DENTON CONTEH | Full Planche + 240kg Deadlift | Interview | The Athlete Insider Podcast #52 Pt. I

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Denton Conteh is an exceptional athlete who lifts  extreme weights in deadlifts and in squats but   also performs statics like the iron cross or the  full planche with ease in this podcast interview   you will learn a lot about denton's planche advice  and how you can improve your planche workouts we   also talk about how leg workouts help you improve  your statics and some nutrition advice to get your   aesthetics on the next level you're gonna lose  your plant then don't turn your legs and i was   like man just let me do my thing man don't judge  me if you support me then you know then support   me and what i do you can already look forward  to the second episode coming in one week in the   description you can find again all the chapters of  this interview with all the topics that we talked   about keep growing guys and enjoy this interview  yo gorillas welcome to the athlete insider podcast   by GORNATION my name is phil and today's guest  is somebody who combines extreme aesthetics like   the full planche with extremely heavy deadlifts  squats and weighted calisthenics i'm happy to   welcome from london denton county hello thank you  so much for letting me on this show i'm looking   forward to our interview conversation me too  everything is good on your side you are good olga   thanks all good how are you doing i'm good as well  thank you i'm also really looking forward to the   interview um i think uh the people who know you  are like really uh interested in your story and   your uh his background in your sports career let's  call it um because you're you're quite a special   athlete uh when i have to think of somebody who  lifts really heavy heavy weights in deadlift and   squats and does like a full planche and uh maltese  and like you're really strong and that's that's   why i'm really looking forward to this interview  and that's why people requested you so yeah maybe   you want to kick off presenting yourself who  are you what do you do how do you see yourself   so my name is denton conte i'm i live in london  but i was actually born in ukraine i'm half   ukrainian and half sierra leonean but i came to  london i was three and a half and i've been living   all my life since then so yeah i've been doing  calisthenics advanced calisthenics for the past   eight years but before that i was doing like  various sports i did like athletics it was   my main sport i did like triple jump for a couple  years i used to represent the uk and triple jump i   was like 7th in the uk one point in 2012 but then  i kind of stopped doing that because i got injured   in the knees because it's quite an impactful sport  but that's kind of where my leg strength comes   from is from the athletic background i used to do  and when i was super young like when i was like   six years old and above i did a bit of  tumbling like a bit of gymnastic tumbling   um that's what i did with all the flips from  anyway um but i did that for a few years my   main sport was athletic so sprinting triple  jumping and um yeah so after that after my um   career ended in triple jump i started doing i just  went to the gym started doing weights just general   weights like everyone trying to get big i was like  what 16 when i started lifting weights like just   trying to get big and then when i turned 17 i came  across a video on youtube uh hannibal for king   he's a guy who got me started so i came across his  video do you think my friend showed me his video   first and i was like oh my days this guy is crazy  he's he's hench he's strong and i was i want to   learn that stuff so me and him if he was in school  i was in college actually he was in college just   sitting there bored on my laptops and he and he  came across the video and i was like he's like   look at this and i was like oh let's give this a  go so every single day after college we started   going like to the park started doing pull-ups  push-ups else it's just basically copying what he   done in a video just copying everything he did um  but i kind of picked up things pretty fast because   i've been i've been doing so advanced kind of i  started when i was 17 so that's eight years now   but before that i've always kind of evolved like  push-ups and pull-ups in like my routine from a   young age i've always been doing like basic i  would say basic calisthenics but i didn't know   i was doing it i was just it was just part of my  training i used to always like work out at home   one bedroom i was doing like pull-ups push-ups in  my bedroom like doing core workouts every single   day like every night so i kind of had a strong  base from that anyway so when i kind of started   um literally i just copied everything hannibal  kingdom so i did like muscle ups i was doing like   i tried to do like his planche uh you know he does  like a leaning forward bit of banana but i kind of   had that straight away but then i realized that it  was actually bad form so i looked into like just   watched gymnastics videos and kind of saw how they  trained and i saw okay they focus on like form   that attraction arm straight so i was like let me  try to focus on doing that and yeah that's how it   all kicked off really just watching hannibal for  king to get me inspired doing street workout and   then gymnastics as well just watch them and just  try to perfect the movements but yeah that's   how i got started wow so half ukrainian this is  something that i have to uh like have to uh talk   about uh because i'm always impressed like people  where i think like for example the the episode   with uh cyborg yeah i thought he's polish and  then in the interview he said no he's ukrainian so   he's ukrainian there are so many strong  athletes in ukraine uh do you do you know why   i think it's just like if you look if you even  if when i first um came across like street worker   in ukraine like all of them were just strong  everyone can just plunge from ukraine like i   think it's part of our dna part of our blood if  you're ukrainian or russian you can plant you   get a free plant you know out of all the skills  that i learned yeah plunge was my first skill   like i learned planche before everything so yeah  i just planted my first one then finally even   back people but yeah planche for some reason i  learnt it pretty easily pretty quickly as well   um but then again it's because for most of my life  i've been doing push-ups so i had a general great   pushing strength like people beginners who ask me  how to get into like calisthenics like how to get   into learning like planching i always say like you  need to be able to do like 50 push-ups like easily   50 like 50 dips 30-50 dips at least but i always  say like have really good push pushing strength   just