SERGIO DI PASQUALE | Get to know the Endurance Beast | Interview | The Athlete Insider Podcast #35

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the key is not stopping the key is finding  what you are able to do and do everything that   is in your possibilities and try to get better  a little bit every day Yo gorillas welcome to the   athlete insider podcast by gonation my name  is phil and today's guest is an italian endurance   beast an extremely strong athlete somebody who  achieves often the impossible in his workouts   and the first and only barbarian in in italy and  i'm really happy to welcome you to the show sergio   di pasquale yeah thank you thank you so much for  having me it's a pleasure for me it's also a big   pleasure uh now i was so concentrating that i  pronounced it in the in the italian in the right   way don't worry you did great you did great can  you can you say it once for you for you it sounds   better oh it's sergio di pascuale pasquale nice  yeah so uh yeah let's kick off for the people who   don't know you who is sergio and what what kind  of person are you yeah all right so first of all   i'm from italy i've lived in italy my whole life  and i am the first and only italian barbarian i've   become a barbarian in 2017 so it's it's like yeah  three years almost four years now that i've been   one officially so it's about to be more time that  i've been a barbarian officially than you know the   time that it took me to get there actually since  i started because i started training in 2014   when i was 16 years old and i've been at it  consistently for these past seven years non-stop   it's like day in day in and all in all really i  just started because i wanted to become better   and stronger and that's what i've been  striving to do since the beginning   nice sounds already great you're 22 now right  exactly i'm about to turn 23 in some days you   know okay uh yeah on the 23rd of december oh  okay great um and for the people because i   recognized the shirt i just uh watched some of  your your youtube videos and i recognize this   i recognize this shirt from the video three  years ago when you uh yeah posted your uh your   uh let's say test uh how's it called um your yeah  it's the requirements the environment requirements   that was my official attempt at it and that is  when i got my gold wings you know which actually   represents the official complete membership  in the barbarians in the barbarians family   okay and i'm pretty sure that there are some new  listeners who don't know who the barbarians are   what are these requirements can you maybe i  can present that perfect um so the barbarians   are a calisthenics family we refer to each other  as brothers and we feel like a real family so   it's not really exact to say we are a team but  we are also a team we can be seen that way and   barbarians originated in brooklyn in uh i if  i'm not mistaken in 2004 like on the shirts we   got 2006 written on it i don't know if  you can see it but if i'm not mistaken   it's it's in 2004. and barbarian's founder  is zep zacharelli calisthenics legend   i think many many know him and many were inspired  by him as i was no and um yeah the barbarians   we are a family but you know apart from the  relationship of trust loyalty between each other   which is crucial to becoming a member uh we also  have physical requirements so it is a routine that   any wannabe barbarian have to pass and have to  complete under a certain time frame time limit   under the judgment of zepta cavaliers criteria  and if everything goes well and if you are   also recognized you know as a true brother member  of the family you will receive your gold wings   that's pretty much how it works the routine  these were actually um you know to my knowledge   the first ever requirements in uh any  calisthenics team let's use their that were   uh in this this case and that a lot of other teams  followed uh the same trend and you know made up   their own requirement routines but ours should be  the first that's what i know and it consists of   as of now and it's been some years like like  that five muscle ups 50 parallel bars dips   30 pull-ups 60 floor push-ups and another  five muscle-ups to end everything unbroken   in that precise order under five minutes so if  the if the form is all right at least physically   you are you are ready to become a barbarian  okay and unbroken means you're not allowed   to rest in between for example the the dips  or the push-ups exactly um you know you can   actually recharge in a lockout position um of the  various exercise you cannot leave the instrument   though you cannot like um uh stop holding the bar  with one end during the pull-ups while the other   one is still gripping or anything like that also  the push-ups you shouldn't lower your waist or   you know keep your butt high you should stay in a  in a solid state of plank uh but apart from that   yeah it's unbroken and it should ideally  be straight straight reps not even resting   not even during the sets well yeah so first  of all for everybody who is interested in   seeing you perform the requirements we will  put your youtube video in the description   but uh yeah let's let's come back before we go  dive into your workout into your preparation for   the requirements etc um the two hard facts that  people always ask how tall and how heavy are you   oh so i'm not that tall you could ask how short  i am i'm 170 170 centimeters it should be what is   it five foot five five foot six uh something  like that and weight i should be kilograms   between 70 and 74 around that weight okay and  you always keep this weight during the year   yeah practically all year round because  i do not follow a strict diet so being   so flexible my weight also fluctuates um a  bit around these numbers but the fact that   i'm always training and striving to improve my  performance