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.

See, when I first started training weighted pull-ups, I would usually position the plates around knee height. It’s a comfortable setup and doesn’t cause many problems, so I didn’t give it much thought.

But here’s the thing—once you’re approaching your limit and feel like you’re not going to have enough strength to finish the rep, it’s common to instinctively bend your knees to help yourself get through the sticking point. That movement can get you over the hump and finish the rep, but of course, it’s no longer a strict pull-up and wouldn’t be valid under competition rules.

And this is where the key detail comes in: if you position the plates at your feet, you can grip them and use your legs to assist without bending your knees, keeping the pull-up strict and valid. And the difference is huge—I actually hit a new 1RM record the first day I tried this technique.

When you’re holding the plates tightly between your feet and hit that sticking point where it feels like you’re not going to make it, all you need to do is push forward slightly with your feet. No knee bend—just a bit of hip flexion. The weight of the plates will make the movement subtle, but it will give you just enough assistance to complete the rep.

From the moment I started trying this technique during my warm-up and ramp-up sets, I could already feel the boost in performance. That’s why I thought anyone training weighted pull-ups should definitely know about this little tip and give it a shot.

If you're looking to train weighted pull-ups or weighted calisthenics in general, I recommend checking out the weighted sessions we have available on 

Leg Drive in Weighted Pull-Ups: Instantly Boost Your Performance

Hyrox is a hybrid competition that combines running with functional exercises like wall balls, burpees, sled push and pull, and rowing. Calisthenics—bodyweight training—can be a perfect complement to your Hyrox prep, helping you boost your strength, endurance, and overall performance.

When you're just getting started with Hyrox training, the priority is building a solid base of strength and muscular endurance. Basic calisthenics will help you master fundamental movements that are key in the competition.

Pair that with light running sessions (3–5 km) to build a strong base of strength-endurance, technique, and general conditioning.

One of the key differentiators in Hyrox is grip strength—and calisthenics lets you train it in a very direct and effective way.

Try incorporating variations of dead hangs:

: Just hang from a bar with both hands for time.

: This involves flexing the wrist so it sits higher on the bar, which increases forearm engagement significantly.

: Hang from one arm for a set time, then switch. The resting arm gets a break while you hang with the other.

: Hang from one arm without switching—tough but excellent for building serious grip endurance.

Build a routine around these variations and aim to increase your times over the weeks. That’ll ensure your grip strength is well-developed.

And remember, all pulling exercises also engage your grip indirectly, so they’re a great complement to your grip-specific work.

Besides grip strength, there are other crucial physical qualities you'll want to develop to perform at your best in Hyrox. Focusing on these areas will round out your preparation:

: Intense intervals with jumping jacks or fast-paced burpees.

: Dynamic stretches and joint mobility drills.

Calisthenics Adaptations for Hyrox Events

Every Hyrox event has specific movement demands. You can tailor your calisthenics to mimic those patterns, helping you build neuromuscular familiarity with the actions you’ll face on competition day.

: Combine lower body work with push and pull drills—for example, burpees with double lunges and squats, or burpees followed by pull-ups.

: Walking lunges with a backpack or added weight.

: Pull-ups, inverted rows, and high-intensity cardio with mountain climbers or jumping jacks.

: Practice burpees with long jumps, focusing on covering a specific distance.

To sum it up, incorporating calisthenics into your Hyrox prep will help you build a solid foundation of strength, endurance, and mobility—all crucial for tackling the unique demands of the event. Start with basic exercises to condition your body, then progress into more intense and specific routines that simulate real Hyrox conditions.

Don’t forget to work on complementary aspects like muscular endurance, cardiovascular capacity, core stability, and joint mobility. If you follow these steps consistently and with a solid plan, you’ll show up at Hyrox physically prepared, resilient, and ready to crush it.

Here are three sample routines you can follow based on your level:

Calisthenics x Hyrox Intermediate Routine

Boost Your Hyrox Performance with Calisthenics (+ Routines)

Over the years, as I’ve shared content, coached people, and managed our app, there’s one question I’ve heard over and over again:
“Yerai, I’ve hit a plateau in my routine or program and I just can’t make any progress—what can I do?”

Interestingly, almost everyone who asks me this question is making the same exact mistake. The good news? It’s easy to fix, and I’m going to show you how.

When someone tells me they’re stuck at a certain number of reps or can’t get past a specific phase in their routine, the first thing I ask is:
“How long are you resting between sets and exercises?”

