2 Ways to Make Your Calisthenics Workouts Harder

2 Ways to Make Your Calisthenics Workouts Harder!

There are many ways to change and vary your workouts to keep making progress!

Here are some of my 2 favorite methods to make ANY exercise and workout set harder.

First, the "1.5 rep" technique.

This consists in doing "one and a half repetition" of an exercise instead of one repetition, each time during the set.

Let’s take the example of a squat.

From the standing starting position you do a full negative squat, then from the bottom of the squat you only complete half of the phase up, then go back down right away, and finally go back all the way up to the starting position.

It works for every movement and will tremendously increase the difficulty of each set.

You can also mix “1.5 rep sets” with normal sets and alternate. 

You may also only apply this technique to specific exercises, areas you want to emphasize during your workouts. 

Now let's talk about the "Paused reps" technique. 

The “Paused Rep” technique refers to marking a pause in your movement during  each repetition of an exercise. This is an awesome mix of dynamic and static muscle activation.

The "paused rep" technique works for ANY exercise.

The pause can be:

• At the top, bottom, or middle of the movement
• As long as you decide it to be
• Placed anywhere during the set

The goal is to create your own patterns according to your goals.

I’ll give you three examples:

•  Do a set of 20 push ups and rest at the bottom of each repetition for 3-5 seconds
•  Do sets of 5+ pull ups and hold 3-5 seconds at the top of each repetition 
•  Do a set of 50 squats with a 10+ second hold in the middle of the movement (hold 90 degree angle) every 10 repetitions

This technique is indefinitely adjustable and works for any movement. 

Give those tips a try to boost your workouts!

Nicolas

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