I stumbled upon high frequency training during lockdowns. I first just started off with a 30 day challenge of doing 100 squats everyday. I noticed after a week, I could crank out 100 squats without breaking and no soreness. Not only that, after 30 days my legs and glutes where firmed up and some muscles were popping. So I thought, why not do a whole body workout the same way. So I worked up to 20 pullups, 50 pushups, 100 crunches, 100 squats and 100 calf raises daily. Takes about 15 minutes and I've been at it for about 3 months. Not perfect as some days I missed. But never more than a day. I think that helps with recovery. Needless to say, I'm not buffed or anything, but you definitely know I'm a guy in shape.
@@darylthomas7317 Mike tyson and famous athletes like herschel walker used to do all body all the days or at leas 6 days a week and they have some big size
High frequency training is the way to go. Simply busting out a few sets of pushups, pullups and squats throughout the week is sustainable and it builds up. If you have access to the gym adding in full body workouts is far easier with this approach also. You just have to manage the volume and intensity. Always fresh and never burned out this way and you never miss a workout as it's so easy to do.
I got an overuse or overtraining neurological injury. It's taken 24 months to recover. As an older (50 years old) individual be sure to manage recovery.
Great advice for someone who work all day and don't have much time like me. I can do it when I wake up everyday just cycling push pull legs 6 times a week. Doing variation using the ring first half of the week then using my paralette
Calisthenics Plus Swimming Jogging (Hills) Yoga Weights BJJ. Boxing Karate Lots & Lots Of Stretching Cold Showers ,Ice Baths Clean Food No SUGAR... I train 6 days a week every 3 or 4 months I take 7 days off Totally ..... Some Guys OVERTRAIN... Moderation is the Secret.. I'm 64 Started Training Karate at 6 years old... I Have No Injuries NONE !!!
The "split" I've been using lately is two "full body" days (one posterior focused, one anterior focused), then one each push, pull and legs. This gives me two rest days (I'm 41 and definitely need it), on which I try to get in some restorative yoga or mobility work. Most of the workouts are strength/skill focused, but I occasionally throw in power/speed work and/or finish with some hypertrophy focused sets.
Is a good approach. I also have some doubts how its done posterior and anterior because if i think in posterior i think in chest,biceps. front od the shoulders and the point is in the movement for shoulders you will use your triceps thisame as the chest so i saw it like it would be mixed push and pull and posterior and anterior. How do you isolete them?
@@joshforeman1723 I am not doing a lot of isolation movements on those days (or much at all). This is why I used the words anterior and posterior "focused". They're still "full body" workouts. So, while the biceps are located anteriorly, they're more involved in pulling, so they're actually getting more work on the posterior days. The opposite is said of the triceps. Those are the major exceptions. Here are some examples of exercises I'm doing on these days: on anterior-focused days- squat pattern stuff like front loaded squats (mostly kettlebell- goblet, front rack, hunter's, etc.), pressing movements like KB OH press or floor press, landmine press variations, etc., and then movements that involve tying those together- TGUs, KB clean and press, KB/landmine lunge to press, squat thrusts, etc. On posterior days- pull up variations, ring rows, BB deadlifts, KB RDLs, KB deadlift variations, KB/BB/LM row variations, etc.
@@TXGTPS I undersant it globally, really is 2 days full body, including anterior and posterior but one day is more focused on posterior and the other on anterior and after 1 day to push,other to pull and the other one for legs. right?
Really clear information I’ve been looking for. Thank you for this. A key for me is not being lazy and just following the same daily routines. I definitely need to force myself to do more variety.
After Training Fullbody for like 2-3 years now I´m busted. I watched out for less sets, less reps and an rest day here and there. What helped ME more, was doing another Split: Upper Lower Conditioning + Skills + KB Work Upper Lower Conditioning + Skills + KB Work Rest I did like one warm up set and two sets near to failure after that so a total of 3 sets per exercise, and only 4 exercises per Day. If I had less time than average, I would go for supersets like Chest + Back Superset or Squats + Hams Superset. So my Training time would go down significantly from like 30-45 minutes to maybe 20 minutes which also trains the cardiovascular system. Fullbody is great but I needed to change because my body couldn´t handle that. Maybe because I was in a stressful time too with my studies, family, life itself.
Oh man this is the best news I could get, as someone who trains at home, I don't need to constraint my workout to a gym session. But I was unsure if allowing myself to rest between sets (so that I am not fatigued and I can achieve more volume overtime) would not count. This summer I challenged myself to do 100 pullups one day, 100 push ups next day, and repeat this sequence for 30 days. In a month I did many more push ups and pull ups that I would normally do just because I spread my reps along the day, as long as I did all the reps and at least the last sets would take me near or to failure. I perceived less effort, I have increased my max reps in both, but this video helps a lot on confirming that the approach is good and not just my perception.
I also work to failure with insane amout of reps and my bones in my arms just start to ache like sheesh, I amma tone down my sets in 1 day and just do different kind of movmenets to hit same muscle 1-3 sets all till failure with more focus on first set
@@Kboges I was doing something like that. Training days of just one movement. It got good results to me but I progress slowly I think. The problem for me was that I was really exhausted about the muscles I used that interferes with the next days. Any recomendation to that? I was doing: 4 set of 4 exercices of decreasing dificulty until failure. Pull ups+ assisted+jumping+ negatives. Day 1 pull ups. Day 2 push ups. Day 3 squats. Day 4 dips. Day 5 core. Cant keep it up because they destroyed me. Never getting enought recovery. I actually would prefer to do something basic and full body everyday so it becomes an easy routine for me. Less time consuming as you say and easier to be constant with. But it becomes hard for me :/
@@asherat8332i do full body, 3 times a week, with 4 Sets of one push/pull/squat and hip hinge movement. It takes a bit more time but not too much. Still very time efficient I think. I tried to train every day, but it was also very hard for me.
Hi Kyle great videos, much appreciated For a future Q&A: Tips for over 50s especially around rest and intensity of training as this is a wall I either miss or hit so to speak 👍
New subscriber here. The notion that each additional set has diminishing growth stimulus and disproportional fatigue is new to me! Thank you for that. Could you let me know where I can read more about this concept please?
Good stuff! I've been doing a single set of pushups pullups and cossack squats each morning and afternoon, then roughly every other day alternating between a short lifting session of A-Turkish get up/single leg RDL and B-OHP/weighted lunges. If I miss a lift day or feel like I need an extra recovery day, I still have the daily exercises to keep stimulation and mobility.
Just been watching your videos on why you should train full body (one push, one pull, one squat) daily. Now talking about doing splits. No wonder people get so confused!!
Hi Kyle, just passing by to tell that these are some awesome advises :) Doing exactly what your subscriber is doing, and even anecdotal, I can fairly say that it works for me too. I've started with push-ups, pull-ups (rows on a table in the room actually), and squats every single day, but later in one of the videos decided to try the 5-hard-sets-each-day split. This was an incredible change, and I'm planning on keeping that a bit more, before returning to some mixture of the two. From less than five rows under the table, ~8 push-ups and 15-20 squats each for three sets each day, I am now at 5 sets of 3-4+ chin-ups, 5*8 paused push-ups and just finished the fifth set of 30 paused squats, all properly executed. I am not even completely fried :)
@@IrishJJ27 There are days that I don't feel like it was enough, but then the next day there is still strain in the muscle group I was exercising. So your mileage may vary, but in some days I do indeed try to get a bit more series in the afternoon too. My last example was with 5 x some chin-ups in the morning and then one or two max-out in the afternoon/evening. Works awesomely, remember you have your whole life to do that :) I'm personally trying not to rush it too much :) P.S. Forgot to mention that on the "low" days, I'm doing all three muscle groups now, then returning to 5 hard sets. And by the way, not bragging, but I haven't stopped now for more than 125 days already :)
It is always a single exercise, for example today I have 5 hard sets of squats (5x30 in my case), and yesterday I had 2x15 paused push-ups in the morning and 5xsome high-stand push-ups (a bit higher - 20-30 cm above ground), but again the same muscle group and always at least 5 hard sets. When I do more than one exercise, I almost always do all three (chin-ups, push-ups, squats) like Kyle - chin-ups/push-ups in a superset, then squats. In these days (with all three) I do 3 sets for each exercise, and again sometimes some variety in the afternoon if I don't feel too tired. I believe the main idea behind the 5 hard sets of a single exercise is to rotate the muscle groups this way and break out of a plateau, i.e. the same muscle group gets higher the amount of volume in one day, then more time to rest (the next two days). Cheers :)
For the Q&A: 1. Are 10 sets of 10 for a movement the same as 4 sets of 25 done everyday? 2. Tricep tendonitis has hit from the pushups. Has it ever happened with you in high frequency training and how do you ensure it doesn't happen again. I've added variety but the tricep is still in use across every "push"
Hello! I've just discovered your channel and absolutely love your content. I'm 29, and have played AFL (Australian football) and had a steady, traditional strength and conditioning workout since I was a teenager. I've always followed fairly traditional splits, but in December last year I decided to commit a full year to calisthenics and ditch the heavy lifting. I'm six weeks in and loving it. I have rings, and parallette bars in my back yard (mastering the proper hands out, shoulders decompressed support position on rings is bloody hard!). At the moment I do push, pull rest, push pull then rest the weekends (rest = my footy specific running program) (I'm also rehabbing a knee injury so won't include proper leg day until I've recovered). Anyway, sorry, to my question. I want to see if I am understanding this properly. For example, through my two pull and two push sessions (50 mins roughly per session) each week I do a total of: 60 pull ups 60 chin ups 120 rows 90 Dips 220 push ups 15 Skin the cat Am I right in thinking that I could transition to a 6 day split, where I do: 10 Pull ups 10 chin ups 20 Rows 35 push ups 3 skin the cats And include the principles of alternating grips/variations to avoid overuse injury, focus on proper form etc the results would be the same, if not better? If anyone else has thoughts would love to hear them.
