Hi everyone,
I've been enjoying this community for the past two years. I can hardly believe the progress I've made over the past two years, so I thought I'd share another progress report as a way of thanking all of you who offer advice on this subreddit and maybe inspiring some out-of-shape, over-the-hill calisthenics hopefuls.
About me:
42M, 75 kg/165 lbs, 179 cm/5’10”, approx. 13% body fat (???)
Challenges: full time job, father of 2, type 1 diabetes (aka youth diabetes or the autoimmune kind), age-related slower recovery
Here is my physique with calisthenics at 6 months (70kg), 1 year (81 kg) and 2 years (75kg / current weight):
Here a few more current pics, if interested:
My Renpho scale usually gives me a 13 or 14% body fat estimate, does that sound accurate? The visibility of the vein on my biceps and muscle fibers on my pecs and shoulders makes me think it could be less.
First off, here’s an overview of my modest achievements, compared to young athletes.
Personal bests (with direct, hard work):
I started my calisthenics journey in February of 2022, unable to do a single pull up. I was on the upper end of the recommended bodyweight for my size, so you could say I was on the fat side of skinny-fat: chicken legs, spaghetti arms and a pot belly. However, I was a hobby runner. I would go running once or twice a week for 10 kilometers. It really did nothing for my strength or body composition. The only positive effect was good endurance. It didn’t help much at all for my blood sugar control as a diabetic. If anything, it made glucose control more difficult.
Basically, all my gains have been newbie gains, but at an over-the-hill age. I never did strength training in my life. The only time I can remember doing a pull up before turning 40 was probably when I was in middle school gym class at 13.
Since starting calisthenics, my fastest muscle growth was when I bulked over a 6 month period in 2022-23. Then, my bicep measurements went from 32 to 35 cm, but my pull up numbers were largely stagnating due to the increasing weight.
Since then, my biceps have grown up to about 37 cm. I think 2 cm of growth since last year is pretty good, especially since I haven’t gone on a bulk since my first year of calisthenics. I’ve just been focusing on staying lean.
Benefits as a type 1 diabetic and more:
Now that I have a completely different body composition (slim waist, visible six pack, muscular arms, shoulders & lats), my blood sugar control is amazing. For those who understand, my HBA1c was 5.5, 5.2 & 5.6% on my last three quarterly visits to the endocrinologist. For those unfamiliar with these numbers, it means my blood glucose is consistently within a healthy, normal range. Having greater muscle mass does wonders for your sugar metabolism, and I’m proof of that.
My sudden & chronic lower back pain has also been much better. I would like to do more intense leg & posterior chain work, but for now I’m just working on pistol squats and sets of 30 deadlifts with a 24kg kettlebell, which is too easy so maybe I should do KB swings.
My workout routine:
For my workouts, I generally follow the Recommended Routine with weighted pull ups, chest-to-wall headstand push ups, tuck planche push ups and tuck FL rows. I generally skip the core triplet in favor of 3 super sets of: pelican curls, triceps extensions & ring muscle up transitions with feet on ground.
Lately, however, I’ve been trying out a skills cycle focussed on Planche & Front Lever. It’s going well, but I am considering stopping it and first building up more strength with OAC, HSPU progressions & direct muscle up work, which are actually the goals that I’m most excited about.
At the beginning, I was very consistent with practicing 3x per week. Since moving on to more intense exercises like weighted push ups or OAC progressions, I've generally cut down to twice a week to give my old body more time to recover.
Who has really inspired me?
At the beginning, it was Chris Heria videos that got me started. Overall, however, my biggest inspirations and sources of great knowledge in the area of calisthenics have been: FitnessFAQs, Stephen Low (Overcoming Gravity2), Mindful Mover & all the unknown heros who put work into creating and maintaining the Recommended Routine and answering questions here on reddit.
In a nutshell:
Don’t let your age or lack of experience stop you. I’ve gotten so much out of calisthenics despite being over 40 and not having any prior strength training experience (only running and kung fu in the past). You can still gain muscle and skill when you’re over 40, unless maybe you are a life-long calisthenics athlete who peaked in their 20s.
Also, don’t let your lack of a perfect set up and optimal equipment stop you. Start now and make the most out of what you have – even if that’s just the floor.
Here’s my 1-year calisthenics update, if you are interested:
My goals for the next progress report in February 2025:
I've been enjoying this community for the past two years. I can hardly believe the progress I've made over the past two years, so I thought I'd share another progress report as a way of thanking all of you who offer advice on this subreddit and maybe inspiring some out-of-shape, over-the-hill calisthenics hopefuls.
About me:
42M, 75 kg/165 lbs, 179 cm/5’10”, approx. 13% body fat (???)
Challenges: full time job, father of 2, type 1 diabetes (aka youth diabetes or the autoimmune kind), age-related slower recovery
Here is my physique with calisthenics at 6 months (70kg), 1 year (81 kg) and 2 years (75kg / current weight):
Here a few more current pics, if interested:
My Renpho scale usually gives me a 13 or 14% body fat estimate, does that sound accurate? The visibility of the vein on my biceps and muscle fibers on my pecs and shoulders makes me think it could be less.
