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The hidden power of progressive calisthenics. Structure.
So you have learned already principles of calisthenics which will set you up for success as well as we looked at ways of progressing in bodyweight strength training.
This particular type of training we are practicing for a reason is called progressive calisthenics. You already know that to get anywhere you need to apply a rule of progressive resistance: constantly add difficulty to your training. Now the power of progressive calisthenics is that it structure this vague notion of progression and gives you a step by step guidance on what to so.
So what is a progression?
Its simple. Its a series of exercises for the same muscle group where each exercise is slightly harder than the previous one. You start with the exercise which is the easiest and slowly build up to the top. In the process, you have to work on an exercise until you find it very easy to do and then move on to the next and the harder one. Then you work on the second exercise to “unlock” the third exercise and so it goes.
So for instance let’s have a look at this full one arm pushup progression.
Depending how fit you are you would start at the particular level, but we encourage everybody to start from scratch unless you have been training for months now.
Inhuman strength? There are steps for that.
And for One Arm Pushup there are 17 of them.
The road to one arm pushup will look like that:
| Pushup | |
| 1 | Wall pushups |
| 2 | Incline Pushups |
| 3 | Kneeling Pushups |
| 4 | Half Way Pushups |
| 5 | Normal Pushups |
| 6 | Elbows in pushups |
| 7 | Diamond Pushups |
| 8 | Wide Grip |
| 9 | Decline Pushups |
| 10 | Decline diamond pushup |
| 11 | Uneven Pushups |
| 12 | Wall one arm |
| 13 | Incline one arm |
| 14 | Straddle One Arm Push-Ups |
| 15 | 1/2 one arm pushup |
| 16 | One arm pushups |
| 17 | Decline one arm pushup |
Now notice, how with every single step the exercise is getting harder and harder, That’s what you want.
Appropriate number of sets and reps needs to be done before progressing into the next one before progressing to the next level.
17 steps? or More or less?
One important thought about progressions. These steps are the guidance and as calisthenics exercises usually are complex and require a number of things to be in place most probably you will have to troubleshoot them at some point. You might find yourself at the particular step and not being able to do something. It’s ok, and it might mean that you might have to do more work on your core, on your skill, mobility or work on your flexibility. It’s all good. We will help you troubleshoot that.
Putting whole body at work
Now if you would follow this progression you would definitely eventually get at one-arm pull-up. And although practicing for this particular exercise will build your strength, you really want to make sure you are developing who your body: upper body, legs, core etc so as you progress you will get stronger in all those areas.
As calisthenics as its a crossover from gymnastics it adds a few other important elements like training for skill, balance, mobility. Only if you have all those things in place you will be able to move smoothly to more and more difficult exercises.
Fundamental Movements
That is why with calisthenics and bodyweight strength training at the very beginner level we start with a number of fundamental movements. Those differ from school to school. In Paul Wade Convict Conditioning we have THE BIG SIX – exercises which are the base for any other movements. From where I come from which is more a gymnastic approach we differentiate first between pulling and pushing exercises, then add core, legs and skill work elements.
So we will have:
- Pushing exercises (divided into horizontal and vertical) – which involve pushups, handstands and dips
- Pulling Exercises (horizontal and vertical) – that include horizontal rows and pullups
- Legs – squats are the only one for that unfortunately with bodyweight but can be built into being very difficult ones
- Core – that can include anything from bridges, planks, leg raises
Note that these are the base. When you master those you will be able to move to more advanced ones like typewriter pull up, human flag, iron cross etc etc
I know that most of you are beginners, hence we are discussing that in details.
Getting Started + micro progressions
Depending on where you are you will want to put together a workout which fit your lifestyle, your goals etc (which I discuss extensively in the book), but for now I want you to focus on just getting started.
Here is a table with progressions http://bit.ly/bwtatable – which is a work in progress. As I was going through a my own journey I was getting stuff, I was troubleshooting, I was breaking down progressions and looking for missing micro progressions. For now I believe this is the most comprehensive table with progressions you can get out there.
Unlike for example Convict Conditioning (which I would recommend everyone to read) which is having just 10 progressions for each movement we broke t down to many many more steps. Why?
Because in between these 10 steps are many other different steps which if you will not master you will get stuck or platou, because you are missing skill or mobility, or flexibility. Also note that some of these progressions are purely based on CC work like bridges, which I am personally a big fan of.
Putting it all together – WORKOUT TIME!
Depending on where you are you will want to or start at the very beginning or start wherever it’s most suitable for you. You pick exercise from each section and perform the appropriate number of sets reps. When you reach the level you established and you feel like you are at ease with this particular step you can move to the next one. It is that easy.
Assuming you are starting from scratch. Here is your workout:
- Quick full body warm up
PUSHING:
- Wall Push Ups
- Incline Pike Push Up
PULLING
- Wall Pull Up
- Vertical Pull
LEG
Shoulder Stand Squat
CORE
- Knee Tucks
- Short Bridges
- Hollow
10 Finish all up with stretches
The number of reps and sets will depend on your goal but for a beginner its usually it is three sets of 8-10 reps.
