If you’ve been following my blog for the last few months, you know that I’ve been pursuing bodyweight training / calisthenics for a while now. I’m very pleased that I’m able to perform several exercises that I could never do in the past, such as muscle ups, handstand pushups (on the wall), pistol squats, and standing ab wheel rollouts. I’m also close to mastering the front lever and human flag.

The set of exercises that I’ve been having the greatest difficulty with have been the parallette skills. Planche and press progressions on the parallettes KILL me! Thankfully I was referred by a friend of mine who is really into this stuff to check out Gold Medal Bodies.

The GMB crew are experts at coaching this type of gymnastics / bodyweight type training, and offer a broad selection of awesome programs (for rings, parallettes, handstands, flexibility, floor work, and more). I ended up picking up their new Parallettes One course, and I gotta say I’m very impressed. They have detailed video demonstrations and training manual descriptions for every level of progression for every exercise from beginner through intermediate to the advanced program (which would be Parallettes 2).

This is one of the most well put-together and thorough programs I’ve ever found online. I was also surprised at how challenging it is to do even some of the basic beginner variations (once I started doing them ‘correctly’), and I was impressed at how enjoyable the training is overall as well. I’m really looking forward to progressing toward the advanced Parallette work, so I can develop my upper body strength, stability, and muscularity… and so I can show-boat a little to my friends, of course!

If this type of training is of interest to you, or if you’re just looking for a healthy, enjoyable, unique way to get in great shape, I highly recommend you check these guys out… they are the real deal. Find out more about them on their website, or connect with them on FACEBOOK or TWITTER, and check out their videos on YOUTUBE.

 

 I’ll be posting more videos of my progress over the next few weeks.  If you end up purchasing one of their programs please let me know, and post a comment below.  I’d also love to see photos or videos of your own training progress!

Stay fit,

Josh