Notes - K Boges YouTube Channel (day 1 to day 30)

In my previous post I mentioned that I'm in the process of watching all the videos of Kyle Boggeman on his YouTube channel. I really enjoy his content and I'm keen to be able to design my own workout program myself so I'm taking notes of the videos as I'm watching them to make sure I get the best out of it. I thought these notes may be useful for others so I'm publishing them here.

If you're curious have a look at the notes here and if you want to know more I'd encourage you to watch the videos and start practicing! :-)

This post covers the first 30 videos: day 1 to day 30. I'll cover more videos in upcoming posts.

In a nutshell this is why I like Kyle's channel:

• no bullshit, he gets straight to the point
• he talks in simple terms while backing himself with science
• I want to be able to train at home and not have to go to a gym
• unlike many other channels he's teaching you how to create your own training program, not just how to do one exercise ("If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. If you teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime")
• this type of training leads to a lean physique, which I much prefer compared to bodybuilder physiques
• he trains at high frequency (every day), I've tried that in the past few months and I actually prefer that than having rest days
• focus on the basic movements and try to master them instead of trying to go to the hardest movements. I'm not sure why but that resonates with me..

Day 1 Workout. Introduction

• His name is Kyle Boggeman. He's a trainer and fitness enthusiast in San Diego. he has a Master's degree in exercise science, and is certified as a CSCS, TSAC-F, and CPT through the NSCA. He’s been running a gym for 7-8 years and he’s been in the fitness industry for 11 years
• he trains every day, 7 days a week
• lots of push ups, pull ups, and squats. Try to get better a these basic movements
• He enjoys this approach of training

He’s doing 3 hard sets per day.

He wouldn’t do that to start, if he was starting maybe 2 sets, 3 times a week. Monday, Wed, Friday. He built up to this frequency and volume over a couple of years.

His goal is to improve on these movements until he dies. He really enjoys it and gets very good results, very good body composition.

It’s a very viable way to train (bodyweight with high level of repetition).

Some people prefer figures like planches, handstands, etc. it’s great if you like it. He’s not that interested.

Very little equipment required: just a bar for pull ups.

To train at such a high frequency (every day) you need to manage the intensity and make sure to not go too far as it will ruin training for the following days.

You need to auto-regulate, go slow when you feel tired and push when you feel you can.

These movements are simple but have a lot of depth, he still doesn’t feel he’s mastered the pull up. He can see by looking at videos that his technique is improving a lot over time.

People who can make 3 sets of 8 pull up and who think they’ve exhausted the movement are wrong.

He finds that he responds better to more repetition than to more load (when he was weight lifting) and sees the same with many clients. He applies the same to calisthenics: lots of repetitions. Doesn’t necessarily work for everyone but worth giving it a shot.

His workout takes about 30min a day, it’s not a huge amount of time.

Day 2. Can high reps build muscle?

How to build muscles with high receptions basics? Effort and time.

Put a high level of effort in all of your sets and do it for a long time.

This is the key to building muscles with high repetitions.

Get REALLY good at your basics, very high quality movement.

You need to master the basics and do it for a long time.

Day 3. The key to a jacked back.

How to get a muscular back?

Get good at pull ups, get really good at it.

Work up to a high level of repetition of high quality pull ups per week.

Do that and over time your back will grow. It’s actually not just the back, the entire upper body will grow.

Pull up is one of the most productive exercises ever so get good at it.

Aim to become a true master of the pull up.

High quality, full range of motion.

Your back will reflect your level of mastery.

Day 4 workout.

It’s just his workout on video, no commentary in this one.

Day 5. Muscle up tips!

Muscle up is very technical.

This is how he learned:

1. Got really good at pull up
2. Do some negatives from the top (start at the top and come down), gives you a better idea of the movement
3. Explosive pull ups help a lot.

Day 6. How long should you rest between sets?

He goes into the scientific explanation (not summarised here).

In a nutshell, if you have time, he recommends taking a long rest between sets (4-5min) instead of doing small pauses of a few seconds. He recommends 3 hard sets so you need enough recovery between sets to push them far enough.

Day 7. High frequency training.

If you aim to do 20 hard sets of specific exercises (pull ups for example) per week, you need to decide how to split it during the week.

You could do

• 20 sets in one day: this is going to suck, you’ll get tired and the last sets won’t be in good form and the next few days your muscles will be soared
• 10 sets x 2 days: similar problem
• at the other extreme: 3 sets per day, each day. That’s manageable if you take 5 min recovery between sets. And because you train all the muscles each day, the sourness of the muscles becomes a thing of the past (they’re trained each day so get used to it). You may build up some fatigue but it will be less fatigue than if you did many sets the same day.

Greasing the groove (GTG) is the ultimate. Training every day and training multiple times a day: distribute over the full day. It works very well.

He prefers to train at high frequency. And he uses active recovery: if he feels tired, reduce the intensity of the training.

Day 8. Weighted calisthenics.

