Rare: If You Want To Start Using Calisthenics To Build Muscle GTFIH!!

[APwn]

Yeh I was on 200 kcal surplus with 1g protein per lb at the time and lost size. I usually finished each session barely feeling like i'd hit my muscles. Followed the program to the letter.

[viper30j]

I don't know how to hit hams using calisthenics, wut do?

[missladyj]

I don't know how to hit hams using calisthenics, wut do?

Glute / ham raises, 1 legged squat (pistol)

[papi93]

I don't know how to hit hams using calisthenics, wut do?

If you are for an exercise similar to a leg curl for the hamstrings: Natural Glute Ham Raise.

[viper30j]

If you are for an exercise similar to a leg curl for the hamstrings: Natural Glute Ham Raise.

I have no equipment or partner to hold my feet, suggestions?

[papi93]

I have no equipment or partner to hold my feet, suggestions?

Hip dominant exercises such as King Deadlifts, Single-Leg Deadlifts, Single-Leg Stiff-Leg Deadlifts, Lying Supine - Single-Leg Hip/Thigh Extensions off a box, etc. Quad dominant exercises with a lot of hip extension like missladyj said with one-legged squats. Others would be Step-Ups (onto a high box) and Bulgarian Split Squats.

Edit: Do you have access to a Stability Ball?

[kfcbrah]

Tried doing a circuit (pull ups 5x, dips 15x, push ups 15x, chin ups 5x) today. SMH at my endurance, can't even do 3 circuits. After the first rep I thought I was gonna die. But yeah, now I know what I can. Noob calisthenic life.. dem feels..

[papi93]

Tried doing a circuit (pull ups 5x, dips 15x, push ups 15x, chin ups 5x) today. SMH at my endurance, can't even do 3 circuits. After the first rep I thought I was gonna die. But yeah, now I know what I can. Noob calisthenic life.. dem feels..

Doing a leg circuit for the first time can really push the lactate threshold and turn a stomach sour fast. Twice the volume on single-leg exercises can be hell.

[Waldo56]

I have no equipment or partner to hold my feet, suggestions?

What I do for natural hamstring curls:

Wedge my feet under a low shelf on a really strong and heavy bookcase, put my knees on a rolled up towel (under the kneecap), on a pillow, on a small footstool. And some padding for my heels to keep strain off the achilles.

Does that actually work with a partner that isn't sumo sized? The load on a NHC is crazy high; you are, for all intents and purposes, turning yourself into a human crowbar. A little swag math tells me there should be several hundred pounds of upward force.

Add hill sprints to the list of awesome BW ham exercises.

[bogui94]

I have no equipment or partner to hold my feet, suggestions?

[srslysrs]

subbed. might see how this goes....

[Waldo56]

Not sure that setup would work for full load though. He's using very high arm assist and the support is moving. My bookcase creaks but holds, it easily weighs 500 lbs.

Also need to allow the kneecaps to move, support just below the kneecaps. The load gets way too high to apply to the kneecaps safely.

Here's my setup:


BTW if you've never tried these before, arms out in front for a long time unless you want a broken nose. Took me about a year of regular training to be able to do them unassisted (form still needs work too, straighter and deeper, but its workable).

[Waldo56]

Just want to post on here. I love bodyweight exercises, but for the love of god, don't do Convict Conditioning! I tried it for 2 months. Arms shrank almost an inch in that time. Terrible terrible program.

Yes, it is a garbage program as written. Followers end up with a bunch of whack ideas too, like one arm pushups are only proper with feet together and you should start training one arm chins once you can do 10-15 pullups, lol.

That whole banking strength concept is idiotic.

[cdegn]

Alright, question for all your brahs doing Pavels Fighter Pullup Program, my max pull ups is around 10-12 deadhang atm so I'm gonna start the program in this section:
Day 13 7, 6, 5, 4, 3
Day 14 7, 6, 5, 4, 4
Day 15 7, 6, 5, 5, 4
Day 16 7, 6, 6, 5, 4
Day 17 7, 7, 6, 5, 4

Somewhere Pavel says this:
"You start with an all-out set and then cut a rep in each consecutive set for a total of five sets.The next day add a rep to the last set. Then a rep to the set before that, etc."

