The key is to be methodical, precise, and consistent.

Can you get stronger with a fixed weight *only*?

The answer is a resounding YES.

A “yes”, that is, with an “if”.

Yes, IF you follow a solid program that:

1) Uses moderate weights
2) Gradually increases the volume through time

What are the benefits of patiently using only one weight for several months worth of workouts?

The list is long as the benefits are legion. But here’s a short list:

1) Allows your tendons to adapt and get stronger – crucial for life-long strength and resilience, and often an overlooked part of a good strength training regimen. This is also important in the short-term as a lack of tendon strength will often lead you to hit a plateau long before you hit a lifetime PR.

2) It will allow your nervous system to stay fresher.

3) You will be able to build a solid training base for long-term gains with less likelihood of burnout or injury.

4) It’s simple as hell and takes the confusion out of programming and training!

Beginning in June I realized my weighted pullups and deficit handstand pushups were unacceptably soft (5 rep max in weighted pullups was 16 kg and 5 rep max in deficit handstand pushups was at a deficit of about 3 inches). I set out to change that.

The results were as follows:

1 rep max pullup BEFORE program: 70 lbs (32 kg)
1 rep max pullup AFTER program:

97 lbs (44 kg)

Full ROM handstand pushups BEFORE program: 0
Full ROM handstand pushups AFTER program:

2

Keep in mind that I NEVER went heavier than 16 kg for pullups and NEVER did handstand pushups any deeper than about 3 or so inches – a mere 1/4 of the depth that I ended up being able to do them by the end.

This bodes well for all of you out there with minimal equipment and minimal time to waste on complicated programs that lead you to a plateau instead of a peak. A kettlebell or two and your bodyweight will be all you need (though the same approach works like magic for barbells, too).
Consider this before your next program and gaze and be amazed at the strength you gain easier than you could have ever imagined.

And if you’re from the “pics or it didn’t happen” crowd, here is some Instagram proof of both:

Pullup: https://instagram.com/p/7FnIDOzNY_/?taken-by=aleks_salkin
Handstand pushup: https://instagram.com/p/7DIwIjTNYo/?taken-by=aleks_salkin

Choose your weight and wear it out.

Full disclosure: it’s gonna take some time.

When you work out, work out like it’s your job.

That doesn’t mean work out all day every day. It means do it as though your livelihood depends on it.

How would you do that?

By making sure that you *practice*, NOT “work yourself out” – so that you could do the same thing again the next day if you needed to (not unlike professional performers have to do).

Why would you want to do that?

For the simple reason that it will sustain you far better – and far longer – than all the borderline crippling workouts that seem so popular today.
How do I know? Because people who DO/HAVE trained for a living don’t push their limits any more often than every once in a very great while, and they seek to leave their sessions better and stronger, not merely sweatier and more tired.

Case in point: I read a very interesting article recently about two brothers who have been Cirque Du Soleil performers for over 10 years with a mind-boggling ***4,500*** performances under their belt in that time. Guess what they don’t do? If you guessed “random workouts with random exercises in a random order to be completed as fast as possible”, then you hit the nail on the head.

They do what all great performers and professional strongmen from today and bygone eras did:
​
1) They have a daily restorative routine.
2) They take their recovery as seriously as they take their training
3) They train with purpose and focus
4) They listen to their bodies and surge forth when they can and step back when they have to
5) They train hard enough to challenge themselves, but easy enough to be able to recover and improve themselves.

A cursory look at any old-time circus strongman or professional performer with a physically demanding job will show you that they have this and other things in common.

If all you want to do is do Insanity or P90X until your heart explodes, be my guest. But keep in mind that these are 60-90 day programs, and there are 365 days in a year – not to mention tens of thousands more ahead of you for the rest of your life. If you’re looking for a program to get you in shape for life (and not merely to make you sweaty for a few minutes and sore for a few days) start by infusing the above principles in your training and fill in the gaps from there.

The progress will be slow and steady, but it will always be forthcoming, and it will transform you not for 3 months, but for life.

Pictured above is Pyotr Kryloff – a Russian circus performer who often performed between 12 and 15 times a DAY, and performed late into his 70s lifting preposterous amounts of weight, snapping chains in half, and breaking rocks with his bare hands (not to mention juggling kettlebells)

There’s more to it than you think

The New Year is almost upon us, and you know what that means: New Year’s Resolutions!

