In today's article we are going to look at the main weighted calisthenics exercises and some technical aspects of their execution.

First of all, we have weighted pull-ups. You can do them with a prone grip or a supine grip (chin up). 

Remember to do the full range, with your arms fully extended and until your chin clearly passes the height of the bar.

Remember that when we say “arms fully extended,” we are not saying “arms almost fully extended, but slightly bent,” 

we are saying “arms fully extended with elbows locked.”

 Keep this in mind, because it is a fairly common mistake in the world of calisthenics.

Also, try not to bend your knees and avoid swinging, inertia or impulses.

Finally, in calisthenics we usually avoid crossing our legs, but this is more a question of aesthetics and practicality for other advanced progressions.

the elbow flexion must be such that the back of the shoulder is lower than the elbow.

 To be more technical, we could say that the posterior deltoid must be below the height of the elbow.

Regarding hip flexion, depending on the rules or the competition, it is managed in one way or another. But, in general, a certain amount of hip flexion is allowed. For example, in the Spanish rules, a hip flexion is allowed such that the trunk is at a 45º angle with respect to the ground. In other rules, it is checked that the weight moves, specifically goes down, during the arm flexion.

to complete a valid repetition, the arms must be fully extended, until the elbows lock.

And finally, the weighted muscle up. For it to be considered strict, you must take the following points into account:

Avoid bending your knees. A slight hip flexion is allowed, but not a knee flexion.

The movement must be fluid, without excessive stopping during the transition. You can lean your chest lightly on the bar, but you cannot slow down the movement excessively or reposition yourself.

Obviously, you cannot stop mid-movement and then finish over the bar, and regarding the grip, you can use a high grip, but not a false grip. 

Here you can see the difference between high grip and false grip:

If you want examples of routines with these exercises, you have them 

Weighted Calisthenics (Streetlifting) main exercises and their technique

In today's article we are going to see a quick tutorial so that you can do Russian push-ups and elbow dips today, with a very simple technique.

For both movements you have to follow the same process, let's look at it first with the dips.

As a requirement, it is important that you are able to do at least 10 or 15 dips before trying this movement. If not, it can be a bit forced and dangerous.

First you have to lower the dip by bending your elbows, you should not throw yourself directly onto your forearms

Secondly, now you have to throw yourself backwards, placing your forearms on the parallel bars. Try to keep your wrists on the outside of the bars so that you don't slip inwards and fall to the ground.

Now you have to go back to the previous position, you should not try to go straight up and extend your arms, but return to the position you had when you lowered the dip and bent your elbows. To do this you can give a small push with your trunk and legs, you can even extend your arms to bring your body back and then use the forward inertia to go up.

And finally, you just have to extend your elbows to finish the movement. Here you have the full sequence so you understand better:

With push-ups it is the same process. As a requirement I would also recommend being able to do at least 10 or 15 push-ups without problem to ensure that we can practice this movement safely.

Once we are going to try it, what we have to do is the same as in the dips: 

first lower yourself, without throwing yourself directly onto your elbows.

Next, now is the time, throw yourself onto your elbows.

Now return to the lower position that you were before dropping and finally extend to finish the movement.

In push-ups we have the issue of the feet, since these are anchored to the ground and, nevertheless, your body must go backwards.

For this, there are some people who simply use the mobility of their ankles to generate space for this movement. There are also others who slightly raise the hip, and others, like in my case, who make a small jump in each repetition. Choose the option that you like the most.

There is another exercise that uses the same movement pattern and with which we can use the same process, which is the tiger bend. The vertical version of the elbow push-ups. But for this movement we require a more extensive tutorial that we will do in the future.

 so that you can work on them in this link.

Tutorial: elbow dips and Russian push ups +ROUTINE

One of the biggest advantages that calisthenics offers as a training method is 

the possibility of working your muscles and doing effective routines without the need for equipment

Although bar parks are characteristic of our sport, there are 

many people who train calisthenics at home

, simply doing exercises on the floor, on a wall, with a box and almost nothing else

But this approach has a small problem, back and biceps training. You see, using only the floor, the wall and some bench or box it is very easy to do super complete push workouts (pectoral, triceps, shoulders, upper trapezius), leg workouts, abdominal workouts, cardio workouts, and so on.

it is not so easy to train pull movements

 (back, biceps, middle and lower trapezius, posterior deltoids...), since normally this training is associated with traction work on a bar in the case of calisthenics.

