STATS:
Age: 30 (started training when I was 28)
Weight: 69kg (fluctuates between 67 and 71)
Some background: I started bboying (breakdancing) when I was 15-16 and only ever did that for fitness for most of my life. (I'm turning 31 soon) Due to a lack of common sense and total disregard for my own safety, I had neglected conditioning as well as proper self care leading to a multitude of minor but chronic injuries that I will now carry along with me for life. The straw that broke the donkey's back however was when I destroyed the cartilage in my right wrist which I allowed to go undiagnosed for about a year before going to the doctor when the pain did not subside. Basically it's now healed incorrectly and to really REALLY fix it, I will need to have surgery but I haven't gotten around to doing it just yet because I have to jump through all sorts of ridiculous hoops because the injury itself is not immediately life-threatening.
To rest my wrist I had to stay off of it completely in the hopes that it would somehow get better. It didn't. And after 6 months of not dancing I was losing strength, confidence and happiness. A rather messy breakup didn't really help my condition during this down time. A friend suggested I start lifting. I didn't like the idea at first because my experience with lifting was gymbros so I tended to shun lifting culture, plus getting huge is detrimental for dancing since size inhibits mobility. It wasn't until I made friends with nicer lifting enthusiasts that I decided to give it a proper try. I still couldn't get into it because the repetitions were just too boring for me personally. (Keep in mind this is coming from having a background in dance where creativity is encouraged so it was a shock to the system to suddenly be advised to repeat isolated movements. I still have a profound respect for those of other disciplines like weight lifting, powerlifting, bodybuilding etc.)
My friend whom is also a bboy and is a few years older than me had gotten into calisthenics about a year earlier but I never really contacted him regarding it. I needed anything to get my mind off my breakup so I started going to workouts with him. It was really fucking hard because he was already averaging 100 reps a session and I could barely manage 3-5 clean in a single set. Being a bit of a gamer nerd I set myself some specific training parameters which brings me to my next point...
My routine (if you can call it that)
Okay I am by no means an expert but people have asked how I train so I'll go into depth here. It's pretty convoluted I must warn but it worked for me so with that in mind lets move on;
When I started Calisthenics I had a bit of a base for strength and was advised that these were the bread-and-butter exercises for all levels and I still stand by them today even though I have since learned more dynamic exercises.
Initially I could only do maybe 3 chin ups in one set. I couldn't even do multiple sets in one session so I began by doing a set when I woke up and a set before I went to bed. I also made sure that I did this EVERY DAY without exception. After about two weeks this became easy so I began introducing one additional rep a week. Here's where it gets convoluted. My prerequisite for adding reps is that I needed to maintain the same amount of reps for seven days. So I did 3 reps, twice a day for seven days before I increased it to 4 reps a set. These sets were always to form failure and not total failure mind you. Now if I failed to reach my current record of reps for even a single set, I would go down to that previous amount and do that for a week before adding the extra rep. eg. If I was doing 5 reps per set and I got to my sixth day and failed on my second set, only reaching 4 reps.... tough shit, I made myself go back to doing 4 reps a set for a week before trying to increase reps again
I did this until I reached about 10 honest reps (no kipping) and maintained that for about 2 weeks. Then I added an additional set to each day. I kept using the same rule about set failure previously. There's also actually many progressions of these exercises so I used them to increase difficulty and intensity without the need to add additional sets once I could do 5 sets in a day. (eg. Slow eccentric reps, doing leg exercises with single legs, aiming to touch my chest to the pullup bar and later aim for the hips, doing all pulling exercises in a strict L-sit position etc..)
I think having a daily goal is much more realistic for people starting out. Once you get stronger you can start to do it in a single session and then later try to complete it within a certain amount of time in one session. Consistency is my only real secret. Working out until you throw up is not what I would recommend for the newbie. Keep it short, fun and manageable by only adding reps when you are obviously finding your current routine too easy. Zig Ziglar said "You don't have to be great to start , but you have to start to be great" And I wholeheartedly agree.
DIET
Okay I may cop shit for this but I had a pretty poor diet starting out. I had a small tin of tuna three times a day. I also had baked beans once or twice a day and for dinner I ate pretty much whatever I wanted. On occasion I would have sushi. I didn't meal prep so I had canned food and sushi because it was convenient.
