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Now that we have learned how bodyweight exercise and the concepts that underlie strength and hypertrophy work, let us start putting together pieces that will help us properly construct a routine toward specific goals. If you already have goals, excellent-we will work to construct a routine toward them. If you do not yet have goals, this chapter will help you figure out what you want to achieve and how to construct a routine focusing on relevant goals.
Information on bodyweight training can be found scattered throughout the Internet. Fortunately, there are now some resources available on many of the progressions used in training, though there is virtually no way to ascertain levels of skill and strength progression. That is why this book includes some strength and progression charts that will hopefully change the way you think about bodyweight exercises. These "skill and strength progression charts" are much like the "skill charts" that you would see in a Role PlayingGame (RPG). You level your character by training and then using your "skill points" to raise various stats and abilities. This is similar to the bodyweight skill and strength progressions.
In bodyweight strength training, there is a wide range of pulling, pressing, isometric strength elements, and handstands that can be learned. Each of these require specific training and much effort to effectively learn them. Like with RPG's, once you learn a skill or attack there are certain new progressions that are available for you to start learning. One of the great qualities about training is, like RPG's, there is often some overlap in the qualities. For example, if you put a lot of training energy into handstands and handstand pushups, there will also be carryover to strength in other pressing movements like pushups or dips. Like an RPG, various skills draw from multiple attributes at once.
The one thing that is novel about the charts in this book is that many of the elements are based on the Federation lnternational of Gymnastics (FIG) level of difficulty for skills. In the code of points (COP), there is a difficulty scale that ranks from A to G, from easiest to hardest, respectively. FIG regulares the COP and standardizes the basic difficulty level of all gymnastics movements allowed on each apparatus-swinging, strength, and dismount elements. This book will not discuss the merits of swinging elements or dismounts, but it will focus on the various technical and strength progressions that are used by bodyweight practitioners to develop insane amounts of strength, flexibility, and a muscular physique.
The goal here is to categorize and give you an idea of the difficulty level of each bodyweight strength progression. Therefore, you will have a much easier time of choosing particular skill sets and chaining progressions together. The charts provided offer an approximate knowledge of where each skill and strength elementslie on thecontinuum. The charts are broken down into four specific categories-Basic Skills, A-level Skills, B-level Skills, and C-level skills. Each of these skill levels has four subcategories with the difficulty of the exercises increasing from level to level.
The ability to progress consistently is the focus of any sport and any weight lifting program. The same is true far gymnastics and bodyweight strength training. This is worth the repetition because we can learn from this concept that gymnastics and bodyweight training are not so different from other sports and barbell training. As you look at the charts and track your abilities it may be noted that you are advanced in one area or lagging in another. This is common. We each have our own strengths and weaknesses depending on our genetics, limb lengths, training schedules, sleep schedules, nutritional factors, stress levels, and similar factors.
It is more beneficial to focus on weaknesses and bringing deficient skills and strength progressions up to the level of your more advanced abilities. Shoring up your weaknesses will keep you healthier than if you solely pursue one set of strength or skill progressions. This is especially important if there is a vast difference in pullingversus pushing or a lack of development, especially in regards to the L-sit, V-sit, and manna progression. Far instance, even if your goal is planche alone and you do not care about front lever, back lever, manna, and other exercises, you still have to build strength in your posterior shoulder in order to attain the necessary muscle mass and strength to achieve the planche progressions. Subsequendy, it is necessary to work to shore up your weaknesses as much as possible. This will allow you to facilitate optimal progress and prevent injury.
Making a copy of these exercise charts is strongly recommended because it will be awkward to continually flip back to the exercise section located at the end of the book. These copies will be a good comparison to mark down your goals, cross off exercises as you complete them, and track your progress. If you are unable to make copies of the charts, they are available on the Eat. Move. Improve. website at eatmoveimprove.com.
While those who have been in the gymnastics and bodyweight strength communities far some time may know the common abbreviations and technical terms of the skill and strength progressions on this chart fairly well, many of you will have to refer to the chart and then look at the progression to see what they are. There is an abbreviation list at the beginning of Chapter 23.
The charts are categorized in sixteen different levels of strength and skills. When you look at each of the levels, they show a similar level of ability horizontally. Each of these sixteen levels are divided into four groups of four. As you can see from the left hand side, each quartile is categorized into the four categories I mentioned previously-Basic Skills, A-level Skills, B-level Skills, and C-level skills; each broken down into four distinct categories of programming based primarily on athletic skill standards.
