Calisthenics X Mobility: Strong & Supple

The content of this book was carefully researched. However, readers should always consult a qualified medical specialist for individual advice before adopting any new exercise plan. This book should not be used as an alternative to seeking specialist medical advice.

All information is supplied without liability. Neither the authors nor the publisher will be liable for possible disadvantages, injuries, or damages.

British Library of Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Original title: Calisthenics X Mobility, © 2019 by Meyer & Meyer Verlag

Calisthenics & Mobility

Maidenhead: Meyer & Meyer Sport (UK) Ltd., 2021

9781782558705

All rights reserved, especially the right to copy and distribute, including the translation rights. No part of this work may be reproduced–including by photocopy, microfilm or any other means–processed, stored electronically, copied or distributed in any form whatsoever without the written permission of the publisher.

© 2021 by Meyer & Meyer Sport (UK) Ltd.

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PDF ISBN 9781782558705

Print ISBN 9781782552154

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Preface

Introduction: Book Layout

MOBILITY

What Motivates Me to Get You Moving

1Mobility—Modern Flexibility Training

2Understanding Mobility

2.1 How to Become More Mobile

2.2 The Reason We’re So Stiff

2.3 Don’t Mobilize Every Joint

2.4 Why Stretching and Yoga Won’t Make You More Mobile

2.5 Why Foam Rollers Won’t Make You More Mobile

2.5.1 The Foam-Roller Phenomenon

2.5.2 Rolling, Rolling, Rolling

2.5.3 Surface Sensibility versus Proprioceptive Sensibility

2.5.4 Pain While Rolling

2.5.5 Foam Rollers-Sense or Nonsense?

2.6 More Exercise Equipment You Don’t Need

2.7 How Mobility Makes You Stronger

2.8 Why Stress Makes You Immobile

3Mobility Fundamentals: What You Need to Know

3.1 Four Easy Steps to Becoming More Mobile

3.1.1 Evaluation

3.1.2 Isolation

3.1.3 Integration

3.1.4 Improvisation

3.2 Pain and Injuries

3.2.1 Pain

3.2.2 Injuries

3.3 Guidelines for Pain-Free Training

4The Most-Common Questions About Mobility

4.1 How Long Until I’m More Mobile?

4.2 How Can I Become More Mobile More Quickly?

4.3 How Do I Add Mobility to My Strength Training?

4.4 How Do I Integrate Mobility Into My Daily Life?

5Mobility Lifestyle Hacks

6Movement Is Life, and Life Is Movement

7Mobility Exercises

7.1 Wrists

7.1.1 Wrist Figure Eights

7.1.2 Wrist Mobilization on the Ground

7.1.3 Backhand Push-ups

7.1.4 Shaolin Push-ups

7.1.5 Wrist Push-ups

7.2 Spine

7.2.1 Spinal Rotations (CARs)

7.2.2 Spinal Wave 1

7.2.3 Spinal Wave 2

7.2.4 Neck Mobilization

7.2.5 Three-Point Thoracic-Spine Rotation

7.2.6 All-Fours Rotation

7.2.7 Ball

7.2.8 Prone Thoracic-Spine Rotation

7.2.9 Wrestler Rotation

7.2.10 Table Rotation

7.2.11 Heel-Sitting Rotation

7.2.12 Cross-Legged Rotation

7.2.13 Cobra

7.3 Shoulders

7.3.1 Shoulder Rotations (CARs)

7.3.2 Shoulder Rotations Against the Wall

7.3.3 Hanging

7.3.4 Single-Arm Hanging

7.3.5 Wall Slides

7.3.6 Shoulder Crawl

7.3.7 Swimmer

7.3.8 Protraction and Retraction Drill

7.3.9 Shoulder Dislocator With a Band

7.3.10 Shoulder Rotation With a Band

7.3.11 Side Bend

7.3.12 Skin the Cat (Regression)

7.3.13 Skin the Cat

7.3.14 Scapula Push-up Rotation

7.3.15 Arched-Back Pulls

CALISTHENICS

8My Path to the Pull-up Bar

9Calisthenics

9.1 Roots of Calisthenics

9.2 The Rain-or-Shine Training Mentality

9.3 The Four Types of Calisthenics

9.4 From Trend Sport to Business: Calisthenics in Germany

9.5 Calisthenics versus CrossFit versus Freeletics

9.6 Why Everyone Benefits From Bodyweight Training

9.7 Your Prerequisites

9.8 Useful Equipment

9.9 Calisthenics Parks: The Best Spots for Your Training

9.10 Guidelines for Ambitious Calisthenics Beginners

9.11 Ditching Familiar Movement Patterns: Embracing the Unusual

9.12 Exertion to the Point of Exhaustion: The 80-Percent Rule

