Intro
Hey hey Hivers, (the) Mikky here. Going to go off on a different angle here for a change, and blab about something more personal - calisthenics, and the frustration and joy that comes with the slow process.
This is not a sports-specific post, though I'll be throwing around bro-minology to up my street cred with the fitness sharks. Don't be intimidated.
It is not my intention to come off as some sort of happy-go-lucky "just believe in yourself" sort of guru, but perhaps someone reads this, can relate to the points I make and break through the glass wall they find themselves banging their head against when trying to pursue their passions.
Skip to the last section to get the non-sports related goods.
Enjoy!
How it started
Somewhere around a double dozen seasons ago, I started doing calisthenics, so long ago that I don't even remember when or how I started, really. It was very sloppy - my friends were into it and for once in my life I genuinely enjoyed doing sports, something that I hated as a kid.
No idea what I was doing, no clue as to how progress is built in fitness. Diet, progression, consistency meant nothing to me at the start of the journey. So I spent a long, long time in "fuckarounditis" (thanks Hugo). Noob gains were nice. On good days brogress was made. Just working out regularly made me feel stronger. It was fun.
With time though, the noob gains were gone and progress plateaued. What used to be fun started to get boring. You can only do so many shitty pullups until you realise that you gotta up the ante.
How it went
With the help of my friend, I started pushing boundaries. I'd do exercises with weights on my feet. I'd push myself harder because I saw that my friend was doing the same exercise I was doing, but with added weight and more reps. He corrected my form - I realised how much I've been cheating.
After a year of this guy breaking my balls and pushing my limits, I left London (not because of him, ££ dried up and I returned to the land of the shekel, a currency I knew how to earn and keep).
Still, many goals were still unmet. I had set myself some goals as part of my attempts at focusing my workouts and not just doing them as I see fit. One was the pistol squat, where I was limited by mobility, not so much strength (I still lack the strength, but mobility keeps me from increasing it) - and the other was the muscle-up.
As an example, see how much smoother and lower I go with my left foot on the ground than my right. Also, I need that piece of support under my foot, otherwise I just fall over backwards.
The muscle-up
This damn exercise.
It really isn't a big deal.
All you do is a pull-up, but strong/explosively (read: fast) enough to get OVER the bar and pull yourself up so that half your body is above the bar (or rings).
Easy, right?
That's what I thought. It's like a really strong pullup.
Well, it is - but it isn't. There's a lot of specific technique involved into getting it just right, without which you'd need ridiculously strong super control to do it with faulty technique.
For whatever reason, it just didn't click. I would get really good at pull-ups, then the time would come to give that extra OOMPH to get over the bar, and I just... couldn't. Try again and again and again, and nope.
Eventually I bumped into a private trainer and decided to be super-strict about everything he says for a month. The month consisted of ridiculous amounts of protein and very boring, consistent but specific exercises. At the end of the month, this happened (apologies for the Facebook URL).
Hey, it's clumsy - but it works! I did it! 4 or so years, but I finally did it! This is great!
Fall from grace
Except... I didn't, really ... ?
Soon after that video, I traveled to Europe for about a month for work. I kept exercising, but for some reason just couldn't replicate the muscle-up. It's as if I never learned it in the first place (mind you that I did it a few times after that video, to confirm it wasn't a fluke).
You don't need to be in sports to realise that this is a devastating realisation to come to - to finally, finally reach that goal you've placed yourself and dedicated your time and energy towards... only to have it slip between your hands.
How it's going
I've come back and joined a calisthenics workout group, which has proven to be a great joy and social event. The workouts feel like fun, not even workouts anymore.
Either way, the trainers there know that I put the muscle-up as my goal. So they dedicated themselves to help me achieve it again, under their guidance. A few months of very slow improvements in basic skills (steps that I had skipped previously), and suddenly the trainer tells
me to give it a shot. OK, fine... please don't be disappointed.
What do you know? I fucking did it! I wasn't expecting to - I had slept poorly and by this point, I refused to give up on achieving the goal just because I didn't want to admit to myself that I'm a quitter. In my heart I "knew" it was a lost cause.
Where it is
Luckily enough, it wasn't. I'm still very unstable - on a good day I can get it, on a bad day it just won't stick. But here is a progression video from my multiple failings, to my best muscle-ups to date.
Now my current goal is to do it with proper form (arms straight before I pull up), and ironing out this skill until I can confidently do it properly, no cheating, every time.
What I've learned
Failure is part of the journey
Walk it with pride. If you keep beating yourself up about what you can't do, you're not focusing on what you can, or what you need do to be able to learn that new skill.
When you fail - don't just get mad. Ask yourself - why did you fail? What did you not get right this time? I promise you it's not the weather.
As an experienced consistent self-critic, I ask of you - stop being so damn cruel to yourself. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it.
Sometimes it seems like everyone is moving forward and you're still stuck behind (more on that later) on the basics. Even if true, keep in mind - your future you will be happy that you kept on failing, because at some point that failure will be learning, and one day you'll succeed. It is only then that you will understand that all those failures were necessary to get to where you are now.
Get a teacher
Once you reach the plateau that your personal auto-deduction skills can take you - get a damn friend/teacher/mentor/trainer.
Great kings had great advisers. Yes, some people are naturally talented and can simply teach themselves everything. If this is you, respect.
If you're like the vast majority of people, there will be a point where both learning and learning how to learn will frustrate you too much, because the deeper you go, the more you realise how far behind you really are. So do yourself a favour and get someone to show you the way.
Be consistent
This is the one I struggle with the most. I HATE monotonous exercises and feeling like I'm doing the same old over and over again.
However - once you have a solid understanding of your weaknesses (Point #1) and a roadmap of how to defeat them (#2), now you have to stay on the path and not lollygag around it.
Remind yourself what your goal is - every time you engage in the boring exercise, really focus on the fine details. Are you using your full potential?
In sports, this can be engaging muscles more fully
In music, this can be playing every note with heart
In writing, this can mean making sure that each sentences has a purpose and flows well within itself
Log your progress
Another one I struggle with, but it could also help with #3. Make an effort to record yourself every now and again. It doesn't have to be good. In fact, it's good if it's bad (wait what?).
That's right - the muscle-up video I posted before makes me proud not because of the 2 snippets at the end that came out well, but the many, many snippets (most of them deleted from my phone out of shame) where I failed.
Because when playing them back chronologically, I can finally see the progress over the months that is only visible when contrasting the finer details over a long period of time.
This helps with realising that you're not "wasting time". You're learning - it might simply not be obvious to you yet, though.
Anyway, that's my 0.02 HIVE.
Keep on keeping on and share any projects/skills you're working on, whatever the topic. You're all truly wonderful