keeps everything in balance okay   then let's jump to the 16 year old sergio um who  is starting to work out how did you get in touch   with calisthenics what did you do before  let us take part in your in your beginning   sure sure man that's quite a story  actually because i was a kid first of all   like i was in high school it was like third year  of high school and um i literally had no idea of   what i wanted to be you know when i grew up uh  what job would i take on um what type of person   i wanted to be or i have some big ideas you know  uh maybe some um some far away ideas or what a   good person should be and but i felt so so far  away from that because i was weak much weaker   than i am right now like i'm i still am but i got  a little better since i was 16 and to me you know   a good person should also be strong physically  of course but strength is a all-around value   all-around quality that then you can transfer and  throughout your life and deal with maybe difficult   circumstances so i really wanted to to train to  to get tougher tougher physically tougher mentally   inspired as many peoples by you know cartoons i started training um and i actually started by  running you know so i didn't even know exactly   what calisthenics was i just started running  you know trying to get a little bit more fit   and then uh for some reason i  found some calisthenics videos   on youtube or one of the most famous videos  at the time which was one of frank medrano   that was literally the first person i ever  saw you know in real life outside of cartoons   doing pull-ups and just that you know struck me  and i was and i want to be able to do that too to   me already that already seen even a half one arm  pull-up seemed out of this word for real seemed   so cool and i wanted to be like that you know  seeing all those uh visible muscles and striations   because he's also pretty lean guy so i just wanted  to become more like that let's put it this way   and i started looking for some basic routines  that a beginner could follow so i started um   while i also was running incorporating a little  bit of basic test exercises a couple pull-ups   mainly australian pull-ups because i couldn't  do two pull-ups uh in a row and some push-ups   um even for the push-ups i wasn't really at a  good level like i could do 10 uh with bad form   and practically not breathing and 10 push-ups were  enough to to make me become all right in the face   but i kept at it i kept looking for motivation  on youtube mainly because you know around here i   didn't really know people that would train in this  style and i don't really know anyone as of now   actually not many um you know choose uh this route  precisely not yet though and i hope for that to   change in the future but while i was watching now  many different videos from many different athletes   um i also discovered the uk guys you  know um big shout out to ranjit uh   if that's how it's pronounced in solo which were a  big big huge motivation for me when i was starting   and we're actually the first guys i ever saw  do a must-have with 20 kg with the eudo belt   with a judo belt this is this was like their  style yeah that blew my mind yeah um and just   by you know the you youtube algorithm doing its  magic one day i got into my recommendations the   the video that changed my life one of zeph's  videos one of his uh his most viewed ones   the one that is called like real extreme  motivations zuckerbergi something like that   that video changed that's where i discovered zeph  founder and leader of barbarians and i just wanted   to know who was that superman like real life  superman doing all those crazy crazy crazy things   and hearing him talk as well in the video uh  there are a couple of monologues in that video   that became mantras for me that that really made  me fall in love with the barbarian philosophy   wow and then the what did you do with this  motivation with this uh ideas from the video   did you go out start training did you write your  training schedule what what was what were the next   steps yeah before of course seeing the video i had  already started training so just my my motivation   kept increasing as i was also seeing physical  results and performance uh improvements i just   kept going wanting to become stronger and stronger  as strong as my examples so i just kept going   uh and of course with time trying to put myself  out there starting to upload videos first on   facebook and then on youtube and tagging every  single one of my motivations on my videos so   they could see it and acknowledge me acknowledge  my presence you could say in the game me trying to   to become stronger and better and doing it so  it was a you know testimony to my consistency   that i wanted them to be a part of um and you  know i actually um it was thanks to cyborg that i   really was inspired one day to follow the  barbarian route you know because i was posting   my videos i was posting my videos on facebook  and of course like my form isn't perfect even   now back then it was worse than ever it was bad  um you know how when you train and keep training   your your mind or storyboards and you learn to see  things that were totally invisible um before um   because your sensibility increases so the mistakes  i did i didn't even recognize them as mistakes i   learned to do that you know after after some  time um so i um received some critiques but i   was stubborn i just i i i had been putting so much  passion in it and that's what i do still to this   day that i didn't really care but um seeing that  some people were you know commenting with some   you know more or less uh objective but also maybe  a little bit mean uh truths about my my execution   my form um cyborg choose to send me a couple of  uh video messages on facebook and that is that   was crazy to me like this guy who is already a  pretty sick