@@uzernam303 Well, you gotta make do without a gym, sure. I built one for myself, it wasn't too expensive. Pull-up bar, gymnastic rings, DIY parallettes, resistance bands, couple of boulder holds, cheap foam tiles. BOOM - calisthenics homegym.
All you need for 90% of your progress is ONE barbell and/or a trap bar, plates. Add a chinning bar, perhaps dips if you have the room and you are there. Why does everyone have so many excuses for training properly- with weights?
@@RawFitChris they wanna lift weights, they choose gym. I want to lift my body, i choose calisthenics. But i'm affraid, they're brave, so they wanna face Covid-19. Finally they sacrify for us and tell us: Calisthenics is as good as gym.
I’m not trying to hate but THIS is exactly what happens when you get into a tribalistic mindset with Calisthenics. By tribalistic I mean that you only do calisthenics and don’t bother doing an other form of resistance training, not even weighted calisthenics. Look I love calisthenics as much as the next guy as it is my main form of training but I figured out soon enough that if I didn’t supplement my training with more weights and weighted calisthenics then I would severely lag behind in progress. Now I’m not saying that you can’t become very strong and very muscular with just calisthenics because you absolutely can with the right amount of knowledge, dedication, hard work, and nutrition. But it is SO much more beneficial to supplement your training with weights and even vice versa as it is also really beneficial to supplement weight training with calisthenics. But for those of you reading this that are just starting out calisthenics DO NOT make the same mistake as Training Pal and PLEASE supplement your training with weights and weighted calisthenics as soon as you can because I promise you will be so much better off with your progress. Also please make sure you educate yourself on training as there is a massive difference between training for strength, training for muscle growth, and training for endurance.
Training Pal was already lifting weights and doing weighted calisthenics. Look at his past videos. Seems he is just putting more focus on weight training and less on calisthenics.
As a teen who has *slowly* started getting into Calisthenics, would you recommend I supplement with Weight Training as well? The reason I have taken the beginning of my Calisthenics journey so slowly, is I see the importance of building a strong foundation in both strength, and knowledge. I am hesitant as to starting weight training as I know it has the potential to disrupt my progress or create too much strain on my body, leading to injury. Thanks for any responses, have a good one.
@@DanielDavies-StellularNebulla You should start watching, learning and practicing correct technique of main compound barbell lifts - deadlift, squat, bench press, with low weights obviously. Calisthenics won't build much of a foundation for lifting weights and vice versa, it would be most beneficial to learn both as they supplement one another greatly.
In my opinion it´s even wrong to differentiate between calistenics and weight training.. It is the same thing and it shouldn´t be separated. Combining these will get you better result all the time :)
From my own experience, it is a mistake choosing only calisthenics or weight lifting; everyone should do both. Even from a health perspective, you should be training moving your own body through space as well as lifting weights.
It all depends on your goals. There is quite a broad strength carryover and synergy between gym and calisthenics. I've added calisthenics to my gym routine, because I've wanted to show off my weight/strength ratio, and also because as I'm getting older I won't get much stronger (weights), but I can always keep gaining skill (calisthenics). Muscle ups, levers - much easier after years of regular gym trainings. Limiting yourself just to unweighted bodyweight shouldn't be the goal itself, as some calisthenics gurus preach, but rather come out of the necessity. Exploit the synergy to succeed your goals.
Definitely. Too many people try to define themselves with a certain style, whether it be training or any other thing you care about. You can be anything you want. Don't limit yourself to being a "scholar" or a "basketball player." We're all more than one profession.
Rubén González thats what i do but i cut out squating bcz i found it useless as my quads got too strong compared to my hamstring which was causing anterior pelvic tilt
OK everyone, I'm 36, definitely out of shape and looking forward to getting back on track. I bought some kettlebells and am now waiting to start up until I feel better again after a long long cold (might be corona). Any tips that helped you guys? I mean mostly the mental stuff or any tips to actually DO it.
