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!
“I’m 37. I’d say, professional athlete. I own my own gym, as well.”
Meet Ross, a master of Jiu-Jitsu and a gym owner. Given his occupation, you’ll know that he’s very physically active and conditioned.
Jiu-Jitsu, like most martial arts, is very taxing physically and mentally. It requires good strength for grappling and body control for his defensive maneuvers.
In order to stay strong, Ross relied on weight lifting alongside Jiu-Jitsu. That’s when his problems started.
When he starts his training session with weight lifting, his Jiu-Jitsu performance suffers, too much. He ends up being too sore to move. He can’t just brush it off or postpone his training because his martial arts skill training is still vital.
So he looked in other alternatives to gain strength that’s friendly to his joints than weightlifting. He found about calisthenics and accidentally stumbled upon The Movement Athlete Academy. His fitness journey drastically changed for the good.
He thought a few of the moves involved in calisthenics looked really impressive. He thought,
“If you can do a one-arm pushup, you have true strength, real strength, functional strength, as opposed to “gym strength.”
Ross finds that he’s feeling a lot stronger and that he’s recovering much faster for his Jiu-Jitsu sessions. He’s gained about 10 pounds of muscle.
He feels like he can trust the app – he just turns it on and follows the moves.
Here’s Ross’ journey with The Movement Athlete.
As a professional athlete, Ross needs to be in peak form all the time. He needs to keep getting stronger and better. He first started his strengthening and conditioning workouts with weight lifting.
Too sore, too tiring, too much
“Before, doing weights, I felt like my ability to do that plus my jiu-jitsu would be comprised because I would be too sore, or my performance for one or the other would start to suffer.”
Weightlifting is a very taxing form of exercise. This exceptionally holds true if you’re interested in getting stronger. Strength training with weights needs heavy weights to be efficient. This puts a lot of stress in your muscles, joints, and nervous system.
Nothing much wrong about that if your aim is purely to get stronger in weightlifting, but in Ross’ situation, that’s not the case.
Ross, as a Jiu-Jitsu master, needs to train regularly for his skills while also improving his strength. In his experience, weight lifting puts too much stress on his body that his skill training suffers. He needs to only choose one when he trains, weightlifting or Jiu-Jitsu, but that wouldn’t be optimal for his goals and sure ain’t going to be that much fun for him.
This would also be the case if you’re interested in other exercises, too, not only Jiu-Jitsu.
Weight lifting, as said earlier, exerts much stress on your body. If you’re planning to train weights and another sport or exercise for a single day, expect to suffer in performance in one or both exercise.
It’s also going to be difficult to alternate weightlifting and another activity because of Delayed On-set Muscle Sores or DOMS that you’ll be experiencing from lifting weights.
DOMS is the temporary muscle aches and stiffness you’ll feel the next day after a session with weights. This could last from 2 to 3 days.
So instead of training your skills or sport the next day after lifting weights, you’ll probably be lying in bed, in pain, and thinking what could you have done better.
Ross, on the other hand, found an alternative that enables him to condition and strengthen his body, while providing ample recovery for his body so that he can still train Jiu-Jitsu!
“It’s just kind of an eye-opener when you think, ‘There’s true strength.”
Ross went on a quest in the vast world of Youtube and looked for another approach to train that would compliment his Jiu-Jitsu sessions.
He saw videos of calisthenics athletes performing advanced calisthenics skills. That’s when he realized a new perception of strength.
“That, to me, was literal strength, so that was kind of the switch. I just don’t see a lot of people doing any of those movements, or a planche, so that kind of opened my mind to maybe what functional strength is over just, say, gym strength.”
It’s no longer answering the question of how much you bench. It’s about how much can you control your body in space.
A stroke of serendipity
When Ross was looking for random calisthenics videos, he stumbled upon The Movement Athlete Academy.
He thought it looked good and gave it a chance. And that instance became one of the most important decisions he made in his fitness journey.
The switch from weight lifting to calisthenics with The Movement Athlete Academy
“Great recovery”
“I actually find that I can train my strength and conditioning more. Usually, what I do is I set the workout to a 45-minute duration, and I feel like it’s very challenging but, at the same time, I’m not spent, so my ability to just make the conditioning is actually more, plus my jiu-jitsu training.
