First year of training

All calisthenics skills I have unlocked so far.

Introduction

2025 was the first year I started calisthenics. Well, technically it was 2024, and I only started posting content online after about 6 months.

It was hard. I had no idea what I was doing. The biggest help was the Overcoming Gravity book. It taught me the basics.

August

This was my first viral video. It shows me doing basic exercises like push-ups and pull-ups.

I unlocked all the skills shown in the video within about 3-4 months of starting calisthenics. I believe this was due to my existing base strength. Without previous fitness experience, it could have taken much longer.

There are a couple of calisthenics skills that impress the general public, and the human flag is one of them.

Which is funny, because not many people train for it. Most athletes unlock the human flag automatically once they have sufficient strength.

This is one of the best examples of how you should

NOT

be training.

Negatives are fine, but me jumping around and trying to perform a skill without any control is a recipe for injury.

Do not train like this.

It is okay to try a skill once, to see where you are. But do not make it your permanent workout, as in this clip.

One-arm push-ups were always a skill I wanted to unlock. At this stage I had no idea that there are many different difficulty levels.

And the gap between a "technically" one-arm push-up and the strict version is huge.

I think anyone can unlock the one-arm push-up once they can do 20 normal push-ups.

I stopped training with weights since starting calisthenics. Nevertheless, I wanted to see if my shoulder press had improved due to constant handstand and other overhead training.

And to my surprise, it did. My PR went from

90kg

110kg

in a short period of time.

However, I don't know if that was due to the overhead training or improved shoulder mobility, because at that time I spent a lot of time just doing shoulder mobility drills.

And I think that was the main contributor to the increase in performance, rather than the calisthenics skills themselves.

September

I never thought of doing ring push-ups on the floor. I didn't even know it was a thing.

I saw a challenge on TikTok and wanted to try it myself. And it is hard. It took me 4 months of training to get them right. That's because I wasted a lot of time doing exercises that don't really contribute much.

Stability training

If you train for stability, you have to change the stability itself, not the load. So instead of doing the one-arm version or the knee version, as in this video, use a surface that is less stable than your hands but more stable than rings, for example hex plates or something similar.

The L-sit is another basic exercise. So if you are not overweight and have sufficient mobility, it shouldn't be that hard. But if you are like me, then this exercise is incredibly hard.

That's because it requires compressing and pushing your whole bodyweight, which in my case was 136 kg, with straight arms.

A handstand, for example, also requires pushing. However, most of the weight in a handstand is supported by your skeleton. If you can find good alignment, the strength component reduces considerably.

The L-sit, on the other hand, is purely strength.

At this stage of training, normal planks started to become easy, which is why I wanted to find an alternative.

And ab rollouts are a good one. However, I made a mistake here as well, because I should have started with easier progressions, like the superman plank.

The one-arm dead hang is an exercise that leads towards the one-arm pull-up. But again, it was a big mistake to learn it so soon. If you can't do at least 10 strict pull-ups, then this exercise is pointless.

It will only injure you.

Be mindful

Any type of one-arm pulling exercise puts a lot of stress on your elbows. Do it only once you have good conditioning and sufficient strength.

I remember having an explosive push-up variation in my workout from day one of starting calisthenics. I first started on my knees, then moved to this version.

If I had the chance to redo it, I wouldn't do that anymore. Explosive movements look cool, but they put enormous stress on your body. Plyometric calisthenics is an advanced version of calisthenics and should be progressed towards only once you have a good base.

I don't know why I thought it was a good idea to do a pull-up with 4 fingers. I guess just for views... But the day after this video, I felt huge pain in my inner elbow.

It was medial epicondylitis, also known as golfer's elbow.

I had golfer's elbow before, and it usually got better after a couple of months. But this one was much nastier. It took me a whole year to fully recover.

And during this time I couldn't do any pulling movements.

Don't ego lift

This should be obvious, but it is worth saying again.

I don't really do endurance training. So this was my first attempt at maxing out my push-ups. I did 41 in this video, which I found very interesting:

"How can I do over 40 push-ups, if I never trained for them?"

The most push-ups I had done before was 10 or so, which makes me think that if you build pushing strength, it transfers to endurance as well.

I never took dragon flags seriously; to me they seemed like a goofy exercise.

So this was my first attempt. Clearly, my form is not good. You should keep your body straight the whole time.