have a strong base then start doing  like handstand push-ups against the wall   just to kind of get the shoulders shoulders  going and once you can do like a good ten   assisted handstand push-ups and i always say  that then you start doing planche leans and   tuck planches and take it from there but i always  say like you need to have a really strong push in   base so i spent literally yeah since i was  six years old i've been doing push-ups a lot   so i think that gave me like a really good head  start in terms of um advanced calisthenics so   yeah it's always down to like the basics first  spend years doing the basic movements then try   the advance i always see guys try to learn planche  but they can't even do like 30 push-ups i'm like   it doesn't make any sense you know so you need  to have like the general foundations first   then you then go off to do like it's like  any sport anyway it's like any any kind of   sport basics first then you start to you know  progress it from there sure when you talk about   advanced calisthenics um that's something that i  don't hear too regular what does it mean for you   so i mean like so advanced in terms of starting  skills so literally eight so eight years of skill   i've been doing eight uh eight years doing skills  but pretty much most of my life just doing basics   okay yeah that's so basics basics uh it's  like push-ups from years and six hours   push-ups different versions of push-ups dips  uh chin-ups pull-ups l-sits core exercises   so just a basic like beginner kind of moves  but i spent like time just perfecting volume   like doing lots of lots of reps for yeah like um  push-ups trying to get up to like sets of 50 for   example it says to 50 dips just to 20 pull-ups  once i have that then literally learning the   advanced skills so trying to get a front lever  wasn't really too hard or a planche and so on   if it wasn't for those if it wasn't for my youth  and my athletics background it would have taken   me a long time to achieve advanced skills  so i definitely i'm thankful for like just   yeah from from when i was young like i was always  like very energetic so my parents just got me just   got me doing sports from a young age and i think  that's what kind of gave me a good head start in   in in learning skills sure because it's  quite unusual you're also quite high right   like quite tall right uh how yeah i think i'm  like i'm like between 178 to 180 centimeters   like about five foot eleven and i weigh like  75 kilo 75 to 77 kilos when i like i prefer to   be 74 but it just my weight goes up and down it's  just yeah like between 75 to 77 that's the way i'm   that's my weight okay and i don't know did you  did you say in the beginning how how old you are   so i'm 25 years old now 25 25 years old family  man i've got a kid that's nearly two years old   wow you know so yeah i feel old i feel older  tonight it's funny you're like the same height   as me the same weight as me and the same age as  me so uh yeah i'm just wondering okay i'm just   missing the ukraine uh ukraine genetics this  is why i'm not able to have full plans i guess   oh probably that's that's the secret man nice  so you already told us a little bit about your   beginnings in calisthenics and how you got into  uh into your first workouts after seeing honeyball   after engaging with a gymnastics forum can you  maybe fast forward uh tell us a little bit the   story from from really from your worst first  workout ever to today um to your workouts today   yeah so literally just began  just doing only calisthenics   literally only body weight so so my body weight my  advanced calisthenics journey like when i started   doing calisthenics properly like with without  nothing else started in 2014 that's when i   started trying to learn planche all my skills and  um i was doing street workout for two years so   literally doing freestyle when just i was always a  static guy i never really enjoyed freestyle i love   statics i did a bit of freestyle when i competed  because you kind of had to of why you don't get no   points you didn't win so from 24 so 2014 to 2016  i was doing freestyle calisthenics and statics   however from 2016 i shifted over to weighted  calisthenics so 2016 to 2018 i started doing reps   and sets so i started doing weighted calisthenics  some weighted dips weighted pull ups uh wait just   everything waited basically um so i started doing  that from yeah from 2016 till to about 2018 2019   so i started um competing in that as well  because i kind of found that a bit more   a bit more fake as you kind of go up against  guys who are your weight and it's just strict   like pull-ups uh weighted pull-ups or strict form  weighted dips with strict form and muscle-ups   and so on so did that for a few years i became  uk champion a couple times as well doing that   um for my i was middleweight champion because i  actually gained weight so when i was doing street   workout i was about 70 like what i am now 74 kilos  75 around that around that weight but then when i   do when i did the weight calisthenics i put on a  lot of weight i went to like 80 kilos 81 kilos wow   but i didn't do as much skill training anymore  i didn't i did a bit of statics but i didn't   really maintain it as much i kind of focused  more on the yes i did that for a couple years   because in the uk like it was quite a big thing  the reps and sets i'm not sure if um anyone knows   about the the hard hitters before ranjit batu  solo nero theo they've not got um way calisthenics   started in the uk and it kind of just blew up so  i kind of got inspired by them and just tried to   yeah try to do what they were doing uh i even  ended up training with them as well which was   an honor for me so you did that for a couple years  um and then i also started doing powerlifting too   as well as that in yeah about 2018 i started doing  power lifting um the heavy squats dead lifts and   so on um yeah about it i just wanted to kind of  yeah just i basically want to try something new   because i also began to work in the gym as well so  i'm right now i'm a personal trainer and i work in   the gym and working i used to work in a really big  gym and i think being a trainer like not everybody   wants to do calisthenics so i have a lot of people  that want to do calisthenics but people also said   oh like i want to learn how to lift weights  to lose just generally losing weight lifting   weight so well let me try to do different training  aspects so that way i can then teach it to people   because if i get someone that comes to me and  says i want to learn how to score and they live   i'm going to be like i don't even know i can't  do it myself so i finally teach you so for let me   try to broaden my own knowledge and try to learn  new things and have strong legs and i and kind of   i took it from there so when i started training  