The answer is almost always the same: short breaks of 45 seconds, one minute, maybe a minute and a half at most. Some even admit they don’t really keep track and just rest “by feel.”

That’s where the main problem lies. In routines focused on strength, hypertrophy, or skill development—like muscle ups, handstand push-ups, planches, or front levers—short rest periods don’t allow for proper recovery between sets. This is especially true when you’re training near your limit.

If you truly want to build strength or muscle, you need to rest longer between sets.
My personal recommendation is to start with at least 2 minutes of rest between sets. If you still feel like you’re not fully recovered, don’t hesitate to stretch that to 2 and a half or even 3 minutes for hypertrophy routines. And when it comes to strength training or technical skills work, you can take up to 5 minutes between sets with no problem at all.

This gives your body the chance to fully recover so you can hit each set with maximum intensity—pushing past the limits that previously held you back.

Shorter rest periods—ranging from 20 seconds to about a minute and a half—can be effective in other types of routines:

, where the goal is to do as many reps as possible of one or more exercises in the shortest time.

, where you’re pushing your body to work at high intensity in a short period.

, though in these cases, you should be aware that it’s not ideal for breaking through a plateau.

You can also use short rests if the routine is fairly easy for your current level, or during the first few weeks of a new program while your body is still adjusting.

, which are more common in the gym than in calisthenics. For example, when working biceps and alternating arms, you can shorten rest periods because one arm is already recovering while the other is working.

Personally, I never go below 2 to 2 and a half minutes of rest. And when I’m doing especially tough routines—like advanced planche work or heavy weighted pull-ups—I don’t hesitate to rest for up to 5 minutes between sets. This approach helps me train at full intensity and continually break my own records.

I hope this helps you keep the right approach in mind and finally push past those frustrating plateaus.

If you’re looking for training programs to build muscle, get stronger, or improve a specific skill, check out the ones we offer on 

Rest Times in Calisthenics: How Long You Should Rest Based on Your Goals

Every now and then, I get questions about 

how to increase the number of reps in a specific exercise

people 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 reps

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.

So how do you actually go about doing that? There are several ways. Let’s look at some examples for someone who can currently do a maximum of 10 pull-ups and wants to increase that number:

. For instance, you might start with 3 sets of 8 reps, then do 4 sets of 6, and finish with 6 sets of 4. In a single session, that adds up to 13 sets and 70 total reps.

—something like 15 sets of 5 reps. That’s 75 total reps in one workout.

 (Every Minute on the Minute) with low reps, like 4 reps every minute for 20 minutes. That gives you 80 reps in just one session.

 works too. For example, a ladder from 10 to 1 gives you 55 total reps in a single workout.

, which is similar to a cluster set but spread throughout the day. This works well if you have a pull-up bar at home.

As you can see, all of these methods follow the 

same principle: increase the total volume of reps for your target exercise during each session, and by extension, across the week.

Now, what about exercises where you can only do a few reps?

If you're currently able to do between 1 and 5 reps, here’s what I recommend:

If you can do at least 3 reps: use the same methods I mentioned before—sets, clusters, EMOMs, or Grease the Groove—but stick to 1 or 2 reps per set.

If you can only do 1 or 2 reps: work on easier variations or progressions of the final exercise, still using the same methods. Once you can do at least 3 full reps of your goal exercise, you can move on to the next level.

What about all the other methods people suggest?

As for the other ideas I often hear, like adding weight, using tempo reps, or doing complementary exercises—they can work, but they’re not ideal.

Take weighted reps, for example. That approach is more about building strength than endurance. Sure, getting stronger can lead to a slight improvement in endurance, since the two qualities are connected. But it’s not the most efficient way to improve endurance. Doing high-volume reps of the target movement, without added weight, is a much better strategy for that.

, there’s an entire section dedicated to this topic. Just go to the "Workouts / Sessions / Endurance" section and you’ll find 

 that can help you out. If you’re a PRO user, we also offer full training programs like 

, with detailed weekly programming designed specifically to help you improve this ability. Go check it out!

Hope this clears things up and gives you something useful to apply in your own training.

The Optimal Method to Increase Reps in Calisthenics Exercises

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?

To clear up these questions, we can look at some clues, and the first one is analyzing his training.

Luckily, Daniels has been frequently uploading workout vlogs to his YouTube channel, allowing us to examine his routines and training approach.

