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Bodyweight Hypertrophy with calisthenics protocol

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You could design a hypertrophy program based on the principles outlined in Pavel's article about ST fibres(How to Build Your Slow Fibers, Part II)
Why would you do that? ST fibers are much smaller. If you're looking to put on muscle, you want to pick programs that develop the FT muscle fibers as much as possible. That means maximum acceleration/intent in the concentric and short rest periods. For the most part at least.

Diamond pushups cover all your pressing muscles. For pulling muscles you could choose pullups and for legs I would recommend airbourne lunges.
I'm not sure that it's just that easy. This barebones exercise selection seems ok for strength training but muscle building is a little different. It's good to use different exercises, hit different angles and movement patterns. It's not about perfecting any one groove anymore. It's just about making sure all muscle grow strong, together, simultaneously.

Close grip PUs are fine to build the triceps, but you also need ways to shift the emphasis to the pecs and shoulders. Pull-ups are wonderful because they seem to develop everything rather equally (as long as you add in your rows too).

I've always said it. Calisthenics strength training is complex because of the programming (frequency, volume, intensity, etc). Calisthenics hypertrophy training is complex because of the exercise selection.

As long as you push hard on your sets, get a good pump, and eat correctly (track your calories and macronutrients), you'll be fine. The tough part is understanding what exercises to do. How do you pick between dips, push-ups, HSPUs, etc and all of their different variations? Sometimes you do 2 or 3 or 4 of those in a single session.

I've chosen Bodyweight Evolution by Daniel Vadnal for this summer. I like his varied exercise selection, his emphasis on both rowing and pull-ups and how he divides the amount of weekly time spent on push-ups, HSPUs and dips. I think after it, I'll have a better understanding on this kind of training. For now, all I know is that I don't know much haha.
 
Shrimp squats are just skater squats with your airborne leg pressed against your butt using your hand. I find they require a bit more stability, but otherwise are not harder than skater squats/airborne lunges.

I do my skater squats with a tap of my hanging knee on the achilles at the bottom of the move.

I find them a lot easier than pistols, but also easier to load up and still get a enough reps to get a solid pump.

I have a philosophy that stays the same whether I'm bodyweight or whatever - if shooting for hypertrophy I get the best results with 3-4 sets and 6-10 reps on an escalating load pyramid.

If the movement is too easy I throw in rest/pause at the end of the last set or add time to the eccentric portion and hold at the top for a breath. If the movement is too hard I add a drop set at the end and sub in an assist of some sort - usually on the concentric and continue with the eccentric or change to an easier version.

And then of course a ton of food, sleep and pay attention to recovery needs.
 
Why would you do that? ST fibers are much smaller. If you're looking to put on muscle, you want to pick programs that develop the FT muscle fibers as much as possible. That means maximum acceleration/intent in the concentric and short rest periods. For the most part at least.

Yes, sure! But it is all outlined in the Article. You just fo ST as an addition to your FT
 
Why would you do that? ST fibers are much smaller. If you're looking to put on muscle, you want to pick programs that develop the FT muscle fibers as much as possible. That means maximum acceleration/intent in the concentric and short rest periods. For the most part at least.


I'm not sure that it's just that easy. This barebones exercise selection seems ok for strength training but muscle building is a little different. It's good to use different exercises, hit different angles and movement patterns. It's not about perfecting any one groove anymore. It's just about making sure all muscle grow strong, together, simultaneously.

Close grip PUs are fine to build the triceps, but you also need ways to shift the emphasis to the pecs and shoulders. Pull-ups are wonderful because they seem to develop everything rather equally (as long as you add in your rows too).

I've always said it. Calisthenics strength training is complex because of the programming (frequency, volume, intensity, etc). Calisthenics hypertrophy training is complex because of the exercise selection.

As long as you push hard on your sets, get a good pump, and eat correctly (track your calories and macronutrients), you'll be fine. The tough part is understanding what exercises to do. How do you pick between dips, push-ups, HSPUs, etc and all of their different variations? Sometimes you do 2 or 3 or 4 of those in a single session.

I've chosen Bodyweight Evolution by Daniel Vadnal for this summer. I like his varied exercise selection, his emphasis on both rowing and pull-ups and how he divides the amount of weekly time spent on push-ups, HSPUs and dips. I think after it, I'll have a better understanding on this kind of training. For now, all I know is that I don't know much haha.
Have you followed up with Stefan from the original DD post? Or, have you changed your thinking from that time. It was 6 yrs ago! There was mention of a follow-up forum string, but I didn't see it- the original just dropped off and I was left hanging!
 
Have you followed up with Stefan from the original DD post?
Not at all. I know he had good progress but that's hard to quantify so.

Or, have you changed your thinking from that time. It was 6 yrs ago!
My biggest change is that I think you can make significantly better progress by using a wider variety of movement patterns. The best calisthenics physiques seem to be built on steady diets of pushups, dips, HSPU, Pulluos and Rows. While using just 3-4 exercises to "broadly" cover the whole body (as you might do with strength training) I don't see why you'd want to limit yourself when it comes to actually trying to look good.

The exercise selection and programming (through ladders) I think are all good. It was an attempt to mimic the Bear and I think it's fine at that. But it might just be simpler to use a more BBer style of sets and reps (3x6-10, changing the exercise variation as often as needed to hit those ranges).
 