my legs i thought okay well i was kind of strong   already so i just it became a passion i started  going into more powerlifting as well started doing   the bench press squat and deadlift and yeah  i just fell in love with it but then i also   have now gone back to just skill training so  now right now to be fair i do everything now   so i'm doing static so mainly statics now and  power lifting and i do a bit of weight kind of   things on the side as well but right now i'm  training like all three in one go so statics   every day most days i train statics anyway i power  lift about three three or four days or three days   a week monday wednesdays and friday yeah so i  started pretty much every day including empower   lifts like three times a week as well as well  as like weight calisthenics too so yes it's just   it's all become like a heavy schedule so it's all  just right now i'm just like i just want to agree   be a complete athlete i want to kind of inspire  people to actually i mean i'm not saying you have   to like powerlift but i think it's kind of cool to  see someone that can squat and deadlift and bench   press and i can also do statics because if you  see the norm like there's like a wall between so   people that power lift they look at us the  street worker they say yeah they can't squat   they can't they can't bench press they can't  deadlift and then you've got street workout   that say oh if you if you train your legs then  you can't do statics and so i'm thinking hmm okay   let me debunk those let me debunk that so don't  be that guy that can do everything so that's my   goal right now is to just be complete and and  just enjoy training as a whole you know i mean   being a specialist is cool like it's  fine to just do statics or freestyle reps   but personally i just want all the games i want  to be strong in everything and it keeps me like   this keeps on going you know it keeps me sensible  as well so like i don't over train certain things   it's like i train statics one or two days and  i go and train like lower body for for example   so i kind of just mix my training up but i  make sure that it helps everything in one   go as well so that's just me yeah just it went  from just doing bodyweight so then bit of reps   and sets and now it's gone to everything all  in one now oh so yeah and until the the point   where powerlifting came into your training  schedule you didn't train legs specifically   no i didn't to be fair like i so after athletics  right so my athletics career ended in 2014   2013 2014 i didn't train legs at all like i  just did only calisthenics literally in that   in that three years i just did only um just  statics mainly static statics freestyle statics   a bit of reps but then yeah in 20 like 2018 like  three years into my um um career of calisthenics   before let me try to train links again let's  see if i can still squat bench press dead lift   and yeah i was kind of able to do it already like  having that background of course having explosive   legs already like i've already already kind of  had like 100 kilos squats and like a deadlift   like 170 kilo deadlift so i thought let me take  it from there and let me just try to boost these   numbers up and i've actually still i do want to  actually like one day do like a powerlifting comp   just for fun like a little regional one just  just just something to put in my resume just   like that you've done that you know it's a good  little good achievement to have so i might i'm   still i've been i've been wanting to do i've  been wanting to do that for a couple years but   it's been up and down but now everything is  back to normal in uk anyway lockdown has eased   now kind of so i'm looking to just yeah focus on  powerlifting and calisthenics and eventually just   yeah compete in powerlifting one day maybe like  in a year to you know see what happens wow and   one question that's uh yeah i'm asking  myself are you still able to do a 360 today   360. yeah i actually can't 360 or something yeah  yeah about i don't i mean i know i can but i don't   really do much the freestyle i literally just  only do statics like i just don't really care   about freestyle anymore i mean i can about i think  about a year ago i because i used to i used like a   muscle muscle up to a straight bar planche  and then like a push-up 360 to a front lever   so i tried that last year and i still had it wow  so i guess you see i i found with like um anything   to do with tricking like skills tumbling because  remember i said i did tumbling from a young age   but then i didn't do that for like 10 years and  then when i did it i started tumbling like last   year started doing it again and literally had  all my same tumbles that i did because it's like   muscle memory it's like it's a thing where once  you kind of once you've done it before especially   if you've done it for years it doesn't really  go away the only thing that goes away is your   awareness all you need is one or two sessions back  and the awareness is there it's same with like 360   freestyle like the first 360 you might not catch  but the second one okay i know i know exactly   where to go i know when to let go and know when to  kind of see the bar so yeah i find with freestyle   it's like it's not it's more of a fear thing  it's not really like even with tumbling even with   chicken it's not it's not really too hard it's  just you have to have the balls to do it so like   back when i did step like calisthenics like just  freestyle i was scared to do like all that stuff   on the bar like i don't mind doing stuff on the  floor like tumbles and flips on the floor because   i know exactly where i am on the bar i was scared  i was so i thought now i just stick to statics but   then i did a bit of freestyle anyway just to  kind of fit in but i personally didn't like it   i just wanted to keep it only strength just  only strength that's how i see it anyway   cool yeah in your beginnings uh really at the  in your first street workouts calisthenics uh   workouts um what was your goal was it the physique  was it the strength was it my goal was what was   the plunge my goal was to plunge my goal was to do  planche push-ups that was my number one goal and   when i saw hannibal king do his planche push-ups  i was like i want that i just wanted to be that   guy that can do no-legged push-ups and show off  yeah so that was my number one goal was just was   had to plant had to plant had to plant push up  but it's funny because it took me like i learned   so shuttle planche i learnt it extremely fast  but it was actually it wasn't clean though it was   quite it was a bad form because i didn't know any  better i just i used to watch like you know the   general usa street workout guys that would that  would just use sheer strength with no technique   so not like a plant so from a tucked blanch  i