I Can See Clearly Now

In two months I’ll be sixty years of age. I’ve been practicing calisthenics for fifteen years. But as much as I have preached the value of progressive work, I have not practiced it. Until now.

Everything came together for me a few years ago when I found Kyle Boggeman’s Youtube channel. He made what I had already been trying to do into an undersandable and worthy endeavor with scientific justification. Frequent calisthenics for building muscle, preserving joint health, and improving physical capability. He calls it “physiological hygiene”.

Kyle has a subscription service in addition to his Youtube channel. There you can view lectures that lay out in precise detail his core principles and how to apply them. You also have access to many assorted short lectures and recipes. The content is top notch and continually growing. The price is extremely affordable. I receive nothing to promote the service; I promote it because it is excellent.

After watching and rewatching the Core Concepts and the Applications lectures, I have divised a progressive calisthenics program for myself. I learned that the template is simple and outlines everything you need to do in order to grow stronger and more capable on your path towards mastery of the exercises. It’s almost ridiculously simple.

The method is roughly as follows: choose a few exercises within each of three movement patterns (push, pull, squat/lunge). The exercise variations should include different hand and feet positioning and difficulty. Establish your maximum repetitions with good form for a single set for each exercise. This is your Established Max. Determine your weekly volume and how you will split it up. The sweet spot for muscle building is 10-20 hard sets per week, and you can spread these over as many days as you wish while managing your fatigue and recovery.

Divise your workouts with the exercise variations you have chosen. Then spend a week performing the sets at four repetitions below your established max (4 RFEM). For example, I have chosen three exercises from each movement pattern: regular push-ups, decline parallette push-ups, close grip parallette push-ups, band-assisted pronated grip pull-ups, band-assisted ring pull/chin-ups, decline ring rows, weight-vest squats, walking lunges, and split squats. From these I have divised three separate workouts, each with three sets of the three movement patterns per day, six days per week. That’s 18 total sets of each movement pattern. So, for week 1, I am doing each set at 4 RFEM. In week two, it’s 3 RFEM per set, week three it’s 2 RFEM, and week 4 it’s 1 RFEM. After that first month, re-establish your max per exercise and start over. I intend to do this for twelve weeks, then I will choose new exercises and start the program over again.

As my maxes increase, I intend NOT to add weight to the vest or use lighter bands. I intend simply to add reps and once the pull-ups reach 20 reps with the band I am using, I will stop using the band entirely.

I also have created a Google Sheet that lays all of this out automatically. All you need to do is enter your exercises, your max repetitions, and the dates the workouts are performed. Each workout is then automatically populated. Email me if you would like a copy of the Sheet. It looks like this:

My ultimate goals are as follows: 10 paused-rep pull-ups, 30 push-ups, 100 walking lunges.

This almost feels like enlightenment. It’s just so clear to me now what to do and how to do it.