Calisthenics practitioners, come on in...

Fellow fapstronauts,

I've been on a calisthenics journey for a while now, but things have grown stale for me, and I've been chasing too many reps at the expense of feeling depleted and possibly missing out on some gains. I was going to experiment a new way of doing things, to see if I could:
1) feel less drained/more energized from less overall rep work, while still maximally stimulating muscle fibers
2) work on the mind/muscle connection and maximally contracting muscles with more quality work

I'm going to outline a sort of calisthenics bodybuilding routine below that I'll be starting with next week. Feel free to give me any feedback you may have on the routine. Feel free to post ways of feeling the listed exercises best. Feel free to post your own routines and your focus in doing them. Feel free! I'll be making this program right now off the cuff, so to speak, in this thread. The goal will be to keep in line with the "three to four sets" paradigm, in that it's been shown that 3-4 sets of a given exercise are all that's needed to elicit maximum hypertrophy so long as a certain threshold is reached. All exercises listed with no spaces between them, will be supersetted for time purposes. Here it goes:

MONDAY:

4x8 Weighted Dips
4x8-12 Dead Hang Pull Ups

3x10 Pike Press
3x20 Row


3x15 KB Hammer Curl
3x15 KB High Pull
3x10-12 KB Tricep Extensions




TUESDAY

4x25 V-Ups

3x30 Oblique Crunch
3x20 Hollow to Arch

3x20 Pause Chinnies
3x20 Pause Reverse Crunches


WEDNESDAY

3x10 Wide Grip Pull Ups
3x20 Pistol Squats

3x10 Mid Grip Pull Ups
3x20 Lunge to Stiff Single Leg "Skater"

3x10 Narrow Grip Pull Ups
3x20 Side Runner Lunge Stretch

2x10 Narrow Grip Chin Ups
2x20 Back Roll to Stand/Jump



Thursday

3x10s L-Sit
3x10 Hip Spreads​

3x25 V-Ups

3x30 Oblique Crunch
3x20 Hollow to Arch Hold


Friday

3x Dips (*controlled reps/intensity to just before failure)
3x Wide Grip Dead Hang Pull Ups (*same)

3x Double Diamond Shoulder Extension Push Ups (*same)
3x Aussie Row (*same)

3x15 Lying Rear Delt Crucifix
3x10 Hammer Bar Curl
3x10+ KB High Pull
3x10+ KB Tricep Extension

The underlined exercises are priorities. I'll be working to better my technique, TUT, mind/muscle connection, and weight where applicable.​

 

Been looking at the guy from Red Delta Project's stuff lately. His approach is lower volume/higher frequency than I'm used to, but I'm kind of gleaning what he says about working on form and maximally contracting instead of putting in more rep work. The amount of reps above are lowered a good bit for me, so we'll see how this plays out. I'll keep updated in this thread about how the "peak contraction" work with more focus/intensity plays out in comparison to my previous higher weight/volume approach.

 

I've edited some things. I'd been doing the routine before for about two months, but I'm really missing the principles of time under tension and rep work. So, I'm kind of hopping back onto something similar to what I'd done before, except that I'm using as few weights as possible (was using more before for rowing/isolation) and less rep work/cardio in favor of making sure each rep is performed with maximum contraction and fluid technique. So, the OP's been edited and this is what I'll roll with for another two months coming up after this week's rest.

 

Going to start logging my progress/programming here:

2/07

10x10 pull up/chin ups (3x wide, narrow; 2x hammer, chin up)
superset with:
3x20 pistol squats
3x20 reverse lunge to stiff leg skater (hands touch floor)
2x26 side lunge/ stretch
2x15-20 back roll to squat to stand (17 reps each set to fatigue)

Felt good; nice cardio workout. Worked on full ROM for the pull ups and chin ups. Didn't dead hang each rep, but rotated shoulders and let arms go straight before each rep.


2/09 Time Under Tension/Perfect Form Day

3x dips 21, 20, 18
3x dead hang wide pull ups 12, 12, 10

3x diamond to shoulder extension pushup 32, 30, 28
3x aussie row 10, 10, 14 (perfected form on last set; one second hold chest touching bar each rep)

3x15 lying rear delt crucifix (bodyweight rear delts)
3x15 kettlebell high pull (30 lbs. each)
3x10 kettlebell tricep extensions (30 lbs. each)

Good workout. Humbling how harsh perfect reps can be. I mean, perfect. Never done them this way before. I was so pumped and in pain from the calisthenics portion. The key was to actively squeeze the elbow into the chest with the pushes. And to contract the tris simultaneously, fully. The pullups and rows took care of their own contractions with the pauses at the top.