Or, would you recommend structuring it this way. For example, those 120 pull/chin ups are across 10 sets total for the week. I'll round up to 12. So to hit High Frequency principles I want to do 12 sets split across six days. This means 2 sets per day. If I establish that my max pull up reps is 12. Then I multiply that by 2 sets, which means my daily target is 24. So I then do my pull ups to to max ie. 1 x set of 10, 1 x set of 8 and then just do an easier set of 6 to equal the 24. And follow that principle for each of the above exercises which will create a daily workout of about 25 mins with two sets for each exercise across the six days. And then increasing rep ranges once the harder sets become easier. Thanks!
Thank you for the great content! I've just started to do 5 sets of single push/pull/leg exercise throughout the day then cycle everyday like you advised. What I like: - very time efficient - gives energy thoughout the day - easy to stick to this routine - low fatigue and soreness, doesn't mess with my other sports However I feel undertrained and it's too soon to see results. Anybody has tried something similar for a significant amout of time and can share his experience/results? Many thanks !
I like this way of training like you suggested, 1 push, 1 pull and a leg exercise. Per day I see what i wanna train and when I go to the gym twice or so a week i do the same bit with barbell exercises. So like oh press, deadlift and pull up for example.
I've commented a couple times here but they seem to be disappearing. Anyway, I'll make it brief. Thanks for the mention and you did pronounce my name correctly. Fatigue management is the biggest challenge for me as I prefer full body every day. How do you know when you've done too much and how do you know what is the right amount each day?
Stephen, I keep trying to respond to your comments but they end up disappearing! Not sure what's going on there so I hope this one sticks. I totally agree with you. Fatigue management is really the key to everything, and as you get older and/or more advanced, it gets more and more critical insofar as what you need for a training effect and what might result in overtraining/injury get closer and closer. For you questions, want me to share my opinion on the Q&A or in the comments?
@@radercalisthenics what’s the split exactly that was mentioned in this video that you came up with he was talking kind of fast and I didn’t really grasp it. Thank you for helping out
@@Healthhub23 That was an idea I had that is full body Monday (3 sets each exercise of push, pull and legs), upper body tuesday (push and pull, 4 sets each), legs Wednesday (4 sets), push Thursday (5 sets), pull Friday (5 sets) and legs saturday (5 sets.) It gives you a lot of variety and the best of all worlds. Right now it's too complicated for me because my life is too busy so I'm doing his push/pull/legs split described here and in more detail in his video called "A Simpler Way to Train?" This one is working well for me right now. 5 sets of a single exercise per day.
Kyle, if I wanted to burn calories and fat, assuming diet, sleep etc. Is in order, would a 3 move push pull leg workout 5-6 days a week be a good plan? Or, and I liked this idea, a 6 day cycle where one day is push, the next pull the third legs. Choosing one exercise and going fairly high reps for 5 to 10 sets. My goal is fat/weight loss. I'm a 48 year old male in fairly good shape
Im sorry im late!!!! Great video Kyle...! Some questions for Q&A.... how often would you recommend rest days with high frequency workouts ?...On average how many weekly hard sets do you do per muscle group.? How long have you been training? What motivated you to leave weightlifting and start calisthenics.? Shed some light on principles of periodization and how can we include it in our day to day training? Thank you very much God bless!!!!
I do one leg, one pull and one push excersie 6 days a week. Like you suggested in another video. Perfect for me ! But one question, what do I do to warmup correct for these short everyday sessions. Thanks for the good stuff and keep on the great work.
With high frequency you train also the mitochondria to produce more and quicker ATP. Which speed up the metabolism, what is good for older guys like me. And i think also the "Physiologic Headroom" (the difference between the most you can do and the least you can do) is bigger with high frequency vs. HIT. What is your experience?
I would agree with you. This is something I've talked to some exercise science researchers about. I suspect frequency, volume, and high reps all have potential benefits for mitochondrial health. I also totally agree with your observation regarding physiologic headroom. I'm speculating and getting a bit "out there" with this, but I suspect that if you are frequency sending the "signal" to your body to activate the genes associated with strength, vitality, fitness, leanness, etc. then the signal doesn't need to be over potent. It's like keeping a pathway greased. This is a large part of my physiological hygiene concept. Excellent addition to the comments, Marcus!
@@Kboges it sound very intersting.yeah just a trigger, a kikstart for readyness if this is a word.i would love to read a book about this topic. Or a video of from you about physiological hygiene. There is also a study on age related genes, where 76 year old get Gene's from 25 year old, after 6 month of resistence training. ( in the book from Doug Mcguff - body by science ) maybe you want also see the yt:Doug McGuff: Resistance Exercise
@@schleifermax Excellent suggestions! I am working on organizing ideas for a book in the future, for sure. Thanks for the reference too! I will check that out. The epigenetic impact of training is a fascinating subject and something I really want to learn more about.
Really enjoying these videos-thanks! May I ask if you do any accessory work in addition to each day’s push, pull, and leg exercise? Stuff like direct arm work, maybe lateral raises, etc.
Just wanted thank you so glad I found your channel I've literally watched hundreds and hundreds of calisthenic videos and I've learned more into nights of binge-watching then about a year of that you my friend are the professor of calisthenics no BS no fluff on your channel love it and I like how you take time to answer questions. If I may ask one question, if I do push one day pull the next, are the muscles from the push day had enough time to recover because they're still going to be using the secondary muscles on the pull day, because we've always been preached to you got to let your muscles recover 24 to 48 hours all that BS. Just wanted to thank you for your passion for calisthenics I love it too and how you are very interested in teaching us I really love your Channel Thx in advance for your answer. Ken T
Ken! Thank you for the kind words, man. I really appreciate it. I'm happy you are enjoying the content! Great question... In general, it depends. You could, technically, train your pushing so hard that you destroy yourself to the point where training your pulling the next day suffers tremendously. However, your recovery really depends on the "dose" of training, exercise selection, and your preparedness to handle that dose. For instance, 15 sets of pushing to failure might make my pulling suffer the next day, but 5 sets taken two reps shy of failure probably won't, provided I'm in shape, conditioned, and have been training for a while. A lot of what makes training productive or unproductive, is how we balance the stimulus that an exercise provides with the fatigue that it generates. Ideally, we want to train in a way that maximizes the stimulus relative to the fatigue. So 15 sets might generate a greater absolute stimulus than 5 sets, but probably not much more since additional sets have diminishing returns. However, it certainly adds a ton more fatigue, so while the absolute stimulus might be higher, the stimulus relative to the fatigue is worse. So, if your exercise selection is appropriate, and your training dose is appropriate, you can recover much faster. Ultimately the amount of rest you need is not fixed, but dependent on how your train. Thanks for your support, brother!
@@Kboges Thanks K for the indept response I really appreciate it. Just an idea your ripped up bro, I think I've watched most of your videos already but I've never seen anything on your diet yet did I miss something ? I think a lot of us out here would love to see what you eat and recommend for nutrition for calisthenics Etc Ken T Not a sermon just a thought lol
@@kent7525 Thanks brother! Nutrition is a crazy subject that is super individual. I personally keep it very basic and like to take a "principle based" approach. Personally, I eat real food, practice time restricted feeding, don't snack, and eat about a gram of protein per lb of body weight. I also enjoy 1-2 cheat meals per week. Literally, that's about it. Super simple stuff.
1. you are great 2. how do you decide your weekly volume and rep increases per week/month. 3. doing pushups, pullups and squats everyday. What variations are you using for this and do you have a document with them? And how do you decide which variation to hit? Video Idea! Would be cool to see all variations per group.
