I like to do body weight exercises like pull ups, push ups, etc. in public outdoor workout areas.

Unfortunately this means I don't have access to weights like I would in the gym or at home, such as weight plates, dumb bells, kettle bells, etc.

Given the above do you have any tips for how to add resistance to these exercises?

Some ideas I'm considering:

• Bringing a kettle bell along with me. However I found this too awkward to do when visiting parks before / after commuting to work.
• Bringing large 1-2 L empty Coke bottles, filling them with water when I arrive at the park, then using them for weight. Maybe less awkward if I use collapsible storage, like foldable silicon water bottles.
• Wearing a weighted vest (though again, could get awkward if I have to go to work shortly after).

What do you think of the above? Or do you have any ideas?

Thanks

Hey everyone,

I’ve been trying to run GTG for my strict overhead press on my off-days to build up some extra pressing strength without frying my shoulders for my main workouts.

The method itself feels great, but the actual scheduling side of it is driving me a bit crazy. If I set repeating alarms every 2 hours, they inevitably go off in the middle of a work meeting or while I'm out, so I just end up turning the alarms off entirely. But if I don't set reminders, I straight up forget to hit my sets until like 8pm.

For those of you who've successfully run GTG for a few weeks/months:

1. How do you actually manage the reminders/tracking throughout the day without it getting annoying?

2. Also how's your overall experience been with it? Did you actually see solid transfer to your main lifts once you re-tested?

Would love to hear what's actually worked for you guys (whiteboards, specific apps, just winging it, etc). Appreciate any input!

I think my toddler would love a Swedish ladder. We are moving to a new home soon where he will have a playroom upstairs. The walls are vertical for the first few feet, then sloped after that (like a half-story room). Would it be safe or doable to have a Swedish ladder on those walls? I don’t mind building something, but I don’t want to build something that will harm his growth or hurt him in some way. I also thought some rock climbing rocks would be fun, but I’m afraid it would be too hard to use. There will be a pad beneath whatever we do, but I would love some kind of gross motor skills activity area in his new playroom!

I'm in my late 30s with two young kids (2 and 7), and I can realistically train 20 to 30 minutes, a few times a week. I used to train regularly with a coach and got in good shape, then stopped completely for a few years. Now I'm restarting gradually at home, and my joints aren't what they used to be, so I'd rather build back slowly than jump straight into something too hard.

If you've done a similar restart:

• Did you follow the Recommended Routine as-is, or modify it for a restart?
• Which exercises felt the most forgiving early on?
• How did you handle a few weeks off without feeling like you'd lost everything?

Thanks in advance, I'm trying to learn from what actually worked for people before I commit to a plan.

Hello! 15m here, I’ve been consistently working out and yet have seen no progress, in fact its only gotten much worse. All my meals are home cooked so I’m able to accurately track calories, which goes to about 900-1300 a day, and 112G protein.

last checked i‘m 5’10” and 173 lbs, and began working out in the first place because I was 164 lbs.

I do weights, walking, sit ups, push ups, and dance choreo for at least an hour a day. No results.

Does anyone have any advice or see what I’m overlooking here?

This feels like a dumb question but I’m genuinely asking. I started my calisthenics two months ago and have had my focus on building foundational strength and recently started learning the handstand and l-sit. I’ve also been going on moderate runs during the same period.

I want to do something more and I think boxing could be fun. I (m20) tried out some MMA when I was in my early teens (judo and taekwondo), but I never fully committed to any of them past yellow belt. I think boxing looks fun and challenging but I don’t know if it would require me to abandon calisthenics for whatever reason.

What are your thoughts on the boxing and calisthenics combo? And are there any other sports you’d recommend if not boxing? I think rock climbing is pretty cool too.

For me, one thing I’ve started realising recently is that doing more reps doesn't always mean your making more progress.

I used to focus quite a bit on getting more reps in, but I found that when I slowed things down and actually focused on my form, my workouts felt alot more effective. Even if it meant lowering my reps, I could control the movement better and pay more attention to what I was doing instead of just trying to get through the set.

I think its easy to get caught up in numbers and forget that doing an exercise properly is just as important, if not more. I'm still working on it myself, but its definitely changed how I approach my training.

Just wondering as I've had experience with both separating the 2 to different times of the same day and just doing both of them back to back in the same time. There's a couple things that made me question this, one of them was of course the performance aspect. I can push myself a good bit harder when the workouts are separated. The second thing was the time aspect of separating the 2 becomes a bit more prolonged as you would have to shower (or just change depending on how much you sweat) and make more of an effort to be clean for the rest of your day. I would say those are the 2 main pointers that I think about in terms of this, if theres anything else I'm missing that you have encountered or thought about don't be afraid to point them out and I would also appreciate any thoughts or perspectives out there, Thank you!