After about 3 months I started making a salad which consisted of 2 fruit and 5 vegies which I selected at random then diced and combined with dressing. I brought tubs of this around with me everywhere and had a cup of it before eating whatever I wanted afterwards. I have always had a very good metabolism and bodybuilding is not my goal so I never really developed eating discipline. I eat three times a day so I had three cups of those fruit n veg along with whatever else I eat. The goal here was to fill up on salad so that there was less room in my stomach for junk.
Once again because of my metabolism I've pretty much ate whatever I wanted without gaining weight however as I got fitter I tried to eat better quality food and now I prep meals at home because having a better diet does give better results no matter what you're doing. My meals aren't that fancy, usually cauliflower, broccoli, bell peppers, carrots with chicken and heavy sauce and rice. It's repetitive but I don't really care. I also don't have cheat days, so I eat whatever junk food I want, when I want. Truth be told, I was eating nothing but that salad and chicken at one point for so long that I kind of detoxed from junk food and sweets so I can't even have too much of that without feeling sick now. I still have junk food at least once a day but I never really have so much that it impedes my progress.
I'm pretty damn casual compared with others whom bodybuild or compete so take my diet as purely anecdotal and not dietary advice.
I apologise for shitty formatting. Feel free to ask questions or yell at me for not being concise.
Progress Photos
EDIT 1: Words. I am bad at words.
A lot have asked so I'll add what my current bread'n'butter routine looks like now. Keep in mind that these are daily totals, so some days I might do two sets in the morning and two sets in the evening, others I may do all my circuits in one session. I mix things constantly to keep it interesting (plus it's really hard to balance strength/endurance/hypertrophy) I've also added a couple of videos to show what kinds of things I'm doing with my training now. Obviously I'm not doing exactly the same thing as when I first started.
Since getting stronger I would adjust my routine by looking up prerequisite exercises for more advanced movements (I focused more on dips and chin ups for months whilst I tried to develop the strength for muscle ups as an example.) But these core exercises are the foundation for most more advanced progressions and movements. Here is an example of goal-specific exercises.
Some have questioned the legitimacy of my gains. I will say that I had a few inconsistent cycles of creatine when I started out which is why some of my earlier progress photos were all over the place. I phased myself off of that eventually because I simply can't drink that much water on top of the water/amino acids I drink daily plus I felt that the added water weight in combination with my inability to cycle it consistently gave me an unrealistic impression of progress.
I also initially had protein shakes twice a day but I couldn't afford that so I tried to simply eat more. Eventually I did buy protein although I only saved it for when I didn't have the time to eat a proper meal because of how expensive lean (and tasty) protein supplements are. I rarely have protein shakes now.
EDIT 2: Another note on adjustment of the routine according to ratios. I have personally found that a Pull
ush:Legs of 1:2:3 has prevented muscle imbalance but feel free to come up with one of your own based on what your current goals are. I would usually formulate my daily routine by basing the number around my WEAKEST exercise... so here's an example of a "routine" I followed for two weeks.
In this case my weakest exercise was push ups after going overboard with pulling exercises when I started out. I was able to do 8 pull ups however I could not do 16 push ups in a single set. What I could do however was 12 push ups so I readjusted my ratios based on my weakest link which became as such;
It may be hard to feel like doing anything at all if you can't even follow someone else's routine. Do what you can, set goals that are challenging but realistic and constantly review your progress and make the necessary adjustments. I prefer to progressively load my routine based on performance milestones which is more subjective rather than time which can be seen as too objective or unachievable for some. You might know somebody that went from 10 push ups to 20 in a week but you're not that guy... You are you and the sooner you get a feel for what you're capable of, the sooner you can craft your own routine that will help you reach your goals.
