The one-hand push-up is an advanced movement that requires a lot of strength in the pectoral and triceps, with some collaboration from the anterior deltoid. In addition, it requires good propioception to position yourself and control the movement and 

prior adaptation work to prevent injuries in your wrist, elbow or shoulder

.

To begin, we are going to analyze the technique of this movement. From my point of view, the key is to 

, since it is what makes the execution easier.

By only having 3 support points, you must form a well-positioned triangle that has good stability so that you don't lose your balance. There are people who are able to do it with their legs closer together and there are people who need to do it with their legs spread really far.



From my point of view this is not a big problem, although it is true that visually they seem stricter when you do them with the legs closer together. Start doing them with a leg distance that is comfortable for you and then over time you can manage to close them more if that is what you want.

It is important to highlight that above all you will notice that most of the weight and effort falls, obviously, on the arm you are using and on the opposite leg.

Regarding the free hand, I think it is comfortable and aesthetic to place it on the back of the thigh, although you can really put it wherever you want.

Finally, as always, the ideal is to achieve a full range of motion, exceeding 90º in arm flexion and locking the elbow at the top.



To start working on the one-handed push-up, I recommend that you be able to do at least 20 full-range push-ups with ease and without being close to your muscle failure.

From there you can start working with progressions that emphasize movement unilaterally. Let's see what the main progressions would be:



 Letting the weight fall mostly on one of the arms at a time.


, don't worry if at first they don't come out perfect and you flex your elbow a little, work on them patiently and improve your technique over time.


, using heights to facilitate movement. We can start with a height that reaches approximately our waist, when you feel strong at that height and you have gotten used to it you can move to approximately the height of your knee. Then at a height of one step, and when you have worked and strengthened those progressions you will be ready to start doing it directly on the ground.


a routine designed specifically to work on these progressions

, which you can do in Calisteniapp

I hope it helps you a lot.

Yerai Alonso

One Arm Push up TUTORIAL - Technique, tips, exercises and routine

One of the most classic pieces of advice from your friend at the park or the typical gym bro is related to breathing, they usually tell you something like that if you control your breathing you will get everything you want and more, and that your PRs are going to increase considerably.

Today we are going to see what is true in this, if it is a myth or if controlling your breathing really serves a purpose, what would be the correct way to do it and much more, let's get started.



In which aspects can correct breathing help when performing an exercise?


First of all, I think we have to define what function breathing can have when performing a strength exercise, and in this case we have two functions, both related to pressure, but in totally different terms. The first is 

to create intra-abdominal pressure to improve the stability of the trunk, and the second is to relieve blood pressure and avoid the problems caused by maintaining high pressure for continuous periods of time.



We are going to explain these two functions with examples, so that it is better understood. Regarding the function of creating intra-abdominal pressure, we are referring to 

filling the lungs, trying to inflate not only the rib cage area, but also the abdominal area. This is usually known as diaphragmatic breathing and consists of trying to fill the lungs while expanding the abdominal area using the diaphragm, giving the appearance that they are filling from the bottom up, and without having that sensation of inflating only the upper part of the chest.


In this way you create a cylinder of air and abdominal pressure that protects your spine from sudden movements. The example where the effect of this maneuver is clearest is in the heavy squat. Imagine that you are going to do a heavy squat record attempt with a weight that you have never been able to lift. Imagine first only lowering the negative with empty lungs and a completely empty abdominal area, the result could be disastrous. Now imagine lowering the negative with the technique we have described, your lungs filled with air from below and your abdominal area very firm and expanded. You would have greater stability and security to carry out the movement.

In fact, this is usually complemented artificially by using a belt that helps maintain that pressure, and it is more than proven that marks are significantly improved with the use of said belt.

Another quite visual example that is often used to represent this is that of a closed soda can filled with pressurized air. If you try to crush it, it is relatively difficult and it holds quite a bit without giving way. However, if you open it and let the air out, it is extremely easy to crush it. Well, in this sense we could visualize our trunk as a can, which we can maintain with that pressure or empty it.


this breathing maneuver will allow you to avoid injuries and will also give you a little extra strength.



Now that we know what this breathing technique consists of, in which exercises it is advisable to use it and in which ones it is not? Well, 

it should mainly be used in exercises in which you handle a large external weight and your spine is in danger of losing stability or making forced movements.

