HIS PLANCHE JOURNEY & WORKOUT ADVICE | Interview with Kay-P Cruz | Athlete Insider Podcast #61

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ask yourself how good do you want to be  you know what do you want to achieve what do you want to be able to do  you know i explain to everyone i train to be a god because i want to achieve the hardest movesyo gorillas welcome to the athlete insider podcast by GORNATION my name is phil and today's  guest is somebody requested by the community super strong athletes super strong static skills  i'm really looking forward to this interview straight from las vegas kay-p cruz happy uh that  you're here and welcome to the show what's good everybody i'm alive and well let's get started  awesome for the people who don't know you yet who are you how do you present yourself  um kp crews they call me the specimen i'm from new york i've been doing calisthenics for about three  years now um i train to be a god like i want to be super elite i want to be one of the strongest  out here i want to like achieve some really like advanced elements and master them and own it not  just do it own it you know that's really why i train that's my that's what i would tell people  i tell people all the time people look at me like i'm crazy i'm like i just want it i want it wow  um and you're quite quite new into this in the sport right uh like i think in your instagram  bio it's not written uh 10 years into calisthenics but you're you're doing calisthenics since how  many years i started back in 2018 2018 yeah june of 2018. so i started with a pull-up bar  some dumbbells you know i said to myself i didn't want to just sit around and play video  games anymore because that's all i was pretty much doing i was always in the crib just playing a lot  of basketball games sports games call of duty whatever it was but at that time it was like  nah i wanna i wanna get in some more something a little bit more productive so i started doing  pull-ups you know push-ups dips squats you know some bicep curls and just kept going just didn't  stop i used to be in my basement for like two three hours just working on the fundamentals  of the sport you know just building that base and over the months and over the years this got strong  wow and uh yeah what uh what's today the the strongest move the the move that you're  or the skill that you're most proud of um i like the plans push-ups man like it's so  dope like even when i look at other people do it it's like  the amount of years it took me to get it like it took me three years to get the full planche  push-up like and then i do other variations i do the mechanical advantage variations so it's like  the full it's like it's like it's just like small spot and said it's like an elephant it's like  when your legs are extended it's so heavy but when the straddle plants nothing all that  oh i hope those other progressions are easy but when you go to like fold it's like oh my god  and i do it with a straight body and you know everyone says straight body planche it's harder  than when you do the hollow variation because when you do the hollow variation it's like you  you shorten the lever of your body so it's like when you do it it's way easier to press because i  can feel it when i do that full planche it's like oh my goodness but i would say full planche and  then one arm handstand love handspring wow that's cool coming to some some hard facts uh because  if we don't answer them people will ask in the comments how old are you right now um i've been on  earth for 24 years i'll be 25 this month wow yeah december 23rd 23rd she said yeah this month okay  cool so people know that they have to congratulate on this day uh how heavy and how tall are you um  i'm around 70 kg so like 155 i normally stay within the 150s i don't put on a lot of weight  i don't really want to bulk i just tell everybody just get strong the muscle will come and then my  i think i'm 175 centimeters i'm around five foot nine i believe i haven't like imagined myself in  years but i know i'm around like five nine five ten i i don't know i look tall in the video that's  what they say and that's the most important thing on social media at least so uh yeahcool um yeah tell us a little bit the the story how did you get from from playing  video games and uh being unhappy with the with the video games uh uh two two calisthenics and  two becoming the the superhuman i don't know i like i just came back from my cousin's graduation  and then i had left my job i was working at walmart i was an overnight stalker so  i don't know i just got i just needed something to change so as soon as i came back from a graduation  we um i went to the store bought a pull-up bar got some dumbbells and just said all  right i'ma start looking up all these videos how to get stronger how to do pull-ups how to just  work on the fundamentals of basic strength you know watching hannibal for king you know  frank madrano i like watching the old school guys there's mad reps and sets because that's  pretty much what i was focused on like my first year of calisthenics was just basics get that  get that basic [ __ ] down because like the the pull-ups you know once i got really good at the  weighted pull-ups i got way to dips it then the um weighted chin ups weight like everything like  this you could do weighted push-ups like you can never stop doing the basics because that's  what got you strong and then when you add weight oh you're gonna get jacked so it's like that's  how it began for me just just always training like i got obsessed with it like i was like  just get strong don't worry about how you look like it's nice to get the muscle cool but i want i  want i want to be strong i want to be able to lift my own weight with ease that's that's what i saidso even though you're like for me you have like a really impressive physique um for you it was  never about the physique it was always about the strength and the the body weight mastery  basically yeah it's strong because it's