@Barrrrrt, if I was you I'd look at my nutrition first. Start working on that until the cold is gone. Then I'd do full body workouts 3 times per week, short and sweet. Get some low impact cardio in a few days a week too, walking, cycling whatever you like doing. Start slow, everything is gonna hurt so take your time. It isn't a race. Hope that helps a bit
Barrrrrt bro I’m 35 and had the build of a junkie after a dislocated foot and broken ankle put me in bed for a couple months, then a couple more before I could even resemble a normal walk. I was desperate to regain my strength as I’m a roofer/plumber so I need my body functioning properly. I started with pushups and walking. If you’re able to run, I’d say run when you can and do push-ups throughout the day. You don’t need to warm up for a set of 5, just do them every time you think of it, but don’t overdo it. First day I did 30, six sets of 5 throughout the day. As I felt I could do more, I did more. Within two months I was doing 200 each day in an hour, 10 sets of 20 with a couple minutes jog in between. I just started a calisthenics beginner program and have seen big improvements in a couple of weeks. I could only do one dodgy pull-up when I started and now can do 3 sets of 5 stiff reps. I’ve had to lay off the pushups to do it but I’m sure that building up that initial strength gave me the basic fitness to begin a training program. My point is that by spacing out small sets throughout the day, you don’t need to set aside an hour or two for a workout and you’ll hardly notice the exertion, but you’ll notice the improvement over a couple of weeks. It’s the easy way to get into it. As far as sickness, I’m a big advocate of the value of sweating. When I was younger and playing football and squash, whenever I’d get cold and flu symptoms, I’d run and sweat for as long as I could. As long as you drink plenty of water (unrefined salt in your water is also great for regulating sodium levels), sweating is an essential cleansing process of the body that purges toxins. I always felt better and I didn’t like taking pharmaceuticals so I stand by that. Good luck mate 👍🏼
As a guy coming to calisthenics from a few years of weightlifting, this was exactly the conclusion I came to when I first started training. It immediately became obvious that doing some calisthenics instead of 100% weights is much healthier, but it was also clear that abandoning weights completely would leave behind lower body training and aesthetic chest development. I simply switched from a 100% weights routine to a 40:60 weights:calisthenics routine and just stopped kept a shell of my weights routine, focusing on compound lifts. I pretty much just squat and bench press, then I do a handful of dumbell exercises and a few specific lifts to focus on key weaknesses, then I spend the rest of my time working on pull ups, L-sits, and tucked planche. Since I made the switch, my shoulders and triceps exploded and my abs got much more toned, but it's clear that if I didn't keep a solid foundation of heavy squats and bench, my quads, glutes, and chest would suffer badly. imo 60:40 calisthenics:weights is the perfect combination for building a balanced, aesthetic physique with minimum injury. Another big advantage it has over 100% weights is that I find I can make progress with much lower caloric intake, so it's a lot easier to stay lean, whereas powerlifters have to do these horrible bulk/cut cycles all the time.
Looking forward to seeing the results you get from this new approach. Thanks for continuing to share your experiences with us so we can learn along with you.
I came across your channel whilst randomly browsing for home workout videos during lockdown. You seem like a really humble and likeable guy... I will be watching more of your videos :)
I recently joined the gym again after being inactive for a while. As it so happens, the next day all gyms were closed due to coronavirus. Same day I ordered gymnastic rings and now I work out in the woods :) Your videos help me to keep up my motivation. Stay healthy.
