Start Street Workout: Begin without injury!

Laying the right foundation to start Street Workout

First of all, it's important to set goals for most things in life. When it comes to sport, it's even more important.

That's why, although it's not the primary aim of this article, we're going to show you a more advanced version of each exercise, so that you can get a concrete idea of the goals you can set yourself when you start out. Of course, it's very important to warm up before you start practicing. 

Exercise 1: Pectorals

Let's start with your pecs. You guessed it, pecs mean push-ups! If you're just starting out, you may not yet be able to do several good push-ups in a row.

You can start working them in a"decliné" position, i.e. with your hands higher than your feet, or you can do them on your knees to make the exercise easier. 

Once you're good with that, we can then tackle the real floor push-ups. To start with, make sure you're properly aligned when you're in position. This is essential to protect your back. Always keep your elbows alongside your body. 

As you progress, you can have fun doing your push-ups with your hands set wider, to target your pectorals, but always try to tuck your elbows in. You can also do this exercise with parallettes to take the strain off your wrists! 

You can also vary the exercise by clasping your hands together to target the triceps. 

The ultimate goal: to be able to do one-handed push-ups. For the latter, be sure to follow the same rules ofbody alignment as for traditional push-ups.

Exercise 2: Squat

We are going to tackle the legs. To begin with, we need to learn how to do squats properly. 

Put your feet shoulder-width apart. When you bend down, make sure your knees don't go beyond your toes. Act as if you wanted to sit on a chair far behind you, transferring your body weight to your heels. Keep your back as straight as possible. 

To progress, you can do your squats with your feet close together. You can also do lunges. To do them correctly, always try to keep a 90° angle with your legs. 

The ultimate goal: to be able to do pistol squats, i.e. squats on one leg with the other straight out in front of you. At first, you can do them with assisted pistols, using one hand to guide you. Another interesting dimension to explore is jumping pistols. To do them well, you need to go down normally and come back up with a jump. This will improve your explosiveness 🔥

Exercise 3: Pull-ups

To continue, something rather fun: pull-ups. If you're just starting out, you can begin with what we call Australian pull-ups.

They are performed on a fairly low bar, about a metre high. 

To perform this exercise correctly, hang by your arms with your body aligned and back to the floor, then lift yourself. Pull back with your shoulders and forward with your pecs. You can also vary the way you hold the bar, with your hands closer or further apart, supinated or pronated.

This will allow you to work all the areas of your back and arm muscles! 

Next, let's move on to a height worthy of the name. The first way to approach pull-ups, or any of the other Street Workout exercises you've yet to master, is to go negative. In the case of negative pull-ups, it's all about slowing down the descent. If you're having trouble getting up, you can jump up to reach the top position. 

To achieve good pull-ups, squeeze your legs and buttocks, straighten your shoulders, pump up your pectorals and stand up, all the way to the top. For variety, you can do them pronated or supinated, with your hands clasped or spread apart. 

As you progress, you'll want to do them more and more with one hand, for example by doing them as archers. You can continue to do normal pull-ups by adding ballast. Don't hesitate to take a weight belt or a weighted vest which are the best equipment for adding weight.

Exercise 4: Abs

Let's move on to the abs , starting with leg raises in the prone position. 

Before you start, make sure you tilt your pelvis forward, as if you wanted to sit on the top of your buttocks. Keep your arms at your sides.

You'll need to raise your outstretched legs so that they form a right angle, or slightly less, then lower them, but without resting them. Your abs must remain under tension from start to finish. If you can't keep your legs straight at first, that's okay. 

Once this becomes too easy, you can take it to the next level by trying to touch your feet with your fingertips. 

You can also exercise suspended from a barbell. You can start by raising your knees, then lifting them higher and higher, without tipping backwards. 

Next, you'll want to unfold your legs, but if you can't stretch them right away, that's okay. 

Eventually, you're going to want to get your legs as straight and as high as possible and, why not, even touch the bar. However, remember that as soon as your body tilts backwards, your back takes over. 

The ultimate goal: do one-handed leg raises, legs straight and as high as possible. In this exercise, don't forget to alternate arms.

Exercise 5: Dips

Finally, let's move on to the dips. They are done on two dips bars. 

As with everything else, if you can't do your dips at first, you can do them in negative. You jump up to the top of the movement and slowly lower yourself down. 

Once you've mastered the negatives, you can move on to the real dips. Start with legs and arms straight. As with the other exercises, keep your body upright throughout. Lower your arms to the right angle of your elbows. You can go lower, but this depends on your shoulders and their flexibility. 

 Once your dips become too easy, you can also continue to do them by adding ballast, which is what we advise you to do fairly quickly.

The ultimate goal: You have two options:

- You can either bring your outstretched legs forward and lower them onto your forearms (this is called theimpossible dips). 

- Either lean forward, bend your legs and knees towards your chest and lower onto your arms, as with plank push-ups. 

Schedule Street Workout workouts

In terms of Street Workout programming, 3 times a week seems to be a good rhythm. Your program will also depend on the intensity and duration of your workouts. 

You can do 3 heavy workouts of at least 1h30 each, with a rest day between two workouts for recovery. You can also do 5 or 6 45-minute workouts a week, which will be less hard on the body.

If you're new to this bodybuilding sport, start with 3 to 4 sets of 8 to 12 repetitions for each exercise performed. Take 1 to 2 minutes' rest between each set.

If you manage to do 16 reps in an exercise, it means it's getting too easy for you and you can move on to the next level. Weighing yourself down will be the best way to keep progressing 🔥

Doing 100 push-ups in a row is nice, but it's not really going to help you reach the one-handed pump. It's going to work more on muscular endurance than strength and it's not the same goal. 

For a beginner, it is recommended to start with workouts that work the whole body, using a variety of exercises. 

Always start your routines with the hardest exercises, because that's when you're freshest and that's when you want to improve.

Understand the progressions in the Street Workout

For some exercises, at the beginning, like squats and the first progressions of push-ups and pull-ups, you can exceed 12 repetitions, if you have the energy. This is just to familiarize yourself with the movement and the muscles involved. 

Eventually, if you're mainly looking for strength and figures, you'll be able to reduce the number of repetitions per set. For example, when you start to reach fairly substantial loads for your weighted dips and pull-ups. Since your aim is probably to maximize strength, you don't need to go much higher than 5 or 6 reps per set. 

If you also want to improve your cardio, you can decide to do a series of each exercise in succession. For example, you could start with 11 pull-ups, followed by 10 dips, then 15 squats, then 12 knee raises and finish with 10 push-ups.

Once you've finished, rest for about 3 minutes and repeat the circuit for a total of 3 times. You can do more if your overall execution is correct! 

Take notes on the progress of training sessions

Another very important thing to do is to get into the habit of writing down your workouts in a notebook. Keep a written record of the exercises you perform, for how many repetitions, how many sets, with how much rest between each. 

If you do exactly the same routines, you'll become the best in that workout , but you'll never force your body to adapt. In order to be able to do more, in order to be able to do better, in order to be able to do heavier, you have to push yourself a little bit more with every workout.

Controlling your body

Be aware of the power you have over your body. You can decide, here and now, to do push-ups and force your body to adapt.

Gradually, you can control your weight gain with your body weight alone. It's a unique experience that no one can do for you, or sell to you. You'll be proud when you see the results, and it can quickly become addictive.

Don't hesitate to comment if you like this article!

If you want to equip yourself, you'll find everything you need in our store. 

See you soon,

Eric Flag