These guys inspire me to push beyond my own physical and mental limitations like no other athlete does. They inspire me also to work hard because success will not come unless there is an abundance of it.

Yet, there is one man that has the sheer size that makes my jaw drop. On Youtube, he goes by the name of “Juice of Beastmode” and truly lives up to the name. He is also the winner of the 2010 NBXA Tournament.

If you haven’t heard of him before I have a video below that you can watch to check out some of his moves.

As you can see, Juice doesn’t mess around. He can handstand and muscle up with the best of them. A couple weeks ago I had a chance to pick his brain on a few questions and I think the answers are pretty enlightening.

He seems to focus heavily on the mind and pushing the boundaries of the mind in order to move beyond any limitations of the body. This is incredible advice for all of us because the mind will almost always fail before our body. Usually, what happens is we start to feel pain or fatigue in our body and our mind tells us that we shouldn’t go further. We can either listen to it and stop or keeping going and see what our body is truly capable of.

Juice, let’s get to the important things first. How did you get such a cool nick name?

Well, I got my name from where I work. I’m a supervisor for UPS. Well, as an hourly, my main objective is to always take care of business; so at that time my supervisor saw I was a beast when I work. He told me, “I will name you, JUICE.” I replied, “that’s a gay name” but everyday he continued to call me by that and I said I have the juice now. So I took it and ran with it. My real name is Ronel Joseph. I’m 195 lbs and 5’11.

Tell us a little about your fitness journey? Did you start out in bar-style exercising or weight lifting? Were you fit from a young age?

Well, at the age of fourteen, my cousin introduced me to the gym. I liked it but I wanted more. When I immigrated to USA, I took part in other sports such as basketball, soccer, track, football and weight lifting. I started calisthenics while I was doing weights but still was hitting weights hard at the age of 19. At 20, I started focusing on calisthenics. So, yes, I was fit when I young and I competed in all types of sports.

What was your inspiration to get into this style of exercise? And what inspires you today?

My inspiration was to train my mind, body and soul to be the best at whatever I put my mind too. I wanna change and show people they can do it too! What inspires me to push harder is when I can inspire and motive others from my own experiences.

To date, what has been the hardest exercise to learn? Why?

The hardest exercise I ever learned was the handstand because you have to be strong mentally. You have to focus all your strength by practicing everyday to get better.

What is your secret for getting so big?

I have no secrets on getting big. Its not about getting big for me it’s just about being creative with your mind. To see things differently than others and to conquer my goals.

What is your nutritional philosophy? Do you count Calories, grams of protein, etc.?

I don’t have a nutrition plan or anything; but I work hard to eat right and to eat healthy.

How often do you train and what does your training workouts look like? Ie- How long? Do you count sets, reps, etc.?

I train everyday 24/7 for 365 days! No days off. My training always challenges me to do high reps and set beyond failure. I train Monday through Friday for 4 to 5 hrs and Saturday & Sunday for 12 to 14 hrs

Where do you see the sport of calisthenics heading? Do you ever see it main stream?

I want this sport to be recognized in the USA. I see it big in international countries like Russia, etc. I want it to be in the Olympics. Yes, it will get mainstream but everyone has to play a part to get it out there.

If a fitness enthusiast came up to you and said, “I want to be as strong as you Juice!” What type of advice would you give him?

Well, the advice I will you is you should be better than me. Be yourself. Don’t let anyone tell you, “you can’t.” Always push your mind where it has never been before. Never say never and always do your best to teach people all over the world!

What is next for Juice? What are some of your goals, dreams and aspirations? Ie- Fitness, personal, business?

Well, big things are in store. I wanna be in fitness magazines, training celebrities, traveling all over the world, touring to different countries and sharing my life to inspire others. I wanna be a great teacher, personal trainer, motivator, and a great person as a whole.
Thank you for the interview. Let me know what you think. Everything is and will always be Beastmode! MIND OVER MATTER!!
Juice

****

Thanks so much Juice for being part of SOA! I sincerely appreciate all the insight you have to offer our community.

