MICHAŁ URBANIK | World Records, Statics & Reps | Interview | The Athlete Insider Podcast #45

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The text of the interview (translated automatically):

often people asking what is the best exercise  for front lever what is the best exercise for   planches you don't need the best  exercise but need only patience yo gorilla's welcome to the athlete insider podcast by  gornation my name is phil and today's guest   is the polish superhuman an extremely extremely  strong athlete in statics in endurance in weighted   i'm here really happy to welcome you to the show  michal urbanik hi guys so finally we made this   possible a lot of quest questions for you a lot  of people asked for you and yeah we can directly   kick off michal who are you michal is the normal  guy which started calisthenics seven years ago and   who never know he would get to that level seven  years that's that's so crazy like when i see your   performances your records your personal records  it's extreme extreme numbers uh what is the the   record that you're most proud of what is the in  your opinion the the strongest thing you've done   oh that's very cool questions i  never think about it and i think the   harder record for me not not the best but the  most hard for me was frontlever 53 seconds   53 seconds this is the most hard for  me when when was it uh last year in uh december i don't know uh wait wait a second  okay and uh yeah i can imagine 53 seconds of   front lever so like uh really you need endurance  for that you need in october it was october okay right and then i do only pull ups  in front level and two months ago i end my journey with front lever i don't  doing front lever since two months wow why this is very boring for me last month i do  last month i only do hefesto and i increase my strength of   shoulders because my this was my weakness okay so  shoulder for me me uh for you means uh you want to   planche or a dips   pushups planche, but dips is i think this is the uhm my if i doing this is will be uh my the best part  but i'm only doing a lot of pull-ups so my   the best part is my back okay but i think my  chest has the best predispositions to strength   and in my look is it is it genetics  i think it is genetics okay right   um okay let's uh how old are you now i have  now now i'm have 22 years old 22. and how heavy now it's 76 but uh last before  two months ago i have 71 when i'm   make last my records okay so for front lever  it was good to be light right not to be   heavy yes not to be heavy we must have optimal  weight for it yeah not too heavy not too light   and for a hefesto now it's not that  important that you're heavier   in hefesto it's it's it is important but not  like in frontlever okay okay and how tall are you 178 okay cool so quite quite tall for for  aesthetics athlete uh for the at least on on your   level do you do you feel that you're too tall or  is it is it perfect sometimes i feel i'm too tall in one arm front lever one of them lever last  training from one arm front lever was very hard   for me and i haven't i have a little progress  so i think i have too much weight for the one arm frontlever and i am too tall to be like athletes which have  very good one arm frontlever okay makes sense um   did you start working out i started training  with my friends in school i do workouts four times a week that's for fun only and when  i'm so i am good i i'm started to set new goals   for me and keep going okay so you were you  started with 15 years old like you yes okay   and uh where did you start did you uh work out at  home or in a gym or outdoor uh i'm start workout in my home and i do my i doing i  did my first pull-ups uh we in swing bars in the swing ah okay on on  a playground yes yes yes yes okay   interesting and your your goals in the beginning  were just to do some pull-ups like no statics just   reps uh no i when i'm starting after one month  i do first backlever and i think when i'm the   first back lever I feel something which i uh never  feel again later so this is first backlever for me   uh was b it brought me a great joy yes maybe  okay yes i can imagine um so this was the   moment where you this was only back lever not 53  seconds frontlever not 100 pull up for one rep   but this is the first static element for me so  this is the most this this was very important   okay for the motivation to keep going and to yes  yes right so you wanted to achieve more after that   yes and next time was training for front  lever and muscle ups but when i'm starting   training in my first trainings i never doing  hs push-ups and some push-ups so my my   shoulders for planche for example is very weak okay   okay and are you like genetically more a pull  person or a push person i think i am i have   genetics for pull but i have the best genetics  for push but push which energy a chest not not deltoid okay okay so for example  planche is still uh difficult for you   yes okay because for planche you don't  need a lot of chests right a little   but if we can compare my planche and my  weighted dip you have answer yeah true   um so in the beginning how many hours did you  spend on training per week like you said for   training four times per week my one training unit  since takes me since two hours to three hours   i'm training four or five times a week so  i think i spent over uh 12 hours for a week   today like the uh today or or the the  years ago um i think i have a little   uh more spent times for my training right now  earlier i i was training a little less right yeah   okay makes sense and uh how does your schedule  look like how do you split your workouts how do   your four to five workouts look like so this  is very hard questions because if i wanted to   describe the structure of my workouts i would have  i think six hours because this is very big topic but to answer these questions i will tell you what  is the most important when we plan our trainings and we must have good training volume good  paradisation and our training most complete with   human physiology so if we if we want to  increase front level hold we must doing   front lever hold if we need to increase  one rep max we must doing one one rep max of course it's not all because we must also use  other exercise but this is the most important   okay so tell us how is it possible  to combine at such a high level   statics uh endurance and weighted how is it  possible at such a high level to compare every   i'd like to put everything in one workout  schedule we have to divide our trainings   properly uh i will