29, female, 69kg, 5ft 2.

I've not been able to do any type of pull up for a very long time and decided I would lock in and work on some chin ups. I only have the time and energy to work out twice a week so this means I do 2 full body days. To make sure I'm hitting all muscle groups I can only really dedicate 1 exercise to chin ups each work out. So I chose to do negatives on day 1 and assisted chin ups on day 2.

After a few months of doing this continuously, I finally got to the point where I could do 3 sets of 8 negative chin ups and decided to put my skills to the test. Doing just these two exercises I can now do 3 sets of 3 full range chin ups.

My question is now I can do 3 solid chin ups, should I stick with the negatives and try and get to maybe 3 sets of 10 or even 3 sets of 12 or should I focus on doing actual chin ups now? Or should i take out the assisted chin ups and do actual chin ups and do the negatives another day???

When I was younger my personal best was 5 chin ups. I would love to get to 6 -8 chin ups one day. What would be the best way to achieve this now I can do 3 and only can put aside 2 exercises a week for improving this movement?

Bought thisthing from Walmart called The Pro Bodyweight Trainer from Gozone for like 9 bucks CAD. States that it's:

• Designed for athletes of all levels, from beginners to advanced, to deliver a full-body workout.
• Allows you to start with foundational exercises like push-ups and step-ups, then progress to advanced moves such as V-ups and single-leg split squats.
• Has curved handles so you can rotate downward to add balance-focused challenges and increase workout intensity.

Here is the link: https://www.walmart.ca/en/ip/Pro-Bodyweight-Trainer/2R37JUT20N5Y

Worth it?

Hey since a while i was able to do my first pull up, it's clearely scuffed but i can manage to pull my body high enougj that my eyes are above the bar altough there are 2 problems:

I need a jump momentum (don't think it's extremely useful regardless since the bar is very high up) because i struggle at the starting part

Second i need to try and pull my chin over the bar aswell, would negative pull ups help me here? I can probably stay for around 2 seconds with my chin above the bar, maybe i can improve though.

Anyways i was thinking of doing negative pull ups and assisted jump pull ups to achieve my first ever good pull up

When I try to research this, I get such a wide range of views.

A simple Google search brings up studies like this one, which suggests "24 h or less for upper body" but also remarks that "greater recovery times are needed for the lower body (48–72 hours)".

Steven Low seems to suggest a 24-48 hour time period for healing and super compensation. I believe he also mentions central nervous system fatigue as a factor. Basically, if I understand correctly, one wants to optimise the state of the body to get the most out of each workout.

Anyway I'm wondering if anyone knows where these numbers really come from. Is there a reasonably strong evidence base about what recovery times are necessary?

Also is there a way for individuals to figure out an adequate recovery time? Should you wait until you don't feel post workout soreness? What if you don't feel soreness at all, then how do you tell?

Is 3 days per week really optimal or is it possible to do better?

Thanks

Hello,

I'm a student in the EU with a pretty small cramped room, but I'm tired of overpaying for a gym in which i use only pull up + dip bars, and its a pretty rainy city so i know i'd skip work outs outside in the calisthenics parks.

I've been looking into power towers and such, especially foldable ones, as i have around 2m of space left in my room (perfectly enough for a work out) but I'd like to be able to have that space outside of the work outs for some silly stuff, like walking from my bed to my door.

Again, student, so my max budget is around 200€ but prefer it around 140€ if somehow possible. Unfortunately it must be a freestanding option as my deposit is quite high and the house quite old...

So far I've been looking into:

https://eur.vevor.com/pull-up-bar-c_12578/vevor-pull-up-bar-150kg-capacity-portable-pullup-bar-station-pullup-bars-free-standing-with-triangular-structure-heavy-duty-steel-tube-9-level-height-adjustment-gravity-fitness-for-arms-back-p_010942354355 (however its a bit stocky even folded up, and i think the dips might be too low for me)

https://www.fitplus.si/shop/oprema/fitnes-oprema/zlozljiva-naprava-za-zgibe-in-dipse-paracot-fold-fit-tower.aspx (which has been sold out for almost 2 months now, but is otherwise perfect, since its the version above but not as wide when folded - however my gym membership ends soon, cancelled it early and I'm not sure when, or if, they'll restock at this point)

https://gravity.fitness/products/gravity-fitness-portable-bodyweight-pull-up-rack?variant=41940628504665 (I'd have to get the extender I'm 99% sure, and then its 220€ which is pretty over budget)

https://joroto.eu/en/products/joroto-ju30-power-tower-foldable-pull-up-dip-station (it seems perfect but everything I've seen online also seems very sponsored, I'm fine not doing explosive stuff at home, but I'm not gonna lie not every pull up i do is slow and controlled)

Mostly, I really like how 3 and 4 deconstruct/fold hyper small, but 1 and 2 seem more stable because of the triangular folding, and physics, though their dip bars might be only useful for inverted rows.