If you would like to follow Juice, check out more by clicking below:
Juice’s Youtube Channel
Juice’s Facebook Page

Here are some other videos of Juice that I LOVE!!

Hope you enjoyed the interview!

Let me know what you think in the comments below.

-Todd

My wife and I are taking advantage of the holiday to head up to my parent’s cottage in Newaygo, Michigan. It is a beautiful place on Lake Pickerel and is where I spent much of my childhood. We swam, hiked and caught turtles until the bottom of our boat was swarming with them. Watch out for those snappers Tom!

I remember one time we were doing some turtle hunting and we saw a couple soft shell turtles. These kind are very rare and very fast. They were a few feet away from us so I paddled like a maniac (I was the paddler since I was younger – One of the MANY disadvantages to being the younger brother. ) while my brother prepared the net.

He ended up leaning over the front of the boat as I tried to counter-balance the back of it but my end still ended up way in the air. It was a cheap aluminum boat so this happened frequently considering that my brother weighed twice as much as me.

We never did catch that soft shell turtle but have caught many others including blanding, musks, snappers, painted, box (these weren’t in the water) and others. One time while I was snorkeling I even “bumped” noses with a monster snapper turtle that was huge. I bolted like lightening and yelled to my little sister under the water to get out. We both turned into scaredy cats.

Oh, those were the days. I’ll certainly be reliving some of them this weekend.

The 10 Minute Ab & Shoulder Screamer Workout

Now to get to the workout. This is a super challenging shoulder and ab workout using only body weight exercises that I can almost guarantee that you won’t be able to get through. Heck, I can’t even get through it. But that’s the fun of it right?

I was chatting with my wife today and she came up to give me a hug for encouraging me in a video we recently shot together. At one point she told me to stop the video because it was too hard. I told her no and kept encouraging her.

Well, she made it through with a few bumps along the way. Today, she did the workout again and made it all the way through without cheating! Way to go baby!

That’s the cool thing about fitness. What was once your hardest workout soon becomes just a warm up.

Body adaptation is really intriguing to me. I am going through a calisthenics program right now. I may not be able to do a perfect handstand yet but I am on my way!

Check back a few months later and you’ll be like, “Dang, Todd! You are rocking those gymnastics moves!”

Today’s workout comprises of 3 moves:

Move 1: Double Leg Lumber Jacks

Move 2: Single Leg Lumber Jacks

Move 3: Plank

You will do each exercise for one minute straight and continue on to the next exercise. After you finish Move 3 you will take 1 minute rest. Trust me. You’ll need it.

After the rest, you will do the same thing for the second set. Then rest for a minute and finish up with a 3rd set.

Done!

Hope you “enjoy” it!

-Todd

photo,

I would often feel anxiety because I was not progressing fast enough on the path of “enlightenment.” I would read about the gurus that had achieved a state of oneness with the world and get frustrated because I was not there yet.

Well, Tai Chi was one of the few practices that helped me center. It helped me calm my mind and ease my spirit.

What we do during our times of practice is not always as important as how we do them.

I used to teach my students that the movements of the form were actually less important than deeply instilling the PRINCIPLES of Tai Chi. These principles are: energy, yin/yang, balance, whole body oneness, breath, fluidity and others.

The interesting thing that happened when you instill the principles of Tai Chi into your movements is that the principles start to bleed over into your daily life. As you deepen your relaxation in the form, your ability to relax during stressful events in your life increases. As you learn to control your internal energy through the form, you understand how to move your energy in your daily life so you can draw upon greater or lesser amounts as needed.

Going Deeper Into Calisthenics (Why SOA Is Shifting Gears)

For the past 2 years I have shared my philosophy for getting stronger, losing fat, eating right, etc. I am ALWAYS excited to help others in this area and I know that the majority of SOA followers still struggle in these areas.