It’s like a match made in heaven for Ross when he combined Jiu-Jitsu and calisthenics in his training.
He solved his major issue with weightlifting. Gone are the days of soreness and downfall of his martial arts training performance. Calisthenics provided enough challenge to his body to get stronger and better.
With the app, the stimulus is just enough so that he won’t feel too sore after his strengthening and conditioning phase.
“Strong in the real world”
“My overall feeling of strength is actually higher, even though, if I was probably to go back to the gym, yeah, maybe I can’t bench press as much anymore but, in my actual grappling, I just feel stronger and my performance has gone up.”
Ross experienced a very applicable strength benefit. This is thanks to calisthenics’ training approach. It’s still a type of resistance training that makes use of your bodyweight. So The Movement Athlete Academy app manipulates other factors in order for you to get stronger even if you think you’ve already mastered your bodyweight.
There’s always room for growth when training with calisthenics.
Ross’ grappling became so much stronger even though his bench press numbers went down. Ross’ strength now isn’t only contained inside the room full of iron and ego lifting. He’s now stronger where strength truly matters.
His performance in Jiu-Jitsu also improve not only because he got stronger, but he also got better body control thanks to calisthenics. Martial arts rely, of course, heavily on the use of our bodies so body control is such an important aspect of the sport.
Where did he get his program? From The Movement Athlete Academy, of course!
“It’s very easy to use.“
“I think The Movement Athlete is compelling because, visually, it looks good, but it’s also easy to use. I don’t see it as something difficult to use.”
When Ross was starting out with calisthenics, he tried creating his program on his own. He found it difficult and there were too many conflicting ideas. He’s also just a beginner with calisthenics so he wasn’t able to verify the best program for him.
When he found out about The Movement Athlete app, it was smooth sailing from there.
Aside from being visually appealing (It’s a lot better if it’s easy on the eyes, right?), the app is very user-friendly.
You don’t have to be a techie to understand and maneuver through the app. Instructions are very clear and short. There are clear, high definition videos, too. Nothing complicated for your usage.
“Say, an actual workout program such as Movement Athlete, where I don’t need high-quality video to see the movement. I can click the movement, it’s broken down and it’ll only be a ten-second video. That’s more than enough, but the actual programming is there in front of you. You can put how well you did. There’s a sense of reward, as well, or that sense of, maybe, failure, where you want to be determined to try harder.”
“I love the fact that it is an app.”
“I’d say that has been the downfall of other programs, where you have to log onto your computer or your browser. Some of those were not really mobile-friendly, either, so it is convenient to just bring your phone with you. I do see it as a course because the progression … you can see what your potential to unlock is, and the only way to get there is by moving forward.”
Contrary to other programs online or other “apps”, The Movement Athlete is actually an app. It’s not just a compilation of random exercises and pre-made workout programs that gets you nowhere.
Other online courses, you would have to use your computer and sometimes there isn’t a mobile version. That’s not so handy.
With The Movement Athlete app, you have easy access to your course at a tap of your finger. Your workout program made simple yet still very effective.
Ross thinks it also great that in the app format, it’s less intimidating for accommodating for beginners. He says,
“I always try to look at that just because, for example, I run boot camp classes. If there’s some guy there and he’s killing it, and someone’s like “Oh, shit, I can’t do that,” I think the likelihood of the others coming back is actually deterred.”
With your workout program and coach in your app, you can workout without having getting anxious about your environment.
“The Movement Athlete adapts to you.”
“I like the fact that I can be honest and say, ‘Okay, that was actually very hard,’ rather than it trying to progress me too quickly. So, I actually find what they do, as well, is they’ll lower reps, which is actually smart because, then, my ability to downplay is there.”
Talking about effectiveness, the app can deliver because of its ability to adapt to you. Like in Ross’ case, you just have to be honest in your training.
Your progress would depend solely on you. The app adjusts to your current situation and needs.
Everybody is unique and different. Everybody’s ability to grow, recovery period, learning capacity and current skill level is different, too. The app doesn’t disregard this fact and creates a program that best fit only you.
