Simon Ata (aka Simonster) is a world leader in bodyweight training. Starting gymnastics at an early age, he became passionate about mastering control of the body and immersed himself in the world of bodyweight strength training. Attaining a Bachelor of Physiotherapy degree alongside personal training qualifications, furthered his understanding of the body from an academic side and accelerated his training methods and skill.

About the program

Skill training

Weekly overview

Back exercises in this program

START WORKOUT ONE

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Skill acquisition is usually reserved for sports. As you progress to more advanced skills, they require larger levels of control and can benefit from adopting similar strategies used to develop a new motor skill in a sport. Surprisingly, is impacted by co-ordination. Having the ability to synchronise the activation of multiple muscle groups is actually an adaptation to increase force production (intermuscualr co-ordination).

When learning a new skill, it is typically most effective when you are free from fatigue. In this program, the more skilled the movement, the earlier in the workout it is performed. Additionally, we should be performing on the edge of our ability, both physically and from a skill standpoint. You should now be paying close attention to very small details of the movement to make the exercise as close to perfect as possible. Things like scapula control, head position, neutral spine are all going to require fine-tuning.

Workout summary

*Reps for each exercise are in tables below photos

1a. Assisted OAC

1b. Vertical Jumps

Perform this superset 3 times w/3min rest.

2. Front lever raise

Perform this exercise for 4 sets w/3min rest

3a. Pull-ups

3b. Nordic curl hold

Perform this superset 3 times w/2min rest

4. Front lever holds

Perform this exercise 4 times w/3min rest

5a. Dips

5b. Hollow body hold

Workout recap

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You would have noticed that the rest periods in workout one have increased. You may have also felt that the rest periods weren’t long enough to recover adequately. Begin to use the rest periods as a guide only – rest as much as you require to perform the next set for the prescribed duration/repetitions.

We derive most of our energy for strength training from the ATP-PC system. The ATP-PC system can produce large amounts of force for 12-18seconds. It’s the predominant energy system used in a 100m run and for 15sec front lever hold. One drawback of this system is it fatigues quickly and takes a long time to recover. It takes roughly 2minutes for the ATP-PC system to recover to 90% and approximately 3minutes to get to 99%. As the strength demand of exercises has now increased, we are resting more.

Workout overview

1. Front lever row

Perform this exercise 4 times w/3min rest

2a. Half lever raise

2b. Pistols

Perform this superset 4 times w/3min rest.

3a. Feet elevated row

3b. L-sit

Perform this superset for 3 sets w/2min rest

4a. Chin-ups

4b. Push-ups

Perform this superset 3 times w/2min rest.

Workout recap

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It’s now important to understand how strength works. When our muscle contracts, we develop force. The ‘harder’ a muscle contracts, the larger the force output.

Muscles are made up of muscle fibres. Muscle fibres are controlled by motor nerves. Motor nerves will innervate a group of muscle fibres. This is known as a motor unit. We have low threshold motor units and high threshold motor units, which are activated with lower and higher intensities respectively.

Strength adaptations are largely achieved via activating our high threshold motor units. The most popular way to do this is to lift heavy loads. Here, we need to activate all of our motor units to overcome the external load. However, with calisthenics, there is a point where many exercises will feel relatively easy. But, there are still ways to recruit those high threshold motor units.

One way is via lifting speed. Back to our quick physics lesson, force = mass x acceleration. If we accelerate quicker, we increase our force production through activating our high threshold motor units. Explosive exercises therefore become a highly effective method for motor unit recruitment with bodyweight training.

Another way is lifting close to failure. You will see more exercises prescribe AMRAP (as many reps as possible). Here, as the low threshold motor units fatigue, we need to still somehow maintain our force production to overcome the external load. Using this method, we recruit our high threshold motor units as we approach failure.

Workout overview

1a. OAC negatives

1b. Nordic holds

Perform this exercise for 3 sets w/2.5min rest

2. Front lever raise (bottom half)

Perform this exercise for 4 sets w/2min rest

3a. Chin-ups

3b. Dips

Perform this superset 3 times w/3min rest

4a. Feet elevated row

4b. Hollow body hold

Perform this superset 3 times w/2min rest.

Workout recap

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