I've been practicing handstand push-ups for a couple of months now and recently started focusing on improving my posture. Someone asked me why I don't just stick with my "banana" posture since it gives me more balance and allows me to do more push-ups. However, I didn't have a clear answer for them. Is it important for back and shoulder health to maintain proper posture while doing handstands?Why Good Handstand Posture MattersI've been practicing handstand push-ups for a couple of months now and recently started focusing on improving my posture. Someone asked me why I don't just stick with my "banana" posture since it gives me more balance and allows me to do more push-ups. However, I didn't have a clear answer for them. Is it important for back and shoulder health to maintain proper posture while doing handstands?

I'm a calisthenics bro who trains for skills.

I want the Nordic curl, and to get it, I'm working on maxing out my local gym's leg curl machine with one leg. I've already maxed it out with both legs, and now use it one legged.

I use a weight that I can do for 5 reps, building it up to 7 or 8 reps before adding weight so that I'm again back to 5 reps. When I can max out the machine with one leg for 5 reps, I'm going to start training real Nordic curls again.

Do you think this is going to work? Has anyone of you done this, and did you notice good carryover? Do you think I will have a full Nordic curl, a static hold at the bottom, a controlled eccentric, or none of the aforementioned?

Hi, kinda overwhelmed where to start but am 60, slim but what some wd call skinny fat. Runner for many years but kinda fell out of it and need to,work on flabby out of shape upper body because i do some on camera performance work and want to tighten up glutes, tone mid section and abs, and upper arms/chest. Just looking for something i can do 20-30m a day that will get fastest visible results, and i have picked up the running a few x a week, jog pace, treadmill during winter…

I really hope to start right away to try and develop definition as fast as i can to feel better abt appearance for this upcoming season and projects. Thanks for any specific links to any really concentrated, guided program with video that i can follow. I have some hand weights but am thinking realistically just mostly body workout/resistence alone…but i can add in dumbells. I’ll need to build up to it endurance-wise to start, esp.upper body. Thinking Squats in combo with targeted glute and arm movements …but question how much the treadmill alone is really gonna do for the butt definition…. I have also upped protein and weighh 145-ish, 5’7 - Bmi is normal, just need major toning. Thanks !!!

Hi folks, not sure if this is allowed here, but thought it would be a relevant place to post a new app I've just released, it would be great if people could try it out and let me know what you think? There's no ads or pay walls, I hate that stuff, I'm just trying to make it as functional as possible so hopefully it'll help a lot of you reach your fitness goals?

You can get the android app here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=app.alderton.aspira

I'm hoping to release an iPhone version soon too

Hey y’all, been using this sub as a resource successfully for a few months now. I hate to be the guy that beats the dead horse but I’m in a bind. I’ve been training for the last 2 months for a pt test on March 1st. I’ve been able to go from 2 pushups to 15.

I’m 5’ 10” 160lbs and have been running and training for this test using the grease the grove method and personal training. At this point I’m worried about being able to do 26 pushups in one minute. If anyone has any other advice I’d really appreciate it!!

I got here a upper/lower body split plan, and I wanna share it. You can either use it, or maybe give me some advise, tell me what you think, and customize it :)

Here it is:

Upper Body: 2 days/week (sunday, tuesday, friday) Lower Body: 2 days/week (monday, wednesday) (Rest 2-3 days/week)

(I jog 2-3 km before a workout most of the times)

Upper Body: Push-ups (3-4 sets x 8-15 reps)

Pull-ups (3-4 sets x 5-10 reps)

Dips (3 sets x 6-12 reps)

Pike Push-ups (3-4 sets x 8-12 reps)

(And core+deadhang sets at the end)

Lower Body: Elevated pistol-squats/while holding something (4 sets x 5-12 reps)

Bulgarian Split Squats (3-4 sets x 8-12 reps per leg)

Glute Bridges (3-4 sets x 12-20 reps)

Calf Raises (4 sets x 15-20-25 reps or so)

(And core+deadhang)

Core: (I aim to do core 5 times a week)-

Russian Twists (3 sets x 20 reps) Targets obliques.

Planks (3-4 sets x 30-60 seconds) Targets core stability.

Superman Holds (3-4 sets x 20-30 seconds) Targets lower back and glutes.