athlete you know i might say chose to   contact me out of his own just will to to help me  and told me not to pay attention to the critiques   and focus more on the positive and on people  like the barbarians he said focus on people   like us who encourage you to become better  and you know those were that that was just   another piece to the puzzle that made me get more  and more interested to be in a part of the exact   barbarian reality um instead of any  other reality that was out there okay oh yeah that's uh that's  a big part that's a big thing   so since um when you started with 16 since  how many years was it the goal to achieve this   these requirements how long did you really focus  on the on the requirements not only working out to   achieve your goals to become stronger but this  precise goal so since yeah i started talking   uh with cyborg and you know tagging other  barbarians into my workouts my goal was that   of completing the requirements so that i could  join family even though i didn't really know   yet what it meant to be part of the family even  when i got my wings i still had many things to   to learn about it to the importance of the  you know the the veteran uh the brotherhood   um it's i had hints of that uh not really  a full um more in-depth comprehension   like i have now at least but i was lucky that  zef saw much more into the future that than me   at the time and that was really a blessing but  yeah you could say that since i was around 18   because i became a barbarian at 19 i really  started to focus with the requirements completion   as a goal now i didn't really um try them out you  know try the routine out many many times before   the official attempt but i just kept getting  stronger on all fundamentals of calisthenics   and the improvements on the routine just came  because that's just a test of your strength   endurance generally it's not something out of  this world if you are training fundamentals   you are going to find precisely those in  the routine of the requirements so there's   of course a high high level transfer with without  the real need of attempting it every single week   at least that wasn't my strategy i really just  trained like an animal even doing more than   i maybe that i should have done to reach the  level needed because you're over trained or   i didn't really get into overtraining territory  but i got myself some inflammation of course you   know in the elbow area and so after getting my  wings i had to turn it down a bit just take a   couple of steps back and build the same level of  strength or of course even more strength but more   gradually mainly but but i was so hungry i was  so hungry and i was doing sets of 30 pull-ups uh   one month before the requirements or sets of 60  dip not even with the best form but i wanted to   own the numbers that i would have had to  face in the official test so even if my level   wasn't there yet i kind of forced myself to be at  that level you know at a peak before uh actually   making it mine without the physical repercussions  that could arise from an exaggeration in training   and if i tell you now let's do the barbarian  requirements would you be able to do it of course   always you have to you have to like you  are a barbarian but you have to renew   your gold wings every day that doesn't mean  you have to be to to do the requirements   every day but you have to be able to do the  requirements every day okay yeah because i like   i just have to think of my sports teacher  i don't know if it's the same in italy but   the sports teachers at school they always have a  big belly you know like they they have this life   they they did their studies once and it's the same  it's the same mostly it's the same here you're not   gonna find like super elite athletes in school  i don't think at least not amongst the teachers   that can happen if i manage to become a teacher   that could be a reality but i don't really aim  to be a pe teacher so it's still different okay   great so different mentality that's then sports  teachers that's a good thing yes um so to take us   within your life um what are your your profession  what is your profession what do you study right   now how does it look like all right so right  now as far as uh profession is concerned i'm   a online coach mainly and i've been an online  coach since 2018 so it's more than two years now   and it's going fairly well i'm very happy of the  direction that it has taken like my students are a   constant supply of motivation and also  satisfaction and pride because they keep   getting better they keep getting  stronger i'm really really proud and as far as studies i am a language  student i am a university student   i in the languages and foreign literatures course  so you know i'm not really sure if i'm going to   become a english teacher in the future but that's  the perspective that i that i like compared to to   other ones for sure and it's just a safety net  you don't have to do it if the if the coaching   stuff etc goes well it's just something well the  coaching is already going fairly well as i said   but for some reason i feel like this university  journey is part of my overall journey life journey   as much as training calisthenics and or barbarian  reality is you know i got i got my beliefs and   that's why i stick to things that i find  meaningful in my life okay great um yeah   take us uh in a typical day um of of um you wake  up at what time what do you do afterwards what do   you eat oh man look right now of course uh due to  the poverty situation as well my days are fairly   boring there's not really anything super exciting  going on as you can imagine just when i have   lessons courses i wake up at around i guess 7 7  30 and i get ready for the courses in the morning   then after the courses the lessons are  done i have lunch and right after lunch   i may answer