like yeah you got the looks and i mean it was going to come  anyways because if you really think about what we're doing it's resistance training we're moving  our body through space and even weight lifting even if you're going really heavy you're really  light you're gonna put on a lot of mass depending on how many reps you do or like how much weight  you're lifting or how slow you're going tempo everybody likes to go for speed but you can  anybody can do all that but when you go slow oh my god i tried to do like pause reps for like full  planche push-ups oh my god i fried my shoulders my my traps my triceps like because you're you're  taking your time with everything you're putting time under tension and to me that's what really  builds muscles the tension if there's no tension are you gonna build what you're tearing that's  how i look at it so it's like just to control your reps like i don't i don't chase speed i don't even  chase wraps i do what up my body will allow me to and then just find something else to do because  your body is everybody has work capacity like you're not gonna be able to do the hardest moves  every single day you're gonna have to lower your intensity at some point so you just gotta feel out  that's what i say just pay attention to how you feel as i have because that's just how it is  because we can go in feeling hot but your body may not be feeling up to it so it's like damn i gotta  okay i can't full plans tonight let me work on my straddle oh i can't do one arm pull up so let me  let me pull out the bands and do a bandage system just you can always there's always ways to train  something you can always pick something apart that's how i look at everything wow yeah already  a lot of useful advice in it um yeah maybe fast forwarding to today um so how does your typical  workout week look like your schedule for the week i normally just rotate between push and pull  like today i did a full day but i did legs too but i'm doing legs is i'm no longer doing heavy squats  leg extensions and hip thrusts i'm doing more like plyometric training like jumps box jumps  you know leg one-legged jumps trying to just train for power and vertical because when i  when i recently discovered from my own experience when i'm doing all these heavy squats and maybe um  you know leg extensions and [ __ ] my legs started getting heavier so it's affecting my planches and  i'm like damn i don't want to feel heavy because because the idea with this sport is you want to  be floating you want to be hitting planche presses like like these guys do vlog otz eric barzey all  these gods that you see larosa all these guys that just play victor like so many dudes are just gods  and playing so it's like and i can understand it it's it's the not too much mass in the lower half  because our body is like a lever so this is your your upper body this is your this is why we never  really see guys with tree trunks because it's like if you have all this weight in the back and you  could be doing this in your pledges or it's like it's going to be hard to balance we're trying to  find that equilibrium so when we do our our four planters with this street so it's like for me  you know rotating between push and pull like i did pull today tomorrow today tomorrow this  morning i'm probably going to do plants push-ups or planche press and then i just  rotate and then i train until i know i need to rest the days that i don't train strength  i do like flexibility training i work on my middle splits my pancakes because i want to have those  nice straddles and you know just that flexibility for my hand balancing so i can do all the shapes  but that's just how i look at everything like just you have to pick and choose what you really want  to train stop trying to go in and train everything i've been there it sucks it doesn't work  you're not gonna make no progress you gotta like okay i really want the planche i'm gonna train  the planche every push i'm gonna do handstand push-ups you know dips any kind of push movement  because from what i see if you're doing push moves every day you know front lever every day it's like  it starts to it's just over train everything you don't you want to rest muscle groups rest again  or take a couple days off come back just just just find out what you like everyone's different some  people you can train every day i train every day just don't train strength don't go 100 like just  be like okay i'm tired let me let me chill out let me do some flexibility work let me let me  work on my straddle for my pancakes so i can have let me work on my open head shoulder mobility you  know just pick apart what our weaknesses are we can always train something we don't have to go  in 100 i just just you know just find what you like be consistent sure okay so um yeah  what i already uh heard is um if you want to train every day you should lower the intensity so you  shouldn't go at 100 every every workout um to also avoid like muscle soreness i guess are you are  you sore sometimes i wouldn't say soreness i would say like you know there's just certain things that  you know you know you wouldn't be able to like i've been to a point where i could i did a full  planche for like seven days a week like straight high intensity and if bro it fried me i've never  been that fried before i didn't want to train because i was training at max intensity every day  and i did it just to see what would happen let me train plants every day let me see what happens and  oh man my back everything my my tendons i wasn't giving my body enough time to recover from the  damage i was doing so i'm like okay and i had to take two days off or even three because i was just  toasting so it's like once again like just find that sweet spot where you know you can bring a  bring bring in volume getting more volume you know if you can't full planche today do straddle  or do touch some days i'm like you know what we talking today i don't want to do no full  planches i'm tough plants you all maybe go