This type of information will not leave SOA. Yet, as I go deeper into calisthenics, I am realizing that there are some major similarities between whole body calisthenics and Tai Chi. Calisthenics is not just about getting stronger or about being able to impress people with your one arm handstand. Calisthenics is a method of incorporating deeper principles of mental strength and balance and relaxation into our daily lives so that we can control ourselves more effectively.

I am fascinated by the concept of doing extremely challenging moves effortlessly. Our physical bodies have immense capability and I think we have only scratched the surface of what we can do as humans…

Why couldn’t we do a back flip starting from a handstand and landing back into a handstand?

Why couldn’t we do a 51 inch box jump from our hands?

How about a 1,000 pistol squat jump ropes? Is this possible?

Where is the limit for the human body?

I think it is only where we decide it to be.

As a community, we are going to start focusing on helping each other reach a higher level of strength and ability and it will be starting today in our Mad Monday video.

How You Can Do A Double Arm Lever Today

The Double Arm Lever is a great calisthenic trick that helps develop strength in your shoulders and back. However, it is not purely a “strength maneuver”. The move is really about balance.

As you watch the video and learn how to do the movement pay close attention to the explanation on wrist flexibility and elbow placement. This will help you perform the movement better.

Also, in the spirit of Tai Chi, I would like you to begin incorporating the principle of proper breath control into the movement. When you are finally able to hold the double arm lever, start shifting your focus to your breath. Breath as deeply as you can throughout the entirety of the move.

The principle of breathing deeply in the midst of difficulty will help embed your ability to breath deeply and calmly in your daily life. Problems will arise but you will be able to simply shrug them off.

Below is a video of my daughter Emma that shows a perfect example of this. She is sitting in her high chair and I spook her and she is at first startled and then laughs it off. What a great example that we all could live by. Don’t sweat the small stuff!

Well that’s it folks!

Have a great Mad Monday and remember to practice your breathing throughout the day!

-Todd

My breathing was soft.

My mind was clear.

My body was relaxed.

Then, without me even realizing it, my internal energy began to sink.

It is a technique called “rooting energy” and is one of the most incredible feelings in the world. It feels like the lower half of your body is buried DEEP within the ground. Energy like a tsunami flowed up from the ground, through my legs and was released by my arms.

I honestly felt like a locomotive could have slammed into me and I would not have lost my balance.

The above experience happened to me several years ago and I have often thought about if there was a way of harnessing this same energy for the purpose of strength training.

Can we use internal energy to increase strength output?

Why Did I Reach Out To Elliott Hulse To Answer The Questions Of Internal Energy For Strength Training?

Elliott Hulse is not your typical online strength guru. He goes FAR beyond teaching people how to bench press. Elliott is a thinker. He takes everything with a grain of salt and applies what he can to his own life in order to see what works.

I’ve been following Elliott on Youtube for quite some time now and have always been surprised by his knowledge of the eastern internal energy practices. He has learned Chi Kung and inculcated these principles into his own practice called Anabolic Energies. His greatest fitness influence, his uncle, was an avid practitioner of the internal arts and exposed Elliott to much of it.

I thought to myself, “If there is one person that might know where the marriage point is between internal energy practices and external strength training, it would be Elliott.“

So I decided to reach out to him and ask him my questions.

The below videos are a question-by-question contemplative conversation between Elliott and I in regards to internal energy, yin/yang, body weight exercises and a few other concepts.

I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think in the comments section below….

How Do You Incorporate Internal Energy Into Your Workouts and Can It Make You Perform Better?

How Do You Blend Yin/Yang Energy Into Your Strength Training So That It Is Balanced and Not Overly Yang?

Everything Evolves & Changes Over Time. How Do You See The Sport Of Power Lifting Evolving Over The Next Few Decades?

SOA Is A Bodyweight Exercise Community. What Do You Think About Calisthenic Only Programs & Are You Working On Any Specific Moves (Muscle Ups, Hand Stands, etc.)?