He mostly train with high repetition but sometimes he adds some weight or do unilateral exercises (pistol squats, etc)

• heavy weights are better at building strength
• high repos DO build strength but are more efficient at building muscular endurance

When training at high frequency, you can incorporate some of that in the training:

• day 1 do some weighted pull ups
• day 2 ring pull ups
• day 3 normal pull ups

Day 9. Paused reps.

Other type of variation: paused repetition.

Paused pull ups for example are very challenging.

Pause 1sec at the top of the movement, 1 sec at the bottom.

Can do it with push ups as well.

For legs, horse stance is a very good (and difficult) exercise.

Important to understand that the training he’s doing / proposing is essentially using basic movements but introducing variations all the time to stress muscles in a different way (and also make it a bit more fun).

Day 10. GTG

GTG = Greasing the groove

Lots of people think you need to have 24-48h of rest for a specific muscle / muscle group. That’s nonsense.

Setup a pull up bar over your bedroom door.

• first thing in the morning you do 5
• go for breakfast, do a set of 5
• go to your shower, do a set of 5

You have 15-20min between each set and before you leave home you’ve done 5-6 sets of pull ups.

If you have one at the office and do one every couple of hours.

Same when you get back home.

Over the course of the day you’ve done 15 sets of pull ups.

They’re only half of your max (sets of 5 but you can do 10).

These add up and they make you get very good at pull ups.

Do that for a few weeks and then move to 6 pull ups.

Then a few weeks later to 7 pull ups.

Now after a few months of doing that retest your max pull ups.

What do you think is going to happen?

Your max will be above 10.

This is one of the best approaches to increase max.

The approach is a follow:

• measure your max, let say it’s 10 pull ups
• take half of that (5) and do lots of sets of 5 every day
• this will very reliably improve your max
• this works for pull ups, push ups, squats, etc
  

Day 11. Pyramid yourself to better fitness!

Pyramids allow to do a lot of work in a short amount of time

This is how it works:

• do a set of 1 with each exercise (for exemple 1 pull up, 1 push up)
• then do a set of 2 of each
• then 3 of each
• until you hit your max (for example 8)
• then you go back down: 7
• 6… down to 1

Each time you do these pyramids you try to go to a higher number of repetitions.

Ladder is half a pyramid: 1,2,3 up to the max, then stop (don’t do your way back down).

Both are very effective to increase your max reps and save time.

Day 12. Active recovery!

Yesterday he did a lot of work with the pyramid.

He wanted a bit of recovery so he still trained but didn’t push as hard.

That’s how he manages recovery: instead of taking days off, he doesn’t push as hard when he feels tired. But he still trains, still burns some calories.

Day 13. High rep walking lunges are legit! Do them!

Walking lunge is one of the best exercises to fry your legs.

He does 100-150 straight in a single set.

One of the most complete movement

He recommends to start with 10 a day and to add 1 rep each day until you reach 50 or 100 a day (depending how far you want to get).

You’ll get a significantly better condition very quickly if you do that.

Walking lunge is a very good exercise but he thinks bodyweight squat is the king of lower body movements.

Can apply the same strategy with squats. Start at 10-20 a day and add 1 each day until you reach sets of 50 or 100.

Day 14. How to design your own beginner calisthenics program for muscle and fitness.

This is what he recommends: pick a push up variation, a pull up variation and a squat variation. Perform a circuit of these every day of the week.

For example:

• one hard set of push ups, take 2-3min rest
• one hard set of pull ups, 2-3min rest
• one hard set of squats

You’re done.

You can vary your movements every days.

Normal push ups, diamond push ups, paused push ups, etc

Trains muscle in a slightly different way each day.

Reduces risk of injuries.

As you get stronger you add sets.

Day 15. Perfect your technique.

That day he did another variation with slow movements to improve his technique.

Day 16. The difference between pull ups and chin ups...

Pull ups: palms facing away and chin up, palms facing yous.

Both train the same musculature but the chin up trains the biceps to a higher level. The bicep can contract more in chin up position.

If you want to grow biceps, introduce chin ups in your training.

Day 17. How to get abs.

In a nutshell: you get them with the other exercises and visible abs is more a question of body composition (body fat) than actually training abs on their own.

Genetics play a big role and some people have naturally more visible abs because they store fat elsewhere but generally having visible abs is more a question of diet than training.

Day 18. The CALISTHENICS ADVANTAGE!

If you want to look like a bodybuilder and maximise your muscular body weight, you need to use a barbell and load your body.

If you want to maximise your strength, barbell deadlifts and back squats maximise total body strength.

But if you want to be reasonably fit and strong, the approach he proposes is very good.

The advantages:

1. very little equipment: just needs a pull up bar or rings attached to a tree.
2. Simplicity: very simple movements, most people can perform them safely naturally
3. Most people want to look good and feel good and this approach delivers that

He points out something really interesting: because you exercise with your bodyweight, it encourages you to stay lean. Whereas when exercising with weights, you tend to want to gain weight as the exercises become easier.

Calisthenics reward good body composition. Bodybuilding / lifting weight doesn’t.

Day 19. Why you NEED to practice paused reps!