Mountain Climbers (3-4 sets x 30-45 seconds) Targets core, shoulders, and cardio.

It's good to modify rep-count, and looking into variations for exercises when you wanna progress.

(I had help with chat gpt to get this workout organized)

Please tell me what you think. I would love to hear feedback, and I really hope I had helped!!

Hi, I am following the RR, and working on handstands 10 minutes after warmup/mobility. I am doing it for quite a long time now, and I reached this point where I can hold it (sometimes!) for around 10 seconds but the form is terrible, and comparing to my older videos it didn't improve at all!

I am doing chest to wall holds and then free handstand practice.

What am I doing wrong, how could I get better at handstands? It was my dream to have a confident, straight hold, but I start to feel like that it will just never happen.

I am adding this video so you van check my form (it is purely for form check and have this Instagram account for myself to track my progress, so please be kind, I am not advertising myself, not an influencer or sth like that)

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DFkUnmjMfSQ/?igsh=ZzFxaXl0d3Z6Z2th

Hello r/bodyweightfitness,

I'm preparing for the NCO school entrance exam in Pitești, Romania. Unlike some other armies, the fitness test includes something called the Traseu Utilitar-Aplicativ (roughly "Utility-Applied Course"). It's a timed obstacle course with various tasks like throwing balls, carrying weights, and more.

One of the elements is push-ups, and I'm losing a lot of time on them. I can do the required 14 reps without much struggle, but they tire me out quickly and leave me out of breath for the rest of the course. I need advice on how to:

1. Perform push-ups faster while maintaining good form.

2. Improve my endurance so I don't gas out for the rest of the test.

Any advice is appreciated! Thanks a lot!

Welcome to the r/bodyweightfitness Daily Discussion! This is the place to post simple questions, anecdotes, achievements, or just about anything that's on your mind related to fitness!

Commonly asked questions about training and nutrition:

• Recommended Routine is the original full-body workout program of the subreddit.
• Fitness FAQ covers all questions related to nutrition - gaining muscle, losing weight, etc.
• BWF FAQ covers many of the commonly asked questions.
• Even though the rules are relaxed in this thread, asking for medical advice is still not allowed.

DISCORD SERVER:

Our Discord server is very active and is truly the heart of the community. It is not only a social space, but it is also a great place for live discussion on training and nutrition compared to the slow pace of reddit! Come say Hi!

---

If you'd like to look at previous Discussion threads, click here.

So for any given exercise taken to technical failure, I can always do more reps if I extend rest times.

Even taken to absolute failure, I can do more reps after half an hour or something.

What I'm not fully clear on is that some people suggest they have trouble walking after heavy squats or something.

While I'm not doing heavy squats, if I do 3 sets of pull ups to technical failure for example, I feel fine.

If I do 5 sets, I feel fine. Only if I do an insane number of sets, will I really feel any degree of soreness or noticeable fatigue.

This is similar for all movements I do.

I'm super new to calisthenics and am currently trying to master the pistol squat. Im quite tall and have long femurs so my usual squat form is quite wide and I've always had quite inflexible ankles and overall flexibility isn't great which is why I really want to get into calisthenics in terms of the mobility benefits.

I can get down and back up but once I reach the peak at the bottom my heel is entirely off the ground and im pushing back up through the ball of my foot and toes which obviously is not very stable.

I can keep my heel flat when holding on to something either side but im not sure if this is an effective method as I feel as though it takes away half the strengthening from the movement.

Any advice at all would be really appreciated!

Hi Reddit community,

I'm a 27-year-old male who's been training since March. I'm looking for some advice on my pull-up training. I'm currently doing pull-ups as part of my warm-up before bouldering.

My current routine is to do as many reps as possible in as many sets as possible. I do full-range-of-motion pull-ups, and I'm currently maxing out at 5 reps per set for 3 to 4 sets. I then decrease the number of reps by 1 and continue until I can't do any more. I rest for 2 minutes between sets. I train on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. I've managed to reach up to 13 sets in total.

I've been doing this routine for a while now, and I feel like I've plateaued at 5 reps. I'm not seeing any improvement in my maximum number of reps, and I'm not sure how to break through this plateau.

