If you want to get good at anything at all you need to make a plan. If you don’t know what you are doing it becomes absolutely impossible to be effective with anything. 

Monitor progress

Only by knowing what you did last time will you be able to see if your routine is working and if you are able to do more today than what you did last week or last month. 

Consistency is key when trying to understand if muscle or skill is developed. In order to be able to accurately track how strong you are your workout needs to be similar each time you measure your strength as the exercises leading up to the test set will play a significant role. 

Tracking progress will allow you to do more over time and to progressively overload each exercise that you do. 

Adjust routine

Having a routine is the only way to be able to make adjustments to your routine. If every workout is whatever you feel like I can guarantee you that your workouts will not be well balanced and you will work your way towards overuse injuries. Naturally you will choose exercises you enjoy and that you are good at whilst neglecting the ones you do not like as much. It is usually these neglected ones that are the most important ones. 

You can Only adjust workouts if you have a well established routine. If you know what you do today and the next 10 workouts, then adjusting your workout in case of fatigue, additional energy, injury or a lack of time is easy. 

Lastly, once you are a couple weeks deep into your training you will begin to understand what is holding you personally back and what are your individual limiting points. Having a well established routine will allow you to adjust and train more goal specific. 

Stay focused

We all live busy lives. Pretty much none of us is a professional athlete which means we all have other things going on. You will be tired. You will be distracted and there will be days when you will not feel like working out!

Having a plan will give you direction on those gyms. You will be able to get in and simply do what you have to without having to think much and without having to push yourself. You have a clear list of what needs to be done. Now get it done. This is crucial not just when you are tired but especially when other things are going on and you are mentally distracted. Sitting down once writing your 10 weeks plan is significantly more convenient than sitting down weekly trying to figure out what to do. 

I’ve been studying, experimenting and trying around for years. I can tell you with confidence that I have nailed down the essential steps to creating the perfect workout. Before we get into detail here are the main tasks in order:

• Decide on your personal goals
• Identify what is a healthy-well rounded routine
• Replace exercises with goal specific drills in same movement pattern
• Add specific warm up & technical sets
• Consider isolation work and finisher sets
• Fill up on non negotiable “health” exercises
• Add at least 1 unilateral exercise per workout

Being honest with yourself about what you are hoping to accomplish and setting realistic goals is a task that takes practice itself. Sit down and truly analyze what excites you whilst considering what might be a good next move for your overall physical development

Put health first

This one should go without saying. Your first and most important goal must always be to remain healthy. It does not matter why you are training and what fuels you. If you get sick or injured you will not be able to continue your training and you will not be happy. Take care of your mental and physical health to be able to train the way you like. 

Decide on skill goals

A question I get a lot is how many goals can one work on at the same time. Many skills translate well between each other and work the same muscles allowing you to put specific skills on hold without losing progress assuming you are still working on similar skills. 

Generally I believe focusing on 1 push and 1 pull skill at the time is plenty. Keep in mind that you are training your whole body in all anatomical directions meaning that those skills that you pick as your main goal are simply skills you will spend more time on compared to other skills that are moving into more of a maintenance position in your routine. 

For the sake of this article we will pick handstand push ups and front lever holds. 

Time available for training

Lastly an important question to consider at this point is how much time available do you have per workout and how many workouts can you do per week. Important to take into consideration here is not just the time available to spend at the gym but also how stressful everyday life is and how well you will be able to recover between workouts. 

The idea now is not to train primarily for a specific skill but to first establish a training routine that will train the entire body. We want to work each muscle and each joint in all of its directions. 

How much of what

Modern studies provide pretty clear evidence on what the body demands to grow muscle. We need to work hard and recover well. Working hard means performing hard working sets. A hard set is any set that is taken close to failure. If hypertrophy is your main goal the precise number of reps does not matter as much. If strength is your goal, intensity of the set needs to be rather high and failure should be achieved through 5 or 6 reps. 

At this point it is already important to note that failure on bodyweight skills such as the handstand push up and failure in a dumbbell shoulder press can not be directly compared as the bodyweight skills are significantly more complex and might have a technical and even a balance component to them. 

Based on the research we know that in order to maintain you have to do about 3 hard working sets per body part per week.

To grow you need to perform about 7 hard working sets each week.

And if you want to truly maximize growth you should do up to 12 hard sets per body part per week. Anything more than that might be considered junk volume.

Choose your split 

We now know how much of each muscle group we have to train to get stronger and better. Doing up to 12 sets per muscle group per workout is not quite possible. Not only would your workout become extremely long but also would you be too tired come set 5 or 8 and you will not be able to perform at your best anymore.

We therefore combine the decision of how often we want to train each week with the knowledge of how many sets we need to do and we can already determine a training split. Different splits come with different advantages. The popular ones for calisthenics are fully body, upper/lower or push/pull/legs. 