some of my students messages and  around three four o'clock i go to the park that   i built together with my father in my in my garden  and i and i train for you know um a couple hours   at least or three or four it depends on  the routine and after the routine i just   come back home and focus again on on the  coaching work answer some more questions maybe   make some video calls if some of my students need  it if they need some counseling or they need me to   motivate them during uh a training session  or correct their form in real time um   just that after after doing work like that i maybe  focus on some other project that i got going or   relax by watching a movie why not or reading  reading is also an activity that i enjoy while   the all the work for the day is done yeah nothing  crazy nothing too special right now i hope i'll   have the occasion of you know traveling again soon  maybe teaching again in uh in person other people   and uh maybe meet some other members of the family  as soon as i can because it's been it's been some   time now that i'm steaming the last time and i'm  about to see to meet them again i can imagine   three or four hours of workout how how many times  per week it's like three years like the average   okay when i got exams for  the university to prepare   uh it could be even one and a half two hours when  i you know when i'm free it could even go up to   five sometimes it depends on the goal of the day  but average is three and i train um it's kind of   peculiar now the situation because i trained seven  days in a row and then i got a day of rest so   my schedule due to the number of exercises and the  frequency that i want to maintain for each of them   i need um like eight days in a weekly cycle  let's call it that so i need seven days   straight of training then i got a rest day okay  interesting um because if i watch your numbers   of your workouts it's often that i think oh this  is yeah great maybe for a week or even two weeks   of work out these numbers uh and you do them in  in three hours um tell us more when you go into   into a workout um how is your mindset what  are your goals is everything written down   everything planned out or do you do also some  spontaneous workout tell us more about that   um i am very methodic in my workouts like how  they are structured but my decisions on the   routine of the day are very spontaneous they are  very much influenced by the way i feel that day   now of course it's many times it's  a struggle it's a battle between   wanting to to complete a routine that maybe  is too hard for that day and you know the   the rationality of adapting the the numbers for  how you feel because you know we need challenges   as athletes to become better we cannot really  relax during training that's not how it works   that's not how you get better but you cannot  uh um force yourself to to go too much over the   the boundaries that you can actually manage for  a certain day so you really have to be good at   listening yourself and know and knowing  what you can actually do for that day   it's important that you always challenge yourself  but in a smart way in a smart way that's very   important that's my my approach to it so i really  try to feel how i am on a certain day and base my   routine on that i try not to make changes  to the routine once i've decided what to do   but if they are necessary i will make some  adjustments but again for the you know the   the matter of building up discipline if it goes  wrong you know the the the decision of the routine   then you still gotta you gotta bring it  on as it is that's why you gotta be good   at listening yourself because you  just throw around numbers that you can   manage that are totally wrong and of your real  possibilities you're going to be in a pickle um   that's my approach my routine are not too  complicated like they're very basic uh some   many uh might find them boring but reaching  a certain objective which i decide at the   beginning of the workout is in itself a big big  um you know it's uh it satisfies you a lot it's   it's it's in um it's difficult to describe it's  a it's a feeling very very hard to describe but   it makes all the suffering all the fatigue  worth at the end of the the workout okay yeah and um what is your split you know  i mean you're like you have seven days of   workout in a row yeah but of course i i have a  split for different muscle groups every day um   actually different movements because i  focus on the movements itself themselves and   soy goes like this my first day of the  week right now is weight and muscle ups   all right because i want to get better at muscle  ups and i want to keep the stimulus of weighted   as well in this exercise as i um as i do for  the other ones but it's not too it's not too   heavy generally like um it's not often that i use  20 kg i maintain uh lower weight so like so that   i can do a higher number even if it's weighted  uh then i got weighted pull-ups the day after   and then again i got waiter waited dips the  day after that um after the the weighted   i got the the day of rest up to the way to dips  and then i got again body weight muscle ups by the   way pull ups uh body weight pushing which could be  either push-ups or dips down body weight this time   and squats after squats i don't have a rest day uh  the day of squats acts as my rest day so that the   day after i start again with weight and muscle ups  and this is where the seven days in a row come in   okay squats is your rest day  sounds good um so yeah um it's it's   it's body weight though yeah i just do thousands  of thousands of them but it's it's sort of like   cardio if you think about it so you do it um  because of aesthetics because of your heart   what is the reason that you work on squats because  with your goals with your uh yeah you know i   definitely see an improvement in my