Grind Style Calisthenics

by Matt Schifferle

  That's why this scapular movement exercise can be such an essential part of your warm up. It helps mobilize your shoulders while turning on your back muscles to create scapular stability.

  It's pretty simple as you clasp your hands behind your back and pull your shoulders down and back with all of the muscles in your back. After a few seconds, tense the muscles in your chest and pull your shoulders forward and down. Spend about a minute or so moving your shoulders front to back while keeping your shoulders down and away from your ears as you flex the muscles in your chest and back.

  Isometric tension practice

  Just like with your squat chain, you'll be practicing tension control in both the extended and flexed position. The key here is to place tension in all of your pull-chain muscles, including your forearms, biceps, shoulders and all of your back.

  It's best to practice the start and end position of the exercise you'll be using during your strength phase. If you're going to be doing rows, tense up all of your pull-chain muscles with your arms straight out in front of you and then with your arms pulled back.

  Stability phase exercises for the pull chain

  Pull chain stability exercises mimic the isometric tension control exercises, but now you'll be shifting your body around at the top and bottom of your intended exercise.

  Start in the bottom position of your row or pull-up and move around playfully. Shift from one arm to the other and rotate your arms, if you're on grind straps or rings. Practicing moving your shoulder blades around to build more awareness of how they work during the pull exercises. Move your shoulders up and down, forward and back or even twist your whole body from one arm to the other.

  Once you've done some shifting work at the extended position, it's time to do the same at the flexed position. With rows, I recommend using a gentle incline so you'll only have a modest amount of resistance on your arms. Too much resistance will make it difficult to move your arms and shoulder blades around.

  You can do the same thing at the top of the pull-up with slight twisting and shifting movements. You may want to place your feet on a step or the floor, so you do not have to work with your full bodyweight.

  Strength phase exercises for the pull chain

  The strength exercises of the pull-chain start with a gentle row and progress into vertical pulling exercises or pull-ups. Even though you're pulling in a different direction, the action at your joints is the same, so your muscle activation should be nearly identical.

  Level 1 Incline row

  Incline rows are the most gentle pull chain exercise since you’re not pulling all of your bodyweight directly against gravity. You can also adjust the resistance slightly by changing your incline. The more upright your body is the less resistance you’ll have on your arms and vice versa.

  Key points

  Be sure to maintain tension throughout the backside of your body, including your hamstrings, glutes, and spinal erectors. That supportive tension will help prevent your body from sagging at the bottom position.

  Try to pull your arms in close to your body almost like you're trying to squeeze your elbows around your back. This emphasis will engage your lats and shoulders more effectively.

  Maintain a tight scapular depression by pulling your shoulders down away from your ears. You'll improve your scapular stability and send tension through your entire back and not just your arms.

  Level 2 Table row

  This exercise moves your torso directly against the resistance of gravity with your knees bent 90 degrees. It’s also an effective way to maintain tension in your hamstrings and glutes throughout the exercise.

  Key points

  Watch out for that hip sag and the temptation to thrust your hips up as you get tired. It’s easy to start using hip momentum to perform reps under fatigue.

  Do your best to maintain tension at the bottom position, especially in your arms and upper back. Avoid the temptation to relax into the bottom position.

  You can adjust the stability of the exercise with the width of your stance. Placing your feet closer together will make the exercise a little more difficult by requiring more tension in your arms for stability. A wider stance will make it easier to control your position especially while fatigued.

  Level 3 Straight row

  The straight row places more resistance on your arms and hips compared to the table row by extending your legs straight out with in front of you. This exercise employs the same tips and ideas as the table row like adjusting your stance width to modify stability and support.

  One of the most challenging things about the straight row is to keep your body straight by maintaining tension in your glutes and hamstrings. You shouldn’t feel this exercise too much in your lower back since most of the supportive tension should be below your waist rather than above it.

  Level 4 Jackknife pull up

  This technique teaches you how to use your pull chain in a vertical pulling movement. You can do these while seated on the floor or with your feet up on a ledge to increase your range of motion.

  You can start practicing this exercise with bent knees, which makes the exercise easier. Straightening your legs in front of you is a great way to progress the resistance on your pull-chain.

  Key points

  Instead of focusing on pulling yourself up, think of pulling your elbows down and back. This motion will help keep your back muscles engaged and prevent stress in your elbow.

  Before pulling yourself up, ensure your shoulders are retracted sort of like you’re trying to squeeze your shoulder blades together. Keeping your shoulders back will keep your shoulders and arms stable for the duration of your arms.

  You can bring more tension to your traps and upper back by pulling your elbows down and back. This modification will help drive your chest up and into your hands to create a more complete pulling exercise.

