For more years than I care to remember I was an avid gym rat, pumping iron like my life depended on it. I must admit that, for a while, I enjoyed training this way and reaped tangible benefits. But over time I started to realize that lifting weights was having a detrimental effect on my body. I noticed that although I could bench press and deadlift with the best of them, my mobility and general athleticism was poor.

I had always admired gymnasts and wondered how they trained. That’s how I discovered Calisthenics. The more I found out, the more I realized that I could re-discover what I had lost by employing the techniques offered by Calisthenics. For a while I continued with both lifting weights and Calisthenics. During this time, the strength gains I made were impressive. I had beaten my long-standing records in both the bench press and deadlift after just a few weeks of Calisthenics. The thing is, I was looking for improvements in mobility and athleticism and didn’t really expect strength gains. This was a bonus for me. I decided to focus exclusively on Calisthenics because it suddenly dawned on me that Calisthenics was a way of rediscovering my physical potential.
This book is an introduction to Calisthenics, but that doesn’t mean the workouts are easy. You will be introduced to 5 core exercises, each exercise will become progressively more difficult (Progression-1 to Progression-5). All 25 progressions are included in 5 separate workouts that will test you to your limit. The workouts will become progressively more difficult and I guarantee that you will not be able to successfully complete any of the workouts on your first attempt – it will take time. Due to the way the exercises progress and the way the workouts are structured you will be able to measure your own progress. Being able to track progress is important because it will keep you motivated.

Apart from describing the exercises, explaining progressions and providing the workouts, I will be exploring the following areas:

Mind-body connection.
Keeping a tight core.
Training the nervous system.
Progression.
Setting Goals
Recording progress.

By employing these techniques you will improve in the following areas:

Maximal Strength.
Explosive Power.
Muscle Endurance.
Co-ordination.
Flexibility.
Athleticism.
Balance.

Additionally, you will fix any strength imbalances that you may have developed over time.

By employing the techniques in this book you can begin your journey towards re-discovering your physical potential.

5 star review on Amazon.co.uk:

“This is an excellent beginners to intermediate book. I took a chance and bought it and it is really good. The exercises and muscles targeted are explained well and the exercise progression is well thought out. And for the price it can't be beat!”

5 star review on Amazon.com:

“Calisthenics I hope will be rediscovered by a lot of Americans. This is a good book, even a sort of refreshing course on your basic bodyweight exercises I recommend to all people who are interested in getting out the weight room and just using bodyweight exercises Johnny Irish says the seals and Delta boys can't be wrong you can build one heck of a body with just bodyweight exercises I'm given the green light is worth the money.”

5 star review on Amazon.de:

“Nice and clean. Simple and efficient way of presenting the core own body weight exercises. It is a good starter book for calisthenics.”