The Dilemma of LEG TRAINING | Calisthenics
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- Опубліковано 27 лип 2024
- Every single bodyweight athlete at some point will have to face one tough dilemma. To train legs or not to train. The subject on first sight as simple and obvious is still one of more controversial themes within and outside calisthenics circles. On one hand you got people doing crazy skills who win trophies and get likes on instagram who don’t really bother to train their lower body. On the other you got people who go as far as devaluing or even disregarding their achievements by saying that everyone could do it with no legs or better to say, chicken legs. In the middle you can find rare individuals that display both great skill ability and heavy strong legs, who seem to have a lot of respect in the community, but are rather a rare exception. You see, as calisthenics athletes, we have certainly more excuses to justify skipping lower body training, in comparison to for instance bodybuilders. And as we all know the origins of chicken legs accusations come exactly from this niche. At the end of the day unlike for them performance is the number one goal we chase, and training legs can surely negatively impact our outcomes. Is there a right choice to make in this situation? How accurate are the arguments on both sides, and are there things to consider before making a decision? As calisthenics athlete - To train legs or not to train? Let’s try to find out today, enjoy…
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1- why i train? (to make my body stronger)
2- are legs a part of my body? (yes)
Solid argument (?)
Id rather lie and say it is not a part of the body. It doesnt count lol
Agreed
@Joost Broek why not try and improve the way your body looks and improve your overall strength tho? I'd say training just to have fun is kinda pointless just add some fun stuff your workout but have a purpose, you gotta push yourself to improve.
Also it's not impossible to do callisthenics whilst having more weight on you (muscle/fat) as the video says. Search iron loo on UA-cam, the guy's a natural beast of a power lifter and does calisthenics and it goes against every single law of physics
I train for the parts i want
@Joost Broek i think I'm at the part of UA-cam that's owned by kids, as I said, it's pointless to workout JUST to have fun, just do a normal workout programme with weights if they're available to you and just add some fun shit to your workout but your number one goal should be to improve yourself
you're not as famous as FitnessFaqs or Athlean X, but your potential in informative videos is awesome
Haha im just a micro creator brother. But thats why i appreciate so much words like yours and that someone actually cares. Take care man!
@@FrinksmovementTV use facebooks ads brother, so you'll get more audience. Your vids are better than other famous fitness content creators.
@@Benzzzy. Thank you brother I really appreciate it
That's someone who doesn't wanna sell you anything and just purely helping people out
@@FrinksmovementTV One day we will be able to say "oh hey i knew this guy since he had like 3k subs", just like we did w austin and daniel. Such powerful videos with so much effort are generally very much appreciated in this community and promise a huge growth in your channel. Keep doing what you do
If you grow legs you won’t need weighted vests to overload 🤷♀️
I agree it will be the same as adding weight to yourself. That’s why weighted calisthenics increases your strength and your muscle mass. Although even if you train legs and have decent muscle mass in your legs adding weight to yourself and performing body weight movement exercises/skills will help you drastically on improving your physique, muscle mass, strength, etc.
Or you should only focus on upper body so you'll get so massive that each time you'll go for a walk it'll be like a leg workout.
That's so true lol I have been focusing on legs since Jan/21 (today is 30/July/21) and also been lean bulking since them. I've seen my reps DROP like flies in almost every exercise, before I managed to do about 15-20 pull-ups, now I can barely do 8 with the added weight. Have been strugling also with the front lever, it's WAY harder now, but I also feel that my core has gotten a lot stronger due to training some exercises with the slow increase in weight. Overall though, I feel pretty satisfied with my actual physique and having skinny legs always bothered me (my thigs measured 54cm back in Jan, now they measure 60cm, it's where most of gains went to in this bulking).
And you may need weighed vest to grow your legs
@@manuman5319 that’s not how it works
I use Cali to get in good shape. Therefore, I include legs training. Nonetheless, despite this may affect some skills, I train those skills, too. That’s coherent with my overall approach, since I am not interested in competing, and don’t need to be the best.
I think its really really awesome, the fact you do what you want at the same time being aware of good sides and limitations. 👍
I love being good at calisthenics, but I could never sacrifice legs outright to get better at it.
Cranking out dips and muscle ups is great, but so is hitting a deadlift pr - not to mention the fact that thicc thighs are aesthetic af
i feel the exact same way. if people want to solely work out upper, and doing that makes them happy, then so be it. but i can’t be satisfied with that personally :0
i just think one thing sacrifices the other, if i have huge good looking strong legs, youll sacrifice your strengh with calisthenics and if you want an insane strenght in calistenics you just cant have huge legs
@@lucasbarroilhet7237 damns, but what to you is considered huge legs?
@@danakidanfo9511 60cm
I work out all my muscles as a matter of fact I love to work out and train any muscle cuz it makes me stronger
Rip to all my dutch people out there biking 20kms to get to school everyday
Cycling sucks
Ov
School is dicht maat
@@techfury03 cycling is ❤. I love cycling.
@@techfury03 I do weighted squats two times a week and I love cycling
Tsup fam! Couple of words to you.