When we've talked about hypertrophy in our articles and social media content—analyzing scientific evidence and the experience of top coaches—one thing has always been clear, something we've repeated more than once:

To gain muscle mass, you need to give your muscles a stimulus close to muscle failure, with a set volume that ensures that stimulus reaches all muscle fibers.

This is probably the biggest mistake people make when trying to build muscle and failing—they don't push their sets hard enough and don’t come close to muscle failure.

So, what about Daniels? If we analyze his training over the last few years, we see that he consistently uses basic calisthenics exercises, often adding extra weight, and, without a doubt, he ALWAYS pushes close to failure.

In his videos, we can see how he struggles at the end of each set. It's evident that he's reaching his limit. There’s always that element of effort—the fight that pushes each muscle to its maximum capacity and provides the hypertrophy stimulus it needs.

Additionally, it’s worth noting that, as a verified calisthenics athlete, he maintains very strict and clean technique, using a full range of motion and sometimes even extending it beyond the standard range.

One key aspect of his physical transformation—something that many people commenting on it might not consider—is that Daniels does not train legs. Ever.

He has never been seen doing leg exercises, nor has he shown his leg musculature. This means that all of his training effort is focused on improving his upper body.

Whereas someone who trains their whole body typically dedicates at least one or two days a week to leg training—usually with a high set volume—Laizans can use that time to focus exclusively on his upper body. This allows him to space out his workouts more effectively, give his muscles better recovery, add extra sets, or train with greater specificity.

If we look at his progress over time, we see a very gradual increase in muscle mass during his early years when he focused primarily on freestyle—from 2015 to 2019.

A crucial detail to consider is that in 2015, Laizans was only 15 years old. So, this transformation is not just about muscle development—we've seen him transition from a teenager into a grown man.

The most striking physical transformations often use "before" pictures from adolescence, making the change look much more dramatic.

It’s also important to note that during his competitive years, from ages 15 to 19, even as a teenager, Laizans was already taller and more muscular than most of his competitors. By 2017, at just 17 years old, he was 1.80 meters tall and weighed 80 kg, even though his physique was not yet fully developed.

This shows that his starting point and genetics were strong advantages.

Between 2020 and 2021, we had little information about his condition due to the lockdowns. However, in 2022, he started showcasing a training style that combined freestyle with hypertrophy-focused exercises using basic and weighted calisthenics.

That’s when the most dramatic transformation occurred. By 2023, he had shifted his focus more towards hypertrophy training, gaining a significant amount of muscle mass while maintaining an extremely low body fat percentage.

Since then, his body fat has increased slightly, but he has continued gaining muscle mass. This suggests that he has been following what we call a "calisthenic bulking" approach—meaning a bulk where excessive fat gain is avoided to ensure performance in bodyweight exercises is not hindered.

The only missing piece of information is his current weight, which would give us a more objective measure of his progress. Unfortunately, I haven’t found this information anywhere, so we can only speculate on that aspect.

Has He Used Performance-Enhancing Substances?

Based on this analysis, we can now have a more informed perspective on whether he has used performance-enhancing substances or not.

Arguments in favor of his natural status:

He started his journey as a 15-year-old teenager, and he had excellent genetics from the beginning—being tall, broad-shouldered, with a narrow waist and a massive back.

The most drastic change occurred precisely when he started training specifically for hypertrophy. As we’ve seen, his training approach is optimal for this goal. He had already built a strong foundation, and at that point, he maximized it.

He doesn’t train legs—so all his energy is dedicated to achieving extraordinary results in his upper body.

The most suspicious aspect against his natural status:

The transformation from 2022 to 2023 was quite dramatic, showing a significant muscle increase along with an incredibly low body fat percentage.

If I had to take a stance, I’d say he is natural. He’s simply someone with exceptional genetics, who built a solid foundation from ages 15 to 22, and then started training for hypertrophy with weighted calisthenics at an optimal intensity using well-structured workouts.

As we’ve mentioned before, statistically, there must be individuals who are outliers—just like there are people who are 2.20 meters tall. And if anyone in the calisthenics world had those genetics working in their favor, it was Daniels.

When I met him in person in 2017, I remember that even back then, he stood out as a broad, muscular guy. Everyone in Tenerife would comment on how big and strong he looked. At that time, he was only 17, and his training was based on freestyle, statics, dynamics, and some basics. So, it doesn’t seem surprising to me that when he decided to focus on hypertrophy, he achieved such a striking transformation.

If you also want to train for hypertrophy in the most effective way, I recommend checking out the EVO training programs and routines available in 

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