learned a shutter planche in literally   about a month month and a half or two months  but that was wasn't perfect it was like a piped   slightly bent arm but but i straight away had  planche push-ups because i literally learned   the long the wrong way all i did was okay i had  a tucked planche my my way of learning planche   even till this day i always recommend handstand  negative down to planche for me that was how i   learned how i learned it um i find for me that's  one of the best ways because that way because   the first negative you're always going to do it's  going to be like pure it's going to be super quick   but over time eventually you're going to learn  how to slow it down slow it down and eventually   catch it into a plunge that's how i like my  shadow planche and full planche i learned it   by doing negatives obviously it also did like  from tuck to straddle as well but i find that   when i'm in a handstand it's very easy to kind of  shutter your legs so when you get into position   then you just lower down and just and just brace  just literally just squeeze everything squeeze   your whole body and try to hold it so i just  kept doing that like i kept doing that and then   eventually it just held and i was like oh my god  okay let me film it and i filmed it it was a bit   higher but then i thought okay let me fix it up a  little bit so i filmed because at first i didn't   film nothing i just kept trying trying and you see  when you think oh yeah i'm doing a plunge but it's   actually like a half handstand yeah so i filmed  everything i did and just fixed it from there   anyway i've actually got my first ever videos  on facebook some of my of my first plant plant   push-ups it wasn't it doesn't look too bad it's a  bit packed it's a bit bent but it's it wasn't too   bad it so to fix that it took me about another  two months just to get it straight and clean   um yeah once i've kind of watched gymnastic  videos but yeah people that always ask me how   to do plant how to punch i always say have a  good handstand and just lower down from there   just keep trying to lower down that's  my uh that's my first way of learning it   and of course you've got the accessory like  you know planche leans you got the frog shuttle   like you know like an advanced straddle like  advanced frog sorry advanced rug shuttle planche   just get used to doing that but and also i think  you need some sort of um flexibility in your hips   you need some good hip mobility for shadow anyway  uh because the easier you can open your legs then   the the more comfortable it will feel and you  won't be like you're gonna see a little guys   they straddle when it's like their legs are  bent and because it's just a hips attack so i   always kind of recommend like middle splits if  you kind of i'm not saying being super i'm not   flexible but have a good level of flexibility  so when you open your legs it's not too tough   so hip hip hip flexors need to be flexible  in the groin so i did like a lot of middle   splits like before my training so that way when  i did a handstand my legs just went just opened   up nicely so that's like my tips for straddle  planche anyway for starter planche having good   open hips and having a good handstand to lower  down i find for me that's a good way of learning   wow you already answered a lot of questions a  lot of uh useful advice already that's uh that's   really cool i guess i guess people will be asking  how to plan this and that so that's just my tips   to struggle anyway obviously full planche is a  bit different because like you can have a shuttle   plant for like 20 seconds doesn't mean you'll  have a full planche four punch is a bit different   it's more specific so what i did for full  plant same thing i did handstand negatives   down to full planche but also did like um  like a very advanced tuck so like you got   advanced tuck but just advance a bit further  just to work that hip just extend a little bit   more and do like advanced single legs and so on  and eventually just get by just doing attempts   and it will just hold takes time of course all  punches are different beast better straddle but   it's really the same like same principle just  keep consistent like i did i used to train it   like i was when i was when i learned it back  then this was a long time ago but um and it's   funny because when i started calisthenics i was  17 right i was 60 oh 62 kilos i was super light   but yeah i was like i literally had i thought  back then i thought yeah i was hench like i was   you know i was a big guy in school looking back i  was skinny i was just i was just leaning ripped i   was leaning rip so i think i was about 62 kg when  i learned so i was 17 years old and i was 62 kilos   and in about two years i went up to 70 74 kilos  so kelestine does build muscle built me muscle   anyway it got me got me bigger anyway so i think  that might give me an edge because i was younger   i was lighter who knows but that's how i learned  anyway back then wow and from your first workout   ever calisthenics to the first good full planche  hold how much how long did it take it did not   take me too long like that because in about  six months to get everything to get so from   having a dodgy full planche about six months  to get it even less i think about four to six   months to get it decent to get it like straight  like with locked arms and about to get it like   not i wouldn't say perfect my planche  isn't perfect i mean it's clean but i   wouldn't say perfect is a very you know  it's a strong word nothing's perfect but   to get it like with decent form about a  year it took me about a year to get it like   with the like with a good hollow body with a nice  hole so like about a year i had like a very clean   10 second planche with planche push ups so a year  into my street workout i learned everything pretty   quick so planche was like my favorite favorite  one and um for front lever for example like   i i did the same thing with front lever negatives  upside down legs open coming down i did exactly   the same thing with my planter 4k this is  front lever planche is two opposite so i   just did the same thing of what i didn't for  my planche anyway so but yeah it took me um   not too long for a front lever anyway front lever  took me because i mean for me is easier than the   planche even though my planche is stronger but  finally they didn't take too long and that level   was the same thing anyway so for me it's like  anyone that asked me i always say negatives   negatives and attempts those are the two things  in an accessory work you do like planche leans and   you know and so on plot pseudo push-ups  just to build um shoulder strength   but it's all about negatives and  attempts in my experience anyway   did you ever feel that your height is  disadvantaged never i actually never   ever once