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While in NYC this past week, I had the pleasure of meeting up with New York’s very own Al Kavadlo (fitness guru/bodyweight enthusiast) and Rebecca Evens (Budokon instructor). It was an excellent opportunity to take three different backgrounds and styles of bodyweight training and bring them together for one intense workout!

If you haven’t seen any of Al’s stuff, go to Alkavadlo.com where you’ll find tons of great info on his coaching and fitness philosophy. When you do, you’ll spot Al’s stomping-ground and our meeting place which was the legendary Tompkins Square Park. This place truly is the city’s Mecca for sweating out some serious training. Its charm is in its simplicity. The layout consists of a wide-open space and two jungle gym type structures with all types of bars ranging from different sizes, different directions and heights. The possibilities are endless!

Our only goal of the workout was to integrate our areas of expertise and build upon each of our ideas in a constructive manner. No egos, just bringing creative energy to a community that we are all part of. Because in the end, there’s no right or wrong way, it’s all just movement.

After a big dynamic warm up we started in on a couple favorites.

[singlepic id=4 float=left] Animal Movements: If you’re looking for an alternative to the treadmill, add in some critter moves and you’ll be gasping for air. Not only do these moves require tons of oxygen, but your entire stabilization system will be challenged through multiple ranges of motion. (In the next few months I’ll be posting an entire segment on Animal Movements)

Navigating the Jungle Gym: This seemed a lot easier when you’re a kid! Over bars, under bars, no matter how you cut it, bringing some parkour styling into your practice can increase your speed, agility and reaction time.

[singlepic id=6 float=right] Muscle Ups: There are few exercises that are as challenging as this King move. The Muscle Up requires total body integration and is a true Push/Pull bodyweight exercise.  Kavadlo killed it on the Muscle Ups, from the super slow version to the Muscle Up forearm stall or the seemingly impossible wrist hang Muscle Up. By the way, “how do you get good at muscle ups?”, YOU DO MUSCLE UPS! No other exercise compares.

Hand Balancing: If you commit to bodyweight training, it’s pretty safe to say that you’re going to spend a lot of time on your hands. This is perfect when you’ve got a nice open space with no other tools around. We did everything from handstand pushups to ninja kip ups to hand balance. This is where you can really get creative. For more info on hand balancing go to The Lost Art of Hand Balancing.

We also got a chance to add in Al’s famous tag line at the end of the video!: “We’re working out!”

Anyway, enough talk! Check out the video to see how it all came together, and as always feel free to send in your pics or videos of your workouts around the globe!

PHOTO GALLERY:
(Click on the pictures below to scroll through the whole gallery):
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