Does that mean I do 1 set of max pull-ups and then proceed to the 5-sets prescribed or start off with 7/8 as my max?

Nope, don't max. All it means is that your first set should a number that's quite challenging (not your max, this is important) for you to hit, and then you cut a rep each time for the NEXT 4 sets. He says "...for a total of five sets." which means you still follow the program to the numbers prescribed on all sets.

I don't know how to hit hams using calisthenics, wut do?

Sprinting (huge posterior chain development from this), hill sprints, hamstring levers (if you have a set of monkey bars you can use), back bridges, pistols, GHR.



You can see hamstring levers in the top left there, you hook your feet up and dead hang with you arms (no tension), then use your hamstring to completea pseudo-hamstring curl. Really good exercise. It works best when you put your feet on a reasonably low bar (if the monkey bars are arched) so you can get more range of motion before your knees are blocked by the bars.

Tried doing a circuit (pull ups 5x, dips 15x, push ups 15x, chin ups 5x) today. SMH at my endurance, can't even do 3 circuits. After the first rep I thought I was gonna die. But yeah, now I know what I can. Noob calisthenic life.. dem feels..

Getting reps is fairly easy but putting it all together is the hard part. Try messing around with the beginner routine on madbarz and mix up your training style eg. 5 minutes to complete max revolutions of the circuit, 10 reps of the circuit without rest (or whatever you can manage cleanly and try to increase that number by 1 every 2 weeks of so). Try sprinting and then going into pullups/pushups to see how you work while being fatigued.

A favourite of mine is to do:
-2-3 muscle-ups (1 works too),
-20 dips on top of the bar,
-drop down, do 11 pullups,
-15 seconds L-sit,
-5 leg raises,
-10 oblique knee raises (each side, just pick a number that works)
-and a one-arm hang on each hand to failure to really burn your grip.
-drop and do ~25-30 pushups,
-10 pistols/shrimp squats
-short ~40m sprint or high rep squats (set of 80-100 if you can manage it).

Kinda complicated but you get an incredible burn and your circuit-fitness will improve rapidly.

[Chris Partlow]

Just want to post on here. I love bodyweight exercises, but for the love of god, don't do Convict Conditioning! I tried it for 2 months. Arms shrank almost an inch in that time. Terrible terrible program.

Yes, it is a garbage program as written. Followers end up with a bunch of whack ideas too, like one arm pushups are only proper with feet together and you should start training one arm chins once you can do 10-15 pullups, lol.

That whole banking strength concept is idiotic.

Convict Conditioning is a good program overall. I don't like that is has people starting to try one arm chins so early, that I agree. Fast track to tendonitis. Unless someone can do a 15m cirque rope climb only using their arms, with good form, they have no reason to worry about a one arm chin.

However a proper one arm pushup will have the feet very close together, not in a straddle like most people do.

Take it for what it is, a calisthenics program with minimal equipment. Nothing mind blowing but still good IMO.

[Waldo56]

Convict Conditioning is a good program overall. I don't like that is has people starting to try one arm chins so early, that I agree. Fast track to tendonitis. Unless someone can do a 15m cirque rope climb only using their arms, with good form, they have no reason to worry about a one arm chin.

However a proper one arm pushup will have the feet very close together, not in a straddle like most people do.

Take it for what it is, a calisthenics program with minimal equipment. Nothing mind blowing but still good IMO.

The muscle activation on a one arm pushup changes with feet position. Closing the legs transfers the load toward the triceps and traps from the chest. Straddle one arm pushups are a perfectly valid (and easier) form. And if you see plyo one arm pushups as the ultimate punch power exercise (it is), the straddle form is best. Straddle one arm pushups certainly aren't garbage form.

You certainly are not going to progress from assisted one arm pushups straight on to legs closed one arm pushups, that's just silly. You have to go through straddle forms first. How else are you going to learn to deal with the twist?

[Waldo56]

I don't know how to hit hams using calisthenics, wut do?

Basic pistol squat is quite good for the hams though. Loaded, the further forward the load, the more it hits the hams.