I'm wondering if anyone has any advice on how to improve my pull-ups. Am I doing too many sets? Should I be resting for longer between sets? Are there any other exercises I can do to help me improve my pull-ups?

I'm open to any and all suggestions. Thanks in advance for your help!

Hi all. On my upper body days, I do supersets of pull ups and dips, for three supersets total. On the first superset I have no problem hitting my reps, the second time it’s challenging, and on the third superset I often fail one or two reps shy, for both exercises.

I usually rest two or three minutes between each superset. However, I’ve found that if I stop after two supersets, do my core exercises and come back, I feel fresh again for the third superset and it is easier than the second set was.

My question is, is it better for me to get to failure on the third set, or better to take this approach of stopping and doing my last set later in the workout when I can definitely do it in one go. Does the fatigue/failure serve a purpose here?

After pretty much a year of inconsistency and messing up ( going to the gym 3x a week only, bad eating, 4 meals only even though I am skinny, etc ), I've decided to go to the gym again and fix what I messed up.

I run the traditional PPL split ( PPLPP ) but I won't be able to train 5x a week due to my tight university schedule, so I had an idea where I'll simply do PPL at the gym then rest and then do bodyweight push & bodyweight pull at home ( I have a pull-up bar and some other equipment, just missing the dips so I'll use 2 chairs for now) and rest again, so I can train 5x a week with ease.

Would that be optimal or not? Afaik, you have to train your muscles twice a week, which is what I'm trying to achieve.

Lastly, what exercises should I be doing for both the push and pull bodyweight day? All I remember from callisthenics was just push-ups, pull-ups, and dips. The reason why I quit callisthenics from the start was that I could only do 1 pull-up, but I recently realized I could just do Australian pull-ups and then negative pull-ups.

( I'm underweight with a fast metabolism and adding on top that I returned after a year so I don't have lack a lot of muscle mass/strength doing only calisthenics exercises but, I genuinely like both weightlifting and calisthenics, so I'm just trynna achieve the best of both worlds )

I’ve tried doing them against the wall or countertops, and that goes well, but once I switch to my knees, it’s game over.

I've been working on strengthening my upper body for about a month and a half. I train upper body once a week, sometimes twice. My cardio sessions already include burpees and mountain climbers, and I end with a plank, and I make sure to engage my core.

My knees are bruised, and I feel frustrated, as if there’s no progress at all. My form is really bad, and I try to work on it, so you’d think I could at least manage a proper push-up with bad form, but no, sir, not around here.

Do I just need to give it more time?

Edit: Instead of lowering myself during the burpees, I do a set of mountain climbers. Sorry for the confusion!

Hi there, I got a quick question about programming. I want to do two upper and two lower body training days a week, and I'm doing exclusively calisthenics for upper body. I'm a bit of a fat fuck and i can only do about 6-7 bodyweight pullups in one max rep set. I can do about 10-15 bw dips, and pushups i can do about 30-35. My question is, is it worth doing straight sets x reps, or is si worth considering a circuit approach where i give myself a total amount of reps and do them in small clusters of 3-4 until i've completed them all? Many thanks

My mind is weak. Whenever I get tired doing pushups, my arms just don't want to push anymore. My arms don't really ache the next day which means I haven't really pushed myself to my limit, but it's like my mind knows if I just don't push, I can stop putting myself through this pain. Currently I'm struggling to push out 10 a set, and I need to be doing at least 30 by May for a fitness test. What do you guys recommend? I'm thinking of trying to do 10 a set, for 4 times a day, every day, then increasing by 1 rep per set every 2-3 days. What do you guys think?

Hey guys

Maybe title is a bit catchy but I wanted to make my point clear: Do high reps (calisthenics exercises) turn your upper body frame bigger overall?

That would be contrary to popular belief, I assume, at least mine.
My question is based after watching some High Reps Calisthenics Battles and the athletes that compete there, who, I suppose, must train in a similar fashion as they do in the competition. Therefore comes the question because I think there must an underlying common pattern.

The nuance is that these athletes share a bigger frame than your typical calisthenics athlete, as far as I've seen. And High Reps training is not as promoted as other types of training are. So I just thought that maybe this style of training gives these kind of results.