 For example, as we have seen, in the heavy squat, but also in the deadlift, the military press and other gym exercises, a good guideline is to do it in the exercises where you see that people usually use a belt.

As for calisthenics exercises, it is really not so necessary to take this into account, since in 

exercises with body weight the tension that the spine has to withstand is never so extreme

, and we can see how in exercises such as pull-ups, push-ups, handstands, squats and so on, there is a certain activation and abdominal stabilization, but it is not necessary that we have that extra stabilization that the diaphragmatic breathing technique gives us. No one would think of putting on a squat belt to improve their pull-ups, their front lever, their dips or their muscle ups.

Therefore, 

in many calisthenics exercises, the abdominal muscles are used to stabilize, to assist movement or to achieve good posture or good technique, but we do not need to perform the breathing maneuver to create intra-abdominal pressure.


Using breathing in exercises to relieve blood pressure


We now move on to the second aspect for which we are interested in knowing how to control breathing, which is the issue of blood pressure. You see, 

when you perform a forceful movement, blood pressure rises to values that can be between 3 and 4 times higher than normal, and if you add to this rise not controlling your breathing well, it can cause dizziness or even a faint

. It is usually seen in deadlift record attemps last too long, where the athlete immediately faints after finishing the movement.

Another example that more directly affects us calisthenics is that of the 

. The effort, added to the inverted position, causes blood to accumulate in the head and the face to turn red. If you add to this not controlling breathing well, we have cases of people with their entire face full of swollen veins and red eyes. and with a feeling of dizziness.



I take this opportunity to remind you that at Calisteniapp we have 

 with which you will achieve it without any problem, take a look.



How to breathe during strength exercises


So how do we have to control our breathing so that this does not happen? Simply 

. Ideally, you should hold your breath for short periods of time, whether or not you are doing the diaphragmatic maneuver.

If the exercise allows it, you can hold your breath only for each individual repetition, and, if you need to hold it for longer, do not do it for more than 4 or 5 repetitions.

In isometric exercises, the ideal is that you be able to maintain abdominal stabilization while breathing, especially if the isometric is going to last more than 3 or 4 seconds. For example, in handstands, you must be able to maintain your balance while breathing, even if you are squeezing your abs to perform the pelvic retroversion, and it is a typical beginner's mistake to hold your breath for the entire duration of the exercise.


the correct thing is that you inhale before performing the main effort of the exercise

, normally the concentric part, and that you exhale when this effort has finished, although nothing happens if you release the air a little before finish said effort. If during the negative of the movement you need to have that stability in the trunk, you should take a breath before starting said negative. For example, in a squat, the ideal would be to take a breath just before the negative and then release it just when you are finishing going back up.

And finally, as to whether to breathe through the nose or mouth, the ideal would be through the nose, but for many people it is tremendously inefficient since they are not used to it and it does not come naturally to them, but you can try to get used to using the nose, would be optimal.

In summary and to make it clearer:



* Point number 1: Perform diaphragmatic breathing in heavy exercises in which you need to have a very stable spine.
* Point number 2: Avoid holding your breath during prolonged efforts.
* Point number 3: Pace your breathing so that you inhale before the main effort of the exercise and exhale when said effort is ending.



I hope it helps you a lot,

Yerai Alonso

How should you manage your breathing during strength training?

One of the situations that can slow down our progress in training are “involuntary” breaks, for example when we go on 

 and we do not have access to our usual training place, 

 and we do not have much time to train or when we have 

 or other responsibilities.

Most of the time these situations are a relatively valid excuse for not training, and few people will reply to you about your decision. But if we analyze it carefully we will see that it is an excuse and that 

you could really continue training quite effectively, managing to at least lose very little of your progress, sometimes even improving or continuing to progress towards your goals.


It must be taken into account that sometimes a break is necessary and productive, for example if you have been training well and intensely for months and now you have a week in which you go on vacation, it may be a good idea to take it as a relief and to not train during that week. But if you have not been training so intensely, or the duration of the break is going to be longer than that, then I would recommend that you not stop for so long, and that you follow the advice that I am going to give you right now so that you can continue achieving your goals even if you are in another place or have little time.



Approach for a minimalist training when you have little time


as long as you give an intense stimulus to the muscles you want to work, it doesn't matter where, how, when or for how long you do it

. If you want to train your chest, it doesn't matter whether you do it with a state-of-the-art gym machine, with weighted dips, or with some simple push-ups on the floor. 