over the presence of tuckman's push-ups and  just work on just just always anything can be trained anything can be trained  true how many goals do you think it is um like what's effective how many goals should  i have at the same time when you say like uh too many goals are uh hindering the progress  i would say like i would refer to what sign monster said like pick about two or three skills  that you really want like did you just gotta have and then just focus on those two for pull two for  push and then just go with that and then just just master it and then you can rotate them out it's  like some days like i'll do front levers one day and then another pull day i'll do one on pull ups  or her festo's just to rotate because sometimes i get bored training put front lever pull ups  or a front lever like every pool day so i'm like okay let me uh push days let me do plans press no  no push-ups just the presses or just the holds and then you know one day i'll do handstand push-ups  or just wait anything where just just you got to pay attention to how you feel  pick what we want to train get a good few sets in and just be consistent you know that's really what  it's about like you can you don't really have to do much like this there's so much we can do like  there's people that just want to plunge and i'm like okay cool you can do that there's some people  that love front level you know some people love handstands so it's like you train how you want  that's the beauty of this sport that's why i like it you meet i meet a lot of different people with  different modalities different little skills you know freaking intricate i i like it that's why  i i wanted to do this because that's what this sport is about to me it's about  networking and connecting with others around the world isn't just me it ain't just you it's just  it's mad people i ain't i'm like i'm ready so but that's how that's what i would say cool  yeah um people asked about your uh planche journey so um maybe going back to the days uh where you  did your your basics um can you can you give us some insight into um the the yeah the planche  journey the planche was mad frustrating i remember when i used to first start off doing it i used to  do it with bad form my elbows was not straight so for me it was like lacking in the straight arm  strength doing my class leads you know that's the the foundation that's what gives you that  smooth lift off on the ground you know how you see guys they lean in their feet come off or  they go straight to a press handstand so it's like get don't neglect the lien that was my big  biggest mistake i was neglecting my liens even like probably last year too i was just  recently incorporated into a ball so it's like you know that lean because that's what we do in  every position even when you're tucking advanced texture out you get that straight arm strength  you can if you have a strong lean you'll have a strong planche but you still got to do all the  other progressions but for me planche is oh man i think is it the way my body type is it's just  i have such a lengthy body long arms long legs so it's like plans for such a frustrated journey and  it still is today i'll be having days where i feel like i can't even press i can't even push up some  days it's like oh yeah i feel like a feather like i remember one day i didn't train plants i know i  didn't train legs i missed the leg there i didn't do it on purpose i came back so freaking light oh  the way i pressed i got the little air walks and i was like oh yeah this is this is this is  this is this has got to be it so it's like just it's the place man it's the ultimate move in the  sport it's arduous it's frustrating it's a long journey but i would say like even when you get it  you got to master it like you don't want to hold it for three seconds you want to you want to hold  it like you hold your hand stand 30 seconds you want to master it but the planche is oh freshman  it's frustrating that's what i would say and putting it on a timeline like uh from you starting  in 2018 uh how long did it take uh when did you start training specifically for it for hishmm i would say it took me two years because once i started working on the  90-degree push-up i was like alright i think i'm ready for the for the full planche because that  but that bent on planche that's it can help you get the plans but it's more for planche  push-ups because if you're really strong from the bottom you can use resistance bands or like  just use your strength to push up and come back down to that position but i would say  work on the straight arm variation because it's just like it's just like handstand pushups  you're just horizontal you're not vertical you know you work on the bent arm stand then once you  get your handstand you can work on the negative same thing with your plans you got the bottom  the bent arm planche once you get the straight arm planche then you can start working on eccentrics  or just doing combos but i would say the planche man is one of those moves it's some people get it  quick though some people get six months and i think it's because that's all they're training  but even then every everyone's progress is individual but it took me two years and in  three years it took me to get the planche push up those are dope like i feel like that's like i feel  like anybody that can anyone that can do a hundred push-ups flat just try to do plans push up why not  you've already mastered push-ups like that's the next level or handstand push-ups yeah maybe in  in summary like uh looking back on the on this uh three years planned journey three three more than  three years three and a half um what are your learnings like except um the the lean that like  you would you would pay special attention to the lien maybe what's some other advice that you want  to give the to the listeners um and doing a lot of l-sit to like planche so like i would start from  an l-sit kick up to planche should start from the l-sit tuck planche advance tough