They are one of the most useful variations of the movements.

They force you to get through the full range of motion and build strength at the end of the movement (for example top and bottom of the movement).

Pause also increases the time muscles are under tension.

Lead to increased muscular growth.

For him this is the high end representation of the movement.

Someone who can do 3 sets of 25 paused pull ups has a very high level of mastery of the movement.

Day 20. Speed reps and the importance of variety in calisthenics!

Today explosive movements (another variation).

He recommends including a lot of variations in the movements.

You could do standard pull ups every day but he doesn’t recommend it.

If you change your grip on pull ups for exemple, you activate different muscles or activate the same differently.

Cycling through variations also allows some muscles to recover actively, very useful with a high frequency approach like this one.

Joints also get some relief through variation.

Variations are excellent to develop strength, to develop muscle math and prevent injuries..

Day 21. Weighted Calisthenics!

He doesn’t use a weighted vest often but that’s another useful variation to introduce. Maybe every 2 weeks he does a day with the vest.

Day 22. Calisthenics injuries

He thinks the calisthenics he practices (basic movements, not advanced one like planche, back levers, etc) are generally less stressful for the body than when training with weights.

Push ups, pull ups and squats are low risk movements.

People who injure themselves with these tend to try to do too much too soon and often can be fixed by slowing down.

Golfer elbows can happen with chin ups. He’s had that happen multiple times. Each time it happened with single arm chin ups. That’s why he’s not doing it anymore and prefers to focus on regular pulls ups, chins ups, etc.

He talks about what has worked for him to resolve golfer elbow (good to know in case that happens to you..).

Day 23. The benefits of the straight bar dip

He really likes straight bar dips to work his upper body.

Push your shoulders down away from the head to protect shoulders.

Trains pecs, triceps, shoulders and a lot of the back.

He prefers to parallel bar dips.

No need to do it on high frequency but doing it time to time makes sense.

Day 24. Ladders.

Template he uses for ladders:

• set 1: 1 pull up, 2 push up, 2 squats
• set 2: 2 pull ups, 4 push ups, 4 squats
• set 3: 3 pull ups, 6 push ups, 6 squats
• etc

He does multiple rounds of that (when the ladder is finished, starts a new one from scratch).

Allows to do a lot of volume in a short period of time and to build work capacity.

Day 25. Should you do cardio?

Cardio: any exercise not to build muscle, like walk, running, jumping rope, swimming, etc

Should you do it? For most people, yes.

If you are underweight and want to build muscle, maybe not initially but for others it’s recommended.

Makes it easier to get or stay lean.

Increase recovery between training sets.

Cardiovascular and metabolic health. Very good for your heart.

20-30min zone 2 cardio (60-70%) of max heart rate every day or close to that (5 days a week).

Day 26. The pistol.

Pistol squat: great movement for mobility, balance and strength;

Ability to do it can be limited by any of these factors.

Best way to learn it: perform it with a box below you and reduce the size of the box over time.

Start with a chair and do a pistol until your but touches the chair and over time reduce the height of the chair/box.

Recommended program:

• grease the groove
• 8-10 reps per leg each day
• at least 15min rest between reps
• 5-6 days per week
• lower the box every couple of weeks

Once you have it, you have it forever so it's really worth investing the time to learn it.

Day 27. What about rings?

The main difference between a bar and rings is about the stability

• below the rings: not much difference
• over the rings: much different (i.e. if you’re doing push up or dips for example)

Ring dips and ring push ups are harder than dips on parallels and floor push ups because of the stability requirements.

Recommend getting both and introducing variations with the rings.

Day 28. An even simpler way to train?

Doing a single movement a day.

• Mon: push up, 5 hard sets
• Tue: ring row, 5 hard sets
• Wed: pistol squats, 5 hard sets
• Thu: push up, 5 hard sets
• Fri: Ring row, 5 hard sets
• Sat: pistol squats, 5 hard sets

Classic push, pull leg split.

This approach can work very well, when you master an exercise you can start using another harder variation and continue.

His personal preference is for a full body but it’s worth giving this approach a try.

Day 29. Rows.

Very good exercise to train similar muscles than pull ups.

What’s cool with rows is that you can modify the height of the rings to make it easier or harder.

The lower the rings the harder and you can elevate your feet to make it even harder.

You should do a very solid plank with your body and go through the full range of motion: rings should end on your chest.

If you’re a beginner and can’t do pull ups, the row can help you build the muscles required to achieve pull ups.

If you’re advanced, you can use it as a light day pull exercise (active recovery).

Day 30. A strange row variation and... weights?! Also, what's next for the channel...

You can get excellent gains without weights if you don’t want to use weights.

In his opinion there are only a few exercise which are useful (for general health and fitness):

• squat
• deadlift
• overhead press

He didn’t say bench press because he thinks weighted pull ups are superior.

2 solutions to introduce to the routine:

• pick one weighted exercise and do it before the usual calisthenics exercises
• do it instead of one of the calisthenics exercise (exemple: over head press instead of pull up)

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