I’m 34 and I added calisthenics to my training at 29 I thought I’d share some thoughts. 1) Weightlifting is great for all the reasons you’ve mentioned. It gives you a very different tool kit than calisthenics, so it’s a great accompaniment 2) I’m sure I’m preaching to the choir here but, calisthenics does much better at hitting big muscle groups in the upper body. The biggest weightlifting movements (clean, jerk, squat, deadlift) all place a huge emphasis on the hips and if they recruit muscle in the upper body they use a much smaller amounts of muscle than even the intermediate level calisthenics excercises (hspu/muscle up/ lever). Even the weightlifting movements that are shoulder focused (military press/db press etc) struggle to compete in terms of the number of groups recruited- simply because when you do calisthenics you have to stabilise in so many different ways. 3) As an old/tall( 6 foot 1)/heavy (190ish lbs) calisthenics guy I really agree with you on adding that extra hspu to a set of five- it is near impossible. What I do to get around this is an old bodybuilding technique- drop sets, but with bands. If you set up 20 kgs worth of resistance bands hanging from a pull up bar, do hspu to failure, then attach the bands and without resting go to failure, then attach 40kgs worth of bands and repeat you should find that you grow a lot faster. Notably, these drop sets then put you in the rep range where you start recruiting other muscle fibres. This is really useful because training more fibres means more growth. A lot of weightlifting programs divide exercises into primary and support/assistance. HSPU works very well as a primary shoulder exercise, because it is heavy, hits a ton of groups, with the dropset modification can hit a ton of fibres in those groups. All of the support work that weightlifters do makes a lot of sense as support for the HPSU. For example, db raises don’t really have an equivalent in calisthenics and I think you’ll really enjoy them and the way that they push your muscles in different ways 4) Whilst I do hybrid training, weightlifting is very much its own thing. I think immersing yourself in it/the community for a year or so is a great idea because there is so much good information out there - and so much that doesn’t have a calisthenics equivalent. 5) A lot of people burn out, fitness wise in their late 20s. It gets harder to make progress, and you realise (even more) that you’re probably never going to be as great looking as that fake natty influencer on RU-vid/Instagram or that movie star or golden age of bodybuilding legend. This sucks, in a T shirt a lot of really in shape people look roughly the same as people who don’t work out but have good genes. But fitness doesn’t lose its value. It’ll make you live longer. Women notice things about your body that you don’t. You might see a skinny fat gym bro - but see she’s the best body of any guy she’s ever dated. 6) Community matters. I succeeded at calisthenics because I found an adults gymnastics class, got some friends who were better at everything than I, and a coach who would tell me to do stuff I hated (like stretching). When you muddle through things with friends and have people around you that inspire you every plateau is much easier to get over. If you were staying in calisthenics I’d recommend gymnasts as friends, seeing as you are trying weightlifting I’d recommend getting mentored by someone at your local gym- both because they might know more than you and making that friend now will make it easier when you hit the next set of plateaus. 7) I really believe in you, I’ve enjoyed your channel since the beginning, your way of talking about calisthenics and your way of thinking. I think your going to do really well as you go on this new journey
8:08 I think this is the most valuable reason ever! Dude, go for it! I can't wait to see your progress! ;) It's time to start something new and grow bigger!
YES! this is literally me. i focused on strength too much, got injured and now i want to go to the gym because bodyweight training is too high of a stress for my connective tissue. i want to strengthen it and my stabilizing muscles before starting to train for hard skills.
More videos, more often, please! Also, I've taken up heavy weight training for bodybuilding while using calisthenics for auxiliary work. Pullups and pushups will only supplement my main movements. Will do this for the time being on a controlled bulk while starting a new job. I'll assess every month and modify as needed.
You're right I drive a semi nation wide and It's very hard for me to even get a workout on daily basis. Traveling really does get in the way of exercising
I totally relate to the chest underdevelopment issue with a calisthenics-only approach. The combination of weights & calisthenics works wonders. Yeah, 70/30 sounds about the same ratio I use in my strength training routine. Keep it up
bullshit with the thing about 30s.. i am 36 and started caliosthenics a year ago., i am progressing and its hard but i will continue i have my goals i want to reach no matter how old i am or no m,atter what everyone else says
He didn't say it's impossible to do beyond your peak age it just gradually gets harder over time. If you look at just about any professional athletes you definitely see an age pattern.
