Bulking With Calisthenics Explained 

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"bigger boys, and bigger girls" thx for including the 3 women in the world who do weighted calis

That’s basically me. Indecisive as fuck in terms of what I want

that's exactly it. part of me wants to bulk up and build muscle but the other parts wants to be athletic and do all that crazy shit

First time someone called me a bigger boy 🤣

Basically, you should stay lean if you want to maintain certain skills if and only if that's the type of calisthenics you train. However, you can be bulky and train better with weighted calisthenics at the cost of performing less in skills training.

You have to also be aware of your genetics. If it’s easier for you to gain muscle, if it’s easy for you to eat significant amount of quality food, then go for it! If it’s easier for you to stay lean, eat in a calorie deficit and still do your sessions, to that! You will have way better results if you’re aware of your body preferences

I can't decide.. I want it all 😭

I personally advocate balance 💪🏼

Personally, I believe that you should include multiple disciplines in your training but still have your one goal in mind. For example, if you were really adamant about achieving a skill, say front lever for example, you could periodize. Have a meso or two dedicated to building up the required muscle mass with weighted pullups or other gym exercises (don't need to stay only cali, we wanna be strong, and we should take advantage of everything we have access to) so that it doesn't become a bottleneck in your training and eat at a surplus to efficiently build muscle. Then in another meso for skill/strength you could work specific front lever progressions, and as you wont have to worry about building more mass in your lats, (since you already did that in your hypertrophy meso), you will progress quick. Depending on whether you lean bulked or ate at a larger surplus, you could either cut or recomp. Throw in some conditioning work in your hypertrophy mesos, and you have a much lower risk of injury when training skills, and you are more likely to progress them. And you get to dip your foot in every part, easy as pie!

Perfectly said. I just figured what skills I want to achieve and which bodyparts I want to grow, what musces and joints I want to strengthen, and adjusted my training accordingly: sets, reps, moves, weights, rest periods, frequency, TUT, diet, etc.

Awesome Collab. Alex and FAQs.

If you want to appear bigger, and be stronger, but you still want that aesthetic lean look, and you want to be able to handle your body weight like a master. Then try bulking for 3 years, and in that time work on weighted calisthenics, sets, reps, stuff like that. Then go on a cut to lose that fat you built up, work extra on your calisthenics skills and movements in the last year of the bulk, and when you cut, you will be able to handle your body weight much more.

first thunder thighs, then lightning with the jump rope. looking GREAT cruz! glad your elbow's feeling better im sick myself, so im taking this week off. gonna come back stronger

Slow bulk with dips and chins was such a good way of progressive overload (basically weighted callisthenics), felt very natural

Nah, I know from the start that I wanted to be athletic! Just entered month 2, so we'll learn more and more.

Bulking through Bodyweight calisthenics and street lifting gives you unrivaled progress. If you weigh more but the reps stay the same, that’s progressive overload.

What does this mean in detail? If I want to be lean, not bulk, which way is the way to go? What should I definitely do? What should I definitely avoid doing? Or is a mix of all mentioned fine, as long as f.e. "Reps and sets make 80% of my training and I avoid weights at all?"

thank you ! great content as always !!

Thx for the pointer!

Factsss, I can’t ever choose what I wanna do tbh..

There are three mutually exclusive groups *proceeds to showcase all himself*

I saw the clip of him doing a pistol squat, and I’ve never been able to do one before, but I tried it just cause, and I actually did it 🥹

Thank you a lot! Great answer.

I just love staying lean and athletic. That’s about it

Great advice

Great 👍🏻 video bro! ❤

And with bw movemte there's so many different types sub disaplines just with just different skill type like core compression, handstand work, stability, balance mobility. This video is exactly why I keep my routine simple and do the same thing each 2nd day so I get use to same thing and progress at the hardest skil and to progress to harder variations

What I found is that when you do calithtenics with added weight then the muscle memory makes you spend more energy later when you want to do many reps so weighted calithtenics reduces rep range

I want to end up somewhere in between, but that might change as I get more experience with it. I just ordered rings and plan to do use them on non gym days, and weights on gym days

Sets and reps + weight calisthenics, that's my way to go... Keep the basics and improve in weight and reps numbers

We go GYM😁💪🏻

I just wanna look like you man

Life questions answered!

