Every now and then, I get questions abouthow to increase the number of reps in a specific exercise. What’s interesting is thatpeople often suggest things like adding weight, doing slow tempo reps, adding complementary exercises, or strengthening the involved muscles. While all of those might have some merit in certain contexts,none of them are actually the most effective way to get more repsin a specific movement. The best way to reach that goal doesn’t involve exotic or supplementary methods.It’s much simpler: increase your weekly volume of reps for that specific exercise.

For a while now, I’ve been working on improving my weighted exercises during training—weighted dips, muscle-ups, squats, and pull-ups with added weight. It’s a really rewarding challenge and a well-rounded training method that keeps me motivated to push myself to the limit. I’ve been sharing my workouts on social media, and one of the recurring comments I’ve gotten from Streetlifters (the specialists in weighted calisthenics) when they saw me doing pull-ups was to try loosening the chain so that the weight plates hang lower—around foot or ankle level. At first, I didn’t really get why they were so insistent about this… until I tried it.

Daniels Laizans is one of the greatest legends in calisthenics history—an athlete who defined an era, created his own style that influenced countless athletes, and won numerous championships at all levels, including multiple world titles. But in recent years, he has been surprising us not for his competitive achievements, but for his incredible physical transformation. How is it possible that Daniels has undergone such a change? What has he done to achieve it? Could it have happened naturally, or is there a chance he took shortcuts?

After spending a lot of time analyzing, studying, and testing the best strategy for gaining muscle mass based on current training knowledge, scientific studies, and recommendations from top professionals, one thing has become clear to me: To achieve muscle growth, you need to provide the muscle with a stimulus close to muscle failure, with a volume of sets that ensures this stimulus reaches all muscle fibers. That's why I came up with a simple routine to achieve this optimal stimulus, which I'll present below.

Lately, I've been thinking about those messages we see on social media, where some influencers try to sell us the idea that training—whether at the gym or in the park—is a daily struggle, an epic battle against suffering and inner demons. This trend of dramatizing workouts caught my attention, turning them into something unnecessarily epic that, in my opinion, pushes a lot of people away. Where does this image come from? I've seen people talk about training as if they were fighting an internal war—wearing hoodies, headphones, dark clothing, and taking on such a serious attitude that they look like they’re starring in a war movie. The idea being sold is that every set is a fight against yourself, that going to the gym is like facing an invisible enemy. And sure, there are moments of real effort, those times when an exercise gets tough or you're pushing close to failure. But in reality, training is a very different experience.

Progression in Handstands: From Balance to Perfection One of the most common mistakes I’ve observed in skill training is the obsession with achieving the strictest and most perfect technique from the very start. It’s common to see people attempting a handstand with fully locked arms, ears aligned over the biceps, head between the shoulders, a completely straight back with posterior pelvic tilt, extended legs, and pointed toes—without even having learned how to balance first. In other words, they try to perform the hardest version of the handstand without going through the essential phase of “learning to do it wrong” progressively. The Mistake of Seeking Perfection from the Start

One of the most important values in calisthenics is respecting strict technique when performing exercises, including full range of motion. Over the more than 20 years of development that modern calisthenics has had as a sport, we have always taken pride in the cleanliness of our movements and the beauty of our execution compared to other sports or training methods. Exercises like pull-ups, dips, push-ups, muscle-ups, planches, and more—if they weren’t done properly with clean technique, they weren’t considered worthy of a calisthenics athlete.

Over the more than 10 years I’ve been posting content about calisthenics and training in general, I’ve made many mistakes—some of which I really regret. You see, there are certain exercises or specific techniques that I repeatedly recommended or demonstrated in my videos and articles, only to realize over time that they were incorrect, not ideal, or even potentially harmful. Today, I want to go over five exercises or techniques that I explained incorrectly and how they should actually be done.

AtCalisteniapp, we’re always working to bring you the best training tool possible. That’s why we’re excited to introduce this update, which includes new features and improvements that we’ll go over below. But before that, we want to congratulate everyone who completed theReset Mission! It’s been a true display of discipline and daily effort. This challenge has helped us kick off the year in the best way possible, and now it’s time to use that momentum to keep training consistently and reach our goals. Also, just a quick reminder that the Reset Mission is saved under the "Challenges" section, so you can take it on whenever you want. This update will be rolled out progressively to all users, so if you haven’t received it yet, you should see it in the next few days.

In the world of training, certain exercises or movements sometimes become the "black sheep." Cheating in different lifts, behind-the-neck pull-ups, and even, in recent years, the deadlift, have turned into enemies within the community. The moment they appear on social media, alarms go off, and hundreds or even thousands of people flood the comments to warn of the “sacrilege” happening on screen. Often, there’s a reason behind these reactions, as certain movements or techniques come with risks that you need to understand. If you decide to perform those exercises, you should be prepared to handle them. For example, with the deadlift, if your back rounds during the lift, you need to understand the risks and the potential for injury. However, other times, this social alarm is unwarranted, taken out of context, or based on a misunderstanding. That brings us to today’s topic: the butt wink in squats.

Over the more than 10 years I’ve been sharing calisthenics content and helping people achieve their goals, I’ve noticed that it’s very common for beginners in this sport to have an initial burst of enthusiasm for achieving multiple goals at once. For example, many people have a broad goal of getting in shape, gaining some muscle mass, leaning out, and looking more aesthetic. At the same time, they might also want to learn some signature calisthenics moves, like the muscle-up, handstand, or even progress toward a planche or front lever.

A Curious Phenomenon in Calisthenics: Push vs. Pull Patterns There’s a fascinating phenomenon in calisthenics that most people are unaware of at first. However, if you’ve been training for a few months, you’re probably starting to notice it. You see, as you train for a while, you’ll realize that some exercises come more naturally to you than others. For instance, you might find push-ups and dips easier, but pull-ups are much more challenging.