  Level 5 Pull-up

  This technique uses your arms the same way you do in level 4, but now you’re working with your full bodyweight. It also removes one more point of contact with your feet off the floor, so you'll need to use more stability in your arms, back and core throughout the set.

  Key points

  It's easy to let the legs flail and kick all around in the air. Keeping your abs and legs tense will help prevent wasted movement, which will upset your total body stability.

  You can tuck your feet up behind you if you’re holding onto a support that doesn’t allow full extension of your legs.

  Maintain an upright torso by hinging slightly at your hips. Keeping your body straight will cause you to tilt back slightly. This position isn't a bad thing, but it can compromise the range of motion you can use at the top of the pull-up position.

  Level 6 Weighted pull-up

  The pull-up is one of the most natural exercises to load with extra weight due to a simple dip belt or weight vest. I've always preferred a dip belt since it's easier to adjust the weight on it compared to a vest while keeping the external load below your center of gravity.

  Key points

  As with all weighted calisthenics, technical quality shouldn’t be compromised to accommodate more weight. With pull-ups, the most common form of technical erosion is the loss of range at the top of each rep. Do your best to pull your chest up and into your hands despite having the extra weight on your body.

  The load of the weight on a dip belt can help prevent your legs from kicking out in front of you so it may be easier to keep your torso vertical. Try squeezing the weight with your legs to improve your total body control.

  Hypertrophy phase exercises for the pull chain

  Pull chain finishers

  The muscles in your pull chain are very strong, but many of them are also built for stamina and high rep training. Including the following finishing techniques in your program can help with both muscle growth and muscle endurance.

  The simplest finishing move is to complete a set of 10-15 reps of an easier level exercise than the one you used during the grind phase. For
example, I like to finish with a set of table rows after a grind-phase of pull-ups. This strategy mimics a classic bodybuilding drop-set.

  Front levers

  The classic front lever is a workout in itself. It places a lot of resistance directly onto your arms and back muscles while using leverage to adjust resistance. You can start practicing this isometric exercise in a simple tuck and increase resistance by extending your legs out in front of you.

  Try holding for at least 10-15 seconds each set.

  Top position holds

  Like the front lever, these are an isometric hold at the top position of either the row or the pull-up exercise. You may need to go down a level or two in this phase due to having worked your muscles very hard in the grind phase.

  The set-up is simple where you pull yourself up into the top position of the pull-up or row and hold for 15-30 seconds. Be sure to lower yourself back down under control rather than dropping down to the floor.

  Pull-chain focused work

  Here are several of my favorite exercises to target each of the major muscles in the pull chain. There are quite a few focus exercises for the pull chain, so pick and choose the ones that fit for you.

  Bicep curls

  Curls are a standard stable of any back and biceps workout, and you can do them on any suspension trainer. They also offer you the chance to quickly adjust the resistance on your biceps by changing your foot position, which you can do at any point during the exercise.

  It's easy to turn strap curls into a row by letting your elbows drop down and back. Doing so isn't bad, but it does shift some of the emphasis away from your biceps.

  To prevent this, imagine lifting your elbows upward or "scooping" your hands up toward your face as you flex your elbow. Be sure to keep your elbows up as you lower your hands and straighten your arms.

  Rear deltoid flys

  The rear deltoid fly is a fantastic way to target the upper back and shoulders. Start in the same position as the strap curls, but not quite as low so there’s not as much resistance on your arms.

  The trick to a stable rear fly is to prevent your arms from bending as you pull your arms back. Bending your arms is safe, but it does make the exercise easier. Also, use a little spinal extension to place more weight on your heels, and you won't lose resistance at the top of each rep.

  Straight arm pull-downs

  Straight arm pull-downs are a great exercise to target the lats and the rest of your back muscles. Start in the same position as your curls and rear flys and push your hands down while maintaining a straight arm.

  Keep your spine slightly extended to maintain some resistance at the top of each rep. You might find you'll become fully upright and lose resistance if you pull your hands to your sides. If that's the case, use the range of motion you have resistance. It's okay if you have to reduce your range of motion.

  Hanging grip work

  You’re only as strong as your grip which is why you may want to add in some hanging grip work to the end of your workout.

  You can practice these from the support you use for pull-ups, or you can sling a couple of towels on a bar to further challenge your grip. Either technique will work your forearms when you hang for time. Just be sure to keep your whole pull-chain tense including your biceps, shoulders, and back. Doing this prevents a relaxed, or dead, hang which can be less comfortable and doesn't progress your pull chain strength.

  Chapter 7

  Grind-Style Chest & Triceps

  I have a confession to make.