If Someone Came Up To You And Asked, “Elliott, How Do I Become The Strongest Version Of Myself?” What Would You Tell Them?

*****

Elliott, thank you so much for participating in the Shot of Adrenaline community. We appreciate your generosity of time and insight very much!

To learn more about Elliott and join his communities here are some helpful links below…

Elliott’s Website: HulseStrength.com
Elliott’s Youtube Channel: Strength Camp
Elliott’s Facebook Page: Elliott Hulse Fan Page
Elliott On Twitter: Elliott Tweets
Elliott’s Non-Jobs Campaign (This is a great resource for all those that are not happy with their 9-5): NonJobs.com

You know that I like to push the envelope with my workouts and today is no different. In fact it is one of the most challenging workouts yet. However, I will not be joining you today in the sweat and tears.

Instead, I have a special guest making her cameo appearance on AShotofAdrenaline TV, it is none other than Mrs. Adrenaline herself… my wife Allison!

Today, I put her and you through the 7 Minute V Up Challenge.

So I would you to give her a hearty Adrenaline-style welcome!

You will be doing 4 different exercises: V Up, V Holds, V Flutters and Tuck Plank (Just made this one up. ).

You’ll do each exercise for 30 seconds and then move on to the next exercise. Once you finish all 4 exercises you’ll rest for 30 seconds.

There are 3 total sets to the workout.

Thank you baby for joining us in the workout! You are sexy and beautiful! Love you so much!

-Todd

Proverbs 12:4 says, “A wife of noble character is her husband’s crown...” and she most certainly is for me. She completes me and I am eternally blessed for her support and encouragement in all of my endeavors. Happy 1st Mother’s Day sweetheart!

Update About The Camera Situation:

So my buddy let me borrow his Nikon D3100 with a Nikkor 18-55mm lens (Don’t worry if you don’t know what any of that means. I am certainly still in the beginning stages of learning myself.). There is a picture of the set up below. We have also been praying about purchasing a new computer and believed that the LORD was telling us to move forward. However, we didn’t know the exact timing so we casted lots (One of the first times we have actually done so.) and heard from the LORD to go ahead and purchase it.

So this is a picture of our set up. It includes our little chica-poo in the picture as well. See how she grabs the camera. Certainly a professional photographer in the making.

I used this exact set up (minus the baby) to shoot and edit today’s Mad Monday video. There are CERTAINLY some bugs in the video but I think it is an improvement. The primary reason for investigating the camera and purchasing the new computer is to produce higher quality videos.

My desire is to see you reach your fitness goals and I want to do everything within my power to help you do so.

The Mad Monday Burpee Pushup Challenge

I have a long way to go in my editing skills but I like how it came out for the most part.

Today’s workout will be incorporating two bodyweight exercises that engage the whole body. It is a very exhausting workout because there are no rest periods.

You will be doing 10 burpees in a row and then 10 hindu push ups in a row. Then you will do 9 burpees in a row and then 9 hindu push ups in a row.

You will follow the above guidelines for 8, 7, 6 and so on until you reach 1.

If These Exercises Are Too Difficult…

If the burpees and hindu push ups are too difficult you may feel free to modify them to make them easier. The burpees can be made easier by not jumping as high and not squatting so low. The hindu push ups can be made easier by putting your knees on the ground.

There you have it my friends! If you have any suggestions on how to make the videos better or want to wish my wife a Happy Mother’s Day, feel free to leave a comment. I wish all of you mothers out there a huge Adrenaline style Happy Mother’s Day!

-Todd

You see, even at a young age I had a reflective and contemplative personality. I often looked down while I walked not out of a lack of self-confidence or because I liked to stare at my feet.

I looked down because my awareness was inside.

One of my Nursing school friends once shared with me that when she was a little girl she would often climb to the top of a tree because she liked to look out at the horizon and imagine herself exploring whatever was beyond it. She had an outward focus. I told her that I also did the same thing when I was younger but instead of looking at the horizon I would often close my eyes and feel how the tree was gently swaying as the wind pushed against it. She focused outwardly. I focused internally.