The app doesn’t randomly impose when you need to progress. Not it does view your progress and growth as linear, which it totally isn’t, by the way.
Each day, you feel different and your schedule is different. The Movement Athlete also takes this into consideration so each workout will adapt to your current situation.
Making a strict schedule for your workout is ideal, but let’s be realistic. We can’t religiously stick to a strict workout schedule and deliver consistent results. There are days that you might be too busy or too tired. This will result in poor performance or you just skipping the workout. Then sooner or later you’ll just quit altogether.
Training with The Movement Athlete will get you to stick to your training religiously at your own pace and comfortability. This way, like Ross, you get to train consistently and reap the benefits of calisthenics.
Plus, there isn’t an intimidating hulk-physique “motivational” coach, showing off how the exercises and reps are should be done.
“It’s actually pretty rewarding.”
“I wanted to be able to walk on my hands and do handstands. I’ve messed around with that before. It actually only took me two weeks to, probably, walk ten feet on my hands. Prior to that, I was able to stand up for a second. So, that was kind of like ‘Oh, shit, this actually works quite well’”.
Because of the consistent training through The Movement Athlete Academy, Ross was able to achieve a skill he has been wanting to do in just 2 weeks! That’s quite fast when learning a complex skill such as walking handstands.
This is thanks to the excellent list of progressions, video-progressions, and programming in the app.
“Mobility are gains, too.”
“Yeah. Actually, I had my business partner… he purchased the app, as well. He’s using it. He’s liking it quite a bit, too. He’s very stiff, very immobile, but he’s already noticing big changes. I would say he’s been using it probably six weeks, quite a bit, and he’s already noticing changes in movement.”
Ross loved the app that he shared it with his business partner. Now, his business partner is now, too, loving the app and getting gains; mobility gains!
There’s the biggest difference in calisthenics compared to other resistance exercises such as weightlifting. Calisthenics is excellent in improving your mobility.
Having good mobility means good, free movement without limitations or restrictions. You can move, however, whenever you want. And this benefit expands to your everyday life also whatever sport you’re taking up. Nobody wants to be stiff and aching all the time.
Calisthenics does this by:
- Providing less stress on your joints
- Yet having enough stimulation for your muscles and joints to get stronger
- Eliminating the risks of excessive force on joints
- Nature of calisthenics exercises good range of motion
Be free to move as the years go by when you train calisthenics.
Benefits Ross gained from joining
The Movement Athlete
Continue getting stronger
Not all calisthenics programs are created equal. Because of the adaptive program The Movement Athlete Academy provides, even if you’re a beginner, advanced, or anything in between skill level, you will get stronger. As Ross said,
“It’s fantastic. Literally, probably the best program. I’ve gotten a lot stronger on it.”
The adaptive program can still provide an excellent progression that will provide you strength. You’ll break plateaus in no time.
Still build muscle
“Definitely, I’ve gained about ten pounds of muscle, too, which is interesting considering I didn’t really change anything dietary-wise. Maybe it was the shock to my body.”
Ross got it right. His body was shocked because of the new approach that he adopted in his training.
During his weightlifting + Jiu-Jitsu training, he already hit his plateau. The new and fresh workout routine he is now using changed all of that.
The great thing is that he wouldn’t not be hitting his plateau anymore with the adaptive approach of The Movement Athlete.
Overall balanced body
“It does seem to do a good job, in terms of progression and understanding my weaknesses and strengths.”
Due to the nature of calisthenics exercises and The Movement Athlete Academy’s adaptive programming, Ross was able to address his weak points and further solidify his strengths.
Most of the time, weak links in the body are caused by under-training them and not even realizing you need them for full effective use of your body. Weak links cause your body to perform inefficiently and sometimes, poorly.
This isn’t a problem when you train with The Movement Athlete Academy. Train your body holistically whatever your goal is.
Freedom in movement
“Plus, too, not using weights, I find, using body weights, I don’t have stress on my joints. I’m just a lot looser, too, so it’s pretty cool.”
Since Ross hasn’t been using weights anymore, he no longer subjects his joints to excessive forces.
