The ONE Workout Plan To RULE THEM ALL!

It's time I share the style of training I've been doing for over two years now.

Over a decade of experimenting with different styles of training, I've come to a core set of movements that I believe will cover all of the minimalist athlete's bases.

You might be shocked at how minimal it actually is, and wonder if it is even enough.

Our culture is obsessed with MORE. But can we still get the results we want with less?

The simple fact is that muscle and strength is gained by progressively overloading the muscle fiber to trigger new growth. Using your body or a barbell will accomplish the same thing, however, a barbell might get you jacked faster. The argument of bodyweight vs. barbell training is overdone, so I won't continue it here.

When I did barbell training, there was a popular plan called The Big Three that involved bench press, squat, and deadlift as the only movements executed. Many would also add in pull-ups. The reason being that these movements effectively hit all the muscle groups you would care about in a natural way.

I've adapted this minimalist barbell methodology to a bodyweight progressive calisthenics routine. As long as we progressively overload the muscle (by continuing to advance to more challenging movements - regular push-ups to one-armed push-up for example), we will continue to move in the direction of having an attractive and fit physique.

The workout:

What's a variant?

This is called Progressive Calisthenics because we do a type of movement that our body can handle and then progressively get more advanced to continue overloading the muscle.

For example, a beginner variant of the push-up is the "Wall push-up". Wall push-ups are FAR easier than a regular push-up and you should only do that if you have difficulty doing a regular push-up. Eventually you will develop the strength to do a regular push-up and you can move on to that. To get an idea of the length of time you can continue to train this way - I currently can do about 5 one-arm push-ups. It will be probably be a very long time before I can do 3 sets of 10, but that's the point, it's a slow journey of gradual growth.

Start with a movement you can do several repetitions with and then try to do 3 sets of 10 repetitions with good, strong form. Once you achieve that, be proud, cheer for yourself, celebrate, and then move on to a slightly more difficult variant.

Al Kavadlo's YouTube channel for finding progressions and tips (tip: search "Al Kavadlo Squat Progression")

Pull-up progressions

Squat progressions

Push-up progressions