r/CalisthenicsBeginners

Today was my first day with tuck planche and this was my best hold. Do I have the strength to continue, or is this just a waste of time? Any advice would be appreciated!

This is the progress made so far on dragon squat. Any correction or improvement needed here

40 y/o and I've been training pull-ups for about 10 months. Currently stuck at 9 reps.

What can I improve with my form? Anything obvious that's holding me back?

Trying to keep progressing, so any advice is welcome.

Update: Thanks for all the feedback. I tried to apply some of it on my next set, especially getting more extension at the bottom. Added the second video in the comments below.

Any advice on form in Sissy sqaut??

70% of goal.

Facing away helps me stop kicking off the wall to assist (weird habit I know) focusing on form and stability

1.5 years ago, I was a completely different person.

I was skinny, lacked confidence, and was bullied because of how I looked. I used to feel weak and uncomfortable with myself.

Then I found calisthenics.

I started with the basics — push-ups, pull-ups, dips, squats, and learning how to control my own body. At first, even simple exercises were difficult. But I kept showing up.

There were days when I had no motivation. There were plateaus, injuries, bad workouts, and plenty of moments where I questioned whether I was actually progressing.

But I didn't stop.

After 1.5 years, the difference isn't just physical.

I went from struggling with basic bodyweight movements to being able to do things like pull-ups, dips, muscle-ups, handstands, handstand push-ups, L-sits, and other calisthenics skills.

My body changed, but more importantly, my mindset changed.

I became more disciplined.

More confident.

More patient.

And I stopped caring so much about what other people thought of me.

I didn't start training to prove my bullies wrong.

I started training because I wanted to prove to myself that I could become someone I was proud of.

Still a long way to go. Still learning. Still training.

But looking back at where I started, I'm genuinely proud of how far I've come.

1.5 years down. The journey continues.

To anyone who is currently being bullied or feels insecure about themselves: you don't have to change overnight. Start small, stay consistent, and give yourself time.

Your transformation doesn't happen in one day. It happens because you refuse to quit.

1.5 years ago, I couldn't hold a handstand properly.

I started from the basics, learning how to balance, control my body, and build the strength needed to stay upside down.

Over time, I worked through different handstand variations and eventually progressed to handstand push-ups.

In these 1.5 years, I have learned and trained:

Freestanding handstand

Different handstand variations

Handstand balance and control

Handstand push-ups

Strength and endurance for handstand work

The progress wasn't easy.

There were countless falls, failed attempts, shaky holds, plateaus, and days when nothing seemed to work. But I kept practicing.

One thing calisthenics taught me is that skill development takes time. You don't suddenly become good at a skill. You repeat it thousands of times, learn from your mistakes, and slowly improve.

Looking back at my first handstand attempts compared to

check out my Calisthenic journey on YouTube here I am now, I'm proud of the progress.

But I'm not stopping here.

Next goals: One Arm Handstand, Full Planche, and pushing my handstand strength and balance even further.

1.5 years in. Still learning. Still falling. Still improving.

I’m taking my front lever to the extreme.
If you need help with anything related to front lever or calisthenics in general, feel free to ask 🙌🏻

I've gotten up before, but I've always relied on momentum from jumping and was never able to do consecutive reps.

I know I'm kipping and swinging a lot, but I'm confident I'll be able to correct my form over time.

Please feel free to give me advice on improving my technique and what I should work on.

So about 2 years ago I randomly had the idea of trying a front lever Straight Arm Touch with an extremely narrow grip.

I had never seen anyone do it before, and honestly I had no idea if it was even going to work.

I was already pretty strong at Front Lever at the time, so I just gave it a shot… and somehow managed to get it on my 3rd attempt.

The form definitely wasn’t pretty, but that was basically the beginning of what I now call the Narrow SAT (Straight Arm Touch).

Over time I kept messing around with it,
improving the position and trying to see what else I could do with it.
Eventually just holding it wasn’t enough, so naturally I had to try pull ups.
And surprisingly, they went pretty damn well.

Those are the pull ups you see in the video.
What makes this variation so interesting to me is how different it feels from any “normal” front lever variation.

With your hands this close together, you need a ridiculous amount of wrist flexion, especially with the false grip that deep.

The shoulder position also feels extremely unnatural at first. You need really good control over your scapular retraction and depression, a lot of upper-back strength, and enough backward lean/body extension to actually get all the way to the bar.

And obviously proportions play a role too, but I don’t think they’re what ultimately decides whether someone can do it or not.
For me the biggest factors are probably:
• Wrist mobility / false grip
• Scapular retraction + depression
• Upper-back/posterior-chain strength
• Body extension and positioning
• And simply getting your body used to such a weird position

The coolest part for me is that this started with me basically thinking:
“I wonder if this is possible?”

Now I’m doing pull ups and playing with it.
And I’m definitely not done with this variation yet 👀
I already have some ideas for making it even crazier.

If anyone here wants to try the Narrow SAT, please do. I’d actually love to see other athletes experimenting with it and seeing where people can take it.

And if you have any questions about the variation, Front Lever or calisthenics in general, feel free to ask 🙌🏻

My twin brother and I also post a lot of our calisthenics stuff on Instagram if you want to check it out — it’s linked on our profile.
Excited to see where I can take this next ❤️

No standing up no leaning back no knees to the ground

4 months ago, I couldn’t do a single pull-up. After spamming pullups, today I hit 10.9. Happy with my progress.

Next goal: muscle-up

Feel like I’m messing something up, can’t put a finger down on what it is. Stuck on this number for a month, and form isn’t the best. How to improve?

It took me a lot more time than it should've, but finally, I can hold it away from the wall for a few seconds.

I feel like I can do freestanding too but there's that fear part that I still need to figure out. Btw this is my push skill day routine: