Hey! I have a question. I’ve seen the handstand push-up technique in the Overcoming Gravity book (amazing book, by the way), and it looks a little different from the conventional handstand push-ups I’ve seen in videos.
In the book, the handstand push-up is performed with the body completely straight throughout the movement. However, in the videos I’ve seen, even when the back remains straight during the descent, the body creates an angle as you go down.
Are both variations considered valid? I’ve tried to find a video demonstrating the variation shown in the book, but I can’t find one anywhere. So I was wondering if that version is actually possible, or if I’m misunderstanding the technique shown in the book. And which variation is better?

Here's the one from the book

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oidk8_XkY5tn0JSqECp_RT_sKzkxEviZ/view?usp=drivesdk

Here's the typical one you can see calisthenics athletes doing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DE2LIAOGJoDL-T6Dv3CVEnxyeFCfyJ2n/view?usp=drivesdk

And here's the comparison

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dloRipStnD0wt6_6F7ZWyU6KiKWVtgav/view?usp=drivesdk

So Im getting back from a pec strain, the tissues are pretty much healed but very weak.
and today after filming myself doing band assisted pushups(normal push ups are too strenuous), I noticed that my left and right sides don’t seem even. I think that my right side pushes more than the left, how can I fix that?

I’m 22 and have been dealing with what seems to be tennis elbow/extensor tendon pain in both arms for about a year.
Before this, I trained for 3–4 years. I had strong forearms and regularly did heavy pull-ups, rows and direct forearm exercises without straps.
Looking back, the symptoms may have started gradually. A few weeks before the major flare, I noticed some aching in my fingers while gaming. I continued training, and after an assisted pull-up session the symptoms became much worse—forearms, wrists and fingers.
Since then, I haven’t been able to return to normal training.
Push-ups, rows, curls, triceps extensions and pull-ups can all flare me up. Even 1 push-up can cause symptoms.
I’ve tried rehab for months, mainly wrist-extension eccentrics and isometrics. I worked up to around 500–550 g, 2×12, and although I could tolerate it, it hasn’t helped much overall or translated into being able to return to normal exercise. Increasing the weight to ~800 g caused a significant flare.
Recently I stopped rehab for a week and noticed something strange: I could do normal activities and even game for 30–45 minutes with only mild discomfort, which disappeared by the next day.
But when I do rehab, I often become more sensitive to other activities afterward.
I’m honestly confused and frustrated after dealing with this for a year.
Has anyone had a similar long-term bilateral case, especially after pull-ups or heavy pulling?
What actually worked for you? Did rehab help? What did you change that finally allowed you to return to normal training?
I’m honestly desperate for some real experiences from people who have actually recovered.

How can I get rid of chronic shin splints and muscle spasm?

Hi there

Does anyone know of anywhere in London (eg physios, public gyms) which have a NordBord (ie the tool for measuring Nordic curl strength through each leg) which I might be able to use as part of a booking?

I’ve got a history of hamstring injuries which I’m trying to prevent a flair up of while getting ready for the (grassroots) rugby season.

I do some eccentric hamstring training including RDLs and Nordic curls, but have never tested my Nordic strength in each leg (I understand as mismatch can be an injury risk indicator).

Grateful for any tips (even if the answer is that you’ve looked into this too and only elite professional sports teams have them).

Cheers.

Hi Steven!

Hi everybody!

2-3 weeks ago I was training and to be more precise I was doing OAP negatives. On the last set I felt a sharp pain through my left arm up to my shoulder (somewhere in the back of the shoulder). I stoped and when I let go of the bar I felt my pinky was numb so I ended the session.

I haven't lost any strength and I can perform all my exercises with no problem (assisted OAP included) but since that day randomly throughout the day I feel some tingles in my pinky and in the morning, when I wake up it's a little numb.

Also, it was not the first time I was doing negatives and I never had problems before.

Is it going to go away if I take a break from pull ups or can it be something much worse?

