u/kksnyss

So, what can I say? Several people on Reddit recommended the book to me, so I bought it (the German edition).

I’ve now started reading it, and I’m completely overwhelmed by the book. I’m aware that there are summaries for dummies at the end of the chapters, but I’m a complete beginner when it comes to calisthenics, and even those summaries are overwhelming for me.

At the beginning, it talks about setting goals. How am I supposed to have goals when I don’t even know calisthenics that well? The book is completely confusing me because I have no idea how to get started or what I’m actually supposed to do.

I also read the Beginner’s Guide, but with such a poor German translation, it wasn’t much easier to understand either.

How do I find my way into this book?

Hey everyone,

I’ve recently started getting more interested in calisthenics and have bought several books about it. I have very little equipment myself: a pull-up bar, a weight bench and some resistance bands.

That’s actually one of the things I find so fascinating about calisthenics – being able to train with very little equipment while learning movements that require strength, balance, body control and coordination.

I’m especially fascinated by things like handstands, the human flag, planche progressions, etc. Basically, not just “do 20 push-ups and 10 pull-ups”, but movements where you actually have to control and move your entire body.

At the moment, I’ve stuck with Convict Conditioning by Paul Wade. The other two books I bought didn’t really convince me. One of them already expects things like close-grip push-ups in the beginner stages, while the other one feels like half a yoga book.

The problem with Convict Conditioning is almost the opposite: the intensity is sometimes too low for me, and the progression steps are either extremely small or suddenly way too big. Some exercises don’t really feel challenging enough, while the next progression can feel like a massive jump.

So what I’m actually looking for is:

A proper guide that takes me step by step from the basics towards “real” calisthenics, preferably with very little equipment and exercises that train the entire body in a meaningful way.

What’s important to me is that I understand:

- Why am I doing this exercise?
- What exactly am I training with it?
- What should I be able to do before moving on to the next progression?
- How can I make an exercise harder without making a massive jump in difficulty?
- And most importantly: Where is all of this eventually leading?

I don’t want to spend months doing the same 3–4 basic exercises. I actually want to learn skills where, at some point, I can look at something and think: “Okay, this is what all that training was for.”

What really triggered this was seeing things like the hollow hold and thinking: Holy shit, I’m actually pretty far away from being able to control my body the way I want to.

That’s exactly what attracts me to calisthenics: strength + balance + body tension + mobility + body control. Not just grinding out repetitions.

The various training apps also drive me nuts. They either keep throwing HIIT/cardio elements into the workouts or require more and more equipment for seemingly every exercise. That’s really not what I’m looking for.

Another important point: I don’t want to just search for 50 different exercises on YouTube, Reddit and random websites and then try to build my own program.

I simply don’t know enough about calisthenics yet to know which exercises actually make sense together, which ones are useful progressions, and what I really need for my goals.

And I know myself: if I start researching every single exercise and progression myself, I’ll probably get lost in the details very quickly. I’ll end up with 37 different exercises and no idea which ones I should actually be doing. 😅

So I’m also wondering: How did all the really good calisthenics athletes actually learn this stuff when they started out?

Where did they get their information from back then? Were there particular books, programs, coaches or systems they followed? Or did they really just spend years experimenting and figuring everything out themselves?

Does anyone know a good guide, book, structured program or progression system that takes you from the basics towards these kinds of skills?

I’m not expecting to do a human flag tomorrow. I just want a clear path towards it, while feeling like I’m actually learning calisthenics rather than just doing generic bodyweight fitness.

I’d really appreciate recommendations for books, programs, YouTube channels, or just advice from people who have gone through this journey themselves.

Hey everyone,

I’ve recently started getting more interested in calisthenics and have bought several books about it. I have very little equipment myself: a pull-up bar, a weight bench and some resistance bands.

That’s actually one of the things I find so fascinating about calisthenics – being able to train with very little equipment while learning movements that require strength, balance, body control and coordination.

I’m especially fascinated by things like handstands, the human flag, planche progressions, etc. Basically, not just “do 20 push-ups and 10 pull-ups”, but movements where you actually have to control and move your entire body.

At the moment, I’ve stuck with Convict Conditioning by Paul Wade. The other two books I bought didn’t really convince me. One of them already expects things like close-grip push-ups in the beginner stages, while the other one feels like half a yoga book.

The problem with Convict Conditioning is almost the opposite: the intensity is sometimes too low for me, and the progression steps are either extremely small or suddenly way too big. Some exercises don’t really feel challenging enough, while the next progression can feel like a massive jump.

So what I’m actually looking for is:

A proper guide that takes me step by step from the basics towards “real” calisthenics, preferably with very little equipment and exercises that train the entire body in a meaningful way.

What’s important to me is that I understand:

- Why am I doing this exercise?
- What exactly am I training with it?
- What should I be able to do before moving on to the next progression?
- How can I make an exercise harder without making a massive jump in difficulty?
- And most importantly: Where is all of this eventually leading?

I don’t want to spend months doing the same 3–4 basic exercises. I actually want to learn skills where, at some point, I can look at something and think: “Okay, this is what all that training was for.”

What really triggered this was seeing things like the hollow hold and thinking: Holy shit, I’m actually pretty far away from being able to control my body the way I want to.

That’s exactly what attracts me to calisthenics: strength + balance + body tension + mobility + body control. Not just grinding out repetitions.

The various training apps also drive me nuts. They either keep throwing HIIT/cardio elements into the workouts or require more and more equipment for seemingly every exercise. That’s really not what I’m looking for.