Age: 30 (started training when I was 28)
Weight: 69kg (fluctuates between 67 and 71)
Some background: I started bboying (breakdancing) when I was 15-16 and only ever did that for fitness for most of my life. (I'm turning 31 soon) Due to a lack of common sense and total disregard for my own safety, I had neglected conditioning as well as proper self care leading to a multitude of minor but chronic injuries that I will now carry along with me for life. The straw that broke the donkey's back however was when I destroyed the cartilage in my right wrist which I allowed to go undiagnosed for about a year before going to the doctor when the pain did not subside. Basically it's now healed incorrectly and to really REALLY fix it, I will need to have surgery but I haven't gotten around to doing it just yet because I have to jump through all sorts of ridiculous hoops because the injury itself is not immediately life-threatening.
To rest my wrist I had to stay off of it completely in the hopes that it would somehow get better. It didn't. And after 6 months of not dancing I was losing strength, confidence and happiness. A rather messy breakup didn't really help my condition during this down time. A friend suggested I start lifting. I didn't like the idea at first because my experience with lifting was gymbros so I tended to shun lifting culture, plus getting huge is detrimental for dancing since size inhibits mobility. It wasn't until I made friends with nicer lifting enthusiasts that I decided to give it a proper try. I still couldn't get into it because the repetitions were just too boring for me personally. (Keep in mind this is coming from having a background in dance where creativity is encouraged so it was a shock to the system to suddenly be advised to repeat isolated movements. I still have a profound respect for those of other disciplines like weight lifting, powerlifting, bodybuilding etc.)
My friend whom is also a bboy and is a few years older than me had gotten into calisthenics about a year earlier but I never really contacted him regarding it. I needed anything to get my mind off my breakup so I started going to workouts with him. It was really fucking hard because he was already averaging 100 reps a session and I could barely manage 3-5 clean in a single set. Being a bit of a gamer nerd I set myself some specific training parameters which brings me to my next point...
My routine (if you can call it that)
Okay I am by no means an expert but people have asked how I train so I'll go into depth here. It's pretty convoluted I must warn but it worked for me so with that in mind lets move on;
When I started Calisthenics I had a bit of a base for strength and was advised that these were the bread-and-butter exercises for all levels and I still stand by them today even though I have since learned more dynamic exercises.
- Pull ups/Chin ups
- Push ups
- Dips
- Squats
- Calf Raises
- 3 Chin Ups/3 Pull ups
- 6 Push ups
- 9 Dips
- 9 Squats
- 12 Calf Raises
Initially I could only do maybe 3 chin ups in one set. I couldn't even do multiple sets in one session so I began by doing a set when I woke up and a set before I went to bed. I also made sure that I did this EVERY DAY without exception. After about two weeks this became easy so I began introducing one additional rep a week. Here's where it gets convoluted. My prerequisite for adding reps is that I needed to maintain the same amount of reps for seven days. So I did 3 reps, twice a day for seven days before I increased it to 4 reps a set. These sets were always to form failure and not total failure mind you. Now if I failed to reach my current record of reps for even a single set, I would go down to that previous amount and do that for a week before adding the extra rep. eg. If I was doing 5 reps per set and I got to my sixth day and failed on my second set, only reaching 4 reps.... tough shit, I made myself go back to doing 4 reps a set for a week before trying to increase reps again
I did this until I reached about 10 honest reps (no kipping) and maintained that for about 2 weeks. Then I added an additional set to each day. I kept using the same rule about set failure previously. There's also actually many progressions of these exercises so I used them to increase difficulty and intensity without the need to add additional sets once I could do 5 sets in a day. (eg. Slow eccentric reps, doing leg exercises with single legs, aiming to touch my chest to the pullup bar and later aim for the hips, doing all pulling exercises in a strict L-sit position etc..)
I think having a daily goal is much more realistic for people starting out. Once you get stronger you can start to do it in a single session and then later try to complete it within a certain amount of time in one session. Consistency is my only real secret. Working out until you throw up is not what I would recommend for the newbie. Keep it short, fun and manageable by only adding reps when you are obviously finding your current routine too easy. Zig Ziglar said "You don't have to be great to start , but you have to start to be great" And I wholeheartedly agree.
DIET
Okay I may cop shit for this but I had a pretty poor diet starting out. I had a small tin of tuna three times a day. I also had baked beans once or twice a day and for dinner I ate pretty much whatever I wanted. On occasion I would have sushi. I didn't meal prep so I had canned food and sushi because it was convenient.