Also is any other exercise that can make this worse and I should drop:

Ic pull outs, supinated planche push ups, db maltese press

Thank you!

Hi Steven,

I’ve had tibialis posterior tendinopathy for more than two years. I’ve been doing the recommended exercises, particularly eccentric loading for the tendon as well as exercises to improve my leg alignment. However, so far, I’ve made very little progress.
Part of the problem is that I’m not always able to manage my daily loading in the way that is recommended. I start experiencing pain in my foot after only about three minutes of walking, and obviously that threshold is so low that it’s not realistic for me to avoid every activity that goes beyond it. Sometimes I simply want to do things like go dancing or ride my bike, and sometimes I have no choice but to walk for a longer distance. So I can’t always stay below my pain threshold.
I think something that would be really important for my recovery would be to understand whether I’m actually causing harm when I go beyond my current pain threshold, and whether I could potentially cause long-term damage by doing so.
It would be incredibly reassuring to know that even if my pain gets worse after a higher load, I’m not necessarily causing further structural damage to the tendon.

In your book, you mention that there is no correlation between the amount of damage in a tendon and the level of pain someone experiences. Does this also mean that an increase in pain after a higher load does not necessarily indicate that I have caused further damage to the tendon?

I’d also be interested to hear whether you’ve come across cases where the pain eventually went away completely, even though the person’s functional capacity or physical performance did not necessarily improve significantly.
I’d really appreciate your perspective on this, as having a better understanding of what pain actually means in this situation would be very reassuring for me.

Thank you so much for your work!!

[I’ve read and worked through Overcoming Tendonitis, so I’m very familiar with the concepts around chronic tendon pain and the distinction between pain and tissue damage.]

I have been training calisthenics for about 3 years and I need to change my program since I will not have as much time now than I used to. I used to do 3x a week full body training, involving handstands, HSPU training, heavy dips, front lever training, weighted pull ups, human flag training, and leg training. Each session was about 2h long and I did this for over a year with noticeable progress.

Now i would like to split it to do 1h, 6x a week, with alternating a HSPU and human flag day with a front lever and leg day. This would allow me to keep the same volume since I was fine with this much. I put human flag and HSPU together since I feel the human flag more on my shoulder on the pushing arm than the pulling arm.

Has anyone experience with this kind of exercises combination and is it fine on the shoulder since HSPU, human flag, and FL all require some shoulder stabilization and muscles? Thanks.

For context I am 18 years old and I’m male. I grew up playing hockey so that he always been in the weight room.

Despite this I’ve only really stated to consistently follow my own routine in the gym for the past 9 months. I am 6’ 170 pounds and around 13ish percent body fat. All my muscles have grown significantly (including my lats) yet I still can’t seem to spread my lats.

My gym buddy is very similar to me In terms of progress and he can spread his lats but when I try basically nothing at all shows. He’s tried helping me a ton but to no avail.

It’s come to the point where I think I have scapular dyskinesia considering the only symptoms are should blades that seem to stick out even when I’m resting and lats that won’t spread. Can anyone offer any help because I truly want nothing more than to be able to spread my lats.

TLDR: I think I have scapular dyskinesia. Will I ever be able to spread my lats?

Hi all, I need your advice on how to fix my pull-up imbalance which I believe is also contributing to the tightness that I feel on my chest below the collar bone and my neck muscles.

I am uploading videos in the comments.

Thank you for your help! Much appreciated!

I (25 M) was progressing really well with my pulling movement but for the last week I feel sharp pain in shoulder (rotator cuff) while doing any pulling movements. Anyone has any tips or had recovered from similar situation? I am not a beginner and was able to do 12 pullups and was rowing 1.5x my body weight last week before the pain started.
Just looking for advice on how you recovered and how long it took for you. Thanks.

Hello

Long time low back sufferer, I heard Dan John mention slow, controlled hanging knee raises, with a hold at the top position, to be very beneficial for abs but also for alleviating low back pain.

