PCC BLOG: I ♥ NYC PCC

by AL KAVADLO on JUNE 9, 2015

Last weekend, the Progressive Calisthenics Certification made its return to New York City with a sold out crowd of over 40 calisthenics enthusiasts from all over the United States as well as the rest of the world. Attendees hailed from Norway, Sweden, Spain, Guatemala, Australia, Austria, Singapore, England, Canada, and of course, my hometown, the Empire City herself. It was truly a melting pot of bodyweight strength practitioners!

Though calisthenics has existed since the days of the ancient Greeks, the modern street workout movement has its roots right here in NYC. Many of the world’s best-known calisthenics specialists hail from the Big Apple. It’s no wonder we had such a strong group of bar athletes in the house!

The city that never sleeps certainly hasn’t been sleeping on its calisthenics game. As always, new personal bests were happening left and right. From the muscle-up to the pistol squat to the human flag, attendees were constantly breaking new ground, unlocking new skills and refining existing ones.

Besides becoming better practitioners, we also devoted a lot of our energy toward becoming better at training others. Everyone at the PCC gets to experience both ends of the personal training equation throughout the weekend.

It’s great to see more and more ladies taking to progressive calisthenics. This weekend’s event had the most female attendees of any PCC so far. It’s an honor to welcome 15 of the strongest ladies I’ve ever met into the PCC family!

Time flies when you are having fun, and that would explain why the whole weekend seemed to go by in a New York minute. When the 3-day whirlwind was over, we were left with over 40 newly minted PCC instructors, a whole lot of wonderful memories and connections that will last a lifetime.

It’s been more than 2 years since the inception of the PCC, and the world’s #1 bodyweight certification continues to go strong. Next up is our long-anticipated debut in the United Kingdom and then it’s back to the US for our return to Alexandria, VA (there are still some spots left for both these events!).

A PCC certification is like a license to drive: it’s a big responsibility, but it can take you places!

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About Al Kavadlo: Al Kavadlo is the lead instructor for Dragon Door’s Progressive Calisthenics Certification. Recognized worldwide for his amazing bodyweight feats of strength as well as his unique coaching style, Al is the author of five books, including Raising The Bar: The Definitive Guide to Pull-up Bar Calisthenics and Pushing The Limits! Total Body Strength With No Equipment. Read more about Al on his website:www.AlKavadlo.com.

MAKING THE MOST WITH WHAT YOU GOT

MAKING THE MOST OF WITH WHAT YOU GOT-DVRT ULTIMATE SANDBAG TRAINING

By Steve “Coach Fury” Holiner
DVRT Master Chief Instructor, Senior RKC, OS Instructor & MFF Force of Nature

One of the things I love about the DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training System is that it removes the need for excuses. You only have one Ultimate Sandbag? We got you. The Dynamic Variable Resistance Training System provides us with the ability to challenge ourselves at any level by using different principles of progressive overload (aka making s**t harder). It’s time to make the most with what I got.

Kim and I just moved into a new place a few weeks ago and all of my gear isn’t set up yet. What I do have is a 25 pound Power Ultimate Sandbag and the DVRT smarts to make my life difficult.

What the hell am I talking about? Renowned strength coach and Purposeful Primitive author Marty Gallagher has a great saying, “we make the light things heavy, so the heavy things are light.” That statement jives amazingly well with one of our approaches to progressive overload: SPEED. You can make something very light feel very heavy by simply adjusting your speed/tempo.

Another way we can make something light feel heavy is by adding complexity. Adding different levels of complexity can make a relatively basic movement way more taxing on the body.

On a personal note, I love playing with speed and complexity for two reasons.

You directly challenge your weak links within a certain movement. Please keep in mind that these challenges need to be winnable. It is all too easy to jump the shark by making a movement too difficult. Form is key!

While we still use our normal tension/bracing techniques, you can really tap into your reflexive strength and fire up your stabilizers. These are key elements that crossover in both DVRT and Original Strength.

Ok, time to put this into practice. Here’s how I made my life tough with only a 25 pound USB.

A. Elevator Squats with Press Outs x5
You will pause several times mid squat and do a press out. You can make this even more difficult by adding more stops on the elevator and moving slower.

B. Lateral USB Drag to Push-up x5 drags per side/10 total push-ups
Adjust speed of the drag based on the surface you are pulling on. Keep the USB on the floor. Don’t lift and move. Drag it!

C. USB Deadbug Variation x5 per leg
Press the USB up while pulling the outer handles apart. Slowly lower the USB overhead while lowering one leg at a time. Be sure to lower the USB overhead within a safe range for your shoulders and keep your tailbone off the floor.

You can try this for 10-15 minutes and see how many rounds you get, or you can just go for 3-5 rounds moving nice and slow. See which one takes longer?

There you have it. Give it a shot and let me know what you think.

Want to know how to really optimize the DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training System and gain an edge in your fitness? Don't miss our upcoming DVRT educational programs HERE

Later folks!

Thanks for your time!

-Fury

Steve “Coach Fury” Holiner’s superhero headquarters is Mark Fisher Fitness in NYC. Fury’s a DVRT Master Chief Instructor, Senior RKC, and an Orginal Strength. He is available for classes, semi-privates, instructor training and programming at MFF. He also has availability for private training at Catalyst S.P.O.R.T. Check out www.coachfury.com, facebook.com/coachfury IG @furynyc and Twitter @coachfury for more info.

THE AVENGED WORKOUT

By Steve “Coach Fury” Holiner

DVRT Master Chief, Senior RKC, Original Strength Instructor, MFF Force of Nature.

I am Fury. I am a geek. This weekend my Marvel fanboy dreams continue to be realized as Avengers: Age of Ultron comes out. In honor of the Avenger that kicked off the current state of Marvel’s cinematic domination, I’ve come up with the Avengers Iron Man “Fury Buster” Workout.

This is what Jarvis and I were thinking about when putting this together.

Iron Man has to coordinate each limb when he flies, so the Fury Buster includes Staggered/Sprinter stances, Offset grips and lunges.

Stark is a technician. For that I included the clean to fist.

Stark also has to lift things overhead and be prepared to blast Skrulls with his repulsor rays. For that level of Superhero training, I included overhead press and forward lunge to rotational press-outs.

Iron Man’s also been known to have to carry rescued civilians in the air. Yup, we have rows in here.

Charge up your Arc reactor and check it out:

Sprinter Stance Clean to Press x5 per side.
Offset Bent Over Row x 5 per side.
Forward Lunge with Rotational Press-Out x5 per side.

Do this for 5 rounds with as little or as mush rest as needed.

Give this a shot. Buy advanced tickets for Avengers: Age of Ultron. Check out a DVRT certification or workshop near you. 

Avengers Assemble!

Excelsior!

-Fury out