First of all - THANK YOU! The number of you guys got more then doubled since last 2-3 videos. Its crazy for me, even tough im still micro creator it really gives me that drive and power to continue, and maybe get somewhere in the future - as i see people actually enjoy this content. So the 1K mark seems to be reasonable to pass now and im extremely happy about it.
Secondly i want to thank all people who support me - from the ones that provide me footage to make these videos possible to those of you that share my content on your social media or let me use such an awesome music that creates the whole vibe (shoutout Wavyb0i).
So now couple of words about my consistency... or rather lack of it. So the videos on average take A LOT of time to make. Thats why i try to add some activity on the channel through podcasts. However the biggest factor was a hard and absorbing period in uni that im going through (exams). Good news - only till this week so gonna have MUCH MORE time to put in the videos. Definitely follow my instagram as i post there consistently again.
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Killing it
can calisthenics stunt my height 17
When you'll get famous I'll go with the knowing that I have been watching you since the beginning of your channel and I 've saw your potential. Keep the great work!!
😍😍 Thank you for these words brother. Its so motivating
But considering we try to get our calisthenics skills natural, training legs just for testosterone and growth hormone release might be a good idea.
Also leg training can, because its so taxing and uncomfortable when you get close to failure, help you get trough the pain/burn in upper body excersises better.
Training legs is definitely useful. I talk about a very small percentage of athletes who will not benefit from it as much - due to specificity of their sport. Thank you 👍🙏🏻
The “training legs increases testosterone” is clickbait at best and an already debunked claim in actuality
The increase is so minimal-negligent and only last for the duration of the workout it’s not even worth considering
It’s not like you hop on a cycle of Test if you meaocycle squats.
@@bbqseitan7106 I agree with that.
@@bbqseitan7106 personally I don’t. The legs are such a big muscle so I believe it would release a large amount of testosterone.
@@sampainter05 well it doesn’t really matter what you think the science is clear
There IS a small momentary spike in test for the duration of the workout, but it’s not enough or long enough to impact your results in any meaningful way.
Could it give you a 1% increase? Sure maybe.
But will hitting squats, getting that 1% increase help you master the planche? No
You’re very skilled at presenting information. You do not bias one single argument and allow the viewer to form his/her own opinion while still presenting the discussion in a very productive way. Keep it up!!
Man thats EXACTLY what i want to do with these videos. I wont judge anyone for their opinion. I respect all of them. All i want to do is to make people THINK. Thats gonna make us all better athletes and more critical thinking people. Inform me how the flag is going on brother
When i first started calisthenics it was very easy for me to progress cus I'm a really thin and light person. I weighed only around 40-42 kg which isn't even flyweight in UFC. After which i started leg training more seriously and increased my muscle mass. Which made my calisthenics moves much harder but that just means I'm gonna get more strength gains from them now
I saw that doing leg day can deliver 70% of the testosterone so that means you will have more gains in the upper body too.
Sorry for my English,im from Spain 🇪🇸
I'll add that's the main reason id do heavy leg load while doing calisthenics, noticable is out of breath and core when adding legs (atm all endurance) used to have sprint like legs, big diff in feeling while doing calsthenics.
It does increase testosterone because our lower body has big muscles but if you're aiming for gymnastics strength Elements only and want to become a strong statics athletes or rings specialists it will interfere with your progress nonetheless like explained in the video.
Let's consider training legs for general functioning:
I think that if you're training for general strength - training your legs is obligatory. If you are doing any activities besides calisthenics, for example football, rugby, skiing, skateboarding, running (especially sprinting !), I think that you should train your legs - maybe not for their mass, but for strength and nervous system adaptation.
Let's see: you train calisthenics without training your legs and sometimes you like to play street basketball with your friends. Your friend passes the ball to you and you're doing a sudden 180 deegres turn and after a moment you can't stand on your leg - propably you snapped your anterior cruciate ligament in your knee.
By training your legs and giving them some strength, you can back to your activities faster during your rehab after injury if you trained your legs earlier - thanks to muscle memory and your CNS.
Also fun fuct: big powerlifters with big legs sometimes even don't feel the effects of ACL injury thanks to their leg muscles, because muscles stabilize the knee so strong that the ACL is not necessery !
Thank you. Good points ;)
i dont train legs be cost my goals are front lever, hefesto, planche, imposible dip. But i use my legs every day in work, hiking, cycling and so on. Have respect for every athlete, who has a different goals.
@Zoot jitsu Lol i train because I enjoy calisthenics not because I want a healthy and fit body. I want a healthy and fit body so that I can be good at calisthenics
@Zoot jitsu never heard of the term half athlete. Should i pursue for phd, because i dont wana be half smart.
P/s: i dont usually comment about exercise training but your comment intrigued me.
Actually i trained legs for a lot, doing weigted pistol squats, hight jump, running hills, endrurance workout for legs, etc... But recently i imagine, i cant be good at training legs And geting my front lever And planche ať the same time. I stoped training legs half year ago And my front lever progres skyrocket. Boys i have strong legs in order to normal People. But if i traing them for mass i Will Never learn front lever or planche. Im 184cm And 77kg now. Respect every ódy Who has a goal. Theres is no rules in our sport. Doing Street workout About 7years.