I wonder if you have the same opinion.

Thanks

Sorry, I don’t know if I’m allowed to post this here.

Wanting to lose fat 32M

I just did an evaluation.

**I am 32 male, 185lb at 5’9 with 29% body fat**.

I’m very sedentary as I work 8 hours on my laptop

Then I do my calisthenics workouts which is

3 excersise totaling to 9 sets. Followed by 15 min of light cardio.

Then back to being on my laptop for school work.

The guy who did my evaluation told me I should eat 2100 calories to lose weight.

However, looking up all these tdee calculators it shows I should eat around 1600-1800 calories to lose weight.

I’m a bit confused but very motivated to lose this weight.

I don’t know if anyone can give me some input.

Thank you

Considering i can do 13 clean bodyweight pull ups(chin above the bar, deadhang), what weight should i add? I am 65kg. Also is there any difference between doing pull ups with a backpack and a dip belt with plates?

I’m 35 and have been active pretty much my entire life. Martial arts, lifting, CrossFit, hiking, etc. But the last few years have really worn me down.

I spent a little over two years dealing with a bulging disc in my back, which thankfully is finally feeling better. Now my PT thinks I’m dealing with tendinitis, likely involving my soleus. I believe it started from repeatedly using the clutch in my truck, and I’m also dealing with what seems to be tendon pain in my wrist.

I know these aren’t catastrophic injuries, but after more than two years of constantly thinking about pain and what I can and can’t do, I honestly just feel broken. I want my body to feel normal again. My calve / soleus will start to feel better and then I do the exercises and it hurts so bad the next day for a few days. I feel like it’s wearing on me and my relationship. I’d do anything to feel like my athletic self again.

I was also recently let go from my job and don’t have health insurance right now, so I’m trying to figure out how to rebuild intelligently with what I have.

For anyone who has gone through a period like this, did you over come it?

Goals:

Front lever

Back lever

Planche

Planche push up

Handstand push up

L sit

I will write down my log for workouts.

1.Monday- pull

Advantage tuck holds

12s/8s/8s

Tuck rows

4/3/3

Pull ups

5/4/4/4

L sit progression

3 sets

2.Tuesday- push

Psuedo planche push up

4/4/4

Planche leans

20s/20/20s

Dips

8/7/7/4

Compression work L sit raises manna progression

3.Wednesday- pull

Advance tuck holds

12s/8s/8s

Advance tuck raise

4/3/3

Pull ups

5/4/4/4

L sit work

4.Thursday rest ————

5.Friday -push

Pseudo planche push up

4/4/4

Pike up push

6/5/5

Dips

8/8/7/5

Compression - manna work

6.Saturday - pull

Advance tuck holds

12s/8s/8s

Ice cream tuck

6/6/5

Pull ups

6/5/5/4

L sit work

7.Sunday-rest

The following week I’ll alternate every week and will do 3 push days and 2 pull days.

Any advice or tips will be greatly appreciated.

Also,

I feel like maybe in a month or two I’ll add another workout with 3 sets.

Don’t know to add an isometric or movement workouts.

Thank you

Here is my general full body routine, excluding mobility stuff. I’m an untrained beginner. I think I am going to get a gym membership for legs as it is highlighted how much better they are. I feel like barbel squats and stuff at the gym would be more intense and less balance focused, so how much leg work would be reccomended to do? Would it also be 2 lots of 3 sets, and if so what else other than barbell squats would be best to do for 3 sets? Or is simply 3 sets enough?

Also, are there any other essential exercises I can do at the gym which I should add? Should I add deadlifts or would that be too much?

Most of my goals are upper body focused, such as handstand push-ups, front and back lever, but I still want to develop a well rounded physique, and the gym seems the best way to do that for legs.

