balancing gym n skill training

chrisc17

New member
I do fullbody 3x a week at the gym w weights since my primary goal is building muscle, but I think skills are cool n I want to learn them (I have no experience in calisthenics but I can do a solid 10 pull-ups). I go to the gym Monday wed n Friday so that leaves two rest days between Friday and Monday so I thought I’d do my calisthenics skill training on Saturday so that it doesn’t affect my gym training on Monday since I have Sunday to recover. Anyways, is 1 day of skill training enough for any progress? I will also be kinda fatigued from the gym session on friday. If it’s possible I’d appreciate help setting up what I would do on said Saturday and the skills I should learn in order
 
@chrisc17 Instead of adding a "skill day", which could negatively impact your recovery, try to implement the skill training into your strength training. For example, use Leaned Forward Pushups to obtain your first Planche and Planche Pushup and use Bodyweight Arc Rows to do the same thing for your first Front Lever Row.
 
@jermyn The point is I don’t do strength/calisthenics training at the gym I lift weights and I want to add a calisthenics as an extra on a Saturday
 
@chrisc17 I understand that but my point is basically that I don't know if you'll be able to recover from 3 days of strength training PLUS an extra Calisthenics day on Saturday. That's 4 days a week of upper body training and a possible case of tendinitis.
 
@jermyn I would agree with this. Adding some skill stuff related to that days goal would be the easiest way to add something to a routine before you know how you'll react to the additional volume.
Presumably, you feel good on three days and are recovering well or else you probably wouldn't even think about adding another day, right? There's no need messing things up and throwing a wrench in the works if you can't handle it. Do it like this for a month or cycle depending on your program to make sure you can adapt. After that, provided everything goes well, see about adding another day.
To quote John Meadows, working out is like digging a hole. Recovery is like filling it back in. It takes work to recover so it's not always as simple to add a day as some would think. Two days off may be what you need to actually recover from your week as your body can't tell the difference between workout stress and work/life stress. Take it slow and make sure you keep making gains. No one cares about being the strongest guy on the bench.
 
@forevereternal oh okay I understand now. Should I do the skill stuff before or after my weightlifting stuff or should I like cycle between them (i.e. alternating between dips and bench every session)
 
@chrisc17 Presumably, if you're doing full body work you'll have a primary lift or major compound movement and then "accessory" lifts for the other body parts, right? I'd say rotate through using skills or bodyweight stuff for one of the accessories everyday. Or depending on your intensity level it'd be pretty easy to do as a warm-up before hand and add some stretching at the end.

Otherwise, you can add whatever sort of progression work at the end once everything is tuned up and firing right. The great thing about bodyweight skills is almost everything can be a full body exercise or at least a compound movement, but that means you need to be fully warmed up when working some of the more complex stuff.

You've got a lot of options, but the best idea is to listen to your body and talk to someone else who's familiar with your program. Take some time and look at your template to see where things fit. Stuff like this is usually a lot simpler than folks make it.
 
@chrisc17 Skill training != strength training. There is almost no skill involved in a planche (bit of balance, yes). It’s mostly a strength exercise. On the other hand, handstand requires skill (balancing) to a way higher degree and way less strength. So, for sure you can do skill training, strength on top of muscle training is a lot. Why not alternate between like 12weeks muscle, then 12 weeks strength etc.
 
Back
Top