Calisthenics or Kalos Stenos (greek for Beautiful strength) is similar to gymnastic training as we look to move the body and transition from one position of strength to the next.
Having had the pleasure of teaching Calisthenics in London, the movement and strength benefits are a force to be reckoned with. I want to expand a little bit on why it works so well.
Traditional gym training involved doing "whatever" exercises it would take to fatigue complimentary muscle groups, via either weights, machiens or body weight.
But this is far from what strength training is orginialy designed for. With Calisthenics, we look to create strength within positions, not looking at invidual muscle but rather at the body as a whole. This proccess forces you to look at stable vs mobile points, as well as joint capability and it is much more accomodating to mobility practice where otherwise, mobility is ignored.
As you create strength is seemngly impossible positions, they become almost restful and then the only real strength required is to practice and transition from one position of strength to the next - which creates beautiful strength (or Kalos Stenos).
Intermittent fasting has been everywhere for the last few years, From underground blogs on the internet and all the way to mainstream media. There are a few trends that are built into the concept of intermittent fasting but they are not all the same.
First, I'd like to recommend this extensive guide for intermittent fasting where I cover the details of each technique, the benefits and the shortfalls.
Second, I want to cover in very brief details why there are so many version. IF (Intermittent fasting) has been researched for the wrong reasons but came through with the most outstanding results we could have hoped for. It all starts with the falsehood behind calories, and that's where intermittent fasting started as well.
Only the researched produced remarkable amount of information regarding hormonal and enzymatic changes occurring during a fast, which allowed us to further understand how it can be used for longevity, gut repair and even weight loss.
Some of the approached that deal with IF, still look at calories and therefore allows "low calorie" foods / drinks during a fast, but that dramatically changes the hormonal response. If we omit the calorie information, we can get a much broader view, both how to do it correctly and how to maximize the benefits.
Read the full guide on intermittent fasting here.and let me know what you think!
Jacob x
The benefit of training movement far exceeds training muscle groups. Some of the world’s best personal trainers now agree that your function (and therefore your movement) depicts your anatomy, not the other way around. That's what we focus on as well when we offer our world class personal training in London.
In a world were people still think in terms of calories this or calories that, back and biceps on one day and chest and triceps on another, it’s ever so important to make it clear: the human body is far more complex than a few muscle groups or a magical number (of calories) that you believe will fit the bill.
It’s time we started talking about movement, joint function, motor control. It’s time strength wasn’t just a volume based number but also positioning information. It’s (high) time we stopped worrying about our nutrition in numerical numbers and started looking at hormones, enzymes and receptors.
Everything else is just an illusion of control – but knowledge is power and with more knowledge comes more control to change our physique and transform our bodies.
