Female Interested in Calisthenics-- Advice?

NekoneMeowMixx · September 2016

So a while back I stumbled across this video of the Female Calisthenics 2015 World Championship, and I.am.in.love. I've been lifting on and off for a year or so now, but I'm looking to get serious, and I realized what I really need is to know what I want out of all this. Long term? Everything in that video. It seems pretty impossible from where I stand now, but you've got to start somewhere, right? To keep myself motivated, and to have a relatively "long term" goal, I decided in the summer I want to go to Bondi Beach and be able to pull off a human flagpole. Seems doable enough with enough work, I think!

I am still in many ways a novice when it comes to strength training. I started P90x last week, and I was really disappointed to realize that I couldn't do a single pull-up, and could only bust out 2 half assed push-ups before dropping to my knees, and even then I struggle. So clearly I have a long way to go until I'm busting out handstands. From my (admittedly limited) understanding, calisthenics looks like a *kitten* ton of core strength, upper body strength, and probably a trillion hours of yoga logged. What are some key exercises, practices, hints, tips, what have you, that I want to focus on if calisthenics interests me? I know it'll be a long, long road ahead, but I'd really appreciate any advice or information from those more knowledgeable on the subject!

jasonsunlee · September 2016

That's awesome to hear! Keep up with the strength training. If you're able to build up to doing more "compound strength training" like deadlifts, squats, bench presses, etc. you will be well on your way to building a strong core foundation.

There is no need to be lift heavy or think that you need to be able to load up massive amounts of weights. Even air squats and non-weighted barbell deadlifts are enough compound strength building exercises to begin with.

Sooner or later you'll be looking to complete your first "murph" exercise! Look that one up on youtube!

mom23mangos · September 2016

A good place to start to progressively build strength is with an old school calisthenics program like 5BX. You start off really easy and progress every few days to higher reps, harder movements. It's a really good program for getting back into shape (but you sound like you are not starting from scratch). You can also add in practicing handstands and headstands against a wall.

http://fit450.com/HTML/5BX_Intro.html

SueInAz · September 2016

I'm thinking back to my gymnastics days. We did a lot of body weight workouts rather than hitting the weight room. Push ups, pull ups, several different types of "sit ups", etc. Weights are good, of course, but you're really moving yourself around so that's what you want to focus on. Some of the most important muscles to work are stabilizers and the best thing for them is moving your body around so you're right that yoga would be helpful. Practice hand stands with a partner or against a wall. They're tough, at first, until you strengthen the needed stabilizer muscles.

rybo · September 2016

Convict conditioning is a good place to start.

rainbowbow · September 2016

I mean... this is cool and all... but it's more like rough and inelegant gymnastics.

If i were you, i would call my local gymnastics gym and see if they have classes for adults. You'll want to lay the foundation for these moves in a safe environment with mats and all the equipment you need. I mean, just the L pose on the ground is hard, but on parallel bars? I saw a muscle up, a pullover, an L hold, a press to handstand, etc.

I think this is cool, but there's no doubt in my mind these women have previous gymnastics training and knew what they were up to before they just went out there on the bars and tried to wing it. Learning in a classic setting is going to be vital to your safety and proficiency (if you actually want to get good).

There's plenty of other calisthenics work you can do (perhaps with a trainer), but it will be a big bonus if you can work in a facility with safety measures before you go work on these outdoor locations (with usually have sand, rock, dirt, as their surface)

NekoneMeowMixx · September 2016

@jasonsunlee I definitely need to work on my squat game. I have bad knees (my Mother had to have surgery because all the cartilage was gone) so I've struggled a lot with weighted squats. Perhaps I'll try working on my form with bodyweight before adding the bar. (Doesn't help I go to PF, so we have those damned smith machines) And I don't know how soon I'll be doing that Murph workout- I would almost definitely die if I tried running a mile... xD

@mom23mangos That program does look a bit basic, but I honestly didn't even think about headstands against the wall! Going to have to clear a spot off here in a minute... ;P

@SueInAz I think you're absolutely right. I do love using weights, and I don't think I'd give it up completely, but I really do feel that focusing more on bodyweight (or at least on doing more bodyweight) routines is going to give me a lot more result than just throwing weights around. I'm considering just doing p90x Yoga for each of the non-gym days (in place of Plyo, Cardio, etc) since my focus isn't so much on steady state endurance at this time, but more trying to gain strength and flexibility. The yoga routine is 90 minutes long and fairly intense, so I don't feel that I'd be sacrificing anything by sticking to that on my non-gym days.

@rybo I will definitely be looking into this book. "The average gym junkie today is all about appearance, not ability. Flash, not function. These men may have big, artificially pumped up limbs, but all that the size is in the muscle tissue; their tendons and joints are weak." This is absolutely something I agree with. I know personally I have very weak joints by nature, and despite being able to bench X pounds for X reps, I struggle to do a single pushup. Very much looking forward to seeing what this book has to offer. Thank you!

@Rainbowwow Yeah, I had a feeling these were all women who had some gymnastics experience. I'm not so much interested in the spinning and flipping and "gymnastic" aspect of it as simply being able to perform the body movements-- L pose, handstand, etc. Though I do understand that these all have a basis in gymnastics, and would probably be best performed in a safe setting, as you said. I'm not entirely sure what's available in our area, but I will have to look into it. I do Akido, so may be able to use the dojo to practice some moves that require a large, safe space. It doesn't help with the bars situation, but it's a start at least.

Thanks so much to all of you guys for your help so far! I'm feeling really excited for the journey and to see where this leads me!

1mumrevolution · September 2016

I am into aerial sport. Two of my moves are human flag and an iron X on a pole. One of my foundation training regimes is body weight conditioning. Four times a week. In fact I've dropped back on my heavy weight training for a while and am ramping up my body weight work. I swear that body weight training has helped give me my baby six pac. I also do gymnastic rings and trapeze. No prior experience of gymnastics at all though I do go to an adult class once every 2 weeks.

mom23mangos · September 2016

I was going to mention aerial conditioning as an option as well.

And the 5BX is pretty basic as you mentioned, but it will help you work up to the strength you need since you said you struggle with just regular push-ups. It will work you up to clapping push-ups, one arm push-ups, etc.

NekoneMeowMixx · September 2016

@1mumrevolution Holy wow, you are an inspiration, haha. I would love to talk more about your training regime and learn more about aerial sports in general. Do you mind if I add you?

1mumrevolution · September 2016

Yes, of course. Add away.

Female Interested in Calisthenics-- Advice?

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