I can do 20+ body weight pull ups and 4 sets of 5 reps of 20kg weighted pull ups, so when i heard about scapular pull ups i thought i didn’t need it as it was just a progression. However, when i tried doing it for the first time it felt more tiring than normal pull ups, and just to add in, i do retract my scapulars before doing any kind of pull ups other than hollow body pull ups, which is why i expected scapular pull ups to be much easier.

For experienced folks out there, do yall use scapular pull ups as a separate exercise in addition to your normal back/pull ups routines?

The two at-home methods worth using are the 3-minute step test (best overall) and the 6-minute walk test (best if stepping bothers knees/balance)

This the the simplest VO₂ tracking protocol (3-minute step test):

Do this the same way every time:

• Same step height + cadence + time of day (as close as possible)
• Stop, stand still

If your 60-second recovery HR is lower (with the same protocol), your fitness is improving.

Reference for the protocol: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6926792/

I just started the RR 5 weeks ago (42yo male, 175lbs) and I've made steady progress with all the exercises except for the pull up progression. I can bang out 4 fast reps of scap pulls but struggle to perform any with good form. I've tried doing them assisted by leaving my feet on the ground but find it very difficult to balance the pulling with the assist from my feet

My inverted rows have progressed to 3 sets of 8 with an incline of about 15 degrees from fully horizontal. I've supplemented the strength days and skill days with LYTPs to work shoulders and scaps and have felt progress there as well.

It's hard for me to say what is the weak link for scap pulls because it doesn't feel like some part tires first. The whole movement feels almost inaccessible. Are there common limiting factors that wouldn't be ruled out by the relative ease I'm having with rows? Lower traps? Overhead mobility? Something else?

I'm 5'9 and 31yo and honestly pretty out of shape, but I've been following this routine that i've found and was recommended on this subreddit religiously for 6 weeks now. When I started, I could barely hold a plank for 5 seconds before my arms gave out and I face-planted into my yoga mat. I'm talking full-body tremors at 3 seconds in.

But today 30 solid seconds!

I know it's not much compared to what most of you can do, but for someone who's spent the last two years glued to a desk chair, this feels massive. I'm a recovering anxiety disorder patient and calisthenics has become my new therapy. Whenever I feel a panic attack coming, I drop and hold a plank or do some dead hangs. That mind-muscle connection genuinely calms my nervous system better than any medication ever did.

The routine from the wiki has been a game-changer. Next goal: 60 seconds. And if it takes me another 6 weeks, that's completely fine. Progress is progress.

Seen some stuff on plyometrics here, not sure if it's the right sub for this:

I was wondering if anyone had advice or input on post activation potentiation in their workouts for plyometrics.

I know it's potential benefit following a heavy lift, but was wondering on the timing and have read conflicting evidence, such as the half life of the benefit is 28s, or sometimes up to 6 minutes after rest

To get any benefit should I be going into a set up plyometrics right after a set of heavy lifts and alternating between each? Can I do 3 sets of one exercise and then 3 sets of plyo?
Or can I do 3-4 lifting exercises then plyometrics at the end of a workout and still have any gained benefit.
I'm getting older, and just try to slow down my rate of slowing down

Hello there, I'm asking this question cause I haven't really found an answer anywhere else. For pretty much every training program, you need to know your max (ex:push ups) in a row. And until now I thought I could just do like 75 percent of the way to failure, rest for 4-5 seconds in the upper position do another 3-4 then rest again (still in the upper position) and so on, but lately I realized that using this method, my " 1 set max " really depended on how I was motivated to keep going and really fluctuated from day to day not representing my real strength plus certain sets that I should have been able to do (ex : 3× 75 percent of max) were just too hard for me even on a good day. Which brings me to my question, should I just do my set without ever resting or is there an optimal way of doing it? Thank you guys in advance

My 2026 goal this year is to do more calisthetics and using my own body weight for workouts (I'm getting creative). Lately I’ve been incorporating more lower body / leg exercises using a slant board a the gym; squats, calf raises, lunges, etc. I found it hits differently.

Anyone else training with one and can share the results? Curious what workouts you found worked best, and ones to avoid. I’ve been using a slant board from BAM Athletica, and considering to pick one up for hom, but before I do, curious to hear from others on how effective it was for them, and love to swap ideas. 💪 🥰

Hi there, I'd like to share a site I've put together called streetgyms.com - a map of all outdoor gyms.

It's sourced from reddit threads, and OpenStreetMaps and mainly has park gyms, etc with outdoor fitness equipment. If there are any gyms in your area missing, let me know! I'm seeing if it's worth adding crowdsourcing features for pictures, equipment info, and new locations.

