How this busy single dad was able to transform his body by transforming his approach to exercise
Neil
Join the tribe of Movement & Calisthenics Athlete – people just like you that are working with their own body weight to get strength, lose fat build muscle, recover from injuries and live their best lives!
This is story of Neil – The Movement Athlete Academy ![]()
Neil is a single dad working a traditional 9-5 desk job at North Island Credit Union. In spite of his responsibilities at work and as a father, he’s managed to commit to four to fiveworkouts per week. But this wasn’t always the case.
“Just have fun with it. Learning a new progression is like learning a new workout move. It gets easier the more you do it.”
Neil started out doing traditional weight training. He’d go online to the most popular websites and pick a training program he enjoyed.
“Most are your typical compound movements like bench press, squats, deadlifts, shoulder presses, etc. It would either be one that builds muscle or loses fat. Most workouts would last around an hour.”
Despite that very traditional approach to working out, he was intrigued by the idea of calisthenics.
“I’ve always been fascinated about gymnastics and the bodies of gymnasts. They’re alway buff and could perform awesome looking moves.”
“I joined the Academy because I was interested in learning the 8 fundamental calisthenics moves.”
“I like how there are lots of progressions and I can make an honest assessment of whether the progression was easy, doable or too hard.”
The 2 main benefits Neil has gained from Calisthenics
He learned the importance of daily movement
Joining The Movement Athlete Academy really made a difference to his progress.
“I’m doing exercises that I’ve never heard of and I’m getting stronger every day! Plus the program is easy to follow.”
At first he continued to follow traditional fitness schedules with calisthenics, but the results just weren’t what he wanted. He now trains at least five days a week, moving and playing the other two.
“If you only spend one or two days a week, you won’t make very good progress and you can regress really quickly on your moves.”
“Once I started doing the program four to five times a week, I was seeing great results!”
He’s learned the importance of committing to healthy eating
Eating right isn’t something that comes naturally to Neil. “My biggest struggle with my fitness journey is the nutrition part. I tend to eat when I’m bored and I don’t realize how much I overeat.”
He’s found ways to cope with that issue, though: by eating less and better, he’s losing weight, which will ultimately help him hit his fitness goals. “I know that being lean will help me achieve the calisthenics moves I am trying to accomplish. I know I have to eat right.”
“The lighter I am, the easier the moves will be…I am definitely getting stronger and much leaner.”
YouTube: great for inspiration, not so much for training
Neil really discovered calisthenics by watching video tutorials on Youtube, where he first encountered specialized calisthenics skills like the typewriter and archer pull-up. The level of mastery shown on those videos drove him to try them out himself, but video tutorials just weren’t enough for him to succeed. He’s been struggling to achieve a handstand since 2010!
“I would watch YouTube video tutorials and try it every morning, but I would get discouraged after many failed attempts and give up.”
Frustrated that these video tutorials weren’t offering enough information for him to gain the skills he wanted, Neil joined The Movement Athlete Academy.
“My biggest fear was that the program was going to be like all the other YouTube videos out there and just show a couple of progressions without helping me actually attain the move.”
“Just have fun with it. Learning a new progression is like learning a new workout move and it gets easier the more you do it. Having fun is what gets me through the workout.”
My 12-week transformation challenge ended today and here are my results:
My 12-week transformation challenge ended today and here are my results. During the first 4 weeks, I combined traditional weightlifting with The Movement Athlete Academy program. Then I stopped touching the weights and strictly did The Movement Athlete Academy program daily for. The remaining 8 weeks, logging in the website on my phone and just doing what it told me to at the gym. The program really works and I’m still far from achieving some of the moves, I attached screenshots to show you my progress of each move.
Trust the program and the process!
Neil Before and After
Here’s Neil’s advice for anyone interested in calisthenics
“Give calisthenics a try. It’s a fun way to learn new moves while getting stronger and leaner at the same time. You will be amazed at what your body is capable of doing, plus you’ll look cool doing it!”
“I’m doing exercises that I’ve never heard of and I’m getting stronger every day! Plus the program is easy to follow.”