What Does Internal Focus and Outward Focus Have To Do With Fitness?

To me, the difference between internal focus and external focus is like the difference between body weight exercises and lifting weights. Lifting weights is a relationship between an object and the lifter. There is an external focus.

During bodyweight exercises there is no object to have a relationship with. Its just you. So the focus has to be internal. I think that is why I like them so much.

Ido Portal is a perfect example. He moves with an sense of where his body is in space. There is a relationship with oneself that is incredible. He has mastery over his body and uses movement as a type of meditation. His focus is internal.

This is why I pursue body weight exercises. The benefits of functional strength are great, but there is a deeper element of learning to control oneself.

Why I Made The Transition From Below The Bar To Above The Bar

After I built my PVC Bodyweight Gym, I realized that bar calisthenics helped shift my focus even deeper. Balance became more of an issue and in order to hold a move I had to become intensely aware of where I was keeping my balance. For almost a decade I have been training in calisthenics and have loved them. Doing many different styles of push ups and squats is exciting, especially because there are so many variations. However, the focus has been on strength gains.

I wanted to challenge myself in a new way. I wanted to learn handstands, planches and arm levers… on the bar. So I decided to set in motion the steps in order to achieve these goals.

Mid March I decided to move forward with Parallettes Two (A Gold Medal Bodies’ Program) and have been blown away with the results so far.

They have a Parallettes One program but after consulting with Amber (Gold Medal Bodies’ Team Member) she recommended Two because I already had a basic level of fitness and strength.

Below you will find some of the moves that I have been able to achieve from the program. I already could do V-Ups but all the others are new moves for me.

Bent Arm Handstand

This is the Bent Arm Handstand. I can hold it now for about 10-15 seconds.

Straight Arm Handstand

This is the straight arm handstand. For me, its actually harder than the bent arm. My PR is about 10 seconds.

Double Arm Lever

The Double Arm Lever is actually more about balance than strength.

Single Arm Lever

This is the Single Arm Lever. 95% of my weight is supported on my right arm. My left hand is just doing some very minor support.

High Frog

This is called the High Frog. Your knees are on your triceps to help support some of the weight of your lower torso.

Tuck Hold (A few steps away from the planche)

The Tuck Hold is the next transition after the High Frog on the way up to the Planche. You can see here that my knees are not resting on my arms.

V Up (Not a new move for me but still part of the program)

GMB has definitely helped me improve my V Up.

I sought out a program that I felt would help me achieve the goal of balance and strength. I wasn’t looking for muscle growth or fat loss. I wanted to master my own body and achieve a type of “meditative strength practice” that I haven’t really seen before in the industry.

The End Goal of the Program…

Bar calisthenics is extremely attractive to me because I used to teach Tai Chi and what I see below has elements of Tai Chi in it. In the video, Ryan uses breath control, fluidity, and a balance of yin/yang energies. After I can do the below routine, I plan to incorporate even more of the principles of Tai Chi into this routine and make it my meditative strength practice.

So that’s it my friends. If you want to learn more about the Parallettes Two program, here’s a link. It is not “challenging” in the normal sense of the word. It won’t have you panting til your out of breath like many other programs. It focuses on skill development in a systemic way. For example, below is a diagram from the manual.

I like how each of the 4 stages build off of each other. I am still on stage 1 of the program and am already super excited by my new arsenal of moves. I couldn’t do handstands or tuck holds before the program yet Ryan has a systematic method for helping anyone, even if they are new to bar training develop these moves.

Hannibal for King and Denis Minen, eat your heart out! Todd Kuslikis is gunnin’ for the title!

Have a great day my friends!

Todd

My buddy Dan Terpstra has let me borrow a couple of his cameras so I will begin to do some testing. We were brainstorming with the idea of having two cameras at different angles so I am excited to try the many variations!