general shape  and proportions since i started training squats   but if you i truly believe that if you get to a  high level of performance on bodyweight squats   it is highly beneficial all around for your  endurance in any other exercise because you know   legs are biggest muscle group in the in the body  and while you do squats you have to move the whole   weight of your body if you reach the level where  you can do 200 squats straight in the same rhythm   or you can do 2 000 squats in a training session  in around two hours then any other exercise   or any endurance focused routine is gonna be a  breeze especially if there are no no squats in   there because every other exercise demands less  from your from your body and your arm and all that   you know your lungs your breathing capacity  it's i truly believe it's highly beneficial   training uh squats in the endurance style for  the purpose of improving your endurance overall   okay and do you also feel that you  have like more stable joints and   like more i don't know the hip you know like  just seeing really really long term seeing you in   60 70 years do you think you will benefit  from doing a lot of squats or is it   um even bad for for knees like if you tell i  don't know i just i just imagine you tell a   normal person on the street yeah this is sergio  he does uh 1 500 squads in a training session   um yeah that's pretty low actually  i mean that's maintainment but yeah i understand but i i think it's going to  be beneficial even from a structural standpoint   joints can adapt the most important thing is  that you reach certain numbers gradually um   the first time i trained squats now some years  ago i did actually something pretty stupid and   i did a thousand i did 50 sets of 20 in a couple  hours actually so that's very bad for performance   but i couldn't walk for a week because i hadn't  been training squats for the rest of my training   you know um career let's call it that and now  that i've built my endurance muscular endurance   with squats i can easily do a thousand squats in  uh what is it like 20 on the minute for 50 minutes   so it's less than half the time that it took me  when i started and the next day i'm i'm fine and   this is say insane for me i know you say it and  as if it would be nothing but that's really insane   because the the thing is since i follow you  i'm like also um motivated to do the imam imam   method uh which is great which is i love  it which is cool if you have also if you   have if you don't have a lot of time and for me  exactly often when i come home i come home um   really late and i really just want to throw a 10  15 minutes workout this is the best thing for me   but like everybody every friend every  family member that i told yeah um   try it they all overestimated them because it  sounds so easy to do 10 pull-ups for 10 minutes   um yeah like 100 pull-ups in 10 minutes it  doesn't sound too crazy but everybody who tried it   and who is not like an elite athlete they will  feel pain and they will feel some some yeah yeah   it depends you know the number that you choose  to to keep on the minute uh depends very much on   your level and it's very a very important choice  my record for 10 pull-ups on the minute anyway   uh is 200 minutes straight i'm very proud of  that yeah you can be that's really insane um   and for everybody who is listening now and who  is like really motivated and that's maybe what   also happened for you for the squads that you just  uh did like crazy numbers in the first try uh what   can you recommend to the people um being motivated  after this uh this interview and starting with   crazy numbers should they how should they approach  the their work as i said um graduality is crucial   i believe that you can reach any number  you want to reach in a training session   you can reach any number you want in a single  set any number you want in a training session   you know uh being reasonable with the differences  between these two things like for example um my   one of my goals now is 200 push-ups straight  which would take around two minutes if done   at a decent speed and i've done 5k  in a train so at least i'm at least   thinking about reaching 10k in a training session  so you see you know it's two different types of   uh tests of endurance but as long as  you uh as you build a gradual journey   and you are smart about it how you increase  when you can and you decrease when you need to   you can just keep improving overall and reach  any goal because it's it's a matter of letting   your body adapt to to the stimuli that you get  it it's just that it's that simple it takes   a lot of mental strength because you know doing  the same thing over and over on the minute on such   a strict um you know time frame for hundreds of  minutes straight can be really hard on your mind   if you're not adapted to it but you can train  your mind too and if you train your mind the   body follows and you can reach any goal any goal  that you set yourself to reach you just have to   be motivated and even more important disciplined  put in the struggle and the sacrifice make the   sacrifice necessary to reach a goal if it's  truly one of your goals one of your dreams it   has to have a meaning or else you're not going  to put 100 into it and if you want to reach   something you will that's just how it works you  got to be smart about the strategy that you use   and be gradual you know be patient if you have  to make uh you know five sessions of 50 minutes   so that you can prepare to do a single session  of 60 do it that's the right path you know just   as an example those are random numbers okay  how does one train his mind you know it's   it's easily said um your your body can  follow the mind etc uh what are the   um what is the advice that you can give  to the people who want to train their mind   mainly you have to try push