Hey, I'm Freddy 19 from London.

I started calisthenics training at the end of January this year. I've been lurking these forums for some time and thought I may as well sign up. Before starting calisthenics I did nothing other than playing tennis. I started at around 140 pounds 5'9, I now currently weigh 156 pounds. I couldn't even do a single pullup before I started and I can now do 15 clean pullups.

In those 4 and a half months I've been very dedicated training 5/6 days a week. I've learned back lever, free handstanding pushups and muscle ups. I'm really looking forward to the next year of training, currently working towards getting 20 pullups, 5+ muscle ups, front lever, tiger bend and planche. I've got more short term and long term goals but I've listed a few of the biggies. Thanks

Hey mate.

Good to see some more English guys on here. I remember when I was lurking before that there seemed to be a real lack of us.

I'm in the same boat you were, not being able to do a single pull up. Sounds like you've come a hell of a way in under 5 months, could you share how you got to your first pull up? Either on here or pm if you prefer

Cheers.

I hope to be joining you on the muscle up stage fairly quickly.

Yeah its good to see more of a UK following considering theres not many parks but rather just playgrounds. I use a door pullup most of the time, but go to the park to get muscle ups in, I'm currently building my garden pullup bar.

My first pullup actually took me a really long time until I could actually do a clean one. I just started with the jumping negatives, I would hop myself to the top of the bar and lower myself as slowly for as many reps til failure and I did this for 5 sets with 3-5 min breaks. My first actual pullup came around 3-4 weeks after I think. I remember just wanting to do one pullup so much, I stuck at it and now I do different grips and I've just started weighted pullups! Hope that helps

I take videos of all my workouts to track progress and form, I do feel I have progressed quite nicely and quickly so far.

Thanks a lot I tried negatives but found them to be a real pain. Now I'm following the Convict Conditioning progressions and have made it to horizontal pulls, although I managed 3x8 with decent form on friday, so I'm going to give jackknife pulls a go tomorrow and see where I get with those. I might mix these with a few sets of negatives and see where that gets me.

I'm thinking about starting a training log on here. Won't be much in it to start with as I'm so new, but I need somewhere to keep track of progress.

Yay more English people! I'm up to about 7 clean pulls. Started with the assisted machine at the gym then dropped the weight till I could do them on their own. Struggling to get my reps up to 10 though - doing static holds and just trying to push myself.

I started a training log recently, having never kept one in my life. Actually quite liking it now and thinking that being able to review over a long time span will be useful in the future.

Are either of you guys coming to the Northampton event by the way?

I'm definitely going to keep in touch with you two on here, having other British people to motivate you really helps. Nothing against everyone else, but I just find it easier with British cos they know about the severe lack of parks over here, plus we might cross paths at events sometime.

I won't be at the event, unfortunately. Lost my job a week ago so money's tight, and travelling up from Norfolk would kill the funds. On the bright side, not working gives me more time to train, although I still need long rest periods being in my first couple of weeks.

7 clean pulls is awesome compared to me. It's terrible weather outside, high winds and heavy rain, so I can't use my low bar atm, was going to try jackknife pulls and see how I did. Instead, I tried a pull up on my indoor bar and nearly made it. It was a real struggle to get myself to the top though, and I know form would have been bad cos I was struggling so much, but it was dead hang with no leg help.

Hopefully the weather clears up so I can get out there today.

Unfortunately I won't be able to make the event as I'm on holiday. I'm currently building my back garden pullup bar so I can train when ever then

Yeah it is big motivation to have others from England, I'll be on these forums forever now haha.

I'll keep in touch

The best thing about having other English people here is that we can all b**ch about this sh*tty f-ing weather! Want to train outside but it's either -15 degrees, blowing a gale or raining. Or all three. Ridiculous.

If you guys are ever in London over the weekend then come down to Primrose Hill - Jay, Lee and Sai (and Migsy and a bunch of other people) are awesome and really inspirational to train with. I can't wait till this weekend - gonna be fun (and probably hard work - taking three days off training to make sure I'm rested beforehand!).

Money aside, the problem with me going to events and bits is that I feel out of place as I'm still so new to all this. I see people doing sets of muscle ups and then I'd chime in with my one pull up and be on my way haha.

I know everyone would be full of motivation and advice, but I'd still rather be able to do more before I hit these things.

I'd love to have my own bar, but I still live with parents and they'd never let me cos they don't see the point in this. Atm I have a dodgey wooden structure we used to store kayaks on which I use, and it's not even a bar. The part I use is a cross beam at the top, pretty much a plank turned on it's side so I can grab the thin side. It'll do for now, but it's not ideal. I also have an indoor bar, which thanks to Tim's suggestions is now much more comfortable to use, but muscle ups will be a no go unless I want to stick my head through the ceiling. I have a tiny playground about 5 miles away which I might check out one day, but I think that's just a set of monkey bars which are barely standing :/

Edit: What do you guys to for cardio/to drop fat? I'm looking at skipping but don't realy know how good that'll be.