Let the experimenting begin!

Today’s Workout: The Extreme Ab Bouncer Workout

We are going to get down to business today. No messing around. In this workout we will be doing 3 sets of 3 different variations of the Ab Bouncer (An exercise I made up awhile ago).

Go ahead and get started with the video and learn 3 new ab exercises you have never seen before.

You’ll be feelin’ it tomorrow!

God bless,

Todd

I am super pumped! My wife, daughter Emma and I had an amazing weekend at the Tulip Festival in Holland, Michigan yesterday. This last week was pretty draining since I had to work in the field with clients (I often work with closed head and spinal cord injury clients that were involved in motor vehicle accidents) and I didn’t get as much time as I wanted with my family. So we cancelled our meetings for Saturday and packed up the “kiddo” (Never, realized how long this takes. I’m probably in for even more of a shock when we have 3 or 4 kids) and headed out.

There is a wicked section of the Festival called Windmill Island that was stunning. We got a chance to see what it was like to live in Holland 500 years ago (Since I am half Dutch… this was pretty cool.)

Allison, Emma and I found a spot on the grass in the shade and reflected on these last 6 months and commemorated A Shot of Adrenaline and a decision we have been thinking about to the LORD.

The Decision To Invest In A New Video Camera…

For the past several years I have been using a Flip video camera that has served me well. I have shot almost 300 videos for our Youtube Channel which has received 317,495 total views.

I reflect back on the videos and how I have progressed as a videographer and thought that it was time to up the ante. Allison agreed and we decided to bathe the decision in prayer. We both believe that the LORD is telling us to move forward so I need your help!

Would You Help Me?

If you know anything about shooting video I would appreciate some help. I am looking to purchase a solid professional (yet not too expensive) video camera. Below is the picture of the one I am looking at. Its a Canon XL1 and I have found it for $650 on ebay which is in my price range.

The video camera I am thinking about purchasing to shoot the Mad Monday workouts and other videos. Its called the Canon XL1.

Any feedback or thoughts are certainly appreciated.

Alright Todd, Let’s Burn Out Our Pecs Already…

Today’s workout will incorporate two different techniques to help burn out our chest region.

Technique #1: Pre-Fatigue

Prefatiguing a muscle is a well established technique that many pro body builders use. The technique forces your muscle to recruit more muscle fibers to complete a movement because many of the fibers inside the muscle are already blasted. In this Mad Monday workout, we’ll doing 25 push ups as our “pre-fatigue” before the other exercises.

Technique #2: Time Under Tension

By increasing the time that your muscle is under tension (working) and increasing the intensity of a movement you will by default tear tissue. This workout has you doing 3 exercises all following a 5 second down count, 1 second hold and a 5 second up count.

What’s the Workout?

In this workout you will be doing 4 exercises for 3 total sets.

Exercise 1: 25 Pushups (Pre-Fatigue Stage)
Like I said before this is our pre-fatigue stage. If you can’t do any normal push ups or if you can’t make it all the way to 25 total push ups, finish up whatever you can’t do on your knees.

Exercise 2: Wide Arm Push Ups (Time Under Tension Stage)
This exercise will help strengthen the pec minor muscle. Weight lifters will use a “bench fly” to strengthen this muscle but a wide arm push up does essentially the same thing. Make sure that you do this to full fatigue. Also, make sure that you are doing a 5 second count on the way down, hold for 1 second count and 5 second count on the way up.

Exercise 3: Normal Push Ups (Time Under Tension Stage)
Although we have already done this exercise it will be used here to tear muscle tissue even more. Remember our Time Under Tension technique.

Exercise 4: Push Ups on Knees (Time Under Tension Stage)
Here is the final exercise. And it may sound pretty wimpy but trust me that after all the exercises in a row you will probably only be able to get a few of these.

Rest for 60 seconds

End of Set 1.

Do 2 more sets total.