describe it on my example  when i'm training for one rep max i can do   54 pull ups when i'm training enduras  endurance in pull ups i can to do 100 pull up   it's very difficult to being have the best  strength and the best endurance in the same time   so we must divide trainings uh  this is the good prioritization   we plan for example three months for one rep when  we reach out goal we must change our workouts   but there is one problem someone who is big with  a lot of muscles has the ability to be strong   but not necessarily endurance in the endurance  we need to to have optimal muscles because big   muscles need a lot of energy a lot of oxygen  and not necessarily someone big can be   very durable definitely makes sense so a question  is it possible if you focus three months on   endurance to keep the level in weighted or do you  lose performance when you uh focus on endurance   like is it really destroying the weighted progress  so this is uh not very not much but a little   if someone need best results for him  this guy must concentrate on one goal   strength or endurance when this guy doing  both in the same time he never will be   the best in strength on  endurance he will be good but he won't be the best and your goal  is to be like uh an all-round athlete   yes yes this is my goal okay so you  do one record yes of course i try to   check what is my predeposition  and i using it on my workouts   okay so you do one record and then you go to  another record and work on it yes yes okay   that's cool um and i can't do all my records in  one month it's impossible to do makes sense um do   you also have time to work out legs or is it not  your focus is it maybe even bad for front lever now i'm training legs because  i change my goals goes but here i not i'm not training legs  because big legs will be problem for my   front level hold for example yeah  okay and you're not worrying about um   about aesthetics because your focus is  really on the on the performance right   yes yes okay makes sense um yeah people also asked  why don't we see you a straddle planche uh often because i have a problem with my  adductor so straddle planche isn't   much easier than full planche for me and when i  training for when i was training for plachee i was   doing only full planche wow so so you skip like  one one uh whole whole progression that's that's   cool straddle planche not must be a progression we  can get full planche without straddle planche okay   okay i didn't know that like i thought it makes  sense for everybody who wants to learn the full   planche to learn the straddle planche um i don't  think so okay cool um how often do you work out   your core uh like especially working on the core  not maybe in exercise where it's integrated like   front lever but really core workout how how  often do you do that now zero i don't need   them core images in many exercise so i think i  have strong core to all still workout elements   now i add exercise for core with rotation but  this is for boxing okay because i must increase   my strength core core strength in rotation okay  because that's uh something that i saw in your   instagram bio that you're also doing boxing um  next next to street workout and street lifting   is it is it just a hobby or is it also on hype on  on a high level uh only a hobby because i started too late and i never will be good in boxing like i  am good in still workout okay okay um yeah people   ask a lot about your tattoos um do you have uh  stories behind them what was your first tattoo   i got first tattoo when i was 17 and this is  it this is things are possible and this tattoo   refers to street workout because a lot of  elements are possible to do moreover it always   reminds me a lot of things can be done so this  is something like motivation for me something for   never give up that's cool because i think  you need some mindset or and things like that   to be able to achieve uh world records and records  like like you do with the front lever with the   hefesto etc etc so it's always a  reminder that everything is possible great um yeah next question from the  community what is your advice for front lever next got questions because i have i have not a  lot of information so i must answer generally   and if we want to learn from the level  which with pull-ups we should try   to do training with isometrics for front lever but important is in our training front lever  should be before pull ups uh first lever in   this situation i recommend only isometrics  because we have exercise concentric exercise   in pullups okay and is it possible to learn  the front lever only with pull-ups like if   you are really good in pull-ups if guys  have good predisposition i think this is   possible more with endurance or more  with weighted what is easier if it is   right okay in in what rep range is  it like three reps or uh ten reps uh   from since three reps to five or six okay cool  then some some weighted guys will be happy to   hear that um let's talk about your nutrition  uh like you're really uh on the one hand you're   like really ripped and you had like a really  um low body percentage uh especially last year   and now to you also gained a lot of mass  um how is your nutrition how do you eat uh i always say i have 70 percent healthy food and  i have 30 percent unhealthy foods because i can   help but eat sweets or chips pizza i must have in  my diet but i try to keep my diet largely healthy   okay but diet isn't very  creative i uh it is she can rise   this is this is the most common for me okay uh  you eat a lot of times the the whole the same food   so rice chicken yes yes yes yes yes the typical  thing is because i am very lazy and i don't like   make a meal for me so i using the same products  okay and you do your meal prep so like do you   cook for three or four days uh i cook for one  day okay and i have uh and i have supply for   four days three days okay two times in week i  go to shop and i buy what i need okay for three   or four days okay and do you take supplements  like a whey or creatine or something like that   yes i take creatine i take beta alanine  citrulline melatonin for sleep for better sleep   this is the best this is the most important  for me so sometimes i take a caffeine   before my workout and simple vitamins omega and  something for the joint like collagen or msm okay   and how important do you think um nutrition  is for for a good performance um like is it   would it be possible for you to have  the same results with worse nutrition i think this is not the most  important but when