What do you guys think? Maybe they all are enhanced and I didn't even realize that.

You probably know what type of athletes I am talking about but I'll leave some videos just in case

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKU47q5uiRU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OpbV0sKFTE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHMp-IExDXU

i’m 5’7” tall and about 130 lbs. i’ve been just trying to tone my body and slim it down a bit. but lately i’ve been wanting to focus on my legs and calves. i’ve never been satisfied with them. currently i’ve been sticking to this routine everyday:

• stretch for 5 mins
• 200 squats
• 80 to 100 pushups
• 160 mountain climbers
• 160 bicycle crunches
• 160 russian twists
• plank for 2 mins

i’ve been doing this daily for about 2 months. i’m seeing okay results so far, and now i’m wanting to focus on my legs more. i used to do my routine above and also run a few miles every night after work. but it’s been about a year since i’ve ran, and i also feel as if running + my routine wasn’t doing as much for my legs as i thought it would. what other workouts/routines should i add that would focus on toning and slimming legs/calves?

Hey, so... I’ve been lifting mostly bodyweight and some barbell/dumbbell stuff for over a year now, but I do sometimes skip a week or two (I’d say I’m about 75-80% consistent when it comes to sticking to my program).

To cut the story short, I’ve been stuck at 5 reps for 3 sets (5-5-5) of pull-ups for 3 months. The funny thing is, I’ve been very consistent with my training as of recently, and all my other lifts have progressed as expected. I weigh 82 kg (178.5 lbs) and 179 cm tall.

Back when I started lifting, I weighed about 72 kg (skinny fat), and I progressed my pull-ups fairly quickly going from 0-1 rep to 10 max reps in about 6 months (was able to do 7-7-7). NOW, my max rep is 7-8 (mostly 7). GOOD GOD, IT’S DEPRESSING, BRO....

Has anyone been in a similar situation before? Or is anyone stuck in the same predicament? I really hope this post can help others like me because I swear I wouldn’t want anyone to feel this pain. I've looked into previous posts about this but nothing really hits the mark.

[Here are some more context if you dont mind reading more, thanks man]

> So my back day is pretty much this:

[Superset with 3.5 minutes rest]

1. Pull ups: 8 x 3 (8-8-8 thats my 'target', id do 5-5-5. More like 5-5-3) (really hits my lats)

2. Barbell row (currently 50kg): 10 x 3 (been progressing this alot, now at 10-10-9) (really hits my upper back)

3. Ring_face pulls: 12 x 3 (currently 10-10-12)

>more context

1. So i've always been using this three lifts, back when i was able to hit 10 max reps. To say... it might be the barbell row taking most of the energy out of my back but i've always been able to do clean pullups even with barbell row being in there.

2. Lastly, i workout at home and i dont have friends that lifts. In other words, i dont know who else to ask about this problem.

I get a bit bored with long hangs, and my home pull up bar is a cheap door thingy is quite a skinny bar ( so harder on hands ) , so just do a hang now and again for a bit of grip, but mostly just decompressing and relaxing . Do the odd one pull up ( Greasing the groove )

But do most of my pull-up work 3 times at gym/week

Anyway on whim, decided to do holds at top at chest level for neutral and pronated grips.

Wow no time to get bored - as really need to focus, plus you really get to feel a lot of muscles in play, while holding. You can even feel what is needed to work with neutral vs pronated - When just doing pullups and fail 80% of way up on last one not really sure what gives out first and just knew I could do more with neutral grip ( assume due to bicep strength )

Does anyone here use these holds at the top position as strength training exercise , or a reference to find your weaknesses.

Does it help increase you number of pullups over time

also as a kind of isometric time hold - should benefit my BP ( which is fine anyway )

Minor question should posterior and anterior delts be about same strength , feel my posterior ones are stronger, maybe because I do more back work like rows than presses- I do flys both ways , side delts are fine

Welcome to the r/bodyweightfitness Daily Discussion! This is the place to post simple questions, anecdotes, achievements, or just about anything that's on your mind related to fitness!

Commonly asked questions about training and nutrition:

• Recommended Routine is the original full-body workout program of the subreddit.
• Fitness FAQ covers all questions related to nutrition - gaining muscle, losing weight, etc.
• BWF FAQ covers many of the commonly asked questions.
• Even though the rules are relaxed in this thread, asking for medical advice is still not allowed.

