Getting Leaner With Progressive Calisthenics And Strength
“The Goal of calisthenics is to master one’s own body. The fatter you are the more difficult this becomes. Once you begin training regularly in calisthenics, the subconscious mind makes the connection between a leaner body weight and easier training, and regulates appetite and eating habits automatically. I know this is true— I’ve seen it myself on many occasions. Guys who take up bodyweight training naturally drop flab.” (p27 Coach Paul Wade, Convict Conditioning)
For most of my adult life, I’ve been around many individuals with decent to a high level of physical fitness. Everyone could run, jump, perform a pull-up/dead-hang, and all were relatively thin. For those that weren’t, they would be put on unique plans where someone in the unit would take them on an extra run as well as monitor what they eat. Coming to the civilian world it's pretty much the same set of tools. Long-distance cardio along with the calories in/out paradigm. When I was working as a trainer at a gym for a short period we had a program in which we either monitored or advised various meal plans for our clients through an app. (Hardly anyone used it). It was frustrating to use and made you want to commit an act of violence on your computer.
*Gif*
I do believe that what you eat matters but not so much calorie counting as I have touched on in the past. One of the main reasons was that it wasn’t really a thing until recent human history and it overcomplicates things. But, that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t work. The best tools are those that are simple and effective. This is why sometimes, I’d focus more on their bodyweight strength and overall strength than anything else.
Progressive Calisthenics Instead
Is there a subconscious fat-loss effect from progressive calisthenics training? Maybe. The author I quoted above is still anonymous though I can vouch for a good chunk of the information he gives out.
Now keep in mind there are big dudes who do some calisthenics moves like Bert Asserati and Paul Anderson though it was mostly in the field of handstand work. I don’t believe they did much advanced bodyweight work in the realm of pull-ups and squats.
But, approaching this from a common sense standpoint I believe that the better you get at moving your body around in short bursts of strength and stamina the more pounds will be shed. This is one of the reasons I value sprints over long-distance running but I would place walking just below sprints.
Best - Sprints
Second Best - Brisk Walking
Ok - Long Distance Running.
But, luckily a new study just dropped showing that when you train to or close to failure you are triggering more fat burning.
I guess this is one of the many reasons I don’t like scientism or this reliance on research studies as the pillar of truth. Some of my thoughts surrounding fitness and health would get me laughed out of the room by most experts but along comes a study and everybody drops what they're doing to analyze it like it’s manna from heaven. Even if it's about something that seems common sense. If you train hard and give yourself ample rest, over time you will improve your body composition.
Get stronger with your squats, pull-ups, and push-ups in order to see more pounds fall off. Here’s how I programmed it for my clients.
Push
We had a series of blocks in the gym at 6’’, 12’’, 24’’, & 36.’’ These were used by folks to perform box jumps but I would wipe them down and use them for elevated push-ups. I would stack some of the boxes to achieve a certain height so one client would be doing a push-up at 42 inches of elevation while another would be at 36 and another at 40. I would track their number of reps over time either increasing their total number of reps or the difficulty of their push-up by changing the level from a 40 down to a 36.
This doesn’t have to be with just a regular push-up, this overtime can act as a progression step to get to the perfect one-arm push-up.
Pull
I would do the same with bodyweight rows which in the gym all I had to use was the TRX bands. A stable bar at chest or abdomen height would be ideal. But along the same principle, I would keep track of their numbers and angle to the ground. The smaller the angle the more difficult the bodyweight row will become. Eventually, once you can do a metric ton of these jumping into full pull-ups will be much easier. I think two to three sets of 20 will provide enough of a strength base.
Squats
Regular squats don’t provide enough difficulty for most which is why I would often choose the lunge press.
It's like any other lunge except you stay on one leg for the entirety of the set be it 10, 15, or 20 reps then switch.
If this was too easy for them I’d utilize the deep lunge which provided them a greater range of motion that can better aid one’s muscular development as well as tendon integrity growth. It’s the same as the lunge press only on an elevated surface.
Core
Any type of hanging leg raise is ideal however most don’t have the grip strength or shoulder stability for such a movement. Therefore I would utilize either the hollow crunch or the knee tuck.
Machines
I’m not big on machines as due to our modern lifestyle our bodies are detrained as it is. Training in a compartmentalized fashion could make you stronger on that specific machine as well as build muscle, but you will not be establishing a proper length-tension relationship between your various muscle groups nor will you be improving your tendons. Additionally, you will not be improving your coordination. This coordination and balance that occurs while performing various calisthenics will add to the pounds being shed.
With that said, machines can break up the monotony once in a while and can act as a stepping stone for bodyweight exercises. For some of my clients that weren’t comfortable with bodyweight rows on the TRX the cable row, or the machine row would be used. On these, I would track and improve their progress over time but not just through movement…
Placing the weight on whatever machine they were using to its highest setting I transformed that machine into an overcoming isometric device. Unfortunately, some of them started getting too strong even for that so I had to graduate them to unilateral work lol.
Other gadgets
The only other gadget I used was the weighted sled. These are nice in the gym for those who can’t do much for their legs due to old knee injuries. The weight and speed the client will be pushing will correspond with the adaptation you're trying to trigger.
Light = Speed & Power
Medium = Stamina or Muscle Building
Heavy = Brute Strength
Improvements
I was successful in getting my clients stronger. In some sessions, if they had a tough week at work, I would cut back on the intensity because it’s how much you improve that matters. Their body composition did improve though not as much as I would like. We had a scale that would measure your fat and muscle and save that information so one could track their progress over time. I was still a new trainer at the time. Knowing what I know now getting them to their goals would be much easier.
Wrap Up
Increasing one’s strength, especially when it comes to calisthenics, is an effective tool to add to your journey toward a better body composition. By itself, it can work to a degree. I’ve noticed that the closer I get to the one-arm pull-up the more I tend to lean out. But it is not the only thing.
Progressive Calisthenics
Brisk Walking Throughout The Day(especially before your first meal)
Limit Seed Oil Consumption to a meal or two a week
If you incorporate these three I believe there will be very little need to weigh your food and spend half your day on a calculator.
Thank you for making it to the end and comments are below.
Until next time…
“Your subconscious mind realizes that because you are moving your body’s own weight, excessive eating is the last thing you should do in order to reach your goal.” (p 251 Coach Paul Wade, Convict Conditioning)