straddle that's  what really got it for me because as you get stronger you're trying to solidify that position  so you'll still start to go pretty fast but as you get stronger you'll go slower and slower until you  can pause and then once you get the pause you have your bent arm planks like we were just  talking about work on your negatives go from that l-sit straddle plan straddle full planche whatever  you have boom and work that negative for full planche but i would say that's one of my favorite  exercises to get your pledges and then using bands like use bands like even using the bands  to practice leaning into your plans so you can practice that lift off your planche presses like  i love resistance bands i would say use bands for like all progressions tuck full straddle that's  what helped me get my plants really strong like as as i fatigued throughout my sessions once i can't  full planche normal once i can't do normal planche push-ups i use the bands to help increase volume  refine my technique in my form so when i come back fresh for another session i got more reps in or  my forms improve so that's really what it's for some people think it's [ __ ] but the bands the  bands work man they're so helpful for like all skills like it really man you can unlock some  impossible moves using resistance bands but i would say bands is another one use your bands  okay cool uh yeah something that i um i had to think about what was your fitness level when you  started uh like working out in i was pretty weak i was pretty weak me and my brother we used to  do this seven minute um routine where we would do dips on the bench or like you know like that was  really hard for me it hurt it i i used to hate this i used to really hate dips my weighted dip  is heavy but i used to hate that the the wide grip but as i used to learn how to control my weight i  was like i actually like it's quite effective to build the chest shoulders and triceps but  i would say just doing that seven minute routine it wasn't really nothing it wasn't really building  a lot of strength and stuff but that was before we was really dedicated that's why i would consider  when i started training in june because we would start but then we would quit we would start when  we quit and it's like you know life gets in the way work gets in the way but consistently from  june to now i would say just doing the basics pull-ups push-ups dips rolls squats leg lifts  like get your core strong a lot of people neglect their core even when they're first starting out  you gotta just you know do a lot of leg lifts every day knee raises you know i used to get on  a dip station just do knee raises every single day that's why if you've seen one of my videos  everyone asks me how can i do that v6 phrase while i'm bringing my legs to my face and i i  did legless every day because you want your core to be solid and you want that lower back strength  the the hip flexibility so i would say just really solidifying the basics like  i used to come in the gym one hour of weights or one hour of calisthenics first and then go lift  but i'm doing that currently right now too but i would say just master the bass master the basics  do you think your core strength was also one reason why you unlock the planche quite  i would don't want to say fast but it's quite it's quite fast like two years from starting  with with workout i would say not really because to get a skill you have to train it you know i  can do l-sits and a lots of leg lifts all day but if i'm not training the planche directly  it's not really gonna happen so i would say like focus on training the skills that you  want like whatever you're training all the time you just what you're gonna get  true okay so um yeah let's take an example we have uh matt here and matt is a beginner  in calisthenics he has like uh he has set his two to three goals uh for himself uh so i don't  know he wants to learn the front lever um the struggle planche and um a solid handstand and  um yeah what advice would you give to to matt um for programming so how does he how should he  create his own training program so you said front lever handstand and pledge let's try to plan chat  so what i would do is do your handstands first i always do my hand balancing first just because  it's not really a strength thing it's more like you're just trying to be  on your feet except you're on your hands so it's like if you're used to that every day you're gonna  get you're gonna become a pro with it and that's just the foundation for a lot of skills like if  you're really good at the handstand you can clap in it you can jump you can walk you can you know  hand hop if you want i would say do handstands first probably you know five sets just to get  hot whatever you can do pikes just whatever you can do and then do your plan just first because  the planche is tough is it's always the hardest you know do your leans do you do your attempts  you can do your attempts because you always got to start off with the hardest moves first  once you get your handstands out the way do your hardest moves because if you try to let's say  let's say you do your planche holds you do your planche holes but you're burnt out at the end  you want to do plenty push-ups you're not going to be that efficient because you already tanked  out from doing planting the full planche hole so it's like or even straddles but it's like you  got to just do your hardest first and work your way down to the easiest exercise like a drop set  and then front lever same thing you can do front levers on your pull days i prefer to like you  can do you can mix i've recently experimented with mixing too like doing planche and front  lever in the same session it felt kind of cool because it's like wow i just did a planche and  then the front like right after like you can do that it's like a sensible super sets like  you know one skill right after the next once you recover but i would i would do push pull and the  handstands every day like i would