And with that amply in mind, this coming year is the year you’ve decided that you’re going to stop just READING about fitness and start LIVING it. Because you have no idea where to start (and that’s okay), you’ve decided you’re going to hire a personal trainer, and that’s a great idea. Or it can be, anyway. The difference between a good personal trainer and a bad personal trainer is a gulf about as vast and cavernous as that between a Yugo and a Ferrari. Read carefully below to make sure you end up choosing the latter instead of the former. This is not an exhaustive list, but will definitely get you on the right track.

Any personal trainer worth his or her salt should…

1) Ask you about YOUR goals.
– “Let’s begin your marathon training now!”
“…but I don’t want to run a marathon, I just want to lose some fat, feel better, and be able to keep up with my kids.”
“Too damn bad! Lace up – we’re going to hit 10 miles today!”
Would you pay for this? I would hope not. Extreme as this example may be, if your trainer isn’t asking you what to accomplish, how can you expect them to get you to your goals?

2) Explain how he/she will help you reach those goals
– “Trust me” is not a good explanation on how to reach your objectives (unless you’re Indiana Jones. In which case, carry on). You don’t need a complex scientific paper to show how it will work, but he or she should at the very least be able to explain why the path they’re going to put you down is the right one for your needs.

3) Inquire about your injury history.
– I can tell you from experience, this can reveal a LOT of information on what you can speed ahead on and where you must tread very cautiously, as well as what you might NOT want to do right off the bat. I’ve turned away potential students in the past who had a long-standing issue that I simply couldn’t help them work around, and your personal trainer should be willing to do the same instead of just attempting to separate you from your money while putting your health and safety at risk.

4) Mix what you want with what you need.
– Hate flexibility work, but you’re about as limber as a 2×4? Then guess what? In addition to working toward your next PR in the overhead press/squat/pullup/whatever, you’re also going to stretch (I don’t care how dirty that word is among certain fitness circles, stretching works and is important). In all likelihood, filling gaps left by avoidance of stuff you hate but is good for you will do just as much – if not more – for your fitness goals as tweaking and moving ever forward on your pet lifts. The stuff you hate is often the stuff you need. Whine all you want, you’re gonna eat your vegetables before you get any dessert.

5) Educate you on why you are doing what you’re doing to make you a more informed consumer.
– The road to better fitness and health is a road fraught with danger and deception – namely at the hands of snake oil salesmen looking to hock the latest fad and phase at you to try to perform their favorite exercise – the purse-string pull (for reps, if possible). The answer to better fitness and health couldn’t be simpler (and it’s contained below), but there are plenty of folks out there looking to take advantage of your ignorance to woo you into buying sh*t you don’t need. The more you know and understand about why you are walking down the path your trainer has set for you, the less likely you are to be scammed by these turds.

6) Instill upon you the virtue of consistency over intensity.
– A little done often beats a lot done occasionally. Personally, I don’t care if my students don’t set records, don’t do YouTube compilation-worthy feats, and don’t make it onto the cover of a fitness magazine. I care that they get better every time they meet with me and do their homework. I care that they drop the jaws of people who haven’t seen them in a while, look/feel better, and learn the joy of movement and the art of expressing their bodies. This is done by consistency, NOT showing up once every two weeks and doing a workout that would make a Navy SEAL take notes. Show up, do work, go back to your regularly scheduled program, repeat.
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Got anything you would add to the above list? Feel free to add it in the comments section below. Otherwise, get out there, look for a good personal trainer, and make 2015 the healthiest and fittest year of your life!

Think you’re too old to get strong?  Think again, buddy.

“Youth is wasted on the young.”
George Bernard Shaw

Ain’t that the truth. A lot of things are wasted on us young folks – naïve idealism, an inordinate amount of unearned confidence in our opinions, and, of course, the ability to rock and roll all night and party every day.

But one thing that’s

not

wasted only on us: the ability to get strong. 

To me, it seems almost trite to even have to mention this. Heck, it’s your birthright to get strong! And the only expiration date on your ability to get stronger day in and day out is your own expiration date. So even if that fateful day were coming up tomorrow, you’ve still got the rest of today to build up enough strength to kick your way through the pearly gates (or at least up a good fight before you get dragged through the gates somewhere south of Heaven).
​
The next woefully trite thing I feel the need to mention is that not only does your age not stop you from getting strong, neither does your gender.  I know, I know, countless women’s magazines and legions of weak, fearful men have long told you that strength training will make you bulky, overly muscular, and thus unattractive. Neither is qualified to tell you how to live your life. Ignore them both.

Master SFG and Chief SFB Karen Smith knocking out a pullup with an extra 53 lbs. While not a senior, she’s still twice as strong as most men of any age. 