complained about my height because  back when i started i didn't really know about   being tall being swarming i didn't know gymnast  was small but for me it's like i never really use   it as an excuse like if i want like if you want  a movie go get it like i've got a client he's 47   years old 48 years old he's 191 centimeters he's  like 85 kilos he's old um obviously not old he's   young of course but older than most people like  that dude calisthenics of course like i'm seeing   a lot of older guys killing that was crazy but  yeah he um took him to took him two years to   learn from working from two years now same thing  i started with him doing basics just pull ups   push-ups just the basic stuff first for the first  couple months and then finally it took him about   a year to get and he's tall and he's older so  i'm looking at him and i'm like there's no excuse   his friend he was cleaning straight at that age  as well so i think obviously okay yeah fair enough   height is obviously a disadvantage but work with  it i think i never ever let that get to me i never   ever saw i'm too tall for this i never i mean it's  i mean i'm not exactly tall i mean it's like yeah   you're tall but i think it's still possible to  kind of get the moves anyway just don't like even   me like right now i'm um people probably i've  been any money people have asked how does he   train legs and still maintain aesthetics because  either i don't let those things get to my head   i see it as okay having strong legs for  example if you've got strong legs here   think about it when you're doing a static hold  you've got to squeeze your whole body as a unit   together right you've got to squeeze everything  so you've got to squeeze your butt your legs   of course your upper body so the stronger you can  squeeze your legs the stronger your position is   going to be so i see is when i got my squats  strong and my deadlift strong i learned a lot   more about full body tension i mean even from  before from statics anyway teach you that but   to get a really good form you need to be able to  like have strong glutes have strong legs so what i   do when i plant i literally put my legs together  i squeeze them as hard as i can i point my toes   and it just keeps me straight like i feel solid so  in in no way it has training legs it's impacting   my statics it hasn't like i have like people can  just say oh yeah because his legs aren't really   big but i don't train for size like i've never  watched a physique i just trained for performance   so i just i just literally only do the compound so  i do my squat and deadlifts i don't really do much   accessories i just do the main lifts and that's  what i do i don't bodybuild i don't use machines i   don't really like use leg extensions and leg press  because i find that that's the kind of stuff that   that might help grow you like doing high volume  on those smaller things because it's more isolated   but i just focus on compound lifts so that works  that works the full body anyway so that's probably   how i haven't i mean my legs did grow a little bit  like i've got like performance were very skinny   but now they're kind of they're still they're  shaped i've got some quads coming i've got i've   got a big bum now you know so and um yeah it's  not affecting me at one point at once because i   find that people say how do you balance them both  i just say you you do them both at the same time   because imagine okay if i train legs yeah for  six months i did no statics and it came back   to statics yeah it's gonna feel heavy because i  didn't keep up with it my legs probably would have   grown but they didn't keep up but if you keep up  two together it's gonna do no harm it's just about   having a smart program in any way we'll talk  about obviously how i train in a second but it's   just about planning your sessions properly so you  know having a smart program throughout the week so   you can maintain both at the same time because  of course it's not easy to maintain lifts and   statics but you just got to think about they go  hand in hand like i'll talk a lot more about that   in a second but literally they do go hand in hand  like statics and powerlifting they both help out   each other i think in my opinion 100 a lot of  people disagree with me but they haven't tried   it so they can't really say anything you know if  you try it and you see try it first and then see   what happens you never know it might help you  i mean i'm not saying you have to power lift   you have to train legs it's not it's not must  but i think it won't do any harm personally   in my experience of lifting weights for years  now i've been powerlifting for a couple years   and i've still managed to advance my statics  they've still gone up you know so yeah   i recommend just giving it a try and just having a  positive thought just thinking about okay stronger   legs means stronger statics because you've  got a stronger squeeze think about it like   that and it will make more sense to you if you  actually really think about it it will make sense   cool when you say uh you train for power not for  size um is it uh the rep range is it the weight   like how because we received the question as  well people ask yeah how do i train legs without   gaining mass um what what yeah so i just i just i  just i just keep it like i mean i do i do various   rep ranges so i like i i go heavy but i don't go  heavy too frequently because going too heavy all   the time just messes you up like your cns and your  spine so i go heavy like maybe i go heavy like   twice a month maybe uh like three times  a month in a session but mainly likes   i do like i do volume as well do i actually  do i do volume i prefer i prefer high volume   but i think like if you look at how bodybuilders  train legs they do like if you look at their   leg day they start with squats they do lunges  they do split squats then they end up machines   they do like five like egg leg exercises in one  session that's probably why they just get big   they don't really train for power they just  train for so obviously they do things like   they do their squats they don't really lock out  their knees they keep the time on the tension   i do that sometimes as well to get a nice  pump but yeah if you look at my leg session   i just do my heavy squats and then my back offsets  and that's my leg session done so i just do my   squats and messages i just focus only on the  skill of the squat so squats only i don't really   go on the machines and pump it out because i find  that's probably what makes people grow their legs   grow by doing like the accessory stuff so they  do their compound squats and then they go on to   like yeah lunges like walking lunges bulgarian  split squats um [ __ ] squats like for high reps   um and then obviously the machine sets up 20 on  the machine um i did