Easy Back Stretch For Better Posture

Moving your shoulders and back is essential for your overall health.

We need to be comfortable moving our arms in any direction. The one direction that very often causes problems is the overhead motion.

So here are 3 ways to move your arms overhead:

• Transverse arm raises
• Vertical arm raises
• Vertical shoulder extensions

For any of these moves, you need to keep your pelvis tilted back, your abs engaged and your ribs tucked in.

Do NOT let your back arch when raising your arms up! This is KEY.

Repeat this sequence 3 times per day!

Here are more shoulders and back stretches that you can add to your posture routine!

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Simple Hack For Better Posture

Good posture has a lot more benefits than just looking better than bad posture.

It has a direct impact on your health, often a lot more than what most people realize. And when it comes to building a strong back, thoracic spine mobility is often overlooked.

Use this simple "hack" back stretch sequence to improve your overall back mobility.

It works like magic if you do it regularly. That means everyday. At least until you start to see and feel better mid back mobility.

Repeat the sequence in the video for 3 sets per day.

Do not forget to also work your hip mobility to get and maintain a strong back! Here is a video on how to improve your hip mobility!

Also add some hanging and pull up workouts to the mix.

Get my full calisthenics course and coaching when you need more guidance here!

Have You Tried This Calisthenics Ab Workout?

If not, give it a shot. 

If yes, you already know it's a good one.

It might seem very hard if you are just getting started, so simply start from the floor if that's the case.

• Sit on the floor
• Slightly leaning back
• Bring your knees up into a tuck position
• Kick your legs up as high and straight as you can
• You can start with single leg kicks to and alternate

If you are more advanced start with your body off the ground as shown in the video!

Go for 5-10 sets.

Hold and kick for as long as you can on each set.

Here are 10 more ab workouts you can add to your routine!

Breathe thoroughly!

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How To Improve Your Front Lever

The Front lever is one of the hardest move in calisthenics. 

It requires a very strong back and core, as well as good shoulder and hip mobility.

- One of the best way to train it is the advanced tuck hold.

Here are some pointers:

• Squeeze your knees together
• Point your toes
• Don't let your hips fall
• "Push" the bar away from you to keep it at your hip level
• Breathe slow and steady

The goal is to hold that position for as long as you can and repeat for 5 sets.

- You can also combine the advanced tuck with full assisted holds using a resistance band. Wrap the band around the bar and place it around your feet and/or hips. 

Go for 5-10 sets of max holds with the band.

- You can also practice negative front lever reps where you come from the top hold then descend and try to hold when your body becomes parallel to the ground.

Here again go for 5-10 negative repetitions.

- Lastly spend some time training your dragon flag as a great accessory...

Try This Quick Calisthenics Pull Ups and Push Ups Challenge!

I wanted to try a quick calisthenics challenge: do 50 pull ups and 100 push ups, as fast as possible.

It's way more challenging than it sounds.

The hard variable is time. Trying to complete all the repetitions in a short time is where it gets tricky.

Your rest time is minimum and each repetition gets harder as you go.

1- For the pull ups, I split the sets as follow: 10-10-10-5-5-5-5

My time for the pull ups was: 6min 40 sec.

I started pretty good on the first 3 sets of 10, with about 20-30 sec rest in between. Things started getting tough around the last 2 sets of pull ups where I had to struggle my way up.

Here is how to get better at pull ups if you are getting started!

I took about a minute to reset the tripod between pull ups and push ups.

2- For the push ups, I did: 30-25-20-15-10

My total time after the push ups was: 9 min 50 sec.

While the goal was to rest as little as possible, my form started to suffer after my...

Do this before every leg workouts!

That combination of movements addresses your entire lower body as well as some upper body.

This will greatly improve your leg workout results overtime!

• The standing back bend stretch helps opening the shoulders, rib cage and hips.
• Then down to foot and toes activation to make sure the big toe muscle chain is active and ready to push for a whole workout. Squatting on your toes also allows for full bent knee range of motion.
• Moving on to hips, ankle and shoulders with the standing frog. This movement is a major tool to improve hip and shoulder mobility.
• Side to side rotations are great to address thoracic spine mobility. You can do it both in a squat and lunge variations.

Go for 4-6 reps of each movement. You can repeat the sequence 1-3 times.

Get ALL my calisthenics programs, mobility routines and coaching here if you need more guidance!

Improve Your Posture With This Easy Back Stretch

Poor posture is very often related to a weak mid-back.

It can and is commonly combined with other weakness within the back muscle chain.

Use this very easy mid-back  stretch to align your back and say goodbye to any back pain.

Keep your core and pelvis engaged, and breathe thoroughly as you stretch.

Repeat the sequence 3 times.

You can also do this to release your lower back!

Get my FULL calisthenics course and coaching here if you are new!

If you are not stretching your shoulders regularly, chances are they are tight!

As someone who suffered from a chronic shoulder injury, I use this sequence daily to keep my rotator cuffs mobile and healthy.

Here are the details:

• I like to start with classic shoulder dislocates with a 6 ft. stick. The name sounds crazy but it's actually really good to practice.

• Then I move on to the "figure 8" stretch to add a bit of complexity to the shoulder rolls.

• I finally do partial side to side raises as shown as the last exercise in the video.

You can go for 5-10 repetitions of each exercise and repeat the full sequence 3 times for a great shoulder warm up!

If you need further guidance, you can get ALL my calisthenics and mobility programs, as well as personal coaching here!

Here Is An Easy Sprint Warm Up!

If you don’t want to end up in a wheelchair like Kevin Heart, use this simple drill before you go for a sprint!

Warming up your legs and hips is crucial before you sprint, to make sure all joints and muscle chains are ready for it.

My favorite drill to warm up for sprints is leg skipping combined with back pedaling.

This combo helps activating the hips, legs, knees and feet along with the hear rate.

Aim to lift your knees high when skipping and bring your heels up when performing the back pedal.

Repeat the sequence in the video for 3-5 sets.

Pair that with 5 minutes of hip and hamstring mobility work to begin your session.

Get ALL my calisthenics training programs and coaching here if you are new!