The thing about dragon flags is that there is a big gap between negatives and doing them for reps.

And for most people, even the negative is already too difficult.

The bent-arm handstand is a progression towards the bent-arm handstand press, and then the handstand press. But to be fair, I don't think it is the best approach.

It is better to master the handstand first, then learn the handstand push-up, and only then the press to handstand.

October

At this stage I could do a 15 second handstand, and the next progression is the handstand push-up. The wall handstand push-up is the intermediate step.

But again, I made a mistake, because the wall HSPU was too advanced for me. You can see in the video that most of the pushing movement comes from the chest, but for the HSPU we need shoulder strength.

So the best first progression for the HSPU is the pike push-up, not the wall HSPU.

Me doing a handstand for 15 seconds.

If you have watched all the clips, you would have noticed that all my handstand attempts were on the bars. That's because, for me, doing a handstand on bars was always easier.

The problem with this approach is that I could hold a handstand on bars for 15 seconds, but couldn't on my hands at all.

So it took me another 6 months to learn the handstand on my hands.

Start HS training on hands

For this reason, I believe everyone should first learn the handstand on their hands and then move to parallettes.

HSPU negatives are another progression towards the handstand push-up. But as always, this progression was too early.

First master the handstand and the pike push-up. Then the wall handstand push-up, and only then go for HSPU negatives.

We all know that a slow and controlled tempo is better than fast and uncontrolled, at least for strength. But if that is the case, then what if we increase the tempo to ridiculous levels?

The one minute push-up is an example of this.

It is definitely a useful tool in the arsenal, but I wouldn't make this exercise a permanent part of the program.

One of the advantages of training with a partner or a coach is that they can help you find the balance point by holding your legs.

Unfortunately, I don't have anyone like that, so the idea was to use a pull-up bar as assistance.

To be fair, I am a little bit skeptical about this, because it is dangerous and its effectiveness is questionable.

I personally tried it a couple of times, but then stopped.

The one-arm dead hang with weights, which is a totally useless exercise.

If you can hold a dead hang, the next progression is not to increase resistance but to unlock the active hang, where you engage your scapulae and lats.

November

I never really trained for the back bridge specifically. So I was very surprised that I managed to do it on the first try.

Of course, the form is quite poor, but technically it is a back bridge.

I made a few embarrassing videos, but this one sits at the top.

These are assisted tucked planche attempts. The main problem is that I set up the band diagonally, when it should be vertical.

In other words, I want to lean forward, but the band is pulling me backwards, which does not make any sense.

And besides, it is too soon for me to train for the planche.

Finger push-ups are a good way to test your finger and forearm strength.

The exercise may seem easy, but it is not, unless you already have good finger conditioning.

After unlocking the one-arm push-up, I kept it in my workout, and after 4 months I was able to do 10 reps.

Finally, I unlocked the superman push-up. However, once I unlocked it I stopped doing them, because as I said earlier, explosive movements put a lot of stress on the body, so the risk-to-reward ratio is very small.

December

After one year of calisthenics, these were my achievements.

In the first year I didn't train legs at all, and one of my main goals for next year is to unlock the pistol squat. We'll see how it goes.

Summary

In summary, it was a good year. I had some bad days, but most were good.

I also believe the first year will be the one where I made the most progress out of all the years to come.

Achievements

Human flag negatives

12s L-sit

Dragon flag negatives

Ab rollouts on knees

15s handstand on bars

10s bent-arm handstand

10 dips

5 pike push-ups

HSPU negatives

3 wall HSPU

4 arched pull-ups

1 arched weighted pull-up with 16kg

1 hollow body pull-up

1 pull-up with 4 fingers

10s one-arm dead hang

10 inverted rows with resistance

41 normal push-ups in a row

One minute push-up

1 superman push-up

3 finger push-ups

5 archer push-ups

10 one-arm push-ups

10s back bridge

Weight loss

It is worth mentioning that I haven't lost any weight. In fact, I gained 10 pounds. As I recall, while filming my first handstand video I weighed 290lb, but by the end of the first year I was 300lb.

Calorie deficit is king

Calisthenics won't make you lose weight, only a calorie deficit will. So if you train hard but your diet is poor, then you might even gain weight.

Injuries

Unfortunately, injuries are part of the sport, so it is important that anyone who gets into calisthenics understands the risks.