Pretty good video, in my opinion (though I know it's over two years old). I do think there's a lot of value in high volume training, too, though. A lot of people eschew the mental benefits of endurance workouts. When doing those super-volume sessions, you also train those mental resiliency muscles. You do also train the body for more endurance; if you have to do something like a long ruck, for example, the mental and physical toughness developed through this style of training will have more carry over, I believe. I totally agree that frequency training has its pros and cons. I think it's best for beginners or skill/power acquisition. But advanced athletes see diminishing returns. At least, this has been my observation, but I wouldn't mind hearing other people's thoughts about it.
I totally agree! I’m not anti- high volume grinder sessions, and I’ll do some of these myself but like you said, they are more for mental and physical toughness than for efficiently trying to get a high return on investment. Excellent points all around.
Do you think it's a good idea to do fbw high frequency training, while trying to double your max pull up? Currently my max is 8 and i've been thinking should i focus on my pull up program first or can i do it while doing the high frequency training
Do you recommend deload days or weeks? I'm doing chest, triceps, calves, abs, Monday and Thursday. Back, biceps, obliques and tibialis, Tuesday and Friday. Quads and hams Wednesday and Saturday. Sunday off. I do this for 4-6 weeks, before doing a de load week where I cut sets and reps on half before jumping back into it. I've even taken a whole week off every few months just to allow my body to recover.
I've been doing 7 sets a day of push ups, body weight squats and rows (don't have access to a pull up bar, just a suspension trainer) along with some finishers.. I'm trying to mimic the amount of sets I would do in a week like in the gym with weights push/pull etc. My question Is, would lowering my daily sets to 4 but building up rep counts, proper form etc. be better? Thanks!
Is thos to much. Pullups 3 sets pushups 3 sets concentration curls 2 sets tricep lying dumbbell extension 2 sets. Lateral raises 3 aets reverse dumbbell fly 3 sets every Monday the training I said above and legs Tuesday 5 sets of squats. And so on. Would be good to hear your feed back and corrected if need be brother 🙏
Thanks for your videos sr, i am watching all of them and you're motivating me to start bodyweight training again. I first started during lockdowns back in 2020 with a pull up bar (couldnt do one pull up) and some push ups, i remember those first 3 months were amazing, then the pain began with a gym membership, lots of programs, excersises and 0 consistency. Now i will start doing a full body 3/4 days a week. I have one question, do bodyweight rows with rings count as a back set?? For example if i program fullbody 3 days, 15 sets per week, should i do 5 set of pull ups per day or 3 pull ups and 2 rows? because i dont feel so much rows in my back, also i watched your video about rows and i agree 100% about what you said that they are not so effective
am working between 11 and 13 hour a day and still have time to train but I have a problem I can do 100 push ups in good form all the way up and down but I have ahuge problem I can do 15 pull ups and I do 100 pull ups in under an our and reduce the time by 5 minute every time I do pull ups between 2 weeks how can I increas my pull ups
Number two has me intrigued. What about a hybrid approach where you do one hard set per muscle group per day and then you follow it up with 3-4 Grease the groove sets that are extremely far from failure... you can do this 7 days per week and very the exercises to avoid the tendonitis injuries. Do you think something like this could be beneficial?
Loving your channel. Just switched my training back to Cali god only knows why i changed best gains of my life. Would you consider it good to use the full body training with a movement focus day say monday push ups, tuesday squats, Wednesday pull ups and so on to complement this training style. To induce a day where i could work to failure on one exercise per day. Then just grind through the week with my overall movement set push, pull, squat, hinge, core goals.
I'm in the same boat and do an Upper/Lower/Upper/Lower/upper...rest/rest, Lower/upper etc... I keep sets to 6 push/6pull, lower days like 8 sets total. It works for the most part but with holiday chaos Ive gone back to a 4x u/l split.
When doing high frequency, how much variety is it too much? I.e. if working out 5 days a week, for pull ups, is it wiser to stick to 3 variations (regular, wide and chin for example) and cycle through or do whatever you fee like (regular, wide, narrow, chin, neutral , weighted etc).
@@Kboges If you are doing another Q&A sure! it will probably be more productive for others to see it there than scrolling through comments. When is your next Q&A?
@@chrome72 Yes I agree. It's a great question that will apply to a ton of people. Next Q&A should be out within the next two weeks. Questions are still floating in, so I want to give them some time. If it slows down a lot, then I might have it done by mid next week.
cant tell if you are rolled on your to big knuckels when doing your push ups, so just in case, role on the two big knuckels it might hurt in the beginning but if you are rolled on the small knuckels over time you will munt or damage your small knuckels.
I currently am doing 3 sets of pull-ups between 3-5 reps (heavier) with adequate rest in between each set. Then later in the workout, I do no weight pull-ups for higher reps 12-20. Is this optimal to hit the muscles both in the 'strength' range and endurance/hypertrophic range, or am I overdoing it? Thank you!
im 35 and my oldness hit 🤣 i could hit 12-15 sets for legs 2 times week, balls to wall intense and go out in the night in my 20's.Now i aiming for lower,but only hard sets per session but split them through the week.I feel that this is much more doable as i can speed up my recovery. Some muscle groups, like abs,trap/neck, forearms and caves i still can train pretty much all week without interfering in the overall recovery.So in the end is individual, recovery is a lot more individual then i thought it was when i started working out in my teens.
Hey Kyle! I just downloaded the barbell + calisthenics protocol from your site and I'm working on planning it out. Let's say I can only go to the gym Monday and Friday but can do calisthenics every day. Thinking about hitting bench and deadlift at the gym and then hit squats, lunges, horse stance, etc on other days to make up for the lack in barbell squat. Do you think my results would be much different from adhering strictly to the program? My other question regarding frequency: is the barbell work prescribed in your program enough to call for not doing calisthenics every day/every weekday? As in, in addition to the pushups and pull-ups in the program, could I benefit from moderate bodyweight push, pull, legs everyday, or is that overdoing it? I'm pretty enthused about working out at the moment and want something to do everyday. Should I decide based on soreness whether or not to train that muscle group? Thanks!
Hello sir, Can I still train if I have possible over done it and now have a sore knee. I have been a bit overzealous. I may have overdone it. Should I lay off completely or can I do the range of motion that I can with that particular knee?
Sorry for the late question, which one do you prefer, bar or gymnastics rings? (Also pardon me for always mentioning the rings, I'm a big fan of them lol.)
Hi Kyle, just wanted to ask some questions about this high frequency approach: I'm a new to calisthenics teenager who has access to gym for around 1 hour a day, am busy so was wondering if something like that kind of time would be good, say I did 6 supersets of 6-10 pushups, 3-6 pullups then either 10-20 squats or 10-20 slow 5kg weighted situps. I've been focusing alot on good form, so if these are all solid exercises am I good for 5 days a week, weekends rest? Any advice?
Hey 00gly! The rep count you do depends on your fitness level, so it's hard to say if that is going to be effective. Ideally, to maximize efficiency, you want to be training relatively close to failure, accumulating 10-20 sets over the week in each exercise; this is a very simple approach but it can serve you well for quite a while. I would also cycle through a few variations to reduce risk of overuse injury.
Yo Kboges! I love the channel! Curious on if you think is a good routine for 5-6 days a week, Im about 6’3 220. 20-30 seconds rest 25x4 weighted squats 25x4 bicep curls 25x4 chest/over head press 25x4 varied wall/knee/negative pushups 25x4 scissor or flutter kicks 25x4 knee to elbow mountain climbers 25x4 weighted calf raises 25x4 plank jacks 25x4 shoulder crawls 2.5 minx4 planks 30 minute walk
Love the information Question: You say that set#1 offers max stimulation, but I feel like for example when deadlifting its really set #3-4 where my body , nervous system and mind are awake get maximum "stimulation" from the weight right? Does this apply more to calisthenics maybe? Thanks
Good question! It's not that set 1 offers "max" stimulation, it's that it provides proportionally more stimulation relative to the other sets. More sets per session yield a greater stimulating effect (up to a point) but it does so with diminishing returns with each set, and also a greater fatigue burden that may extend recovery time. As for why you feel max stimulation on set 3 or 4... it just depends on your proximity to failure and your rest time. For example, a set of 6 with your 10rm is really going to start to get harder on set 4, where fatigue I going to push your proximity to failure closer to your final reps. However, a set of 8 with your 10rm is going to be pretty fatiguing, and getting 4 sets of that once you are strong is not super realistic and the fatigue associated with that is going to be significantly higher. The context matters because it's going to be different depending on your strength level, proximity to failure, rest, etc.