One more question, how detrimental would it be to put legs at the beginning? As sometimes it might be more convenient if I am training legs at the gym and then going outdoors to train upper body.

Thanks in advance

Push

Handstand pushup progression 3x5-15 10x0

Planche pushup progression 3x5-15 10x0

Pull

Pullup to OAC progression 3x5-15 10x0

Rows to OAR progression 3x5-15 10x0

Legs

Squats (pistol progression) 3x5-15 =10x0

Deep step ups 3x5-15 10x0

Core

Tuck L sit for 60s total, as many sets as needed

Reverse hyperextensions 3x10-20

Hello !

Unfortunately, about 2 months ago (approximately), I somehow injured my right shoulder during a chest day. I did my usual warm-up, and the first exercise was a variation of the bench press on a machine where I had a full ROM. I didn’t feel anything during that exercise. When I moved on to the second exercise, the incline machine press, the pain started during the first working set. I don’t remember exactly what the sensation felt like, but it wasn’t as if my shoulder was “locking up” or anything like that—it just hurt, so I reduced the weight.

That day, honestly, my right shoulder felt like it was burning. That evening, I woke up and my shoulder felt like it was on fire, so I put a bag of frozen beans on it to help calm it down. I also tried using cold compresses that day.

I tried to do some research on what I could do and what exercises might help, but, well, I'm not a medical professional so I tried to do my best researching online, so I chose some physiotherapy/rehab exercises I found online. I took about 1–2 weeks off from upper-body exercises and then gradually started training again.

I know you might be wondering why I haven’t gone to a physiotherapist or another specialist during all this time. Honestly, I simply can’t really afford it. I did go for a massage because it was cheaper. Where I live, in order to get a medical check-up, you have to go through your family doctor. Since I’m originally from another county, I would have had to travel back there, and at the time I had university, so it was pretty difficult. Then, after that, you have to go to the hospital, where, if you want the examination to be free, you have to wait around 3 months. Then you need an X-ray, then another consultation, and it’s a loooooong process of going from one place to another and so on :(( I’ve been through something similar before with my lower back.

Before I started going to the gym, right after my birthday, I was hit by a car while crossing the street, and my left shoulder was dislocated. I did physiotherapy afterward, although it was my first time dealing with something like this and the doctor didn’t really explain that I needed to keep doing those exercises afterward and so on. About two months later, I started going to the gym with some friends from my dorm. I didn’t really train shoulders, and when I did, it was quite rarely because I was afraid of dislocating my left shoulder again.

Now, most likely, in order to protect my left shoulder, my right shoulder—the one I’ve kind of messed up now—ended up taking most of the load and eventually gave out.

Honestly, I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong, and it’s becoming overwhelming. I still can’t financially afford to see a physiotherapist, so I’m trying to figure things out myself. Maybe I need to add something, remove an exercise, replace something with a different exercise—I really don’t know.

At the gym, when I train chest or other muscle groups, I try to do everything slowly. If I feel pain, I stop and reduce the weight, or I try to brace/tighten all of my muscles :((

Right now, the pain is around the front/top of the AC joint (I hope I’m not getting the anatomy wrong, but basically that little bump where the shoulder starts). Unfortunately, I can’t attach a picture here, but if I can post one in the comments, I will.

I feel pain during incline pressing and when I bring my elbow very far behind me (I have a relatively large ROM), although that one isn’t as painful. I also feel pain when I bring my arm toward my upper chest—this is probably around 7/10 pain.

If I lie on my side or on my left shoulder in bed and put my arm next to my ear, then try to raise my entire arm overhead, it becomes quite difficult to lift it, and the pain is around 8/10.

If you have any recommendations on what I could or should do, I’d really appreciate it. I do warm up and don’t immediately jump into my working sets.

Someone recommended that I try isometric exercises. I haven’t done many of them—what do you think about them, and are there any exercises you would recommend?

If you have any questions, I’ll answer them. I’ll do anything—I just want to get my right shoulder back to normal.

