.

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 LISTEN & STUDY YOUR OWN BODY

As I mentioned just a few seconds ago in the muscle mind connection paragraph -
it comes with experience. However, we need to put some effort to make it happen.
Do not work out as a machine. You are not a machine anyways. What I mean is
that you need to try to understand what parts of your body work during this or that
exercise. Try to understand how your body reacts to this or that load. Study it like if
you were exploring something new (you actually are). Learn how your body
responds to everything you do to it. This is the only way to make better gains and
progress faster.

BASIC ANATOMY & PHYSIOLOGY

Basics anatomy & physiology principles



ENERGY RESOURCES & ENERGY SYSTEMS

During physical exercise, the body needs additional energy due to the increased
work of the skeletal muscles - and the more intense work of the lungs and heart.
During training, the body produces much more energy than when you do only
basic, daily activities. Therefore, the question arises, how and from what does the
body draw energy for training? Energy is released due to the breakdown of
adenosine triphosphate (ATP). ATP is produced from the metabolism of
carbohydrates, fats, proteins and alcohols, which are supplied with food, and then
transported to cells and transformed in biochemical reactions. The products of
carbohydrate, protein and fat hydrolysis are transported to muscle cells and
provide energy adequate to the needs of increased physical activity. 

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Carbohydrates are broken down into simple sugar molecules, fats - into fatty acids
and glycerol, and proteins into amino acids. The role of proteins as a source of
energy increases in the final stage of very intensive or long training. When
glycogen is depleted, proteins can cover about 1-5% of the energy requirement.
Alcohol, regardless of the intensity of exercise, cannot be a source of energy for
working muscles, because only the liver contains enzymes capable of breaking it
down. 

There are three main pathways of energy production in the body that are used in
various types of physical activity: the ATP-PC pathway, anaerobic glycolysis, and
aerobic metabolism. The first trail is dominant during maximum physical efforts
lasting up to 6-8 seconds (e.g. sprint, long jump). It uses ATP and phosphocreatine
(PC) accumulated in the muscles. These changes release energy quickly, but only
7-8 kcal, because the resources of ATP and phosphocreatine are limited. In a
further step, the body uses glycogen and/or fats. The anaerobic glycolysis
pathway starts as soon as you start exercising very hard. It dominates during
exercise lasting up to 90 seconds (e.g. strength training). After 30 seconds of very
intense effort, the share of energy from this path is approximately 60%, and after 2
minutes it drops to approximately 35%. In anaerobic glycolysis, the energy
substrates are glucose molecules derived from the breakdown of muscle glycogen,
which, in the absence of oxygen, transform into ATP and lactic acid. From one
glucose molecule, as a result of anaerobic glycolysis, only 2 ATP molecules are
formed, therefore this pathway is ineffective with longer exercises. In addition, the
rapid depletion of glycogen resources and the accumulation of lactic acid causes
increased fatigue and decreased physical efficiency. In aerobic metabolism, ATP is
not formed as quickly as a result of anaerobic changes, but the amount of
adenosine triphosphate produced is greater. This pathway includes the processes
of glycolysis and lipolysis in the presence of oxygen. Initially, during exercise, the
ATP-PC and anaerobic glycolysis pathways are used, and after a few minutes the
body begins to "switch" to the oxygen pathway. 

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Most metabolized carbohydrates come from muscle glycogen. After about two
hours of very intense exercise, glycogen stores are significantly depleted. Under
aerobic conditions, one glucose molecule supplies as many as 32 ATP molecules,
so aerobic pathways are about 20 times more effective than the anaerobic
pathways. With one molecule of acid we can extract up to 200 ATP molecules in
the fatty acid, however, fatty acids can only be metabolized in aerobic conditions,
when the body's energy needs are relatively low, because the oxygen pathway
lasts much longer. 

In conclusion, exercises based on anaerobic changes use glycogen, and based on

aerobic changes both glycogen and fats. Therefore, aerobic exercise can take
longer. The efficiency, strength and endurance during training will be influenced not
only by the type and amount of food consumed, but also the timing of the meal.
The closer to training, the more fluid foods should be consumed. 

