Brief Summary
This video explains how to effectively combine calisthenics and gym training to maximise muscle growth. It highlights the benefits of both training styles, noting that calisthenics builds a strong foundation of pushing and pulling strength, while gym training is more effective for hypertrophy. The video also details how to program both types of training into a single day, focusing on the order of exercises and the importance of pushing muscles to failure.
- Calisthenics builds a foundation of strength.
- Gym training is effective for muscle growth (hypertrophy).
- Explosiveness is key in calisthenics, while feeling the muscle is key in gym training.
- Prioritise calisthenics before gym work in a combined routine.
The video introduces the concept of combining calisthenics and gym training to achieve optimal muscle growth. Calisthenics is presented as excellent for building a solid base of pushing and pulling strength, while gym training is highlighted for its effectiveness in creating hypertrophy. The muscle gained in the gym can aid in performing more difficult calisthenics movements or reduce their difficulty. For example, using the lat pulldown machine can assist in building muscle to make pull-ups easier.
Calisthenics focuses on explosiveness, which conditions fast-twitch muscle fibres to generate significant strength quickly, similar to powerlifters during deadlifts. While this builds strength, it may not maximise muscle growth because muscle fibres need endurance to tear down and rebuild stronger. Powerlifters and calisthenic athletes can be strong but lack size if they don't specifically train for hypertrophy. Hypertrophy is achieved by pushing muscles to absolute failure, which can be done in calisthenics by performing a movement until no more repetitions are possible, followed by a three-minute rest.
When performing calisthenics, the first three to five repetitions should be explosive. As fatigue increases, more muscle fibres are recruited, making reps more challenging. It's important to continue pushing for as many reps as possible to maximise hypertrophy. Aim for at least five sets of bodyweight pull-ups. If regular pull-ups become too difficult, use assistance like resistance bands. Continue until clean reps are impossible, then do half reps until failure. If unable to do pull-ups, start with resistance band-assisted pull-ups, then switch to inverted rows as fatigue sets in. The key is to rep out the movement until absolute failure is reached.
Gym movements differ from calisthenics; the goal is to feel the muscle being used while tearing it down. Each eccentric and concentric repetition should be slow and controlled, especially for the first three to five reps. Hold the maximum contraction for one second to feel the muscle activation. From the fifth rep onwards, perform the concentric movement faster while maintaining the slow eccentric pace. As fatigue increases, switch to half reps when full reps become too difficult, continuing until the muscles give out completely.
Pulling movements are divided into vertical and horizontal pulls for both calisthenics and weightlifting. Vertical pulls target most back muscles but are better at isolating the lats, while horizontal pulls target the middle back and rear delts. Both variations are needed to develop all back muscles. Start training with calisthenics movements first, as they are more difficult than gym exercises. Begin with the most intensive calisthenics movements, such as the front lever hold or pull-up, using a resistance band for assistance if needed. Follow with high pull variations of the vertical pull-up, like the muscle-up. If muscle-ups are too difficult, add weight to regular pull-ups or do bodyweight pull-ups. If none of these are possible, reduce the progression to resistance band pull-ups or inverted rows.
After completing at least five sets of calisthenics exercises, start working on gym movements. Do at least three sets of slow, controlled lat pulldowns to push the lats to failure. Follow with three sets of slow, controlled horizontal rows to create hypertrophy in the middle back and rear delts. Finally, isolate the rear delts with rear delt flies to finish them off.
The speaker shares their experience of incorporating gym training due to the difficulty of achieving further strength and hypertrophy with just bodyweight movements. Initially, they used high-intensity, high-volume training with low rest, which is effective but can lead to injury without proper precautions. A video link is provided for those interested in how the speaker initially gained muscle using only bodyweight training.
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Transcript
Full transcript of “How to combine CALISTHENICS and GYM for the FASTEST GROWTH”. Click a timestamp to open the video at that moment. Need another video? Use the YouTube transcript generator.