I just wish I knew what would work for the silly thing in my mind of "being able to clime/vault/run/etc in case of needing to run/chase down an alien like Will Smith in Men in Black. :) Basically, the way I see it, if I can keep truly functional strength - the ability to carry buckets of water and heavy boxes, the ability to climb/vault things, the ability to catch myself or roll from falls, the ability to jog/run without being terribly out of breath - then this means I'll age better. Being a rural volunteer first responder, it also is nice being able to drag water hoses or use tools for digging firelines. Functional, practical strength building things...

I agree completely but I do believe in training the body different seasons , just because I’m lifting hardcore weights and tryna PR one season doesn’t mean I won’t be picking up swimming the next season or running the season after that . Or playing basketball the season after that .I believe in shocking the body and nervous system with adequate amount of food and sleep ratio not only helps the body but honestly its fun and being athlete doesn’t mean in one dimensional or specific sport . Thats the word athlete was created but I agree with the focusing specifically on any one thing can yield results faster then focusing on multiple things at once in the short term . Idk about long term tho …

Either way, for me the struggle is, to get the food in. It's hard to be consistent with food intake, although your body says 'no'. But I hang in there, maybe my body flips a switch along the way.

He just effortlessly does one arm pullups!

Bulk to build more muscle. And then cutting when we learn skills

I like weighted callisthenics but I still wanna be lean

honestly, bulking on callisthenics is silly, your skills disappear day after day, it feels like you are retrogressing and it is in a way retrogressing if you consider yourself a pure callisthenics athlete as opposed to an athlete that incorporates callisthenics into their program... just switch to weights during the bulking phase, preferably during the colder months and then back to callisthenics once you feel like you are taking the bulk too far.

Calisthenics is a super cool form of exercising, I'm currently a beginner tho I'm training to become like these professionals doing handstands and shit

Where is the intro in the end of video !!!

Sometimes after doing one thing I wanna try a little of other thing. I don’t see that as a problem.

That's the problem lol, I wanna be good at everything 😂😂

I wanna be good at all types of these exercises ngl

At 47, I don’t care about being big. Just want to maintain fitness into my 50’s and beyond. Get myself to 10 “bar to chest” pull-ups, and I’ll be happy just maintaining that capability. Don’t need the extra weight personally. Just do high volume body weight only.

I compete in weighted calisthenics, im fairly lean but not as lean as the bodyweight guys. I only cut when i need to make weight.

I do weighted planches to get stronger same with pull up and dips, also I do training for front lever I can do 2 muscle ups in a row with 10lb lb my pocket

Could you do a breakdown of eating for lean bodyweight calisthenics and then a breakdown for bulking with weighted calisthenics?

I WANT IT ALL

You can use calisthenics for bodybuilding. Train the same way you would with weight. Time under tension

When I started my goal was to do muscle up reps, now I've done it my goal is to achieve the strength to do 90 degree push ups

I reckon a dirty bulk with calisthenics would be interesting. Progressive overload by weight gain.

I really want to do skill building, and weighted calisthenics (to build strength - not necessarily size) how can i program my workouts to get more strength to directly help me with skills?

I’d rather get 0.1 lbs pure muscle per month instead of bulking with FAT. My 10years+ journey in the gym and calisthenics taught me how to get better with sustainability, not bigger. Also with good diets that comes into my habit made me healthy and without major injuries.