After about 3 months I started making a salad which consisted of 2 fruit and 5 vegies which I selected at random then diced and combined with dressing. I brought tubs of this around with me everywhere and had a cup of it before eating whatever I wanted afterwards. I have always had a very good metabolism and bodybuilding is not my goal so I never really developed eating discipline. I eat three times a day so I had three cups of those fruit n veg along with whatever else I eat. The goal here was to fill up on salad so that there was less room in my stomach for junk.
Once again because of my metabolism I've pretty much ate whatever I wanted without gaining weight however as I got fitter I tried to eat better quality food and now I prep meals at home because having a better diet does give better results no matter what you're doing. My meals aren't that fancy, usually cauliflower, broccoli, bell peppers, carrots with chicken and heavy sauce and rice. It's repetitive but I don't really care. I also don't have cheat days, so I eat whatever junk food I want, when I want. Truth be told, I was eating nothing but that salad and chicken at one point for so long that I kind of detoxed from junk food and sweets so I can't even have too much of that without feeling sick now. I still have junk food at least once a day but I never really have so much that it impedes my progress.
I'm pretty damn casual compared with others whom bodybuild or compete so take my diet as purely anecdotal and not dietary advice.
I apologise for shitty formatting. Feel free to ask questions or yell at me for not being concise.
Progress Photos
EDIT 1: Words. I am bad at words.
A lot have asked so I'll add what my current bread'n'butter routine looks like now. Keep in mind that these are daily totals, so some days I might do two sets in the morning and two sets in the evening, others I may do all my circuits in one session. I mix things constantly to keep it interesting (plus it's really hard to balance strength/endurance/hypertrophy) I've also added a couple of videos to show what kinds of things I'm doing with my training now. Obviously I'm not doing exactly the same thing as when I first started.
- 3-4 sets of 15 dead hang pull ups (to chest) example
- 2-4 sets of 25-40 push ups example (at 400% speed)
- 2-3 sets of 30-50 bodyweight squats
- 2-3 sets of dips to form failure Example (with artificial mechanical disadvantage)
- 2-3 sets of 25 calf raises
Since getting stronger I would adjust my routine by looking up prerequisite exercises for more advanced movements (I focused more on dips and chin ups for months whilst I tried to develop the strength for muscle ups as an example.) But these core exercises are the foundation for most more advanced progressions and movements. Here is an example of goal-specific exercises.
Some have questioned the legitimacy of my gains. I will say that I had a few inconsistent cycles of creatine when I started out which is why some of my earlier progress photos were all over the place. I phased myself off of that eventually because I simply can't drink that much water on top of the water/amino acids I drink daily plus I felt that the added water weight in combination with my inability to cycle it consistently gave me an unrealistic impression of progress.
I also initially had protein shakes twice a day but I couldn't afford that so I tried to simply eat more. Eventually I did buy protein although I only saved it for when I didn't have the time to eat a proper meal because of how expensive lean (and tasty) protein supplements are. I rarely have protein shakes now.
EDIT 2: Another note on adjustment of the routine according to ratios. I have personally found that a Pull
ush:Legs of 1:2:3 has prevented muscle imbalance but feel free to come up with one of your own based on what your current goals are. I would usually formulate my daily routine by basing the number around my WEAKEST exercise... so here's an example of a "routine" I followed for two weeks.In this case my weakest exercise was push ups after going overboard with pulling exercises when I started out. I was able to do 8 pull ups however I could not do 16 push ups in a single set. What I could do however was 12 push ups so I readjusted my ratios based on my weakest link which became as such;
- 6 pull ups
- 12 push ups
- 12 dips
- 15 squats
- 18 calf raises
It may be hard to feel like doing anything at all if you can't even follow someone else's routine. Do what you can, set goals that are challenging but realistic and constantly review your progress and make the necessary adjustments. I prefer to progressively load my routine based on performance milestones which is more subjective rather than time which can be seen as too objective or unachievable for some. You might know somebody that went from 10 push ups to 20 in a week but you're not that guy... You are you and the sooner you get a feel for what you're capable of, the sooner you can craft your own routine that will help you reach your goals.