@@Jacob-zt3mq i mean yes. im just saying if you can achieve amazing things beyond your own expectations even in later age. but yes it is a factor. however i wont let that stop me and try to do my best regardless and achiave my goals
Absolutely true I'm the same but I am 56 and have just recently got into natural movement/parkour along with some calisthenics and am getting progress that I'm happy with There will no doubt be some limitations along the way because of age that I will no doubt come across but I intend to persevere as best I can and try to achieve the best I can. Have also been doing weights for thee last 30 odd years and the strength and conditioning obtained certainly helps!
I totally understand you, we wanna be the best at our sport, and I respect your decision. Keep going, because it shows that you're really following what you want
@@stephaniefitness4113 hehe yes he will laugh at him self once he gets older and looks back im sure. Well i wont say i feel better. I can def feel im older in my body due to old injuries ect. But my muscle mass is the same as when i worked out with really heavy weights and now i only do body weights and eat KETO. When i was young i ate all kinds of crap and even though i was buff, i did not have a nice muscle tone like i do now with the right diet plus fasting. I can def recommend KETO and IF.
I'm 56 and started training strictly calisthenics about 3 years ago. Then about 7 months ago, I added a yoga program to the mix. I'm in better shape now than I was in my 20s and 30s.
@@michaelmurphy9967 Iv training bodybuilding since i was 15. But never got huge. Just a very fit man at about 200 pounds when i was the biggest. But after 25 years doing the same stuff, its so refreshing to train calistgenics and still be able to gain muscle and actually look better then back when i was 20 yo. But my diet is also MUCH better and that is more then 70% of the reason though. Keto + fasting works wonders on my hormones and fat levels.
The best way to increase general strength for upper body calisthenics is to do perfect form weighted dips and pullups with accessory work for grip and rotator cuff imo. I wasted a lot of time training for a front lever when I should have focused on increasing my Max weighted pullup
@@DanielDavies-StellularNebulla the griptraining subreddit has fantastic routines with weights or without weights that are short and easy to do. If you only have a pullup bar as equipment, the hanging routine (which imo is the best routine for calisthenics athletes) will give you a crazy strong grip foundation. As for rotator cuff training, athlean x has some fantastic videos (I'll link some when I get home). The gist of it is treating your rotator cuff like any other body part (good form, progressive overload). The main exercises I do are side lying external rotations and external rotations at 90 degrees arm abduction. Of course, to do this you would need some light dumbbells or a resistance band. I prefer the resistance band. If your form is perfect on the dips and pullups, this will be enough to train your scapula
great video, I have been watching your channel for a long time, I always wondered how long you would keep up your travels, its a difficult lifestyle if you are trying to stay healthy .Wish you lots of luck, can't wait for the ''How I became a Calisthenics master in 2 years'' video ^.^
Awesome man! It's smart to care about joint health and overall strength gains. As much as I love calisthenics you can't deny weigh lifting as optimal in certain situations. I myself just started a strength training routine complimenting my muay thai workouts. The main reason is wrist pain. Calisthenics put too much stress on my joints, and adding all the punches I do don't allow proper recovery. While I think calisthenics is badass, it doesn't suit my needs for the time being, and thats fine :) I would love to hear more about your training regimen in the future!!
Pal, I hear what you're saying. 2019 was my 3rd year of training calisthenics only, apart from jump rope which I love. I felt like I needed to complement my training since I was feeling I wasn't making the progress I had in mind. The difference is I chose pilates over weights. I never thought I'd see such a difference in my calisthenics training with pilates as a 2 times per week complementary exercise. And don't forget : those soccer moms do kick your ass. Maybe in late 2020 I'll try some weights, too.
I'm 56 and have Been doing weights for the last 30 odd years and it has been great have been able to keep my strength, conditioning and muscle mass well above average for my age group and it has been great but one thing that I lacked was movement ability. My ability to move efficiently was never as good as my other physical abilities, this over the last year or so has encouraged my to include movement based exercise into my routines. This has included some calisthenics along with natural movement/parkour and the results so far have been greater than what I was expecting for my age! I now intend to explore this more this year to see how far I can take it but will always still include weight training. At 27 you still have plenty of time ahead and with correct training you should still be able to achieve your goals so don't ever give up and keep going bro!
