Him: I’m trying to figure out how to balance three separate but kind of related goals. First, I want to put on about 10-15 pounds of muscle while getting down to about 12-15% body fat. (I’m currently sitting at 208 pounds between 20-21%.) Second, I want to become a bodyweight beast, making feats like handstands, [...]
Him:
I’m trying to figure out how to balance three separate but kind of related goals.
First, I want to put on about 10-15 pounds of muscle while getting down to about 12-15% body fat. (I’m currently sitting at 208 pounds between 20-21%.)
Second, I want to become a bodyweight beast, making feats like handstands, one arm push-ups, and muscle-ups look easy.
Third, I want to increase my movement capabilities in freerunning by upping my speed, agility, and power.
Me:
They aren’t “kind of related.” There’s a common thread. And the common thread: your body fat.
- Looking good naked means losing fat.
- Bodyweight skills are a lot easier when you’re lighter. So, yeah. Lose body fat.
- Freerunning is high impact. Joints can only handle so much stress. Every extra pound is extra impact…especially if it’s useless body fat.
So each of your goals ties back to body fat. If you want to make the most widespread progress across all your goals, put your foot down and squash the body fat. But remember that losing fat doesn’t mean “cutting” in the way most people think of “cutting.”
Don’t turn into a cardio bunny. As you lose fat, strength train with a barbell. Include a progression for bodyweight skills pending how good you are now (progress horizontal to vertical with bodyweight rows, vertical to horizontal with push-ups, et cetera). At 20% body fat, most bodyweight skills will be hard(er) as compared to you doing them in the future at the same strength but leaner. A barbell will help you get a good training stimulus without being bottlenecked by your current bodyweight.
Also prepare your body for the freerunning. You can do a lot of ankle work. See A Trickster’s Guide to Ankle Strength. As you reach more towards the 15% body fat range, start teaching your body how to land and roll.
The idea being when you’re finally at your ideal body fat percentage you’re prepared to launch into your dreams. You’re prepared to now hit the higher bodyweight skills because you started adapting the muscles and connective tissue. Same goes for the freerunning.