It should be noted that some of the movements considered here as advanced-such as the iron cross, full planche, and other isometrics-are actually considered to be intermediate level moves in gymnastics. The concepts for attaining strength, in themselves, are the same. Gymnastics coaches will simply be taking their gymnasts past the abilities on these charts as they progress. There is a consistently higher level of volume of skill work in gymnastics, so that may take away from specific strength training. However, since gymnastics is a lifetime sport where the strongest gymnasts will have at least ten to fifteen years of training or more under their belt, this is fine. Your aim should be toward consistent progress based on the programming measures delineated in this book or other resources.
What constitutes a beginner from an intermediate or advanced athlete? This is the first question we want to answer because it tells us how to implement programming for each of these various populations. The length of time spent training matters little when considering if someone is a beginner or a different skill level. For example, weall know people who have been hittingup the gymfor several years, but rarely makeany noticeable progress because their training is stagnated. Thus, length of time spent training plays almost no consideration in determining if an athlete is a beginner, intermediate, or beyond.
Instead, it is better to think of skill level in terms of ability level. How well can one perform a handstand? Can they execute a muscle-up or back lever with solid technique? Can they squat twice their bodyweight? The primary reason to use ability level as the basis for categorizing athletes is that it's a measurable standard. If you have the strength to execute a certain bodyweight or barbell movement then you have a proficiency to be able to exert force under control with your central nervous system (CNS), and you tend to have the physiological adaptations required to handle certain amounts of training.
Knowledge of overall ability level is important because the body will progress much faster at lower levels than it will if you already have higher levels of strength. Similarly, if you can execute a certain movement safely and effectively then your muscular and connective tissue strength will be built up to a certain level to handle a certain amount of training. These are important factors to know, as programming will differ between populations based on your strength level. Programming is formulating the knowledge you have on training to build yourself an effective exercise plan to progress in your abilities over a number of weeks or months. The programming needs for the beginner are different than those with intermediate, advanced, or elite strength. The level of programming will vary between the levels of strength, because you cannot expect to train similarly to someone who is stronger or weaker than you.
For example, classic barbell beginner programs have a very basic level of complexity. They focus on the major compound lifts, such as the squat, deadlift, and bench press. This is ideal for those just starting out because they can progress very quickly, often from session to session. As you improve your abilities in strength and hypertrophy, it takes a progressively greater stress to cause similar adaptations to occur. Thus, the complexity of your programming must increase through changing the structure of the workouts to adjust intensity, volume, repetitions, and frequency. Depending on your individual training history, modifiable factors - such as stress, sleep, and nutrition - and unmodifiable factors - such as genetics and limb lengths - a training program may need to be specifically tailored from one individual to another, even if they are on the same strength level.
It's not necessarily the case that changes muse be made when transitioning between levels, because everyone is different. However, training programs may need to be modified if your progress starts to plateau. There will always be those few who can ignore this because they are already strong. There will also be those who will have to start using more complex programming techniques before they transition from one level to the next.
The vast majority of beginner programs focus on full-body workouts performed three times per week. On the other hand, an Olympic weightlifter may visit the gym as often as three to five times in a single day, with only one or no days off each week. A gymnast training for the Olympics may be in the gym to practice movements forty hours per week, not including strength training performed on the side. Contrasting beginners and elite athletes is an obvious way to see the differences between those who have little exposure to training from those who have years of training experience. You would not want to throw a beginner into the volume of training that an elite gymnast performs, because the beginner would likely get injured within a few weeks.
It seems like common sense for most people, but often people who are sedentary come into the gym and attempt to learn everyching at once. The Internet is full of videos of people trying to run, lift, and play a sport at the same time, after being sedentary for years. Their enthusiasm is to be commended, but it would be irresponsible to recommend large amounts of volume to them as they beginning their training as there is a much higher propensity for injury.
Action Steps for Untrained Beginners:
Action Steps for Trained Beginners:
As you move into the intermediate range, your training needs will begin to diversify based on your goals. Because your needs will become more specific, a full-body routine will be less effective. Training will need to become more specific in nearly every area, including skill work, sport-specific skills, flexibility, mobility, prehabilitation, and rehabilitation. Ask yourself if the primary reason for your training is strength, endurance, or hypertrophy and tailor your workout accordingly. Here are a few examples:
For example, when training with one-arm pull-ups, the back tends to be much stronger than the arms, due to the amounts of straight-arm work done in gymnastics. In this situation, bicep curls or other bicep exercises may be useful in addressing the weak link, which will improve strength overall. Likewise, the same is true for barbell lifts such as the deadlift, which uses the legs, hips, and back extensively. Many people who are posterior chain dominant will have a weak link in the back or quads. In this case, specific isolation work may be effective.
