12 Pro Tips EVERY Athlete should know
12 pro tips to improve your training sessions!
1st tip of the day: Always warm up!
By warming up you’ll be able to train more frequently
You will decrease the risk of injury.
Less injury = more workouts = Better progression.
You don’t take a sport car and accelerate to the limit without a proper warm up!
2nd tip of the day: Work on your mobility!
A good mobility is a must for a calisthenic athlete
Your shoulders, elbows and wrists will be very solicited.
If your body can handle every angle of work the risk of having injuries will decrease.
You can add mobility exercises to your warm up (like I do), or you can do it on rest days.
So, remember to always warm up and work on your mobility exercises!
But keep in mind to master the basics!
This is the 3rd tip of the day! Push ups, Pull ups, Chin ups, Dips and variations!
You should be able to do AT LEAST 40 controlled push ups and 15-20 perfect pull ups in one set.
I have said this many times, so I’m not going to say anything more about it.
If you want to improve the basics,
visit www.andrealarosa.fit for my calisthenics programs, you will have an idea of how I like to train.
4th tip.
Don’t rush the process, master the technique first!
It’s full of people who wants to learn advanced skills/movements without the proper train.
Do not be that person.
Take your time to get use to the right activation, master the holds,
be in control of your skill/exercise before increasing the difficulty!
An example is the Plank and the Planche Lean.
Remember: Squeeze your Gluteus, the quads, posterior pelvic tilt, abs contracted, arms locked out etc.
Before doing the hardest variations keep in mind all these little things, you should be able to do everything with good form!
Don’t rush the process. Enjoy every single workout!
5th tip of the day: Do not train everything.
The very first months you could be tempted to train pull ups, muscle ups, handstands, planches, front levers, back levers etc. in a single session.
Just choose 3-4 exercises/skills and stick with them.
If during your 1st session of the week you have worked on holds, then during the 2nd session of the week you can work on dynamics movements.
If during your 1st session of the week you have worked on pushing exercises, then during the 2nd session you can work on pulling movements.
There are many style of training, focus on a few skills.
Only by focusing on a few elements you’ll be able to progress.
Another important tip is to find a good trainer!
Someone who is able to notify you when your doing something wrong.
I know many of you don’t have the chance for many different reasons, if so, just take your phone and record yourself from different angles!
Watch your form between the sets and see what you can improve.
I do still makes mistakes, sometimes I do think to have a perfect form and only when I record myself I can notice all the little things I should fix.
7th tip of the day: Discipline > Motivation.
It is easy to train when you are motivated, especially the first months of training when you start working on new exercises.
After few years everything changes, motivation will come and go and there will be period of demotivation.
When you encounter difficulties you may want to give up or take too many weeks off. This is not the best thing to do.
Work on your mindset, stay consistent.
8th tip of the day: You must have a routine!
It may become boring after few weeks, but this will keep you disciplined.
Don’t forget to rest and recover when necessary, add a few days of light training when necessary. You can also take 5-7 days off when you are at your limit.
Learn to listen to your body,
Push when you are in good shape with high morale! At the same time learn to decrease the difficulty of your workouts when tired.
9th tip: Use the chalk! Chalk is important when you are using the bar!
Do not risk to lose the grip during your set, especially when you are tired.
There are 2 types of chalk: The liquid chalk and the powder one.
Personally I do prefer the liquid one.
So my clothes doesn’t get dirty.
But I must say it makes the skin of your hands very dry if you use it frequently.
The powder chalk gives you a better grip than the liquid one, but it will go over your clothes and all over the floor when crushed.
If you have both, and want a perfect grip, use a little bit of liquid chalk and then between sets add the powder one.
10th tip: Stretch!
Lightly stretch the muscles at the end of your workout session.
Even better if you can do it in separate sessions. During your rest days you can do a light warm up and then some stretching.
The next tip is important if you do a lot of work at the bar.
Take care of your calluses.
If your skin is completely destroyed, everything is harder. You can still train but it’s not the best feeling.
So when you feel pain take 1-2 days of rest.
Even better is to add to your daily routine a scrub with pumice stone or with a specific tool.
Anyway, don’t worry about your calluses, after a few months of training the body will get used to it and you won’t have as much problems.
Last tip: Have fun!
It’s not worth it if you hate the trainings. Work properly on your mobility and technique, but have fun with it.
These were the first tips that I came up with,
if you have other ones drop me a comment below, so that other people can read and discuss about it.
See you soon.