Advice

We have been receiving many email about how to get started.

It always starts with the basics. Straight reps- pull/chin ups, dips etc. If you're just starting, practice every second day as the rest day really seems to help. Once you feel well conditioned, get creative, start freestyling and then you will be able to just go off of what your body tells you.

Bar Talk at Wingate

Here's some footage Redd and his wife put together. Wingate was the place to be that weekend.

Marines Push Ups

We've posted bodyweight training from a variety of sports and disciplines such as parkour, b-boying, rock climbing, martial arts, gymnastics, body building, park workouts etc. We'll lets not forget about the military! There training consists of mostly bodyweight exercises. In the video the Marines demonstrate what is called a Four Count Push Up.

LittleBeastM

shows us what he's got on the only bar in Rotterdam (a soccer goal). Respect

Links

Links to the Bar-Commission's sites:

HarmlemSEALS have been doing a lot of community work lately. Check out their site here

Calisthenics Kingz has some new info on their site with their newest member Kylie. You can check it out here

Bar-barians Circuit

People have been requesting a routine to follow, so here you go.

Its a circuit. 3 rounds. Each round should be completed in 8 minutes. The exercises can be changed in order to make it easier or harder as long as there is NO rest between exercises.

-Push ups 30 secs
-Pull-ups- max reps
-Hindu push ups- 30 secs
-Chin ups- max reps
-Squats- 30 secs
-Dips- max reps
-Hanging leg raise- 30 secs

This circuit works most of the major muscles. Always do exercises with your best form. Full ROM. It becomes cardio as well as strength and endurance.

Bar-barians The Documentary

Thanks to everyone for being so patient. We want to take our time and produce something special. It is a very sentimental project to us.

The documentary will follow our team and show where we have come and where we are taking this. All camera and editing is done by Rick and all music is by Zef. All of us will be featured in it.



Thanks for Watching!

Requirement Video

Bar-barians Requirements from Antokindness

Bar-Gloves

Many people ask what type of gloves we use for our workouts. It's a Craftsman glove that can be found at Home Depot or most hardware stores. We've found that serves us best.Eventually we will design a Bar-barians glove exclusively for Bar-work.

More Requirement Videos

Bar-barians Requirements

PULL-UPS MUST BE OUTSIDE OF SHOULDER LENGTH,FULL EXTENSIONS(elbows lock'd out) ON EVERY REP &EVERY SET!, NO BRAKE UPS ,STRAIGHT 40-20-50-5, IF YOU STOP IN BETWEEN A SET IT'S VOIDED. MUSCLE-UPS LAST, NO STOMACH SPOTTING ON M-UPS, NO KIPPING, OFFICAL DIPS BARS,STRAIGHT BARS ONLY. I NOT CHANGING THE RULES. EVERYONE WHO'S POSTING ARE DOING IT THE WAY WE DID NOT INTENDED TO BE CARRIED OUT. TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE 10MINS. IN MAY IT'S DROPPING TO 6MINS. MUCH RESPECT FOR TRYING. -ZAKAVELI

From our brother in Germany, George.



SKSON04 has a go at it.



And a second run by our brother Rasclot222

Maximal Strength or Strength Endurance

Which do you prioritize and why. Coach Sommer made an interseting point on this subject on the gymnasticbodies forum:

"Maximal strength is "the peak force developed during a single maximal voluntary contraction". Work capacity is simply a term for attempting to measure the strength endurance being exhibited. The higher one's maximal strength, the greater the potential for demonstrating superior work capacity once the body has adapted to the higher volumes of work output involved. This period of adaptation for increasing work capacity is usually measured in months as opposed to the years required to develop optimum maximal strength.

Maximal strength development should always be the first priority for beginners. As noted above, strength endurance is far easier to develop than maximal strength and its ultimate development will be restricted by the degree of maximal strength which the trainee possesses."

This certainly accords with my experience, have you guys found this to be true?

Injuries

For me they come in bunches. About a month ago I hurt my toe coming down from a handstand in a cramped space, and hitting it on a hard part of the couch. The toe is all better now, but a couple weeks ago I strained an intercostal muscle (one of the muscles on the chest that controls expansion of the rib cage. At first when I injured it I thought I tore my pec, so I rushed to the bathroom to have a look at it in the mirror. I expected to see some nasty sight like this:

Torn Pectoral Muscle


I was relieved to see my ordinay pecs starring back at me. I'm pretty sure I hurt the intercostal because I had been focusing on upper body work due to my toe injury.

For those of us addicted to exercise it is tempting to work around injuries. I think that is fine so long as you don't take the extra time that would have been spent on the injured area and use it to increase focus on the healthy parts. This is not the first time that I doubled my injuries by putting 100% of my focus on a few bodyparts, and I'm guessing others might find the same thing.

How do you guys deal with injury, does it depress you, do you appreciate the break?

World Class Gymnast

with a full time job:



some good training footage, here. Pretty inspirational that he is able to achieve that level of strength even though he doesn't spend all his time in the gym.

Thanks to Coach of gymnasticsbodies for the link

More Requirements Videos

Looks like people can't get enough of the requirements work-out. It is brutal, that's for sure.

Here's Bandanna Redd with another sprint through the exercises:


and Neal Holmes with an improved second try:


Two very hardcore trainers!

Bondi Beach

Recently Marcus posted some new clips from the outdoor gym at Bondi Beach in Australia.

Marcus with 5 one armed chins


Jaz with 27 very good muscle-ups:


I think it's warm there pretty much all year, I hear the climate is similar to So-Cal. Ofcourse it is also summer there too. I'm pretty jealous.