Separate skill day?

[Bodyweight.Bodybuilder]

Hi all, first post, im looking into starting calisthenics/bodyweight strength training, ive read every piece of literature I can find, all al kavadlos books as well as overcoming gravity, convict conditioning, you are your own gym etc. Im thinking of using either a full body (m/w/f) or a upper/lower (m/tu/th/f) split, one issue I am having is when to train "skills"? Im thinking full body workout (m/w/f) skill days (tu/th) and weekends resting? This seem like a good idea? "Skill days" would include progressions for:

Front lever

Back lever

Elbow lever

L-Sit

Planche

Human flag

Handstand

Im torn between having 2 "skill days" per week or splitting the skills up and performing them on workout days? Any input is greatly appreciated!

[BaconHunter]

Hey I'm also a big fan of Al and read all of his books. I've even recently attended a PCC (he's the lead instructor of this workshop).

 

How long have you been doing bodyweight training?

 

All those "skills" you listed are still very taxing on the body (maybe except handstands). First off, you can't tackle those all at the same time. Pick one (the easiest of those preferably, which will probably be the L-sit). Then include your skill practice in your full body training sessions (do them first in your session).

 

You could do it on separate days, but think about the words "skill practice". Do you think you would make more effective progress with practicing guitar if you did "5 sets of 5" of guitar playing 2 days a week or would you make more porgress if you picked up the guitar for a few minutes every day?

 

One takeaway I got from the PCC: It all boils down to consistently doing push-ups, pull-ups and squats. I doesn't matter how many books you read or how sophisticated your workout routine is. If you don't train variations of push-ups, pull-ups and squats on a regular basis, no magic theory will help you get results.

[Bodyweight.Bodybuilder]

First off, "BaconHunter" I love that name hahaha! Wow, you attended the pcc workshop, id love to go to one when ther come to England but its abit expensive! Id love to get my hands on the 600+ page pcc workbook. I totally agree that progress will be severely slowed down by attempting to learn all at once. Bodyweight training is so different to traditional lifting. My workout will simply be:

Horizontal push (push-up variation)

Horizontal pull (inverted row variation)

Vertical Push (dips/hspu variation)

Vertical pull (pull/chin-up variation)

Quad dominant (pistol variation)

Hip dominant (natural glute ham raise)

Calf raise variation

Core exercise

Core exercise

Ill either split it upper/lower or push/pull or full body, im fine with all that but I dont know where to add in the levers, flag, planche, l-sit variations, I thought as separate "skill days" but after a little re-think im thinking adding front & back levers to workout days? Using l-sit and flags as core movements? And when practicing "skills" just do handstands and planche work? Something like this maybe?

[BaconHunter]

One little remark about this whole thread: Are you just reading books and planning and writing workouts or are you going to get down on the floor and doing some push-ups?

 

 

But yes, you can categorize most of the skills you listed into vertical/horizontal pushing/pulling moves. But please be warned: If you can't do a lot of push-ups, pull-ups and squats, you don't start practising human flags.  Your tendons and ligaments are not ready for it, you will get hurt.

 

It helps to look at the advanced skills as a method to bringing some challenge into your workouts when all the other stuff is easy for you. I can do 50+ push-ups, so I started doing one-arm push-ups to challenge myself. I got to a point when I did 15 pull-ups with ease, so I needed something more challenging and tried my hand at muscle-ups. 

 

I hope my answer can help you getting started =)