All you reasons for switching up your training are solid ones. Calisthenics are great for upper body but nothing destroys your legs like the barbell. Good job acknowledging your short comings and changing to address them. I look forward to your videos showing more of your new training regiment and seeing the results when you return to calisthenics !
Idk.. i started calisthenics the last year, now i can hold a Handstand for 20 sec, i've got full back lever i'm near to the full Iron cross and the full front lever.. all with good form cause i take lessons from a gymnast did my first handstand push up last week and i'm 30 XD i just want to say that the only thing that matters is your passion and how many time and pain you want to dedicate, with passion everything comes naturally.. i did bodybuilding for 5 years and i never liked it in fact i never improved so much, with calishtenics (that i love with all my heart) my body is in the best shape ever and i got crazy results with skills and everything.. idk what's better but i know really well what i love.
@@chansesArmstrong i know, if that can make you feel better i still into the tuck planche lol, the iron cross feel much more comfortable than front lever and the planche to me.. idk why
Bro ur eyes stare into my soul Lool I’m working on calisthenics from ur beginner guides and want to do good forms in all push and pulls and get back into weightlifting after that. Current age 26.
Question for advanced athletes out there: Does ist make sense to split up my workout now? I would like to focus more on separate/individual exercises, like pull-ups and chin-ups, push-ups and dips, and some kind of leg training. I practiced the last 10 months with a mix of all this exercises and it looked like this: 5 sets á 10 squads, 13 pushups, 4 pull-ups, 10 dips, 4 chin-ups. Do you guys think I should split up or stay to my workout? I’m thankful for every input!
Szymon Długo Pisst I workout three times a week. Full body every time, but each workout has a different focus. Leg day, pull day, push day. There is some overlap each day, but say, on leg day, I do mostly deadlifts and squats. On pull days I do at least six sets of various pull exercises. I’ll still do maybe two sets of push exercises, but I save myself more for push day...hopefully that makes sense. It has been working great for me
It depends on what you want to be good at vs what you want to be exceptional at. For me, I'm not the best at the planche, but I try to get to a level where I am satisfied with and train it less weekly. I wanted to be strong in one arm moves so I put more effort into those. I then use weights in areas I don't train too hard, but want to have solid fundamentals.
I started calisthenics a year ago, outdoors and since the summer doing workouts on rings. Love the rings! But now for the winter I will be in the gym doing 5x5 stronglifts, getting stronger already in a few weeks now. Both have their own pros and cons but I think that with the right mindset they both will make you feel great and grow. Just do whatever makes you feel good.. Don't stress about it.
I completely respect your choice, and supplement my calisthenics with kettlebell training personally. With that in mind, I want to ask; have you looked into isometrics at all? I'm a big fan of old-time strongmen, such as Maxick, and isometrics has done wonders for me.
To be honest I think definetely it's more worth doing hybrid workouts, like weighted calistenics which are amazing and bodybuilding stuff, it's good you're finally switching and experimenting! You're always experimenting on yourself, diets, changing your lifestyle in general, and I've been waiting to see you try this too! I am excited to see the progress, please post more !
Hello there. I love you man, you are so fucking entertaining! You are going to love the gym. Be careful with the wrists, they get so very easily sore and injured Good luck old friend.
for your chest you should try ring dips weighted: (doing L-sit dips, RTO dips, archer dips, pelican dips, or even bulgerain dips) if you haven't used rings, for dips it'll really explode ur chest gains. you can also try pelican stage 1 or 2 for your chest and biceps. I love your videos man! so creative and fun. Hearing this, made me want you to achieve bigger gains with calisthenics/gymnastic training. I hope you progress far! stay blessed.