I have slightly different experience with my body. I just cannot work out more than 5 times per week even with 45 min (Upper Body) - 60 min (Lower Body) session...Most practical frequency for me is just 4 times per week. About 3 yrs ago, I hit the gym 6 times per week and I was just too tired after about 7 weeks.. I am quite happy & content with the result of 4 times per week of workout in general.. My biggest challenge is actually a diet... Eating the right amount is darn hard !! 🙄😣
When doin 6 days, you need to keep the workouts shorter. I go 15-45 min. 1h if im with friends. 2 sets of push, 2 sets of pull, 2 sets of legs, 2 sets of abs and 2 sets of isolation/ skill work.
I do 230 squats, 100 lunges per leg, 860 pushups (60 rep for 12 sets) 7 different variations,. A two mile run, 1000 jump rope skips, 120 situps, different abs workouts, different glute workouts, 230 single leg calf raises per leg, and about 230 pullups.. these are done in 8,10,12 throughout the workout ...I do this 4 days a week...used to be everyday but I'm studying now..I'm 34 and 152 lbs. I do boxing as well. When I box I only train 4 days as well
I recommend as much as it takes to keep your movement quality high. If your rest is so short that fatigue limits your next set, you probably could have gotten more out of it by keeping it longer.
Quick question: if doing 10 sets and the tenth set delivers weaker stimulus, then why do you suggest doing 10 sets of pull-ups in the second weekly workout in your “doubling max pull-ups video”?? I’m not being sarcastic, genuinely curious. Love your stuff, man.
Great question! A few reasons... 1. These are sub maximal sets, so the stimulus per set is much lower, meaning more total sets are needed to result in the same hypertrophy stimulus. 2. The sets are sub maximal to improve work capacity and conditioning. Sets near failure are more fatiguing, meaning less total volume can be performed. Think of the sub max strategy in this context as running an interval vs running as hard as you can; intervals allow for more volume at the target intensity because the interspersed rest allows for partial recovery. Same thing with sub max sets. You get to accumulate a ton of metabolites, but the frequent rests allow for partial clearance before you re-accumulate them.
Hi, Been following your content pretty much exclusively for my work out regiment. It’s such a refreshingly simplified way of keeping on top of physical health that personally works so well for me. Was wondering what your thoughts are on road cycling as part of a routine? Could this be a sort of replacement for lower body strength training? Supplement for squats for example?
I woke up two months ago and said I'll change now I'm up to 123 pull ups 60 chin ups 130 push 100 squats 100 calve raises 100 lunges a day I'm gonna bulk rn because imma ectomorph but people be like bruh you're ripped just eat more protein and I do notice if I don't finish my set and do that set the next day I'm sore
Try different grips, different hand position, different widths, different elevations… try a bunch of different things to find one that you can do. Also, video your form and make sure there isn’t anything glaring strange with it.
Okay so is this a good example of a workout for someone who just restarted a month again after a year ir more of no training: 3x8 pull ups (pronated grip) 3x20-30 push ups( i try to slow down the eccentric) 3x40-50 bw squats/lunges Do this 5x week so 15 sets per muscle group
PPL 6 days a week training close to failure is a sure fire way to overtrain. You'd have to drop the intensity way down if you insisted on doing that. PPL once per week close to failure with rest days after every session is the way to build muscle and get stronger, twice would only work if you are on anabolics to hasten recovery. IME overtraining assassinates gains, encourages muscle catabolism and makes you more injury prone and susceptible to colds & flus.
This is an interesting take for sure but it’s not the whole picture… there is so much going on. Follow me here… 10-20 hard sets per muscle group is a solid volume as indicated by a large body of evidence, this just means most people, most of the time, will probably find a very good tradeoff between stimulus and recovery in that range. If you train a few reps shy of failure, you can still make excellent gains (arguably better due to better recovery) while managing recovery quite well. You can then distribute that volume over the week pretty much however you like, with once per week having been shown to likely be the most inferior distribution… it likely maximized fatigue on a per session basis, extending recovery, digging well into diminishing returns on the stimulus side, and missing out on additional opportunities to elicit a training response. Natural tend to do a lot better doing less more often, like how guys used to train before the introduction of drugs into the scene. More frequent, less taxing training sessions that better match MPS with the recovery curve, allowing for more total volume with less recovery demand and better neural “learning”. To analogize this… you could practice a foreign language 3 hours once per week, OR practice it less but more frequently for the same weekly time commitment. Check out the “Norwegian frequency project” or stronger by science review of training frequency. They do a good job of summarizing the research. This stuff is looking at 5-6x per week for the same muscle, but the point is volume distribution is the key missing variable when people talk about it frequency. So a 6 day ppl isn’t about doing the 3 day ppl twice in one week, it’s about doing half as much volume each time so you do it twice as often. This has only been shown to improve recovery without sacrificing stimulus.
Have some exercises that are lower intensity and some that are tougher. So like a row, then a chin up, then a weighted pull up. All are pulling movements but all at different intensities.
Ok. That makes sense. I hate to say this but it almost sounds too easy but I've been training on and off for 23 years and look like a average dad lol. Do you still train like this today? I'd love a consultation if you are available?
@@alexcooldad30yeah I still train that way. I I’ve been for about 8 years or so. It’s essentially a form of daily undulating periodization. Different intensities will have different fatigue mechanisms so a little variety can help manage recovery better. I do consultation but right now I’m a big jammed up cuz my wife just had our second kid. If your shoot me an email, I can put you on the list and get you in before I open back up to the general public.
I stumbled upon high frequency training during lockdowns. I first just started off with a 30 day challenge of doing 100 squats everyday. I noticed after a week, I could crank out 100 squats without breaking and no soreness. Not only that, after 30 days my legs and glutes where firmed up and some muscles were popping. So I thought, why not do a whole body workout the same way. So I worked up to 20 pullups, 50 pushups, 100 crunches, 100 squats and 100 calf raises daily. Takes about 15 minutes and I've been at it for about 3 months. Not perfect as some days I missed. But never more than a day. I think that helps with recovery. Needless to say, I'm not buffed or anything, but you definitely know I'm a guy in shape.
Thank you for your routine.
Do you think doing these everyday may be hampering with recovery??
@@passionatebeast24 do not do it everyday, you will notice they become tougher for you because your body needs breaks to recover completely
@@darylthomas7317 yeah. Mainly pull-ups are very hard to do everyday. I can crank out squats everyday but not pull ups.
@@passionatebeast24 yeah no sense in it you will grow for sure but way slower, if you want maximum growth, give your body adequate rest.
@@darylthomas7317 Mike tyson and famous athletes like herschel walker used to do all body all the days or at leas 6 days a week and they have some big size
I don’t get tired of looking at your yard. I like your setting a lot.
where does this guy live tho
@@lucacooke686San Diego
You made me realize the importance of full body training and calisthenics
Happy to hear this, Gautam!
High frequency training is the way to go. Simply busting out a few sets of pushups, pullups and squats throughout the week is sustainable and it builds up. If you have access to the gym adding in full body workouts is far easier with this approach also. You just have to manage the volume and intensity. Always fresh and never burned out this way and you never miss a workout as it's so easy to do.
100%!
Wow. I'm sold now. Switching to full bodies and high frequency
I was researching about this topic for the last few hours and this here is the answer I wanted. Your argumentation makes perfect sense.
Glad it helped you out! Thanks for watching!
I got an overuse or overtraining neurological injury. It's taken 24 months to recover. As an older (50 years old) individual be sure to manage recovery.
I train everyday.. calisthenics ..and kettle bells ..I am in the best shape
Of my life at 41.
Thank you Sir - sounds like a reasonable and smart stratagem - appreciate your goodwill, inspiring and uplifting 👍
Thank you, brother!🙏💪
Much appreciated.
Best UA-camr. I wish I have the calmness like you.
Great advice for someone who work all day and don't have much time like me.
I can do it when I wake up everyday just cycling push pull legs 6 times a week. Doing variation using the ring first half of the week then using my paralette
That's exactly it, Jojo. I've used this strategy for quite a few clients with crazy busy schedules.
Calisthenics Plus Swimming Jogging (Hills) Yoga Weights BJJ. Boxing Karate Lots & Lots Of Stretching Cold Showers ,Ice Baths Clean Food No SUGAR... I train 6 days a week every 3 or 4 months I take 7 days off Totally ..... Some Guys OVERTRAIN... Moderation is the Secret.. I'm 64 Started Training Karate at 6 years old... I Have No Injuries NONE !!!
Mario this is fantastic! Thanks for sharing. You are doing it right and many people could benefit from this approach. Inspirational brother!
The "split" I've been using lately is two "full body" days (one posterior focused, one anterior focused), then one each push, pull and legs. This gives me two rest days (I'm 41 and definitely need it), on which I try to get in some restorative yoga or mobility work. Most of the workouts are strength/skill focused, but I occasionally throw in power/speed work and/or finish with some hypertrophy focused sets.