0:00 hey guys it's Damon here in this video I'm going to be discussing how to combine calisthenics and Gym training for the most efficient muscle growth calisthenics or body weight training in general is fantastic at building a proper Foundation of pushing and pulling strength the gym on the other hand is better at creating hypertrophy or muscle growth in general the muscle that is built in the gym is beneficial because it can translate to assisting with difficult calisthenics moves in some sense building muscle with gym exercises will help you to unlock difficult calisthenics exercises or ease the difficulty of De movement so as an example if you struggle with doing pull-ups the let pull down machine can be a great assistance in building you muscle that can help with making pull-ups much easier so let's go about
0:46 how you can maximize your training for both in calisthenics explosiveness is key to building strength being explosive conditions your fast twitch muscle fibers to generate a great amount of strength in a short period of time is the same concept of the explosive burst that power lifters generate with a heavy weight during their dead lifts while this is great at developing serious strength it doesn't necessarily build a great amount of muscle because muscle fibers require a certain level of endurance to be torn down and built back stronger this can explain why powerlifters and calisthenic athletes can be super strong but may lack the size unless they train specifically for hypertrophy this also brings me to my next Point hypertrophic training hyper tropy is mainly created by pushing your
1:31 muscles to the point of absolute failure pushing the failure happens when your muscles give out completely during a set this can happen with calisthenics simply by carrying out a movement to a point when you find it impossible to repeat the movement any more times in that set and resting for at least 3 minutes before you carry out another set the initial three to five reps are going to be explosive as you carry out more reps you're going to slowly lose the explosiveness because your muscle fibers get more and more fatig T at this point your body is going to start recruiting more muscle fibers to assist with the movement so at this stage your reps will become a struggle but it is important to try to complete as many reps as you can because this is the stage in which you enable the most hypertrophy your objective should be to try to push for a
2:18 minimum of at least five sets of body weight pull-ups if your muscles become too fatigued to continue regular pull-ups for five sets you can Implement assistance like using resistance bends resistance bends take some weight off your reps and are fantastic at building muscle for starting lifters the same concept applies here as soon as clean chin over bar reps feel impossible to repeat continue half wrapping them until you're unable to even half rep that movement if you're unable to do pull-ups for a start your sets can start with pull-ups using a resistance band and once you're too fatigued to continue resistance Bend assisted pull-ups you can switch to inverted rolls which are the most basic pulling progression in calisthenics remember that the most
3:03 important rule is to rep that movement out until you've reached absolute failure for clean reps before half wrapping that movement again until even the half rep has reached absolute failure gym movements on the other hand are very different while we're conditioning for explosiveness with calisthenics the main objective in the gym is to feel the muscle being used while we're tearing it down with that said each Ecentric and concentric repetition of any gym movement should be as slowed and controlled as possible especially for the first three to five reps you can even hold it at a maximum contraction of the movement to feel the squeeze of the muscle group for 1 second to feel the muscle activation during the process as your muscles begin to lose energy from the fifth rep onwards you'd
3:49 want to start carrying out the concentric movement of the repetition faster but maintain a similar pace for the Ecentric portion of the movement as fatigue begins to kick in further you want to start half wrapping the movement when the full rep becomes difficult to do and continue the half wrap until your muscles give out completely for more information regarding training for muscle mass and strength in calisthenics feel free to check out my ebooks that cater to athletes who want to improve on their physique or improve on their strength the links to these ebooks will be placed in the description down below so feel free to check them out now that we know how to train for muscle hypertrophy for both calisthenics and the gym let's talk about how to program them in a single day of training pulling movements are typically separated into
4:36 two different movements vertical and horizontal pools this works for both calisthenics and weightlifting the vertical pool variation targets majority of the pool muscles on the back but are typically better at isolating the leads the muscles that in charge of making you look wider the horizontal pool variation on the other hand is essential for targeting muscles in the middle back and the rear delts having both vertical and horizontal pool variations are necessary for developing all the muscles on the back when you start off your training for muscle growth and strength you are going to want to start with calisthenics movements first this is because body weight based movements are much more difficult than lifting weights in the gym when it comes to calisthenics
5:22 movements you want to start off your training with the most intensive and difficult movements first and for that I would recommend the horizontal pull variation which is the front level hold or the front level pullup but the front level pullup variation is a static move by itself and requires a lot of back strength and endurance so for most beginners you can consider attaching a resistance Bend to alleviate some of the weight off of your body to build the necessary strength and muscle needed to carry out the movement without the bend eventually afterwards you can hit High pull variations of the vertical pullup like the muscle up which which is much more difficult than the body weight pullup in general because of the extended range of motion needed from you to pull your body above the pull-up bar
6:08 if you struggle with doing muscleups you can add weights to your regular pull-ups or just do body weighted pull-ups depending on your strength level if you can't do any of the above yet it's always recommended to reduce a progression to work on a resistance Bend pull-up or the inverted row it's only after you have completed at least five sets of any variation of calisthenics exercises do you start working on gym movements I highly recommend working on at least three sets of the slow and controll Lead pull down variation to completely push your leads to failure afterwards you should work on at least three sets of the slow and controlled horizontal row variation to create hypertrophy in your middle back and your rear delts finally to properly isolate the rear dels for adequate shoulder
6:55 growth you can work on any variation of rear doubt flies to kill off your rear outs completely for people who are wondering I only recently started visiting the gym moreall because it has become difficult for me to achieve strength or hypertrophy with body weighted movements hence I'm now implementing weights in my training to further up my gains when I first started I utilized a technique of training where I would Implement a high intensity and a high volume of reps together with a very low rest duration to force my body to break down muscle tissue to grow back stronger while this method of training is effective it can lead to injury if the proper precautions are not taken however for athletes that are looking for a challenge and who want to take your training to the next level I will link down the video as to how I
7:41 started training 3 years ago to gain a great amount of muscle using just my body weight the video will be linked in the description below so feel free to check it out if you're [Music] interested [Music]