First off, here’s an overview of my modest achievements, compared to young athletes.
Personal bests (with direct, hard work):
- Weighted pull ups: 3x5 with 27 kg added = 36% BW (never tested 1RM)
- A single 1 arm chin (OAC) with 6 kilos of assistance (strap over bar with weight) or a single OAC with hand-on-shoulder self-assistance
- 3x6 Chest to Wall HeSPU (I prefer these to weighted dips, so have no recent dip stats)
- 15 sec (almost) advanced tuck front lever hold (legs very close to adv. tuck position)
- 15 sec (not quite) advanced tuck planche (approx. half way to adv. tuck position)
- 3x10 pistol squats (only do legs once per week)
- Handstands: 3x60 sec chest to wall (freestanding very irregular, but I’m finally over the fear of falling)
- First muscle up and 4 dragon flags (not perfect form!) in early december 2023: (thanks to 1-arm chin, weighted pulls & FL work)
- High pull ups to abs
- One arm pushups
- 20 second L-sit with hands flat on the ground
- Very visible 6-pack (no direct core work in well over a year)
I started my calisthenics journey in February of 2022, unable to do a single pull up. I was on the upper end of the recommended bodyweight for my size, so you could say I was on the fat side of skinny-fat: chicken legs, spaghetti arms and a pot belly. However, I was a hobby runner. I would go running once or twice a week for 10 kilometers. It really did nothing for my strength or body composition. The only positive effect was good endurance. It didn’t help much at all for my blood sugar control as a diabetic. If anything, it made glucose control more difficult.
Basically, all my gains have been newbie gains, but at an over-the-hill age. I never did strength training in my life. The only time I can remember doing a pull up before turning 40 was probably when I was in middle school gym class at 13.
Since starting calisthenics, my fastest muscle growth was when I bulked over a 6 month period in 2022-23. Then, my bicep measurements went from 32 to 35 cm, but my pull up numbers were largely stagnating due to the increasing weight.
Since then, my biceps have grown up to about 37 cm. I think 2 cm of growth since last year is pretty good, especially since I haven’t gone on a bulk since my first year of calisthenics. I’ve just been focusing on staying lean.
Benefits as a type 1 diabetic and more:
Now that I have a completely different body composition (slim waist, visible six pack, muscular arms, shoulders & lats), my blood sugar control is amazing. For those who understand, my HBA1c was 5.5, 5.2 & 5.6% on my last three quarterly visits to the endocrinologist. For those unfamiliar with these numbers, it means my blood glucose is consistently within a healthy, normal range. Having greater muscle mass does wonders for your sugar metabolism, and I’m proof of that.
My sudden & chronic lower back pain has also been much better. I would like to do more intense leg & posterior chain work, but for now I’m just working on pistol squats and sets of 30 deadlifts with a 24kg kettlebell, which is too easy so maybe I should do KB swings.
My workout routine:
For my workouts, I generally follow the Recommended Routine with weighted pull ups, chest-to-wall headstand push ups, tuck planche push ups and tuck FL rows. I generally skip the core triplet in favor of 3 super sets of: pelican curls, triceps extensions & ring muscle up transitions with feet on ground.
Lately, however, I’ve been trying out a skills cycle focussed on Planche & Front Lever. It’s going well, but I am considering stopping it and first building up more strength with OAC, HSPU progressions & direct muscle up work, which are actually the goals that I’m most excited about.
At the beginning, I was very consistent with practicing 3x per week. Since moving on to more intense exercises like weighted push ups or OAC progressions, I've generally cut down to twice a week to give my old body more time to recover.
Who has really inspired me?
At the beginning, it was Chris Heria videos that got me started. Overall, however, my biggest inspirations and sources of great knowledge in the area of calisthenics have been: FitnessFAQs, Stephen Low (Overcoming Gravity2), Mindful Mover & all the unknown heros who put work into creating and maintaining the Recommended Routine and answering questions here on reddit.
In a nutshell:
Don’t let your age or lack of experience stop you. I’ve gotten so much out of calisthenics despite being over 40 and not having any prior strength training experience (only running and kung fu in the past). You can still gain muscle and skill when you’re over 40, unless maybe you are a life-long calisthenics athlete who peaked in their 20s.
Also, don’t let your lack of a perfect set up and optimal equipment stop you. Start now and make the most out of what you have – even if that’s just the floor.
Here’s my 1-year calisthenics update, if you are interested:
My goals for the next progress report in February 2025:
- One-arm chin
- 5+ clean muscle ups
- Slow muscle up
- Free standing handstand and freestanding HeSPU
- Half-lay FL & PL
) but I'm really happy for you, especially given that you have diabetes and this is actually helping. I had never thought about the second and third-order consequences of body recomposition on things like blood sugar. (I don't have diabetes but I love finding out about new and seemingly insane unexpected health benefits of training). So kudos! 
