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Calisthenics / Body Wt Training


Evan Raftopoulos

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This thread is devoted to anything related to calisthenics/ body wt training. Feel free to share your videos, workout routines, goals, challenges. Thank you David for this great idea.

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for those interested, two exercises that helped me do one arm pullup/chinup:

1. assisted one arm pullup with opposite hand assist using a pulley system (can use dips belt). Start with let’s say 20 pounds, then 15 pounds, 10, 5 and eventually do one arm pullup without assist

2. archer pull ups and chin ups

My best attempt was one arm pullup + 20 pounds, I was able to do 25 pounds but not full ROM, will post a vid with my best attempt when I try this again

Edited by Evan Raftopoulos
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Nice 1-arm chins! I can't wait until I can get back to training with them. I said this on an earlier thread and it was met with crickets, but the stronger your obliques, the more stability you have (and less pain resulting from body swing) when doing a one-arm pull-up.

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Yeah really strong Evan, I've had the OAC as a goal since I joined the board pretty much. Have been close in the past but never managed to get one because of tendonitis halting my training. Am going to start work on them again once I can get a chin up with +70kg. Currently around 65 (missed it by a hair but at the end of a session when I had been deadlifting so back was pretty tired).

Did you do anything particularly to help prevent elbow problems, or just take it nice and steady?

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Way to start off the thread with some real solud one arm chinups!

I'm nowhere near doing one arm chinups ATM. I can hold my self for some time and lower with control. But I lack the power to actually pull my body up.

Did some pretty solid typewriter pullups today though.

My cleanest set of typewriters I did today is up on my IG.

https://instagram.com/p/23_NHHOXH9/

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Nice 1-arm chins! I can't wait until I can get back to training with them. I said this on an earlier thread and it was met with crickets, but the stronger your obliques, the more stability you have (and less pain resulting from body swing) when doing a one-arm pull-up.

thank you James, I imagine it helps with arm wrestling. A goal of mine is to compete in arm wrestling in a year or so and I want to build as much strength as possible with pulling and hook pressure before I enter a comp. I just started training for arm wrestling with body wt exercises using a strap at a pullup bar. I ‘m planning on posting a vid here at some point. I agree about the obliques and the swing, too much movement can cause discomfort in the shoulder and end your attempt.

Yeah really strong Evan, I've had the OAC as a goal since I joined the board pretty much. Have been close in the past but never managed to get one because of tendonitis halting my training. Am going to start work on them again once I can get a chin up with +70kg. Currently around 65 (missed it by a hair but at the end of a session when I had been deadlifting so back was pretty tired).

Did you do anything particularly to help prevent elbow problems, or just take it nice and steady?

thank you Patrick, I think progressive/ frequent loading helped, which is also a rehab principle. Have you tried the assisted OAC with pulley? If I had to chose one exercise that would be it. For me elbow and shoulder pain comes and goes but never stays too long or even limits my ability to train for this. But everybody has different experiences and perspectives on pain. My body seems to respond better with pushing a little bit through the pain. This could change at some point, I’ve been lucky so far.

Way to start off the thread with some real solud one arm chinups!

I'm nowhere near doing one arm chinups ATM. I can hold my self for some time and lower with control. But I lack the power to actually pull my body up.

Did some pretty solid typewriter pullups today though.

My cleanest set of typewriters I did today is up on my IG.

https://instagram.com/p/23_NHHOXH9/

Nice brother, based on that video I say you are not far from doing OAC. You have good strength for the mid to end range if you can do typewriters like that. Usually the toughest part is the initiation from hang position and first 15-30 degrees of bending the elbow. Once you master that then you’ll do it imo. Look forward to seeing your progress.

Excellent one arms!!

Great thread as well

thank you David!

Still got it.

Nice man! I have to try the barbell pistol.

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maybe we should get Michael Hann (Ivarboneless) to also post here, the guy is very strong with calisthenics, there’s a vid of him doing OAC +35 pounds. From what he told me he’s retired from gymnastics but he is still competing in armwrestling slowly coming back from an injury.