DISCORD SERVER:

Our Discord server is very active and is truly the heart of the community. It is not only a social space, but it is also a great place for live discussion on training and nutrition compared to the slow pace of reddit! Come say Hi!

---

If you'd like to look at previous Discussion threads, click here.

Hey everyone, long-time fan, first-time poster here!

I’ve been trying to figure out the best way to build back strength safely after a pretty nasty bulging disc injury a couple of years ago, (spent over a year in PT) and I’d love to hear your thoughts on programming, progressions, and general approaches to training post-injury.

I did CrossFit for about 8 years and absolutely loved it, but after my injury (sciatic nerve pain, months of recovery, etc. I know I know...CrossFit and injuries...), I never went back to heavy lifting. These days, I train Brazilian jiu-jitsu, which has been great, but I still miss structured strength training—just without the risk of loading up my spine again.

Lately, I’ve been thinking about focusing more on rings and bodyweight strength since I always enjoyed pull-ups, muscle-ups, and gymnastics-style training when I was doing CrossFit. I’m especially interested in something that helps me regain confidence in my back while still getting stronger.

I’ve been looking at Natural Hypertrophy’s hybrid program, which seems like a solid mix of rings, calisthenics, and some weight training, but I’m curious if anyone here has tried it—or if there are other programs that might be a good fit.

How would you approach getting back into serious training and getting the body moving again? Any progressions, exercises, or programming tips that have worked for you? I’d love to hear any experiences or insights!

Thanks in advance! 🙏

I have trained without a specific training routine/program for a while, and have made some noticable progress, for example i can do dips on rings with 6 kgs and pullups and pushups with 12 kgs, i know its not much, but thats why I want to create a solid routine, so i can easily follow a plan when doing a workout not just think of it on the place .

I am currently reading Overcoming gravity 2 and have gotten to 93rd page and have read the chapter "Constructing your workout routine" , which in short, gives the different types of splits for training and different approaches to structuring a training routine , which mentioned splits like push/pull, upper/lower, Straight-arm/bent-arm, etc... ,after reading the chapter i understood that these split options are great , but that doesnt include the fact that some people may do some physical activities on the side or as primary training for example runing , team sports and other types of training, which would require rest days. I know he talks about athletes that need specific training, but there isnt really any insides into , how to combine bodyweight training and sports without burning out.(correct me if I am wrong i haven't read the whole book maybe he talks about it later, but at the moment i have not really read anything about it)

In my case the sport is bouldering, and i cant seem to think of a way to combine them and make a optimal split that works for getting me progress in bodyweight training and doesnt burn me out for bouldering training. I am thinking of creating a 6 week mesocycle which would look like this :

• Microcycle - 1 week (Preparatory)
• Microcycle - 1 week (Hypertrophy)
• Microcycle - 1 week (Strenght)
• Microcycle - 1 week (Strenght)
• Microcycle - 1 week (Power)
• Deload / Rest week

But the hard part for me right now, is to think of how to split up the training, for example my group bouldering training is on tuesdays and thursdays, aswell as , i go with my friend on saturdays or sundays ,usually just one of the days on the weekend never both ,but we go depending on if either me and he is free on that day, if either person isnt free then we usually ,don't go by ourselves, so for me without body weight training the week would look like this :

• Monday - Free
• Tuesday - Bouldering
• Wednesday - Free
• Thursday - Bouldering
• Friday - Free
• Saturday - Bouldering (optional)
• Sunday - Bouldering (optional)

When I try to think of how to include bodyweight training, i almost always come to the conclusion of doing upper/lower or full-body, or push/pull split because other splits like push/pull/legs require to have almost all of the week free, for my situation it would leave no rest days. But now, if for example i would do an upper day on monday it would create fatigue on tuesday that would interfere with the bouldering training, so i would perform worse , so maybe i should make the day before bouldering less intense or not train any days that are infront of bouldering.

An idea that i came up that could fix the issue i described in the last pargraph , was that, maybe I could train after the climbing sessions, because i usually dont feel very fatigued after climbing. In the climbing gym in one corner there is a training area, which i wouldnt say is big ,but its decently sized ,has weights and other things that help with body weight training. I think this could be a great option that would get me more training in one day and leave more rest days inbetween.