@Zoot jitsu lmao that logic is indeed intruiging XD
You cant be half an athlete just because you dont train your legs. Am I half the human if am born without legs? No I am still fully human lmao
And the guy has literally told you he does leg work in other ways - his main focus is not leg work so he doesnt put it as a focus on his training regiment yet he still trains them. Is this a sign of chicken legs? Probably not.
Different athletes have different goals and this probably means their focus tends to lean towards specific body parts
@Zoot jitsu you arent half the human because you're alive mate!
And leg work is important yeah to increasing testosterone but is it a good idea to make it the main focus for something like calisthenics? Im not saying it isnt important but would it be wise to make it your main focus. Probably not. The guys trying to achieve a planche not trying to get a heavier squat
Great video! I like to see videos on the philosophy of exercises. Someone needed to make this. I am glad someone talking about this very fundamental aspect of calisthenics.
Great videos. So glad I found your channel. Please keep posting. I love your analytical thinking
That video was sooo good!! I know the effort needed to edit that mate, incredible job, as always!
Thank you man!! I got lots of DMs about the podcast. We gotta make it happen in the future brother. 🙏🏻
@@FrinksmovementTV sure we will 😏
I’m an obese person currently trying to lose weight and hoping to start calisthenics one day, so take my comment with a grain of salt. After doing lots of research on calisthenics over weight lifting, one of the biggest arguments against calisthenics is that you can only lift so much weight. You are limited by how light you are. However if training legs and gaining muscle in the legs is so easy, this problem is easily fixed or lessened. I think you made a good point about the purpose of training calisthenics. If you are doing it purely for a sport, then I get it. However, if you are trying to use it as an alternative to weight lifting, I would say that not training legs will only hurt you. My motivation is sort of in between. I like the idea of the sport, but that comes second to my overall health and physique. I like exploring outdoors and walking and running, so training legs is both good aesthetically and practically.
Amazing content. Your editing skills are as great as your calisthenics game. Congrats on the subs surge. Keep it up, bro.
Found your channel with press to handstand video last night , immediately subbed and bing watching since then. Awesome content, very soon you will reach to new heights. Cheers
honest transparent information, communicated perfectly. that's the good stuff, keep up the good work and good luck with your exams
Much appreciated brother! Oh and thank you so much only 2 left 👍
Great content! And I agree totally with you, it all certainly depends on your goals and not to feel yourself obligated to train in some way because anyone else says so. I am actually more interested in upper body strength but for aesthetics I frequently do BW squats or Step ups along the week. Enough to mantain active and balanced that area but not too much to take out from me that useful time to train for my main goals
Yes exactly! Glad you agree with me and thank you ;) Already planning on new stuff
Absolutely brilliant video. I fall I to the 2nd category. I definitely aim for some performance goals though but these are secondary to full body fitness. Actually, setting the goals still helps me strive towards full body fitness. Pistol squat ftw! Another aspect that is somewhat related is your personal body type. I am a lanky, long limbed person and I have noticed that this puts me at a disadvantage in calisthenics compared to proportionally shorter limbed, nugget bodied athletes. The reason I bring this up is because of the center of gravity issue. I know that I will always have a harder time with more advanced calisthenics skills so I just don’t worry about them so much and feel good about leg training :) Thanks for the thoughtful content.
That was very informative. Great content as always. Greetings from Germany 🇩🇪
Great video as usual my friend! and i 100% agree it all comes down to goals, specificity and most important respect! me myself i like to train legs even tho i do realize they can make progress in calisthenics harder i guess from a health standpoint over life should be considered, if anybody one of the specialist just don’t focus too much
Yeah Iago! Thank you 👍
For me, my goal is to reach high calisthenics levels with powerful and respectful and capable legs. The ridiculous level skills are cool, but not that useful. There’s plenty of guys out there who get massively good at Planche and levers, and have massive legs.
I've been into calisthenics for a couple years now. I enjoy the convenience, minimal equipment, can be performed almost anywhere.
Lately I've been including body weight squats, lunges, and coss hack squats, various other leg mobility/flexibility movements.
As a kid and teenager, I had more muscular legs because I was always walking, biking, skating everywhere. So far my 20's have been spent driving a lot more and walking and using my legs a lot less. Literal chicken legs (at my lightest I was down to 110 as a 5 foot 9 adult)
Lately thanks to the likes of k boges, the pioneer and other like minded influencers, I've taken a more practical approach. Addressing weak points, building strength and mobility back.
I'm up to 120+ lbs and I've solved back pain issues due to tight hamstrings. Literally I started stretching out, and getting muscularity back in my legs, back pain GONE. I've been feeling the best I've been in years and the gains are sickkk
Movement is medicine, it will provide longevity.
Nice video! I totally agree. In my case, Im 34 years old, Kung Fu instructor and Table Tennis teacher, and after years of competting Im in a point without an specific goal, so the past 2 years Ive been doing general physical training, including legs, running, lifting, calisthenics.. I think there is a lot of people with no clear goals in a specific moment in time, and fot that people, I would totally reccomend a full body preparation, with all types of training (strength, endurance, cardio...) so to forge the best base for whatever you decide to do next. But whenever you hace a specific goal, go for it! Sorry if my english isnt good enough, greetings from Argentina!