  As an ego driven guy, chest day was supposed to be one of my favorite days of the workout week. However, I used to hate chest day. For years, I was probably the only guy in the world who dreaded chest day. It’s not that I didn’t enjoy a satisfying pump in the chest or shoulders, I did; it’s just that pump was a rare occurrence and joint stress was a constant companion on chest day.

  I’ve always been a little left off center, but maybe I’m not all that different from a lot of other exercise enthusiasts. I’ve watched countless guys warming up for their chest day, spending half the time doing shoulder stretches and mobility exercises to get their joints ready for the work to come. I can't tell you how many people I've worked with who tell me they can no longer push anything too heavy because their shoulders are full of aches and pains.

  The worst part is, all of this pain and discomfort is widely accepted, even in the world of health and fitness. It's almost as if having chronic shoulder pain is a sign that you've paid your dues to the exercises and methods that have torn you down in the first place.

  The good news is that you don’t have to settle for shoulder strain and injury. Many shoulder issues stem from a lack of balanced muscle tension and shoulder stability. Our shoulder-slouching daily habits are partially to blame, but so are some popular approaches to chest training.

  Back when I was learning how to exercise, I was often told to point my elbows out to the side to emphasize the chest muscles in moves like push-ups and the bench press. While this technique did hit the chest, it also did a number on my shoulders. That position made it all too easy to rotate my arms just a few degrees inward and place shearing stress in the joint.

  I should have known loading the shoulder in this way was going to be bad news. In martial arts, pulling an opponent’s arm out to the side and wrenching it around is a great way to inflict pain. Conversely, one of the best ways to protect yourself is to pull your arms close to your torso.

  Using a tucked position is one of the reasons why I was able to practice the light bodyweight pressing moves while lifting heavier weights hurt my shoulder. It wasn't due to the exercise, but the position of my arm during the training. Ever since then, I've made it a point to teach folks to keep their arms in close.

  It's easy to understand why the tucked position works so well. It uses more balanced tension control throughout the torso to improve stability. It also makes use of the bigger muscles in the back and chest to create that stability. Combining the tucked approach with progressive tension control and stability will ensure you’ll place more tension in your muscles while decreasing the stress on your joints. It’s a potent 1-2-3 punch to stave off the ever present threats to your joints while making your muscles work harder than ever.

  Tension control phase exercises for the push chain

  Straight and bent arm tension control

  The first exercise is to practice placing tension in the arms and chest with your arms straight out in front of you. You can practice this pushing against a countertop or wall, or you can even do it on the floor if you like. Then pull your hands closer to your chest and work on tensing those same muscles in that position.

  The trick here is to maintain tension in your triceps and chest, as well as the lower arm. One of the most common push chain issues is wrist pain which often comes from not enough tension in the lower arm and hand. Keeping tension in your hands and forearm will help the stress on your arm flow through your wrist rather than into it.

  Strap dip holds top and bottom

  This tension control exercise is ideal if you are using dips in your program. Like with the top and bottom of the push-up position you’ll be practicing tensing your push chain in the top and bottom position of the dip exercise.

  Keep in mind that tension control exercises are meant to be done with a low level of resistance so these may not be suitable if you have to work hard to maintain either position. Only apply these if you find them pretty easy to do. You can also practice holding each position with your feet on the floor or on a step to reduce the resistance.

  Stability phase exercises for the push chain

  Shifting and twisting around in both the top and bottom position of the push-up or dip are the primary stability exercises for this phase in your workout. Remember that these are meant to be playful and exploratory motions, so don't worry too much about doing them "correctly" or in a robotic fashion. With that said, here are some ways you can shift around in the push-up and dip positions to tra
in your stability.

  Push-up shifting

  It’s helpful to think of shifting in a push-up position sort of like making a cross with your shoulders. You can move forward and back as well as side to side in both the top and bottom positions.

  You can also twist your torso from side to side. This technique is a fun and unique way to shift your weight around without actually moving your body very much. It's also a very good dynamic shoulder stretch.

  Shifting is an ideal time to practice scapular shifting, which helps build control and mobility in your shoulders during push-ups. This sort of movement is an integral part of pushing exercises and is something many people struggle with and causes unnecessary joint stress even under moderate resistance.

  All shifting exercises can be done in both straight and bent arm positions.

  Dip shifting

  Dip shifting uses the same basic ideas of push-up shifting but in a vertical position. Some of the most effective movements are of the twisting variety where you twist your torso side-to-side. You can also keep your torso still and turn your hands in and out if you're using rings or Grind Straps.

  Dip shifting is an opportune time to practice scapular shifting where you work on moving your shoulders up and down and even front to back. You may not move your shoulders as much as you would in the push-up position, but that’s okay. Stability work isn’t always about moving through a large range of motion. Sometimes, it’s more about building awareness about how you can control yourself in space.