Ready to go?
Do you already have a routine? How do you train? What did you find the most optimal? Let me know in comments!
calisthenics training program
Hello Jeff,
this article is again a really great one!
I am very grateful for this post it helps many of us, i’m sure.
Beside HIIT and martial arts i also tried Crossfit some times but calisthentics always is part of my training routine and this seperation into the steps needed to build the strength of an eg. Pistol squat is GREAT!! Because as you mentioned there’s no such great Progression description of these exercises!
So yesterday I tried one training routine of your recommendation, it was really cool, i enjoyed it!
That’s why I will change my routine of HIIT everyday into:
HIIT
building strength (from your plan)
HIIT again (optional)
rest day
I hope to rock this off :DD
Keep your work up!! You’re a great insporation!!
Can you tell us more about HIIT? How long have you been training it?
Hey! I’ve been HIITing for two or three years now.
HIIT means high intensity interval training and the workout consists of an interval of work and a following shorter interval Of a rest
For example: 30s work – 10 rest
(you can increase or decrease the intensity by variations of the time intervals
There’s also Tabata if you know this, it’s also a HIIT but it’s always 20s on – 10 rest and it pushes you out of the comfort zone 😀 I hope this was helpful!
Thank you! It sounds interesting, I’m willing to try!
if you have any more questions or Need workouts don’t hesitate to ask me, good luck!
Don’t stop until the beep of the interval tells you to! 😀
Thank you! I’m willing to try!
These are the best advices I have read about calisthenics so far. It makes me to start just after reading this article! It doesn’t seem to be complicate we only need to have wish to do it. I’m very grateful for this tips! 17 steps are awesome, but first I will need to do some basics and find courage to go to the level of 17 steps.
After how many days should be a rest day?
in order to get the best training results the athlete needs to train with the principle of “supercompensation” if it only would be that easy… 😛
supercompensation is not defineable or measurable. the best time to Train again depends on how well it can regenerate, whether the diet is supporting the anabol process and it’s better to get about 7-9 hours of sleep at least (as in sleep the human growth Hormone starts to develop the results we want to see )
personally i tried a great variety of Training schedules but i always try to get 110% off which actually is really nonsense and i don’t recommend to try suicide if the Goal is real Progress.
it’s about finding the Balance between neither being overtrained nor undertrained (menatlly and physically)
There are routines which offer a 5days week with 2 days rest, or (what i see as better working as you can push more in the workouts) 3 days on and 1 day off. The secound recommandation Comes from Camille Leblanc-Bazinet, the Crossfit winner of 2014.
Maybe you have a great Body-awareness and have enough experience to say when you have had enough or Need another day of Training. So then i recommend to schedule by Feeling (but i don’t mean to skip a day of Training only because it feels uncomfy to sweat for the day or whatever excuse ;D)
i hope this was helpful!
Hi there Ariane. I love the idea of falling into the 3 days on and 1 day off routine. One of my biggest failings when it comes to maintaining a training program is NOT getting going, but maintaining my momentum when I gain traction. I’ve found that when I allow myself 2 days off.. Well, there is always the very real possibility that I’ll ‘take’ an extra day (because I’m just too sore, etc.) & then before I know it I’ve taken a month off & I’m right back to square one. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. You’re obviously very knowledgeable.
Hey Justin!
I’m very glad if it workes out for you! Let us know how it’s going :]
Ah thanks, i’m really into sports and it’s science and i Keep studying it all and testing it out personally, that’s how i gained experiences, natural process ;] i also can recommend to make licences or one day seminars, also very helpful!
Apperantly i dislocated my elbow Joint and can’t Train 🙁
this site is a gem for calisthenics info! I really like the idea of going on the “journey” for the one arm pushup. Seeing all the steps on paper and being able to tick them off would be a very rewarding experience. please tell me, if i learned to fully master the one arm pushup, but then didn’t do any for a while, how long would it take my muscles to deteriorate enough to not be able to do it anymore?
Hello Danny, in general science confirms the loss of gained muscle strength after two weeks of no usage of it anymore (but that’s hard to define because you use the mucles almost everyday depending on the muscle’s function)
and in your case it depends on how Long you haven’t been Training one arm push ups and if you had been working out at all or not and which muscles you have been working out a lot. though the one arm push is a whole Body exercise and therefor demands a lot of Body control. 😀
i hope this is helpful!
I love reading your stuff. Very inspirational.
And I was happy to see the link you included above to help me get started and on the right track with progressions. I always hear about how great squats are, pushups are, tucks are, etc. BUT I rarely hear the people – who are giving me advice – stress the importance of mixing up your workouts. I want to get a good full body work out & I feel that you’re showing me the path I need to follow to get there! Thank you.
What would point to as the “best” beginner exercise for those of us who are just beginning?
Wow, I cannot even imagine myself doing a one-arm push up. However, with your tips and this post here, I think I could get through those 17 steps and see what happens!