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Prior to the pandemic, many were able to improve strength by going to the gym, but when the lock hit, maintaining or even further improving their strength became a challenge because of the forced closure of facilities.😱
But this wasn’t a problem for Mabs Khan, a 41-year-old IT consultant from Northern England.
Mabs was able to get stronger💪 and improve his mobility and flexibility while learning amazing, gravity-defying calisthenics skills in the comforts of his own home!
Even with gyms now opened, Mabs continued training with The Movement Athlete app further to improve his skills, performance, and everyday movement.🙌
Here’s his story. 👇
Lockdown problem: 😤Where and How to train?!
“…and then we had the lockdown. During the lockdown, I was trying to find ways of improving my strengths and kind of maintaining my strengths and started looking into things I could do at home that would help improve my strength and skills.”
Before the pandemic, Mabs had already been athletic, He also trained in the gym with regular weightlifting🏋️♂️ along with friends to improve his strength and physique.
He has definitely gotten much stronger since he started. We can’t deny the benefits of lifting weights.
However, as everybody else experienced, gyms closed down due to the lockdown of 2020. This forced him to find alternatives for his straining to improve his strength further.
He started learning moves he had seen on the internet, but this only led to frustration. Most exercises provide unclear progressions of any kind. In many cases, it was quite difficult to progress in strength skills.
🔥Setting a direction and goals
“I needed a program that would allow me to kind of work towards a goal step by step without getting stuck at certain places along the path to certain goals.”
Mabs was pretty clear with the direction of his training. The problem is that he didn’t have sufficient tools and knowledge to progress toward his goals.
It was clear to him that he needed guidance in making consistent progress.
This led to him scouring the internet to find a training program that would allow him to reach his goals while in the comforts of his own home.
🎯Goal-setting is crucial for progress in fitness and other aspects of life. In fact, an experiment conducted in 2009 found that individuals following a structured program with clearly set goals have a higher enjoyment, perceived choice, and adherence to the workout structure compared to individuals lacking set goals.
Mabs already has an advantage if his training program also has these clear goals.
🔥Trial run
“I did start off with the free trial, which kind of just helped reinforce the view that this app was going to help me, and given the opportunity to try it out before deciding to commit any further.”
He eventually found out about The Movement Athlete app.
Everything looks great on the website, but he’s not yet fully committed.
Luckily for him, the app offers a FULL ACCESS 7-day free trial period that lets him decide whether he wants to push through with the program.
If you also want to try out the personalized, adaptive calisthenics program, check out the link below:
📍 7-DAY FULL ACCESS FREE TRIAL FOR THE MOVEMENT ATHLETE APP
After trying it out, he didn’t look back.
🔥Personalised training with direction
“The fact that TMA has that kind of roadmap towards certain goals, you can choose which moves you want to work towards.”
A 2019 study shows that many fitness and health apps lack a solid goal-setting function. And as we’ve mentioned earlier in a separate study, goal-setting can improve your training experience and outcome.
In the TMA app, certain goals are mandatory, such as performing these calisthenics fundamentals:
- 👊 Push-ups
- 👊 Pull-ups
- 👊 Dips
- 👊 Squats
- 👊 Basic wall handstand
- 👊 & Core work
Mastering these foundations will enable Mabs to build a solid foundation for the future goals he wants to work on next.
🔥Tailored Programming
“You can develop a tailored plan for yourself that will kind of help you with the mobility and the strength and the transition moves, moves that are simpler versions of the move that you want to move towards.”
When working with the app, Mabs can choose his training schedule, training duration, equipment used, and specific goals for the training.
In addition, his workout is adjusted to his current skill level.
Following a 📍cookie-cutter workout or one-size-fits-all workout is an outdated approach. This can lead to either injuries or stagnation.
Not all beginners start at the same point. Likewise, not all intermediates and advanced athletes can perform the same exercises.
💪This is when personalization comes in to fill in the gaps we need to work on and need progress. By taking an assessment prior to working out, Mabs gets a workout that is challenging enough but not too much to minimize the risk of hurting himself.
Progressions and Road Map
We developed The Movement Athlete app to have a clear set path for users to view their progress and see where they are headed in their training.
This is thanks to the exercise progressions. 📍Progression is a set of exercises designed to help you build the requirements to execute your desired skill/exercise fully.
Aside from that, we’ve also provided the road map for each exercise, so you’ll know what you’re getting into.
🔥Gamified tracking
“And you can kind of keep track of your progress towards those moves, which is really good. And you can kind of just jump in and work on certain areas.”
These progressions and roadmap are integrated into your training profile. 💯
🌟The app provides a user-friendly interface that keeps your progress easy to track. Tracking progress can get overwhelming since you’re already working out.
In the app, you just have to do the work, and the app does the tracking for you and presents it in fun, digestible information.
You get to see your progress in the paper while also enjoying the progress in real life through your improved functional strength.
Mabs enjoys this feature of the app, which is also why he keeps on using the app even if gyms are now open again. He integrated the TMA app training approach into his weightlifting journey.
🔥Adaptive training
On top of the progressive and personalized approach to calisthenics, we took this to the next level by providing an adaptive layer in the app.
📍Autoregulation is the principle that we apply. To keep it short, autoregulation simply means adapting the program based on how you feel, your energy levels that day, and your workout performance in previous sessions.
Let’s be realistic. You can’t always give 101% of effort and energy to your workout. Fitness is just one aspect of our lives, and there are other responsibilities that also take up our time and physical, emotional, and mental energy.