yourself forward  a bit forward every day it doesn't have to be   huge jumps as we said it's graduality is the key  the um you know if you think about it you can   rationally conclude that if you do 50 today  nothing stops you from doing 51 the day after and   once you've done 51 you can try 52. it's not gonna  be that big of a difference but in the long run   if you keep that mentality you will be at 70 and  you you haven't even realized it that's it it's   small small steps just a little bit more you  don't have to force yourself to pass out or you   know try to jump from zero to 100 or from 100  to 1 000. you just have to go from 100 to 101   that that's the best way to to do it and it's  gonna be as hard as the hundred you know it's   gonna be as hard the 101 is going to be as hard as  the 100 the 102 is going to be um as hard as the   as the 101 so you have to be able to um to to  face the same level of hardship every day that   you're gonna be able to endure it's patience  it's resilience that's the most important   but as long as you are able to put a little bit  more in it you you're gonna be you're gonna be   doing miles and miles of progress just takes  time okay so something that i asked myself   in the beginning of the interview is how did you  become this superhuman what are the your secrets   um and maybe this is already one thing um like the  consistency like the the patience um that you have   the consistency you're doing it like for six  years now um did you have any big um i don't know   interruptions or uh yeah rest in between  like weeks or was it for six years   discipline okay so um um i can say that a part of  your question has already been answered you know   consistency is crucial it's crucial is the most  important thing the most important there's nothing   more important and you know linking to this um  in this six almost seven years of training now   i've had some stops minor stops um i don't  think i stopped for more than a week more   than one time in my first year when uh when  i almost passed out one time and i got scared   but even if my um you know my parents  told me to take it easier because   i risked passing out again i just kept being  drawn to that bar so i got back to it i've made   my choice and i haven't stopped since i have  had some cases in which i had to stop a couple   days but my mentality is being like one whole big  continuous uh effort really and and that's that i   think is the key because you said i'm superhuman  and i thank you so much for that but i do not feel   really any different from when i started just the  fact is when i started i happened to be able to do   uh two bad pull-ups now i can do 50 but i can  do sets of 50. but there's no difference really   like i feel the exact same the level of strength  and of ability doesn't really change who you are   shouldn't change the mentality you got uh towards  training because i still feel like i've got   so much to improve and to work on it's it's been  the same since the beginning my level has gotten   up but the level of uh you know work struggle uh  and passion that i that i put in is like almost   it's the same it's just proportioned to to the  increase of my level and again as far as stops   luckily apart from some inflammation especially  on my elbow joints i haven't really had any major   injury this year i've had actually three times uh  chest injury which was really really um different   from anything else that i've ever had because it  actually prevented me from doing pushing movements   um without pain like i could do half a  push-up just come down for half of the motion   and i would feel pain in my chest but um from  what i can remember i took a stop in two days   and even with a little bit of pain really really  uh re um how can you say it uh readjusting   the the amount of work that i was doing i never  stopped training never stop moving like i went   from doing 2500 push-ups to a hundred in a day you  know that's a big big jump but i haven't stopped   i haven't stopped i kept working reinforcing  the weaknesses healing myself through the   movement and now i'm stronger than i've  ever been even in pushing movements   that's the key the key is not stopping  the key is finding what you are able to do   and do everything that is in your possibilities  and try to get better a little bit every day   i feel so motivated already it's like a  motivational speech but i know that you're   like yo that's what i do that's literally what i'm  here for nice and i really think that people will   appreciate um thank you so much that's really  great to hear um i know that you um yeah that   you uh get asked i watched your uh instagram uh  comments etc people ask can you do a planche and   you you just answer no but i still ask the  question do you do skills sometimes does it   doesn't it interest you or what's the reason um  all right so actually um i have come to discover   that um frown levers or at least you know working  on frown liver in some way and this teaching comes   from my teacher zeb zachary helps your muscle  up so if you want to improve your muscle up   it could you know be um of of help also  uh training a movement such as the lever   but um if it's just about skills um i'm not really  interested in doing him just in the first place or   improvement in that field i don't really feel that  is my calling if you wanna you wanna say that um   it doesn't stimulate me as much as reaching other  types of goals which are obviously related to the   fundamentals of calisthenics that's just the way  i am to me um let's say a set of 100 straight   push-ups is more impressive than a planche  even if it might be easier i i can't really   i can really pronounce myself on that because  i i have no idea about the difficulty of uh   full planche or the journey that it takes to  get there it's just it's just not my discipline   if you if