that at one point actually   i did do that a couple years ago when i was  heavier i did i used to always do like squats   and like do add on extra things just  to finish up but now i only just   do the squat do my heavies first then do my back  up sets and that's my next session done and then i   got so i got i got a squat day and a deadlift day  i squat twice a week i deliver once a week for now   and i think like i said i just focus on strength  strength and some volume and that's all so maybe   that's probably why my legs don't grow but but  they're strong because i focus on the movement   and the weight as well so that's probably the  reason why they don't grow because they don't   yeah they've not really grown crazy amount but  they've grown of course but i think if i did   add in accessory stuff they grow more but since  my goal is not bodybuilding i don't really care   you know so i'll just keep it basic squats  main squats that's it that's what i do in   that session how long does one session take  so a session for me typically takes about   average and two hours sometimes one hour  it depends yeah so okay no for squat sniff   legs about an hour okay about an hour it sounds  really short yeah yeah it's not it's not too long   is this sure i do my squats so i do like  it depends if it's like a volume session   it won't take it will take 45 minutes if it's  volume because i go for higher reps and i like   i don't rest too long if it's like heavies then  yeah i mean same thing about now because i'll do   like a heavy set of five and i'd have to rest  like three to five minutes and do that again   so yeah about an hour i don't really spend a crazy  amount of time on next week about an hour one legs   yeah then uh let's come to your like the whole  uh schedule for the week the whole uh workout   workout splits uh my my week is if people see if  people hear my weight they think what the hell   but yeah my week so literally  so um i'll start from monday so   on monday that's my squat day by also planche on  monday as well i train twice on monday i train   twice so i i train my squats in the morning i  do monday morning squats monday is like my um   kind of hard the day on squat so that can be  like a heavy like a heavy day so like a heavy   five sets of five or something or three sets of  so like i saw like for example like like a five   uh heavy five for like three to five sets and  then do like three more pack offsets on like   three sets of eight just to get some volume in and  focus on technique that's my squat day and i i now   i didn't wait pull ups as well after my squats  so i do squats and weight pull-ups and then i   finish work then i come home and then i do my  statics in the evening so my statics on mondays is   normally maltese and planche push-ups so that's on  monday so monday squats and lunch planches tuesday   um that's my bench press day and my friendly bidet  so i bench press on tuesdays same thing i've got a   heavy like heavy heavy bench press or maybe some  volume it depends on what i'm doing in the week   it depends on my on my routine but yeah bench  press on mondays uh sorry tuesdays and weighted   dips as an accessory after my bench press and in  the evening i'll do front friendliness so finally   the holes and presses that's what i'm focusing  on at the moment just focusing on getting my   friend even strong because my plunge is a bit  better than my front lever so i'm trying to get   my front lever on point as well so i just  do uh i work on front lever presses so   hold and press i just work on that and then maybe  some um like the dragon presses after that maybe   wednesday that's my deadlift day so wednesdays  are deadlift um both for like heavy deadlifts on   wednesday uh it depends on the week as i go kind  of like two weeks heavy one week light because if   i go heavy every week then i'm going to end  up burning myself out and hurting myself so   i go go like a week so every so maybe one  week heavy one week later it kind of kind   of varies in what i'm doing what my goals are but  normally like it's a like a a heavy deadlift day   and then in the evening i do plunges but it's  very light like very light planches like just   maybe like fingertip floor planches or something  not to not not to tax me too much but just to   kind of practice the skill and thursdays is my  gymnastics day so i go to uh the gymnastics center   and we just focus it's like an open session  so i'll do my flips i do my first first do my   flips on i do my flips first so my tumbles my  tricking and then that's like a full-on static   session after that so it's small tease against  push-ups it's just everything it's like a whole   full-on status session because you know when you  train with your friends it's like you got three   hours in the gym do you guys just do whatever  just have each other up and just literally you   do a set i want to film you you do another  set dude i do a high bar set do a floor set   like combos it's not more it's more combos  so this is like more of a combo day for me   so like for example plants push up press the house  down back down just stuff like that and friday   friday um i score again on friday but it's not as  heavy as monday like friday is more like a volume   technique day and i bench press as well so i squat  and bench in one session and in the evening um i   actually rest uh my planche on friday i'll do some  light front levers again i found ever again on   friday on friday and then saturday is my full-on  planche day it's like a a day committed for lunch   and then sunday is a friendly video so i've got  like a bit of a split like a pool purge kind of   split but i train every single day seven days a  week i train um so it's quite a heavy schedule   um especially um now we're off lockdown um back  in so because this whole year has been messed up   because i um the gyms were closed so i  didn't really get to lift weights much so i   focused purely on statics the past year i mean  i did a bit of lifting but it was here and there   was i barely did it because gyms were closed every  time the gyms opened guess what it opened for two   weeks and closed again so it was very inconsistent  but now it's like okay we're fully back hopefully   so for the past six weeks i've been doing this  schedule people probably will ask me how do you   recover how do you maintain basically  you see like okay as an athlete right   like anything you do whether you're a beginner  or advanced athlete it could be anyone but   when you first do like a do your first week  of training for example you do a first leg   session right how do you feel for your  leg station the first time you can't walk   you can't walk for days you do a first crazy plant  session you can't you can't move your shoulders   however when you carry on that program after about  two weeks four weeks you begin to not ache