But, this does not mean that it is impossible, and today 

we are going to see how to achieve an effective workout of these muscles without using equipment

, or with resources that we can find at home.

There is an exercise called scapular retractions on the floor, in which, lying face up, we press with our elbows to raise the upper part of the back.

With this movement we work the pulling muscles and, depending on whether we place the elbows closer to our side or further away, we will focus more on working the lats or on working the posterior deltoid and middle and lower trapezius, respectively.

The technique of this exercise can be a little complex at first. The most important thing to keep in mind is not to perform the movement by leading with the neck, but rather let the upper and middle back promote the movement of the head.

If it is very difficult for you, you can do it in an elevated position, using chairs or a sofa.

And if you want to add difficulty you can use pauses, slow negatives and you can also add weight to your chest.

One of the best exercises to work the pulling pattern in calisthenics, and one that we have especially recommended on previous occasions, is the Australian pull-ups, which consist of doing this pulling pattern on a low bar with your feet flat on the floor.

What interests us, in this case, is that with a pair of chairs or a sufficiently robust table you can perform this exercise, so that could be an option.

Check the chairs and tables, or any other substitute you can think of and check carefully if you can do Australian pull-ups using them as support, as it could be an optimal addition to your back routine without equipment.

In addition, you have a large number of variations, with which you can add difficulty and progress.

Another option is to use water bottles or other heavy objects such as dumbbells to do rowing and fly exercises. These are the classic exercises you would do with dumbbells at the gym but in a home version.

If you have elastic bands you can do different rowing and fly exercises with them, achieving a complete stimulus for all the pulling muscles.

 for a complete routine with the above exercises.

With all these options you can do a complete back workout at home. If you need other routines for all muscle groups you can look at our section of routines without equipment. I hope it helps you.

How to train your back at home without equipment + ROUTINE

The headstand is a variation that is often used in yoga and break dance, in which you place yourself in an inverted position supporting yourself with your hands and head. 

Compared to the normal handstand, it is a much simpler variation since these 3 supports make it easier to maintain balance.

 and someone told me that I should recommend this headstand as a progression to learn how to do the handstand since it is very necessary and helps a lot.

In today's article we are going to analyze if this is true, what advantages there are to practicing this handstand, what problems or disadvantages it can bring us, a small tutorial to do it and much more. Let's get started.

Let's first see what advantages practicing the headstand can bring you, the most important advantage being that 

it is much easier than the normal handstand.

This progression allows people who are still a long way from being able to do a normal handstand and do not have the necessary strength to do so to at least get into an inverted position and perform a trick that looks aesthetically pleasing and motivates them to continue advancing.

it teaches you to control your balance with your legs and core

. Learning to make small corrections and to have enough proprioception to not fall.

Now let's move on to the disadvantages, among which I would highlight the difference between controlling a normal handstand and a headstand.

You see, as we mentioned before, in a headstand you mainly use your hips, core and legs to balance your body and stay in the position without falling. However, 

in a normal handstand you will use your fingers, wrists, elbows and shoulders to a greater extent than your hips and legs.

In this way we see that one exercise does not clearly transfer to the other, it is not a progression like in other movements, in which the progressions use the same muscles and patterns as the final versions but to a lesser extent. Instead, in this case different patterns are used.

I think you should be careful not to settle for doing this version as a progression to get the normal handstand and that's it, because it is not very useful to try to achieve it that way.

Another small drawback that the headstand has is the issue of the cervical vertebrae. In healthy people who do not have previous problems, who are not overweight and who do not repeat this movement too many times a day there would be no problem.

if you have ever had cervical problems or if you are overweight, you should be very careful or even avoid this exercise

. Also, even if you are healthy, you should not do too many repetitions a day, since it is a position that can be compromised for the area.

For those who want to learn how to do this movement, here's a quick mini tutorial.

Get on your knees on the floor and rest your head on top of it, placing your hands at your sides, not in line with your head, but a little further back.

Lift your knees and hips so that all the weight is on your hands and head.

Give a small, gentle push with your legs to lift them off the floor and control your balance with your hips and legs.

Once you're in position, you can play around with different leg movements.

Once you're able to do handstand push-ups thanks to the tutorial I recently posted, you'll be able to lift yourself from this position to a regular handstand.

In conclusion, the headstand is a simple exercise that has some uses to help you with the normal handstand, but it is certainly not necessary or essential to learn it. If you like this exercise and want to practice it, that's great, but if you're only interested in the normal handstand, there are other more useful progressions that you can do.