Mabs’ workout also adjusts based on these factors to keep his workout challenging enough and sustainable in the long run.
✊Giving everything to your workout can be draining in the long run. Unless it’s part of your livelihood, we sometimes need to take a small step back to keep things enjoyable and sustainable.
🔥Targeting Weaknesses
“For example, mobility, if you feel that needed to focus on a particular area of your mobility, you can just set up jump into the app and create a short, tailored program for half an hour to focus on certain maybe deficiencies or things that you want to improve on.”
Because the program is tailored to Mabs, he can easily adjust areas he wants to improve on. 🏆
Most of us work in front of the computer for hours. Sustaining a sitting position for extended hours can harm our bodies, affect our mobility, or, even worse, cause aches and pains.
But thanks to The Movement Athlete app’s adjustable program, he can directly address this issue and improve his mobility.
Read more here: 📍How to Treat Injuries with Calisthenics
🔥Online Coaching
“And there are some useful kinds of cues and tips along with those, which, again, help you kind of ensure that you’re performing the moves correctly.”
Mabs gets guidance from exceptional exercise tutorials, descriptions, and instructions. It’s like he’s training with a personal coach.
There is 📍no perfect technique for every individual. The form that fits your individual anthropometry might not suit the next person.
However, we should still have a general guide on each exercise to optimize gains and minimize risks of injuries.
🔥Continuously improving
“And I’ve kind of noticed the app has been continually improved from when I started using it. There have been various kinds of tweaks and improvements based on end-user feedback.”
While Mabs is getting stronger, more mobile, and improving his bodyweight mastery, The Movement Athlete app also improves with him.
We listen to the users because you guys are the priority. By consistently gathering user feedback, we’re able to adapt the app based on your needs so we can help you better in achieving your goals.
Your fitness journey comes along with our journey of further improving The Movement Athlete app.
Benefits Mabs experienced after training with The Movement Athlete & Calisthenics
Better movement
“So in terms of how it’s helped me, I think it’s helped me become more mobile in my day-to-day life”
While working out with calisthenics provides phenomenal strength gains for performance, calisthenics also translates to more efficient everyday movements.
Mabs can move better because of his newfound mobility or a wider range of motion.
Mobility and flexibility are sometimes used interchangeably. However, they are quite different. Mobility means actively moving through a range of motion with control. Flexibility refers to passively holding an end range with the assistance of gravity, pulling with your arm, or pushing with weights.
Mobility helps express your strength better because you can control your muscles in a larger range. This means efficient movement, fewer injuries, and no more aches and pains.
“So since I’ve started training through the Movement Athlete app, I think I’ve definitely become more flexible, and it does help my mobility.”
Read more here: What does it mean to be strong in the real world?
Fewer injuries
“And it also helps with any weight training work that I do because it means that my flexibility and mobility are improved, and I’m less likely to hurt myself when training. Whether it is weight training or bodyweight training, whichever it is, I think I’m in a much better position and more flexible and mobile.”
Let’s touch up on mobility and flexibility and one of its benefits: fewer injuries.
A recent 2021 study shows that flexibility can predict injuries well. If you’re not flexible or mobile enough (especially when performing movements that require a certain degree of flexibility or mobility), the chances of injuries can increase.
Since Mabs has recently improved these components thanks to calisthenics, he’s confident that he won’t get injured anytime soon as long as he trains smartly.
Read more here: How to Avoid Injury When Training with Calisthenics
Progressively getting stronger than ever!
“But using this program, I’ve really improved myself. To achieve things that I wouldn’t have thought possible. So, for example, I’ve learned to do the L-sit and can do a partial V-sit. I’ve also been doing some support-hold on rings and also working on improving my pull-ups so that I could work towards doing a muscle up. So again, I’ve been working on a number of things concurrently, and I feel like I’m making real progress, so I’m very thankful for the app, and I think it’s really helped me.”
Mabs didn’t only see his progress in the app. It manifested through his new strengths and skills that previously felt impossible in real life.
Because of the progressive, adaptive, and personalized approaches, Mab’s workouts are efficient in building strength, mobility, and coordination toward his goal movements.
📌Takeaway
Due to the unfortunate lockdown, Mabs was forced to find an alternative to his regular gym workouts.
🏆But he found it was even better and further improved his fitness journey for the long term. Now, he’s much stronger, more mobile, less susceptible to injuries, and has achieved skills with his developed bodyweight mastery.
What Mabs wants to share with you👊
“So, in terms of recommending the program or the app to other people, I’d say it’s really helped me improve. I feel like I am moving towards goals that would otherwise have been out of reach without a dedicated personal trainer.”
With The Movement Athlete app, Mabs has basically an online trainer with a tap on his mobile device.
☝️All he has to do is show up and do the work. There is no need to plan, set up the program, or manually study each exercise and exercise progressions.
“I should also add that I feel like the people behind the Movement Athlete are keen to improve the app, and any feedback I’ve given them has been well received.”
As we’ve mentioned earlier, as you guys improve, we also strive to improve the app and our services to make your training journey fun, exciting, effective, safe, and sustainable.
“They really want to help improve the app and make everyone’s experience much better with the app. So any feedback you have, they will kind of really take it in. And I feel like they’ll kind of feedback to you to say that they’ve improved things if you have any kind of comments or improvements that you suggest. The app will only get better and can help pretty much anyone on the road to achieving amazing results and performing these amazing moves.”
Mabs isn’t the only one enjoying the benefits of training with the TMA app. Here are other Movement Athletes’ journeys.
Read more here: 📍The Movement Athlete – Success Stories
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