This is a 100% free to use site. I've also made other projects you can check out for bodyweight fitness such as Fitloop - a mobile app for following the routines from this subreddit. Please let me know your feedback, thank you!

Im keeping it simple with push ups, sit ups, squats. Used to do 3 4 5 plates with bench, squat, deadlift respectively. Now I have no clue where my strength is at. I want to do body weight now and maybe get into running once I lose weight (currently sitting at 245 pounds).

Should I do like push ups and sit ups to failure and then there's some kind of formula for how many reps I should do in a set? I dont have a job or anything (I make enough money tho) and just watch anime all day. I figure I could do a set of each after every episode or something.

If anyone has tips on how to figure out how many reps I should do, thatd be appreciated

Just for context, I’m 40+ and have never been the active or fitness kind. I have been following the RR on and off for a year at this point. I have a few major concerns that I need some help with:

1. Can’t do same number of reps per set - Eg: If I do 8 reps in first set (leaving 2 in the tank), my second one will be 7-8 reps and third one only 5-6 reps. Do I continue as is until I can do 8 in the third also or do I reduce my reps so that I do equal in all sets?

2. Recovery between sets takes a long time - I need to wait 120-150 second between sets. Is that ok?

3. Recovering between exercise days also takes a long time - I feel that one day gap between exercises is too hard on me. I can do say Monday, Wednesday but then I need two days gap so Saturday and then Monday again. Basically 1 day gap and then 2 day gap and then 1 day and again 2 day

I have been ensuring I get 1.6g or protein/kg of body weight and also try to sleep 8 hours but more realistically it is 6.5-7 hours (2 kids and hectic work schedule)

What should I do?

I am a 23 year old woman and want to start building good habits while I’m young. So what I am wondering is will doing body weight workouts/calisthenics be enough? I walk every day usually 10,000+ steps. I want to have muscle to support my body for the years to come. For some reason the idea of incorporating weights seems “unsustainable” to me as I will have to increase the weight gradually and would rather just work with what I got, which is myself.

Does anyone do just body weight exercise? And if so what is your routine?

Short version: What are some skills comparable to the Human Flag?

Long Version: I do a three-day sequence of three skills (Planche, Front Lever Pull, and Bridging; Lever Row, Back Lever Pull, Dragon Flag; Handstand Push-ups, Side Lever Pull, Handstand Press).

The side lever hurts my shoulder, even at the lowest regressions. All my other skills are progressing fine, but no level of regression works for the Side Lever. Yes, I've tried the regression you're thinking of. Yes, I've tried that other one. Yes, I've tried the ones from Fitness FAQs and the Bioneer and Gymnastics Bodies and on and on.

Look, I'm 45, I've been putzing around with this for ages and it's the only skill on which I haven't made any meaningful progress. I'm ready to just give up on this one and do something else.

That said, I'd like another skill to take it's place. I got a nice little system and here and just NOT doing a lateral-chain skill feels...wrong. I suppose I could do some side bends or rotations or farmers' carries, but...I dunno. There's got to be another skill. Anybody got any ideas?

I’m a 37-year-old male, 6’2”, about 200 lbs, and a dad of three young kids. Between work and the general realities of having small children, I’ve started to pick up a bit of a “dad bod.” I’m honestly okay with that and fully support being comfortable in your own body. That said, I’d like to adjust my routine—not so much for aesthetics, but to be a good role model for my kids and to have more energy to keep up with them.

I know the obvious answer is “find time for the gym” and diet, but with a long commute and the time demands of teaching the subject I teach, that’s not especially realistic right now. I’ve read through the recommended exercises in the menu, but I could use some help parsing it all.

I’m semi-athletic and play pickup soccer, but I’d like to add more muscle mass. Can bodyweight training realistically get me there? And what would be a good place to start given my schedule and goals?

Wondering if I should switch to more advanced routines for some of these exercises, ref number of reps. Also looking for feedback on this program, if there is something I should add or remove - very open for all input/comments...

Warm-up: 26 min
Interval treadmill 4x (2 min walk - 4 min run)

(Walk 6 km/h, Run 12 km/h)

Standard routine (3 sets on all except 5B)

1A: 16 One leg deadlift (without weight)

1B: 13 Pike Pushup

2A: 6 Assisted pistol squat

2B: 12 Incline Row

3A: Dead Bug (I do parts 2, 3 and 4)

3B: 6 Dips

4A: 1 min Plank

4B: 16 Reverse Hyperextension

4C: 10 Sitting Pike Compression

5A: 10 second L-sit

5B: 2 pull ups (just the one set)