anymore   and that's when the training begins  to start properly because you can then   increase the volume increase the amount of times  per week you train it like i can like right now   i'm in my sixth week of this of this training uh  program i'm doing my own my program of training   every day and i honestly don't get sold the  next day so i can do like a crazy leg session   and my legs are fine the next day i can do  a crazy plant session my shoulders are fine   so it's all about adapting to your program once  you adapt once you once you're able to recover   then that's when you can maintain everything  easily as well because i find that of course   if my legs if i do a crazy leg session yeah  plunger is going to be a bit hard because my   legs are sore they cramp up however  it's about sticking to the program   and adapting recovering and that and that just  takes time after like a week of training legs   or two weeks you every every session the doms  will get lighter eventually those will go away   um so yeah just getting up to kind of force my  body to get used to this program and now it is   and now there's no issue at all on how to  perhaps on how to kind of mix everything up   because at first yeah it does sound a bit tougher  how do you recover how did you get time to recover   you just got to adapt you got to force your body  to adapt to your to your training obviously you   can make changes to kind of um progress but  i'm keeping it like this for now anyway i'm   finding this is like okay this is perfect now i  train my planche on monday for example yeah cool   tuesday like yeah i don't feel was i feel fine  i can meet people because people say how do you   bet how do you plan for monday and bench on  tuesday that's because well like i said i recover   really good now so i can because at first i began  everything slow but everything was just about   movement i didn't really the first two weeks of  this kind of program that i'm doing was just about   not burning myself out i kept my rp about rpe six  to eight so kept the training about 60 to 80 i   never really maxed out myself i always like train  and then that way i can train again the next day   i don't really like to train hard three times  a week i prefer to train a little bit but every   day if that makes sense i find that kind of and it  keeps you but it keeps you it keeps you sensible   and you also um do not get prone to injury  as well because i find if you train hard   too much that's how you get tendonitis you get  injuries so i kind of keep my training a bit smart   in that sense where i don't go crazy every single  day of course some days i go hard but it's like   i know if i go hard then the next day is like  i'm doing something else anyway so i can still   recover from that and then say so monday i'll go  harder squats but then i can recover by friday   for the next quarter session and you know  that's that's kind of how i programmed myself   so not maxing out too much only so right now i'm  six weeks in i can increase the volume a lot more   i can max out a little bit more and i'll still  be fine whereas if i did at the beginning then   yeah i'd be screwed so it's just about like it's  like anything you you train and you move like even   if i did like for example lunges because i don't  i don't do lunges right now but if i did lunges   yeah my my legs would be killing but then if i did  lunges for the next one month my legs will be fine   so that's how you gotta take a train and just  get make your body to adapt like i guarantee   if you ask any of the of the top planches they  probably approach nearly every day they probably   plan for at least five times a week because  they can whereas a beginner they have to start   light three times a week or maybe a little bit  every day just a little bit just to feel the   movement and eventually then you you increase  the the volume as you adapt to the training   so that's how i see it yeah okay so  in the beginning when you start a new   training schedule you start at i don't know 50  60 percent of uh of power yeah about about 40 60   so with me it's all about going  through the technique and the motions   and then each week i'll increase the rpe  scale or the percentage anyway because you see   muscle uh like a really bad muscle soreness  the next day is something negative because you   can't continue to do it when you're saw it just  it's just i mean you can still train better it's   not as comfortable to drink but i find that no  matter like over time that's one of the doorway   and when that smallness goes away then it makes  life a lot easier like when i wanted because i   didn't really bench press much before but now a  bench press and i remember the first ben press day   my shoulders and chest were in pain like and it  just affects my plants the next day like i can't   plant properly or even two days after that it's  like i'm trying to punch and i've got doms in my   shoulders and chest um but so so i kind of so  if you're trying something new if you want to   see if you want to incorporate something so if you  just say for example if you just planche every day   whatever you want to start doing front levers then  finally start a bit either you separate the days   or you start off light and friendly when and then  slowly bring it up the volume every week or so as   your body gets stronger it responds better to  it and then it can go harder like you probably   will do like a session where you do like three  sets of like a i don't know like a three sets   of 10 seconds or no for example three sets of 10  seconds the first session that might match you up   the week after oh maybe i can do another set  now and then the week after that oh i can do   even more because your body doesn't you know  your body starts to you know get used to it   so for me it's all about adaptation getting  your body used to something and then once   it is used to something you can then progress  progress it and everything else at the same time   okay and you also uh said rpe um and uh are  i are i like uh two things that uh are often   oftenly used um can you maybe explain uh these  terms more for the people who don't know them   yeah so basically that's like a scale where on  how so a scale rp one to ten that's how you feel   doing exercise so say for example if you do an  extremely heavy deadlift that's gonna be like a rp   eight if you go like a one rep max that's a  ten and even like for example if you go for   like a maximum plant hold like that's gonna  be like rpe 10 or something so i kind of   so that's so basic what i do and what i get  people to do as well is to avoid maxing out   so for example if my deadlift my  deadlift max for instance would be like   2 250 or something that's like rp10 of course  but if i want to do that if i want to deadlift   that day but focus on form technique and  