Join the tribe of Movement & Calisthenics Athletes – people just like you that are working with their own body weight to get strength, lose fat build muscle, recover from injuries and live their best lives!

Add that he has been training with weights for 16 years and started also teaching yoga. At first, it seems like his weightlifting training helps in taking care of his body. Soon, Edward felt its drawbacks that heavily affected both of his work.

• Edward has been experiencing injuries, regular lower back pains and a limited range of motion because of immobility.
  

• He feels tired and too exhausted for his work after his weight lifting sessions.

• He finds it inconvenient developing his own workout program when he has so many responsibilities already.

Edward decided that this isn’t the approach he wanted for his fitness journey. Calisthenics is the answer since it allows him to feel a sense of personal achievement when learning a skill. The next question was what program should he follow.

After some incompatible tries with other apps, a friend of his recommended The Movement Athlete Academy. That’s when he changed his life.  

Now, Edward is really taking care of his body even with the everyday stress he faces with his physical workload. He said goodbye to his body pains and can now move freely as he wishes. He still gets stronger and even prepares his joints in the long run. All of these at the comforts of a tap on his mobile phone.

Here’s Edward’s story:

👉👉Weightlifting doesn’t help with work

“Because I’ve been teaching yoga for 18 months now. I’ve found after a year of teaching yoga that sometimes it was just too hard after doing a big weight session.”

Edward has a pretty good experience with yoga. He would also like to build muscle for aesthetics purposes and of course, muscle allows for strength growth. As said earlier, he has been training with weights for 16 years. That has stopped now. Why? Because of the conflict weight lifting brings to his work.

Aside from working at an oil rig (Which is already very physically and mentally exhaustive), he works also as a yoga teacher. A heavy weight lifting session doesn’t go well for his body when he needs to teach yoga because he’s already too tired from the former exercise.

If you want to maximize your gains in the gym, you really need to push it hard. Unfortunately, this leaves your body too tired for any other physical activity. Not to mention you’ll already feel DOMS (Delayed On-set Muscle Soreness) which will make your muscles ache for a day or two. With DOMS, I doubt that you can even properly stretch out your arms.

Imagine you need to carry something heavy for work, but your arms hurt like their going to fall out of their sockets with just a tad pressure applied to them. The pain Edward experienced troubled him in his yoga classes and in the oil rig. 

“With yoga, I found because I like to go to the gym as well, like to build muscles, but I found just lifting weights was making me [stiff and immobile] and I couldn’t teach yoga as effectively as I could before.”

His trouble with weightlifting goes beyond the muscle pain from training. He also experienced immobility and stiffness. This has a huge impact on his yoga since the practice requires you to have mobility. Edward lost his freedom to move.

Edward’s immobility can be attributed to his weight lifting. To be fair, weight lifting does not worsen your mobility. It actually improves it! So should Edward blame for his situation? It’s still weightlifting.

Improper form with weight lifting generates these stiff joints and muscles. ( 5 Easy ways to start mobility training ) The risk is always there. Even if you’re 100% sure you’re doing the exercises right, you really can’t tell because all of a sudden, the pain will hit you like a truck.

A better approach to fitness is the remedy that Edward found.

❌Regular visits of pain

“It was hard to stand up and straighten up. It felt like my hips were trying to pull my upper body forward. Whereas I think that probably came a lot from just having a weak lower back and spinal muscles. I believe I felt a lot of pain. Actually, how it felt, it felt like I was cramping, well not cramping. There was a knot in my lower belly stopping me from standing up straight.”
Aside from already horrible pain, Edward is going through, he’s lower back is also aching that keeps him from standing straight. Ouch!

Training with weights, especially if you’re the one making your own workout program, is prone to muscle imbalances. There could be lagging muscles that aren’t trained that much or not at all. The lower back and spinal muscles (also the legs) are the common victims of this issue.

When you have lagging lower back muscles, they have a hard time supporting your developing body because of your weight lifting training. They can’t keep up with the muscles you build because they aren’t being trained as well.

❌You have to make your own workout

“Some people like to make up their own. I mean, in my eight or nine years that I’ve been down to the gym, I’ve done that a few times myself in the years…”
The lagging muscles mentioned above is a product of the “make-your-own” workout format that is usually encountered in the gym. There’s nothing totally wrong with this format as long as you are well-researched and informed on how to build your own.

Unfortunately, Edward experienced its drawbacks. Also, the stress of having to think of your workout program could be a nuisance. It’s a lot more convenient and stress-free if you’re just going to follow a program and execute its instructions.

🔎🔎Strive for personal achievement

“The same as for the handstands, a lot of people can do it, but it’s a personal achievement. Not so much competing with anyone else, but knowing that I’ve done something to help my body to be able to do something that it couldn’t do before.”
Aside from the issues of pain, immobility, inconvenience that Edward wants to resolve, he also wants to achieve more in his fitness journey. He wants to reach new heights in his journey and discover new skills that his body couldn’t do before. So he decided that calisthenics is the best approach for his journey.

From free trial to 1 year 🔐

“I was looking for a bodyweight app. One of my other mates had tried it from the free trial. So I got onto it and then I really liked it. So I paid for the year membership. I love it. I found results real quick too.”

Edward asked for a recommendation from a friend. Fortunately, he was referred to none other than The Movement Athlete Academy.

He got into the 7-day free trial period and when straight to a year membership access. He finally has gotten the results he was looking for.

Free to move. Free from pain. Getting stronger, more mobile, and healthier in a stress-free and care-free approach.