This vídeo inspired me. As soon as I get back into training I will be more consistent and improve my chalistenic skills the most that I can. I Will have to make shure work doesnt get in the way anymore and use suplements to help me sleep better if I have to work shifts. If I plateau with my skills training for a year, I will then change my training plan to a more aesthetic focus, maintain my chalistenic skills and use weights more. I am 37 and I feel that I can still make a lot of progress. The main focus will always be functionality to be agile, powerfull and strong for martial arts and parkour, with a bit of bodybuilding to have a look that I can be proud of.
I hope you're planning to come back to calisthenics - and really become a master of it, like Frank Medrano, or Luka Novovic. You inspired me for more than 2 years while I was doing calisthenics, and now I switched to gym only during winter, and boom - you change your training regime to weight lifting. Hopefuly, you will keep up your uploads, and good luck with your training!!
You've got way more than a couple years! Lol Curious as to what you figured out about your diet. I'd consider doing weighted calisthenics, kinda like what barbell squats are.
Deadlifts put 2 much stress on my lower back, and while squatting I hate how the bar feels on my back (with 90+ kg at least) - felt like i was inducing unnecessary injuries on my traps, delts and neck. Found a rusty kettlebell, some circuit videos on youtube, that were more heavy on the legs. Havent looked back. Would recommend trying as an alternative for going to the gym, if you only need it for the legdays
How much are you bench pressing? You're doing only benchpress, overhead press and deadlifts? What are the others? Do you plan to change it regularly or are you sticking with those? Are you changing to higher volume from time to time, instead of like 5 sets of 5 reps (which I'd consider a strength training)
Can you talk about how you overcame the mental block to go back into the gym? This is something I struggle with, I look back at what I was able to do and I psych myself out. I am mentally able to get back into it. Maybe my motivation was not in the right place
Interesting point of view, I transitioned to calisthenics recently after years of weight training, for me I am getting better strength & muscle gains now with bodyweight & weighted calisthenics. I think enjoyment is the biggest factor in progress, if you don't have passion for a sport, you might aswell switch immediately.
As a climber, for me calisthenics is very important. I need it to get the required core and pulling strength I need to progress into higher grades. Also I do lift weights. Squats, deadlifts and benchpress help me to train my lower body and to keep muscle imbalances to a minimum. I get why you switched to lifting weights but you should stick to the basics in calisthenics (pushups, dips and pullups) with added weight, because those movements make you the strongest in my opinion.
I think it depends (as all things do), on the goals someone has in mind. For you, weighted calisthenics is probably the way to go as you are moving your body through space whilst climbing anyway. Therefore, weighted calisthenics is more specific to your goals than lifting weights is. This is not to say however, that this is what everyone should do (and we hear this in the video). See his goals are more easily accomplished by lifting weights. Therefore, that is what he should be doing. It all depends. Have a good one.
I´m a recreational runner, I enjoy running marathones and half marathones. I have to travel a lot because of my job and is an absolute truth that being away from home my whole schedule is affected and I can get probably 60% of my trining some weeks even less. As you said, only with a very regular lifestyle you can plan months ahead and get good improves on your training in any category. Congrats for your videos!!!
I've been doing calisthenics for a few months now. I'd gave jumped directly to weight lifting but I have absolutely no access to a gym. My town is in a very remote place. So far I've been getting good results from calisthenics only. So I don't know how will I progress after I become a bit advanced.
Wow! I wanna know about the rings... Since I became some sort of "ringoist" I wanna know if we'll keep seeing ring stuff from our trainningPal... Is there some room for the rings in that 20% of trainning!?
The best blend of strength, hypertrophy and athleticism is using barbell, dumbbell and bodyweight exercises for a complete program. Love the mindset man! Keep up the solid work👊
I have been weight lifting for around 7 months and i am really getting into rings. I think i'll be ok with only training with body weight right now because my reps are very low with all of the main compound exercises, for example, my max ring dips are 4, and my max ring chin-ups are 6. And of course i'm doing a lot more then just dips and pull-ups, just examples. So if i stick to do only training with body weight, increasing reps to between around 7-12 reps I will be good with building muscle for a while? I'm trying to build a good foundation of strength for ring training.