I've chosen Bodyweight Evolution by Daniel Vadnal for this summer. I like his varied exercise selection, his emphasis on both rowing and pull-ups and how he divides the amount of weekly time spent on push-ups, HSPUs and dips. I think after it, I'll have a better understanding on this kind of training. For now, all I know is that I don't know much haha.
Promised to get back to OP on hypertrophy training.

I've been doing muscle-building with calisthenics for 6 weeks now (crudely based on Bodyweight Evolution, but with major changes in exercise selection and sets/reps). Results have been an increase in Lean Body Mass of about 1 lb per week (but with diminishing returns) and no change in fat (so my body fat percentage has actually decreased).

If you have any particular questions on muscle-building with calisthenics, maybe I can give you an answer now. It's certainly not as easy as with weights (and probably not as fast) but works just as well given time. If OP moved on to better and greater things, that's cool too hehe :)
 
There is a Russian protocol where a single rep is done over two minutes.Basic movements are used--pushups,pull-ups,bodyweight row,squats,sit up,pike press.
You only do one set and grind it out--may be worth a try.
 
There is a Russian protocol where a single rep is done over two minutes.Basic movements are used--pushups,pull-ups,bodyweight row,squats,sit up,pike press.
That sounds hardcore as s*** to do with a Pull-up haha.
 
Hello,

In PttP multiple sets of low reps, pretty heavy so, are mentioned to gain both strength and hypertrophy if I remember well. I think Pavel talks about a total volume of 20 reps or more.

Following the Bear Protocol, and using bodyweight moves, we could do something like 10 - 15 sets of 2 or 3 reps, using OAOL PU and pistols. If this is done with relatively short rest, it also gives conditioning training. The underlying idea is to target big muscle groups to work on the entire body (so we want to avoid isolation)

Kind regards,

Pet'
 
Following the Bear Protocol, and using bodyweight moves, we could do something like 10 - 15 sets of 2 or 3 reps, using OAOL PU and pistols. If this is done with relatively short rest, it also gives conditioning training. The underlying idea is to target big muscle groups to work on the entire body (so we want to avoid isolation)
For a while I was doing a HSPU, PU, & Pistol routine 3x a week ... I'm actually still doing it, but I switched to weighted ladders as opposed to pure BW. It's a solid plan and I've seen some good results from it. However, IMHO a combination of OAOLPUs and Pistols would be rough to manage that volume because it's so taxing on the CNS. Maybe that's just me, though. I just recently managed my first OAOLPU and it's nowhere near perfect (video in my training log). I would suggest simple OA Push-ups instead. @pet' What are your thoughts?
 
Hello,

What I enjoy a lot with the OAOL PU is that it strongly engage the lats and works balance and proprioception and the same time. To a certain extent, this is a very prolific move because it works different aspects.

Related to the volume, I do admit that using a pure bodyweight approach can be taxing, even if you use difficult variations and / or leverage, because you are obliged to build a lot of volume.

Always working by using full tension technique can lead to overtraining if combined with a significant volume.

This is why I think you can be right talking about a "simple" OA PU, less taxing for the CNS.

I just started a routine using OAOL PU and pistol, "a la Bear Protocol" to get a bit of hypertrophy. I'll see where it goes.

For a while (2 years ago or so), I used an intermediate routine, based on a daily dose of OAOL PU (10 ES) and pistol (10ES) combined with heavy swings and Janda sit ups. I get a fairly good result in terms of strength, but body composition did not really change.

Kind regards,

Pet'
 
I just started a routine using OAOL PU and pistol, "a la Bear Protocol" to get a bit of hypertrophy. I'll see where it goes.

For a while (2 years ago or so), I used an intermediate routine, based on a daily dose of OAOL PU (10 ES) and pistol (10ES) combined with heavy swings and Janda sit ups. I get a fairly good result in terms of strength, but body composition did not really change.

Interesting. Your OAOLPU is undoubtedly more developed than my own, and I'd be interested to hear how this works out for you. Are you compressing your rest times? Just doing weighted ladders with Pistols I find I need more rest in between ladders, roughly 90-120 sec.

Are you running this routine x3 a week? "Waving" the intensity? Thanks!
 
Hello,

@SolidBrawn
Yes indeed, I do that 3 times a week only. In terms of rest, I follow the book advice : between 30s and 90s. Rest tend to be about 30 or even less at the beginning, and 90 at the end. However, I do not wave intensity because I want my routine planning to be simple. I kept this simplicity from the time I ran S&S.

Related to the progressions, there are plenty of them:
OAOLPU progression method?

This is my strength routine.

Otherwise, I go for more classic cardio / muscular endurance on alternate day.

In total, I train 40 minutes each day, either for strength, either for cardio / endurance. I use 1 typical session for each. In both cases, I do stretching and mobility for another 20 minutes

Kind regards,

Pet'
 
Hello,

I did not read the previous page of this thread, but on the DD forum, a thread tends to advise high sets of low reps with hard variation moves:
Naked Warrior Bear

I hope this has not already be mentionned. Otherwise, I am really sorry for the redundancy !

Kind regards,

Pet'
 
Hello,

Here is an interesting video from CalisthenicsMovement, regarding rep / set / TUT in function of the goal (even if it can vary a little from a person to another)


Kind regards,

Pet'
 
Hello,

Here is an interesting video from CalisthenicsMovement, regarding rep / set / TUT in function of the goal (even if it can vary a little from a person to another)


Kind regards,

Pet'


Those guys put out good stuff along with fitnessfaqs!
 
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