Simple moves for feeling of success in BMX Flatland and Calisthenics

Go Simple, Feel Fine:

Simple Moves for Feeling of Success in BMX Flatland and Calisthenics

There are days when I decide to keep (some) of my BMX Flatland riding and Street Workout as simple as the mug (or two) mushroom coffee I drink in the morning.

It refreshes my mind and has an excellent effect on my soul to practise some simple moves after drilling difficult moves. It is both valid for Flatland and Calisthenics. 

I start my session with riding Flatland for about one and a half hour. It is very little comparing to the average 6-hour-practices I did back in the day when I did not have 3 dogs to walk 3 times daily and before I decided that my current standard of living and future perspectives with my current job suck pretty bad.

Now I limit the time I spend with both riding BMX and bodyweight traiing in order to be able to build my online mushroom coffee business, that does not require any investment or any special skills when one starts. I can get tired in this lesser amount of time for sure. Just think about doing supersets without resting.

You cannot go hardcore all the
time.

Practise easier moves for sense
of achievement

I always say: ’Ride hard, or don’t!’ but it does not make any sense to always torture myself till exhaustion and frustration from not being able to improve on some tricks. This is why I add some ’ol skool flava’ to my riding: I practise easier moves for sense of achievement.

I learnt those two rolling tricks you see in my video pretty fast, but I have to tell you, it is partly because I have a 15-year-background in BMX Flatland. If I started to practise these rolling tricks at the beginning of my Flatland ’career’, it would have been just as hard as any new tricks.

These rolling tricks – I do not know if they have names – are a bit friendlier to both bike and rider when it comes to bails/crashes. It is easier to simply jump off the bike to the back or front if I lose balance. As my not-so-favourite Murphy’s Law might have a say in things here too, some unlucky crashes can happen here too, but they are less likely than for example when practising nose wheelie or cliffhanger.

Simple bodyweight workouts also
bring results

When I am tired for windshield wipers, pull-ups, or anything, I can always simplify my Calisthenics training to some basic moves that can also make me sweat, with sense of achievement and feeling of success, without the anger from frustration when it is one of those days when I am not in such a great shape to go-all-out-war with da hardcore moves.

BMX Flatland and Street Workout
should be fun

Take it seriously, train hard, but not till the point of getting sick and tired and frustrated from the more difficult moves. I am constantly reminding myself of this. For me it is very hard to accept that one day a trick works out fine, and on the other I just keep on faltering.

One day high, the other day higher

Here I do not mean getting high from any drugs. Hell no! I am straight edge, I do not drink alcohol, smoke or do drugs. Here I mean having ups-and-downs, but I would say this like: having higher ups and lower ups. By being high I mean being in shape, being in control, being in the ’zone’. These all feel awesome, right? 

Unfortunately not every day is our day, so to say. The ’lower ups’ can be cause by whole lotta different things starting from the quality of food and sleep I had or the weather, etc.

I have to make friends with the days when I am not so much in the ’zone’. These days are a great opportunity to do some easier, yet challenging stuff that brings a smile on my face. You know, that kinda that goes all the way from one ear to the other when I pull a trick for the first time. Even a very simple trick did well for the first time can make me jump up and down from joy.

My advice is to do simpler tricks and moves every day.

They boost your self-confidence and sense of achievement.

Fun on a Gun Street Workout

World War 2 cannon used for Calisthenics training

Fun on a Gun Street Workout

Huge advantage of bodyweight training: it is totally low cost!

One thing that I love in bodyweight training is that it is very low cost. The only equipment one needs

to buy are some clothes and maybe a pair of shoes. If you train at home, well…it is up to you, maybe clothes are not necessary, he-he. Anyway, Calisthenics requires only your body and some minimalistic equipment that you do not need to buy as these can be found in parks, streets, playgrounds, you name it. Expensive gym fees are history. Training can be fit into my daily routine pretty easy this way.

                    

Bodyweight training has the advantage of total freedom

Freedom and the quality and quantity of freetime are key factors in my life. I am pretty much bound by the daily 3 dogwalks I must do, so I am happy for every minute of extra time that I have.

Another thing which I find really important and wonderful, that I can train at home whenever I want to. I am not bound by stuff like travelling to gym, putting on layers of clothes before travelling, and basically the whole training can be kept pretty simple by not having to do anything to get to a gym because I simply do not need one. Okay, I have a bar drilled up on my wall, but that is it. If you are considering setting up your own street – or room – wprkout ’gym’ at home, it can be done with some bars for chin-ups and maybe parallel bars. Yeah, these can cost some money, but the amount can not be compared to the price of buying so-called regular gym equipment like barbells, weights, all sors of power machines and so on. I see guys on a parallel bars doing amazing things, and they are ripped

like hell.

