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Bodyweight Workout Design Interest

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305pelusa

Level 6 Valued Member
Hello everybody,
I've spent a rather absurd amount of time reading and researching about calisthenics workout design this past year. What I noticed is that all the info is out there... but it's VERY spread out and hard to find.

Anyways, I want to keep learning about this and was interested to see if anyone had other sources they liked for calisthenics training. Maybe some authors. I'm trying to learn as much as I can at this point!
 
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Dominik Sky, a very strong man, has some good answers on his reddit AMA
Dominik Sky on Reddit

Monday would be dynamic straight arm upper body pulling & pressing
Tuesday deadlifts, pike press
Wednesday bent arm strength pulling & pressing
Thursday pike press
Friday again straight arm pulling and pressing static elements
Saturday reverse muscle up + muscle up exlusively or iron cross - I switch every second week + barbell squat :)
Sunday: one arm handstand & some handstand work
They are around 2 hour session - so you are in a very good place with your training. If you feel exhausted on a certain day it's okay to take a day off.
I do a lot of sets but very few reps 1-5 usually. I work for strength exclusively. On some rare occasion I do more but primarily my rep range is between 1-5 and 80% of the time I only do 1 rep training.

Regards to rest and deloads I follow the model of supercompensation. Also I have very long rest periods between sets, so I never exhaust myself in the sense that "gym goers" who work for physical appearance do. I always leave the gym "fresh" in relative terms, meaning I have long breaks 5-10 minutes between sets to fully recover so I can do my set with max intensity everytime - As soon as I start to compromise the integrity of form or feel I would do so on the next rep, I stop and move on to something else.

I am very inspired by "pavel tsatsouline" (He is worth checking up on regards to your questions), "Dmitry klokov", "coach sommers", "ido portal" & I am very impressed by a guy called "Clarence Kennedy" at the moment - He's a beast Clarence0 on youtube

Calisthenics does not suit well to current Strong First principle like "do only 2 strength exercises for a month and nothing else". There are a lot of movements and skills to be developed and maintained. Obvious choices for programming are GB, GMB and Low. Alternativly you can look for strongmen templates or soviet weightlifting plans (they are more like Sky's training - devote each training day to something else, use a lot of variety, not a single workout in a week is the same)
 
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Hello,

@305pelusa
Ido Portal's progressions and "flows" are quite good if you are also interesting in mobility and a bit of conditioning.

Kind regards,

Pet'
 
Ugh, I hate how ungrateful this will sound.
Thank you for all the info, I really appreciate it. Interestingly, I've actually read all books by Al. I have done a very exhaustive search of all of Ido's methods, including his Wushu protocols and Corset. Read all publications by GB, most of GMB's free stuff, and Overcoming Gravity (both editions). I know I know. I'm obsessed with this material.

I actually keep an extensive file document of all of this information. Should probably share that one day 0_o

Dominic Sky, I actually have done very little research on him. He was mostly into Flipping and Twisting a few years ago when he was big. And after he got signed (Redbull I think? I don't recall) I just sort of drifted away from him. Will begin to read up on him again, thanks for the reminder.

Anything else, I'm all ears.

Also, on another note. If folks here are interested, I could write out a simple guide to calisthenics routine construction here on SF based on a summary of most of these authors. Like I said, this information is really spread out and out there but I've made a good effort to find a lot of it!
 
@305pelusa I'd be very, very interested in that!!

I have another suggestion (not the traditional calisthenics stuff) is looking at Dan John. He doesn't recommend using his templates for BW type of moves, but I've been doing a body weight Easy Stregth routine for the past few months and so far I've made good progress. You were a great help in figuring out a couple of the exercises. Alex's Salkins also has some good insight and a blog post about using Easy Stregth to make progress in a few BW exercises.
 
@305pelusa I'd be very, very interested in that!!

I have another suggestion (not the traditional calisthenics stuff) is looking at Dan John. He doesn't recommend using his templates for BW type of moves, but I've been doing a body weight Easy Stregth routine for the past few months and so far I've made good progress. You were a great help in figuring out a couple of the exercises. Alex's Salkins also has some good insight and a blog post about using Easy Stregth to make progress in a few BW exercises.
Oh I remember! Yeah how did that end up going?

I've read a bit of Dan John (Mass Made Simple and ES), and it's been good info for sure. Any particular book you have in mind?

Also Salkin is the man! I've read his bloqs and followed him on social media. However, he never writes anymore. It's a shame because that one has some mutant hip mobility and sound programming!
 
Also, on another note. If folks here are interested, I could write out a simple guide to calisthenics routine construction here on SF based on a summary of most of these authors. Like I said, this information is really spread out and out there but I've made a good effort to find a lot of it!

I would appreciate that, could use that for sure.
 
Oh I remember! Yeah how did that end up going?

I've read a bit of Dan John (Mass Made Simple and ES), and it's been good info for sure. Any particular book you have in mind?

Also Salkin is the man! I've read his bloqs and followed him on social media. However, he never writes anymore. It's a shame because that one has some mutant hip mobility and sound programming!
Yes, I love everything Aleks has done. I did his BW program he posted on the StrongFirst site last summer and it was really great. Super easy to communicate with (so nice!) and ask questions.

I have REALLY liked the ES template I've been using for a couple of reasons. One, it keeps me in check. If I don't have a solid plan that lets me go to the gym everyday, I go off the rails and hurt myself. At 42, it's getting harder to recover! From start to finish takes about 1 hr and 20, which is a perfect daily dose for me. And, I can do this WO at home or the gym, because at home I might modify load/volume based on a KB I are avaialble. With two small children, I need to have that flexibility.

What I've been doing for the past few months is a warmup with shoulder shrugs, light pulls, goblets, hack squats, and lately arm bars. Really like those. Then I do 100 swings S&S style. I just started swinging the 24k 1H the past couple of weeks! Then I do weighted pullups, OAPU variations, weighted pistols (was doing double KB front squats before), weighted single leg DL, loaded carry of some sort, and HLR. I then finish up with handstands and yoga stuff. Feeling so much more solid on all the moves and gone up with weight very naturally. Built a little muscle along the way, which is a little annoying since pants are fitting differently! Also, volume is a concern for my elbows and knees and no problems so far. So, rest/recovery feels balanced and I take ~30 min walks at lunch most days.

Go to the SF BW cert in Seattle in a couple of weeks-very excited. I won't have my OAPU down, but getting there. SOmething I wish I has done differently the past few months is not working on elevations, I've been doing what you suggested and using my other hand to support, and it feels like more engagement and progress can be made. We shall see!
 
Hello,

@305pelusa
Simonster (he has a youtube channel)

Kind regards,

Pet'
But so little content on it :/ And his only Planche progression has the audio muted due to copyright infringement hehe.
I keep up with him on social media and apparently he's working on another Planche tutorial. Excited for that!
 
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