So here’s the good news: if you’re an older woman, you can still get strong. Very strong.  And in my humble opinion, one of the best ways to both demonstrate and build your strength is by learning to do a pullup – even if you’ve never tried to before.

Why pullups? Well, if you’ll forgive my appeal to a common format found in the very same women’s mags I just railed against (hey, they’ve captured your attention up ‘til this point at least), here are…

​The Top 5 Reasons Why Pullups Should Be Your Top Strength Goal.

1) Shoulder health. Your shoulders are made to help you brachiate (hang from stuff). The ability even simply to hang from objects overhead is, in many cases, enough for many people to start to alleviate aches, stiffness, and discomfort in shoulders that haven’t been used the way they were made in quite some time. Don’t just jump into hanging if you’re de-conditioned at the moment, but know that that’s one benefit waiting for you during your journey.
 
2) Improved grip.  Grip strength is a common indicator of overall longevity (even better than your blood pressure, according to a study of over 140,000 people published out of McMaster University in Ontario) , and is remarkably easy to train, particularly if you’ve got someplace safe to hang and do pullups from.
 
3) Strong back and better posture. As we age certain muscle groups tend to shorten and tighten and others tend to weaken and lengthen.  Among the groups that weaken and lengthen are the rhomboids in between your shoulder blades. Weak rhomboids give you a slouched over, hunchback look. Pullups will go a long way in helping to strengthen many of the muscles of the back and straighten the posture. Swings will take you even further yet, but that’s another article for another day.
 
4) Strong midsection. Going right along with the myriad of back problems that Westerners are heir to, a stronger midsection (or “core”, if you really must use that word) can work wonders when it comes to taking the load off your poor, overworked lower back. If the statistics are any indicator, nearly 1 in 10 people worldwide suffer from this on a regular basis, and it is the cause of more disability than any other malady. Compound this with the ineffective (and often insulting) exercise advice that people age 50+ often receive by well-meaning (but ignorant) health and fitness professionals and you can find yourself on a downward spiral toward greater and greater dysfunction.
 
Moreover, everyone who can bang out strict, dead-hang pullups with confidence and control also sports a strong, crafted-from-granite stomach that 10,000 crunches and side planks couldn’t even begin to hope to sculpt. A lofty promise, but one that I have yet to see proven wrong.
 
5) Strong arms. If you say you don’t want stronger, more muscular arms, you’re lying – plain and simple. 
 
BONUS: Pullups add shape in all the right places. Let’s see here: strong, shapely upper back; rock-hard abs; firm, confident grip; toned, muscular arms – all by learning to perform one of the most useful, basic, and functional movements the human body is not only capable of, but literally made to do. The fact that you don’t need any special rubber-and-plastic equipment from an infomercial for six easy payments of $99.95 is yet another added bonus.
​
I could go on and on about this, but it would be better to hand it over to briefly to someone who has lived it.  Enter my colleague, Sensei Sara-Rivka Yekutiel, a woman whom I helped to properly develop the correct technique and set her on the path to performing her first honest-to-goodness pullup at the age of 56 with less than a month’s worth of practice.

“In 1993, at age 36, I tore a tendon in my right shoulder.  Had I listened to my body and rested it perhaps things would have been different.  But no.  I kept going.

An MRI revealed a congenital defect in my right shoulder. A combination of bad medical advice and my own stupidity led to a frozen shoulder.  I lost nearly all the muscle in my right arm and for almost a year couldn’t lift my arm more than a few inches from my side.  Physical therapy, shiatsu, and extremely painful deep tissue massage helped somewhat, but for nearly a decade I was unable to put pressure on my arm; I couldn’t fight, hit a heavy bag or carry groceries. 

In 2003 I began training with Sensei Yehuda Pantanoviz and started doing pushing hands and lifting light weights (one Kilo, 100 punches).
 
I pushed through the pain because I was excited about the training.  Within three years my right arm was strong and the tendon no longer hurt. I could fight again. 
 
I returned to push-ups, working up to six sets of 25.  But I really wanted to do a pull-up.  Like the Marines!  Like when I was a little kid and swung from the monkey bars. My strong desire to do a real pull-up began in 2006.
 
I started going to a gym and working on the lat pull-down.  I did a lot of reps (up to 20) and worked up to lifting 45 pounds and then 55 pounds.  The coach told me that I was working on muscle endurance; that I should move up to 65 lbs but do fewer reps. I tried, but I could barely move the bar.  Did I mention that I’m 4’11” and weigh 99 pounds?   I did this for years and got no closer to my goal.
 