 

2/11

3x dead hang wide pull ups 13, 12, 9

3x15 V ups
3x15 Ab Wheel

3x20 Oblique Crunch
3x20 Hollow to Arch

2x20 Pause Chinnies
2x20 Reverse Crunch

Working the pull ups whenever I'm near a bar. They're tough to do with perfect form, dead hang. But I think the muscles/movement pattern will catch up to how I did them before, in time. I used to go straight arm, with no lockout/pause/hang. They're like two different exercises!

 

You mean you strictly train these statics alone? Or do you have supporting accessory and supplementary exercises to work the musculature involved to support these two main statics?

 

There have been a few of you straggle on in, but no one's really said what they're up to. What're you guys/gals all up to in your training?

 

2/13

Weighted Dips 4x8 (70 lbs.; working on getting a pause in each rep/deeper reps)
Wide Grip Active Hang Pull Ups 4x12

Elevated Pike Press 3x10 (elevated one leg straight up every other rep the last two sets)
Bar Row 3x20 (85 lbs.)

KB High Pull 3x10, 10, 12 (30 lbs.)
Hammer Bar Curl 3x10 (70 lbs.)
KB Tricep Extension 3x10, 10, 12 (30 lbs.)

Good workout today. Felt brutal, though. My energy is kind of not up to snuff, but I'll take this as a reflection of my not having gained a single pound in three months. I'm going to work on ways of sneaking in more calories to fuel progression, since now I'm kind of working in some weights here and there. I'll wager even doing so, I still won't gain any weight, but will just kind of feel "fuller" as I do. My foods of choice are to utilize honey, bananas, and peanuts/peanut butter more often. I eat often, but don't like to eat huge meals. These foods give bang for the buck! Hell, I'll start to chart my weight, too. Weight today, 172 lbs. I want to see it at 173 by the end of next week. Let's make that a goal.

 

I looked them up and perused. It seems that it's bodyweight circuit training that hinges upon something like a dozen main movements in varying/scaled forms. And HIIT type cardio training. It's not reinventing the wheel, but they may very well periodize it for you and keep you accountable. My opinion? If you're excited about it, and have the disposable income, try it out and believe your ass of in it. Results are sure to come.

If you're frugal like me, glean what you can from folks who have DONE it, take the principles and construct something specific to your goals and believe your ass off in it. The former? Less work involved and more accountability. The latter, you must dig and tailor it to work, then be accountable to only yourself.

2/15

100 pull ups according to the grips in OP
3x20 Pistols
3x20 Reverse Lunge to Stiff Leg Skater
3x26 Side runner Lunge
2x10 back roll to squat/stand/jump
*All superset with pull ups

2/16

3x10s L-Sit
3x10 Hip Spreads
4x25 V-Ups
3x30 Oblique Crunch
3x20 Hollow to Arch Holds

 

2/17 TUT day

Dips (controlled; squeeze elbows in at top) 3x24, 23, 19
Wide Dead Hang Pull Ups 3x14, 13, 11

Paused Aussie Row3x14, 14, 12 (need to work on pausing better toward the end of sets, because I sacrifice them a bit)
Double Diamond/Extension Push Ups (2 diamond pushups squeezing chest, then extend back into shoulder extension; counts as 2 reps for each) 3x40, 34, 32

Lying Rear Delt Crucifix (hard to not bring abs into this movement, still working on foot placement/not tucking chin/spine/etc.) 3x15
Hammer Bar Curl 3x10 (70)
KB High Pull 3x10 (30)
KB Tricep Extension 3x11,11,12 (30)

My arms/shoulders are responding to the hypertrophy circuit at the end pretty well, already, in that I can tell they're holding a "pump: from glycogen storage. Yeah, I like trying to bring up the .22 caliber "guns" to at least some .38 cals lmao. Good training today, very much rep improvement, and the quality of the connection to the chest/biceps/back were unreal.

 

2/19

4x25 V-Up

3x30 Oblique Crunch
3x20 Hollow to Arch

3x20 Pause Chinnies
3x20 Reverse Crunch

Doing away with ab wheel altogether for now. My upper body needs recovery from training days. And ab wheel kind of hits arms/grip/ shoulders/back as well as core. So I increased volume on v-ups.