I really like your videos. At 27 you're doing great. I think you realize by now that working out is about what you learn. And you should look at it that way rather than "results". You should look at more in terms of as your "life experience". This is what I mean. I'm 64yo and I've been into working out all my life. I am currently in EXCELLENT fitness but still learning. I should say rather that I've worked out OFF AND ON all my life. I've experienced quite a variety of things in terms of my life experience, and often it was one extreme to another. I've also experienced a lot of injuries, at various times, from the top of my head down to my toes. Some injuries disabled me to a greater or lesser extent for months or in the worst cases, years. The worst two, for example; one was when I was 7yo I had a toboggan sled accident where I was paralyzed for four days but which left my lower back jammed so tight that it may have hampered my growth and development and certainly my coordination. The other was when I was 19-the prime of my youth -and in peak fitness. I had an accident where I was paralyzed for three weeks and crippled for about 1 and 1/2 years and my back remained slightly tweaked for many, many, many years thereafter. I even served 4 years in the US Marine Corps Infantry (the toughest military branch) with my back like this which made things much more difficult. During the screening physical they x-ray your back to make sure it's acceptable and they debated whether or not to accept me but ultimately gave me the go-ahead. I endured without ever "falling out" or being a burden on my fellow Marines. I did my job, But it was extra hell most of the time. My coordination was slightly off and I was weaker than I otherwise would have been. I was keenly aware of my the condition of my back and the limitations it caused me. But I also became keenly aware of the importance of the spine and of POSTURE. I've also experiences several other injuries over the years. I've had to adapt, or lay off from working out completely sometimes. But I've learned important things about the body and how it adapts under various circumstances as well as it's limitations. I learned that working out should be more about LISTENING to your body and letting it guide you rather than DEMANDING from it in terms of performance. I'll end this by giving you the five key words; 1)BALANCE 2)POSTURE 3) REST 4) DIET, and 5)OBSERVING AND ALLOWING FOR THE ADAPTATION TO YOUR WORKOUT.
I did weight training only for many years before switching to calisthenics only a few years back... During the last several years, I too had the same doubts with my calisthenics training... am I progressing as I should? Am I satisfied with my muscle development? Am I missing out on a lot by not lifting weights? So I would go back to lifting weights again... only to become extremely bored by the experience after only a couple of training sessions. Back I went to calisthenics again... only this time with a renewed appreciation for it. What I've learned over the years is that despite some similarities, calisthenics is not weight training… and if you always approach it with the mentality of “You can‘t do this, you can‘t do that…”,then you will never fully understand all the benefits calisthenics has to offer in improving both your muscles and mind.
It doens't get realer than admitting having been fooled on a life main objective. Your frankness abt it must have demanded great courage, it's truly inspiring. Your journey with calisthenics have helped a lot of people, and i'm just happy you can keep helping yourself too. For a pro in any field, progress is key to stay relevant, and it's true we can get compleasant, and bath into our comfort zone for some years. I'm not fan of strength for strength, i think it needs to back up either your job's demand or a specific sport. But that being said, we do need specialist who research and dive into the question to bring us common ppl answers. Much respect, and best wishes for the weight training 🙏 i do believe bodyweight, elastic work, weighted work and swinging kettlebells or clubs are all family members of perfect fitness.
It's sounds like you just hitting the wall a bit late, I'm begin to using weighted and barbell squats on second years of training. My problem on 4th year is I don't had squats rack, so I need to play with intensity using 30kg barbell to maintain my legs.
same here, got bored of calisthenics, started gym, ahd that going for some time and got bored of the gym aswell, sometimes you just need a switch. In my case I switch more regularly :).