These are some of the main ideas that you want to keep in mind as you progress with your training, in order to ensure that there is always a purpose for your training beyond your goals. This is especially true for trainers coaching multiple athletes. When training, it is easy to get sidetracked into minutia, and the experience of a veteran coach can help cut through the things that matter less in the big picture of training. Your emphasis should be on the things that will maximize your improvement (or the improvement of the athletes you are coaching), while staying injury-free and on track to reach your goals. Let us check out the charts and then move on to setting and achieving goals.
The first step you want to take with goals is to select a direction for your training-for strength, endurance, hypertrophy, or other attributes. Let us recall some basic facts. The repetition continuum has strength on
one end and endurance on the other, and you cannot optimally train strength and endurance at the same time. Since this book is based on strength progressions, the assumption is that you are training for strength. However, we will first look at a couple of other points in regards to endurance and training.
If training for bodyweight endurance, you would focus primarily on increasing the repetitions or density / volume of work in a set amount of time, which would be consistent with your goals. It is not recommended that you train for both strength and endurance simultaneously. However, for some athletes it is necessary for their sport or other competitions. In these cases, setting both strength and endurance goals can be helpful. You should recognize that strength goals tend to include movements with high weight or diffkult progressions and low repetitions. Endurance exercises, on other hand, will tend to include movements with low weight and high repetitions, which results in a "burning" feeling in your muscles.
A frequent problem for those who want to workout either do not know how to set goals or simply do not care about setting goals. This is a mistake. Goals are an integral component of an effective program, as they give guidance in structuring a workout plan. Sure, one can make progress without goals, but by setting high quality goals your performance increases will skyrocket. Goals are commonly defined as"the end toward which effort is directed." Within the context of training, high quality goals are tangible feats that can be measured by numbers. Here are some examples of high quality goals:
When most people set their goals for the first time it is common to see very low quality goals. Low quality goals are ill-defined and / or not based on numbers that can be accomplished. Here are some examples of low quality goals:
As previously stated, routines are constructed around high quality goals. If you have a goal to perform ten dips, it is logical that you need to first build up the capacity to perform a single dip, then two dips, then three dips, and so on until you meet your goal. Another way to understand how to set high quality goals is to utilize the SMART model of goal-setting:
You will want to make sure your goals are in line with your overarching objective. Let us useJohn and Alice as examples.John wants to "get stronger" but has set a goal of 150 pushups in a single set. This is somewhat lackluster since 150 pushups in a row is a feat of endurance, not a feat of strength. In another example, Alice wants to "have great handstands;' so a goal of performing thirty pull-ups will not actually move her closer to her goal. To ensure that your SMART goals are in line with your overarching objectives, break down your desired movements into separate, distinct components. Going back to John, he may want to consider pursuing high strength gymnastics techniques like the planche or perhaps set a goal of performing a squat with two times his body weight on his back. Alice, by contrast, may want to break down the handstand into two separate SMART goals of holding a handstand for two minutes against the wall and performing a thirty-second freestanding handstand.
One caveat is that many athletes feel they can improve their performance by sticking to low-intensity bodyweight exercises. An example of this is John's initial goal; he wants to "get strong" by doing 150 pushups in a single set. Let us be clear, though, performing 150 pushups in a row does not mean you are strong, it simply means you have good endurance at performing pushups. If you wish to gain strength through bodyweight training, you must get creative and broaden your horizons. If you are serious about increasing endurance, it is much easier to see endurance gains when you are already strong and powerful.
A lack of strength will always limit you in other domains-technique, endurance, skill, balance, flexibility - both active and passive-agilicy, coordination, etc. You must be strong in order to excel in all of these other domains. The converse is typically not true. It is important to keep this in mind as you set your goals.
One last thing to discuss is unrealistic goals. It is easy to say "I want to be able to do one pull-up" because with enough training it is relatively easy to perform one pull-up. However, people also set goals where they state that they want to be able to do ten planche pushups. Since the planche is a difficult movement in the advanced strength range, it is an unrealistic goal to be able to perform ten of those. It is comparable to wanting to be able to perform ten repetitions of a 500-lb. bench press. You can say you want to do it, but it is not realistic for the vast majority of people. Achieving basic competency in any advanced or elite movement will likely require years of work. This is not to discourage you, but to encourage you to set reasonable goals that you can actually attain. Accomplishing your goals is a great feeling that will give you momentum as you set new ones. If you never reach them, then it can be a net detractor from training.
First, it is important to categorize goals based on how many you can work at a time. In general, you will want one to two goals from each category for skill, pushing, pulling, legs, core, and flexibility. Far the most part, the only skill goals we will discuss in this book, aside from sport-specific technique, will be handstands. Pushing is straightforward: pushup variations, dip variations, handstand pushup variations, and planche. Pulling is straightforward: back lever, front lever, iron cross, pull-up variations and row variations. Legs are also straightforward, as are core and flexibility.
