Anyone in calisthenics??

jaciejaciexoxo

I’m a 19 yr old female. Absolute beginner, as in I can’t even do a full pull up. I found some good videos for beginners on how to build the strength to do proper pull ups, push ups, and dips by Chris Heria...however I need some help filling in the blanks. They are as follows (maxing out each progression) and each are the workouts in individual videos.

Here are my questions:

1. Does this seem like I should do all three as my upper body training in one session or is that too much?/Should I just alternate days btw pull ups, push ups, and dips?

2. Should I incorporate regular weights/ dumbells for things like bicep curls etc? If so how often?

3. How many days a wk would you suggest I train using these? (I’m also weight lifting for lower body)

Pull ups:
* Australian pull ups
* Jump pull up
* Jump negatives
* Assisted pull-ups
* Pull ups
* *reverse when mastered
Reps: Max out

Push ups:
* Knee push ups
* Assisted push up
* High-low plank
* Push ups
* *reverse when mastered
Reps: Max out

Dips
* Behind the back dips (bench)
* +leg elevation
* Jump negative dips (bar)
* Dips
* *reverse when mastered
Reps: Max out

anubis609

It's up to you and your level of training experience. By your description, it sounds like you might be a strength training beginner, so follow the ThenX programs as outlined (http://thenx.com/programs). His site outlines it per days of mastery, so you can either alternate days or do each progression one after the other, depending on your energy level.

My suggestion as a beginner routine is that it's better to start doing less than more, meaning you don't need to go all out everyday because you'll still have time to recover and gain strength. You can do the pull progression > push progression > legs 2-3x/week just to start and give yourself enough time to recover, then as time goes on you can add a day as you see fit.

FYI, dips also can hit some of the same muscles as pushups, so just be aware that if doing a push-up progression, dips might not feel as effective. Aim for quality reps; how many you can do isn't as important at this time until you've fully mastered the actual pull-up/push-up/dip.

ETA: If you're weight training, lat pulldowns can help build back strength for pull-ups, machine assisted presses can help with push-ups, assisted dips for dips.

ShayAllenHill

Where can you progress to the next exercise in the progression? In other words, how many Australian pull-ups must you do before you move up to jump pull-ups?

To get your reps up, you'll have to practice, not just get stronger. Practice a lot, and stop each set well before failure. 50 sets a week at least.

I've tried something similar without success because my reps never increased. It wasn't until I FAR exceeded the training recommendation (500 push-ups ed) that I got past my coordination limits and started pushing my strength limits.

Personally, I don't like this workout because it requires assistance. Getting an assistant will just be another obstacle in your path.

Off the top of my head:

Pull-ups:
* 2-second negatives till you can get 15
* jump pull-ups till you can get 15
* as many pull-ups as you can do (say 1), then jump-pull ups to 15 reps.
(so, 1 pull-up followed by 14 jump pull-ups--take as many breaks as you need)

Press-ups:
* knee press-ups till you can get 25
* high-low planks till you can get 25
* 25 real press-ups in as many sets as are required

Dips:
* Don't do dips without a rack, you're begging for an injury. Get them at the gym if you want.

Legs (while you're at it):
* Hindu squats till you can get 1500

Repeat every day that you don't feel pain. You're not working out yet, just practicing. When you get working out rep ranges, you'll want to constrain each workout to however many sets or how ever much time you feel you can be productive (e.g., 250 press-ups in one hour). Then maybe pull-ups | legs | press-ups | legs | pull-ups ...

Always stopping when you feel any joint pain.

tziol

Try to assess how much you can push yourself in the first 2-3 workouts. Then choose the set of exercises you want in a way that your single workout will not exceed 1 hour and you will be 95-100% exhausted (but be careful to not overtrain yourself). If you have a target, i.e. to do one pull-up, then focus more on exercises that will help you with that. Be patient and keep the routine, gradually progressing. There are loads of sample routines that you can lookup. If you want to incorporate regular weights, then why not? I suggest to do 3-4 days per week for the beginning.