Do High Repetition Calisthenics Really Matter?

Often in training there are little things that can be up for debate for what works best and applying to a particular style. I've been through many styles of training; high rep workouts, heavy lifting, sprinting, focused tension on specific exercises, animal moves and circuit training; the thing I've come to grips is working best on a style of training that gave me the condition to not always rely on high rep workouts such as push-ups & squats in the triple digits or higher. Not that I don't believe they work, they do but there's far much more to training than focusing purely on high rep calisthenics.

What I look for is specific elements that don't take a long ass time and focusing purely on specific exercises that can be as effective strength wise either through high repetition or utilizing tension for lower reps. Take the push-up for example; I've been through the ringer of only as much as 5 reps in a single set and have hit more than 500 in a single workout; the true effectiveness for me is using muscle control that gets me only a few reps but just hits me like a Mack truck. I do believe High reps works beautifully but after a period in my eyes, it becomes boring, drags along and I don't have the energy to do anything else. The only true purpose to do this type of training is if you're an athlete and needing to be in top condition for your sport or to test yourself to see how far you can go.

I prefer Isometrics & Bridging over most these days and because I've become so enthralled with DVR Exercises, calisthenics is more of a background thing. You don't need to do a ton of reps in order to get in shape. Its great to have that kind of strength & endurance but sometimes you need to step away and test out other things. High reps is also time consuming so if you only have a few minutes, you won't be doing 500 reps of anything but you can do Isometrics, Yoga, Qi Gong, DVR Exercise, Bridging and Gymnastic Type Exercise. I believe in the quality in movement and isometric holds so wouldn't it be better to do a movement that demands quality or just go through the motions and screwing up your form in the process because trust no matter how you slice it, very high reps will cause you to lose your form in one manner or another and if you do it too often that leads to injury. The other thing on that count is how you recover, its important to rest up or do something a little different otherwise you can strain something and it'll bite you in the ass.

Do they truly matter? That's up for you to decide and depending on what you focus on. I love the excitement of training and putting together a workout or sets of workouts throughout the day that takes in quality breathing, energizing effects of particular exercises and making the most out of it and not always striving to do a great level of repetition and lose my sight on what's important or other things. High reps have their place and its ok to not do them if you don't want to but its also important to learn what you're capable of  and making a note that you have the ability to do something amazing. Regardless of what you do, learn the value of quality over quantity.

The Miracle Seven Exercises

Almost sounds like something on fitness in church. Dumb joke aside, the exercises I want to share with you that I've been practicing for a little while are incredible when it comes to building health, natural relaxation, blood flowing and the ability to contract and relax the muscles at will & how it can be done anywhere, anytime. The truth is muscular tension exercises are as old as exercise itself and over a period of time, the exercises may have changed or evolved but the principles stay the same. Using the mind to focus on specific muscles to contract and relax isn't easy to do but with practice can be done one of two ways, either in and of themselves as a training program or using them as a supplement to your current regimen.

I first learned these back around 2006 when I first got the book Pushing Yourself To Power by John Peterson. I didn't exactly care too much on some of the religious aspect of it, all I cared about was what exercises can I use and how I can apply them. Now granted knowing what I know now, its a expanded version of the Charles Atlas Course Dynamic Tension and with it were not just calisthenics and self resistance exercises, there were exercises purely based on muscle control utilizing movement within the tension being used. They were a little odd to me especially the name of the style called Dynamic Visualized Resistance (DVR). I tried them out anyway and they were great but they just didn't click with me at the time. As I was collecting more and more fitness books I came across another of John's books, The Miracle 7.