you will and even more than a  single set of 100 doing 10 sets of 100   that to me would be really really phenomenal  and it makes everything else like branches and   is this this is disappear it's just it's just  not my focus it's not what i care about okay   get it and the other thing that i asked  myself did you or do you sometimes try out   your one rep max so uh one rep with the maximum  weight or is it also something that's uh-huh   i also yeah i try that from time to time  my one rep max for pull-ups and dips   and even though you know they are decent numbers  at least for the for the pushing department uh   i'm i'm pretty confident i can do more than  100 kg dip for the pull-up part i can pull um   70-75 kg so my body weight at least pretty  confidently i haven't really pulled a whole 80kg   yet uh but i like to i like to definitely  again though it's not really my focus   when i train i like a lot being at least you know  around the 10 reps 8 to 10 even for the higher   higher weights that i use when i do weighted if i  do pull ups with 50 kg i aim to do some sets of 10 and if i'm if i'm training with lower  weights 40 or 20 kg i aim to do higher upsets   it's not really into my style of training doing  sets of three or sessor one and of course not   training specifically for a certain goal that's  why the performance doesn't really benefit um   as much as it could it's not my focus so i  i think it's natural it not being like the   ideal in proportion to my weight perhaps i like my  strength going up but of course as you said in the   beginning i'm an endurance athlete so uh that's  what i focus more on okay makes sense and uh yeah   i i appreciate or i respect somebody who is  like clear about his goals clear about his um   yeah direction where he wants to go so um yeah one  doesn't have to do every everything and so yeah   um let's talk about your nutrition uh you said  that you don't have this uh stable nutrition   or like you're you're eating quite flexible um  yeah it's i'd say it's pretty stable right now   because i eat um you know the  same things routinely actually i   i live at home with my parents so when i don't go  to university lunch is what my my mom prepares me   and it's a full meal you know you got a first  dish with pasta you got a second dish with   some meat fish or eggs anything based on on  uh you know something more protein you got   some veggies on the side so my meals are pretty  full um it's just that i don't really focus on   what exactly i put in i don't count macros i don't  even count calories um i mainly use what i eat   as fuel i don't eat [ __ ] and that's the  thing but i love ice cream for example   and you know some chocolate here and there it's  not no i don't wanna seem like one who stuffs   his face with with sweets but i don't really  i don't really see it as a problem as long as   my training is really hard and efficient plus i'm  young so nutrition my nutrition is not the worst   again it's pretty complete i i think like i can  get and i do get all the most important nutrients   uh from uh from my from my meals but i don't focus  heavily on it like specifically okay and do you   take supplements i don't i never did if ice cream  counts as a supplements i do but uh if not then no   i don't okay so not even like health supplements  let's call them i don't know some vitamins or   fish oil okay wow great um do you want to um uh  how to call it uh reason it um because people   are asking now oh how how can he do it uh  like for the for the supplements do you   have a reason why you know do you have a reason  why you don't think if i have a precise reason   um look i think they can be very useful but  there has to be a need for them you know you you   as much as i as maybe you want me to give a reason  not to take them i think the most important thing   actually is having a reason to take them because  it might be just superfluous for most people that   just you know buy into the craze of supplements  and they're not even sure about what's really   in the supplements that they're taking they're  just following the general advice of their most   um estimated influencers and not even doing  the the research about it it's if you take   it superficially how do you know you're really  optimizing your you know your intake and your   performance uh either you do it really you know  with your with your brain or it's it's just it's   literally just as me not taking any and you know  going with uh going with the flow okay great um   last question before we come to the quick  questions quick answers um what are your   goals for 2021 and what can people expect  from you what can we expect from you oh man um   look i am the kind of guy that tries to live  the moment and the day so i try to make the best   out of my days but of course i've got some  big goals for for next year for example as   i said i'd love to start traveling again to  teach and i love if i if i can to travel to   new york to meet my barbarian family at the mecca  so in brooklyn uh in those legendary parks that   i just seen that i've just seen on youtube up  until now that would be a great experience that i   want to live i want to meet again other members  of the family uh for example from spain in general   there's you know javi is there the the the  man the young man who became a barbarian   right after me another super strong  dude and a great person so i just wanna   i just wanna mainly reconnect with all those  people that make a possible possible for me   to stay motivated and keep going you know  feel that sense of responsibility to to keep   getting better as an athlete and better as a  person so also meeting with my students now   if i have the the opportunity it would be great  because it's always great when we meet um and   i don't know if i'll be able to to finish my  cursive studies i don't think it's gonna be   it's gonna