Perceived load and muscle activation is highly form dependent on a pistol. The closer your center of mass is toward the knee, the easier they are and the more posterior dominant they are.

As you straighten out from a forward lean to more upright (and do a better job holding your nonworking leg high), and if you use overhead or shoulder loading (doing loaded pistols), it gets harder and the load transfers to the quads. This can be taken to extremes by locking your hands behind your lower back. Pistols done this way are HARD, all quad with a huge lever arm to the knee (and for some reason they hit the abs ultra hard, haven't figured out why). Other single leg squat forms like a shrimp squat, skater squat, side pistol (whatever its called, kick to the side and hold your leg to the side) or a warrior squat (again, whatever its called, kick back and hold your leg straight back) are more quad/calf dominant.

Jump-switch pistols hit the hams/glutes especially hard since they do most of the braking (landing is much harder than the plyo portion).

When loaded you can bring your nonworking leg from front to back as you come out of the hole, which puts more load on the hams/glutes (and makes them easier because of it). I don't think that form is possible or reasonable to do with BW alone, loaded pistols are a lot easier to balance.

[Leeuf]

Something everyone needs to realize about Convict Conditioning is that it is not a guide on how to lose body fat or gain muscle mass.

I followed its routine for a while and made consistent strength gains, but my body didn't change. Two or three sets a day just isn't enough to build muscle and doesn't burn enough energy to cut easily.

Having said that, Convict Conditioning is a very good guideline for beginners and can be used in a muscle-building routine if you add many more sets.

[Mr.PissShivers]

How do you work up to being able to do glute ham raises?

[cdegn]

How do you work up to being able to do glute ham raises?

Same way you build towards doing pullups. Partial reps, negatives and assisted reps.

[Haveboards]

Something everyone needs to realize about Convict Conditioning is that it is not a guide on how to lose body fat or gain muscle mass.

I followed its routine for a while and made consistent strength gains, but my body didn't change. Two or three sets a day just isn't enough to build muscle and doesn't burn enough energy to cut easily.

Having said that, Convict Conditioning is a very good guideline for beginners and can be used in a muscle-building routine if you add many more sets.

Body composition is directly related to your nutrition, not training. Calorie deficit to cut. Surplus to gain.

Have not read Convict conditioning. Nutrition > Training for body composition.

[Leeuf]

Body composition is directly related to your nutrition, not training. Calorie deficit to cut. Surplus to gain.

Have not read Convict conditioning. Nutrition > Training for body composition.

I'd say it's equally dependent on both. I just can't see muscle gain happening on two sets a day, regardless of how well you track your macros. Likewise no matter how hard you train, if you don't eat enough you will not gain any muscle. Anyway, the sum total of Convict Conditioning's nutrition advice is: "Eat a balanced diet."

[Waldo56]

How do you work up to being able to do glute ham raises?

Same way you build towards doing pullups. Partial reps, negatives and assisted reps.

I did assisted reps almost exclusively with my hands out in front.

- Tried using a band for assist. Felt awkward and unproductive. Nixed that like day 2.

- Prefer the full ROM of assisted reps to partial ROM reps. Felt it was more productive.

- Would advise against too much negative work. These things tear your legs up. It isn't like a pullup where the strength level needed to do one is quite low and negative damage is manageable. Negatives are especially rough on your hamstring tendons. The vast majority of my work was assisted reps that included a lazy negative and peak output positives. Sure I did a couple hard negatives, especially on intensity days, but I really tried to minimize their use.

- Eventually figured out that I could use a scale to track progress. Put it right under my shoulders. The first rep of my first work set (after a real easy high assist warmup) I would go down to the bottom of the rep, put my hands on the scale, and try has hard as I could to get back up. The smallest number on the scale was the minimum assist needed. Over time it went lower and lower and lower, eventually to zero (when I could start doing unassisted negatives). Not sure I would have gotten them without the scale, as without it you are running on faith and little else that you are progressing, which can be real tough to deal with given the length of time it takes to work up to unassisted reps.

- I only work them 1x a week. Like I said, they tear your legs up. I tried 2x a week, pretty quickly it was apparent that that was too much; hamstring tendons got real sore.

