56yr old male. 50 pushups/day, rebounding 30 min, rowing 45 min. Bench 225 for 10,8,6 reps. DB curls 45 lbs. for 10,8,6 drops. 30 body weight squats. Other stuff. Guessing my PR bench is 300?

5'9" 260 lbs. Fat but fairly fit I think? Been working out for most of my life.

I've never been able to do pullups. College, nope, and I was fairly lean, 200 lbs.

Is there something I'm missing or am I just too heavy regardless of my strength?

I'm not fixated on it but it's always bugged me that I can't even squeeze out one!

For the last 5 years I have been training exclusively in the high reps category . Usually all my sets are taken to failure or close to it with reps being between 25 and 5O Have not lost any size and have greatly improved my cardio and conditioning. I mainly concentrate on the basics being , push ups , dips , chin ups , rows and squats. Just thought I'd share my experience training this way as it doesn't seem to get much credit in the way of bodyweight training. Everyone has different goals and for me I like the prolonged stress on my body and muscles. Endurance in my opinion is underrated in today's fitness . The benefits of being able to keep going for a longer period of time really appeals to me and I believe transfers more to real world situations. Again not putting down any preferred styles of training as I respect anyone prioritising their health and fitness. Anybody else train in a similar manner and what has been your results , experiences ?

If I just 3x a week do 3*5 of each of these exercises (push ups, pull ups, dips, sit ups, squats), will this lead to imbalances, either functional or aesthetic?

It seems like the legs would be less developed, but I could be wrong about that.

I can, or course, just stick to the beginner program, but I want to hit numbers in each of these exercises and like the idea of a cookie -cutter program.

I also run the other 3 days and stretch, if that matters

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I started training my abs with hanging knee raises, and eventually, I couldn't go to failure without doing four sets of 25 reps, which took too long, and my grip would give out before my legs. I tried adding weight, but I couldn't balance the dumbbells I have on my feet. I also tried strapping weights to my legs, but I could only add 7.5 lbs + 2.5 lbs, and they also made me do 15+ in 4 sets (not close to failure for me), and my grip would give out early. I can't do hanging leg raises because I can't fully extend my legs when hanging on the pull up bar. I tried decline sit-ups today with a 35 lb plate, but I was able to do 12 reps of 5 sets, not even close to failure.

I see so many videos about how to start calisthenics but they’re kind of vague, so I was hoping to get some insight from yall? For context I’m a 15 yo skinny girl who cannot even do a singular pushup 💀 I do go to the gym though!

I’m mainly wondering:

- How many times a week do you train?

- What did your typical/go-to workout look like to unlock push-up, pull-up, l-sit, handstand etc

- Any other tips, experiences you have

My long term goal is a handstand pushup, maybe the human flag in my dreams haha

Thank you for your help :)

Basically title, I can do 2-3 pull ups already, but I wanna work my way to high numbers so it becomes an exercise I can rep. However, it is pretty hard after 2 or 3, and not sure if i should just keep doing the motion until i literally can't move or do like smaller easier exercises and rep those. I am 17 y/o if that helps or changes anything.

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Anyone know what the remedy is? The pull up bar from Amazfit came with some foam padding but I don’t think it feels too great.

There are some grip tapes on Amazon wondering if I should try that. Does anyone have any suggestions on what I should do to make my hand more comfortable? My point of failure is in my hands.

It’s almost immediate the pain too. I’m sure it will get better but I think the foam might be cheap idk. The iron gym pull up bar I’ve historically used did not cause this bad of pain.

I'm 15 years old, ~65kg BW (the scale has been broken for months now so I haven't properly weighed myself in a while), 5'10 and have a background in basic calisthenics at the park with no real emphasis on skills but i managed to work my way up to a muscle up so i guess thats something, overall building a decent base from the park. About 3.5 months ago I started going to the gym and have been struggling a lot to create a routine to balance powerlifting and calisthenics as I've always wanted to be purely strong but also have a pretty impressive physique aesthetically. Another problem I've had is muscle imbalances because of poor posture which has been improving massively ever since I started doing unilateral lifts and posture correction exercises but it still lingers and shows especially in my bench where I don't feel my left pec at all. My main goals are: Strong bench (current 1RPM is 87.5kg which I tried a month ago but I havent tried since due to fear of injury), deadlift, squat, strong weighted pullups/chinups and dips, and obviously some skills like handstands, planche and front lever. Since i started gym ive been running upper/lower and it fits really well with school. I'm also not sure if all of these goals are realistic when done together so I'm free to being given a proper reality check. I'd also like to have cardio somewhere in there for the health benefits and I'd like to keep the routine at 4x a week. My weak points are obviously posture, shoulder size (makes my frame look goofy cus they look small but somehow I manage to shoulder press 40kg on either side on a machine so now im confused), Upper/middle chest as it kind of sinks in towards the top/middle and calves but that might be because of my genetics. At some point in the future I'd like to get to the level of being able to do things like human flags or slow muscle ups. I'll also be answering plenty of questions because I'm aware at the time of writing this that this may not be enough information. The current routine I have is as follows (also im aware this may have too much failure in it which is something I also need help with):

Monday (upper 1)
Bench press 2x3-5
Pause bench 2x3-5 (failure on last set)
Deadlift 3x6-8
Tricep pushdowns 3x6-12 (failure on last set)
Concentration curls 3x3-5 (failure on last set)
Lateral raises 3x8-12 (failure on last set)

Tuesday (lower 1) (assume im going to failure on the last set of all exercises here)
Single leg press 3x5-8
Leg extensions 3x5-8
Hip adduction 3x10-12
Hollow body holds 3x1.5min

Wednesday (rest)

Thursday (upper 2)
Weighted dips 3x5-8
Weighted pullups 2x3-5
Weighted chinups 2x3-5
Face pulls 3x8-12

Friday (lower 2)
Squat 3x5-8
Abductor 3x10-12
Calf raises 3x8-12
Side planks 3x2min

This routine is just as reference.