say get really good at handstands because handstands incense are  easy it's not strength it's it's it's it's just a balanced thing like once you get that balance down  you're good you can start looking looking for one arms but i'm sure we got questions for that tooyeah uh another question was definitely um any advice on on balancing like uh on the  the balancing stuff because with progressive overload it's it's i would say quite obvious  how to get stronger and like um people just know uh how to work on on strength exercise but i think  balance is a little bit different uh in in some terms so um maybe your advice how do i improve my  balance how do i achieve balance moves like the hand center one hands and the quickest man like  i once again is like going back to it like i would say really do drill it every session because it's  not it's something that you want to build a habit towards like and balancing like i said it is not a  lot of strength it's just like being on our feet if we're used to being on our hands all the time  we're gonna get it really quickly so you know just drilling the balancing drills like once you um  you know just doing them every day like go against the wall refine your alignment you know work on  your negatives your pipe presses like you know a lot of people want to get the one arm but it's  like can you even straddle press can you walk how good are you on two arms can you shoulder tab like  like how much how solid is your two arm can you hold it for 30 seconds  can you weight shift without shaking can you keep this you know it's about the the  proprioception the body of winds what is your whole body doing while you're doing the handstand  are you good with moving your legs while standing still like there's a lot of mechanics that we have  to teach ourselves to do in a handstand everybody just wants to consider one arm but it's like dude  solidify the two arms and then the one arm can come laterhow long did it take you to get from the normal like two-hand handstand to the one-arm  just about two years and then to get where it is now three years and that's the thing once  and that's the thing about unlocking a skill we get it but it gets better so it's like  who's to say why why i even say that like it just improves as we we train okay yeah i got  the handstand oh i got the one on but now i gotta i gotta improve it i wanna be able to be stealing  and i wanna be fluid i wanna be like moving through the air but so that's how i say like just  just enjoy the process like once you get it i tell people yeah you've got to move now master it you  know own it perfect it you wanna you wanna just do it like it's nothing you know because these moves  everybody thinks it's so easy people come up to me and think it's as simple as kicking up and  yeah i'm holding it but there's so much that goes into this like it's the the awareness  and that's something that people mistaken within this training is the awareness yeah we can anybody  got strength anybody can jump into a handstand and do it against the wall but it's like can you  control it can you keep your line straight can you keep your toes pointed like just does everything  in line that's what i would say cool and uh yeah questions about mobility and stretching  as you already said like your leg lifts your um it's quite impressive how flexible you are so um  maybe you want to tell us how uh what role plays mobility and stretching in your in your workout  and around the beginning i used to do a lot of weighted stretching in my beginning of my sessions  but now i'm switched to doing it after but in the beginnings i used to just do a lot  of jefferson curls like i'll get a barbell and then you know how you do a like a pike stretch  you try to reach for your toes bring the barbell down that's how you get that that spinal flexion  and that mobility in your hamstrings doing a lot of um pancake stretches i used to um straddle  my legs i would sit and reach i'll put a weight plate on my back do stuff like that that really  got me fast and then yeah doing leg lifts because leg lifts build up that compression  strength in our abs our hamstrings our legs and just working on it after your training like i  would recommend uh stretching after your training sessions because our muscles are already worn out  they're already warm so even after getting out the sauna it's the best time to stretch and just do it  after every session i'm telling you you're gonna notice quick gains i used to spend sometimes like  during quarantine i would spend like two almost two hours stretching because i enjoyed it like i  believe we shouldn't limit ourselves with just strength yeah be strong you know unless that's  what you want to do everyone's free to train out in truth but for me i feel like why not be  flexible but some of the dopest moves require some flexibility and i'm like i want to get flexiblesure i just have to think about the mana like uh which is an an extreme move uh yeah is it is it a  goal to to reach something like this or like uh i don't know extreme ice it or like how far progress  and motivated are you in these terms honestly i don't everyone always asks me even mike this  ain't hit me i was like dude you got to get are you going to get the bottle down i don't want it i  don't want it right now like i feel like i prefer the reverse flange because that that lean back  is what you have to do to get the the um your v sit anyways and the monitor so i'm like if i  get this lean back strong and practice putting the bands on my feet i prefer reverse plans okay nice  um yeah um general health advice is are there any habits anything that you do on a daily basis  or like um on a that is just bringing benefits to you and your your workout i would say drink  your water and really just stretch man water and stretching is really helpful because that stuff is  is neglected and i know some athletes that don't really drink a lot of water i'm like dude you got  to be drinking water man our body is made of that stuff