[Waldo56]

I'd say it's equally dependent on both. I just can't see muscle gain happening on two sets a day, regardless of how well you track your macros. Likewise no matter how hard you train, if you don't eat enough you will not gain any muscle. Anyway, the sum total of Convict Conditioning's nutrition advice is: "Eat a balanced diet."

Especially when those sets are easy because you are purposely retarding progress "banking strength".

[Chris Partlow]

The muscle activation on a one arm pushup changes with feet position. Closing the legs transfers the load toward the triceps and traps from the chest. Straddle one arm pushups are a perfectly valid (and easier) form. And if you see plyo one arm pushups as the ultimate punch power exercise (it is), the straddle form is best. Straddle one arm pushups certainly aren't garbage form.

You certainly are not going to progress from assisted one arm pushups straight on to legs closed one arm pushups, that's just silly. You have to go through straddle forms first. How else are you going to learn to deal with the twist?

Where did I say that straddle one arm push-ups are garbage form? What they are is a very early and basic progression for a proper one arm push-up, which is in fact with the legs together. The fact that it emphasizes triceps over chest tells you how much more difficult it is.

I also never said anything about going from assisted to legs closed right away.

Actually reading the post: it does a misc poster good.

[Leeuf]

It's odd, I find straddled one arm pushups hit the anterior side of my shoulders more.

[cdegn]

I'm just going to put a recommendation up for anyone interested in bodyweight training to buy Never Gymless by Ross Enamait.

I bought a copy each for my training partner and myself and it is the most complete book on bodyweight training I have come across (I've read Building the Gymnastic Body, Overcoming Gravity, Convict Conditioning, Solitary Fitness and many other books and NG blows them out of the water without being written like a physiology textbook). It includes progressions for advanced moves, detailed sections such as maximal strength, strength-endurance, speed-strength, cardio/conditioning and heaps more.

He was selling it for $20 when I bought mine and I would happily have paid $50 after seeing the finished product. Includes sample workouts and a sample 50 day complete workout plan. Ross is also super active on his website forum www.rosstraining.com posting up his workouts and giving advice for free regardless of whether you have bought the book or not. Just a great guy in general and the type that should represent the community.

Would recommend for everyone who is interested in becoming a complete athlete, getting in phenomenal shape or looking for a bit of direction in your training.

Here's a short clip of Ross training:

[Waldo56]

Where did I say that straddle one arm push-ups are garbage form? What they are is a very early and basic progression for a proper one arm push-up, which is in fact with the legs together. The fact that it emphasizes triceps over chest tells you how much more difficult it is.

I also never said anything about going from assisted to legs closed right away.

Actually reading the post: it does a misc poster good.

How does your post imply anything other than the fact that straddle one arm pushups are the improper way to do them?

However a proper one arm pushup will have the feet very close together, not in a straddle like most people do.

That is the exact same attitude Wade has toward them. Straddle one arm pushups are NOT improper or incorrect. They are a perfectly valid form that happens to emphasize muscles differently.

Convict Conditioning specifically has people go from assisted straight on up to closed leg, with no stopover at straddle one arm pushups. Which would be fine to overlook if it was obvious he just left out part of the progression trying to shoehorn it into the symmetrical plan. But that isn't the case, he specifically mocks the straddle form.

Seen a few people waste ridiculous amounts of time spinning their wheels on that pushup progression, sticking to Convict Conditioning dogmatically. (Same thing with the pistol squat progression, still don't get what on earth he's doing with a basketball).

Shouldn't take someone (male) that isn't overfat more than a couple months to be able to do a rudementary straddle one arm pushup. To get good at one arm pushups requires lots and lots of one arm pushup reps, no way around that.

[enfieldvball]

Where did I say that straddle one arm push-ups are garbage form? What they are is a very early and basic progression for a proper one arm push-up, which is in fact with the legs together. The fact that it emphasizes triceps over chest tells you how much more difficult it is.

I also never said anything about going from assisted to legs closed right away.

Actually reading the post: it does a misc poster good.

Much agreed, I can def. do straddle one arm pushups but I'm still working on one arm push up with legs together

[papi93]

Who are your guys top authorities on sports nutrition? Going to start reading some stuff from Alan Aragon.