Calisthenics are so hard for me to do even for a sec. I don't know why is this

I can't stand having excess bodyfat on me. It drives me insane. I have been more strict with my diet especially since I started getting more into calisthenics other than doing your basic muscle-up / dip / pull-ups. Basically not cheating as much as I kind of started to but also smoking weed didn't help, I still do but contain myself and it's not that hard to stay away from junk food. Just the occassional cheat every so often.

I always tell people to try to remain right on their calorie mark. If youre in a ridiculous surplus youre going to gain too much weight. Too much of a deficit and youll wont gain any muscle. Eat a shit ton of protein and i would say stay in a very slight deficit. Thats the cool thing about calisthenics though, there no such thing as a strict diet.

Diamond Ott be like: Why not all

I am doing bodyweight but i am also bulking right now. From 72 to 85kg (currently at 75 kg), i know i am supposed to be leaner but i prefer that once i am at that point i will just try to adapt to the new weight slowly.

I wonder if there’s a way to target the teres major I’ve been dealing with right shoulder blade numbness and honestly can never overload my teres muscle on the lat pulldown or pullups

eh i think if your goal is to do a lot of body weight stuff, then bulking and continuing to lift using just bodyweight exercises followed by a cut, isn't such a bad idea. i'm in the middle of a bulk with this in mind and we'll see if following my cut i'm more capable than i was prior to my bulk.

Deciding what i want you say? ….Let me say it with the words of Queen.. i want it all! And i want it now! 🤣🤣💪

I say the hardest part is the amount of food you gotta buy

So what are his goals? Because he's really good at the body weight stuff but also good at the weighted stuff

So can i lean bulk and do body-weight calisthenics and get big and leaner.

How weird. I’ve been experiencing a sense of indecisiveness regarding my own fitness journey. A lot, actually.

Well could someone define freestyle? I mean I’m doing some basic calisthenics with bodyweight like push-ups and pull-ups but how does it differ from strength skills

People who are great at bodyweight exercises are usually short/have short limbs. You can be very lean as a tall person, but the shorter people (not leaner) will be better at the bodyweight exercises.

It's incredibly hard putting on fat with Calisthenics(if you eat at a small calorie surplus) compound movements burn so much calories. I've been on a calorie surplus myself for 4 months and I've barely gained any body fat

you forgot isometrics

Limbo... gd reference?

Daniel is kind of in a limbo though, no?

Bro eating with the lid on smh

Is it better to progress in weighted pull-ups or chin ups?

link to podcast pls

im tryna be the Jack Of All Trades

streetlifting for me 👍💪

Is bulking important in calisthenics?

You can't always perform at your best, right? To reach your best, you need to train a lot So Why don't add some creatine to build more strength where you need it becoming a bit heavier, than took it off getting lean conserving the strength with consistency to perform at your best?

i see. i have been training lever while getting jack with cali weights. thank uu

So what do you do? I want to be like you.

Is that you kuroky?

Dude is bro

can you get big + strength at the same time with calisthenics?

what actually is bulking calisthenics?

That was not well said. That was very vague

I thought he said balding with calisthenics...

And rest!!

Each time I bulk, i feel sluggish, weak, heavy, tired, dirty, apathy, and want to stop training. Yeah but that is just me.

This is bad advice. Bulk when you want to develop strength, lean out when you want to maximize your performance in bodyweight stuff. You can't get strength gains (well you can but it's not efficient) when you're super lean (below 12-15% bodyfat). Or you can't get strength gains when you're cutting (you can but it's not efficient). But he is right - have a system for doing what you do - and have a clear set of goals you're working towards.

i want 90 kg planche for 10+ seconds😊

I didn't wanna heat him say what he said. But I know it's true. Hybrid for me I guess

Is this the answer to all the stupid details we are overthinking? Imho yap

why not be good at all the sub disciplines?

Profound

But that guy doesn't know how to overhead press...

always bulk tf

Nah bro every single calisthenics "athlete" I've met is no bigger that 5'9 160 this type of exercise is only either for beginners that dont yet have a gym membership or guys that have smaller build and cant really do bodybuilding