I'm late to watching this, but wow you did a great job!!
There are definitely a lot of variables to consider. You covered them all very well and I agree. We don't need to be divisive about who trains legs and who doesn't. They are separate sides of the same coin and we all train how we want to train. We each have a different idea of what makes up fitness and talent. One side wants to be as fit as possible and well-rounded, while the other side wants to dominate in skills. Both are awesome and necessary in our community!
Totally agree! Thank you for watching, commenting, and sharing on your IG!
You are criminally underrated. You deserve at least 50k subs for the quality of your videos!
I appreciate that! Maybe, MAYBE one day ;)
I love your overview of this topic, train in whatever manner is beneficial to your goals 💪
next level editing man! really cool and creative^^ especially the pistol squats part^^
great topic! Calisthenics is like Parkour it is almost infinite in terms of ways to train or things to specialize in
But yes training legs is awesome for so many reasons and it should be considered to reach a full form
Thank you brother! And thank you for stating your opinion! Oh and that pistol squat part haha. Yeah i got in the zone for this one. Hope Han will enjoy it haha. Cheers!
yea! also liked this part very much :D
Great content mate :) Really like your stuff!
Man your content is very informative and it helps me a lot 🙏
I been searching for this question for a long time. You have answered it perfectly.
i'm a runner and i only do calisthenics for fun, not for "calisthenics performance" or whatever you said in the video. So I train everything
That is whats missing in calistenics, sprints, running, jumps, etc, to me calistenics is not well defined as a well packed human conditioner without some sort of running.
Bro I got 2 exercises for you especially if your a sprinter but they will increase your stride a lot too if your long distance runner, Nordic hamstring curls, and reverse Nordics they are game changers
Thanks for this video, its my intro to your channel! If you train your legs, duh you'll be heavier. If your weight (arms & legs) are heavier, you'll have bigger upper arms from lifting yourself. Bigger legs = heavier mass and weight = bigger arms; which is the point of calisthenics. Plus symmetry is healthy, we don't walk on our arms. Check 0:41. Supports my stance perfectly. 7:13 opines that a complete athlete has developed both a strong upper and lower body. "Lower body strength is the foundation for most sports on this planet." At the end of the day it depends on your personal goals as an athlete. I respect you for making a vid on this controversial topic, subscribed!
Man you are growing super fast! Keep it up brother. Amazing content!
Thanks for all the hard work you put into these videos.
Thank you! Actually, today I release the new video. Stay tuned!
i really love your videos, thank you
Great topic, even greater information. Keep it up!
Much appreciated!
Wow your channel is really one of a kind! Keep it up! Like no other, the in depth analysis on everything. The topics.. A+
One day you'll be big don't worry
Regarding leg training, I train calisthenics not for competition but to get in shape and to be strong. So I train legs about 30% of my exercise time and the rest 70% upper body/core. I feel strong legs are important to be an all around athlete.
And I respect the challenge u have with english not being your mother tounge, I also didn't grow up with english as my 1st language.
Thanks again and keep it up. I'm telling my friends to subscribe to your channel
Thank you! Highly appreciated! And thank you for the support Marc
Interesting topic and well covered in the video.
I'm grateful to people with untrained or atrophied legs for unlocking some almost impossible upper body moves and showing them to the world. Though some short guys like Matteo Spinazzola have pioneered some new upper moves despite huge legs.
With things as they are, for most competitions (except some streetlifting ones where squats are included) stick legs are an advantage, and being good at that stuff makes some people a living with prizes and sponsorships etc.
It would be cool to have some competitions where both upper and lower bodyweight moves matter, I've only seen rawsthenics rewarding completeness of that kind.
Quality of life during old age is very related to limiting muscle mass loss, I don't know if leg day skippers are at risk of missing out on that and having trouble to walk or being unable to stand up from the toilet without assistance or if it's unlikely to be a problem.
I don't have the attitude to become a professional calisthenics athlete so I train for myself and I'm trying to reach the level where I can do both one arm muscle ups and one leg Nordic curls, even though they are goals that interfere with each other.
Thank you Massimo! Ive been waiting for your comment. And as always im not disapointed. Given the fact i talked about calisthenics only in terms of upper body - completely skipping legs part i thought you might be a bit negative towards it. But it just shows how you are not biased towards anything and just care about a good discussion. Thank you so much once again.
Once again a great video! Love your channel!
Thank you! Your support is highly appreciated!
I think that not training legs just for win competitions is ok, you can think its something neccesary and i agree.
But the people that dont train legs and dont compete, that is really stupid.
Of course everyone can decide what to do, but lets be honest the most part of them dont do it because they dont like it, and the rest are excuses, because they dont compete in anything
Thanks for sharing your stance! 👍
WORD. Unless you are a competitive athlete whose performance can negatively be affected by leg training, you should train your legs in some capacity (if only for overall health and once every 7-10 days). The idea of strength training cannot be separated from the human body and since the musculature of the lower body could take up to 60-70% of your mass, I don't subscribe to the idea of skipping leg day altogether. Some stimulation that is not conducive to hypertrophy in the legs could always be justified. Just my two cents.
