How To Start Calisthenics: Your 5-Step Guide to Mastering Dips.

Dips are essential calisthenics upper body exercises.

They sculpt powerful triceps, engage your chest and shoulders, and build impressive upper body strength.

But mastering dips requires dedication, proper progression, and a solid foundation in bodyweight training.

This guide outlines a 5-step calisthenics progression specifically designed to propel you towards achieving full dips. It utilizes readily available equipment and focuses on progressive overload, gradually increasing the difficulty as you gain strength.

Remember, consistency is key!

Aim for 3 sessions per week minimum with rest days in between to allow your muscles to recover and rebuild stronger.

Step 1: Building the Base with Box Dips

Box dips are your gateway to achieving full dips. Find a sturdy bench or chair that allows you to comfortably lower yourself until your elbows are bent at a 90-degree angle.

Here's how to perform box dips

• Sit on the edge of...

Simple Calisthenics Routine For Chest and Back!

Fitness does not have to be complicated!

Whatever the day is, you should never make excuses for not training.

It does not have to be a 2 hour calisthenics training session everyday.

Here is one of my favorite calisthenics set that will give you a great chest and back pump, in a short amount of time.

1. We start with the pull over

This is a great move to combine pulling and pushing within the same movement.

It's also a great and safe alternative to the muscle up to get over the bar, if you can't do muscle ups yet!

Do 1-3 muscle ups per set.

2. Single Bar Dips

Great triceps and chest calisthenics exercise. The main difference with classic dips is that you are relying on only one bar, giving you less balance, hence requiring more core activation and overall control through the movement.

Do 5-10 dips per set.

3. Lat flies

• This is a calisthenics training exercise you may not be familiar with, although it's a staple for shoulder health and...

The Secret To Grow Your Back With Calisthenics!

Training your grip and back are the most important thing when building your upper body.

Most people focus on mid-chest when starting their fitness journey, and often end up lacking upper chest, back and grip strength.

This specific muscle groups will be a limiting factor for progress in the long run.

Here are some simple calisthenics training tips to grow your lats and improve grip strength.

1/ Use a "fat grip" to make the pull up bar thicker and activate more forearm contraction. You can also use a towel or t-shirt to thicken the bar if you don't have "Fat Gripz".

2/ Use a wide grip when doing pull ups.

3/ Include wide-grip chin ups in your routine (the external rotation of the shoulder pulls more on the lats muscles and make them more engaged).

4/ Include overhead press exercises in your routine.

5/ Here is an intermediate-advanced calisthenics training routine you can use on your pull and push days:

• Wide Fat grip pull ups x 55 (11...

Simple Calisthenics Workout For Back, Shoulders and Chest

Maximize your fitness gains and save time when needed!

Training calisthenics is great to work on compound movements, maximize gains and save time when needed.

Today I want to share one of my favorite calisthenics routines to train back, chest and shoulders.

Note that every set will also highly engage your abs so your core gets covered as well!

I love using that protocol when training solo and try to keep a solid pace though the workout.

Here are the calisthenics exercises that I do:

• “Fat grip” Wide pull ups to chest + Isometric holds (top-middle-hang on every last rep) x 5-7 x 10 sets
• Deficit pike push ups + isometric hold (bottom) x 5 x 10 sets

Rest:

• I go for minimal, yet efficient, rest time with 30-90 seconds of rest between each set.
• It goes without saying that rest time is lower during the first supersets and tends to get higher towards the end of the workout.

Combining explosive pulling movements and...

Step by step 6 Months Calisthenics Muscle Up Progression!

• Have you tried to do a muscle up before but can't really do it?
• Are you working on getting your first proper muscle up?
• Do you have the muscle up as a goal in the future?

If the answer is yes to some or all of the above, this video will show you the step by step actions to take in order to get what you want:

• Start practicing with a lower bar
• Jump on the bar and do negative repetitions if needed
• Use a good false grip on every repetition
• Train a lot of single bar dips and pull ups
• Transition to a higher bar when comfortable on the lower bar
• Use bands to practice
• Improve form and volume overtime

Get all my calisthenics training programs and 1-1 online calisthenics coaching here!

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...

Venice Beach Calisthenics Games - Results & Replay!

The Venice Beach Calisthenics Games took place last Saturday and the results are in!

The Sets and Reps Competition had about 50 participants (men and women) competing for the most reps possible in pull ups, push ups and dips.

Form had to be clean for the repetitions to be counted as valid. 

Each movement had to be performed with full range of motion (elbow lock out) and in one go (no pause or stopping allowed).

Some really strong athletes took part in the event! The rules were strict with everyone.

And the results are here!

Men's winners

• Pull ups: 29
• Push ups: 75
• Dips: 60

Women's winners

• Pull ups: 12
• Push ups: 39
• Dips: 18

These numbers are solid given that no breaks were allowed at all! Any repetition that wasn't clean was NOT counted. 

Overall the energy was really high the whole day.

The afternoon was the amateur freestyle session!

Watch some cool tricks in the IG Live Replays here!

It was a great time, seeing...

Explosive Push Ups Calisthenics Tutorial.

Today I want to talk about one of my favorite calisthenics move: the explosive push-up. 

If you're already a push-up master, it's time to take it up a notch by jumping off the ground for part of the push ups.

Here are 4 progressive explosive push ups yo can train:

•  Clap Push-Ups: Do a push up starting in a plank position, protracting your shoulders to the max, and focus on a full range of motion. Lift your hands off the ground and clap your hands at the top of the move and control the descent. Engage your scapula by shrugging them/squeezing them together after landing on the way down to protect your elbows.
•  Chest Clap Push-Ups: These are a bit harder. It requires you to engage your core, take your hands off the ground at the top of the move and clap your hands quickly on your chest then land as soft as possible. Focus on engaging your core in a hollow body, to provide enough air time for the clap.
•  X Push-Ups:...

3 Calisthenics Exercises To Get Strong and Healthy Shoulders!

Today, we're going to dive into an essential topic: building strong shoulders.

Strong shoulders are crucial for overall upper body strength and contribute significantly to your overall body strength. So, let's take some time to discuss the key factors that will help you develop robust and powerful shoulders.

To kick things off, we'll start with a mobility drill called the Shoulder Dislocates with a stick. This drill is designed to improve shoulder mobility and ensure that you can achieve full range of motion. Lack of mobility often restricts people's ability to fully express their shoulder strength, leading to less than satisfactory results. 

For this exercise, all you need is a stick or a broom. Stand straight and hold the stick it front of you with a grip wider than shoulder-width. The goal is to move the stick behind you and as low as possible, while rolling your shoulder blades and engaging your...

6 Effective Calisthenics Exercises to Develop Your Back Muscles!

Today, we're going to discuss effective ways to develop your back muscles using bodyweight calisthenics workouts.

Building a strong back through calisthenics is not only versatile but also highly efficient. Whether you're a beginner, intermediate, or more advanced, there are exercises suitable for everyone. Let's dive into some of these exercises starting from the beginner level and gradually progressing to more advanced variations.

We'll begin with the Scorpio and Superman superset, which requires zero equipment. This exercise is fantastic for enhancing scapular strength, crucial for your upper back and lower back sections. Start by lying on your belly and lift your arms and chest off the ground. To engage your lower back, raise your feet as well. Superset the Superman with the Scorpio variation by pulling your scapula together and bringing your arms from straight to a 90 degree angle, pointing your feet up...