I had two types of injuries: those from before starting calisthenics and those from after. Let's see how each one progressed this year.

Self diagnosed

Please note that all the injuries were self-diagnosed, so they might not be accurate.

After calisthenics

These were injuries I acquired as a direct or indirect consequence of doing calisthenics.

Wrist pain

I don't know where it came from or why, but one day I just started to feel pain in my right wrist. That's why I spent almost the whole year strengthening my forearms and wrists.

The improvement was definitely there, but at the end of the year I still felt some pain while doing a handstand for a prolonged period of time.

Neck pain/Compressed nerve

At one point, I started to feel neck pain that travelled down my arm. And I could feel my arm going numb when tilting my head.

These were the symptoms of a compressed nerve in the neck. My best guess is that before starting calisthenics I had very bad posture, which included neck protrusion.

So when I was doing handstands, the pressure was too much for the spine.

Nevertheless, I spent a lot of time working on fixing the underlying issue, which was bad posture.

And by the end of the year, I could start doing handstands again. But I haven't regained the full range of neck flexion.

Fix your posture

That's why I strongly encourage anyone with bad posture to fix it first, before starting calisthenics.

Golfer's elbow

I had two injuries related to golfer's elbow.

The first was at the beginning of the year while training for pull-ups. It was on my right elbow. I fully recovered from this one after three months.

Then I had another one at the end of the year, on my left elbow. This was due to me trying the 4 finger pull-up. Unfortunately, this one was so severe that I couldn't do any pulling movements for the rest of the year.

Tendinopathy

This one was horrible and totally due to my own fault.

In my first year of training I did most of my pushing movements on the bars, even push-ups.

But if you don't have sufficient strength, you compensate by overgripping extremely hard. That meant my forearm tendons were getting loaded over and over. I didn't listen. And eventually, they just gave up.

The symptoms were interesting: I could do pull-ups easily, but I couldn't hold a teacup the next day.

The fix for this is to stop doing the aggravating movements and rebuild capacity with light, direct forearm training.

So between golfer's elbow and this injury, by the end of the year I could not do any exercise.

Alternate between bars and hands

To avoid these types of injuries, always alternate between doing the same exercise on the parallettes and on your hands.

Elbow irritation

The final injury was irritation in my right elbow. The symptoms were very specific. Anytime I did dips, L-sits, reverse planks, basically any movement that loaded my elbow while my shoulders were in extension, I would feel a sharp pain in the middle of the elbow.

Stopping those movements for a couple of weeks usually fixed the pain, but never the actual problem.

That's why I did very few dips and L-sits, because anytime I tried, the pain returned.

The only thing that made this a little bit better was direct straight-arm training.

I still don't know exactly what structure was irritated.

Before calisthenics

These were injuries and problems I had way before I started calisthenics. Let's see how they progressed.

Chronic back pain

While doing deadlifts I injured my back. I couldn't get out of bed for weeks. And it was the main reason I got into calisthenics.

However, training calisthenics with back pain is hard. Some movements like handstands, push-ups, and pull-ups didn't have any effect, but others like leg raises, or any mobility work that required spinal flexion, were painful.

That's why I spent the whole year trying to address it with strengthening and corrective exercises.

By the end of the year, I saw a huge improvement. Normal movements like walking and bending over were becoming less painful.

Unfortunately, there was still pain with deeper stretches like the pancake, or after sitting for long periods of time.

Shoulder pain

I injured my shoulder many years back while doing bench press. I never really addressed it properly, and of course, a couple of months into training calisthenics the pain started to creep in.

But this time, with a lot of research into corrective exercises, I finally fixed it. And to my surprise, my shoulders became one of the strongest parts of my body.

Bad posture

I had it since childhood. It included:

Forward head posture

Rounded shoulders

Anterior pelvic tilt

In fact, the reason I injured my back was my bad posture.

The advice during a deadlift is to keep your back neutral, but if you have anterior pelvic tilt, your neutral is not actually neutral. You think it is, but it isn't.

The good news is that by the end of the year, my posture was fixed.

Metabolic problems

These were problems associated with a sedentary lifestyle and obesity. I am talking about:

Getting out of breath while walking up the stairs

Not being able to sleep properly

Puffy ankles due to excess water

High blood pressure

All of them disappeared. Even if your diet is poor, if you keep yourself active you can be relatively healthy.