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but the stronger your obliques, the more stability you have (and less pain resulting from body swing) when doing a one-arm pull-up.

I agree about the obliques and the swing, too much movement can cause discomfort in the shoulder and end your attempt.

I tried this isometric hold with the eagle loops and 20 pound kettlebell. I could have stayed there longer but once I started rotating it created too much stress on the shoulder and had to let go

OAC isometric.MOV

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btw is there a better website/application than youtube that people can post short vids and link for feedback/discussion?

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Mike seems to be too be busy doing one arm chins to post, so the answer is yes it's still easy.

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In my humble fat opinion this is only admirable if you're over 220. If I was 150 I could do one arm chins too.

Adam irrgang at 250+ did a one arm in front of me once....

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he is busy with law school finals.

you can always do more reps or add wt. I think "admirable" is different for everybody. For example, I might find impressive things that I cannot do with arm wrestling which to you might not be a big deal.

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In my humble fat opinion this is only admirable if you're over 220. If I was 150 I could do one arm chins too.

Adam irrgang at 250+ did a one arm in front of me once....

Obviously you're entitled to your opinion, but as someone who has spent a lot of time in gyms and generally being amongst some very, very athletic individuals - I have never seen a OAC in person. From anyone at any weight. Obviously the heavier you are the more difficult any bodyweight skill is to obtain because of simple physics, but to say that a OAC isn't admirable for a guy who is say 90kg or even 70kg is, in my humble opinion, a bit ridiculous. Perhaps if you were to go simply reduce bodyweight to 150lbs you could do one, but I can almost guarantee that in doing that you'd lose an awful lot of strength too, and so the skill would still be very challenging.

At any rate, I don't want to turn this into more of a rant than it already is, but it always irks me when heavier guys degrade the efforts of our lighter brethren on the basis of 'oh I could do that if i weighted x amount', it's BS. You must keep some phenomenally strong company to not see an OAC as admirable at any weight.

Edited by PatrickMeniru
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I have seen a lot of one arm chins, as someone that was an armwrestler for a long time and trained in different parts of the world you get exposed to a lot of freaks :) I was able to do 3 with my right arm when I weighed 165. I understand what Mike is saying, at 220 I was subtantially stronger (had more bodyfat) and could do a slow negative despite the fact that I could do 30 pull-ups from a neutral grip. I saw Alexi Vovoeda doing one arm chins at a weight of 255 (in 2003) at the Worlds and thought I could also do that if he could. When I cut to 187 in 2011 for nationals I was able to do one, pretty decent (with a little hop) OAC. With all of that said, I am still very impressed by people that can do one even though I had a training partner that barely worked out do one the first time he ever tried. I know how much training I had to do for it so I certainly respect anyone at any weight that can do it.

Edited by James Retarides
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I get what Mike is trying to say, but based on my experience I agree with Patrick and James, regardless of wt it ain’t easy and requires a lot of training. I'm ~165 and the first time I tried this I thought it was impossible for me even with training.

I think Mike's argument is similar to a lighter guy saying that a coc 3 close or heavy lift is not impressive unless the person is less than 180 pounds or something.

Edited by Evan Raftopoulos
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btw another great way to train for the OAC is with the assistance of a superband on a pullup bar while you step on it. I use the .75" to do OAC for reps, I think it helps wiht "muscle memory". When I do regular pullups with this I feel I'm gonna fly. These are also nice for pulling for arm wrestling training.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Managed a flag hold a couple of days ago for a really solid amount of time, around 10 seconds, will try and get someone to record an attempt at some point soon, but my shoulder is still a bit iffy. Here's a video showing my handstand - I've been working on it for years but feel like I'm finally getting the hang of the balance. Also show where I'm at with my front lever and a few L-sit pull ups at the end.

Edited by PatrickMeniru
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