WEIGHTLIFTING🏋️‍♀️ VS CALISTHENICS 🤸‍♀️

“Whereas with body weight, there’s less injury I’ve noticed than lifting heavyweight. The definition I’m getting, I’m not getting as much size, but the size isn’t as important as mobility for myself.”

Edward now enjoys the lower risks of injuries. With calisthenics, you’re only dealing with your bodyweight and maneuvering your body in the given space and accessible equipment in order to change the difficulty of the exercises. 

Where is weight lifting, you’re dealing with loads that could be higher than your bodyweight. Other than with the obvious risks of getting slammed by a barbell or dumbbell that’s too heavy for you, heavier weights bring risks of breaking form.

And as we said earlier ( 5 Easy ways to start mobility training ), breaking form with weights delivers you to the world of immobility and the house of pain.

On another note, calisthenics does not deliver the immediate size you can gain from weightlifting but it offers you mobility. 

“A huge difference in mobility.”

The mobility you can from calisthenics translates very well to yoga and even outside the fitness realm. Mobility offers you freedom from joint paints due to limitations and restrictions in your movement. 

When you’re mobile, you can move freely without a care in the world. What’s also important is that it helps you maintain your youth in your movement as you battle the inevitable effects of age.

Another thing that needed to be mentioned, you can build size through calisthenics. Yes, it might take time because progressions aren’t necessarily leaner compared to the traditional weightlifting method, but you can still get there. You can build size while also maintaining your mobility. It would only depend on your goal and setting it in your The Movement Athlete app.

“..I’ve also found a lot more power, squatting, doing squats, might do three sets of 30 as opposed to doing three sets of 10 with weights. But I found my legs got better definition and they feel stronger. My knees don’t hurt as much.”

As Edward said, he already feels stronger and sees a better definition with the training he has done with bodyweight. Research backs up that high volume training can build muscle. And even though Edward doesn’t necessarily build strength with this progression, he builds endurance so he can use power from his legs at longer periods of time.

💡Other aspects of fitness

“I think it’s also the number of reps you put in there, like I said, for your squats, it’s just bodyweight, but you’re aiming towards getting three sets of 30 so you’re not just doing a set of 10. Your muscles are getting more used to the endurance. So you’ve got your strength and then you’ve got your endurance. So your muscles are working more towards an endurance type strength. By doing three sets of 30, not just three sets of 10. That obviously will give you a little bit more energy, a bit more ‘go’ to be able to deal with working longer and harder.”

Speaking of endurance, Edward noticed this change! Through high rep range and medium intensity workout, he improved his ability to use the muscles longer. As your legs adapt to the endurance training, it moves to the next strength training with a harder progression for squats.

The Movement Athlete Academy trains each attribute so you can develop an overall well-balanced body. 

Strength is just one aspect of fitness. Each other attribute is equally important as the others. 

“One’s strength. The other one is a balance. I’m getting there with my handstand.”

There’s also balance which is not necessarily just for your handstand balance. When training with calisthenics through The Movement Athlete Academy, you’ll get to train also your balance throughout your body.

Balance is important for regular movements in your everyday life as well as in skills development.

📌Skills development

“I started to kind of do the bodyweight training, and to be able to do a handstand. So I originally started with the handstand challenge that you guys had just before Christmas last year.”

Edward has mentioned earlier that he’s motivation to train with calisthenics rooted from the personal achievement he can acquire with he has learned a skill.

The skill development doesn’t only look impressive to show your good physical form, it also provides a deeper sense of accomplishment when finally mastering the move. It helps you hungry for more.

👊Rock-solid complete core

“My abdominals and my trunk getting a lot stronger through the exercises you guys teach, rather than just Pilates. Like I’ve got a fairly strong core already, but that just made it a little bit more intense.”

Speaking of skills, calisthenics skills require a very solid complete core. That’s why, like what Edward experienced, you’ll get to train your front, back and side core.

Yes, front and back. The core doesn’t only include the well-coveted abdominal muscles. Edward said,

“Mostly little muscles in my back that I never thought I had.”

He experienced solidifying his complete core which is essential in having a strong body inside and outside the calisthenics world. Plus, you’ll say good-bye to your lower back pains with your strong core!

✅ Wide variation for development and fun

“The broad spectrum of exercises you have. You know, you’re not just doing pushups or squats, you’re also doing a handstand, shoulder stand, back workout. You’re pretty much targeting like your shoulder mobility as well. That’s a big one. Yeah, it’s not just going in. Okay, so here’s your program. We’re going to do chest, shoulders, and tris today and tomorrow you’re going to do legs, back, and thighs. You guys have covered pretty much all your body and there’s some cool stuff in there. You know, it really is. I mean I enjoy trying to do a handstand as well as trying to get into the pull-ups.“

And the solid core he gained can be attributed to the well-designed progressions he had from The Movement Athlete app. 

There are so many calisthenics exercises that haven’t been utilized people around the world. These exercises target different muscles and cover many attributes. These progressions allow you to move forward in your fitness journey safely and surely.

💯 Care-free and stress-free workout

“…but I like The Movement Athlete because I don’t have to think. I can go and do my workout.”

It’s worth emphasizing that the exercises and progressions aren’t just laid out for you to choose from. With The Movement Athlete Academy, your progressions are already designed for the goal you have been aiming for. There’s no need to worry and stress about your workout because all you have to do is follow. 

As Edward said,

“…with you guys, you say, ‘We know what you want, you’ve shown us you can do this, this and this. Cool. We’re going to give you all these exercises and once you’ve done that you’ll unlock more and you’ll get more.’ So you don’t rush in and hurt yourself.”