and lubricates our joints on our ligaments  our tendons and then it's like the stretching a lot of guys they come in me if you want to be  strong but it sucks when you're stiff it's not fun it's like i want to do more moves i want to  i want to be free i want to be mobile like i'm doing a lot of weightlifting too lately too  so when doing that you know that stuff is quite robotic that movement  the curls so that stuff can keep us stiff so i make sure when i come home after my sessions  i stretch i loosen up if i feel like i'm getting that round back syndrome where i'm like this i  i you know i bring my hands like that and stretch behind me just make sure that i'm not getting that  that that tightness i do not want to be tight i want to be mobile i want that flexibility  nice yeah and it's like really fighting against each other because if you lift weights and if you  like work out really hard your muscles get stiffer and torn together so um yeah um yeah that's that's  uh cool your mindset when you train so um with with what kind of mindset do you go into  until into the workout are you like really calm or are you aggressive or like uh are you happy  or like what what kind of mindset are you you know this is it's either one it depends either either  one i feel i'm still gonna go in and give myself a hundred percent even if i'm not at a hundred  percent i lower the intensity and still give my 100 because i want to give my all i want to  like i said i train to be a god like i have a lot of passion in the training aspect of this sport  like i really truly enjoy going in there and doing these skills and and progressing and and getting  stronger with the weight and just just seeing the strength go up and looking back i'm like  like i just i just want to be really strong bro like i train to be a god i'm gonna say it every  time because i want people to really understand my my like whole mindset like it took me it took  a lot for me to stay by myself to really realize like i really want to get strong as hell and just  go hard and just get strong train train just just train when i can even when i was working two jobs  i was working like six days a week i only had one day off i was still training because i wanted it  that bad i got to the point where you know i had almost i think i had like i don't know what it was  i was doing a lot of pull-ups and i was training so much i think i was over training and i had  like loud uh clicking sounds in my elbows and i was training like crazy so i had to listen to  my body and take a step back but what i really am saying is my mindset is just get strong as  [ __ ] let's get strong as [ __ ] get strong like don't worry about physique because the worst thing  you could do as a human being is not experience it what it's like to be strong to be physical  uh have the physical capabilities to move in any way that you choose that's what i would say  and this gives you the the power even though you you work hard and you do two  jobs at the same time like uh it gives you the just the the the energy to still  go after the workouts and keep on i would say it's more on the obsession thing too be  obsessed with your craft because look what we're trying to achieve you want to do a one-arm pull-up  you want to do one-arm planche one-on-one all these difficult skills i'm like it's gonna take  a long time bro you're gonna have to really find some time to dedicate on achieving that  you know some some of us don't have four or five hours a day some people only have 30 minutes some  people only got an hour and i tell people look use the time that you got work with what you got  and then just make the gains steadily because you know it's better than not training at alldefinitely did you ever feel that your physique is um something that's holding your back or like do  you ever think about the planche ah damage i wish i would be i don't know 10 centimeters smaller  not really i'm proud of my body i like how i look you know i'm getting stronger i'm putting on more  mass because i have been like once i'm finished with my my calisthenics training i'll go and do  weight lifting and i've noticed it has put on some quite a few masks on me on my arms on my chest  you know because what i do is right after my planche work i'll do like bench press shoulder  press tricep push downs um you know bicep curls incline bench press you know lat pull downs just  doing the opposites of what i would do so if i do push up i'll do bench press or whatever but that's  what i would say like just being consistent it's consistency and obsession you got to be obsessed  there's no way you're going to achieve these things without obsession  cool yeah i mean uh becoming a god uh is a big goal so uh like maybe you want to tell us what  does it espec like specifically mean for you is it the feeling is it um i don't know the  not necessarily the feeling it's like it's a mindset like even though yeah you're strong  you can always get better that's really what the mindset is you just get stronger let's  get stronger okay yeah we got that move let's get it stronger now like let's do more with it let's  like there's always more there there's always more to train there's always more to gain there's no  end there's no end it's limitless that's what it means to me that's what it means nice i like this  um yeah you you have uh also uh like the the the body fat percentage you have a really ripped  physique um which leads to the question how does your nutrition look like how do you eat uh how do  you maintain this this body wave body fat honestly it's not strict at all i eat anything i want  you know pizza burgers you know fries how i do it is you do want to eat quality food you can't  eat that trash stuff every single day i've been there i've tried it to the point where  you know i went to colorado with my brother and i literally did it on purpose i was like you know  what i'm not going to train i'm not going to go as hard as i normally would do and i was eating  mcdonald's rvs dunking