Thanks, but I think this would have set in already. Pistols are stressful on the knee, just like front squats are. Plus I do or will do stiff legged deadlifts, hip thrusts, back extensions, and/or other exercises for the glutes and hams.
With lower body for me, anything to add stress without compression of the spine and need for less loading is how I do it. I likely (not definitely) will not do barbell back squats again. Once I got up to 315 for 20 Reps years ago I switched to front squats and safety bar squats. And now I’m at the aforementioned exercises and can also do split squats or lunges when I want to change it up, with added weight of course. I intensely dislike compression on my body, don’t find it necessary, and standard deadlifts and squats make me feel overall shot the next day. That’s what Paul Carter spoke of on here for some time too. Why do these nervous system-frying exercises when results can be gotten without them?
Agreed, esp high rep DL/squats… Fries my CNS like no other form of exercise I’ve ever experienced aside from perhaps repeated, all out 2-400 metre sprints back to back.
that being said, I like deadlifting more than SDL/RDL. Though I’ve now got a hernia from repeated bouts of high rep, heavy deadlifting. Probably going to have to lay off for a whole and/or switch things up. I’m not stupid enough to exacerbate this, potentially necessitating invasive surgery down the line.
EgO!!! I wAnT tO fEeL lIkE aN aLpHa MaLe.
Do you believe OHP are pivotal/necessary for shoulder development? Do they accomplish anything lateral raises/rear delt raises, heavy dips (good for front delts) can’t? I’ve found OHP works my scapular stabilisers well, in ways other lifts can’t hold a candle too. But for shoulder development? Ehhhhh
Can relate, Unreal has a few bulging discs… Particularly irritating when I can feel a nerve becoming compressed/pinched… Happened the other day during a set of front squats. Dropped the bar immediately.
Can you complete a handstand pushup yet (full rom)?
I’ve bitten the bullet and just totally gave up on all pressing that has my back pinned against a bench for the sake of my shoulders and replaced it with push up stuff and I now actually have better chest and front delt development than I ever had. Even now that my shoulder feels good enough to bench press again, I don’t want to. So this is kinda how I got bit by the bodyweight training bug. That and training at home and not having cables, heavy db’s or machines.
I’m kinda curious. How deep into the bodyweight thing are y’all going? In what way are y’all incorporating it into your routines? It’s definitely going to be the primary movements for horizontal pushing and upper body pulls for at least a quite a while for me.
I was thinking about working up to planche pushups, but then realized it’s not gonna happen in just a few to several months lol. It’s more like building up to a 315 or even more bench at least in terms of work and dedication so I’m still going to do pseudo planches and ring push up variations but I don’t wanna specialize that hard on it at the cost of other things I wanna do.
Like I also wanna get strong at putting weights over my head. I don’t wanna go full oly lifting, but I like the idea of working up to BB strict pressing my bodyweight over my head (maybe even for reps) and developing a respectable push press and power snatch. But I also love pike push ups because I can push them really hard without having to worry about tweaking anything. I attribute those to sparking some shoulder growth.
And I can’t give up squats. Back squats aren’t developing my body in the way I want and like y’all have mentioned are expensive regarding recovery and I hate the “workout hangover” from it the next day and I don’t wanna spend nearly half my session working up to a top set, but fronts are great! But that still leaves the rest of the leg workout to work w/ bodyweight after Oly’s and/or front squats which is also fun!
The switch from backs to fronts and deadlifts to oly’s and bodyweight for assistance has been really great for the joints. No more aching in my hip flexors and SI, I feel more athletic, and my lower body overall is built better than when I did PL type training and surprisingly my low-mid back isn’t any less developed.
I have and use rings as part of my home setup. Though I don’t get into the advanced stuff. I mostly like them for pull ups, rows, and dips. Although I can do a muscle up or 2.
As for advice on ring work, watch your elbows. A lot of the holds put series pressures at odd angles.
As for motivation, I’m a lot like you. I’ve been consistently lifting weights since 1999. I’ll get tired of going to the gym and train at home for 6 months, then get tired of that and head back to the gym. I’ll cycle through training styles, diet strategies, frequencies, volumes… Right now I’ve been home for a couple of months. Although i still love putting a barbell on my back. My home stuff is also all outside. Covered, but outside. I have been doing some cold exposure stuff and even trained shirtless the other day for a good hour at about 12 degrees. It sounds like you already know, but there is something to training outside that is motivating. I’ve also been doing a bunch of odd object caries and lunges and stuff. I’ve been collecting rocks and cutting logs into various sizes. Then I just figure out different ways to carry them around or squat or lunge with them. I have logs light enough to go on long walks with all the way up to a 160 pound stone I can shoulder for about a hundred yards before my core is so smoked it’ll be sore for days. I even have some 5-20 pound stones I throw (I picked this up from Highland games training).
Btw, the book I showed here goes over how to incorporate anything you want, including barbell exercises.
I am currently following the Kavadlo brothers cookie cutter parallete and ring routine. I haven’t don’t cookie cutter routines in a long, long time but I needed one considering I am new to this and needed serious guidance on progression.
I plan on going deep into this but not into potentially dangerous territory. I’m not a scaredy cat but even skin-the-cats make me sort of uneasy before I do a set. Mid-set I have no hesitation.
I won’t do anything that typically gives a workout hangover.
All-out sprinting, no. Hill sprints or 90-percent effort sprints, yes. I’ve done some hill sprints this winter, but mostly it was jogging in the freezing cold at 5 AM.
I was thinking of doing a log here but know I’ll be inconsistent in posting. I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to do some of the very advanced stuff.
Unless you really know what you’re doing in terms of technique and will put in the time to warm up incredibly thoroughly then I would strongly discourage all-out sprints too. The risk to reward ratio is just too high i.e. far too high a likelihood of injury. I used to love doing sprints but got to a point in mid 30s where I was constantly tweaking achilles/hammies/glutes/groin no matter how careful I was. There are freaks like Kim Collins out there, but it’s a young man’s game!
I have to agree - and I’ve been there for a while. I got into Kavadlo brothers, Pavel, and others and their training philosophy and overall well being philosophy really resonated with me. No more grinding out reps or doing drop sets or focusing on slow eccentric tricep push downs. Rings, KBs, barbells, and some track work. Get good at things, feel good when you’re done, and eat well most of the time and the rest takes care of itself. As you say, once you’re fit, strong, and healthy, no one is further critiquing your appearance except yourself.
You should undelete this photo, you look good! Most guys (and some girls I suppose, recently saw a girl at my gym with boulder shoulders, a massive neck etc) would kill to have a back like that. I see no otherwise incriminating or identifying marks aside from the fact you have a TATTOO!!! We are practically the same person now #twinning!!!
I am 100% into this type of training. I have been training with “Convict Conditioning” for over 2 years now. I find the amount of challenge in progressing through harder variations of exercises to be stimulating. I have even considered giving up weights entirely and becoming a “body weight-only purist” if you will. I just can’t quite yet as I enjoy lifting still and see benefit in it not easily replicated with body weight only.
There is truly something liberating about progressive calisthenics however. If you know how to progress into harder movements, you can always go for progressive overload even when the gyms are closed. For me, it’s a more psychological issue in that no one can take away my ability to train even if they take away the weights. Training is my major life passion and I always want to participate in some form or fashion.
If I could do it over again, I would only get a pull-up bar and rings. I am appreciating the more minimalist approach to training.