As can be seen from the above characteristics of the major energy pathways,
carbohydrates are the preferred energy source for aerobic and anaerobic exercise.
In the body, carbohydrates occur as glucose circulating in the blood or as
glycogen stored in the muscles and liver. There is about 2-4 times more glycogen
in the muscles than in the liver. The body can store a relatively small amount of
glycogen, as 60-90 minutes of intense endurance training can exhaust the
resources stored in the muscles.

Total glycogen stores account for approximately 1600-2000 kcal of energy. High
intake of carbohydrates with the diet maximizes glycogen stores. If you do not get
enough carbohydrates with your diet, your training capacity will suffer. A full meal
should be eaten about 3-4 hours before exercise, so that there is time to digest the
food. If you eat your pre-workout meal too early, your blood glucose levels may
drop (hypoglycemia), which may reduce your performance. Before training, eat
carbohydrates with a low glycemic index to provide energy for a longer period of
time. Additionally, eat a snack 1-2 hours before training.

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 SLOW-TWITCH VS FAST-TWITCH MUSCLE FIBERS

Most muscles are made up of two kinds of muscle fibers that help you move your
body:

• Slow-twitch muscle fibers, which move more slowly but help to keep you
moving longer.

• Fast-twitch muscle fibers, which help you move faster, but for shorter
periods.

“Twitch” refers to the contraction, or how quickly and often the muscle moves.



Slow-twitch muscle fibers are all about endurance or long-lasting energy. In
comparison, fast-twitch muscle fibers give you sudden bursts of energy but get
tired quickly.

Can muscle fiber types change?



Most people are born with about the same amount of slow-twitch and fast-twitch
muscles fibers in their bodies. Some people may be born with more of one kind of
muscle fiber, which might make them better at a certain sport. For example, if you
naturally have more slow-twitch muscles fibers, you might be better at long-
distance running. This is rare, and more research is needed on this. If you train
hard enough at one sport, you may “change” the muscle fibers in your body. For
example, if you’re a marathon runner and train for a long time, some of your slow-
twitch muscle fibers will grow longer. This gives you long, leaner muscles. Similarly,
if you lift weights or sprint a lot, your fast-twitch muscle fibers will grow bigger.
This builds your muscles.

NERVOUS & VENTILATION SYSTEMS ADAPTATION

Neural Adaptations and Strength Training

Strength training develops motor neuron pathways that enhance an athlete's brain-
body coordination during functional movements. The “neural adaptations” athletes
undergo in training refers to the brain’s ability to recruit muscles to contract and
produce a particular movement. Practicing an exercise with resistance teaches an
athlete's brain to fire the correct muscles to achieve a desired motion. Over time,

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the athlete’s technique to the exercise becomes ingrained and the movement
becomes more automatic.

Motor neurons

Motor neurons are nerve cells that originate in the central nervous system and end
at the muscle fibers in the neuromuscular junction. Signals sent from the brain run
along the motor neuron to the muscle fiber to produce movements, or muscular
contractions. Some motor neurons are devoted to autonomic functions, such as
signals sent to the diaphragm to contract which allows individuals to breathe.
Alternatively, other motor neurons are dedicated to voluntary movements, like
strength training. When attempting new exercises, an athlete’s brain must send
signals along motor neurons to the correct muscle fibers in order to contract.
When athletes lift heavier weights, the frequency of motor neurons firing increases
and the number of muscle fibers contracting increases. Ultimately, the growth in
motor neurons and muscle fibers builds muscle mass and strength in athletes.

Muscle memory

Muscle memory, also known as neuromuscular facilitation, is the process by which

muscles become familiar with certain motor skills. Furthermore, when signals from
the brain are sent to the muscle, a pathway becomes established and this process
becomes semi-automatic. Once this happens, athletes won’t need to concentrate
intensely to create the desired movement. It is likely that the muscle tissue will also
develop long-lasting changes (i.e. increases in fiber size and changes in fiber
composition).