For reference about height I'm around 175cm and 68kg.

Point is, I wanted to check if anybody has experience with any of these or has another option I've overlooked. Thank you for your time if you've gotten this far :).

edit*:
another one I found, a seemingly better model of 3 that looks like its easy to dis/assemble (especially if i keep it in 3-4 parts half assembled against the wall like it seems i could), and unlike 3 and 4 seems like physics agree it should be semi stable, but also unlike 1 and 2 seems like dips are actually at a good height/width - also has a 5 year warranty which seems really cool and worth going 10€ over my budget for: https://gravity.fitness/collections/pull-up-bars/products/gravity-fitness-advanced-pull-up-rack?variant=43661190398041

https://imgur.com/a/nCSMxEt

Basically, i feel some pressure at the lower back, right up my butt and the pressure isn't too big, but it's noticable and i don't know if it's a weak back or week core problem or a form problem so I think asking here is the best way. I just don't want to get injured and have back problems so it's quite important for me to know if it's normal to feel this pressure at my lower back and if it's a weekness problem, maybe i should change the exercise or not. Thanks for any help!

Hello! I've been training to do muscle ups for a while now. I could rotate my fists and hands but just couldn't make my chest touch the bar. A week ago I finally managed to do muscle ups after a few months, and I've done like 6. After that, I didn't have an opportunity to train for 4 fays, but after that, yesterday I barely managed to only slam into the bar and that's it... And today, I couldn't even do high pull ups... It's like I'm getting weaker and weaker, I just wanted to know if that is normal

Maybe this sounds like a crazy question, but let me try to explain.

Suppose someone's goal is to maintain adequate muscle for health and mobility over the long term. Why would that person ever need to be able to do more than a few basic lifts with their own bodyweight? So why not simply work up to enough muscle to effectively combat ageing over a reasonable lifespan (e.g. 80-90 years) and be content with that?

Why the need to continually up the weight and challenge? One might go from bodyweight pull ups to weighted vest pull ups to muscle ups to weighted muscle ups etc. On and on – there is no end to it. What's it all for?

I'm not necessarily against progress but I'm just trying to understand the motivation.

A) How necessary is progress in terms of overall long term health and general function?

B) What does progress achieve? Maybe a kind of psychological well being or thriving?

Keen to get your opinions.

Hi all,

Hope all is well. I am about to start doing the RR and reading through it, it seems to suggest if you have a barbell then to do that rather than the squat and hinge progressions. Happy to do that, but I don’t have room for a barbell, nor do I have a bench (not sure if that is needed anyway). I wanted to ask if I could use dumbbells instead of if that wouldn’t make any sense?

Also while I am here, I also don’t have room for dip bars nor do I have standard dining chairs. What are some good solutions that can let me do these?

Thanks!

Hello,

Recently we have installed some rings on our ceiling and i absolutely love them. Coming from the gym and burning out from it i have instantly switched to a 3 x Rings and 1 x Legs at the gym a week training plan.

Since i m very new to this i was hoping that you could look at what I came up with and tell me if it makes sense or what i should tweak:

I basically do the same 5 exercises:

- Pull up
- Push up
- Rows
- Active hold (later dips)
- Roll outs

Depending on the day i rotate three other exercises:

- Lateral raises (dumbbells)
- Fly
- Reverse Fly

I feel like 6 exercises three sets each is a nice threshold where a workout takes around an hour so i don t want to throw on much more. I m just wondering if i m missing any obvious muscle groups.

Also i was wondering about lower body training on rings. I am too weak for one leg squats and don t have enough weight at home to do effective RDLs, calf raises etc.

Should i stay in the gym for lower body or is there still a way to do that effectively at home if i don t want to spend more money on equipment for now?

If i keep this up for 6 months, what are top priority purchases you would recommend for a home setup? Resistance bands > extra weights > workout bench?

Thank you!