For more information, I recommend my other articles on handstands and the routines and training programs that we have on Calisteniapp, which by the way, we just released the new, updated version that I think you'll like a lot and will be very helpful.

Headstand: tutorial, advantages and disadvantages, is it worth to learn it?

Calisthenics training is usually quite gentle on the joints and very healthy in general, as long as it is well planned and no serious mistakes are made in technique or intensity selection. But, even so, there is a small percentage of 

people who can see their progress frustrated by the appearance of some pain, discomfort or injury.

In today's article we are going to see what is the protocol that I personally apply when I encounter a problem of this type to 

solve it as soon as possible, so that it does not affect my training and does not appear again in the future.

In my experience, the most common pains or injuries in calisthenics occur in the wrists, elbows, shoulders and the muscles peripheral to these joints. The protocol that I am going to describe below has helped me to eliminate problems of this type and prevent them from happening again, so let's see what it consists of.

To avoid issues of injuries, pain, discomfort, 

the simplest thing would be to prevent them from occurring in the first place.

 To do this, you have to try to make sure that your warm-up is complete and appropriate for the exercises you are going to do, that the intensity of your routine and the difficulty of the exercises is in line with your ability, that the technique of each exercise is adequate and that you have enough rest and recovery between sessions.

If you need examples of warm-up routines at Calisteniapp we have several, which you can consult 

 the most common cause of injuries in calisthenics is directly trying exercises that are still too difficult for your ability

, such as, for example, the typical case of beginners who try to do planche progressions. Or also, 

doing many repetitions of exercises that you still are not adapted to

, such as, for example, the case of people who have just achieved the muscle up and start doing dozens of repetitions in each workout.

So keep these factors in mind, as they can help you avoid any problems and that is more valuable than having to manage how to recover from the injury later.

But, if these tips come too late and you already have some discomfort or injury, we will continue with the following steps.

The first thing you should do if you suffer from any of these situations is to 

have a doctor or a physiotherapist analyze your case, give you a diagnosis and prescribe a treatment.

I think that, at the very least, it is important that you have one or two sessions with a physiotherapist, since this will give you a clear idea of ​​what you have, in addition to speeding up and facilitating recovery.

If, due to financial reasons or your personal situation, you cannot go to a professional, you can still take the following steps that I am going to explain, but obviously it would be under your responsibility.

When you go to the physiotherapist or doctor to treat your problem, 

insist on knowing clearly how you have to deal with the injury

it is important to know what rehabilitation and strengthening exercises he or she recommends.

In case you have not been able to go to a professional, you can look for these exercises on your own. Personally, a channel called 

 has helped me a lot. You can search for your specific injury and it will have several videos explaining how to avoid pain, heal and rehabilitate your injury. But, obviously, you also have many other quality resources from people with extensive knowledge that can help you.

 where you can find specific warm-up and preparation routines for different joints, mobility routines for specific areas and much more that will help you a lot, take a look.

Once you are clear about what exercises to do for your rehabilitation, you must do the following:

, removing all the exercises that cause you pain, discomfort and that you should not do because of your injury. Look for alternative exercises or give priority to other muscle groups.

 that you will do in each session including the rehabilitation and strengthening exercises for the affected area.

Plan a general idea of ​​when you plan to reintroduce problematic exercises

, if at all, and what simple progressions of these exercises you will try.

Now that you have your plan in place, it's time to execute it. 

Get into the habit of always warming up with your rehabilitation and strengthening exercises without fail

, and then do your pain-free routines that don't cause discomfort in the affected area.

You'll notice yourself improving, and after a reasonable amount of time, usually at least a couple of weeks, you could start to include the exercises you removed again, but, as we mentioned before, 

always with simple progressions to test whether they cause you pain or not

. If everything goes well, you could gradually increase the difficulty until you return to the level you were at before the injury, but this time safely.

If you see any clear signs of pain in the area, discomfort or a relapse of the injury, stop and start again

. If necessary, re-evaluate your planning and check if you need to modify anything.

I recommend that, even if some time passes and you notice that you have completely healed and are back to your previous level, you continue doing the exercises in the warm-up for at least one or two more months, to ensure that you strengthen the area well and prevent future problems. In my personal case, I have left some of these exercises in my warm-up forever, since I find them very useful and this way I make sure that I am well prepared in the joints that tend to suffer the most injuries.

With all that has been explained, you now have a complete protocol to deal with any problem you may have in your training. I hope it will be very helpful.

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