To keep things simple we will choose an upper/lower split for this example, we will focus on the upper body day of the split and the workout is going to be the same each day of the week.

Creating the template

On an upper body day we want to train all main anatomical directions of movement. In a regular workout we usually focus first on the main movements, the compound drills that incorporate lots of muscles before then singling in with isolation exercises if desired. Each muscle group should be worked up to 12x per week.

For this upper body day we need to train:

• Vertical push
• Vertical pull
• Horizontal push
• Horizontal pull (narrow)
• Isolation Work
• Core

We now want to choose the most effective goal specific exercises and replace working sets of the same movement pattern. This will allow us to train exactly for that we want to train whilst keeping the workout well rounded and balanced.

Fitting your exercises

• Direction: Vertical push
• Gym Example: Military press
• Bodyweight Option: Handstand Push Up

• Direction: Vertical Pull
• Gym Example: Lat Pulldown 
• Bodyweight Option: Wide Pull Up

• Direction: Horizontal Push
• Gym Example: Bench Press
• Bodyweight Option: Push Up, Planche Push Up, Dip

• Direction: Horizontal Pull
• Gym Example: Chest Supported Row
• Bodyweight Option: Front Lever Row (Front Lever Hold in each rep)

Adjusting the order

The next step is to play around with the order of exercises in your workout. Since the skills are still our main goal we want to start with those exercises first that truly help us advance in those skills. If there are multiple exercises for your skill in a workout, start with the hardest exercise. At the beginning of your workout your muscles and general nervous system are fresh and you will be able to push the hardest.

Considering that the Handstand Push Up and Front Lever are our main goals in this example we will train those first. The new order now is as follows:

• Handstand Push Up
• Front Lever Row (can include holds)
• Wide Pull Up
• Weighted Dips

It is in this step when our workout turns from a general strength building session to a goal specific calisthenics workout. So far all we did was replace the traditional weight exercises with bodyweight progressions. Now we add the gravy around. It is here where the real magic happens and the workout creation becomes fun!

General Warm Up

Every workout must start with this. It is non negotiable. You have to break a sweat before you begin to train. Raise your heart rate. This will give your training a clear mental and physical starting point. 

Specific Warm Up, Activation & Injury Prevention

This is the part before your technical training but after the general warm up. The main focus here should be on injury prevention and specific muscle activation.

We have to warm up the rotator cuff and wrists for injury prevention as handstand push ups are up first. 

During this part you will also include your technical handstand training. It is important to train handstands before the first handstand push up working set as you will be too tired after the conditioning section of your training to control your handstands.

Before the front lever training we will do additional activation work to get the lats ready with specific mind muscle connection work. Depending on your level you should also include Scapula Pull Ups, Skin the Cats and other basic ring or bar exercises here.

Technical Training 

Technical sets are in my opinion rare when it comes to calisthenics workouts. Any set you do specific for your handstand push up or front lever requires muscle strength. There is no doubt in this. 

A technical handstand or front lever set would be a set that is assisted, partial or in a progression much easier than what you are currently working on. Technical sets must physically be easy to give you an opportunity to focus on form. 

For the handstand push up this could be for example shoulder leans or general handstand training.

For the front lever this could be retraction exercises such as front lever pulls.

Working Sets

Staying with the science of doing no more than 12 hard working sets per muscle group per week and assuming you train 3x per week you can do 4 handstand push up sets per workout. I know that it is very tempting to do more and to some extent this might even make sense because it is hard to truly max out due to technical and balance restraints but generally speaking it is better not to do much more here.

Same goes for your front lever. Theoretically 4 hard working sets per workout are enough. In our example here we chose front lever rows. No matter if band assisted or not, focus on holding the front lever for a second or 2 in between each rep. 

Calisthenics skills are complex and significantly less straightforward than regular weight training. Adding specific isolation work into the mix towards the end of your workout often proves to be highly beneficial. This isolation work should usually focus on things needed for your main goal but can also be motivated by physical appearance to further develop the muscles left behind during your calisthenics workouts… like your calves.

Isolation work

Calisthenics goal specific isolation work is used to address individual weak spots. Most of the time these are scapula related. For your handstand push up this would be protraction and elevation work. For your front lever you would train retraction at this point.

If you are working on the press to handstand or tuck planche this could for example be compression work as well.

Finishers

Finishers are a fun way to squeeze out whatever is left at the end of the week before the days off. The problem we face with calisthenics skills is that it is often impossible to push towards muscular failure. You have to have significant amounts of training experience to truly hit actual failure due to muscle exhaustion in your handstand push up or other bodyweight skills.

Due to this fact hitting the 12 hard working sets per week can be tricky. The idea of these finisher sets can be to basically make sure you really get it done. They are less scientific and more a way to challenge yourself.