Hope you have been enjoying the workouts. If you missed Saturday’s guest post where I interviewed one of the most solid, integrity-based body weight exercises leaders out there… you’ll definitely want to check it out.

God bless my friends!

Todd

photo

Hi everyone,

Today I have a special treat for us. I had the great blessing of getting a chance to interview Pavel Rudometkin from FortressBody.com. He is one of the youngest body weight exercise masters on my list and has attained a high level of proficiency. What is even cooler is that he is a believer! I spent quite a bit of time on his site and am really excited to share his wisdom and perspective on life. He has almost 50K Youtube followers but doesn’t resort to swearing or ego-filled videos like many others.

Below you will find my interview with Pavel. I hope you enjoy!

Let’s start off with a little background. How has your fitness journey progressed over the years? Where did you start and where are you now?

My man Pavel!

First few months my fitness journey was just to learn a few tricks. As anything, exercise becomes addicting. Since I worked out every day for one hour, in an HIIT type of training, it destroyed me. But it released dopamine and endorphins which I loved. It made me feel good and “high” I can say. I worked out like this for almost one year, gaining around 30lbs of muscle. Many people thought I was on steroids, yet, I didn’t even count my protein intake! Just hard work and eating lots.

I knew that that was wrong. “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything.” (1 Cor 6:12) I knew that that was wrong, and it must change. So, I let go off working out. It was extremely difficult not to go to the park, because I missed that feeling of being “high” after an awesome workout. I felt extremely energetic daily, and it worked for a little bit of time, but after, I was back into it. A time came when I realized that Christ gave His life for me, and I must give mine to Him in return. That revelation changed my perspective and my workouts dropped out of perspective.

I worked out when I could, in order to maintain. After all, our body is the temple of God, a gift from God to us, and we must take care of it. In perspective with godliness, the body is minuscule, but it still plays a little role, which must not be neglected.

Pavel Doing a Front Lever on a Door Frame

This is me today. I use my free time to go workout. I can go weeks without doing anything, and I have weeks of intense workout training daily (because my time affords it). It’s a “for fun” kind of thing now. I train when I can, I pick a trick, and I practice it. That simple. Or I pick a goal (such as 10 handstand pushups with no wall) and I practice it until I get it. Once the goal is reached, I set a new one and strive once again, working with the time slots I have.

What is your current workout routine?

When I come, I usually start with 10 strict muscle ups followed by 10 pullups without getting off the bar. That is my warmup set. Then I move on to practicing my tricks. That’s it. I don’t always do my warmup set, but I usually do.

What type of nutritional philosophy do you have?

I studied nutrition for quite some time. I’m majoring in Exercise Biology, so everything that has to do with human physiology and anatomy, I learn. That includes nutrition, movement, maximal power output, or maximal results, rehabilitation, safety, and so on. Believe me, putting all the carbs, proteins, lipids, macro and micronutrients, vitamins and minerals to the side, there is one single factor that will determine who you will become, so keep it simple. That factor is calories. Calories is the amount of energy stored in the food that your body can use. Excess energy is stored as fat. Looking to lose weight? Cut it down to 1500 calories or so and give it a few weeks and you’ll see it vaporize! (not really, but you know what I mean). Once you’re shredded and want to put on some muscle, switch your calorie intake to around 3,000-4,000 calories (adjust depending on bodytype) and watch the muscle pile on! You might gain some fat with it, but that’s where regulation comes in where you find the perfect amount of calories for muscle gain and fat maintenance. That’s all I did…

Pavel has a unique method of strengthen his abs.

Try to stay towards the healthier foods, and try to avoid junk food or food from fast food restaurants. Cook your own, or choose healthy fast food. For example, as a college student, I eat my main meals at home (which are usually breakfast early in the morning, and dinner late in the evening) and throughout the day I just eat fruits. Bananas, apples, and oranges. Sometimes berries as well. So stay healthy while you eat fast food

Before I get flagged for giving people nutritionally unsound advice, I’d like to defend myself. Your body is AWESOMELY tuned! It is the most complex thing in the world. Your body functions on maintaining homeostasis, and does everything possible in order to help it be on top of the game. So, if your body is lacking protein – guess what you will crave? Protein! If your body is craving sugar, guess what it needs? Sugar! However, your body can be addicted to food just as much as anything else, that’s why it is important to keep a calorie count, while eating the foods that you crave (which is exactly what I did).