In 2011 someone suggested reverse pull-ups so I did them once or twice a week.  (Stop laughing!)
 
In March of 2012 I met StrongFirst Kettlebell instructor Ronen Katz (now SFG Team Leader).  After the first class I fell in love with kettlebells and I fell hard.  In November 2012, after months of preparation classes with Ronen Katz  I participated in the first StrongFirst teacher’s certification program here in Israel.  Because of my advanced age (I was 54 at the time) and my shrimpy stature I was allowed to do the snatch test with a 10K bell, and I passed easily. The 15 seconds on the pull-up bar was easy but I felt like a sissy. Because I really wanted to do a real pull-up!
 
I was now training with kettlebells 2-3 times a week and doing 2-3 reverse pull-ups only on the days that I did grinds.  An average of four to six reverse pull-ups per week. This was fun, and it fit well with my karate schedule, but it wasn’t enough volume.
 
In July of 2014 I had a private lesson with StrongFirst instructor Aleks Salkin.  I told him about my pull-up goal and he gave me a series of tips (which will appear later in the article)

I was so inspired by my private lesson I began training four days a week, no exceptions. On my “off” days I did reverse pull-ups 3-5 times a day. On my training days I did it 3-4 times each session regardless of whether I was doing grinds or explosive power drills. We’re talking about 16-30 times a week, which is 4-5 times the number I had been doing.
 
I discovered: Volume counts. If I want to improve a kata I have to do it many times. If I want to be stronger I need to lift more frequently with higher weights. And it worked! I began to feel stronger and stopped using the 8K and 10K for Turkish Get-Ups. (The lighter bells make good bookends.) The 12K became to feel normal. I started to snatch with it. I began doing more swings with the 16K, more suitcase-carrying drills and did rows – although not as religiously as the pull-ups.  I had been pushing off with both feet on a ladder rung. Now, I rested one foot on the ladder but left the other off, and tried not to push off with my leg.
 
In August I woke up one morning (a month after I started this program) and went to the bar with a positive attitude.  I gripped it hard, feet not touching, tensed my entire body, and then said to the bar, “It’s either me or you, mother****er!”  I crushed that bar into my chest and like a bubble in a soda can I rose to the top.  (Okay, I was breathing kind of hard.)
​
Now I have a new goal: Two in a row!”

Convinced yet? Great! So where do you start?
First and foremost, hire a quality SFB (StrongFirst Bodyweight) instructor. Contrary to popular belief, reading one article will not prepare you for the depth and attention-to-detail in your training necessary to take you from point A to point B. I’m a pretty good teacher, but not so good that I can make you a pullup expert just from reading one of my articles. Investing your money in a good instructor will pay out dividends in your strength, health, and all-around awesomeness.
Second, realize that consistency over time (no matter how much time) will take you the distance, not an unbridled iron will for physical punishment in the name of gains. Take your time, do things right, and listen to your teacher.
Finally, follow this set of progressions. Accompanying them are a series of benchmarks that would be helpful to achieve before charging forward full bore into the next progression.

Step 1: the hollow position. This posture is key for a strong pullup as it teaches you how to turn it into a full-body movement, connecting your glutes, legs, abs, back, and arms to the effort so you can attack it with everything you’ve got.

​Step 2: Pattern the movement. This can be done with a simple broom stick.

Step 3: Bodyweight rows. These will help you build up some basic beginning pulling strength as well as prepare your hands to grip your full bodyweight as you hang from an overhead bar and condition your shoulders to support you as you hang.

Step 4: Active hang. Active hangs will not only build up your grip strength, but will go a long way in making you more familiar with the bottom of the movement, where the pull up starts.

Step 5: Flexed arm hang. This will build strength in the back, grip, arms, midsection, and some true grit to back it all up. You’re now at the cusp of something great and there’s no turning back.

Step 6: Active negative. Done right, these will do wonders for your strength. Six-time Mr. Olympia Dorian Yates is fond of pointing out that skipping the negative portion of an exercise is the same as skipping half the rep. Do not overlook these. They will build up an incredible amount of strength. If you can’t do a good negative, you will not be able to do a pullup either.

Step 7: Assisted reps. Your teacher will give you some light assistance (just enough to allow you to work hard and complete the rep) by pushing into your low back to reduce some of the weight you have to pull and allow you to build some familiarity and confidence with the act of pulling yourself back up.