Is a good approach. I also have some doubts how its done posterior and anterior because if i think in posterior i think in chest,biceps. front od the shoulders and the point is in the movement for shoulders you will use your triceps thisame as the chest so i saw it like it would be mixed push and pull and posterior and anterior. How do you isolete them?
@@joshforeman1723 I am not doing a lot of isolation movements on those days (or much at all). This is why I used the words anterior and posterior "focused". They're still "full body" workouts. So, while the biceps are located anteriorly, they're more involved in pulling, so they're actually getting more work on the posterior days. The opposite is said of the triceps. Those are the major exceptions.
Here are some examples of exercises I'm doing on these days: on anterior-focused days- squat pattern stuff like front loaded squats (mostly kettlebell- goblet, front rack, hunter's, etc.), pressing movements like KB OH press or floor press, landmine press variations, etc., and then movements that involve tying those together- TGUs, KB clean and press, KB/landmine lunge to press, squat thrusts, etc.
On posterior days- pull up variations, ring rows, BB deadlifts, KB RDLs, KB deadlift variations, KB/BB/LM row variations, etc.
@@TXGTPS I undersant it globally, really is 2 days full body, including anterior and posterior but one day is more focused on posterior and the other on anterior and after 1 day to push,other to pull and the other one for legs. right?
@@joshforeman1723 Yes, exactly.
Really clear information I’ve been looking for. Thank you for this. A key for me is not being lazy and just following the same daily routines. I definitely need to force myself to do more variety.
After Training Fullbody for like 2-3 years now I´m busted. I watched out for less sets, less reps and an rest day here and there. What helped ME more, was doing another Split:
Upper
Lower
Conditioning + Skills + KB Work
Upper
Lower
Conditioning + Skills + KB Work
Rest
I did like one warm up set and two sets near to failure after that so a total of 3 sets per exercise, and only 4 exercises per Day.
If I had less time than average, I would go for supersets like Chest + Back Superset or Squats + Hams Superset. So my Training time would go down significantly from like 30-45 minutes to maybe 20 minutes which also trains the cardiovascular system.
Fullbody is great but I needed to change because my body couldn´t handle that. Maybe because I was in a stressful time too with my studies, family, life itself.
Glad you got it sorted! Curious, what kind of volume and exercise selection were you doing on your full; body training?
thanks kboges,im having fun trying differents forms of perform my actual total volume with your advices.
Oh man this is the best news I could get, as someone who trains at home, I don't need to constraint my workout to a gym session. But I was unsure if allowing myself to rest between sets (so that I am not fatigued and I can achieve more volume overtime) would not count.
This summer I challenged myself to do 100 pullups one day, 100 push ups next day, and repeat this sequence for 30 days. In a month I did many more push ups and pull ups that I would normally do just because I spread my reps along the day, as long as I did all the reps and at least the last sets would take me near or to failure.
I perceived less effort, I have increased my max reps in both, but this video helps a lot on confirming that the approach is good and not just my perception.
This channel is underated 😗
I appreciate that!
Thanks for the great explanation, i started training every day but to failure, and I thought i was just weak. Definetly think this will help me!
Yeah start a bit further, focus on form, you will do a lot better!💪
I also work to failure with insane amout of reps and my bones in my arms just start to ache like sheesh, I amma tone down my sets in 1 day and just do different kind of movmenets to hit same muscle 1-3 sets all till failure with more focus on first set
@@Kboges I was doing something like that. Training days of just one movement. It got good results to me but I progress slowly I think. The problem for me was that I was really exhausted about the muscles I used that interferes with the next days. Any recomendation to that? I was doing:
4 set of 4 exercices of decreasing dificulty until failure. Pull ups+ assisted+jumping+ negatives.
Day 1 pull ups. Day 2 push ups. Day 3 squats. Day 4 dips. Day 5 core. Cant keep it up because they destroyed me. Never getting enought recovery. I actually would prefer to do something basic and full body everyday so it becomes an easy routine for me. Less time consuming as you say and easier to be constant with. But it becomes hard for me :/
@@asherat8332i do full body, 3 times a week, with 4 Sets of one push/pull/squat and hip hinge movement. It takes a bit more time but not too much. Still very time efficient I think. I tried to train every day, but it was also very hard for me.
Great vid as always. Your insights are invaluable and you don't waste people's time with bullshit filler
Hi Kyle great videos, much appreciated
For a future Q&A:
Tips for over 50s especially around rest and intensity of training as this is a wall I either miss or hit so to speak 👍
New subscriber here. The notion that each additional set has diminishing growth stimulus and disproportional fatigue is new to me! Thank you for that. Could you let me know where I can read more about this concept please?
Good stuff! I've been doing a single set of pushups pullups and cossack squats each morning and afternoon, then roughly every other day alternating between a short lifting session of A-Turkish get up/single leg RDL and B-OHP/weighted lunges.
If I miss a lift day or feel like I need an extra recovery day, I still have the daily exercises to keep stimulation and mobility.
Just been watching your videos on why you should train full body (one push, one pull, one squat) daily. Now talking about doing splits. No wonder people get so confused!!
Man you talk about very important topics.. thank you and keep up
Hi Kyle, just passing by to tell that these are some awesome advises :)
Doing exactly what your subscriber is doing, and even anecdotal, I can fairly say that it works for me too. I've started with push-ups, pull-ups (rows on a table in the room actually), and squats every single day, but later in one of the videos decided to try the 5-hard-sets-each-day split. This was an incredible change, and I'm planning on keeping that a bit more, before returning to some mixture of the two. From less than five rows under the table, ~8 push-ups and 15-20 squats each for three sets each day, I am now at 5 sets of 3-4+ chin-ups, 5*8 paused push-ups and just finished the fifth set of 30 paused squats, all properly executed. I am not even completely fried :)
I'm thinking about adopting this workout myself, is 5 hard sets enough volume?
@@IrishJJ27 There are days that I don't feel like it was enough, but then the next day there is still strain in the muscle group I was exercising. So your mileage may vary, but in some days I do indeed try to get a bit more series in the afternoon too. My last example was with 5 x some chin-ups in the morning and then one or two max-out in the afternoon/evening. Works awesomely, remember you have your whole life to do that :) I'm personally trying not to rush it too much :)
P.S. Forgot to mention that on the "low" days, I'm doing all three muscle groups now, then returning to 5 hard sets. And by the way, not bragging, but I haven't stopped now for more than 125 days already :)
@@77aHeB thanks for the reply! So you are doing 5 sets of 3 exercises daily?
It is always a single exercise, for example today I have 5 hard sets of squats (5x30 in my case), and yesterday I had 2x15 paused push-ups in the morning and 5xsome high-stand push-ups (a bit higher - 20-30 cm above ground), but again the same muscle group and always at least 5 hard sets.
When I do more than one exercise, I almost always do all three (chin-ups, push-ups, squats) like Kyle - chin-ups/push-ups in a superset, then squats. In these days (with all three) I do 3 sets for each exercise, and again sometimes some variety in the afternoon if I don't feel too tired.
I believe the main idea behind the 5 hard sets of a single exercise is to rotate the muscle groups this way and break out of a plateau, i.e. the same muscle group gets higher the amount of volume in one day, then more time to rest (the next two days).
Cheers :)
@@77aHeB great explanation! Thank you! I'm doing 3 hard sets every day for now.. I feel like it burns the most calories and gives me the most volume
For the Q&A:
1. Are 10 sets of 10 for a movement the same as 4 sets of 25 done everyday?
2. Tricep tendonitis has hit from the pushups. Has it ever happened with you in high frequency training and how do you ensure it doesn't happen again. I've added variety but the tricep is still in use across every "push"
Stanley, always with the awesome questions! These are excellent and are going to be super useful for a lot of people. Thank you.
@@Kboges thank you for all you do
@@misterurbanist My pleasure!
The only thing that has alleviated my triceps tendonitis is grip training. Mainly doing suitcase carries with a Fat Grip on a heavy dumbell.
Hello! I've just discovered your channel and absolutely love your content. I'm 29, and have played AFL (Australian football) and had a steady, traditional strength and conditioning workout since I was a teenager. I've always followed fairly traditional splits, but in December last year I decided to commit a full year to calisthenics and ditch the heavy lifting. I'm six weeks in and loving it. I have rings, and parallette bars in my back yard (mastering the proper hands out, shoulders decompressed support position on rings is bloody hard!). At the moment I do push, pull rest, push pull then rest the weekends (rest = my footy specific running program) (I'm also rehabbing a knee injury so won't include proper leg day until I've recovered). Anyway, sorry, to my question.
I want to see if I am understanding this properly. For example, through my two pull and two push sessions (50 mins roughly per session) each week I do a total of:
60 pull ups
60 chin ups
120 rows
90 Dips
220 push ups
15 Skin the cat
Am I right in thinking that I could transition to a 6 day split, where I do:
10 Pull ups
10 chin ups
20 Rows
35 push ups
3 skin the cats
And include the principles of alternating grips/variations to avoid overuse injury, focus on proper form etc the results would be the same, if not better?
If anyone else has thoughts would love to hear them.
Or, would you recommend structuring it this way.
For example, those 120 pull/chin ups are across 10 sets total for the week. I'll round up to 12. So to hit High Frequency principles I want to do 12 sets split across six days.
This means 2 sets per day. If I establish that my max pull up reps is 12. Then I multiply that by 2 sets, which means my daily target is 24. So I then do my pull ups to to max ie. 1 x set of 10, 1 x set of 8 and then just do an easier set of 6 to equal the 24.
And follow that principle for each of the above exercises which will create a daily workout of about 25 mins with two sets for each exercise across the six days.
And then increasing rep ranges once the harder sets become easier.
Thanks!
Thank you for the great content! I've just started to do 5 sets of single push/pull/leg exercise throughout the day then cycle everyday like you advised.
What I like:
- very time efficient
- gives energy thoughout the day
- easy to stick to this routine
- low fatigue and soreness, doesn't mess with my other sports
However I feel undertrained and it's too soon to see results. Anybody has tried something similar for a significant amout of time and can share his experience/results?
Many thanks !
This may be my favorite post... you've been extremely helpful sir! 🕉
Thanks, djj!
I like this way of training like you suggested, 1 push, 1 pull and a leg exercise. Per day I see what i wanna train and when I go to the gym twice or so a week i do the same bit with barbell exercises. So like oh press, deadlift and pull up for example.
I've commented a couple times here but they seem to be disappearing. Anyway, I'll make it brief. Thanks for the mention and you did pronounce my name correctly. Fatigue management is the biggest challenge for me as I prefer full body every day. How do you know when you've done too much and how do you know what is the right amount each day?
Stephen, I keep trying to respond to your comments but they end up disappearing! Not sure what's going on there so I hope this one sticks.
I totally agree with you. Fatigue management is really the key to everything, and as you get older and/or more advanced, it gets more and more critical insofar as what you need for a training effect and what might result in overtraining/injury get closer and closer.
For you questions, want me to share my opinion on the Q&A or in the comments?
@@Kboges Q&A would be great. Thanks.
Be really cool to hear more about how you cycle your training splits. Sounds really interesting
@@radercalisthenics what’s the split exactly that was mentioned in this video that you came up with he was talking kind of fast and I didn’t really grasp it. Thank you for helping out
@@Healthhub23 That was an idea I had that is full body Monday (3 sets each exercise of push, pull and legs), upper body tuesday (push and pull, 4 sets each), legs Wednesday (4 sets), push Thursday (5 sets), pull Friday (5 sets) and legs saturday (5 sets.) It gives you a lot of variety and the best of all worlds. Right now it's too complicated for me because my life is too busy so I'm doing his push/pull/legs split described here and in more detail in his video called "A Simpler Way to Train?" This one is working well for me right now. 5 sets of a single exercise per day.
Awesome because I enjoy doing something nearly every day
Same here! I would rather do a little every day than a lot every once in a while.
Thanks for sharing this! You got great and informative videos, by the way
Kyle, if I wanted to burn calories and fat, assuming diet, sleep etc. Is in order, would a 3 move push pull leg workout 5-6 days a week be a good plan? Or, and I liked this idea, a 6 day cycle where one day is push, the next pull the third legs. Choosing one exercise and going fairly high reps for 5 to 10 sets. My goal is fat/weight loss. I'm a 48 year old male in fairly good shape
What does he say at 4:48, about one of his subscribers? Upper, Lower, Legs and cycles through them throughout the week?
Im sorry im late!!!! Great video Kyle...! Some questions for Q&A.... how often would you recommend rest days with high frequency workouts ?...On average how many weekly hard sets do you do per muscle group.? How long have you been training? What motivated you to leave weightlifting and start calisthenics.? Shed some light on principles of periodization and how can we include it in our day to day training? Thank you very much God bless!!!!
Excellent! Thanks for these!
I do one leg, one pull and one push excersie 6 days a week. Like you suggested in another video. Perfect for me ! But one question, what do I do to warmup correct for these short everyday sessions. Thanks for the good stuff and keep on the great work.
Great question. I can answer this in the next Q&A or give you an answer here if you need it sooner. Just let me know.
@@Kboges Q&A would be great, so the answer is in a video for everyone. THX!
@@dutl368 Roger that! Thanks!
With high frequency you train also the mitochondria to produce more and quicker ATP. Which speed up the metabolism, what is good for older guys like me. And i think also the "Physiologic Headroom" (the difference between the most you can do and the least you can do) is bigger with high frequency vs. HIT. What is your experience?
I would agree with you. This is something I've talked to some exercise science researchers about. I suspect frequency, volume, and high reps all have potential benefits for mitochondrial health. I also totally agree with your observation regarding physiologic headroom. I'm speculating and getting a bit "out there" with this, but I suspect that if you are frequency sending the "signal" to your body to activate the genes associated with strength, vitality, fitness, leanness, etc. then the signal doesn't need to be over potent. It's like keeping a pathway greased. This is a large part of my physiological hygiene concept.
Excellent addition to the comments, Marcus!
@@Kboges it sound very intersting.yeah just a trigger, a kikstart for readyness if this is a word.i would love to read a book about this topic. Or a video of from you about physiological hygiene. There is also a study on age related genes, where 76 year old get Gene's from 25 year old, after 6 month of resistence training. ( in the book from Doug Mcguff - body by science ) maybe you want also see the yt:Doug McGuff: Resistance Exercise
@@schleifermax Excellent suggestions! I am working on organizing ideas for a book in the future, for sure. Thanks for the reference too! I will check that out. The epigenetic impact of training is a fascinating subject and something I really want to learn more about.
Love this channel, it short great advice not pushing Supplements and the community is awesome.
Really enjoying these videos-thanks! May I ask if you do any accessory work in addition to each day’s push, pull, and leg exercise? Stuff like direct arm work, maybe lateral raises, etc.
Thanks Brian. You want this for the Q&A?
@@Kboges That would be great!
Just wanted thank you so glad I found your channel I've literally watched hundreds and hundreds of calisthenic videos and I've learned more into nights of binge-watching then about a year of that you my friend are the professor of calisthenics no BS no fluff on your channel love it and I like how you take time to answer questions. If I may ask one question, if I do push one day pull the next, are the muscles from the push day had enough time to recover because they're still going to be using the secondary muscles on the pull day, because we've always been preached to you got to let your muscles recover 24 to 48 hours all that BS.
Just wanted to thank you for your passion for calisthenics I love it too and how you are very interested in teaching us I really love your Channel
Thx in advance for your answer.
Ken T
Ken! Thank you for the kind words, man. I really appreciate it. I'm happy you are enjoying the content!
Great question... In general, it depends. You could, technically, train your pushing so hard that you destroy yourself to the point where training your pulling the next day suffers tremendously. However, your recovery really depends on the "dose" of training, exercise selection, and your preparedness to handle that dose. For instance, 15 sets of pushing to failure might make my pulling suffer the next day, but 5 sets taken two reps shy of failure probably won't, provided I'm in shape, conditioned, and have been training for a while. A lot of what makes training productive or unproductive, is how we balance the stimulus that an exercise provides with the fatigue that it generates. Ideally, we want to train in a way that maximizes the stimulus relative to the fatigue. So 15 sets might generate a greater absolute stimulus than 5 sets, but probably not much more since additional sets have diminishing returns. However, it certainly adds a ton more fatigue, so while the absolute stimulus might be higher, the stimulus relative to the fatigue is worse. So, if your exercise selection is appropriate, and your training dose is appropriate, you can recover much faster. Ultimately the amount of rest you need is not fixed, but dependent on how your train.
Thanks for your support, brother!
@@Kboges
Thanks K for the indept response
I really appreciate it.
Just an idea your ripped up bro, I think I've watched most of your videos already but I've never seen anything on your diet yet did I miss something ? I think a lot of us out here would love to see what you eat and recommend for nutrition for calisthenics Etc
Ken T
Not a sermon just a thought lol
@@kent7525 Thanks brother! Nutrition is a crazy subject that is super individual. I personally keep it very basic and like to take a "principle based" approach. Personally, I eat real food, practice time restricted feeding, don't snack, and eat about a gram of protein per lb of body weight. I also enjoy 1-2 cheat meals per week. Literally, that's about it. Super simple stuff.
1. you are great
2. how do you decide your weekly volume and rep increases per week/month.
3. doing pushups, pullups and squats everyday. What variations are you using for this and do you have a document with them? And how do you decide which variation to hit? Video Idea! Would be cool to see all variations per group.