If you give it the right stimulus, the muscle will respond the same


To do this you just need to take into account what resources you have, and how you can use them in the time you have available. Normally, if you are traveling, you may only have the floor, and at most a bench and a wall. No problem, 

the versatility of calisthenics allows you to do good workouts without any equipment

.

I am going to give you examples of training that you can do without material and in less than 20 minutes for any type of situation:



Example of a minimalist routine without material in 20 minutes or less


, do 3 sets of push-ups, almost reaching muscle failure, in a progression in which with less than 30 reps you are already close to that failure. For some people it may be with regular push-ups, or even knee-supported push-ups, but for others they may need to add extra difficulty, for example by adding explosiveness, or adding pauses in the bottom part of the movement.

* For 

, do 3 sets of Bulgarian squats in a progression that takes you close to failure in less than 30 reps. For example, you can do them by adding explosiveness and a pause.

* For 

 you can use a table, chairs or any place where you can hang to do Australian pull-ups. Again, add difficulty with pauses or explosiveness so that you can do 3 sets of less than 30 reps, reaching close to failure.

For all these routines, use breaks of between 2 and 3 minutes between sets.

With this you would have a complete workout that you could do in less than 20 minutes a day and without material. At least you should train 3 times a week and if you want to train more days you can cycle them or add extra exercises.



If you also have more material available or more time, you can now add more complexity and variety. But with this routine I just gave you, you have an example of what would be the most basic thing to at least give a good stimulus to the entire body.

If your training is focused on skills, it will be a good time to focus on ground tricks that you can train perfectly without equipment, such as the planche or the handstand. And if you want to train pulling skills like the front lever or the muscle up, you will have to adapt to the material you have, and again you can find a way to at least train the muscles involved in these movements.

In conclusion we can say that being on a trip, on vacation, with a lot of work or having little time is no excuse for not training, and with only 20 minutes or even less you can get an intense workout without material, that you can do anywhere and that will At least allow you to maintain your fitness level, if not even improve it, until you can return to training normally.

Remind you that in Calisteniapp we have a section of 

 where we have more than 100 free routines that can help you. Also for pro users we have a variety of 

programs and smart progress that can be done without material


I hope this article helps you a lot,

Yerai Alonso

Minimalist Calisthenics training - How to do it in less than 20 minutes with no equipment

Normally when you start calisthenics, in the first few months, you usually see rapid and constant progress. But, from there, it is no longer so simple and there may be stages of stagnation for different reasons.

The most common way to try to overcome these plateaus is to improve training, changing exercises, trying to improve your planning, dedicate more days, try other routines, etc. 

But there are other reasons that can affect and to which you may not be paying as much attention

. So in this article we are going to see those ignored reasons and how to solve them so that you can continue moving forward without problems.



Your calisthenics plateau may be due to your own body weight


One of the most limiting factors for progress in calisthenics is the body weight of the person practicing it

. This is obvious, since it is the weight that you have to move in the different exercises. But in my experience there are people who refuse to see it or have a very biased view of reality.

For example, it has happened to me several times to try to make a person understand that if they want to progress they must reduce their body fat percentage, since this is extra weight that contributes nothing. Upon hearing this, the person seems like they don't want to talk about that topic, they try to change the conversation to training topics, or they refuse to accept that reality, implying that "

”. No, it is not your legs that weigh you down a lot, it is the accumulated fat that you have in your body that weighs you down.


For a calisthenics athlete the optimal fat percentage is low

. Obviously not reaching bodybuilder levels, but a low fat percentage in which the abs are easily visible. Normally, based on the general view that exists today in the fitness world regarding what each percentage of fat looks like, we would say that we are talking about between approximately 8 and 12%.



If your fat percentage is higher than that, you should know that it may be one of the limiting factors to your progress

. If you are doing it intentionally because you want to bulk up and gain muscle that's fine, no problem, but you should know what that entails.

Therefore, 

what I recommend at this point is that you analyze objectively, being as honest as possible and avoiding biases if your fat percentage is really optimal or if you are a little overweight

. You could even ask your training partners for honest opinions to make sure you're not being less than objective.



Your stagnation in Calisthenics may be due to using very short rest times



You may think this topic is trivial but it is much more important than it might seem.



In my experience there are many people who use very short rest times, or completely random rest times.