Another important point: I don’t want to just search for 50 different exercises on YouTube, Reddit and random websites and then try to build my own program.

I simply don’t know enough about calisthenics yet to know which exercises actually make sense together, which ones are useful progressions, and what I really need for my goals.

And I know myself: if I start researching every single exercise and progression myself, I’ll probably get lost in the details very quickly. I’ll end up with 37 different exercises and no idea which ones I should actually be doing. 😅

So I’m also wondering: How did all the really good calisthenics athletes actually learn this stuff when they started out?

Where did they get their information from back then? Were there particular books, programs, coaches or systems they followed? Or did they really just spend years experimenting and figuring everything out themselves?

Does anyone know a good guide, book, structured program or progression system that takes you from the basics towards these kinds of skills?

I’m not expecting to do a human flag tomorrow. I just want a clear path towards it, while feeling like I’m actually learning calisthenics rather than just doing generic bodyweight fitness.

I’d really appreciate recommendations for books, programs, YouTube channels, or just advice from people who have gone through this journey themselves.

Hello,

I recently subscribed to NordVPN on my iPhone 16 Pro Max. Both iOS and the NordVPN app are up to date.

Since then, I’ve been having major issues with Apple’s Find My app. People who share their location with me can still see my location, but it is often heavily delayed. In some cases, it shows my location from several days ago (e.g. “6 days ago”).

I’ve already searched online but haven’t been able to find a solution so far.

Has anyone experienced the same issue with NordVPN and Find My? Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

Hello everyone,

Yesterday, while I was out hiking, I started a hike activity on my Instinct 3. No navigation, no map — just the workout itself so it could track calories, heart rate, etc.

When we took a break (about half an hour), I manually paused the activity using the button. After that half hour, the watch ended and saved the activity on its own. Now I have the hike split into two separate activities in Garmin Connect.

Is there a way to change this so the watch doesn’t automatically end the activity?

Thank you very much!

Hello everyone,

I recently switched from the Apple Watch to the Instinct 3. I’m still using an iPhone and plan all my hiking routes exclusively with Komoot, which I’d actually really like to keep doing.

A little while ago, I wanted to do my first tour with the Instinct 3, and honestly: for me, it was quite a disastrous experience.

First, I started navigation for a Komoot route directly on the watch. The map felt like it spun around three times with every movement and lagged terribly. Proper hiking was practically impossible for me that way. So I stopped the navigation and instead started the Komoot route through Garmin.

The “map” — if you can even call it that — then consisted only of a black background with grid lines and a red route, without any real map display. It ran more smoothly, but honestly: how are you supposed to reliably find narrow trails or turns like that?

On top of that, unlike during running workouts, I couldn’t customize the data pages individually. That meant I constantly had to scroll through all eight data pages just to find the information I actually wanted.

After that, I simply wanted to go back to starting navigation the usual way through my iPhone with Komoot. But since then, that no longer works properly either. I can’t normally start the route in Komoot on my phone anymore — I can only edit it. Restarting both the phone and the watch didn’t solve anything. Every time I press “Start navigation with phone” in Komoot, absolutely nothing happens. Even disconnecting the Garmin watch from Komoot didn’t fix it.

So my honest question is: did I make the wrong purchase here for hiking with Komoot? After this experience, I was honestly pretty frustrated.

It would actually already be enough for me if the watch simply showed certain basic data like distance to the next waypoint, active calories, and heart rate, while I could just pull out my phone whenever needed to check the route more precisely. I obviously understand that it won’t work exactly like the Apple Watch, since the Instinct 3 doesn’t simply mirror the iPhone but works more like a standalone device.

So how do you handle navigation on the Instinct 3 in combination with Komoot?

Thanks a lot for your help.

Hello everyone,

I recently switched from the Apple Watch to the Instinct 3. I’m still using an iPhone and plan all my hiking routes exclusively with Komoot, which I’d actually really like to keep doing.

A little while ago, I wanted to do my first tour with the Instinct 3, and honestly: for me, it was quite a disastrous experience.

First, I started navigation for a Komoot route directly on the watch. The map felt like it spun around three times with every movement and lagged terribly. Proper hiking was practically impossible for me that way. So I stopped the navigation and instead started the Komoot route through Garmin.

The “map” — if you can even call it that — then consisted only of a black background with grid lines and a red route, without any real map display. It ran more smoothly, but honestly: how are you supposed to reliably find narrow trails or turns like that?

On top of that, unlike during running workouts, I couldn’t customize the data pages individually. That meant I constantly had to scroll through all eight data pages just to find the information I actually wanted.

After that, I simply wanted to go back to starting navigation the usual way through my iPhone with Komoot. But since then, that no longer works properly either. I can’t normally start the route in Komoot on my phone anymore — I can only edit it. Restarting both the phone and the watch didn’t solve anything. Every time I press “Start navigation with phone” in Komoot, absolutely nothing happens. Even disconnecting the Garmin watch from Komoot didn’t fix it.

So my honest question is: did I make the wrong purchase here for hiking with Komoot? After this experience, I was honestly pretty frustrated.

It would actually already be enough for me if the watch simply showed certain basic data like distance to the next waypoint, active calories, and heart rate, while I could just pull out my phone whenever needed to check the route more precisely. I obviously understand that it won’t work exactly like the Apple Watch, since the Instinct 3 doesn’t simply mirror the iPhone but works more like a standalone device.

So how do you handle navigation on the Instinct 3 in combination with Komoot?

Thanks a lot for your help.