These were 7 exercises that were also in PYTP were the main emphasis for this particular book and as a curious trainee figured I'd check them out. Practiced them and were great for a while but ended up backing off. 10 years later I'm back at them and for a specific purpose other than learning; I wanted to truly find out what these can truly do when I applied my style with the exercises themselves, changing up the feet placement and putting my own spin on the 3x10-20 protocol. After practicing for weeks now, they have become a part of my daily life and I practiced them as my first workout of the day. Adding in the other 5 from the first book to do the complete routine from head to toe it has given me a different perspective on how to really expand the mind to exercise and use them as a workout exclusively and use other forms of exercise as training. Because of this I train from 1-3 times a day challenging my mind and body to control the muscles from amazing angles.

This type of training alone has greater benefits than just regular calisthenics. As much as I love push-ups, squats, bridging, v-ups, pull-ups and the best of them all  animal movements, DVR Style Training gives me a greater purpose to train for health especially because of the injuries to my ankles and shins I can't always keep up with the jumping, high rep workouts on a daily basis because it does burn me out and I need to take time off from them. Not the DVR Exercises, I can do these practically whenever I want and never get sore or bored, hell I don't even have to run or go too fast and lose my form; this thing is all about moving using muscular tension and focusing on the muscles without putting much or little stress on the joints and ligaments. They can be used in a variety of ways, they can be used for rehab, building muscle, train throughout the day or in one shot, doesn't take too long depending on what you do, generates an insane amount oxygenated blood down to the smallest capillaries, can be used as a warm up or a full workout, create flexibility, teaches how to breathe naturally, can be used on days off or (aught to be done) everyday. They help regenerate mobility and create muscle that isn't full of bloated skin, teaches you how interact the mind/muscle connection, can teach you how to use other forms of training by how you contract and relax the muscles in specific positions and can help restore injured muscles to their natural ability to heal and strengthen.

You can learn the Miracle 7 Exercises from here >>>>http://transformetrics.com/exercises and look for these exercises.....

Ab Contraction
Barrel Squeeze (Full Range Pectoral Contraction)
One-Arm Chin
Shoulder Roll
High Reach
Wrist Twist
Half Squat

To learn the Full 12 Exercises grab Pushing Yourself To Power. Very powerful exercises that open up the body and mind in a whole other realm. I like to do these out in the open where you can breathe in amazing air, get vitamin D (sunshine) and feel the body in a more natural setting. Doing them indoors works great too and is great for those that either can't go outside due to bad weather or just want to train and chill in the house afterwards. Can help build a naturally developed physique, very relaxing effects from post-workout, creates amazing endorphins and did I forget to mention can rave up your hormones especially for those over 40? Trust me, its worth a look at.

Cold Showers In The Summer

If you live in a hot climate in parts of the country you know that staying cool is more than a priority, its practically life-saving. Some people are natural heaters, I happen to be one of them so in winter time even up in northern Idaho I still dress in California style clothing. That's just the way my body tends to operate so the heat on my body helps me stay warm in the winter but in the late sprint to late summer that can almost be deadly. 

Staying cool for me lately is taking Cold showers which in turn helps me maintain temperature. Sure I can use fans around the house but for the most part it doesn't help my body much and its not fun watching a movie while the fan is blasting at the same time. Cold showers are my best friend and i'm talking like deep cold. Some people are more naturally cold so heat does get to them but they have a faster rate of dying down after a while, like my girl, she's cold very easily so I tend to be the heat rock. Those who can be colder can maintain a good amount of heat, i'm the exact opposite, I need cold just to maintain body heat.

Cold Showers can help not only maintain the body's temperature but can also aid in improving skin tone, weight loss, fat loss and open up hormones to the sexual organs. This in turn can lead to irony where because I need cold water to maintain my body heat in hot climate, my body burns calories just to stay warm. Believe me, they never get easier but they can be interesting if you do practically nothing but cold showers and only warm water a few times just to clean yourself has many benefits. In the winter it helps build a tolerance for cold weather so as long as its not so cold that your spit freezes in mid air you should be fine. The body has to burn off twice as many calories just so you can stay warm so look at the benefit from that. Make it a habit and get that amazing feeling on your skin and as much as you may not believe, cold showers do increase testosterone (it'll hit you once the body is at the best temperature of warmth).