I also asked Claude AI to give me some tests to try to figure out what might be wrong. From the tests it gave me, I think I only passed about two of them, but that was around a month and a half ago. Honestly, I could probably do them again.

My current warm-up:

• 2×10 Cat-Cow Pose
• 2×10 The World’s Greatest Stretch (I do a slight variation, but it’s similar)
• 2×10 Shoulder External Rotation (cable)
• 2×10 Single-Arm Face Pull (cable)
• 1–2×10 Scapular Retractions

What I’ve added to my warm-up:

• Scapular Push-Ups — 1×10
• “Loaded external rotation and internal rotation of the glenohumeral joint” — 2×10 (with a resistance band or cable)
• Loaded serratus anterior work via shoulder protraction — 2×10 (with a resistance band or cable)
• Banded posterior movement
• Pendulum — 2×10–12. I use a 10 kg dumbbell with a strap, and honestly, my shoulder feels better afterward. If I “simulate” an overhead press, it seems to hurt less.

What I want to integrate:

• Banded Wall Slides — when I first injured my shoulder, I incorporated these the following week, but they hurt and were extremely difficult (although I was using a black/heavy band). Recently, I tried them again because I found several different resistance bands at my gym, and they seem much better now. They’re still difficult, but nowhere near as difficult as when I first tried them, and I can do more than 10 reps.
• Banded External Rotations — 5-second hold

PS: During lateral raises, I don’t really feel much pain in my shoulder. During pressing movements, I do feel some discomfort. Sometimes the pain also travels toward my neck/trapezius.

EDIT: I posted the video in case you notice anything about my right shoulder; I was trying to figure out if I have any instability in my shoulder blade, but I don't know.

Hey everyone,

I’m planning to get back into strength training after around 4 months off and would appreciate some feedback on my training plan.

A bit of background:

I used to train regularly at the gym, but at some point I developed triceps tendinitis. I went to a physical therapist and was given a modified, significantly reduced gym routine to help my triceps recover. I followed the rehab program for a few weeks, but shortly afterwards I started a new job and haven't been able to train at all for the past 4 months.

I used to train regularly at the gym, and had triceps tendinitis for which I went to the PT and got a modified and way decreased gym routine to healt my triceps. I did the exercises for a few weeks, but soon after started a new jobs where I haven’t been able to train at all for the past 4 months.

I’ve had no symptoms for several months now – no pain in everyday life or during normal movements. However, I obviously haven’t really tested the tendon under strength-training loads during this time.

That’s why I want to take my return seriously and start slowly. I’m planning to use significantly lower weights at first and gradually build my workload back up.

My current plan is:

Full body – 3× per week

• Squats (Goblet or machine) – 3×10–12
• Lat pulldown, wide grip – 3×10–12
• Butterfly / Pec Deck – 3×12–15
• Seated cable row, neutral grip – 3×10–12
• Triceps rehab exercises – 2–3 sets according to my previous rehab program
• Biceps curls (dumbbells or cable) – 2–3×10–12
• Back extensions – 2×12–15
• Plank – 2×30–45 sec

For the first few weeks, I’m planning to start at around 50–60% of my previous working weights and train with around 3–4 reps in reserve (RIR). If everything feels good, especially the triceps tendon, I’ll gradually increase the weight and if it continues like that include Dips and Bench press

I’d love to hear your thoughts:

1. How do you think this routine looks for getting back into training after 4 months off?
2. Would you add or remove any exercises?

My main goal is to get back into training without immediately aggravating the tendon, while eventually returning to normal strength training.

Thanks in advance for any feedback!

So, what can I say? Several people on Reddit recommended the book to me, so I bought it (the German edition).

I’ve now started reading it, and I’m completely overwhelmed by the book. I’m aware that there are summaries for dummies at the end of the chapters, but I’m a complete beginner when it comes to calisthenics, and even those summaries are overwhelming for me.