Strength training

Functional strength training helps athletes develop muscle memory so that they
can quickly access their movement patterns during performance.The
neuromuscular system goes through a cycle when developing strength: teach the
brain to fire correct muscles to contract with a new movement, add resistance,
recruit more muscle fibers to oppose the resistance, build strength and adapt to
the resistance, increase the complexity or resistance, and repeat. Complex
strength training exercises involving the whole body demand greater muscle
recruitment and more closely approximate the demands in each sport. For
example, a deep squat will yield a greater gain for an athlete than a biceps curl

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because the squat requires coordination among the hamstrings, hips, glutes,
quads, and core to complete the movement. Additionally, performing strength
exercises when the body is fatigued will teach the brain to recruit muscles when it
normally does not. This adaptation is useful at the end of a race, battle or event,
when an athlete's strength normally begins to wane.

Neural adaptations are happening all the time during strength training. The brain
sends signals along motor pathways to tell muscles when, how quickly, and how
powerfully to contract to produce movement. Athletes should take advantage of
muscle memory, and we should develop strength training programs that implement
sufficient intensity, volume, and load in order to maximize performance.

Respiratory System Adaptations to Exercise:

• Breathing rates increase with higher intensity training (this is more an

adaptation from anaerobic fitness and muscular endurance training or higher
intensity aerobic fitness training). This enables more air to move in and out of
the lungs enhancing gas exchange.

• The strength and endurance of the diaphragm and intercostal muscles

improves. This results in an improved ability to breathe in more air, for longer
with less fatigue.

• Aerobic training tends to improve the endurance of respiratory muscles.

• Anaerobic training tends to increase the size and strength of respiratory

muscles.

• More capillaries are formed in the lungs over time allowing more blood to
flow in and out of the lungs. This improves the uptake of oxygen as there is a
greater surface area for blood to bind with hemoglobin.

• The numbers of alveoli in the lungs increase to enable more gas exchange to
occur.

• The exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide improves as the gradient

between each becomes larger.  This occurs because the more oxygen used

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 in the tissues and the more carbon dioxide produced creates a larger
difference/gradient between the blood and tissues.

• Aerobic fitness training tends to improve the efficiency of the body’s tissues
at absorbing O2 and removing CO2, while anaerobic fitness and muscular
endurance training tends to improve the capacity for this gas exchange.


HEALTH

Injuries in calisthenics

Injuries happen even if your program is perfect and complex. It can happen for
various reasons and there is probably no one who has never experienced at least a
minor injury.

HOW TO STAY INJURIES FREE

PROBLEM

MUSCLE TIGHTNESS

If you have tight muscles you’re in good company, as tight muscles are extremely
common. When we exercise we are constantly demanding contractions from our
muscles. This continuous rate of contraction may result in a shortening of the
muscle, which in turn can lead to a limited range of motion and create a muscle
imbalance – which can increase our propensity for injury.

SOLUTION

Stretching, massage and foam rolling.

Ensuring you are regularly stretching the muscles you constantly load will help with
correcting tightness in these muscles. 

Proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) stretching is a popular, advanced

method of deep stretching. It typically involves passively stretching a muscle (or
muscle group), then performing an isometric contraction of that muscle, then once

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again passively stretching that same muscle to achieve a deeper stretch at a
greater range of motion. 

Foam rolling can also assist with helping the muscle to relax.

PROBLEM

MUSCLE WEAKNESS

Muscle weakness occurs when our full effort doesn’t produce a normal muscle
contraction or movement. We can experience this at the end of a grueling workout,
when we have simply exhausted ourselves, however, persistent muscle weakness
may indicate an underlying muscle imbalance. Stronger muscles can begin to
dominate weaker ones, resulting in uneven forces acting on our joints. These
imbalances can place excessive strain on joints as we have less control during
impact activities or in the way we stabilize our joints when exercising.