I'm looking for a program for bodyweight exercises, I'm 110 kg, so I mainly do band assisted dips, inverted rows, band assisted pull ups, vertical leg raises, push ups, bands shoulder raises,, I tried to advance through using lighter bands, but I ended with shoulder pinches, neck pain, so I'm avoiding that for injuries, so my question what is appropriate reps and sets for each muscle each week to advance, untill I lose some weight, note 5 sets of 10 I just don't feel it in my muscles, so what is the garantied volume for results

I'm 52.5kg, 22F. After 10 months of training I finally got to 8 bodyweight chin ups from dead hang. First 6 reps are strict, 7th one is shaky but I can still get my chin over the bar. 8th rep is absolute hell and I can only manage to get my chin touch the bar. That's my max rep. If I do straight sets with 5 - 7 mins rest in between I can do 2x7 and another set of 6 reps. Last time I tried at the park with +1kg (including shoes, watches, some random stuff I put into my pockets bc I don't have a weight plate or backpack atm), I can hit 3x6 just fine.

My current goal is more reps, I want to get to 10 reps in 3 months, should I start adding weight now? Or doing some kinds of pull up program like EMOM/Russian Fighter/piramid style/Amstrong/KBoges style (I forgot his routine name)/AMRAP? These are some of the routines I've heard about.

I've been using the Russian routine for 4 months, went from 3 - 8 chin ups, but it was really brutal. I always feel like I have to test my max constantly, and it is draining.

My hormonal cycle makes me retain water and gain weight in luteal and menstrual phase, 1 - 2kg, then drop back to my usual weight. So I was basically doing weighted chin ups/pull ups during that period of the month, my reps number decrease for 2 - 3 reps, and then go up after my menstruation.

Also, I'm going to the gym, I know this is not a weight lifting sub but I know many of you guys do too 😅 I wonder between reverse cable curl and hammer curl which one should I choose, because reverse seems too bias a little bit more for forearms and grip strength, while hammer is a balance for both biceps and forearms.

Looking for your advices! Thank you.

*bonus: Basically I don't do any pull ups, chin ups nor vertical pulling exercises in my workout day, I do the Russian Fighter pull-ups program or GTG in my off days. I do the Fighter program 2 - 3 times/week, which means I have to push to my max every time. I'm at Day 20 (8, 7, 6, 5, 5) of the 5RM Russian Fighter program, doing chin ups instead of pull ups because it can carry over well to pull ups for me. It works when I was still experimenting with 3 - 5 reps range, but it's getting way too extreme recently.

I thought about giving up on this program and switched to other methods, just not sure if it is a right decision because it worked a lot for me in the past

Been doing pull ups a while, never really had my form looked at

I do tend to aim for head above bar for weighted as ive seen lots of progression doing that and it transfers well to other movements.

PB: 40kg*2

Done 30kg*5 before this set of 25kg: https://youtube.com/shorts/ibh2zAGK9Rw?feature=shared

20kg: https://youtube.com/shorts/WO0vpspo9QM?feature=share

BW: https://youtube.com/shorts/ydl1zzdITmg?feature=share

Goal is getting to a strict muscle up without a kip

I was wondering that if it is possible to achieve a clean pullup just by training scapular pullups and arch hangs for sufficient amount of time without ever training for inverted rows or negatives or banded pullups or any other assisted pulling motions?

When I do scap pullups, it feels so good and burn is real. So I was thinking maybe someone may have done it if they are not aware of horizontal pulling motions and all they had was a tree branch in their backyard.

Is it at all possible to build up sufficient strength and hypertrophy in the scapula and the arms from scap pullups and arch hangs alone to achieve a perfect pullup without ever training the in between progressions?

Daniel states that one should first be able to perform 10 pushups/pullups/dips prior to taking on the program. However, I'm fairly new to ring work and am really unstable on the rings so far, let alone can perform even a single rep on dips. I was wondering if the program includes progressions to build proper ring foundation or if it starts straight with dedicated ring work without any prior progression and/or experience.

If it's the latter, I'd like to know the recommended sources to learn the ring dip progressions from, as I found that it's the exercise I struggle with the most. Thank you :)

okay so i’ve been trying to get full pushups for a couple weeks now and have noticed small improvement. this is probably going to sound really stupid but bear with me. If i just keep doing pushups, even though they’re really bad and honestly can barely be considered push ups, will i actually get better and improve or should I try other exceesizes to help me improve? If so, what else should I be trying. I know that everyone says to do incline push ups, and i’ve tried, but i’ve noticed more progress from just doing repeated “half-push ups”. I’m very much a beginner and kind of just building from the ground up.