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“I’m young, only 21 years old, and I started having all these back problems and I really had to find something to strengthen my whole body all at the same time.”
Meet Michael Allison. He’s a 21 year old dental student from Missouri, USA.
Michael has a very active lifestyle. He regularly trains with powerlifting, bodybuilding 🏋️♂️ and basketball.⛹🏻♂️
But unfortunately, even at a very early age, Michael already experienced lower back pains🤕 that cost him his active lifestyle, and even just daily function and movement..
Thanks to calisthenics and The Movement Athlete, Michael has taken control of his body again and can now move even better than before without the aches and pains!
Read on to know more about his story.⏬
🥺🤕Nagging Pains
“I quit basketball because of all my lower back problems…”
Michael enjoyed playing basketball, but unfortunately, he had to stop because of the back pains flaring up when playing. 👎It got worse to the point that he’s unable to get up from his body to attend his classes because of the pain. 🚶🏻♂️Walking became also impossible as the pain ran through his lower body.
“I used to have days where I didn’t want to get out of bed, now I can’t remember the last time I was regreted just getting up to walk.”
🏋️♂️Weight lifting and Back Pains
The most probable culprit of this debilitating condition is weight lifting. The discipline doesn’t necessarily cause lower back pains. In fact, 🧐research shows that back pains can be prevented and alleviated through resistance training.
However, weight lifting can be more prone to these persistent aches if done correctly. Here are some causes of the pain:
- 🥺 Overtraining – Weights can be underestimated and can put too much pressure to your lower back
- 🥺 Incorrect form – Due to the heavier nature of weights, if form is incorrect, chances of injuries increases
- 🥺 Muscle imbalance – Weight training often implements isolation exercises. This tends people to gravitate to particular body parts that can cause other muscles to lag. When this happens, weakness can occur that manifests through pain.
Good thing Michael got interested in calisthenics thanks to Youtube. Seeing the high level calisthenics athletes 🤸perform handstand push-ups, planche, and levers got him hooked in bodyweight training.
😱Calisthenics to Treat Injuries
Luckily for him, calisthenics is a natural movement that can also fix body dysfunctions that causes the lower back pain.
Because bodyweight training focuses on compound movements, the body is trained as a whole and that’s how the body should move: as one unit.👊
Unlike weight lifting that isolates body parts, calisthenics make use of the whole body even when particular muscle groups are emphasized. Take note of the term, emphasize, not isolated.
🏆This training approach helps develop a holistic and balanced body without the weaknesses that cause the pains. Strength is displayed through a whole range of motion that allows your body to function.
🏆In addition, calisthenics also offers rehabilitative movements for joints and muscle to recover faster.
Michael, even if he was enduring the persistent and debilitating lower back pain, understood that in order to recovery and get his active lifestyle back, full rest was not an option. He went ahead and pursued calisthenics through The Movement Athlete.
🔥Progressive
“…I saw that TMA was progressive. It starts to push ups against the wall, so it starts at any level.”
Because Michael had back pains, he had to start at a beginner level in his training. He loved that The Movement Athlete app offers the most basic to the most advanced bodyweight exercises so he can continue progress no matter where he was in his training journey.
🌟This is the power of progressive calisthenics. Progressions are a set of exercises that build up strength, mobility, muscle endurance, and skill that leads up to higher levels of movement.
Alongside with progressions are other factors that help maintain the progressiveness of calisthenics which you can learn more about here: 📍Progressive Calisthenics
🤜Progressing from any level not only allows an easier way to develop the body, but it also helps rehabilitate the weakness. Each progression gradually increases in intensity and offers different training attributes.
That’s also why in The Movement Athlete app, 🎯exercises are broken down further into the most basic forms and each element is trained well before moving forward to another exercise.
This format makes progress efficient and safe. 💯
Training is Fun Again!🤸🤸
“Your moves change all the time. So it’s always super interesting to see what your body can do and what you can accomplish, and you’re always working towards something new, which is super fun to do.”
The main key to progress is consistency. No matter how hard or effective your training program is, if you aren’t able to sustain it, you won’t make meaningful progress that can last a lifetime.🥇
One secret of The Movement Athlete to maintain consistency for Michael is the variety. Switching up some exercises and keeping the movement dynamic keeps training fun for Michael. Of course, even if there’s variety, these still all lead to the main goal of the CALISTHENICS FUNDAMENTALS.