volume then i'll scale it down to like   like rp six rp four to six so i'll go down to  like 200 even less like 180 and focus on just   doing reps and that way it doesn't get you out  too much and you can still live the next day   because if you like that's why i don't really max  out too much in my training because if i max out   next day i come next day then you're seeing  this is down you can't do nothing the next day   so if you if you want to train frequently in  the week then sometimes it's better to kind   of keep the rpe a bit lower so you've probably  finished the session think i can do more but   say saving for tomorrow or the next session  there's no there's no reason to be burning up   every session because you think yeah go hard to go  home that saying is now is long gone now because   yeah you go hard to go home and then you're  going to wake up next day within the nights   you're gonna be screwed so always like even my  plan sessions like i've got days where i go hard   but i can always plant at the end but i still  yeah i'm good so so a hard plant session would be   you can't plant you can't do even a tuck plant  afterwards that's when you know you're you're   messed up but because but after that you need  to rest about a couple you have to rest a few   days and obviously that's fine i mean if you  want to go have like three hard days or two   hard days in a week that's up to you i prefer for  skill training i think it's better for you to do   it um more frequently but less intense because  with skills it's like a mind and body connection   so like i said train planche every day most days  most days above school most days status every day   but it's keeping keeping rp six to eight so i  can carry on training the next day and focus   on like the technique and not blending  myself because when you burn yourself out   your tendons and joints will take a big hit and  that will take about a week or two to recover and   that's also how people get injured so i try not to  get get myself injured by doing by going too hard   so you've got to keep your training smart and  not get too overexcited so literally sometimes   keep your sets up to five nothing more five sets  of uh so five sets for example say your max plan   which is like i don't know ten fifteen seconds ten  seconds then you do then you will do five sets of   like six to eight seconds something lower so you  can do sets of that rather than trying to do a max   max hold every set you'd be back you'd be  guessing out each time and then you and then you   you're done for you're done for you can't do  nothing else after that so i'd rather do like   three sets of like comfortable number so i  could focus on technique volume and number   and not break myself down and then go off and do  like a regression and do the same kind of thing   and that way so okay i feel good next day you  can do something similar again or the day after   that and that way you won't you won't feel too  attacked and that way you can include more volume   in the week rather than so you can spread the  volume across the week rather than in one day   and i just find that now personally i went through  a stage where i was planting like a few months   ago sponsoring pretty much every day with the  same principle so every day i kept it 60 to 80   and my seconds increased by a lot because my body  just got so used to the plants it just became   a daily thing and i literally just progressed  a lot from doing that same thing for my front   lever i'm doing front lever more often now and so  less intense one more often and it just seems to   feel better each time um of course i'm gonna  have a day or two in the future world just   do like a crazy plant session where i can't  plant no more but i just i just try to avoid   that because i've done that before one time i  did like a crazy volume i did like 10 seconds   planche for 10 sets um i could have done actually  because of more sets but that was like literally   90 and my shoulders and everything was dead and i  couldn't plunge properly for the rest of the week   and for me it's like man i just feel like i've  lost gains in that week you know i mean i'm not   really a fan of resting i profess it just like i  said spread the volume across the week and feel   the movement each day or each every other day i  find that you get more benefit from doing that   in my opinion anyway it's kind of what gymnastics  i think will be degrees in the groove doing a bit   bit by bit but every day by not maxing out it's  very popular in in terms of skill training as well   in gymnastics calisthenics gymnastics they do that  every single day they train every day gymnastics   training every single day they'll go on they'll  do plunging every day they do their routine every   day but they do it so that way it's not maximum  every day so a bit of the routine every day and   that way they can progress the routine rather than  doing one crazy routine once a week and it's like   yeah yeah you're gonna get i mean by the time you  recover you're gonna be good but it's like your   body hasn't felt the routine in so long it's like  you kind of forget it so i always kind of like   tell people to train their skills often but not  maxing out but no i don't i don't feel like i've   got enough in the session that's the whole point  it's about training smart not hard it's about   stimulating your muscles not annihilating them  so i always say yes stimulate don't annihilate   and feel the movement at least four or five times  a week if possible if that's your goal and i've   i mean for people for a lot of people that works  but it's you have to kind of um have that way you   like for a beginner that wouldn't work because  they're going to get crazy muscle soreness but   a month in from their training they  can start doing that i recommend   like after a month of training the planche you  should be able to recover faster that way you   can do it more often in a week so that's one  thing i say to everyone try to train it often   but do not tax yourself too much hope that makes  sense definitely it's a lot of input but i think   it's really really valuable and um definitely  something that i see a lot and uh like not only   beginners make these mistakes and also myself  when i only have like two or three days uh   in a week where i where i ha uh i'm allowed or  like where i have the time to to train so i go 100   but then uh like the the muscle pain is unreal  um yeah and so it feels feels the same that uh   the progress is going away even uh through  these sessions um so yeah exactly yeah yeah   so yeah that's greasing the groove is definitely  i recommend that that method of training for sure   we hope that you enjoyed this episode the  second part will be uploaded on june 3rd   so exactly one week after this upload keep  growing and see you in the next episode guys .