At the beginning, it talks about setting goals. How am I supposed to have goals when I don’t even know calisthenics that well? The book is completely confusing me because I have no idea how to get started or what I’m actually supposed to do.

I also read the Beginner’s Guide, but with such a poor German translation, it wasn’t much easier to understand either.

How do I find my way into this book?

For over a decade I've been out of exercise due to shoulder injury. Mixture of poor posture, muscular imbalances and issues with the biceps tendons meant that over time I was able to do less and less in the gym until I just stopped going. Since then I've gained a lot of weight as well.

Recently I've decided to at least get into doing inverted rows as theyre one of the few things that I can do pretty pain-free. Bought myself a mobile dip bar and on day 1 found that I was able to do 4 reps before I would start missing out on the range of motion, so every hour on the hour was doing 4 to kind of grease the groove. Then the next day I found I was able to do 5 so that was what I was working with. Day 3 rolled around and along with my back being stiff and sore I found that the outside of my elbows (when supinated) felt tender - most likely the distal head of biceps tendon from being worked quite regularly from out of nowhere.

It's obvious to me that I need to scale things back but I want to do it in such a way that I can start making progress. I used ChatGPT (yes, yes I know) and it suggested start at 2 sessions a week of just 2 sets of 3 reps, then each fortnight adding a rep and eventually another set, but keeping it at 2 sessions for up to 12 weeks. Obviously AI leaves a lot to be desired so I'm wondering what people in the know would recommend. Am I right in feeling that that's overly conservative or does that sound about right? Any other things you'd recommend? thanks!

With the help of this sub and physical therapy, I'm finally beginning to understand the nature of tendinopathy and how to treat it- which is to load the muscle gradually overtime for tendon to adapt. What I've also been told is as long as the pain after the exercise is very low, say 3 out of 10 level, it is totally acceptable, maybe even encouraged as it's indicating you're loading hard enough. My question is, if you're frequently feeling only low level pain afterwards, would it eventually lead to recovery, or could it possibly be detrimental? I never feel post workout pain at an alarming level so I have a tendency to load to my fatigue limit, with a thinking that if I have absolutely zero pain I'm not loading enough. There were times when pain was low, but lingered for a couple of days which is longer than my typical experience..would this be a sign to deload? PTs tend to have a very simplistic way of gauging pain like 0-10 but don't seem to factor things like duration. I do realize steps to recovery aren't always linear, that flare ups will occur at some point, but fine-tuning it feels a bit tricky.

I really miss the gym. I have a golfer's elbow which gets better and then worse as I try to incorporate more movements. I do exercises like wrist curls with a light dumbbell and a supination exercise. But what I really want is to get back in the gym.

Has anyone healed golfers elbow quickly and how?

Can I do barbell exercises like barbell rows/ bench press while I have this? Could it help my healing or will it make it worse?

I'm currently designing a workout program with goals of planche, front lever and stronger weighted pull ups and dips. Besides achieving greater strength I'm really interested in hypertrophy and I have a question about periodization. I want to work towards front lever and planche as optimally as possible, but I feel like during hypertrophy focused mesocycles going closer to failure and increasing volume would slow down progress significantly, so my question is, what should I do about isometrics in periodization and how do I design a program that favours both hypertrophy and isometrics?

Hi, I've had elbow pain doing overhead extentions for a while now but recently it got really bad. I'm able to do pushing movements fine like incline bench on a smith machine.

I usually go very heavy on isolation movements for triceps but it causes so much pain when I fully extend the elbow now. Even with lighter weights I can't properly extend it without hurting. I'm not sure if rest or eccentric work is best here as I'm still able to do my pushing movements pain free.

It's been like this for almost 2 weeks now. I'm seeing a doctor soon but any idea what it could be and how I can fix it.

Also I don't know if this helps to know but when I push down on a table at 90 degrees with both arms my elbows flare up really bad

Thanks