How to Properly Train Skills to Unlock them ASAP
What do I mean by skills training? Skills training is known mainly in the calisthenics community, however could be applied to lifting as well. I’ll be primarily focusing on how this applies to bodyweight training but stick around as I will give an example for weight training too.
When it comes to calisthenics there’s a LOT of skills people find cool and aspire to learn. Here’s a small list of some, but there’s many more..
- Handstand (Holds & Push-ups)
- Muscle-up
- Front Lever
- Back lever
- Planche
- Iron Cross
When it comes to skills, your training is going to look a little different. Some of you may not want to hear this, but you MUST go through the progressions. There are no shortcuts.Trust me.. I tried them all.
What do I mean by Progressions?
Progressions are simply steps/workouts from easiest to hardest to get you to the final product. Upon being able to do one progression with good form, over time you’d move onto the next until you can eventually perform the full skill.
Everyone starts at a different level. Based on whatever level you start at, you have to find a progression that is difficult for you, however you still want to be able to complete it with good form. Having good form is ESSENTIAL to learning skills. By ignoring your form you’ll just delay your progress tremendously and be more prone to injury.
Don’t rush! The journey to get there is frustrating but worth every second. Rushing through progressions will not get you there faster and will likely delay you. I’ve tried this and although I got pretty far, I wound up getting injured and lost the majority of my skills. DONT BE ME! By having good form you’ll build muscle memory in the correct positions. When you achieve a new level/progression of a skill your muscles will be so accustomed to holding your own bodyweight in that position. Despite not training for a few weeks, you’ll still be able to do that progression. When you rush the process that muscle memory is never truly created, therefore by taking any breaks from your training you will go down in progressions and lose that skill. So make sure you’re performing each workout with good form!!
Let’s take the Handstand for an example. So many people just throw themselves up in hopes of magically holding it one day. What’s wrong with this? Well for one thing if you never learned how to fall properly/safely (yes there’s a right way to fall) then the odds of you getting injured is high. The hard truth is, in the beginning you’re not ready to just start doing attempts. Attempting is not training towards your goal. Although you may get it 1000 attempts later, why waste that time when you can train the progressions and learn it faster? When first learning a handstand the wall is your best friend! You have to build the strength in your shoulders, understand the movement as a whole and learn the straight alignment before even attempting a regular handstand off the wall. By doing the progressions it’ll make much more sense and you’ll learn a hell of a lot faster. Would you go take a test without preparing first? I’d hope not because otherwise you’re likely to fail!
How does this apply to lifting?
Say your goal is to put up 225 lbs on the bench. You have to work your way up to that. You wouldn’t just try 225 lbs every day until you got it right? You’d do different types of bench like incline, decline, dumbbell, and close grip to try and build your pushing power up. Eventually, you will hit that number.
Train Smart! If you can’t do a skill, stop attempting it and think what progression CAN I do that will help get me there. If you don’t know what progressions to do, check out my handstand and planche program where I go through every single progression I know! I also have a crazy amount of content on my instagram and youtube si check that out as well (links below).
You Got This!
https://www.instagram.com/core_calisthenics/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyNadKip1dMuDWHBYIUti2A
https://corecalisthenics.com/courses/handstand/
https://corecalisthenics.com/courses/planche/
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