For example, if you are trying to progress in the muscle up and you start making attempts, but between each attempt you only leave 30 seconds of rest, it is clear that you are not going to perform well, and you are not going to progress at all.



You must know that the only thing short rest times are good for is to work on endurance and cardio

. But to progress in hypertrophy, intermediate rest times are required and to progress in strength, long rest times are required. And when we talk about progressing in exercises such as planche, front lever, muscle up, etc. We are talking about progressing in strength, so you need long rest times.



I say that this is important because I have encountered it very frequently, people who say that they do not progress in an exercise and then it turns out that they attempt non-stop with little rest time between them.

There are people who don't like standing doing nothing in the park or in the gym, and their body asks them to do things all the time, not to rest without doing anything, but to progress in strength you have no other choice.

In fact, 

I recommend that you check the rest times with your watch or mobile phone so that you make them exact

, because another factor that I often see is people who take random rest times. When they are alone and bored they rest little, but suddenly if they have someone to talk to and they are entertained, or if they are looking at social networks on their cell phone, they take breaks of 10 minutes or more. In this way, what you achieve is that your progress is also random, and you cannot work seriously to achieve your goals.



Get used to taking intermediate breaks when you are training hypertrophy, and long breaks when you are training strength

 and have no problem standing still doing nothing, use that time to visualize your next attempt, to meditate or for whatever you want.



Your stagnation in Calisthenics may be due to not registering your workouts nor doing progressive overload



I have already highlighted this error from time to time in other articles and I hope that many of you are already clear about it, but even so it never hurts to repeat it again. 

You must keep a record of your training and apply progressive overload.



If you always go to the park and do a routine that you have saved in a screenshot from 8 months ago and you always do it the same, with the same sets, repetitions and exercises, don't complain that you don't progress. If you always go to the park and do “a few dips, pull-ups and push-ups” always in the same sets of 10, 15 or 20 repetitions, without measuring anything at all or trying to improve any mark on anything, do not complain that you are not making progress. If you always go to the park and do the routine that one of your friends is doing, with their sets and repetitions, don't complain that you're not making progress.


It's as simple as using a note on your phone, a notebook, or an Excel on your computer to keep track of what routines you're doing, writing down whether you're successfully completing them or not, and making the necessary adjustments so you can gradually move forward.

 By increasing repetitions, or increasing sets, increasing the difficulty of the exercises, making more advanced progressions, or any combination of these factors, so that your routines in 2 months are more intense and difficult than your routines today, and they are not exactly the same.

I take this opportunity to tell you that in the new update that we are going to launch of Calisteniapp you will have a training calendar in which you will be able to record everything, with notes that you will be able to add to each routine to explain all the details that you consider necessary. These features will be available for free to all users so check them out.

I hope it helps you a lot, that you progress steadily towards your goals.

Yerai Alonso

If you are not progressing in Calisthenics, it may be because of this "hidden" factors


One of the branches of calisthenics that is growing more widely in recent years is 

. Consisting of doing basic calisthenics exercises such as pull-ups, dips, muscle ups or squats with added weight.

In my opinion, Street Lifting seems like an incredible sport, since 

it combines aspects of calisthenics and Powerlifting creating a spectacular result

. Starting from the basis of body weight control exercises such as basic calisthenics movements, 

we add the factor of maximum strength when using added weight, but, to obtain the best results, you are obliged not to have excess body fat since this It would worsen your performance

 in all exercises except the squat.

Therefore, 

we get incredibly strong athletes who maintain Streetlifter demigod physiques and lift brutal weights

. In the case of the best in the world, it is normal for them to lift significantly more than their own body weight in pull-ups and several times their body weight in dips. We even already have cases of athletes who lift a good part of their own body weight in muscle up.



Other positive aspects of Streetlifting are that 

it allows you an easier progression in the different exercises, as you just have to try to be able to lift more weight over time

. And that, for those who don't want to complicate things, 

allows you to give your legs a good stimulus

, because if you want to be a good athlete in this sport you have to have squat PRs worthy of a Powerlifter, so it is rare to see Streetlifters who are unbalanced and have chicken legs.


Preparation: minimum requirements for weighted pull-ups and weighted dips

To start with the tutorial, let's see what I recommend as a basic level before starting to train with added weight.