Dude your videos are just crazy ! Love your channel, keep it up !
Glad you like them!
I trained legs long time ago and I was able to squat 160kg for like 5 reps or so. Then I started calisthenics and I neglected legs to achieve skills faster. Now I can do a full front lever, one arm pull ups, Handstand, back lever, victorian and other skills with 184cm and 82kg.But because im now more interested in boxing l, I will start training my legs more again.Doing planches and stuff is cool, but I want to be a complete athlete, so legs are important. Also, my upper body is huge, my legs are okay, but they need a bit more size now.
@theeditor1072 I am 185 and 75kgs. 🤣
This is the first video I watch from your channel and I really like your approach. You got a new subscriber. Keep up the great work
Have to. Legs drive metabolism, as largest muscle groups. Run sprints. Do pistol squats, maybe with a kettlebell. Box jumps. I deadlift or squat a heavy bag that's about 80lbs. Hip flexor lifts. I also do martial arts specific moves, like throwing kicks and doing sprawl burpees. Ten round kicks, side kicks, or push kicks each leg at full power will get some juice in there, as well.
when i was training exclusively calisthenics consistently, my go to workout format was 4 exercises: an upper body push, single leg squats on one leg, upper body pull, single leg squats on the other leg. at one point i was doing 50-100 single leg squats per leg per day for 5 days with the easiest upper body exercise often being handstand push ups against the wall. i never got over 140 pounds. maybe i just wasn't eating enough but i suspect single leg squats aren't as apt to pack on leg muscle as barbell squats, but they're a good exercise to keep your legs lean, athletic, and strong enough. if pull ups are "good enough" for the muscles involved for someone who is just trying to be fit and healthy and fairly strong, then pistol squats are even better for the legs for those things because they are harder than pull ups on a one to one basis - at least for men.
Hey Robert, I hope you see this comment because I know it's a year old but I am very interested in your story. TLDR at bottom.
I have been attempting a fitness journey on myself to see how big and muscular I can get with body weight only exercises.
I stumbled across some research that found that you can really big muscles using higher rep ranges such as 25-30. This was great news for me as I had almost given up on gaining size. Most body building advice online said it had to be sets of 8-12 reps for building large muscles. Further, most of the top tier calisthenics guys and gymnasts were athletic but not big. Even Calisthenics youtubers tend to agree that you can't get big with bodyweight only but they train for skills not size like Frinks.
However, if it's possible to get big with repetitions into the 30+ range...have you ever seen someone who can do 30 1-arm pushups in a row? What about 30 1-arm pullups? Shouldn't there be an insane amount of muscle building to get out of those exercises?? And I'm talking about training like a bodybuilder not a gymnast who is doing skill work such as grease the groove and stuff.
So...you mentioned doing 50-100 repetitions of pistol squats and your legs not being big and I want to know more about that. Did you train to failure? How many sets did you do? How many repetitions did you do per set? How tall are you and how old were you when you were training that way?
I am so very interested to learn more.
TLDR: I found some research that says that, in theory, you can get big legs from high rep sets. You said you were doing 50+ pistol squat repetitions a day and your legs were small. Please tell me more!
@@pixmma9627 thanks for the comment! for pistols iirc i was keeping it somewhere between 8 and 15 reps (i don't think i ever did more than 20 in a single set, although alternating legs each rep is a reasonable way to chip away at that), although i focused more on form than increasing reps. the thing about pistol squats: i find it easy to keep the form tight for the purpose of apt muscle loading through the eccentric phase *if* you hold your extended foot with your hand (i would typically thread my middle finger through the Xs in my shoelaces if i was wearing my chucks - flat shoes are best if you're wearing shoes as thick heels makes the exercise easier and effectively gives you elevation, which isn't ideal for difficulty and optimization), but if you're doing it without touching your free foot, you can increase the overall challenge thusly, requiring your hip flexors of the free leg to do more work to keep the form tight (the exercise is harder if you keep your leg parallel to the floor throughout the rep), and furthermore by progressing your hand position (arms extended out in front of you is easier than arms crossed is easier than hands crossed behind your head is easier than hands behind your lower back). i don't think i went on long periods of time where i was doing high rep pistols, but i did start adding weight to pistols at a certain point. i don't really remember the specific details of how many days/weeks/months i did specific programming for that exercise, i was in my mid-20s and trained calisthenics consistently for probably about 5 years. im 34 now and currently focus on armwrestling training. i suspect that some of it has to do with age, but in the last 2 or 3 years i shot up to 150-160, and am floating between 150-155 with zero extraneous effort to maintain that. although, unfortunately, my training motivation isn't as consistent as it once was. currently i've been consistent for about 5 weeks, and i just went to a tournament on saturday. i'm about 5'8 and want to get to 176.
Hi! It's super important to work on legs cuz imbalances creates injuries,the legs are supporting the whole body after all but i understand people who are really into calisthenics will disagree!
if i run a lot that's still good?
They do not support your body while you're doing calisthenics skills. Strong and big legs are necessary if you're gonna be using them for skills such as postol squats, and high jups. Otherwise it is counterproductive to your goals.
