I trained with weights for a very long time and found that along with results it comes with injuries, niggles, bad posture etc etc especially as one gets older. Over the last few months I've been concentrating on bodyweight exercises and recently started doing some yoga. My aim is to stay in shape and improve my mobility and flexibility. Anyone else doing Calisthenics or Yoga with good results?
Yes.Originally Posted by ichaice
I´ve done bodyweight coordination/balancing/power/mobility-exercises and Yoga-like exercises for closer to 30 years. I could not recommend Yoga enough, especially on it´s more physical forms such as Astanga.
Once we grow older we should do power exercises (same % of total exercise as is our age in numbers) as power is the first attribute that escapes us.
I briefly toyed with body weight exercises due to sometimes not having very good gyms on ships I've worked on but I find myself going back to weights. Trouble is I keep picking up the same niggling tweaks in shoulders and knees. I think I should really start to look at it again. I pick up the following from amazon.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I've often though about yoga and even looked at the version mentioned Ashtanga years ago. Think I've got a book somewhere on it but I always thought you need to go to a class to get the full benefit from it so never really followed up on it.
Not exactly. I do taijiquan (tai chi) which is harder exercise than people think it is, especially when you get past absolute beginner level. It's good but the downside is you need to do a lot of it to see much effect. The same will likely apply to all similar types of exercise. Also, while taijiquan is an excellent, ancient martial art, it's not a particularly practical one as far as self defense is concerned. I would beware of teachers who eschew the martial side of it altogether, but perhaps even more so the ones who over-promote its effectiveness, especially if they start talking about unstoppable natural energy or any such nonsense. It's better viewed as a conditioning system for martial artists, that happens to have wider health benefits.
It can be hard to find good classes because even if the teacher is good, often the students are only looking for something extremely gentle, so they may omit some of the bits that are harder work from the classes. It's not even unusual for teachers themselves to be unaware of anything outside of the hand form, especially for the simplified styles like Cheng Man-ch'ing 37-step and Beijing 24-step. It's not all strictly bodyweight either, as there are weapon forms that are essentially a form of aerobic weight training, but again, not all schools will teach them, or advertise that they teach them (to advanced students). Not to downplay the benefits of the hand form alone, but if you're looking for something comparable to weight training, you'll want to go a bit further than that.
I'm not an expert on it, but I have heard from others that yoga is not the best route to go down if avoiding injury is your main concern, because it involves a lot of static postures and stretches that can easily lead to injury if done improperly. Whereas something like tai chi is continual movement with nothing ever done beyond about 70% of the range of motion. It develops flexibility through constant contraction and expansion of the muscles and surrounding tissues, not from stretches as such.
One of the main differences between tai chi and bodyweight exercises is that tai chi doesn't really try to build any muscular strength at ll. It still does of course, but does it by trying not to. If that makes any sense. It tends to develop a lot more deep-tissue strength and, much like yoga, has a strong emphasis on structural strength, balance and proprioception, all of which is good for avoiding injuries in other activities.
Very close. I do callisthenics and Pilates. I personally prefer Pilates to yoga but would say that either Yoga or Pilates alongside callisthenics is a superb way to maintain a strong core and have superb functional strength. I’d advocate this for anyone.
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Complete Calisthenics: The Ultimate Guide to Bodyweight Exercises https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/19053675..._G4QWAbY7Y9KH7
This is a superb book.
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Interesting read,
Due to a rather severe elbow injury last year I'm avoiding any exercise that might involve putting weight on my elbow yet still want to exercise, I'm keen on trying tai chi but reading the blurb put out it's proving difficult to sort the 'wheat from the chaff', and living in the 'land that time forgot' doesn't help either.
"Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action."
'Populism, the last refuge of a Tory scoundrel'.
I have arthritis and have been doing yoga for about 3 months now. I've found it highly beneficial for all round mobility and wellbeing.
I do some other classes at the Gym, with low weights and some cardio and i've never felt better. The classes are mainly attended by women whilst the men are downstairs in front of the mirrors preening themselves. They're missing a trick for all round fitness and top eye candy!
Me a few years ago before training:
Me today:
There’s nothing like Calisthenics to motivate you to lose a few lbs.
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Me today:
There’s nothing like Calisthenics to motivate you to lose a few lbs.
Bloody hell... respect
How long did that journey take?
I would say the best way to get into it is to find the local teachers in your area, phone them all and have a brief chat about what you want to get out of it, what sort of class they run, etc. The most important thing ultimately is the quality of the teacher and that's largely going to be a matter of personal preference based on personality.
There are 3 main styles of taijiquan: Yang, Wu and Chen. The most common of these in the west is Yang style. All of the main simplified forms are based on Yang style, so if you were to start out with something like Beijing-24 or CMC-37, but later decided you wanted to do a long form, it would be pretty easy to transition to a Yang long form, then learn the weapons forms or whatever else might be missing from the simplified forms. But for the first few years, any of the forms would be effective. In fact the reason simplified forms exist is so that students can get the most benefit as quickly as possible.
What is not easy to do is transition between styles. Switching between Yang style and Wu style will involve un-learning a lot of stuff, so that is best avoided.
I would not recommend Chen style to anyone unless they are under 30 and reasonably fit. Chen involves a lot of things like very low stances and sudden, explosive movements, which tend to lead to joint injuries. The other styles either omit these things altogether, or move them outside of the main forms where they are less likely to cause harm.
Ideally, you want to find a teacher who knows at least one long form, applications and some weapon forms, even if that's not what they normally teach. It implies they are a more well-rounded teacher. But in some cases a well-qualified teacher and a good teacher aren't the same thing, so YMMV.
