You are currently exploring the Fundamentals Library, which is designed to provide a basic overview of the topics that are covered in other longer articles. This article is a part of the Progression section.
Calisthenics Training Variables
When we plan our training, after selecting a set of exercises through the exercise selection process, the next step is to program specific variables that add more specificity to the exercise description.
In terms of the most important variables, there are two qualitative and two quantitative variables that are present and should be controlled in every program.
Load and proximity to failure define the type of adaptations we are stimulating, but also the extent to which we are stimulating them. Volume defines the dosage of this stimulus, and Frequency defines the time interval between two independent bouts of this stimulus.
In this article, I would like to take a closer look at the load parameter and give you an overview as well as practical recommendations for methods of quantifying and monitoring it.
Absolute Load
When we think of load, we typically think of it as the number of kilograms we lift in a given exercise. This is typically referred to as "absolute load". Absolute load is, as the name suggests, an absolute value describing the resistance we have to overcome. It can be expressed in any metric used to measure these values.
- Torque [Newtonometers] - Rarely used unless on a dynamometer device
- Force [Newtons] - Rarely used unless on a dynamometer device
- Mass [Kilograms] - Typically used in weight training
- Progression [Straddle, Tuck etc.] - Typically used in calisthenics exercises
- Body Weight Percentage [%] - Typically used in externally assisted or resisted calisthenics exercises
Absolute load is something that has no real usage when it comes to training programming, apart from maybe a part of identifying someone’s experience level.
Relative Load
Typically, load is rather discussed as relative load - which describes the percentage of resistance value that we can overcome for 1 rep in a given exercise - known as 1 Rep Max.
Let's use a simple example to illustrate this point. Let's say I'm doing a biceps curl, and on one rep of this exercise I'm able to max out at 20 KG. If I take 10 KG and do a set that looks exactly like my 1 rep max, I am working at 50% load.
In street lifting exercises, in addition to the external weight, we can add our body weight to the calculations. For example, if I weigh 75 KG and can do 1 pull up with 20 KG added (total 95 KG) - if I add 10 KG I am working with 85 KG which is the relative load of almost 90% of 1RM. As you can see, it's very important to include body weight, otherwise I would classify 10 KG added as 50% of 1RM, which is a completely different load spectrum.
Calculating Relative Load
Relative load is based on 1RM, which is usually derived from a simple test. Fortunately, there is an easier way to derive the load we are working with, and what we need to do is simply derive this information from the number of reps or seconds we can do with a given load and use a 1RM calculator.
Let's say I'm doing biceps curls again and I choose to do them with 10KG. I do the reps, I get 7 of them, and I can't do any more reps with an acceptable form. If I got 7 reps with this load, I can look at what's called a one rep max calculator and see the percentage.
You can use our calculator, which is designed for both weight training and street lifting exercises such as weighted dips or weighted pull-ups. It will give you a number that is a good starting point. You can iterate on it further as you go with your training program.
Fun Fact - How Much Are You Really Lifting?
A couple of years ago, an online client asked how much weight he was "pulling" in the chin-up. On the surface, this is a fairly trivial question. However, when you dig a little deeper into the mechanics of an exercise like a pull up, you realize that there is a little catch.
When you do a pull up or chin up, you feel like your whole body is hanging from the bar (your grip is fighting with the full weight of your body). However, each segment is only resisted by the part of the body underneath it. Think of your knees; when you are hanging from the bar, the only thing "pulling" them down is the lower leg and foot segment.
While the elbow and shoulder are quite high up in the chain, they are not technically dealing with the full weight of the body either. Our elbows don't have to deal with the weight of our forearms, and our shoulders don't have to deal with the full weight of our upper extremities. This means that our shoulder extensors actually "lift" about 90% of the body weight in the chin-up or pull-up.
And this means that if we hypothetically put 100KG ankle weights on our forearms, as long as our grip can handle it (and the chin up bar doesn't collapse), the chin up would not become mechanically harder to perform.
This interesting phenomenon can be seen in other exercises as well. In dumbbell curls, we lift the dumbbell, but we also lift the weight of the forearm. Of course, these subtleties are ignored for the sake of practicality, but it is an interesting fact.
Rep Ranges Method of Relative Load Selection
As you've probably noticed over the course of this article, relative load is a difficult concept to apply to calisthenics exercises that don't have a clear, easily measurable metric. How do you determine the relative load that Tuck Planche or Advanced Tuck Planche provides?
Fortunately, we don't have to worry about this, because what really matters when it comes to load is the adaptations and fatigue we produce during the set. And so, in practice, what matters is the duration of a set or the rep range that we are able to take a given load to.
We can divide the loads into heavy, moderate, and light, and determine the rep ranges to which those loads apply when we perform maximum repetitions in that set:
- Heavy loads are the ones that we can rep out from 1 to 5 reps
- Moderate loads - from 6 reps up to 15 reps
- Light loads - from 16 up to roughly 30 reps
And for special cases we can also put two extreme categories of very heavy loads, which would be 1 to 2 repetitions, and very light loads which would go beyond 30 reps.
In practice, what you want to do is just do a set of certain exercises and then see how many reps you can do on that exercise. Then you can adjust that load by scaling the exercise up or down in difficulty to achieve the desired range of reps or seconds.
Load - Static Exercises
In calisthenics we perform many static exercises. The methods we have been going through seem to be designed for traditional exercises. We should therefore figure out the way to convert the concepts we talked about to isometric training.
For example, instead of 1 rep max, we can use 2 seconds max. Why 2 seconds instead of 1 second? Well, I guess it is more practical in case someone wants to test it, and it is a standard in gymnastics, which could be an argument for it. Of course, it is still largely contractual.
To assess the load, we can use the percentages of our 2-second max, which will be quite difficult with standard methods of scaling exercises in which we actually do isometrics.
So I would definitely recommend using the second ranges instead, just like we used the rep ranges in the classic exercises. The second ranges I would follow, however, are a bit different:
- Heavy loadsare the ones that we can hold for 3 to 10 seconds
- Moderate loads - from 10 up to 20 seconds
- Light loads - from 20 up to roughly 20 seconds
The two extra categories would be very heavy loads which would be equivalent to 2-3 seconds and very light loads which would go over 30 seconds.