U didnt mention how If skip something like glutes ur posture will worsen
I always recommend to calisthenics athletes (as I used to be one from age 12-20) who come into my clinic/office for treatment, the core needs to be able to support the weight of the legs. A lot of high level male gymnasts have well built legs, and can still support the entire body with upper-body closed chain drills through an integrated core. Core, legs, upper body - it is all to be addressed and integrated! Keep working brother! I like your channel - Just subscribed! Let’s support each other on UA-cam and grow the community. Looking forward to continued engagement. Keep working!
Thank you! Appreciate it!
Imo just get a basic level leg strength. That way you won't gain weight and you will have a more functional body and be more respected for what it's worth. I really don't see an issue with that.
Well worth the wait for the video as always 👌 interesting to consider the different perspectives in terms of my own goals and training
Glad you enjoyed it brother! Hope everything is going fine with your training. How is the handstand?
@@FrinksmovementTV It's going great thanks, yesterday I passed the 30 sec hold mark for the first time! Working every day to improve alignment and consistency 👌
Man thats nasty! Keep it up 👍
I really like the way you do this videos. Really interesting, pls keep doing it!
Thanks, will do!
Nice, well made and a very informative video. Being able to choose what you to prioritize is entirely up to the person whether that be a 20 sec planche hold or a higher vertical jump it really depends on the training focus.
Exactly the point! You can be good at both. But only some rare ones will get GREAT in them.
This video helped me a lot! I was like really traumatised about if I should train or not train my legs, even some of my friends that I train with said that I really dont need to train lower body because I do mostly static movements and bit of dynamics, where is more endurance important than strength by itself, my brother said that I have chicken legs, and that one hit me really hard :"(
Even so, I train legs time to time but not consistently as I train my upper body. Most of my lower body workouts is like a 5 min bike ride to the park and 5 mins back, like, that's mostly what I do. I have quite good but reasonably sized quads to not interfere with my progress in static training. But man, awesome editing! it's really helpful and informative video! Keep it up!
Man thats fantastic! And thank you so much! New video coming up in couple of days
seriosly, your content is gold. this is the first time I have ever activated the bell icon in any channel. first. ever. keep up the great work!!!
For me most of my leg training consists of just running 5km, 10km, 15km and in the past 5 months I developed really ripped calves and I really didn't mind taking my time at all because it felt fun.
Very late reply, but does running really build legs? I've asked this question and people have answered no and set marathon runners as an example. I've always enjoyed running and I had a friend who ran 5k daily and he had insane legs. He was also afraid of doing squats because he thought it would stunt his growth. If I ran 3 times a week 3-8km, would it be sufficient to build at least normal looking legs?
@@wadees8442well since most people don’t even go to the gym I think you’d get normal/average legs since the average is alrdy really small
Great video man! Definitely agree with you about the conclusion. Never understood the stigma around doing skills and not having big legs. Gotta admit the reason I don't train legs is mostly out of laziness though :)
thank you! haha as long as you can admit that and be okay with it its totally cool. At the end of the day we are lazy about things we dont really want to do as much ;)
You have the only channel out there right now that actually covers calisthenics on topics that go past beginner level information. Although I love them as well, you explore the intermediate level topics that few other youtubers dive into and for that I personally want to thank you. If you can, please cover periodization in one of you videos as I feel it's a very complicated topic and you would be the perfect dude to do it.
Hey so first of all, thank you for your words I really appreciate it. I actually have two videos planned right now. And im gonna do my best to upload in following 6 weeks. One of them actually covers this topic (at least thats how it is planned). Videos take a long time to make, but i made a decision to keep it this way and just go 100% for quality on this youtube channel. Thank you once again
Love your videos! Edit, explanations, research... everything is perfect! But I dont think you shouldn't train legs if you wanna do better statics, i noticed huge improvement in my full planche when I started training legs (especially glutes) because glutes connect our lowet and upper body and make it more stable! The most important body parts for levers are: ABS, GLUTES and LOVER BACK!
But should they be bigger through lots of volume
Keep going man, i love your content
Thanks, will do!
Great video mate - I hate the dogma surrounding legs training in calisthenics, and the fact that some people go as far as to discredit the acheivements of others based on their physique and the training they have done, or not done, in order to acheive their goals seems completely unfair to me. I love your point about how cyclists don't get criticised for having small arms - adaptation is sports specific and calisthenics is primarily an upper body event. Not everyone needs to be fully developed in every area to be considerd a 'good' athlete - I hope that your example puts that idea into perspective for people.
Ultimately it comes down to your goals, like you said. If you want to build whole body functionality and health, train legs. If your goals are all upper body based and you blindly train legs because you've been told you 'should' - then that clearly isn't optimal.
Me personally, as a gymnast, I do train legs to help with tumbling, vaulting and landing, but a lot of my goals these days are upper body based, and as a naturally quite tall and heavy gymnast anyway, I need to carefully plan my leg training so that it doesn't interfere with my other targets. Generally I do either very low volume work or plyometrics so that my legs are healthy, explosive and powerful without adding undesireable size - I know a lot of gymnasts who adopt this approach and for me it is the best of both worlds.