donuts just not training smoking weed just not doing nothing and i put on  10 pounds i was around 150 i put on 10 pounds i started looking puffy i started losing my muscle  definition so from my experience if we're going to be eating all these foods or how we want to eat we  have to make sure we're training or we're going to put on that weight we're going to start losing our  strength we're going to start losing our muscle definition so for me it's just making sure you  do get your protein in because i don't keep track of calories i don't do macros none of that i just  make sure that um i'm get the strength training just get strong that's the main focus because  yeah you can eat pretty shitty but that strength man like i've experienced it i'veone day i had mcdonald's like two large fries and a burger like a big mac it's crap i was pumped  i did what i did but what i eat like that every session hell no because  the effects of it it compounds like if you're eating crappy foods all the time it  your body's tired you're sluggish that's not comfortable so i would say you know just eat  quality foods foods that are dense with whole foods you know your breads your whole grains  chicken rice just eat cook cook your own food because the [ __ ] we got out here is it's not  really good no more everything is is artificial they put too much chemicals in our food let'sand do you take supplements to uh to improve your protein intake or something no i don't believe in  taking those things and i'm i'm the type of guy i like to run off my own raw natural energy because  some days i wake up i don't know what it is but i just naturally be pumped and actually be ready  to go i'm like ah i'm ready to train let's go people see me and they believe you ready to train  even the people at the front desk they see me and like oh you must be ready to train katie like yesthis is hungry nice that's cool um yeah um a question also about uh your wrist reps uh  so uh somebody asked yeah uh why does he or like why do you use wrist wraps all the time like maybe  you can tell us uh how do wrist straps benefit your workouts um well when i'm doing a lot of hand  balancing and especially planching the flexion that you get on planche on your wrist is stressful  it's like for me i have that straight body flinch so it puts a lot of stress on my wrist i have that  that strong lean so i would say if i didn't wear wristbands i i would have been injured my wrist a  long time ago because it helps prevent that pain it reduces the pain you would get if you didn't  have anything wrong that's what i would say i love wristbands sometimes i do train without  them or sometimes if i don't want wristbands i just wear uh train on the uh parallax cool  because the the the angle is just more neutral for those right yeah you don't got to worry about the  band or anything you just keep in neutral that position yeah cool um maybe to summarize all the  the workout advice that we talked about in your experience um maybe what what are the most common  mistakes that you see for beginners and maybe that you did yourself in doing calisthenics  jumping into skills too quick too early you know everybody sees the advanced athletes and we want  to start plants right away or front level flag and it's like you don't really want to do that because  our bodies don't have the muscle mass required to get into that position so we try to do that  we could you could injure yourself you could pull a tear or something and you could be out  for a minute but i would say just like be patient like don't rush like you can't rush  you can't rush strength this stuff cannot be rushed if you want everything to be on point you  got to be consistent and you got to be just just obsessed with the crap that's what i would say but  like that's one common mistake another common mistake  is um i would say form like i can understand when form is compromised as we get stronger you know  we're not gonna do our first planche clean we're not gonna do our first handstand push-up clean but  you wanna address it immediately because bad habits can go a long way throughout your training  some of us some athletes i know they are stepped back and they never fixed it and i'm like okay  what's going on do you care some people don't care and that's whatever you know you train however you  want it's your body but i would say like paying attention to our form correct the mistakes now  so along the way it'll be clean really quick and then the third thing i would say  i mean bro just enjoy the journey like don't rush just just love it like yeah it's slow but  when you look back you'll be like damn i made a lot of progress i really did  i already did oh that's cool um yeah what are your goals for the new year we're  recording this episode in the middle of december uh so the the new year is around the corners and  did you already set your goals for next year honestly bro one thing i say is just keep  going you're not dead you're not dying just keep going like because because if you stop like if you  just quit if you just just give up nothing's gonna happen if i mean nothing's gonna come  no opportunities will come your way nothing will move in life if you're not moving so i don't even  stress about i don't even make goals all the time i normally just keep things in my head  and just keep moving man honestly just keep moving i know things need to be done but i just look at  what needs to be done and just just move like just keep moving can't stop don't stop just move  great that's a good mindset yeah um i am through with the questions from the community um  basically yeah you covered all the the most common mistakes beginners do and the stuff that you see  beginners do you cover we covered your um planche journey um yeah is there anything else that  you want to share or that you think is is kind of an interesting fall for somebody  doing calisthenics and having having high goals and uh becoming a god as wellman honestly just just be consistent man because without