Complete Calisthenics: The Ultimate Guide To Bodyweight Exercise

I own and have followed the Convict Conditioning series. I wish I knew about this book before I bought those. Don't get me wrong the Convict Conditioning (Con-Con) series is very good and I would still have bought them but I think Complete Calisthenics is a better book. I currently have tailored my own program from this book with some ideas from Con-Con 1 & 2.Kalym's Fundamental Five (F5), his starter program if you will, is well thought out. Any beginner should be able to achieve the F5 requirements in a reasonable number of months with the exception of the 10 pull-ups which will probably be the sticking point for some. That's not a flaw with the program but rather highlights two issues that are common with many. Too many of us are too heavy and too sedentary. Our pulling muscles are weak from disuse and it's hard to hit a decent number of pull-ups with a spare tire acting as a anchor.I believe hitting the F5 requirements is a reasonable foundation. His second and third programs are well thought out in my opinion. The second program uses some harder exercise variations to build greater strength and introduces handstands. Perhaps this is why some people are calling this book intermediate to advanced but remember you don't start here, you earn your way here by nailing the F5. The third program further develops handstands and introduces levers and this is getting into advanced territory for most.In my opinion this is a no nonsense, no hype book with a very good treatment of a large selection of body weight exercises and reasonable programming. The book lays out a plan to go as far as you want to go with calisthenics.

I've been following the "Convict Conditioning" plan since 2012 with excellent results. But I've been trying to include more gymnastics style training into my routine (Planche, Levers, Human Flag, etc). I've searched on line for progressions for these with limited success.I was on Amazon and saw this book in the "People who purchased this also purchased these" section. I read the description and the reviews and decided to give it a shot. I am VERY glad I did. This is exactly what I've been looking for. It has similar progression information to Convict Conditioning, but for more exercises. It covers Planche, Levers, and Human Flags along with many others. It gave great information about building strength in the scapula which will improve overall strength and stability.The book is well written with plenty of pictures showing how to complete each movement.The nutrition section is brief and basic, but I didn't purchase it for nutritional advice.I've only had the book for 2 days and I'm already incorporating new exercises described in the book into my routine.Thank you Ashley Kalym for the great book! I will post back in a year with my results.10/7/2014 Update: I have begun to incorporate the static holds into my routine and I am already feeling a major difference in my upper body strength. The post workout (next day) muscle soreness feels different then when I am doing my standard repetition work. I am very much enjoying these new static hold exercises.12/1/2015 Update: L-Sits, Planche, Front Levers & Back Levers have all been incorporated into my regular routine rotation. I now have a set of rings and I built a set of PVC pipe parallettes. I achieved my first back lever (held for 8 seconds) on a bar about a month ago. I can hold good clean L-Sit for 15 seconds on the rings. I am working on the panche (on the rings and parallettes) and front levers (on a bar), but I'm still a long way off from doing those. I also regularly work on ring muscle ups (haven't got these yet) and human flags (I mastered the clutch flag a long time ago). This is a great book and I have recommended it to many people.

The book covers the basic moves like push-up, pull-up and squat and the advanced variations like single leg squat. It also covers the levers: front levers, back levers, half levers, human flags and planche. For every move there is clear steps and nice clear photos explaining how to do them. One great thing about this book is that it has a feasible progression plan. For difficult move like front lever, you start with the tucked version and gradually make progress on the next version.I have read a few body weight exercise books: "You are your own gym", "Convict conditioning", "Convict conditioning 2", "Raising the bar" and "Pushing the limits". This book is by far the best book I have ever read on the topic.