You clearly put a lot of effort into these videos, and your audience, including myself, appreciates it a lot. Keep the quality content coming man!
Thanks Nathan!!! Its so awesome to hear that from you
@@FrinksmovementTV you're welcome dude, I'm currently catching up on all your stuff that I've missed and really impressed with your knowledge and thorough approach! ☺️👍
TRAIN LEGS MAN. New sub 👊
Thank you so much!
your voice and accent always reminds me of calimove's eleggs
Yeah haha someone told me that already!
most of the routines already give static leg training. it does not increase the size but rather increase the endurance.
on the dynamic side, ive never seen critics doing nordic leg curls nor pistols. most cant even jump higher than their waist for plyo.
flexibility is also determined by the strength of the opposing muscles, and the tensor latae for lateral thigh.
what a legend..... your ability to explain is so great
These videos are really high quality i can't believe it only has 5k views
Thank you. I truly truly appreciate it 🙏🏻
Great video sir. I like the way you summed it up as being a personal choice. At the end of the day everyone has their own reason for why they train, and unless it's specifically to impress others, then they shouldn't care what other people think.
I am an advocate of legs training and I combine powerlifting and calisthenics into single routines. Will it make the skills are the more difficult? Of course yes, but I'm one of those people who loves a real challenge and defying the odds 😉
Anyway, I am so happy to see the growth in your channel bro, you really deserve it. Congrats and I am sure 1000 subs will be coming up soon! 😁👏👏 Keep on firing bro 🔥🔥🔥
Man thank you so much! Yes i respect all opinions! And to be honest thats my goal! We dont have to be so rude to each other/ judgemental/ and represent totally different teams because of it. We are all doing good, productive thing for us which is training our bodies. og and love the fact you combine powerlifting and cali - i think you mentioned it already. And thank you for your last words. Lets GET IT! 👍💪
@@FrinksmovementTV Am I right in saying that you do train legs? And via weighted squats? You seem to have a fair bit of knowledge with powerlifting so I've found that coming through in your vids. I'm currently trying to master my handstand pushups and I've certainly felt the impact of leg growth on that. What has been your experience with regards to leg training and the impact on your HSPUs?
So, i stopped training legs after transitioning to home training (quarantine) now im gonna slowly reintroduce it after coming back to gym next week. And good question. Tbh in HSPUs / OAC and other vertical skills i think it wont be such a big difference like in planche or front lever - as the center of mass wont apply as much. So yeah i achieved 5x5 full ROM HSPUs (not perfect form) when was training legs. And now im much weaker despite i dont train them. But planche for instance is better, so it really makes sense
I don't want to go to gym and train at home so I watched UA-cam videos and decide to do calisthenics as my excercise to become healthier. i am not an athlete i am just a regular person who is a bit health conscious. So I do train my legs, I don't care if I will be able to hold a full planch or not cause that's not my goal, my goal is to become healthier by excercising.
Do not stop making videos. Ever. You're a beast in the making.
Thank you! As long as i have the will im not gonna stop ;)
strong legs are important just for being a functional human, you don’t need tree trunk legs but definitely muscular legs. they won’t impact your skills as much as it’s dramatized to be, just slightly more work will need to be done. legs 2-3 times a week with a moderate heavy squat is all you need.
only a small % who make a living out of not needing legs is understandable (gymnasts or competitive cali athletes), but the rest of us need it
I got tree trunks without heavy squats. So i skip it or training it very little. i got 24 inches thighs at 5'6 doing bodyweight squats and everyday running.
Solutions :
Don't train.
Train Strength instead of Hypertrophy.
It's seriously that simple.
great points made! Keeping haters at bay ;) Also, making a choice doesn't have to be for all eternity.. you can have generalistic full body periods of time and then decide to go all in on one thing for some time
Yes! Thank you! And very well said ;)
Very well done video
Your videos are super interesting! Subscribed!
Awesome, thank you!
Hi, I do leg workout and honestly I would never let myself to skip it not only because of the visual disproportion of the body but also due to the fact that if you focus on the pistol-squat leg workout you need to focus on good stretch of hamstrings to make proper form of this exercise which later results in an easier press to handstand movement.
I would rather improve managing my time to rest better and to eat better than skip leg day.
The general message you give is priceless.
I personally do train legs because my idea of my body's true potential includes strong and flexible legs, also because I want to compete in pro mma so I can't afford to have weak legs!
But you're right, why we don't say a thing about swimmers not having strong legs, or about cyclists not having muscular upper bodies? Why do they get that pass and those calisthenics specialists don't?
Well put together brother.
I train legs but not in the traditional squat and deadlift way. I do one leg skipping as part of my warmup every session, I’m working on my pistol squat progressions, I do calf jumps and box jumps, and once a week I get on the exercise bike for cardio. I don’t know if this counts but I also train my feet
I’m not one of these specific performance athletes so I take an approach from strong first when it comes to training. If you can’t do it get stronger. Can’t do a front lever with you’re heavy legs? Get stronger until you can
Massive legs are definetly a disadvantage but if you really think aboit it: the muscles which are used in planche are also glutes and hamstrings to lift the legs up. And there are other exercises which are using the quads for example v-sit or manna and also the fl to certain degree. And if you want some calfs you can try to achieve a baclflip to planche, which is also mad impressive. So massive legs are definitly a high disadvantage but you need a strong lower body to a certain degree. So i kinda disagree with this video.
