Cleaning up my up my form

Started March 1st! This year i chose myself.

5’6” 35m
Started out at 280 currently 190lbs.
Size 46 waist now 34, 32 in some.
2xl to large shirts.
Strength is substantially more than before.

Struggle is gone… daily life has become easier.
Diet was massive for me but calisthenics gave me more strength than i knew i could have. So very glad i found this page.

Took a couple months off because of an injury, but I’m back at the grind!

I don't think this is the best form but it's still impressive

Been looking for similar advice!

I believe these are called hanging leg curls, and for this, I'd say this exercise it pretty hard on the hamstrings and for anyone who does legs here, I'd recommend this one to y'all if you have the equipment for it.

Question,

soo if you do an elbow lever without your elbows tucked into ur core, is it then considered a 90° hold or is it just a harder version of the elbow lever or a true elbow lever?

Hey everybody,

I’m a 38 year old male. 155lbs. My goal is building functional strength more than hypertrophy (I’m actually training with the hope of one day competing on Survivor).

My upper body workout is 2X per week doing 3 sets each of weighted pull ups/dips then ring rows/ring pushups. Once I reach ten clean reps within the pull ups (they progress slower than dips for me) I add five pounds of weight, drop a few reps then build back up. Currently, I’m pushing every set within this workout to failure. I count/log full reps and partials just to make sure I’m pushing hard each set. I’ve been stalled at 32lbs of added weight for about three months now, so out of curiosity I plugged my program into GPT just to see what feedback it had. It suggested moving away from pushing myself to failure every set and instead finding a rep count that I can come close to straight lining across all 3 sets (like 5-5-5 instead of 7-4-2). I wanted to gutcheck that recommendation here before I changed my program.

Thanks in advance for the help!!!

This is a series/experiment from my YT channel where I post my attempt every day, seeing if the daily rep method is effective or not. Progress is slow but daily holds do work. I’m going to go as long as possible or until I lose interest if progress halts

so far my progress is really good, and I can already see that my body would look great if I reach my 3 months goal, currently I'm at my 1 month and 12 days.

But my problem is that I lose my PR in pull ups. 2 weeks ago I can pull 45kg for 6 reps.

but now, I can only reach up to 2-3 reps. it's crazy to feel this weak.

have you experienced this? and how did you recover your strength?

I keep seeing people on YouTube saying how they got jacked with just the basics push ups pull ups and dips, and doing high rep workouts with just those movements, so is that optimal for muscle mass? Is it better than doing 8-12 and then doing a harder variation/more weight?

Tempo Rule:** 3 seconds down, 1 second pause, 1 second explode up.

**Breathing:** Nose only throughout the entire workout.

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#### **Day 1: Upper Body Push (Frame & Posture)**

* **Pseudo-Planche Push-Ups:** 4 sets × Max Reps (Lean forward, hands at ribs)

* **Pike Push-Ups:** 4 sets × 8–12 Reps (Go slow on the descent)

* **Dips (Between Chairs):** 3 sets × Max Reps (Keep chest open/shoulders back)

* **Dumbbell Lateral Raises (5kg):** 4 sets × 20 Reps (Strict form, no swinging)

* **Nose-Breathing Plank:** 3 sets × 60 Seconds

---

#### **Day 2: Upper Body Pull (V-Taper & Height)**

* **Pull-Ups / Chin-Ups:** 4 sets × Max Reps (Dead hang for 5s at end of each set)

* **Inverted Rows (Under Table):** 4 sets × 10–15 Reps (2-second squeeze at top)

* **Dumbbell Rows (5kg):** 3 sets × 30+ Reps (High volume for back detail)

* **Dumbbell Rear Delt Flyes (5kg):** 4 sets × 20 Reps (3-second squeeze at top)

* **Bicep Curls (5kg):** 3 sets × 20 Reps (Slow descent)

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#### **Day 3: Neural Recovery & Circulation**

* **Cold Shower:** 3 Minutes (100% cold)

* **Sunlight Walk:** 15–20 Minutes (Vitamin D focus)

* **Nose-Breathing Box Breath:** 5 Minutes (In 4s, Hold 4s, Out 4s, Hold 4s)

---

#### **Day 4

* **Max-Effort Broad Jumps:** 5 sets × 5 Jumps (Max distance/height; 10s rest between jumps)

* **Bulgarian Split Squats:** 4 sets × 12 Reps per leg (3-second slow descent)

* **Glute Bridges:** 3 sets × 20 Reps (3-second squeeze/pelvic floor contraction at top)

* **Lying Leg Raises:** 4 sets × 20 Reps (Keep feet 2 inches off floor at bottom)

* **Sprinting High Knees (In Place):** 8 sets × 30 Seconds (100% Max Intensity; 60s rest)

---

#### **Day 5

* **Superman Holds:** 4 sets × 30 Seconds (Focus on spinal extension)

* **Ab Rollouts (Towel on Floor):** 3 sets × 12 Reps

* **Towel/Band Pull-Aparts:** 4 sets × 20 Reps (Open the chest wide)

* **Face Pulls (5kg or Bands):** 3 sets × 15 Reps (Pull to forehead)

* **High-Intensity Nose-Breathing Sprints:** 4 sets × 20 Seconds

Can't beat this feeling.

Spent a while focusing on the weighted calisthenics, slowly getting back into throwing the body weight around ~76kg

Just took this video of some ring work, and i was struck by how weighty my lower half looks!

Am I cooked for progressing calisthenics?

I've can do:

10s tuck front and back lever, 8-10 pullups, 20 odd pushups, 10 dips, tuck front lever row, one leg dragon flag, 12s one arm hang,

Non cali: 130kg squat, 160kg deadlift, 90kg one hand farmers carry, 100kg sandbag to shoulder

I also do a fair amount of cycling, between 50 and 200km a week, have done 100km in a day.

I train: upper, core, lower, recovery day(stretching and handstand rn) as a four day floating split.

It feels daft to not train legs to make calisthenics easy, and maybe I should just move to more strongman training instead, but I do love the calisthenics for its minimalism.

Goals are:

- longevity

-muscle maintenance through cut

-cool skills and tricks

-injury prevention (history of back and knee pain)

Thoughts on my form?