SOLUTION

Manual muscle testing and strengthening (or consult your sports therapist)

If you believe this to be related to a muscle imbalance, an assessment from a

qualified professional will help determine the cause of your muscle weakness and
the appropriate treatment. In some cases, physical therapy may be helpful.

Manual muscle testing of the affected area may also highlight an asymmetric
weakness (one side is weaker than the other). Identifying this makes it possible to
realign/balance the body through isolated strengthening on the weaker side.

PROBLEM

OVERTRAINING AND OVERUSE

The most obvious problem of all! When we do too much, with too little rest in
between sessions, we suffer the following symptoms; excessive fatigue, troubled
sleep, inability to concentrate, inability to perform exercises with correct technique.
A physiological sign of overtraining is also an increased resting heart rate.

Overuse injuries are caused by repeated actions that apply pressure to a certain
group of muscles, joint or area of soft tissue. Symptoms include a gradual pain
which worsens over time, sometimes accompanied by swelling and/or bruising.

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SOLUTION

Review your training schedule and ensure you’re mixing it up

The best way to avoid overtraining and overuse is to ensure adequate rest
between sessions – so look at your schedule and see what you can move around.
If you’re doing a lot of one type of workout – weighted training or high volume –
consider switching out a couple of sessions for something completely different. 

A deload is also a must do! A deload week is something you do if you are training
regularly and actually need a break from your normal routine. It’s usually a week
long process to avoid overtraining and to recover from a period of performance
plateaus, decreased energy levels and a combination of over-working, poor sleep
and nutrition.

The deload week is designed to help you relax, unwind, catch up on sleep, avoid
stress and come back stronger the following week. These weeks work best when
you need it - but just before you need it is even more ideal.

WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU GET INJURED

Surely, if it is a torn muscle fiber or if you break something - you need to visit a
specialist who will decide what kind of treatment you need. However, we often get
those micro/mini injuries that are annoying but they don't really disturb us to stop
working out. What to do?

Regardless of the exact cause (you will need to find it anyways), your first step in
finding relief to your symptoms is to modify your training. Your body has
experienced an abrupt overload and has responded negatively with pain. You need
to look into why this occurred and make changes to decrease your pain. 

Changing your training intensity and volume does not mean you are going to stay
away from training and sit on the couch for the next month. You never want to rest
completely! 

Our body follow this principle “if you do not use it, you lose it”. If you take away all
loading and only rest for a few weeks, you will set yourself up for the pain to
eventually return. If you completely rest your body, it will adapt, and the load
tolerance level will drop. Because the minimal load is being place on your body
you make it even easier to overload when you return.

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On the other hand, you do not want to ignore your pain and continue pushing
through injury. If you do, the injury will only continue to get worse, and structural
changes will eventually occur within your body. You must find the perfect amount
of load that allows healing to occur, not too little nor too much. 

Try changing some things in your training and see how your body responds. For
example, if you currently train seven days a week, decrease the frequency by
dropping one-two sessions. If the pain continues to happen after those little
modifications, you need to visit a professional.

REHAB

Surely, there is no golden rule for everyone to recover after an injury.

What we need to remember is to take it slow and easy. It is better to start with
some extremely easy workouts rather than extremely hard workouts and end up
having an injury again. Do not be afraid to not be on the same level after injury. I
know it hurts. However, you can rebuild it and become even stronger than ever
before. On the other hand, if you are impatient and start loading your muscles the
same way as before, do not expect injuries to stay away.

Know your history, remember what exactly happened to you previously and do not
do this again. Injuries are great teachers.

FINAL WORD

This book does not automatically make you a calisthenics or fitness guru. It is just
my experience and knowledge that I obtain and share. This book is not a set of
rules, it is a set of things to test, analyze, retest, optimize and apply. Feel free to
contact me if you have any doubts or questions regarding something in this book.

I would like to thank everyone who helped me to create this. My girl Beata, this
book wouldn’t be possible without her! My friends and students Niccolo and
Fabio, your contribution was very helpful! I would like to thank everyone who
supports me around the world. I do this for you.

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