A finisher that I like for the Handstand Push Up is a drop set where you work your way down the ladder of progressions finishing with a weighted shoulder press only resting between rounds. 

Something similar can be done for the front lever where you finish with band assisted pull ups. Alternatively, you could also do band assisted front lever holds in combination with scapula retractions and chest supported rows.

Physique finishers

Isolation work to address physique based goals most likely will not help your calisthenics goals as they take up time, energy and can add unnecessary weight and fatigue to the body. That being said, looking good naked is important to many athletes and I will forever support anyone with a bigger interest in bodybuilding.

In our sample workout biceps curls cut fit well here as we do not have too much biceps work in the current routine. Triceps extensions are popular but usually not needed as the handstand push up work and dips provide the needed volume and intensity for the triceps to grow.

Lastly there are anterior deltoid raises. I would recommend not to add these to your workout as they are used in pretty much every single upper body push exercise. Adding additional frontal deltoid work will most likely be either a waste of time or promote overuse injuries.

Now that we have built our goal oriented workout it is time to make sure we cover all corners when it comes to injury prevention work. We already have some specific injury prevention work during the warm up but we can not make a clear decision on everything that we need before we establish the complete workouts. 

Prevent avoidable injuries

Here we now basically add exercises to counter work and balance the extra hard working sets. If you are working on weighted or especially on one arm chin ups adding additional forearm strength exercises such as ball squeezes can be recommendable to help prevent epicondylitis, commonly known as tennis elbow.

If you are working a lot on planche push ups or weighted dips it is recommended to add additional narrow horizontal pulling exercises such as bodyweight rows to even out the pressure. 

In our example here we already have narrow horizontal pulling exercises added to our workout plan but repetitive handstand push up work in some athletes can potentially create a risk of shoulder impingement. Adding additional external rotation strengthening exercises for the scapula can be absolutely key here!

Exercises for the upper back such as face pulls or high pulls will fit in here too. 

Invest in core stability

Lastly, a great way to finish any workout is by adding additional core work. Not just to look good at the beach, after all you want others to know you work hard, but especially you build stability. The core connects the hips with the shoulders. If you are training handstand push ups, front levers or pretty much any calisthenics skill chances are high your feet are not on the floor meaning it is vital that your core fires up and allows you to control your legs.

Add planks, bird dogs and the chair on back exercise to not just get stronger but especially to teach your core to work on complete autopilot so when you are focusing on advanced progressions you do not have to think about the core at all.

A bit of a special one but something that has become extremely important for me over the past years is adding at least 1 unilateral exercise, an exercise where we only work one side of the body at the time into the routine.

Why add unilateral work

Unilateral exercises come with a wide range of advantages.

We naturally all have 1 side that is stronger than the other. If we always train both sides at the same time the more dominant side will almost always take over for the weaker one. Prevent this and truly focus down by using unilateral exercises.

Engaging one side of the body will drastically challenge your core stability as your core needs to engage to stabilize the other half of the body. With this your core will get stronger but the exercise will also become more functional to an extent. Life is unilateral. Your exercises should be from time as well.

Unilateral exercises can also be great to push through plateaus. Not just because you will be able to focus on the side that is holding you back but especially because your body gets used to bilateral exercises. Adding one sided exercises to your routine will trigger new stimuli for growth allowing you to make new gains and push past plateaus.

Examples of unilateral exercises

Doing unilateral bodyweight exercises is challenging as all of your weight is moved or supported by one side of the body.

Beginner friendly opinions are for example single arm plank leg lifts, single leg glute bridge or single leg step ups. More advanced options include the pistol squat, archer back row or single arm push up. 

Depending on what your weekly plan looks like there is truly a lot that you can do with the established upper body workout.

Push Pull Split

The example workout here is an upper body session including push and pull exercises. Sticking strictly to science we can absolutely fit all needed working sets into this one workout. Yet, for many this might not be the preferred option as especially with complimentary exercises workouts can get either rather long and tiring or you will be forced to make compromises in exercise choices. Both things that we do not want.

In either case it can be considered to further split the workout into separate push and pull workouts. This is an option for more advanced athletes who need more time to fit all necessary exercises into their workout. You will either spend more days training or naturally end up with less frequency and a possible downside can be that doing an entire push or pull workout can be hard leaving you too tired before the workout is even over. 

Rotate exercises

Possibly a better way of dealing with a lack of sets available in comparison to all the exercises you believe you have to do on a regular basis to maintain and improve is to rotate exercises. 

For this I recommend keeping the main core exercises constant and rotating all other exercises. For example dips could be exchanged with planche push ups and weighted chin ups could rotate with archer chin ups.

The same principle should also be used when rotating the complimentary exercises that support your health. You could for example do a wide back row in the beginning of the week and a face pull in your second workout or  you could rotate the bird dog exercise with the chair on the back.