Does anyone know of a good Calisthenics S&C program/author for complete noobs?

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buzzy204

New member
Covid sucks. All I did for the last 1.5 years was train for strength and, now that I'm preparing to resume martial arts training, I'm completely unconditioned (and fat, because I kept eating like I was training 10+ hours a week). I did pack on some nice muscle and strength, tho, so at least I've got that going for my fat ass.

Ross Enmait has always been my go-to guy for getting into competition shape, but, damn, I am more deconditioned than at any point in my entire life. His Never Gymless program is proving too much for me to recover from. My work capacity is garbage.

So I've got two options, as I see it:
  1. Reduce the volume of Never Gymless and build it up so I can recover from the daily work of the program, as written.
  2. Discover a new author who might have amazing things to teach me about using Calisthenics to train multiple strength qualities + solid cardio for really out of shape people.
I'm hoping for number 2 because I'm always trying to learn more. Everyone I know of, besides Ross, requires a lot of equipment.

Any ideas?
 
@buzzy204 I have a background in MMA/BJJ myself and that's what initially led me to calisthenics for S and C. I found rather quickly the functional carryover is really good.

I started with Convict Conditioning and it's a good, simple place to begin. The book is like 8.99 on kindle and covers the fundamentals of bodyweight strength training well.

I had to figure out an alternate squat progression after the close squats, and I've had to modify my program and add some volume as I've gotten stronger but it served me well for the first 6-8 months or so in it's base form.

The recommended Routine here is good, but I would personally make a couple changes. I would pick either rows or pullups, dips or pushups instead of doing both of each every session. I would also separate the core work. Honestly, if your MA gym is competitive you probably already do a lot of core work there. We used to do a lot of core work at my gym, probably too much some days.
 
@dawn16 Hey, another pajama killer! Osss

I've got my strength work dialed in, it's the conditioning that's proving harder to incorporate as I normally would.

I'm doing this for about an hour each day:

Day 1 - strength-based cardio, isometrics

Day 2 - maximal strength, weak areas

Day 3 - speed-based cardio, isometrics

Day 4 - anaerobic strength / endurance, weak areas

Day 5 - rest

Day 6 - repeat

I'm basically using RR for day 2 and CC for day 4.

I'm two weeks in and I can tell it's just a little too much for me to recover from like I should be. So I'm probably going to reduce the volume each day and build up the volume of work I can recover from.

BUT that's also why I'm wondering if anyone had any resources for building up work capacity. I've never had to consciously plan it out for myself before -- I've always just had it.
 
@buzzy204 Nice, yeah that's a full schedule! Especially once you get back to the gym.

I built up the most endurance by rolling a lot, although I built up the most nagging injuries that way too lol.

My endurance cardio currently revolves around burpees because I find I enjoy that much more than running. Maybe burpees routines could help you as well. They can be tough, but it's good total body work and gets the blood pumping!
 
@dawn16
I built up the most endurance by rolling a lot, although I built up the most nagging injuries that way too lol.
Click to expand...

Lol me, too, brother! Then I figured out that i avoid a lot of injuries if I go into training already conditioned
 
@tessaherrin I'm incorporating it into my current workout as the maximal strength work. What I'm wondering is if there are any Calisthenics gurus out there writing plans to build up the work capacity of multiple strength qualities and the cardiovascular system.
 
@buzzy204 I can help out, I have been coaching and doing personal training for 7 years now, Calisthenics is my specialty. Message me on Instagram Spiderman_beyond

Can help build you a specific calisthenics program for your goals and needs.
 
@buzzy204 FAQ has a program reviews section:

https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/wiki/kb/program_reviews

Ross Enmait has always been my go-to guy for getting into competition shape, but, damn, I am more deconditioned than at any point in my entire life. His Never Gymless program is proving too much for me to recover from. My work capacity is garbage.
Click to expand...

Just dial back to 1/2 volume and build over time.

Doubt you're going to get better S&C advice for fighting sports than Ross' stuff.

My book helps you to incorporate many different things into a routine, but in most cases it's going to be an issue of dialing the right amount of intensity and volume anyway so it's nothing different.
 
@deborah123 It's fantastic to see you chime in! I was thinking about dropping you a line on r/overcominggravity

I pulled out my copy of OG2 and was thinking that if I reduced the strength work to three exercises (push, pull legs) and extended the skill work to include tumbling / jumping / climbing / kettlebells and some sport-specific drills I'd have a pretty solid GPP plan on my hands. I'd do your modified program MWF and do sprints/circuits on Tues and Thurs, all the while concentrating on slowly building up the volume I can recover from.

This is the plan I'm leaning towards because I don't want my body to accommodate to Ross' program just as I'm about to start it for real.

Do you have any thoughts on this?
 
@buzzy204
I pulled out my copy of OG2 and was thinking that if I reduced the strength work to three exercises (push, pull legs) and extended the skill work to include tumbling / jumping / climbing / kettlebells and some sport-specific drills I'd have a pretty solid GPP plan on my hands. I'd do your modified program MWF and do sprints/circuits on Tues and Thurs, all the while concentrating on slowly building up the volume I can recover from.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that can work.

Generally, you need to decide what you think is the most important to you and base everything around that. The example I use for climbing is that if you're primarily a climber who does strength to supplement climbing is you mainly want to build your climbing sessions (3x a week) and then supplement with strength maybe 2x a week for like 20-30 mins max.

The same thing occurs with martial arts or whatever else you are prioritizing. Pick what you mainly want to do, and then base things around that. If you are doing multiple things it gets harder, though you can try to use some form of conjugate periodization for OK gains. IN this method, you'd mainly try to maintain your gains in multiple other attributes like say strength, sprinting, and so on while most of your work goes to say martial arts. Then after a few months you can shift focus and maintain martial arts, sprinting, and so on and focus on bodyweight work for a bit to enhance those. Then you can rotate between the attributes you want to develop while maintaining the other ones.

It's OK as far as progress goes, but not as good as focusing on one thing and using others as a supplement
 
@deborah123 Right now, all I care about is building work capacity, so I think I'll use OG as GPP. I haven't been able to train martial arts since Covid and I'm expecting to go back in January or February, so I'm thinking I'll build my base with OG for a month or two, then hit Never Gymless HARD for a cycle or two and then return to martial arts in great shape.

Thank you for your input! It's really great how available you are with your advice.
 
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