9.13 Setting Goals the Right Way

10 Calisthenics Fundamentals: What You Need to Know

10.1 Overview of Basic Exercises

10.2 Balancing Stability and Mobility

10.3 Movement Variations

10.4 Movement Specifics

10.5 Assistance Exercises

10.6 Difficult Exercises Made Easy

10.7 Sticking Points

10.8 Full Range of Motion

10.9 Shoulder-Blade Positions

10.10 A Firm Grip

10.11 Hollow-Body Position

10.12 All About Levers

10.13 Repetition: The Mother of Skill

10.14 Straight-Arm Strength

10.15 Training on Rings

10.16 Calisthenics and Leg Training

10.17 Shoulder Joint

11 Beginner Basics and Their Possible Progressions

11.1 Healthy Shoulder Balance With a Combination of Pulling and Pushing Loads

11.2 Activation Exercises

11.3 Pull-ups and Possible Progressions

11.3.1 What Your Pull-up Should Look Like

11.3.2 Typical Mistakes

11.3.3 Frequent Sticking Points

11.3.4 Grip Variations

11.3.5 Overhand Pull-ups versus Underhand Pull-ups

11.3.6 Arched-Back Pull-ups

11.3.7 Pull-up Exercise Regressions

11.4 Push-ups and Possible Progressions

11.4.1 What Your Push-up Should Look Like

11.4.2 Typical Mistakes

11.4.3 Frequent Sticking Points

11.4.4 Grip Variations

11.4.5 Push-up Exercise Regressions

11.5 Dips and Possible Progressions

11.5.1 What Your Dip Should Look Like

11.5.2 Typical Mistakes

11.5.3 Frequent Sticking Points

11.5.4 Dip Exercise Regressions

11.6 Squats and Possible Progressions

11.6.1 What Your Squat Should Look Like

11.7 Regression: The L -Sit

11.7.1 Hanging L -Sit

11.7.2 L -Sit in a Support Position (Arms)

11.7.3 Assisting Exercises

11.8 Rehabilitation and Prehabilitation Exercises

12 General Training Structure

12.1 Training Methods

12.1.1 Frequency of Training, Number of Sets, Number of Repetitions, and Breaks

12.1.2 Types of Training

13 Goals, Time Investment, and Motivation

14 Acknowledgments

15 The Authors

16 Appendix

1Glossary

2Further References

3Credits

Preface

Hey there, bar fans and moving monkeys!

Calisthenics & Mobility is our labor of love. Over the past three years, we’ve been able to help lots of people acquire a healthier, stronger, and more confident lifestyle by following our workshop series.

In Germany, Austria, and Switzerland we made anyone who trained diligently as flexible as a monkey and as strong as a gorilla. Due to our participants’ exceedingly positive feedback, we thought about how we could inspire even more people to do the same.

This book allows us to bring our movement concept for longevity out into the world to accompany you on your very own Calisthenics & Mobility journey.

Our journeys began in early childhood. To both of us, growing up with competitive sports meant learning early on to work for a physical goal. Character, for each of us, was shaped by discipline, willpower, and performance which could all be accessed anytime. Competitive sports created a positive attitude toward our bodies in motion. Four to five training sessions per week and competitions on weekends taught us that hard physical work can be very rewarding. Our sessions helped us grow physically, mentally, and emotionally.

The joy of movement was so great for us that we both chose a career path that would allow us to share our knowledge and personal experience with you. The essence of our concept is this: reaching your goal healthy and pain-free.

Calisthenics & Mobility refers to the symbiotic relationship between strength and mobility. We’ll show you the most-important principles of these two interconnected areas. Both can be viewed as separate elements, but in this book, they should be viewed as an interrelated construct with a correlated and positive effect.

The content of this book focuses on resistance training with one’s own body, specifically with calisthenics. This isn’t a new type of sport but, rather, a neologism. Calisthenics could be considered the modern gymnastics. It prioritizes progressive strength increase via the basics (e.g., pull-ups, push-ups, dips, and knee squats).

