Meet your trainer
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
This is a four-week program to get to your first set of back-to-back (-to back) chin-ups. While the focus is on building a strong back, I have included lower body, core and pushing exercises to make sure the program trains all of the bodies major muscle groups. As a beginner, it is important to understand that programming should still incorporate balance, even with a highly specific, i.e. we still train all our major muscle groups, despite the primary goal being developing back strength.
Getting the most out of each workout
Calisthenics requires a high level of technical proficiency. At the beginning of each workout, we’ll give you one principle to think about that applies to all of the exercises in the workout. The three principles we’ll be reinforcing during this program are; range of motion (develop strength throughout the entire movement), tempo (to make sure you have control throughout the full ROM) and shoulder position (to make sure the correct muscles are being engaged). At the end of the program, these things should become second nature.
Overload, not variety
Getting strong is less about the continuous introduction of new exercises and more about increasing the intensity of each exercise. While many programs focus on different exercises each workout, this program uses a handful of highly effective exercises and makes them more difficult each week. This is known as progressive overload (the most important principle of exercise science). You’ll be focusing on beating what you did last week.
Weekly overview
| Overload | |
| Workout 1 1a. Band chin-up 1b. Single leg hip bridge 2a. Front lever raise 2b. Plank 3a. Rows 3b. Reverse lunges 4a. Scapula row 4b. Reverse push-ups | +1rep +2reps +1rep +30secs +Max +2reps — +1rep |
| Workout 2 1a. Band pull-ups 1b. Squat jumps 2a. Front lever raise 2b. Hollow body hold 3a. Rows 3b. Push-ups 4a. Scapula pull-up 4b. Reverse lunge | +1rep +1rep +1rep +5secs +2reps +2reps — +2reps |
| Workout 3 1a. Eccentric chin-up 1b. Single leg hip bridge 2a. Rows 2b. Single leg deadlift 3a. Band chin-ups 3b. Squats 4a. Front lever raise 4b. Hollow body hold 4c. Plank 5a. Scapula pull-up 5b. V-ups 6a. Scapula row 6b. Squat Hold | — +2reps +2reps +1rep +1rep +5reps +1rep +5secs +15secs — +2reps — +5secs |
Back exercises in this program
Rows (Horizontal pulling)
Chins (vertical pulling)
Levers (straight-arm pulling)
Getting feedback
If you have any questions about the programming or exercises used in the program, please post them in the questions selection below and it will be answered within 24hours.
START WORKOUT ONE
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