Another thing very closely related to taijiquan is qigong (or ch'i kung; pronounced "chee-goong"). A simplistic translation of this is "energy work". I won't go into the technical details, suffice to say that they are similar, but qigong is not a martial art. Taiji is more of a complete system, whereas each qigong is designed to focus on one particular thing, like an isolation exercise (but not in the same sense). There are hundreds of them. They are relatively short and repetitive, at least compared to taiji (although not compared to say, crunches or press-ups). Some taiji schools will practise a lot of qigong. Some will do a few as warmups or cooldowns. Some won't do any at all. You may find the same teacher runs separate taiji and qigong classes.
Some people might prefer to focus on qigong because they are short and except for a few complicated ones, pretty easy to learn. Personally I don't like them much, because they are quite repetitive. They also don't have a lot of scope to improve technically, in much the same way that you can do press-ups badly, but once you know how to do them correctly it's just a question of doing hundreds of them. With qigong you do the same short sequence over and over until you get bored (or tired) and move on to another one. With a taiji form, its one long sequence and it forces you to really focus on what you're doing.
The main advantage of qigong over taiji is that if you find one you don't like, you can just not do it. If you don't like (or can't do) part of a taiji form, you can't really skip it.
Appreciate the time you've taken to reply, I hope you wont mind if I ask more questions at a later date.
"Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action."
'Populism, the last refuge of a Tory scoundrel'.
As have I.Great work Yumma. I’ve ordered a copy of that book
Respect from me to, that is some transformation. I just hope I can maintain the motivation. I too would be interested in knowing how long it took you @yumma.
No problem.
Cheers guys. The weight loss took 12 months. About 30kg or approx 5 stone in old money. 90% of it was down to diet at least. Then plenty of running. But doing Calisthenics really focuses the mind as a 15 stone guy will find it harder to do pull ups than a 13 stone guy as a rule. Good luck.
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My wife is a yoga teacher who specializes in yoga for sport. She works with a football team every week, and teaches classes for cyclists every Monday. Her classes are unusual in that 90% of her students are men. But the football team have seen a reduction in soft tissue injuries since starting, and the cyclists all report reduced discomfort on long spins. I'm a mountain biker, and I do her classes every week. I notice that any minor shoulder issues I used to have after long descents are gone now.
In summary, I think yoga would benefit everybody, especially athletes from any discipline. I know several guys who are put off by the image of yoga as a women's activity, or are afraid of being the only man in a class. But look around, and I'm sure there is a class near you that's aimed more at guys.
Should be so proud of yourself! Good effort!Me a few years ago before training:
Me today:
There’s nothing like Calisthenics to motivate you to lose a few lbs.
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I've been doing yoga for a couple of years and I swear by it.
My physio suggested it as part of rehab for a dislocated shoulder. I initially dismissed it as hippy dippy, peace and love crap – but I couldn’t have been more wrong. I practice vinyasa flow yoga and I find it fantastic for strength, core and posture. It’s also a really good stress buster. I work a desk job which has ruined my posture, but yoga has really helped correct it.
Don’t knock it before you try it! Try out the different styles that are available around you and see what you think.
Thanks Auto
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Really inspiring thread and Yumma, all I can say is wow, some serious will power there, bet you feel so much better physically and mentally, well done..
Years ago I loved the gym and short fast runs, I kept quite fit but 15 years later and I feel it’s time to try and sort myself out, I’m not what you would call “fat” but could lose a good stone. It’s more the getting older and looking after yourself rather than having a beach body.
Think a diet change first is needed and then on to the physical side, not sure lots of running would help as my knees are giving me signs of wear so may look into this body strength methods mentioned here..
Indeed I agree, I had ACL Reconstruction on my right knee Jan 2017 which also involved micro fracturing and radio therapy, so the full works. Long road back. Still train with a knee brace on!
Can’t do any impact training at all on it so have been going to the gym circa five months, cycling, cross trainer and weights. Also doing reformer Pilates with Yoga each week combined. Feel a lot fitter than I have in years dropping around 10LB, although being 6ft 2” under 13 stone don’t want to drop anymore. But noticing that fat has gone with more muscle content. Like to try and get into the Calisthenics now. Approaching 51 felt the time was overdue to get fit and cut down the alcohol... Good luck.
Hope you don’t mind me raising this thread again but wanted to know how you guys are getting on? I hope you are all well & motivated. As regards Calisthenics when starting out I’d just focus on basics. Simple pull and push exercises, as usual don’t forget core and legs too. I hope things are going well for you. Maybe set some achievable goals; no hard time limit just aim to get there. Good luck and respect.
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Mate, I've been working mainly doing bodyweight exercises for about 8 months, and changed my (eating) diet to the very healthy state; sadly, drinking diet is still way more than it should be, but have vastly reduced beer and cider intake.
Your pic gave me a bit of a kick up the backside re my workouts, and realised that I've just been doing bits pretty aimlessly 2-3 times a week. Thought I was stretching well before and after, but realise I really hadn't been hitting the parts that needed to be warmed/stretched. Now properly warming up and have got a roller which has stopped the usual aches and strains.
Now have been much more structured and have a 6 month plan I'm going for. Have been MUCH more focused on form, which has reduced my reps, but I can already feel (and see the difference.
Don't see myself doing the flagpole anytime soon, but have my own short, medium, and long term goals.
Cheers for the thread OP. Has really helped with motivation.
I've found this thread useful also, variations on routines and a wider range of activity were lacking, I'd got stuck in a bit of rut, so thanks you've given me a bit of inspiration.
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