Pretty good video, in my opinion (though I know it's over two years old). I do think there's a lot of value in high volume training, too, though. A lot of people eschew the mental benefits of endurance workouts. When doing those super-volume sessions, you also train those mental resiliency muscles. You do also train the body for more endurance; if you have to do something like a long ruck, for example, the mental and physical toughness developed through this style of training will have more carry over, I believe.
I totally agree that frequency training has its pros and cons. I think it's best for beginners or skill/power acquisition. But advanced athletes see diminishing returns. At least, this has been my observation, but I wouldn't mind hearing other people's thoughts about it.
I totally agree! I’m not anti- high volume grinder sessions, and I’ll do some of these myself but like you said, they are more for mental and physical toughness than for efficiently trying to get a high return on investment. Excellent points all around.
Consistency over intensity. Got it
Great take!
Thank you, my friend!
Do you think it's a good idea to do fbw high frequency training, while trying to double your max pull up? Currently my max is 8 and i've been thinking should i focus on my pull up program first or can i do it while doing the high frequency training
It could work. It really comes down to how the whole program is designed.
Nice theories, where this locale you're outside training? Beautiful!
San Diego!
Bro where do you live? Your place looks amazing.
Do you recommend deload days or weeks? I'm doing chest, triceps, calves, abs, Monday and Thursday. Back, biceps, obliques and tibialis, Tuesday and Friday. Quads and hams Wednesday and Saturday. Sunday off. I do this for 4-6 weeks, before doing a de load week where I cut sets and reps on half before jumping back into it. I've even taken a whole week off every few months just to allow my body to recover.
I've been doing 7 sets a day of push ups, body weight squats and rows (don't have access to a pull up bar, just a suspension trainer) along with some finishers.. I'm trying to mimic the amount of sets I would do in a week like in the gym with weights push/pull etc. My question Is, would lowering my daily sets to 4 but building up rep counts, proper form etc. be better? Thanks!
Is thos to much. Pullups 3 sets pushups 3 sets concentration curls 2 sets tricep lying dumbbell extension 2 sets. Lateral raises 3 aets reverse dumbbell fly 3 sets every Monday the training I said above and legs Tuesday 5 sets of squats. And so on. Would be good to hear your feed back and corrected if need be brother 🙏
Higher frequency works well because protein synthesis generally in natural people comes back to base level at around 24-48 hours.
awesome vids. also, where do you live? view is amazing
what about push pull/ mwf and leg and core tuesday and thursday saturday and rest sunday maybe a little cardio ?
Perfect! That is a solid approach.
Thanks for your videos sr, i am watching all of them and you're motivating me to start bodyweight training again. I first started during lockdowns back in 2020 with a pull up bar (couldnt do one pull up) and some push ups, i remember those first 3 months were amazing, then the pain began with a gym membership, lots of programs, excersises and 0 consistency. Now i will start doing a full body 3/4 days a week. I have one question, do bodyweight rows with rings count as a back set?? For example if i program fullbody 3 days, 15 sets per week, should i do 5 set of pull ups per day or 3 pull ups and 2 rows? because i dont feel so much rows in my back, also i watched your video about rows and i agree 100% about what you said that they are not so effective
Interesting videos. Can you do more alternatives to push-ups and pull ups.
@Tuff 701 well, I can't do pull-ups, so....
What a beautiful place to train.
Really great advice.
am working between 11 and 13 hour a day and still have time to train but I have a problem I can do 100 push ups in good form all the way up and down but I have ahuge problem I can do 15 pull ups and I do 100 pull ups in under an our and reduce the time by 5 minute every time I do pull ups between 2 weeks how can I increas my pull ups
Number two has me intrigued. What about a hybrid approach where you do one hard set per muscle group per day and then you follow it up with 3-4 Grease the groove sets that are extremely far from failure... you can do this 7 days per week and very the exercises to avoid the tendonitis injuries. Do you think something like this could be beneficial?
Did you ever find out? Curious to find out this approach sounds beyond intelligent and innovative
@@Danielsalazar-31 never got an answer...but thinking about trying this
Loving your channel. Just switched my training back to Cali god only knows why i changed best gains of my life.
Would you consider it good to use the full body training with a movement focus day say monday push ups, tuesday squats, Wednesday pull ups and so on to complement this training style. To induce a day where i could work to failure on one exercise per day. Then just grind through the week with my overall movement set push, pull, squat, hinge, core goals.
U seem to have good legs too. Do you do calisthenics for that too? What’s your leg exercises
Do you have any tips for a Mon-Fri schedule that takes 20-30 minutes per day? That’s about how much time I have before work in the morning. Thanks!
I'm in the same boat and do an Upper/Lower/Upper/Lower/upper...rest/rest, Lower/upper etc... I keep sets to 6 push/6pull, lower days like 8 sets total. It works for the most part but with holiday chaos Ive gone back to a 4x u/l split.
When doing high frequency, how much variety is it too much? I.e. if working out 5 days a week, for pull ups, is it wiser to stick to 3 variations (regular, wide and chin for example) and cycle through or do whatever you fee like (regular, wide, narrow, chin, neutral , weighted etc).
Great question Tommy. Want me to answer in the Q&A?
@@Kboges If you are doing another Q&A sure! it will probably be more productive for others to see it there than scrolling through comments. When is your next Q&A?
@@chrome72 Yes I agree. It's a great question that will apply to a ton of people. Next Q&A should be out within the next two weeks. Questions are still floating in, so I want to give them some time. If it slows down a lot, then I might have it done by mid next week.
cant tell if you are rolled on your to big knuckels when doing your push ups, so just in case, role on the two big knuckels it might hurt in the beginning but if you are rolled on the small knuckels over time you will munt or damage your small knuckels.
Oh I thought I have to have long workout sessions, like 20mins before the muscle start "training" gosh. Where did I learn that?
Yeah it’s a misconception. It’s a lot simpler than that!
Do you ever use HRV to monitor recovery? How do you evaluate whether your tissues are recovered?
I currently am doing 3 sets of pull-ups between 3-5 reps (heavier) with adequate rest in between each set. Then later in the workout, I do no weight pull-ups for higher reps 12-20. Is this optimal to hit the muscles both in the 'strength' range and endurance/hypertrophic range, or am I overdoing it? Thank you!
im 35 and my oldness hit 🤣 i could hit 12-15 sets for legs 2 times week, balls to wall intense and go out in the night in my 20's.Now i aiming for lower,but only hard sets per session but split them through the week.I feel that this is much more doable as i can speed up my recovery.
Some muscle groups, like abs,trap/neck, forearms and caves i still can train pretty much all week without interfering in the overall recovery.So in the end is individual, recovery is a lot more individual then i thought it was when i started working out in my teens.
35 is a kid. Wait until you are actually old.
Do you have an example of a weekly routine we should follow?
Hey Kyle! I just downloaded the barbell + calisthenics protocol from your site and I'm working on planning it out. Let's say I can only go to the gym Monday and Friday but can do calisthenics every day. Thinking about hitting bench and deadlift at the gym and then hit squats, lunges, horse stance, etc on other days to make up for the lack in barbell squat. Do you think my results would be much different from adhering strictly to the program? My other question regarding frequency: is the barbell work prescribed in your program enough to call for not doing calisthenics every day/every weekday? As in, in addition to the pushups and pull-ups in the program, could I benefit from moderate bodyweight push, pull, legs everyday, or is that overdoing it? I'm pretty enthused about working out at the moment and want something to do everyday. Should I decide based on soreness whether or not to train that muscle group? Thanks!
Hello sir, Can I still train if I have possible over done it and now have a sore knee. I have been a bit overzealous. I may have overdone it. Should I lay off completely or can I do the range of motion that I can with that particular knee?
Sorry for the late question, which one do you prefer, bar or gymnastics rings? (Also pardon me for always mentioning the rings, I'm a big fan of them lol.)
I'm a huge fan of rings as well! I'll answer in the Q&A if that's good with you.
@@Kboges
Yea, I don't mind.
Hi Kyle, just wanted to ask some questions about this high frequency approach:
I'm a new to calisthenics teenager who has access to gym for around 1 hour a day, am busy so was wondering if something like that kind of time would be good, say I did 6 supersets of 6-10 pushups, 3-6 pullups then either 10-20 squats or 10-20 slow 5kg weighted situps. I've been focusing alot on good form, so if these are all solid exercises am I good for 5 days a week, weekends rest? Any advice?
Hey 00gly!
The rep count you do depends on your fitness level, so it's hard to say if that is going to be effective. Ideally, to maximize efficiency, you want to be training relatively close to failure, accumulating 10-20 sets over the week in each exercise; this is a very simple approach but it can serve you well for quite a while. I would also cycle through a few variations to reduce risk of overuse injury.
Yo Kboges! I love the channel! Curious on if you think is a good routine for 5-6 days a week, Im about 6’3 220.
