Coach Michael Chavez here again 💪🇵🇭
Meet my athletes recruited from different cities, different backgrounds. Most of them aren't in school right now, and life hasn't been easy for their families. But what they do have is discipline, hunger to grow, and a love for calisthenics and bodyweight training that money can't buy.
Every week I stock up the fridge with dozens of eggs. Simple food, but consistent. Yes, it hits the wallet hard 😅, but seeing these boys show up, put in the work, and watch their bodies and confidence transform week after week? Priceless. That's payment enough for me.
This isn't just about abs or gains. It's about giving kids who have nothing but time and heart a place to belong, a reason to show up every day, and a shot at becoming something more than what their circumstances handed them.
Proud coach. Proud team. Grateful for every one of these young athletes in the PH 🇵🇭🔥
From skinny beginnings to real progress — this is what consistency and community can do.
u/calisthenicsph — 10 days ago
We started a calisthenics community in DavaoCity , now training athletes, funding each other, and growing city by city 🇵🇭
Hey everyone, Coach Michael Chavez here — I'm the chairperson of the Calisthenics Association of the Philippines (CAP). Wanted to share a story I've been sitting on for a while, because I think it matters to anyone chasing something that takes longer than expected.
I started CAP back in 2021. At the time I had just retired from competing, and honestly I didn't know if a bodyweight training community would even survive here — no big sponsors, no gym backing, just a small group of us who believed calisthenics deserved a real home in the Philippines.
For the next few years it was a grind. Building a community from nothing means a lot of quiet, unglamorous work showing up to train people, figuring out how to keep athletes motivated when there's no money in it, watching some cities pick up interest and others go quiet. I kept pushing anyway, because retiring from competition never meant retiring from the sport for me.
2026 is the year it finally clicked. We launched our bootcamp in Davao City, and seeing it come together after all these years hit different. No fancy facility just a bar, a group of committed athletes, and the same discipline I've been preaching since day one.
Where we're at now:
🏋️ Recruiting athletes from different cities. We're not just looking for people who are already strong we want people who show up. Some of our best athletes today started from zero reps.
🤝 We run on community support. CAP isn't a business. It's athletes and supporters helping cover each other's expenses transportation for athletes coming from other provinces, basic training needs, whatever it takes to keep someone training instead of dropping out. That's how we've kept this alive since 2021.
📍 The goal now is expansion. Davao is proof of concept. I want training pods in multiple cities, all connected as one community shared programming, inter-city meetups, and eventually real competitions representing Filipino calisthenics.
If you're in the Philippines and you train, or you're curious about starting, or you just want to support grassroots athlete development, I'd genuinely love to hear from you. Ask me anything about the bootcamp, how the community fund works, or how to get your city involved.
FB PAGE : https://www.facebook.com/calisthenicsassociationoftheph
u/calisthenicsph — 12 days ago