’I earn my respect in the streets, so far, ghetto’s been good to me’

This is the verse from one of my favourite rap songs from YZ from the great basketball movie Above the Rim. My hood has always been good to me too. I avoided fights and gangs, did not have any problem with the local people and the streets have always provided my with great basketball courts to

play ball and ride BMX Flatland and, as you see, some World War 2 cannons that I am training on.

Find your own equipment to train on. Keep your eyes and mind open.

These wartime monuments are great for doing some pull-ups, push-ups, hanging leg raises and L-holds on them. The diameter of the barrels of the cannons are kinda big. It is a great challange to find a grip on them. I even had to clutch my hands to be able to hang down from the smaller cannon.

The muzzle of the bigger cannon that I was doing some windshield wipers on is a bit sharp. It could be seen from the grin on my face when I jumped down after finishing the wipers and a short L-hold on it. The muzzle also has some greasy dirt in it, this is why I was cleaning my palms with the nice, colourful fallen autumn tree leaves I found on the ground.

We also used to have a World War 2 tank here near my BMX Flatland court. If it was still here, it would make a great heavy object for me to train on.

Hanging leg raises and pull ups: BMX Flatland bike Street Workout

How to do pull-ups and hanging leg raises with a BMX

BMX Flatland bike Calisthenics workout

Do something new every day

Creativity in BMX Flatland and Calisthenics

Recently I adopted a habit of doing some bodyweight exercises after riding BMX Flatland. Street workout and BMX Flatland practice have things in common. These sports allow me to be creative and train my body - and mind along - outdoors. There are countless moves one can practise on every level. I ride and train before or after walking my dogs, depending on the season, the weather and how dark it is early in the morning.

BMX and street workout have a big difference as well:

While the first, Flatland is often mentioned as an extreme sport, though I think Calisthenics moves can also be called extreme, is not so budget-sparing due to the need of a bike to practise on, the second, Street Workout need no or just minimalistic equipment. All you need is your body and a few pieces of clothes not to scare away people, in case you are not training in the wilderness with Tarzan, LOL :)

The above does not mean that BMX Flatland is a rich-people's sport, but as time flies by, those who are persistent come to realize that good bike parts have a higher price. This can be turned into positive too: money can be spent on rather sports instead of buying all kinds of useless gadgets or clothes to show off with, not to speak of alcohol, cigarettes and drugs. 

There are always things to improve

Now let's get back to training. Mouth aerobics won't make a 6-pack. I always have stuff to work on. Keeping legs more straight, not to bob my head during push-ups, using a bigger range of motion performing chin-ups...the list goes on. This is the beauty of it: I have to work for the perfection of exercises on every level.

Weight training vs bodyweight exercises

I am not a fan of using weights or weight training, but despite this I had a crazy though to use my BMX to make my life hard an painful during training :D

I totally agree with 'father' of Convict Conditioning Paul 'Coach' Wade and the Kavadlo bros, Danny and Al in the following: using weights put unnecessary strain on the body and the moves seen in gyms - all of those I also kept doing for many years way back in my teens and twenties- are unnatural and strain the joints.

I make an exception with my BMX Flatland bike when it comes to using weight, I have to admit, though, that I only do these moves, push-ups and hanging leg raises with my bike as extra weight every now and then. It makes my smile and grin when I do these because I love the fact how crazy it is - the people who saw me do it had their jaws drop off as well, he-he. :D

I keep it short and hard instead of pumping for long hours

I am pretty tired after practising my trick on my 'kids' bike', so I keep my bodyweight workout short but hardcore. I would do the same way I think if I did not ride before it. It also fits into my schedule better. 

The benefit of riding Flatland before Street Workout is that I am warmed up, so I do not really spend time on doing some easier stuff. I often jump into windshield wipers first, but it depends on my form and energy level, and whole lotta other stuff on the given day.

I do not really rest between exercises. I do some leg raises and then I jump righ into push-ups or tricep dips. I also do some stretching between the exercises, but I do not really rest, not to speak of sitting down. Of course I do not rush, because that would be on the expense of form. If I feel that I am tired, I rather do less repetitions but those I want to keep as perfect accoding to my level as I can.