With calisthenics, your joints are trained to get stronger with greater range of motion without too much stress. And now your mobility, you don’t have to stress about your joints aching when you pick up your keys you dropped on the floor.
Your body will be able to move freely and pain-free even as you get older.
Faster recovery
Calisthenics is an overall workout approach. As said earlier, you can build muscle, strength, mobility, fixes your weaknesses and endurance. You can also recover faster from the previous workout before. Ross added,
“Improved my recovery by just trusting in a program…One workout to the next. I just feel like I’m able to do more. It doesn’t task my nervous system as much.”
With calisthenics and the app, you can train every day. Of course, the intensity would vary if you’re going to train everyday. You can’t train with high intensity in consecutive days, but you don’t have to worry about the programming. The app does it for you, remember?
Also, the low-intensity training the app provide allows for faster recovery by stimulating just enough your joints and muscles.
You can use the app for you to recover faster after an injury granted that you’ve checked with your physician or physiotherapist about it first!
Keeps you consistent
“Maybe it makes fitness fun, too. Where I’ve seen a lot of people struggle is like “Why do I want to work out? It’s so boring,” versus this, maybe I would say, for some people, is more rewarding, it’s more entertaining.”
Ross hits the mark with this one. A lot of people don’t really see the rewarding aspect of fitness because;
it’s exhausting, it’s hard, it’s a long journey, it’s boring!
Well, the first three remarks are true but boring? It doesn’t have to be boring! Most of the time, the fun factor keeps people from training consistently.
With calisthenics and The Movement Athlete app, like Ross, you can train in a fun way. And when you’re having fun, you can keep doing it again and again until you ultimately build a healthy habit out of it. That’s what keeps you consistent!
Train like you’re getting younger
“It’s very rewarding, too, considering I’m 37, I’m getting older, but I’m finding now that I’m still able to get results, in terms of actually gaining muscle, which I think is harder to do when you get older.”
Let’s face it, no one’s getting younger and age has an impact on your physical state. Gaining strength gets harder. You’re actually losing muscle and mobility. Each year is a battle.
You can’t stop it because it’s inevitable and part of life. What you can do is what Ross did, slow it down.
Through training with adaptive calisthenics, Ross feels like he’s getting results as if he isn’t getting older. The adaptive program of calisthenics excels in providing enough stimulation to your body to continue your growth in your fitness journey as we continue our journey in life.
Athlete Ross found an excellent approach and platform that compliments his love for Jiu-Jitsu. He benefits from the calisthenics and app not only for his sport but for his complete journey in life.
Here again, are just some of the benefits he loved from training with The Movement Athlete app:
- Still getting stronger
- Still building muscle
- Overall balanced body addressing the weak links
- Freedom in movement and freedom from pain
- Faster workout recovery
- Keeps him consistent
- Keeps him younger
“Listen, this is what I’m doing. It works fantastic!”
Ross loves training with the app that he actually increased his frequency for strengthening and conditioning because of the app. He said,
“So, typically, I could say I could honestly probably work out, say, jiu-jitsu three times a day, up to six days a week. Average so, I would say I do, like, 15 to 16 hours of pretty intense martial arts training. I set my program for Movement Athlete to be three days a week, however, though, I find that, often, I’m doing five times a week, on average, I would say … four to five, maybe, actually.”
Here’s what he has to say to you about the app,
“You have to get it. It’s phenomenal.” I think they would just see me exercise, too, and they would just see the changes. I would be doing new movements, whether it be handstands, pull-ups, muscle-ups.”
Ross added,
“I just say that, for someone who’s been doing this a long time, the results are real, so it’s a very easy sell but, like anything, too, you have to put your time in, and I feel like the more time I put in, the results keep happening, which is a little bit rare when you’ve been training for so long because you don’t really get immediate results anymore.”
As he said, results are real even for a very active individual such as Ross. But results are proportional to the amount of effort and time you will allot.
To maximize your gains based on the effort and time you put in your fitness journey, it’s best if you train in a scientific and adaptive approach.
Train with calisthenics through The Movement Athlete Academy.
We offer a 7-day free trial for you to experience the difference.
If you’re ready, give it a try and let us know what you think in the comment section below.
Train hard. Train smart.