From my point of view 

it is evident that you must have a certain experience and level doing the exercises in their bodyweight version before starting to add extra weight to them

. Specifically, to have a reference scale, I would say that in pull-ups you must be able to do at least 10, and in dips about 12, and, in both cases, have been working at that level for at least 3 months, so that your connective tissue is adapted to those exercises.



Preparation: learn the technique for weighted pull-ups and weighted dips


Once you have that initial level, I recommend that, 

before adding extra weight, you review and learn the details of the technique, so that you get off to a good start

. For this you have articles in which I talk about this topic like 


Preparation: necessary material for weighted calisthenics


Finally, before adding extra weight to your exercises, 

you should know how you are going to add that weight

The most common is to buy a weight belt with a chain, and put discs on it

. But there are other options that are often used, such as climbing ropes, martial arts belts or any other solution that allows you to hang weight from your waist.


there is also the option of weighted vests, backpacks and more

. The problem is that normally these solutions do not allow you to increase to higher weights when you already have more experience, so they can help you at first, but over time you will have to look for another option. Regarding weight, more of the same, when you require little weight you can use bricks, stones, water jugs or anything that has a certain weight and you can hang on, and over time, when you are more advanced you will require discs or kettlebell to be able to work with heavier weights.


Once you have the required level without weight and you know the basics of the technique of weighted exercises, we can start using extra weight. 

I recommend starting with very little weight, with 2.5 or 5 kilos at most (5 to 10 lb), depending on your level

. And work in strength sets, between 1 and 5 repetitions. If you see that with that weight you can do 5 repetitions easily, I also recommend leaving a reasonable amount of time of one or two weeks for your body to adapt before continuing to increase the weight.

If you see that this initial weight does require considerable effort, my recommendation is that you work with it and try to progress until you can complete 3 sets of 5 repetitions. And from there, increase the weight slightly and repeat the process, trying to progress little by little as the weeks go by.



Once you have found a weight that is really challenging for you and close to your real limits, it will require the use of more complex programming and with more variations to continue progressing, but we will discuss that in other articles.



As a basic initial strategy, simply try to work at a strength range, between 1 and 5 repetitions, and increase the weight when that range is too small for you and you will have good results and you will progress without problem.



Regarding rest times, I recommend using long breaks, since you are working strength, between 2 and 5 minutes between sets, depending on the perceived difficulty.



How to distribute your weighted calisthenics or Streetlifting routine


As I have been recommending for a few months now, 

I think the best distribution is push, pull, legs

. Since today we are talking about training with weight, what we would do is 

put the weighted pull-ups on the pull day, the weighted dips on the push day, and obviously on the leg day we would have heavy squats

. If you also want to do weighted muscle up, I recommend doing it on a separate 4th day, since if you do it on the same day as the pull-ups there will be a lot of interference between these two exercises and you will not be able to take advantage of one of them.

I'll quickly tell you how I am currently distributing my routines in case it can help you and make it clearer, right now in my weekly planning I have:

* A first day of pushing, in which I do weighted dips at strength range (with a lot of weight), weighted dips at hypertrophy range (with less weight) and then I do complementary exercises with machines, free weights, push-ups, etc.

* On the second day I do legs, with heavy squats at the strength range, then at the hypertrophy range and complemented with exercises with machines, lunges, Bulgarians and others.

* The third day is the pull day, in which I do pull-ups at strength range with a lot of weight, at hypertrophy range with less, and then machines and other exercises.

* And on the fourth day I have weighted muscle up, weighted handstand push-ups, repeat squat and then fill in with other muscle groups that perhaps I have not worked as directly like abdominals, lateral delts, forearms or some extra leg exercises.

With that I have a full week, but if I feel like training one more day what I usually do is go to the park and do a little planche, front lever, some more muscle up or whatever I feel like at that moment.

We are going to make a final summary so that you are clear about what the path to follow would be before concluding:

* First of all, you must have a 

basic level of mastery of the exercises without weight

, and have been training them for some time.

* Second, you must learn the 

specific technical details of weighted exercises.

 to add weight.

* And finally, you can start weighting themselves with low weights and progress little by little from there.

So now you know, with what I just explained to you, you now have a guide on all the steps you have to follow to start training with ballast and take advantage of these exercises that can give us so many benefits.

Before finishing, remind you that Calisteniapp has examples of weighted routines so you can use them as a reference, take a look in the "workouts" section on the web or directly on the app.


I hope this article helps you a lot,

Yerai Alonso

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