✨Adaptive Training
Another reason for the consistency is through the app’s ability to auto-regulate. Auto-regulation basically means that the app adjusts the workout based on Michael’s energy levels and performance on his current and previous workout.🌟
This keeps his workout challenging to induce growth and at the same time, not to taxing to the point of over exhaustion.
Let’s be real. If you’re not a paid athlete, sustaining a high level of training with juggling other responsibilities of life seems impossible.🥺
But through auto-regulation, 😎Michael gets just enough training, no matter if he’s feeling down that session, to gradually make progress no matter how small it is.
Doing so also keeps the workout enjoyable and doesn’t feel like a chore. It keeps him training throughout his lifetime without having the problem of burning out too soon.
After training with the app and calisthenics for quite some time, here’s what Michael now enjoys.👇👇
Benefits Michael Now Enjoys Thanks to Training with The
Movement Athlete and Calisthenics
Making meaningful progress
“No matter how strong you are, no matter how weak you are, you can start anywhere and slowly progress and work towards these different moves.”
Thanks to the progressive, adaptive, approach of TMA, no matter where you are in your fitness journey, you can make progress with calisthenics.
This is the case for Michael. Even if he was already a strong athlete, the lower back pain set him back. But even then, he still made progress because the program adapted to his current condition and the exercises suited to his needs.
In addition to being progressive and adaptive, TMA levels up by providing a PERSONALIZED training approach for Michael. This means that the training program he gets from the powerful AI is designed specifically to fit his needs and lifestyle.
Increased core strength
“When they say calisthenics, everything calisthenics works your core. It’s extremely true.”
After training with TMA, what Michael noticed the most is the new-found core strength. A strong trunk (not only the abs) isn’t only for aesthetics or for training performance. It also provides for back pain relief.
Calisthenics has a heavy focus on the core because it helps transfer the strength from your upper body and lower body so you can perform functional movements. If you have a weak core, you will get limited force output on many exercises as well possible back pains, shoulder pains, or lower pains can occur.
Fun & Effective
“Exercising is just fun again. And it really helps strengthen your whole body. Functionally strengthen your whole body just for your day to day life and activities.”
Training isn’t supposed to be a chore. It suppose to motivate you to move and enjoy the process. This is what TMA does. It keeps you looking forward to your training so you can enjoy the training process as well as the training benefits.
Carefree Movement
“I found a way to get back into life where I could go and mess around with all my buddies and not worry about it.”
While lower back pain might seem like just a nuisance, it can be more than that. It can really stop you from doing the simplest of things that you enjoy the most or just even the simplest things that you need to function.
Now that Michael is training with TMA, he no longer worries about the lower back pain that was stopping him from living his life. He also gets to play basketball again!
Convenient Workouts
“…the app interface. I really appreciated that, so I can just do everything through my phone super easy and it’s been very easy to work with throughout this past year and a half or so.”
At a tap on his phone, Michael gets access to an online coach that prepares everything he needs for his training. All he needs to do is to show up and do the work.
Speaking of showing up, he can train anywhere at any time which is just one of many amazing advantage of calisthenics training.
Lifetime Training
“And definitely for any age, I didn’t think I would be having all these problems”
Because calisthenics can suit any skill level, it can also suit any age. The older we get, the more important movement becomes. Time inevitably deteriorates our bodies if not taken care of.
One way to slow down this process is through calisthenics training. Michael is young and has his whole life ahead of him. He has built good habits that will prepare him for a strong and healthy body even in time.
If you’re starting at a later age, don’t worry, calisthenics and The Movement Athlete’s got you.
If you’re interested in more stories and other Movement Athletes who has taken care of their bodies even in their later year, read more here:
📌TAKEAWAY
Like we said, calisthenics is for everyone. Even if you’re injured, a complete beginner, or even an advanced athletes, calisthenics has something to offer so you can become the best version of yourself.
👊Keep enjoying your life. Like Michael, don’t let anything stop you from moving.
Try out our PROGRESSIVE, ADAPTIVE & PERSONALIZE training now!💪