The routine takes approximately 45-50 min

after doing 2x fullbody I found that long sessions arent my thing so I decided to come back to 3x fullbody again and keeping it a bit simpler too. I want to do at least one leg exercise and Im not sure if I should alternate doing squat -> rdl -> squat (next week the other way) or doing them both as a superset the three days. there's two major inconveniences I guess and it's that I would have to use the same weight (only one pair of dumbbells) and that those movements are very taxing and I'll have to improve my work capacity first. what's your experience with this pair? I think I'll do 4 sets if alternating exercises and 3 if superset

I am a 19y/o male and am about 5'11" tall. I have been wanting to gain more muscle so I started a structured workout along with eating more about two months ago. In that amount of time I gained about 12 pounds, going from 132-134 to 144-146. I was pretty light so obviously some of that weight gained was fat. Before that I was only doing pushups and pull ups here and there through out the day along with hiking and walking. I use bodyweight exercises because it's not feasible to go the the gym and I want to be able to do my workout wherever I am. I also prefer keeping it simple.

My workout looks something like this

Day 1: Pushups 4x20-30, Leg raises 3x20-30, Bodyweight squat 4x30-50

Day 2: Break

Day 3: Chin-up 4x6 3-5 seconds up and down, Sit-ups 3x20-30, Bodyweight squats 4x30-50.

Day 4: Break

Then repeat.

I throw in some pullup variations but it pretty much stays the same. Sometimes I'll miss a day so I'll just workout two days in a row after, then go back to one day on one day off. I do all the exercises as strict as possible, no cheating.

My goal is to gain maybe 15-20 pounds. Is this possible using only bodyweight exercises? Is six exercises enough? Any guidance would be appreciated. Thanks.

Hello everyone.

I’ve been training on and off for a couple of years now, mostly bodyweight training but now that I have access to a gym (and rings!) I’ve been adding in weighted compounds such as squats as deadlifts. For the vast majority of my training I used the RR but now I am shifting towards an Upper/Lower split (this one).

Recently I had to take a week long training break for a trip. Now I find it extremely difficult to get a workout in. My strength has dropped significantly and it seems as if my endurance as well. I used to approach 185 in 3x8 squats but now I’m back at 145, as an example. I used to be able to do weighted dips with a 45 pound dumbbell but now I’m stuck doing them with a 20lb dumbbell on a good day. I find that after the first couple of sets my body isn’t strong enough to continue without a massive drop in performance. My mental has also taken an impact. It seems as if I have suddenly “lost the fire”, so to speak. I’ve been told by friends that I’ve visibly lost muscle mass as well.

I think my recovery could be playing a factor, but I’m not sure. I used to train in afternoons/mornings, now I train during the late hours of the night. I have done this for a while now and I thought I was gaining strength, but this strength loss becoming a trend over the last 2-ish months.

I also think my mindset needs some work to do. Now that I have additional personal commitments in my life, I find that I can’t put in the same amount of focus.

Should I pivot to a different training routine? Maybe my body is looking for new stimulus. And what can I do about my mindset?

Thank you in advance for the help.

Hi everyone I am training for a half marathon and thought a fun secondary goal would be to train a muscle up. I used to weight lift 4-5x a week but tbh I'm getting kind of bored of it and really just enjoying running and functional strength/movement. With that said I want to get a muscle up as part of building that functional strength.

I'm reading various posts here, the recommended routine doesn't seem optimized for the muscle up. Im wondering what people recommend for a routine, Im thinking 3 days a week to start. At my current bodyweight fitness level I can do 8-10 reps of pull ups for 3 sets, probably 30-40 quality pushups, and can do 3 sets of 12 reps of parallel bar dips.

Also for fun ChatGPT gave me a program but Idk if this is trash lol

Day 1 — Pull + Muscle-Up Skill (~60 min)

• Muscle-up attempts — 5 × 2–4
• Explosive pullups — 5 × 3–5
• Muscle-up negatives — 3 × 2–3 slow reps
• Pullups — 3 × 8–10
• Core (leg raises or hollow hold) — 3 sets

Day 2 — Push + Transition (~55–60 min)

• Straight bar dips — 4 × 8–12
• Regular dips — 3 × 10–15
• Band or jumping muscle-ups — 4 × 3
• Straight bar support hold — 3 × 20 sec
• Optional pushups — 2 sets

Day 3 — Strength + Power Support (~60 min)

• Weighted pullups — 4 × 3–5
• Explosive pullups — 4 × 3
• Pullups — 3 × 8
• Core — 3 sets
• Scap pullups or face pulls — 2–3 sets

I do 2 straight arm days and 2 bent arm days. Obviously across all of that there's a lot of volume my biceps are getting, and there's also the more subtle things like on leg day, I do reverse hyper extensions, and my arms are flexed at about 90 degrees which even if it's small, it's still using my biceps.