Step 8: Full pullups. From the active hang, pull the bar to your chest and enjoy the view from up there!

Below are the basic benchmarks to aim for before working on your pullup training from the bar.  Don’t try to skip ahead – you can’t out perform a lack of preparation.

• 5 sets of 30 seconds hollow position holds (If you think this is a lot, gymnastics coach Christopher Sommer makes his athletes work up to 5 sets of 1-minute holds while rocking back and forth and maintaining the hollow position, with just enough rest in between sets to do some mobility work. You’ll live.)
• 5×5 bodyweight row at a moderately steep (for you) elevation.
• 1 minute active hang from a bar. This means keeping your shoulders pulled into their sockets.
• 20 second flexed-arm hang.

Once you have met these standards, it’s time to set your eyes on the home stretch. Below is a sample program of how I would recommend building up to your first pullup.  Keep in mind that your current ability level will determine how quickly you will proceed, so the below should not be taken as a set-in-stone guide, but a template.

All the reps are to be performed as follows: brief dead hang -> partner assisted rep -> brief flexed arm hang -> negative. Rest plenty between sets.

Week 1:
Day 1 – 7 sets of one rep
Day 2- 5 sets of one rep
Day 3 – 10 sets of one rep

Week 2:
Day 1 – 1, 2, 1, 2, 1
Day 2 – 1, 2, 1, 1
Day 3 – 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, 1

Week 3:
Day 1 – 2, 2, 2, 1
Day 2 – 2, 2, 1
Day 3 – 2, 2, 2, 2, 2

Week 4: back off week. Repeat week 2

Week 5:
Day 1 – 2, 3, 2
Day 2 – 2, 3
Day 3 – 2, 3, 2, 3

Week 6:
Day 1 – 3, 3, 3
Day 2 – 3, 3
Day 3 – 3, 3, 3, 3

Week 7:
Day 1 – 3, 3, 3, 3
Day 2 – 3, 3, 3
Day 3 – 3, 3, 3, 3, 3

Week 8: back off week  Repeat week 5.

Week 9:

Warm up and test pullup

As mentioned previously, this is only a sample program. The above set and rep schemes can be seen as benchmarks within themselves, and you may need to work at a slower pace to work up to achieving them. It may take you a month or less like it did Sara-Rivka, or it might take you 3, 6, 9 months, maybe longer, depending on where you are in your physical journey. But you’re planning on getting a few months older anyway, right? So what’s the rush? The lessons to take from this are to gradually increase the volume over time (and according to your ability to recover), to take a few steps forward and one step back, and to be patient. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and nor will your strength be. But your patience and diligence will be rewarded with more than just a chiseled, resilient back, rock-hard abs, and a grip that never quits. You will also be rewarded with greater confidence, day-to-day usable strength to keep up with your kids and grandkids, and bragging rights amongst your friends still spinning their wheels with “7 New Ways To Tighten Your Tummy” (not to mention all of their unbridled jealousy).
​
Leave the youthful shenanigans for the kids. Train like an adult. And give those young, opinionated whippersnappers a thing or two to think about if they cross the line and talk back to their elders.

It’s simple – just not easy.

So, you wanna excel at bodyweight training?

You wanna do stunts that drop jaws, inspire envy, and give you a heretofore unimaginable level of personal fitness (not to mention a qualitative edge on attracting/obtaining phone numbers from attractive humans)?

Great decision!

But know this: you’d better be ready to spend a good, long time getting exceptional at these basics:
– Hollow position
– Pushups
– Pullups
– Squats 
– Leg raises
– Bridges

Why?

Because no amount of “hacking” is going to allow you to bypass the base of training required to allow you to achieve the over-the-top feats you so desperately want to do – from front and back levers to free-standing handstands; from pistol squats to one-arm pushups.

Again, why?

Because the name of the game in ANY strength training discipline is competence, and competence starts with mastery of the basics. How competent do you think you could be if you have a hard time eking out more than a paltry few pullups, yet you’ve got your heart set on doing front levers? Until you put in your time doing the “unsexy” movements that don’t inspire curiously dub step-laden compilation videos, you’ll be stuck at square 1 ad infinitum.

Enjoy the process. You’ll be better and stronger for it. And once you reach the clearing along the path arrived at by working these basics hard, you’ll be met with an opportunity to walk down a new path – a path that will welcome you to some gravity-defying, circus-freak strength.
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Put in your time and the way will present itself.

To start off strong, check out this basic bodyweight workout that will help you cover all your bases and get you ready to climb to the highest levels of anti-gravity strength!