i've had my fair share of reckless calisthenics injuries and slow progress over the years wisdom
is avoiding other people's mistakes so you don't have to suffer what calisthenics injuries have
you experienced and what lessons have you learnt let's have a chat in the comments i'm
going to start with a massively important injury prevention method rep speed during calisthenics
a big calisthenics mistake contributing to injury risk is uncontrolled explosive training
don't get me wrong ballistic or fast reps have their place under certain context let's say
you're going for a maximum attempt it's safe to say you're going to be moving explosively
to display your full potential however in the interest of sustainable progress and long-term
injury prevention this is not a wise method for day-to-day training fast reps especially
when combined with a sloppy negative are highly stressful to the working tendons
an easy way to understand the function of tendons is that act like load-bearing springs
storing and then releasing energy to allow a fast concentric phase but we
have to use a sustainable technique in the interest of reaching our genetic potential
long term the wise approach is to use a controlled eccentric a controlled negative tempo
we're now using our muscles as breaks on the way down this has multiple benefits firstly get ready
to enjoy increased hypertrophy when the working muscles are now dominating every single negative
by contrasting this technique compared to earlier it becomes obvious why injury is less likely
many people get distracted by focusing purely on performance how many reps they're doing what
needs to get more attention is rep quality what standards are being used slower eccentrics also
put less unnecessary strain on the local elbow and shoulder joints tissues and tendons of
significance to the calisthenics athlete is tempo management seriously reduces tendon stress put
simply strength gain occurs much faster compared to the tendon regeneration and degeneration
process getting stronger can happen in a matter of weeks tendon changes occur over the span of months
can you now understand and appreciate why overuse injuries such as golfer's elbow aka tendinopathy
are very common in calisthenics we have a scenario of ambitious hard-working trainees
who don't understand the time-course mismatch of strength and tendon recovery
our nervous system is improving our muscles are getting bigger but the tendon regeneration
lags behind it doesn't matter how tough we are mentally or how passionately we want to improve
we must respect and be patient with the adaptive process of the body or suffer the consequences
control the negative into the transition phase then drive concentrically with maximum intent
think slow on the way down fast on the way up for sustainable strength size and calisthenics gains
use sustainable forms so you can continue to train for life let's lead by example
for future generations intelligent exercise variation is a guaranteed way to remain healthy
get stronger and minimise injury risk from calisthenics we all share a passion for
training each of us run our own personal path of improvement and making progress
you're going to have goals which require dedicated focus through practicing a movement over and over
again it can get monotonous tedious and boring but that's a reality of getting better drilling
the desired movement pattern consistently and aiming for long-term growth is a must those who
remain patient through repetition and discipline are rewarded with gains however there is going to
come a time where plateaus happen no matter what is attempted it can feel impossible to improve
this principle of diminishing returns is an unfortunate reality especially for those who have
been training for longer simply continuing the same exercise without changing leads to stagnation
frustration psychological burnout or increased injury risk the most intelligent plateau buster
is switching things up strategically exercise variation should be considered at the end of a
meso cycle every 6 to 12 weeks for most people in this case horizontal pushing is still the priority
one push-up variation has simply been substituted for another the beauty of
this is an opportunity to vary the stimulus and undergo another cycle of progressive overload
yes experiencing session to session or week to week improvements is going to happen once
again if the gross movement pattern is relatively comparable don't worry about losing previous gains
if anything the novelty of variation is going to address potential weak links be it asymmetry or
stability getting the absolute maximum from our body requires long-term not short-term thinking
remember it's bad to never change exercises and it's also bad to change things constantly be
calculated and be deliberate have faith knowing once you return to whatever exercise you placed
aside it won't take long before your breaking previous plateaus and exceeding your limits
injury risk is seriously reduced when training progressively not aggressively we all know in
order to get bigger and stronger we need to make training harder over time more sets more reps
and increased intensity through progression or added weight where most people slip up is
related to the magnitude of progressive overload huge increases in training volume or intensity
is just asking for problems the risk of an acute injury is higher due to the increased chance
the body can't handle what's being asked muscle strains generally happen when training ambitiously
relative to previous efforts overuse injuries such as tendinopathies are more likely with chronically
large steps in overload more importantly big jumps session to session are not sustainable
in the long term you're smart enough to know the body can only adapt so much and so fast
it needs time and can't be forced those who fall into the trap of aggressively overloading
tend to compare themselves to other people daily training is a battle against yourself
sustainable incremental increases in difficulty is the only way to promote longevity physically
and mentally last but not least avoid failure to stay healthy and make long-term gains
in the interest of improving size strength and skill with calisthenics
leaving a few reps in reserve is the way to go the calisthenics consensus is failure
and training that stops shy of failure produce very comparable results when total work is similar
we're able to optimally stress the muscles and train the nervous system when leaving a
few reps in the tank exercises which have an element of skill benefit even more from reps
in reserve training when incorporating balance and strength it's a highly demanding combination
this benefits from holding back a bit in the interest of aesthetically sound technique
training short of failure is the way to go with compound calisthenics
we all know that strength is a skill too we're a product of what we repeatedly do
so practicing with good technique is going to lead to good technique the reps in reserve method
manages our daily and weekly fatigue allowing higher quality and more frequent training sessions
those who frequently train calisthenics to failure i can see the appeal and the
emotion it's strangely satisfying when you're pushing yourself to the absolute maximum hey
i'll be the first to admit when i'm going close to failure and training quite hard i get some serious
banana back action and uh doesn't look that pretty also it's easier in the sense of eliminating any
planning and critical thinking you just have to train as hard as possible and then chill working
at such a high intensity and under fatigue is not something which can or should be done all the time
acute muscle injuries or chronic consequences are much more likely when failing
but in line with the overall theme of today's video we're not focused on just one hard
workout or one set to failure leaving a rep or two in reserve is still a highly
challenging calisthenics method especially for multiple sets you're able to get an optimally
effective training session manage fatigue and drastically reduce chance of injury
alright legends fitnessfaqs.com for the best calisthenics programs check
us out on youtube for more tutorials and workouts otherwise see you in the next video