So could anyone help me create a split, that wouldnt lead to burnout?

And also apologies, if you have a hard time reading, for the terrible grammar and text structure , English is not my first language or native .

I have been big into neck training the past year. I have done a lot of neck extensions/neck curls and noticed a substantial growth both in strength and size. However, recently I have started training calisthenics outside, and I still want to keep training neck and grow the neck. Where I live (Norway) the conditions and amount of snow makes it sometimes inconvenient to do the typical neck bridges (safe ROM). And therefore I have been incorporating neck holds at the top of every set of pullups/chinups, just like Matthew Zlat does on his lighter pulls/chins. I have also started doing "Christ Holds". My question is, have anyone else incorporated neck training into their calisthenics routine and have more specifically have you done it by the neck holds/christ holds? I am just curious on how effective this is compared to your normal neck curls/extensions.

So I’ve just started body weight inverted rows at a slant , higher level and knees bent. While I’m able to do it comfortably with proper form mentioned in the guide of this subreddit, I’m curious if you’re also supposed to feel pressure on your knees while doing inverted rows?

I understand that knees bent progression takes some amount of weight on the feet planted on the ground flat but am I doing anything wrong or I’m just not used to it/ weak beginner and it’s nothing concerning about my form?

Sorry the tile is a typo

Hey guys, I'm curious of how much percent of bw of weighted dips and pulls should I get before hoping into skills training.

So I started weighted calisthenics, aka streetlifting, before I do any skills. I've been training for almost a year now and my max dip is 50kg 1rm (86% bw) and 27.5kg 1rm pull-up(47% bw). I'm currently 58kg.

I don't really like streetlifting much and just focus on the numbers. I want to start training skills now but I don't know if my strength is good enough.

I mean it's probably okay but I want to build a strong base before training for skills to make my progression faster and easier.

I'm just wonder what bodyweight percentage of dips and pulls should I get before doing cool skills, maybe like FL or bent arm planche.

Ps: I have already achieved the easy skills like crow pose, elbow lever, and L sit. I'm just wonder should I focus on more skill work than strength work.

Thanks.

Video Reference from squat University: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/P0yCe6L7Zcs

• Previously doing regular ATG barbell squats so mobility not a problem at all
• Saw the above video - started one-legged journey
• Did a week of number 3 (in the video) behind the heel squat - it was difficult at first but within a week I progressed to 5-8 reps on both legs with near ATG range of motion (same as in video).
• Now, I have spent a few days trying to do pistol squat (#6 in the video) but cannot do even 1 rep - hamstring mobility is not a problem - I can keep the legs horizontal. Its like as soon as the non lifting leg comes in front of the lifting legs, the latter loses all strength no kidding !! When I am descending, I am scared to even come near parallel. Its not just pistol - any where I place my non lifting leg in front of lifting leg, any strength in the lifting leg almost vanishes.
• This is extremely frustrating, please help.

Welcome to the r/bodyweightfitness Daily Discussion! This is the place to post simple questions, anecdotes, achievements, or just about anything that's on your mind related to fitness!

Commonly asked questions about training and nutrition:

• Recommended Routine is the original full-body workout program of the subreddit.
• Fitness FAQ covers all questions related to nutrition - gaining muscle, losing weight, etc.
• BWF FAQ covers many of the commonly asked questions.
• Even though the rules are relaxed in this thread, asking for medical advice is still not allowed.

DISCORD SERVER:

Our Discord server is very active and is truly the heart of the community. It is not only a social space, but it is also a great place for live discussion on training and nutrition compared to the slow pace of reddit! Come say Hi!

---

If you'd like to look at previous Discussion threads, click here.

Hey everyone! First time posting here and I got a question: I have my workout routine noted down on a Google Sheets file, but keeping track of my progress on it is a hassle and it gets annoying really fast.

Can anyone recommend an (Android) app that allows me to upload the sheet in a way it'll understand my routine and I just enter the data for reps and sets each day?

(I know I can just do that manually but, unlike the gym me, the smartphone user me is just that lazy lol).

Thank you all on advance!