Welcome to Danube Calisthenics, my name is Achim I am a calisthenics athlete and...
...my goal is to make you better in the sport.
In todays video I want to talk about the maybe most common mistake that is made...
...when it comes to training Calisthenics skills or statics.
So if you have probelms with your own progress then watch this video till the end.
I think I might have some helpful information for you.
"Skill Training" is not a well confined term...
...but when I talk about it in this video then I mean training for statics or mainly strength moves.
It will not concern training for dynamics but training for moves that require more strength than technique.
I will explain to you what that mistake is and why it can stop you from making progress.
The reason why many people get stuck on a skill or don't achieve their goals is...
...that they train not specific enough.
But what does that mean?
Your body always needs a specific stimulus in order to adapt to a specific thing.
That's also nothing new to science.
If you want to know more about that then check out my video about missing progress (link in the describtion)
Often the problem doesn't lay in doing the wrong exercises or training the wrong muscles.
The problem is very often that people make not enough attempts of a certain exercise.
In order to explain what I exactly mean I will show you an example of a person training for a frontlever.
This is only an example and what I will explain to you hear also applies for almost every other exercise.
(Like for example the exercises shown here and many others as well)
If I want to learn a frontlever I could do a lot of different exercises in order to prepare my body.
I could for example do pullups in order to increase my pulling strength
Or planks in order to get a stronger core.
I could also go for tucked or one leg tucked frontlever holds.
Frontlever Raises and Icecreammakers would also be a good option.
This are all exercises that make sense and can be pretty helpful. I would recomend you to also do some of them.
But all these exercise have one disadvantage...
...they are not the exercise you want to learn and they are also not even an easier version...
...but just something different.
Only the Icecreammakers or the Raises will give your body a stimulus thats's similar...
...to when doing an actual frontlever
But only if you do it with trying to hold it in the horizontal position or with trying to sink down as slow as possible.
As we heard before it is really important to give your body a stimulus that is very specific...
...in order to reach a specific goal.
That means that you should do exercises that come very very close to the final movement. (so attempts)
And exactly here is the problem and the mistake that a lot of people make:
Even though they would be strong enough to make clean attempts of a certain exercise...
...they still keep doing only easier progressions, which are not bad.
But these exercises take away the fresh energy which could be used for attempts.
Because of that they don't set a stimulus that's specific enough to break their own limits...
...and can't make good progress.
Once you built up the basic strength which is necessary to do good attempts of the exercise you want to learn...
...then you should be mainly doing that...
...as often as you can. So as often as your regeneration and your time management allows it.
By repeating an exercise again and again and if I always train that exercise with fresh energy...
...then I'll allow my body to adapt to it in the most efficient way.
Your body has only limited resources of energy...
and you won't be able to do an unlimited amount of exercises and attempts each training.
Therefore it's important that you do the exercises which have priority for you in the beginning of your workout.
So if you want to learn a frontlever and if you are already able to make good attempts  with holding shortly...
...or with sinking down as slow as possible...
...then it would not make much sense to do tucked frontlevers before...
...because they will take the fresh energy  away.
Otherwise your body wouldn't be able to adapt in a perfect way.
For a better understanding I will now give you some more examples:
If you want to learn a onearm pullup and if you are already able to go up a little...
...then it would not be very smart to waste your energy with normal pullups before making attempts.
If you want to learn a flag and if you can already go down slowly and controlled while tryning to hold it...
...then it would also be more effective to do that instead of just doing other abs or shoulder exercises.
If you want to learn a backlever and you can go down very slowly and don't have much missing to stand still...
...then it would also not be that effective to do nothing else than tucked holds.
It's the same with the planche: if you are strong enough to make some decent attempts...
...then you will get to a point where normal tucked planches won't help that much anymore.
I think you understood what I mean. It's the same with almost any other static or strength exercise:
Once you reached a certain level it is really important and also just logical that you should be doing...
...high quality attempts of the exercises you want to learn and to stay concentrated meanwhile...
...as long as you have the energy to do that.
Please don't get me wrong: pre exercises, easier exercises or variations are nothing bad.
They are very important in many cases.
Especially if you don't have any basic strength yet.
I would never try a double frontflip if I wouldn't be able to easily do a regular one before.
And it can also be dangerous and you can injure yourself if you go for hard exercises without any basic strength.
Apart from that it's generally important to have a good variation of exercises and repetitions in your workouts.
In this way you will be able to maintain a well balanced body.
But variations and easier versions of the exercises you want to learn can become useless...
...if they stop you from going for the actual exercise...
...and if they take away the fresh energy from you that could be used for good attempts.
You can do everything else afterwards anyways...
...and it's also important to repeat exercises that you are already able to do...
...because that will help you to gain more strength for harder exercises you mayb be able to learn in the future.
But you should still set the right priorities.
So what do we learn from this?
It is important to set the right and most realistic stimuli if you want to learn a certain exercise.
In this way your body will adapt more efficient and you will progress faster.
On some days of training it can also make sense to not just go for hard attempts...
...especially if they cost you a lot of strength and you may only want to go for a light workout...
...on some days where you haven't fully regenerated before.
But you still won't be able to not do any attempts if you want to make the best progress.
The most people I know do not enough attempts of the exercises they want to learn.
For example if you want to learn a one arm pullup without even being able to hang from one hand...
...then it's clear that it will be important to build up some basic strength with other exercises.
It's the same with all other exercises.
But if you are already able to pull yourself up a little then you should also do that.
Don't wait for that if it's not necessary.
So always try out if you are already strong enough to make attempts of a certain exercise when training.
Even though you may not think that you will be able to do it.
If you can do that then follow the advice I just gave you...
...and if not then just be patient.
Don't hope for any miracles.
Even though you may get a boost because you start to train in a more efficient way...
...this still doesn't mean that it won't take you a lot of effort.
It will still take you some patience and consistency.
So keep training for the exercises you want to learn over a longer period of time if you really want to learn it.
I hope that you will make better progress with the advice I just gave you.
I wish you all the best for the implementation.
If you have questions or wishes for other video topics then write them in the comments.
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Also make sure to check the other videos on this channel if you want to learn more about calisthenics.
You can also check my website for that (www.danubecalisthenics.com)
That's it, thank you for watching and good luck! See you in the next video!