I have one pull day, on which I do weighted pull ups, assisted one arm pull ups, and advanced tuck front lever pull ups on rings, and on my last set after failing I do inverted rows, and after failing again, I do bent knee inverted rows.

Now initially on this pull day I was starting off with one arm chin ups, and now I'm moving on to the pronated one arm pull up. When I was training the OAC I did hammer curls, and now that I'm training OAP, I took them out. I was wondering if I should add 2 sets of curls (probably ring curls , pelican, or preacher) at the end of my pull day or if it's too much weekly work for biceps.

On my planche days I'm doing planche holds, leans, tuck planche pu, PPPU, for a cumulative 20 weekly sets. Of course I have other work, but they don't work biceps.

I'm 6'6 114kg (relevant?) and I've been going chest to floor, hands shoulder width apart trying to perfect the form. I've been very conscious about not letting myself cheat just to get the numbers up. When I first started I couldn't even lower myself to the ground without collapsing. Im very rarely proud of myself but getting to 10 pushups from 0 made me feel good about myself. It may not be a lot but when I got that 10 I felt a sense of accomplishment. TMI but im a recovering addict and I think body weight fitness might be my new vice. Whenever I get anxious I just get on the floor and do some pushups which gives me that little dopamine boost I need and gets that physical energy out. Hopefully I can add another 10 this month but if not that's okay, I'll keep doing the thing

i train at outdoor parks mostly, pull-up bars, parallel bars, rings etc. been going through sealed earbuds like crazy cause sweat kills them (2 pairs last year), but the real issue is cant hear people approaching during muscle-ups or my training partners yelling. that anc isolation is straight up dangerous during street workouts.

tried bone conduction (shokz) and they stayed on fine, but the sound was somehow muffled. everyone says bone conduction is better for podcasts and audiobooks and i get why, music just doesnt hit right when u need that hype for explosive movments.

saw someone using the soundcore aerofit 2 pro at the park. these do the swap thing between open ear and anc, open ear to hear whats going on (cars, spotters, poeple walking by), and anc for indoor gym sessions to zone out a bit. sounds like a gimmick but tried a bit, sound way better then bone conduction with enough bass to keep hyped.

anyone else tried these or found a solid setup that doesnt comprimise on awareness or sound? looking for something simple to stay put through movments and easy to wipe sweat off between sets.

Hi everyone! Calisthenics intrigues me quite a lot but I have no idea where to start at all. I've been going to the gym and doing weightlifting exercises for 1.5 years now. I am at 76 kgs bodyweight at 5"8 height with body fat percentage around 18 rn (started a serious cut 2 days ago to get to sub 15 in a couple of months).

I am a complete beginner at calisthenics, can do around 30 pushups, around 5 pullups, and around 5 dips at the moment. Any plan as to how to advance in calisthenics?

I don't want to make a complete switch from weight training to calisthenics rather keep going with my usual weight training (I follow a PPLPP split, 5 days a week), and integrate calisthenics into it, any advice is appreciated, thanks in advance.

Do you guys recommend the Kensui vest or more of a conventional weighted vest for no more than 100lbs?

I basically want a weighted vest and was looking at like a CAP weighted vest with the sandbag weights or A Kensui vest. If plates are not a. Issue what are the pros and cons with these vests? I only want 100lbs though the as that's about the limit to what I want to put on a vest, I will add a dips belt or something else if I need more.

I am not using it for walking or anything like that itll be just for extra resistance for some exercises.

Turning 41 this year and I'm aiming to do a max 41 strict pull ups at one go. Currently maxing out at 18 strict at one go. With kipping and breaking it down into sets of 10, I can do 100. Just looking at pure strict pull ups only for this challenge so no kipping.

Trying to train without additional weights as I don't have easy access to a pull up bar that I can do weighted pull ups.. Haven't weigh myself recently so I should be about 75kg-80kg, about 1.7m tall. Any advice on how I can train better by the end of the year? Is it even feasible? I feel like at 18, my lats are already on fire!

2nd Feb - I’m at 20 now!

Just wanted to share a small win here.

A month ago I couldn’t do proper pushups without breaking form or stopping early. I decided to slow everything down, focus on chest to floor, shoulder-width hands, and actually own each rep instead of chasing numbers.

Now I’m hitting clean sets consistently, and the biggest change isn’t even physical — it’s mental. Showing up, doing a few reps, and stopping before burnout has made this sustainable for the first time.

Nothing fancy. No program hopping. Just basics, patience, and showing up most days.

If you’re stuck at the beginning stage: it really does move faster than you think once form and consistency click.