Mobility training as a fitness-related ability is often neglected in favor of strength.

Most underestimate the fact that a greater degree of motion results in more strength.

Mobility training creates the balance between movement without strength and rigid strength.

At the same time, you’ll get more long-term enjoyment from your training, due to fewer injuries, and when you are in pain, you’ll have the right exercises at hand.

This book is intended to get you to move. For us, it’s not about bulging muscles. Rather, we want you to learn to understand your body.

We’ll teach you which technical details of the exercises are important so your musculoskeletal system will enjoy long-term good health. We’ll provide you with the most-important know-how so you’ll be able to use different, helpful tools from your tool kit.

With all the input you’ll receive, please keep in mind the following during your journey:

1. Anyone can work with mobility and calisthenics, regardless of age and gender.

2. Every person is an individual with different abilities.

3. There’s no single best method.

4. Don’t think about the approach–just start.

5. Comparing yourself to others won’t help you one bit.

This book does away with lots of preconceived notions in order to give you clear guidelines for your training. Calisthenics is only for tough guys? Flexibility is genetically predetermined? Far from it! We’ll show you how to find long-term joy in training and get stronger and more flexible, all while staying pain-free.

In this spirit, do the following:

Stay loose, flex your biceps.

Keep moving, stay sexy.

Monique & Leon

Introduction: Book Layout

Before you embark on your Calisthenics & Mobility journey, we’d like to give you some tips on how to use this book.

You can choose to read everything in the order it’s presented or skip between sections. The many chapter and section cross-references ensure you won’t lose the thread and will, by the end, understand the link between mobility and calisthenics.

We’ve brought the authentic delivery style of our workshops to this book so we can bring the atmosphere of a live workshop to your home. Besides, this is a book about calisthenics and not about traditional German gymnastics from Saxony-Anhalt.

In this book, we talk about front levers and muscle-ups.

The book is divided into a mobility section and calisthenics section, which are further divided into theoretical and practical segments. The practical segments include image-guided explanations of exercises.

In these practical sections of the book, look for the following symbols, which provide simple illustrations of the most-important technical details for the execution of an exercise:

If you don’t yet understand all this terminology, don’t panic. We provide detailed descriptions in the following chapters and in the glossary at the end of the book.

Every exercise is also accompanied by a difficulty rating. To be exact, it’s a banana scale for Leon’s mobility exercises and a biceps scale for Monique’s calisthenics exercises.

= very easy

= easy

= somewhat difficul

= difficult

= gorilla-level difficult

But enough about legends and instructions. By now you’re probably impatiently tapping your feet, ready to dive into your adventure.

What Motivates Me to Get You Moving

My exercise path started quite early. At age two, I was on the Wildenrath golf course, which was largely built by and then managed for many years by my father. He often reminded me that I had talent and that the other guests on the driving range spoke of the next Tiger Woods in my presence. Surely, they were joking!

Nevertheless, I must thank my parents, who–instead of dressing me in polo shirts and plaid pants–put me in a pair of soccer shoes. I can still hear my father saying, The boy needs to learn a team sport. It builds character!

So at age three, I was on the soccer field. Although I spent more time picking daisies (for my mom) during those early years, soccer had a formative influence on me. Then, after playing for fifteen years, I hung up my soccer shoes. By the time I graduated high school, after a move, and several personal changes, I found myself in a deep performance slump, which is why I didn’t connect with my new team at Fortuna Köln.

In my first book, Pragmatisch Gesund, I talk a little about my health problems, which, among other things, caused my athletic interests to change. In short, my growing interest in strength–or, rather, fitness sports–caused me to adopt a one-sided diet that ended up costing me my performance capacity and, in the end, my soccer career. But as it turned out, this difficult time was the best thing that could have happened to me. When in life does one ever get the opportunity to completely redefine oneself and embark on a new path?

The new path led me to a place where I wanted to learn more about people’s health and the human body overall. Where I wanted to help people get out of the hole they’d fallen into, through one-sided diets proclaimed by the fitness industry as panaceas or due to poor exercise habits. During my active soccer career, I tried out lots of different sports, even though I always stayed with soccer.

Thanks to my mom, I was able to try out other sports, such as hockey, tennis, basketball, swimming, judo, and dance. I loved any type of exercise during my free time: table tennis, bowling, cycling, badminton, wrestling with my younger brother, and more. All these experiences with exercise would serve me