From Zero to Hero: Charlotte’s First Pull-up
Let me tell you a story…
Back in 2011, I got hired by my first serious client.
”Charlotte” – a 50-year-old executive in charge of 4 TV stations throughout the United States.
She had a high-stress job, young kids in school, a crazy ex-husband she was doing battle with in court, and a brand-new marriage to cultivate.
Not content to juggle all those hectic things alone, she decided that because she’d just turned the “big 5-0”, she wanted to get stronger, leaner, and fitter than ever in spite of her unforgiving, mile-a-minute schedule.
Her no.1 goal? To achieve her first pull-up.
Pull-up Dreams!
It was something she’d dreamt of doing since she was a little girl, yet had always struggled, stumbled, failed, and ultimately quit even trying – even despite previously hiring some of the best personal trainers in town.
What’s more, she had broken her elbow a few years prior in a freak boating accident, had loads of mobility restrictions, and could only make time to train TWICE per week.
Talk about a tough task for a newly minted personal trainer!
Despite the obstacles, I was determined to get her to her goal.
I had a few tricks up my sleeve that her previous trainers didn’t have, given the fact that I myself had grown up scrawny, un-athletic and comically uncoordinated.
This became a huge advantage in figuring out what actually works in the world of strength and what is just fluff.
Now here’s the incredible part…
Within two and a half months, averaging only 2 x workouts per week and with only 10-15 minutes of moderate pull-up progressions per session…
She nailed the first pull-up of her life!
She was so shocked the first words out of her mouth when she let go of the bar were “Holy sh*t!”
My plan had worked.
And the cherry on top?
Later that year when she met up with friends on her summer vacation, their jaws dropped when they saw her.
Unlike the last time they had laid eyes on her, this time she was sporting a lean, chiseled, athletic physique with an attractive amount of muscle in all the right places.
Not to mention she could effortlessly boast more strength and confidence in her own skin than her friends or their husbands!
So, now a question remained
How was it that I – a reformed 90-pound weakling who grew up perpetually picked close to last for every team sport in gym class – helped Charlotte achieve the first pull-up of her life at the tender age of 50?
Especially when all of her hyper-athletic, super-stud personal trainers before me failed?
It’s simple really…
Unable to lean on natural strength and athleticism like a great many of my colleagues, I instead had to learn how to ‘reverse engineer’ pretty much everything.
From the most basic of kettlebell and bodyweight movements to the intermediate and advanced skills in the calisthenics cadre.
And do so in a way that grabs my students from Square 1 and carries them faithfully across the finish line…
This was all achieved
· without turning their training into a full-time job
· without confusing, over-complicated exercise routines
· and without leading them through a minefield that racks up just as many tweaks, aches, and setbacks as it does Personal Records
There’s more to successful calisthenics training than a pile of progressions
And done correctly, it can also carry over directly into kettlebell training, barbell lifting, and various other strength and athletic endeavours.
People like you, me, Charlotte, and countless other students of mine don’t need endless cues, rubber bands, fancy equipment, and other gizmos and gadgets that create the illusion of progress.
Because while all these things might make for an entertaining journey, calisthenics strength success is NOT a journey…
It’s a process!
And a specific, highly repeatable process at that.
Zero to Hero
I spent a lot of time researching and testing out heaps of different bodyweight strength methods throughout the years.
And while each of them could boast some new or “cutting edge” feature that made it state of the art or helped it stand out from the others, one thing they all had in common was that…
They were aimed at people with far above average physical strength and athleticism from the start.
And what NONE of them seemed to have was a plan to address REAL people – people like Charlotte. People like me. And people like you.
Well, I set out to change that.
After putting my process to the test, the results spoke for themselves:
Yair from Israel, who weighed 110 kg, going from 0 pullups to a whopping 13 in a row in a matter of months.
Marc from Germany – a tall, lanky dude with mobility issues – who I helped to knock out one-arm pushups & full, one-legged pistol squats with ease.
Jozef from Slovakia, whose back was as stiff as a board, yet managed to push up into a beautiful, pain-free back bridge in just 15 minutes.
Frances from Australia, who worked her way up to doing a pull-up with an extra 36 kg strapped to her waist (and without the joint pain that weighted pull-ups previously caused her)
All of which they accomplished:
- While devoting little to no extra time to their training
- Using simple, repeatable workouts
- While avoiding popular but dangerous “shortcuts” that may bring fast, temporary PRs but can lead to long-term complications and serious setbacks
They simply took a faster, more efficient road. And I want to show you how to take it, too.
Over the past 10 years I’ve honed, sharpened, and polished my calisthenics strength system into what I believe is among the best around for any busy professional with a love of gaining raw strength and brute power while maintaining or even gaining in their health and vitality as well – whether you’re a natural athlete or a “late bloomer” like I was.
Written by Aleks Salkin (The Hebrew Hammer)