i eat   more healthy with regular meals i feel better uh  not only on training but for all time okay because   for me it's interesting some people say nutrition  is the most important you have to eat right and uh   like training is secondary and there like a lot  of people in street workout they say or workout   is the most important nutrition is nutrition  is the most important for people which training   characteristic right for for uh for good stuff  for body yeah for body yeah okay makes sense um   yeah what are what are the goals what are  your goals for this year for this year for this year i i changed my training right now   and now i want to gain some muscle  mass for street lifting correct my legs first first i'm i want to make a polish  record in one rep deep and one rep pull up and i must compare my training now with boxing  what be the next i will thinking about it but 200 kilograms weighted dips   looks tempting us as well as the syringes  i would have to use to achieve that   true i can imagine where is the polish record  right now deep or pull up both pull up is i think i don't know i'm i'm not sure i think  is 105 uh in dip is 155 . but i'm not sure   okay but nice sounds sounds really good um i i'm  looking forward to the 200 kg dip that would be   insane like uh but it's something like uh  do you think it's realistic like this year   or like three years or two years  or i think this is goal for next two years minimum okay okay and one year is  is two less yeah question that also came up um   what advice do you give to somebody improving  his max reps like how should somebody train   who wants to have like high max reps numbers  high endurance numbers or max for max reps i   recommend my reps standard sets close to fail  or to fail and of course we must use accessory   exercise accessory exercise depends on the goal  which we have when we doing pull-ups we need   accessories for pull-ups when we doing dips  we need accessory exercise for dips okay and   what is your opinion on cardio for endurance  numbers is it important isn't it important   this is funny question it is important for runners  or if someone wants to improve their endurance   they can do cardio so for higher pull up numbers  no no no no okay i last year i running maybe   three times for a year and i have i think i  have good results in pull ups maxim pull ups okay   okay yeah we're coming to an end of the  interview i still have some quick questions   quick answers uh at the end of the interview   what do you prefer pizza or burger pizza i think  a pizza okay and are you a dog or a cat person parrot person parrot the the bird  yes yes yes you have one i now i haven't   but when i was a child i have a lot of  parrots and i think when i have more time song i will buy a parrot what are some  athletes that inspire you and your workouts   athletes which are better for me but i haven't  someone specific okay so all the athletes who   are like better than you it's not that you think  oh like uh envy or something but you think oh this   person is stronger than me i want uh is it your  mindset that you say i want you and he motivated   me okay that's cool in elements uh which this guy  uh have on high level okay or doing better than me   that's cool that's so that's the right mindset  um do you have a favorite song right now yes i have this is instrumental core- angel among demons, i'm just among  the most this is the best beat for this is the   best beat in our universe i think i have uh  80 18 my records i doing with this song well   then i have to listen it to my as  well maybe i do records then as well   uh maybe i think you should hear it because  i uh using it on my videos on youtube   instagram so this is this won't be something  new for you okay maybe you can you can't uh   know what is by the name of this song okay we  will put the link in the description so for   the people listening they can uh check it out on  spotify um what was the best calisthenics event   that you've been to what was the best  event or competition this this was this was street working championships 2017 and when i'm starting i was uh to third place  in freestyle category in freestyle well yes i'm   did swing swings jump over the bar so my dynamics   isn't very bad and you also made the video with  natalia uh for the uh it was it was funny to watch   nice um yeah and the last question what's your  message to the calisthenics community what is   something that you want to say them i will say  something useful and wise often people asking the   same questions like what is the best exercise for  front lever what is the best exercise for planche and the people trying to find the  best way to achieve these elements   but most people are already on this  way they lack patience and try to find   shortcuts why they why there are no shortcuts uh  well you don't need well they people don't need   the best exercise but need only that's my message  wow great thanks a lot for this interview um   where can people get in touch  with you where can they find you   on my instagram on my youtube instagram michail  urbanik and youtube urbanik or michao urbanik   and or on facebook mikhail urbanik okay we  will put all the links in the description   so uh if you want to check out his uh michael's uh  socials you can uh you can check it out and again yes this is the best it was perfect yeah you  can say it as it is uh no i'm joking so uh yeah   um you also offer coaching do you want to  uh say yeah something about your coaching   uh oh this is very um big topic  because i have a lot of a lot of offers   i make training for not only for street work outers  i make training for for power lifting sometimes or compared to   goals if someone training powerlifting and want  to compare powerlifting with street workout i can   i can make a training plan for calisthenics and  powerlifting uh in the same time okay so if i   want to do like a weighted or powerlifting  plus um calisthenics then you're the right   person to become my coach right rated endurance  static elements powerlifting or if you need to correct your physical okay so uh  yeah thanks a lot for this interview   um i will say thank you for your time uh  it was really nice to to talk with you and   also um thanks to everyone listening  to this thanks a lot uh that you took   the time and that you uh appreciate the  content that um uh shared and uh yeah   michael you can end the episode thanks for  your time my english isn't good but i try to describe about your questions i think was pretty  good i i was trying it's perfect see you soon.