You can always do sprint training. Sprints will give you strong, athletic legs without the unnecessary bulk, as well as improve cardiopulmonary strength and endurance.
Hello just came across your video and while the premise is very interesting, I would like to raise some points.
TLDR.: I think not training legs as a whole is just as bad as overtraining them.
Now the longer version :)
When you mentioned 4 layers of specificity I think leg training for calisthenics athletes (by which I mean guys focused on tricks and skills) would fit better into the 3rd layer. It does hinder your performance in the short term, but in the long term it aids in progressively overloading these excercises thus making you stronger as a whole. And I know you are all about relative strength to your bodyweight but imagine this scenario:
You have a competition in 3 months -> your performance needs to peak in 3 months so you split your training plan into 3 cycles. 1st cycle would be like 70-30 split between hypertrophy training (weights) with skill practice focused on maintaining (legs trained 2x a week). you do that for 3 weeks then deload for a week with pure skills training and lower intensity, 2nd cycle would be 50/50 with "hypertrophy" training using calisthenics excercises (legs trained 1x a week or 1x every two weeks) and shifting the focus more towards skills. Last cycle would include a diet to lose weight and 100% skills training. IMO this aproach would grant you better performance in 3 months than just pure skills training all the time.
Also don't forget benefits of leg training -> hip flexor strength and improved compression.
Hello David, I appreciate your comment. The fact you clearly watched the whole thing and presented your opinion. You definitely raise some good points. Im not completely sure if i agree, but have many things to test on myself - this will surely be one of those to consider. Thanks!
Love your vids
+ 1 sub
Thank you for letting us decide wether it is good for us to train our legs. But more than that, thank you for giving the explanation about the reason people in Calisthenics do not train their legs much.
If you have access to a steep hill within a reasonable distance, I honestly think that hill sprints are hard to beat when it comes to what you get back from your invested time. Depending on how you vary the number of sprints, rest time, hill incline, and effort, you target:
- Lower body strength
- Lower body power/explosiveness
- Lower body hypertrophy
- Cardiovascular conditioning
- Metabolic conditioning
- Mental fortitude (they are very taxing)
- Growth hormone stimulation
- Testosterone stimulation
I'm not saying that they are the optimal choice for every single specific goal. If you for example want maximum quadriceps growth then certainly leg extensions would be the way to go. But when it comes to an exercise which gives you appreciable results in all of the categories I listed, hill sprints are hard to beat.
Very valuable info, thank you I honestly never tried it, just conentional leg training
You are a amazing youtuber!
Wow, thank you!
I feel like I'm in between the two styles, I will train legs 1x per week but push and pull 2x per week. Also leg training would be mainly running, pistol squats and explosive movements... this way my legs are almost in proportion to my upper body (though leaning toward the small side) but lever skills are still fairly accessible. I just hated having legs that looked out of proportion so its probably more of a vanity thing really
Hmm gotcha man. Really interesting point of view 👍
Exactly my plan lol you read my mind. Had this same question after i watched the video almost one month in my calisthenics. My legs training mainly consists of sprints and squats without weights while i have the average upper body workouts. Pull-ups pushup etc. Been practicing my handstand want to work my way into handstand push up and all that stuff. Started wondering If my leg workout would interfere with that.. I mean cant i have both. A balanced body all round and be able to do body weight fits like the ones i see people do??
Squats are weighted calisthenics just like the weighted pullups. Why not think of them in that way? What's more impressive at the end of the day? A 500lb squat or a planche? As long as you stay lean, your weighted pullup won't change too much by adding 10 lbs of legmuscle.
Endurance runners skip their upper body all the time but people are very defensive about callisthenics athletes not training their legs.
Building mass is contraproductive, but strenghtening hip flexors and extensors is crucial. Activating adductors and sometimes rotators will also help a lot in the hardest upper body exercises. (Study fascial lines fo more info.) So training legs will help a lot, just aim getting lean instead of bulking.
Great video btw!
9:48 now that's a sick move 😍😍🔥
Very impressive.
you can skip them if your interested in calisthenics skills specifically. But in my opinion nobody should skip because your legs are arguably more important for most physical activity and you need a balance. Plus you can still do your calisthenics skills whilst training legs (although it may take longer to perfect it).
I learned the front lever and now am progressively overloading it with leg training lmao
I just started weighted leg training some weeks ago. It's a must for me because I want to be really strong I stopped pistol squats and is now doing weighted deep squats. When my planche becomes easy I'll add more weight and do weighted planche push ups etc. 💪💪💪
Great vid. Can't wait to see this channel blow up
edit: found out he has more content. Subbed.
Thank you so much! Appreciate it!
Awesome video
The full nordic curl is a difficult and aesthetic leg skill in its own right, and a tiny bit of extra hamstring mass isn't going to hurt your front lever.