20-30 seconds rest
25x4 weighted squats 25x4 bicep curls
25x4 chest/over head press
25x4 varied wall/knee/negative pushups
25x4 scissor or flutter kicks
25x4 knee to elbow mountain climbers 25x4 weighted calf raises
25x4 plank jacks
25x4 shoulder crawls
2.5 minx4 planks 30 minute walk
super mega phenomenal!! video thank you so much my friend!!🏋️♂️🏋️♂️🏋️♂️🏋️♂️🔥🔥🔥🏋️♂️🏋️♂️🏋️♂️🔥🔥🏋️♂️🔥🔥🔥🏋️♂️🏋️♂️🏋️♂️🔥🔥🥤🤜🤛
what is your recommended intensity for everyday training then? can we do, for example, 3 sets of pull ups with 2-3 reps until total failure?
Yeah that is a good way to go!
Love the information
Question: You say that set#1 offers max stimulation, but I feel like for example when deadlifting its really set #3-4 where my body , nervous system and mind are awake get maximum "stimulation" from the weight right?
Does this apply more to calisthenics maybe?
Thanks
Good question!
It's not that set 1 offers "max" stimulation, it's that it provides proportionally more stimulation relative to the other sets. More sets per session yield a greater stimulating effect (up to a point) but it does so with diminishing returns with each set, and also a greater fatigue burden that may extend recovery time.
As for why you feel max stimulation on set 3 or 4... it just depends on your proximity to failure and your rest time. For example, a set of 6 with your 10rm is really going to start to get harder on set 4, where fatigue I going to push your proximity to failure closer to your final reps. However, a set of 8 with your 10rm is going to be pretty fatiguing, and getting 4 sets of that once you are strong is not super realistic and the fatigue associated with that is going to be significantly higher. The context matters because it's going to be different depending on your strength level, proximity to failure, rest, etc.
Question: which are the beneffits of fist pushups?
They work slightly (but only slightly) different muscle and there's an added benefits of increasing wrist strength.
They look badass
I have slightly different experience with my body. I just cannot work out more than 5 times per week even with 45 min (Upper Body) - 60 min (Lower Body) session...Most practical frequency for me is just 4 times per week.
About 3 yrs ago, I hit the gym 6 times per week and I was just too tired after about 7 weeks.. I am quite happy & content with the result of 4 times per week of workout in general.. My biggest challenge is actually a diet... Eating the right amount is darn hard !! 🙄😣
When doin 6 days, you need to keep the workouts shorter. I go 15-45 min. 1h if im with friends. 2 sets of push, 2 sets of pull, 2 sets of legs, 2 sets of abs and 2 sets of isolation/ skill work.
I always wanted to know if upper body training is better for example monday and thursday or monday/Wednesday/friday ??
I do 230 squats, 100 lunges per leg, 860 pushups (60 rep for 12 sets) 7 different variations,. A two mile run, 1000 jump rope skips, 120 situps, different abs workouts, different glute workouts, 230 single leg calf raises per leg, and about 230 pullups.. these are done in 8,10,12 throughout the workout ...I do this 4 days a week...used to be everyday but I'm studying now..I'm 34 and 152 lbs. I do boxing as well. When I box I only train 4 days as well
Bro is flexing
Hey Kyle, I was curious how much time you think I should take in between sets? If anyone else has an answer I'm all ears, thanks much
I recommend as much as it takes to keep your movement quality high. If your rest is so short that fatigue limits your next set, you probably could have gotten more out of it by keeping it longer.
@@Kboges Perfect, thank you so much for the quick and great reply!
How many sets do you recommend per muscle group per week?
Quick question: if doing 10 sets and the tenth set delivers weaker stimulus, then why do you suggest doing 10 sets of pull-ups in the second weekly workout in your “doubling max pull-ups video”??
I’m not being sarcastic, genuinely curious. Love your stuff, man.
Great question! A few reasons...
1. These are sub maximal sets, so the stimulus per set is much lower, meaning more total sets are needed to result in the same hypertrophy stimulus.
2. The sets are sub maximal to improve work capacity and conditioning. Sets near failure are more fatiguing, meaning less total volume can be performed. Think of the sub max strategy in this context as running an interval vs running as hard as you can; intervals allow for more volume at the target intensity because the interspersed rest allows for partial recovery. Same thing with sub max sets. You get to accumulate a ton of metabolites, but the frequent rests allow for partial clearance before you re-accumulate them.
Hi,
Been following your content pretty much exclusively for my work out regiment. It’s such a refreshingly simplified way of keeping on top of physical health that personally works so well for me.
Was wondering what your thoughts are on road cycling as part of a routine? Could this be a sort of replacement for lower body strength training? Supplement for squats for example?
I woke up two months ago and said I'll change now I'm up to 123 pull ups 60 chin ups 130 push 100 squats 100 calve raises 100 lunges a day I'm gonna bulk rn because imma ectomorph but people be like bruh you're ripped just eat more protein and I do notice if I don't finish my set and do that set the next day I'm sore
Do something YOU can manage !
Well said!
You need to be on Joe Rogan podcast man!
Any advice for shoulder pain doing pushups
Try different grips, different hand position, different widths, different elevations… try a bunch of different things to find one that you can do. Also, video your form and make sure there isn’t anything glaring strange with it.
Okay so is this a good example of a workout for someone who just restarted a month again after a year ir more of no training:
3x8 pull ups (pronated grip)
3x20-30 push ups( i try to slow down the eccentric)
3x40-50 bw squats/lunges
Do this 5x week so 15 sets per muscle group
Yeah that's a good start but the rep ranges all depend on the capability of the individual.
@@Kboges yes of course!
And just increasing reps and or sets is enough to long term progress?
PPL 6 days a week training close to failure is a sure fire way to overtrain. You'd have to drop the intensity way down if you insisted on doing that. PPL once per week close to failure with rest days after every session is the way to build muscle and get stronger, twice would only work if you are on anabolics to hasten recovery. IME overtraining assassinates gains, encourages muscle catabolism and makes you more injury prone and susceptible to colds & flus.
This is an interesting take for sure but it’s not the whole picture… there is so much going on. Follow me here… 10-20 hard sets per muscle group is a solid volume as indicated by a large body of evidence, this just means most people, most of the time, will probably find a very good tradeoff between stimulus and recovery in that range. If you train a few reps shy of failure, you can still make excellent gains (arguably better due to better recovery) while managing recovery quite well. You can then distribute that volume over the week pretty much however you like, with once per week having been shown to likely be the most inferior distribution… it likely maximized fatigue on a per session basis, extending recovery, digging well into diminishing returns on the stimulus side, and missing out on additional opportunities to elicit a training response. Natural tend to do a lot better doing less more often, like how guys used to train before the introduction of drugs into the scene. More frequent, less taxing training sessions that better match MPS with the recovery curve, allowing for more total volume with less recovery demand and better neural “learning”. To analogize this… you could practice a foreign language 3 hours once per week, OR practice it less but more frequently for the same weekly time commitment.
Check out the “Norwegian frequency project” or stronger by science review of training frequency. They do a good job of summarizing the research. This stuff is looking at 5-6x per week for the same muscle, but the point is volume distribution is the key missing variable when people talk about it frequency. So a 6 day ppl isn’t about doing the 3 day ppl twice in one week, it’s about doing half as much volume each time so you do it twice as often. This has only been shown to improve recovery without sacrificing stimulus.
What about Tabata sprints etc everyday ?
Kboges. If I may ask what do you mean by"cycle from easy to hard variations?
Have some exercises that are lower intensity and some that are tougher. So like a row, then a chin up, then a weighted pull up. All are pulling movements but all at different intensities.
Ok. That makes sense. I hate to say this but it almost sounds too easy but I've been training on and off for 23 years and look like a average dad lol.
Do you still train like this today? I'd love a consultation if you are available?
@@alexcooldad30yeah I still train that way. I I’ve been for about 8 years or so. It’s essentially a form of daily undulating periodization. Different intensities will have different fatigue mechanisms so a little variety can help manage recovery better.
I do consultation but right now I’m a big jammed up cuz my wife just had our second kid. If your shoot me an email, I can put you on the list and get you in before I open back up to the general public.
Can i get tendonitis if i do 3x6 pull ups 4 days a weak? (72 pull ups)
2 yeas ago i had tendonitis for doing too much pull ups on my left elbow
Can you show us a proper pushup and squat moment ? Great videos!!
Next video after the Q&A will be on push ups!
How do you edit the video so that two videos run at the same time?
Must I do warm up before training? Or can I just jump into push ups or squats directly in my 10 min pause at work?
I've mostly not bothered doing a warm up for any high rep sets as the early reps are easy and act as a built in warm up, m8.
What vest is that and how heavy