As far as I can tell I started doing body weight calisthenics consistently in the summer of 2010. I'm not much of a documenter. But at least that is the first time that I can recall heading to vacation wondering how I will manage to do my pull ups. So that means that I am in my 8th year of consistent calisthenics work. For this time spent I am happiest that I have worked hard and consistently. With very few exceptions I have worked hard and every day and on most of the body if not all of it each day. But I have wandered and been distracted and have been confused about what I want, which has led me time and again to body part splits and weights and some (although very few) days "off" and working on "skills" when I really shouldn't and don't want to. And maybe a few flirtations with training to "failure". I don't like "off" and I don't like "failure". Sometimes I cannot shake old and dubious interests such as muscle size and mass.
In looking back I have felt the best and most "on track" when I have done body weight calisthenics for high rep totals ever day in an "around the world" fashion, where I do one set from each of push, pull, squat and maybe core. I have enjoyed feeling a little stronger every day, and the occasional prize of really feeling strong on some exercise, like I could keep going forever. The best I got in this was somewhere around 1000 reps a day, which boiled down to about 10 sets of about 10 pull/chin ups, 20 dips, 20 knee raises, 30 push ups, and 40 squats. One time around the world is about a hundred reps (depending on how you do it) and 10 of those make a thousand.
Here's why I think this is best. It means at any given time, I can give you 100 reps, regardless of what I did the day before or two days before or early in the same day. If I were weightlifting and/or doing body part splits and/or training to or near failure, I couldn't. I couldn't even give you half the reps or even a third, or even a single rep, depending on what I did the day before or the same day. Have you ever seen any videos of weighlifters or bodybuilders trying to go toe-to-toe with calisthenics people or gymnasts? That 20 inch arm doesn't help much. It really only gets in the way.
But then, alas, my mind has wandered, my Youtube viewing habits morphed, and some other thing has caught my eye and my weak little attention span and convinced me to change it up with weights or bands and splits and pump training and even sometimes.... "heavy". Not that these changes haven't "worked" but they have led me astray from what I truly want and more importantly, have forced me to lose what I had built up. If you take a week and do pump training with dumbbells, I guarantee your 1000 reps won't happen the following week.
I can't say I won't wander again. But for now I am interested in building myself back up to that 1000 or so reps a day around the world. But this time, I really want the emphasis to be on form, and I really want to be patient, and I really want to get back to that 1000 reps but with each one of those reps being as close to perfect as I can get them. THEN, maybe I can work on the skills like pistol squats, one-arm stuff, etc.
I do recall on some of those 1000 rep days, particularly when I was jamming all of them into one "work out", I would really struggle and even cheat a bit to get through it. It's easy to let your form fall off when you're chasing some dubious and rather meaningless numeric goal. Numeric goals are good markers of progress but they should not be the goal itself. Some of those sets of 40 squats were quick and shallow. Some of those push up reps were probably a half second. This is at least one reason why I'm going to work to keep the focus on the rep quality rather than the count, and I'm going to try my best to avoid mentally determining "how many sets I have left for today."
Now I'm forcing myself to keep the focus on form and to really try and steer away from the number. That means chest to the bar on pulls and a complete lockout at the bottom. Slow is fine. For squats, ALL THE WAY DOWN. I am picking an easy rep range and keeping the focus on the rep and the consistency and on 10 sets a day (at least). Right now, I'm looking at 5 pulls, 10-12 dips, 15 or so push ups, and 12-15 squats for once around the world.
I'll keep doing this each day and when it feels right, add a rep or two.
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