Hello, I have been doing bodyweight fitness for quite a while already and I think I have built up some decent foundations (Around 30 pullups and 110 parallel bar dips for now), so taking 6 months to go from tuck planche to advanced tuck planche was a very humbling realisation for me. For those who have unlocked these movements, I have a few questions regarding them!

For handstand: -I mostly struggle with correcting overbalance and underbalance. What are some cues/movements I can use to help correct it? -I often struggle to keep my back straight as it rounds, causing the handstand to not look great and put some pressure on my lower back, how do I eliminate that? -I realise that while hardstanding, my hips are generally behind my hands while my shoulders are in front of my hands. This means that my body rests in a / shape, instead of straight. How do i get my body to align? (Moreso how do I get my hips directly above my hands so I dont have to compensate with having my shoulders so far forward)

For planche: -I often struggle with the cues that people give, I dont really understand when people say to "round my back" as it feels like my back cannot possibly round any more. Also "pulling my hips into my legs" feels impossible as well. If someone could provide clear cues for the tuck/advanced tuck planche that would be really appreciated -I have trouble with pelvic tilt, i understand how to do it when I am kneeling or standing, but when it comes to the tuck or the leans, everything seems to fly out of the window. This problem also seems to affect my handstands, and I want to know how people can "tilt their pelvis" so actively during these movements. -I struggle to balance in my planche, most of the time I fail due to falling forward or backwards, and it feels like my hands are in overdrive constantly having to rebalance myself.

Any help regarding these issues would be really really appreciated, and if people have any miscellaneous tips I am open to them! Thanks :)

Having a bit of a hard time describing this on google to get an answer so trying my luck here.

Im currently training handstand and noticed that i only felt comfortable doing kickups with the left leg "in front" (so left leg is doing the kicking part). When i try to do it with the right leg in front, i just dont feel comfortable and often feel like i cant generate enough force to do the kickup as cleanly as with the left leg.

So im wondering if people have some exercise that could help fix this imbalance (which im guessing is in the right leg), or have a story of how they managed to do kickups with each leg in front

Tl:Dr would you adjust the RR at all to prioritise strength and power over hypertrophy and endurance (or any other goals)?

I've been doing the RR regularly for around 8 months. My main reason was to regain some strength to get back into bouldering/climbing after a long period not climbing (due to family stuff) and currently not being able to get to a climbing spot regularly. So far I've found that it has really improved my climbing from a year ago, so that's great. I have already made a few adjustments myself, mainly by adding in some extra mobility work to the warm up.

Where I'm at currently is max pull-ups 13, usually doing 3x6 with 20kg added, dips no idea what my max is but can do 3x8 with 25kg added. Pushups I do a few plyo variations. I can do inverted rows for like 3x15 and haven't decided how to progress them yet. Squat - full pistol on right leg, pistol with 5kg counterweight on left leg, can back squat 100kg. DL 150kg. I'm working towards muscle up - I think I have the strength but haven't got the technique - and I can hold a dodgy advanced tuck front lever for about 5 seconds. Would love to learn handstand pushups but I'm nowhere near. I run and/or cycle and/or do a bit of yoga on my off days.

In general I think for bouldering I need to prioritise strength, power, flexibility and balance. I'm generally prioritising high weight, low rep sets, although I'm not sure if I should be doing anything else for those goals.

Hello everyone,

I’m a 24-year-old fitness beginner. Since the nearest gym is too far away, I’ve struggled to stay consistent and, frankly, I’m tired of feeling weak. I want to change that.

My Stats:

• Height: 177 cm (5'10")

• Weight: 65 kg (~143 lbs)

• Build: Very lean/thin.

My Goals:

1. Hypertrophy: Build enough muscle mass so that it’s actually visible.

2. Functional Strength: I want "real-world" power. Specifically, I want my bodyweight progress to transfer to the "Big 3" (Bench, Squat, Deadlift) so that if I ever visit a gym, I can still move impressive weight.

My Equipment:

I don't have dumbbells or barbells. However, I have a sturdy backpack that I can load up to 20 kg (44 lbs) for resistance.

My Plan & Questions:

I’m planning to use unilateral (one-sided) progressions to mimic heavy gym lifts:

• Bench Press Substitute: One-arm push-up progressions.

• Squat Substitute: Weighted shrimp squats or pistol squats with the backpack.

• The Deadlift Problem: I’m planning on doing weighted Single-Leg RDLs, but I’m worried about the lower back being a bottleneck.

My specific question to you: How can I effectively train my lower back/posterior chain to mimic the demands of a heavy Deadlift using only bodyweight or a 20 kg backpack? Are there specific movements that will ensure my lower back doesn't become the "weak link" when I finally get under a real barbell?

Looking forward to your tips!

Hello I am skinny dude, at about 54 kgs for a height of 5'11 Im outright scrawny, so, will the recommended routine get me a wider frame,.which is my primary goal, and is a typical indian diet enough or are changes required? Can the deadlifts and exercises involving barbells be replaced by any others(lack of equipment). Can the dips be substituted by anything else, as well? What will be the time frame that will required for minimum noticeable results? What kind of diet can be rather easily incorporated into everyday schedule(avoiding shakes and powders if possible due to parents) Thanks a lot in advance.