You may have multiple goals from a single category. For example, from the pull category you may want to obtain: back lever, front lever, iron cross, pull-ups with + 100% bodyweight, and front lever rows. That is too many goals to work on simultaneously. You will also be unable to work them optimally. Thus, choose one or two goals from each category to train toward first.
There are some caveats with bodyweight training that require coaching in order to make good progress or avoid injuries. For example, for connective tissue integrity, it is generally best to work toward back lever before working toward front lever. It is also best to work both of those levers before you work one-arm chin-ups or iron cross. Hence, there is some "ordering" that you may have to do given each of these movements. In the exercise section, there are descriptions of useful goal progressions. Most of the time, this recommendation is for training of the connective tissue sequentially so that you do not jump into something exceptionally difficult and injure yourself. However, you may decide to bypass these recommendations at your own risk.
Once you have chosen one or two goals to focus on, exercise selection is simple when you utilize the progression charts. As you look at the exercise technique section, you can see that there are progressions to help you advance toward your goals. You will base your primary movements on working up the line of progressions toward your desired skills. Do not over think this. For example, if your ultimate goal is a planche pushup, but you cannot yet perform it, you should consult the charts for the planche pushup progression you can perform. If you can perform tuck planche progression pushup, then put it in your routine!
If you cannot work any of the exercises in your chosen progression, then work a similar exercise progression until you have enough strength to switch over to your progression of choice. For example, if your goal is planche pushups and you cannot perform the tuck planche progression, start with the pushup progression. Planche pushups are a horizontal pushing exercise, and the pushup progression is also a horizontal pushing exercise. Therefore, there is a solid amount of carryover strength from the pushing progression as you become stronger and more muscular. Progressing with the pushup progression will enable you to gain the strength needed to start working the planche pushup progression.
It is easy to select goals from the charts for your exercise routine. Overthinking it only leads to more confusion. Select an exercise you can perform in your goal progression, or select a similar movement exercise in the same category. For pushing this may be vertical or horizontal pushing. For pulling that may be vertical or horizontal pulling.
Hold on to all of these goals and exercises. In the next few chapters you will learn to consolidate them into a routine.
Set your goals on paper. Declaring your goals in this manner is an act of commitment. Psychologically, you are more likely to follow through on things to which you have committed. This concept is well-proven through psychological research, and has been used by sales teams for decades.
The Harvard Business School Class of 1963 compiled a book of advice on careers, finance, and life. Lifetime secretary Artie Buerk contributed a great piece on setting goals: severalyears ago, agraduating classJrom a large, well-known business school was asked whether they had written goals, unwritten goals, or no goals. It
turned out that 3 percent of the class had written goals, 13 percent had goals they had not written down, and 84 percent had nogoals. At the 10th reunion, the class was asked again about their goals and accomplishments. The results showed that the 3 percent who had written goals did 10 times as well as the others, and the 13 percent who had unwritten goals did twice as well as the other 84 percent.
While it is better to have goals than not have any at all, you will be inflnitely more successful if you write these goals down. Once written down, look at them regularly and work toward them. Checking things off of a physical list is powerful positive reinforcement that will give your training drive.
It cannot be emphasized enough: keep your goals written in a training journal. This can be a physical notebook or on your computer. Either will elevate progress. You may want to keep your log in front of you - by the fridge, near your computer, or minimized on your desktop so you see it throughout your day. If you forget to do your workout, this will be a reminder to get it in before you eat dinner or get sucked into wasting time online. Making your workout routine a habit can be quite difficult, but these methods make it easier. Once you find your groove, the benefits will be undeniable. Success is built through discipline, and discipline is built through tangible work, and tangible work starts with writing down your goals on paper.
You may want to print out the exercise progression charts or obtain them off the Eat. Move. Improve. website so you can follow along without turning back to this chapter as you read through the rest of the book.
These charts have many benefits:
The programming needs of the various populations will differ depending on whether you are a beginner, intermediate, advanced, or elite. The difference in concepts will vary between these populations, so this muse be taken into account when building a workout routine based on your goals. It is also an important idea to consider if you are plateauing.
Goals should follow a progression. You want your goals to be both quantitative and qualitative. They should focus on your overarching aim: development of strength. Make a commitment to achieve these goals no matter what. Write them down and keep them in front of you, so that you will continually chink about achieving them. Also keep a workout lag, which is invaluable when you desire to look back and see how far you've progressed toward your fitness goals, as well as discovering what works well for you and what doesn't.
When setting goals utilize the SMART model:
Perform all of the steps in the stop sections prior to the end of this chapter. Write down all of your goals and categorize them respectively. You will use these in the next section of this book as you form a workout routine.
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