consistency nothing gets done nothing gets  achieved and just the obsession like be obsessed with the crap be obsessed with the spoiler you  got to be like man i can't wait to train that plans tomorrow oh i gotta see how this this one  on handstand gonna feel like that's how i would i would tell people because that's how i think all  the time like it's just the training man like enjoy your training love it like we're going  we're all gonna have those days but we're tired you know we're gonna feel weak but you went in  you did the work enjoy that's what i would say oh awesome yeah at the end of every episode we  always have some quick questions quick answers and kicking off with what's your favorite foodi love pizza i'm a big pizza yeah i love pizza nice are you a dog or a cat person  i prefer cats cats are chill for me they're like i don't know they're just dogs i don't  know dogs are the worst sometimes but they both animals can be terrible but i prefer cats  cool what athletes inspire you a lot of athletes man i like i like andre larosa  sign monster you know nedco deon stippage just so many bro  there's a lot of us out here now i just wanted to tell people like it ain't just me it ain't  just you there's other gods and there's other strong guys and even strong feelings out here  just going crazy with this sport and i appreciate it because it's like the stuff we do is not easytrue um yeah what's your favorite skill flange love plans push-ups i love it like if if i'm a  push guy too so you know i prefer push i'm gonna pull but i prefer push because it's like it's just  plans but players all day yeah pull or push easy easy reply uh it's it's push right yeah push guy  push i prefer push move i don't know i just feel like push moves are more impressive but the thing  with pulling pull moves are hard but they're dope too so it's like but i would prefer pushum do you have a favorite book are you a reader i'm not much of a reader man i'm more like  i'm more of a visual guy i gotta watch videos and stuff or like hear somebody  say it but i'm not i'm not big on books for them not really okay so no no recommendation  for the poor people out there who wish they would have a book recommendation from you there is a one  about it i can't remember the name but there's a calisthenic book it's not over what coming out of  it it's another book i can't remember what it was i'm gonna look it up and i'll send it to you but  i can't remember what it was okay we'll put it in the description um yeah favorite music genreuh i like all of them except for like country music country music is terrible i don't know  what it is some songs can be good but it's oh it's terrible but i like i like i like anything  with a good b i'll listen to it as long as the b is good i'll sit there and jam on it  nice so for for workouts what some music do you listen there like powerful music i listen to a  lot of instrumental beats like a lot of anything it could be electronica it could be hip-hop beats  you know jazz long as i like to be well cool uh yeah best calisthenics event you've ever been at  i've never been to one but i'll be watching a lot of these burning gate competitions i just  watched one recently i think there's one in italy right um somebody i think is eric barzi  versus scarlets inside yeah yesterday this is dope i was watching it from emmanuel caruso  this this is strong i like that but that's what i i was i've never been to  one but i would like to go to one of those because those be lit they always be yeah  yeah true that's uh that battle looked insane yesterday uh the the seven yeah eric man eric  bozzi that he's one of the gods of plants because he hit the maltese on the floor press overyeah and also the the set from from scarlet's like was insane in the rings i've never seen that  he he just went into the iron cross every time he wants to rest uh and in between he did his  uh i don't know funny others and maltesers insane he's he's one of the gods on the rings yeah insane  true um yeah last question what's your message to the calisthenics community  what do you want to tell the listenersif you want to get into this you got to commit i would say ask yourself how good do you want to be  you know what do you want to achieve what do you want to be able to do  you know i explain to everyone i train to be a god because i want to achieve the hardest moves  you know you may not want to do that you may just want to be able to do the most pull-ups the most  you know hold the longest handstand everybody has different goals i would say figure out what those  goals are and just smash and attack them and then just smash more and just stay hungry be obsessed  just just ah just strive for the elite status why not like you're gonna die like why not true  awesome that was uh a really powerful inspiring interview i'm super happy thanks uh  for for being part of it and uh yeah how can people get in touch with you how do they reach you  um yeah i'm all over on instagram i got a couple of videos on youtube i've  collabed with a few athletes even side monster you can find me at kp underscore the specimen and  you know that's about it brother nice you people will also find you in uh in the comments  so um yeah they will also find your instagram etc in the in the description sorry um  yeah basically we're coming to an end before you can end the episode and say goodbye to everyone  i want to say thank you again to you uh for making it possible for accepting the invitation  and uh also thanks everyone to to uh to everyone listening to this till the end i'm super happy  always if someone sticks with us for such a long interview and yeah i think it was full of full  of energy i'm super motivated to train now to be honest and yeah it was super nice to have so  so inspiring uh words from from such a powerful inspiring person so a big thanks to you  and yeah that's basically it bye from my side leave it leave a thumbs up if you  if you enjoyed the episode helps a lot and yeah okay thanks brother you.