If a beginner came to you and said, “I want to develop a body like yours.” What would be the exact steps you would tell them to follow?

Pavel has horse shoes a Clydesdale would be jealous of… all with body weight exercises!

A body like mine? Haha, I laugh everytime. It’s funny because the body I have came as a complementary addition to what I was training. It wasn’t even my goal, nor was I training for it. I’d say if you’re looking to have a body like mine – get yourself a gym membership, and go and train all the bodyparts accordingly. Focus on shoulders, biceps, and lats (because those seem to be the biggest on me) and in some time, hopefully, you’ll be like me! That’s what bodybuilding is, you literally Build Your Body, as a sculptor. Now, if you just want to have an Athletic build, like me, not particularly my body, then you can follow my plan: which is – go and train! Set goals and reach them! Find the equilibrium for your calorie intake, and you’ll see results, you have a 100% SATISFACTION GUARANTEE from me personally.

What has been your biggest inspiration to practice this style of exercise?

Don’t really have many inspirations. When I JUST started off, my uncle was my inspiration. Once I learned the things he could do, Hannibal for King became an inspiration. Then, Calisthenics Kingz became an inspiration – not his character (which, to me, honestly, seems quite arrogant), but his strength. My goal at one point was to learn everything that Calisthenics Kingz could do AND what Hannibal for King could do, because those seem to be like two ends of the spectrum. Hit is all about balance and pushing power, and HFK is all about pulling power and strength. But that was back in the day, when I was still young (I began training at 15). Right now I just work with myself, improvise, set new goals, and practice! No inspiration needed, it’s almost a part of my lifestyle.

Gotta love the back lever!

Do you ever incorporate equipment into your routines such as weight vests, barbells, dumbbells, kettle bells, etc.?

No supplementary equipment is used in my workouts. The only time I use it is to test my limits. For example “How heavy of a pullup can I do?” or “How many pushups can I do with my sister?” or “I wonder how much I can squat”. Other than that, I train bodyweight only.

What has been the most difficult body weight move to master and what move are you working on now?

Everything is the most difficult as you’re learning it. Some of the hardest, at some point, were the tiger bend handstand pushup, one arm pullup (which I later learned to do 6 on each hand), two finger muscle up (one finger each hand), slow muscle up, handpress, just to name a few… Right now I’m working on reaching 30 Superman Pushups Fit Fury style and 10 Handstand Pushups with no support.

Do you ever see the sport mainstream or do you think it will stay more niche?

It’s more of a fun way to keep yourself healthy. Gyms are super new in the world, and so are fitness centers. For thousands of years people have kept themselves healthy through bodyweight exercises. We are just bringing back what was once lost. It is NOT a sport however. A sport has a winning side and a losing side – any sport, here all you’re working against is with yourself, it intrinsically does not meet the definition of “sport”.

I do, however, see many people switching to bodyweight as they realize how easy it is and how cheap it is to maintain good health in this way.

What specific advice would you give someone that wanted to master challenging calisthenic moves like the planche, human flag and muscle up?

Practice, practice, and practice! Start with the basics, which can be called “pre-requisites”, and work up to harder variations. I have tutorials for all those moves, so you can check them out to see what pre-requisites are needed.

“For while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.” 1 Tim 4:8

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Here Are Some of My Favorite Videos of Pavel

Thank you so much Pavel for joining me in this interview. I know I learned a ton and look forward to learning more from you!

You may learn more about Pavel and his astounding body weight exercise feats by checking out his website FortressBody.com, Youtube Channel and Facebook page.

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Todd