be over in 2021 maybe it's  gonna be that's gonna be for 2022 early   you know 2022. so i'm just going  to keep working towards that goal   and as far as bigger goals you know i'm thinking  about a lot of things like really really um making the whole uh environment that  maybe stems from me here in italy bigger and   uh being able to spread the barbarian philosophy   even wider and make him more renowned and  appreciated here in italy but that's just a   gradual process like it's not something that can  happen happen you know over a nice time i'm just   gonna keep working towards those bigger goals  and try to represent barbarians best that i   can and of course keep getting stronger stronger  stronger and stronger towards my athletic goals   i wanna i really wanna show numbers that no one  has ever done in uh in the history or the world well looking forward to that um this episode   will come out in the beginning of 2021 so uh the  people who are listening to this will probably   uh or will hopefully take a lot of motivation  with it um but i'm pretty sure about that so   uh yeah thanks for sharing everything um now to  the really important questions pizza or burger i will go with pizza especially because  i'm from italy i think i i owe that to my   to my land pizza 100 i love burgers but it's  pizza okay do you prefer dogs or cats dogs   i like both but i prefer dogs okay i got  three dogs oh actually i'm sorry i had   three dogs now i've got two one passed away  so recently that i still say i've got three   but you know that's life that's life yeah  um your favorite location for holidays um wherever my family is okay like i like  cool places but i care about the people   more get it 100 sure um do you have a favorite  calisthenics athlete or maybe a top three yeah okay the favorite is zeb zuckerberg and the rest  is all from my family like i don't want to really   sound like uh uh a super fanboy but that's that's  the way it is like you've got ice water huge   inspiration for me like i've been trying to be  more like him since uh since i've seen him on   youtube and especially since i've met him when  i got my my wigs same same discourse i could i   could make for my brother javi from spain again  he's a legend super strong a great person and   of course much respect to cyborg which played  a huge part in maybe coming of our very   you know history history is history and  it cannot be forgotten i owe him a lot great is that is that the talk though  okay that's that's a given he's the goat   nice um do you have a hate  exercise a nightmare exercise   nightmare exercise man i'm i'm not sure if that  trophy will go to burpees or sit-ups cause i hate   them both okay uh one of those two works for for  different reasons yeah i can i can relate do you   have a favorite book that you want to recommend  oh favorite book man that's that's a tough one um   you know there is um there is a book that i liked  a lot when i was in high school and it's called   the man who folded himself and it's a science  fiction book about time travel and the eternal   recurrence you know theory of miche uh if  you if you've seen the movie predestination   you know it follows the same same principles  okay okay we'll put it in the description um   david gerald is the is the author of the book  okay the man who folded himself i loved it   it's even it's even short really you you can  read it in a couple hours some hours in two sets   20 reps okay uh the best calisthenics event  you've ever visited well that will have to   to go to you know um all right it's a bit hard but  that will have to go to 2018 first uh endurance uh   legend tournament and i attended two which  was actually the the volume two of the   competition that my brother uh pierre piazza  organized here in italy uh that was phenomenal   that's that's the time that i first  met javi that's the time that i lost   to cyborg in the final but it still was  legendary great memories that's a week i   will never forget in that event to culminate it  was really uh high high hu huge point you know   great and if you have to decide body  weight or weighted 100 body weight   i like weighted a lot but man body weight  cannot be feet in any way it's just magic nice yeah sergio how can people get in touch with  you how can they contact you for coaching for   questions for all this oh they can they can text  me mainly on instagram i will answer the dms you   know based on my time availability i try to answer  i always try to answer everybody but there's a   lot of messages so it's at sergio underscore  dipasquale underscore aka underscore new era   that's the longest instagram handle that i know  personally yeah why do you do this to us i'm sorry   that that that was also another joke related  to what you just said but that's beneath me okay um yeah every all the links to your youtube  channel to your uh instagram channel are all in   the description um for the people who  want to check it and we're coming to   an end i want to say thank you to everyone  listening to this till the end because it's   one over an hour already and people who listen  to this till the end i deeply respect them and   i really hope that you enjoyed this episode i  really i'm happy if you can give a thumbs up   comment if you liked it comment the person who  should be interviewed next i already know that   under this video javi will be uh one of the most  requested interview guests because uh his name was   always mentioned with yours or a lot of times so  uh yeah but apart from that big big thank you to   everyone listening and sergio you have the honor  to end the episode and say goodbye to everyone   yo first of all thank you thank you  so much for having me and as you said   thank you to all those people who reached  the end of the video and were interested   by my ramblings and maybe we're also  motivated by what i said thank you so much