Preparing for My First Calisthenics Competition

Intro

I signed up for a calisthenics strength endurance event from League of Reps in Berlin in August.

I’ve been training calisthenics 2-3x/week for 1,5 years (with a decade of experience in other sports as a hobby before) and stepping into a discipline in a more serious way has always been a big dream of mine.

End of May, just days before I moved to Berlin, I asked my calisthenics coach in Cologne to help me prepare. We did an anamnesis session detecting max reps (+17.5kg for pull-ups, +25kg dips!).

She built me an online programm I’m now following, where I can takes notes and upload videos for her to check. We’re also regularly in contact via messages and all my questions get answered very quickly.

I started my prep at the beginning of June. In combination with moving cities and starting a new full-time office job.
What a better way to build a new life with good habits, right?

I’m learning something new every single day, every session, every rep.

I’d like to take you with me on this nine-week journey and share all the insights as they come.
After two herniated discs in 2018, I never thought I’d be ever pain-free again, let alone have enough strength and confidence to participate in a competition one day.

The human body is miraculous and I want to keep nourishing a deeper connection with mine every day for the rest of my life.

In the end, mindset, lifestyle, nutrition, and sleep make up the most of what the success is built on.

The Event

The format is simple: do as many clean pull-ups/dips/squats/push-ups as you can within four minutes. For each exercise you get different amount of points.

Pull-Up: 4 Points
Dip: 3 Points
Squat: 1 Point
Push-Up: 2 Points

The competition is open to anyone, from beginner to seasoned athletes. It will be a fun, low pressure opportunity for me to get into this space and get familiar with strategies and rules in a competitive environment.

Training

I train 4x/week.

• Day 1: Upper body push/pull
• Day 2: Lower body push/pull
• Day 3: Upper body push/pull, weighted
• Day 4: Upper body / lower body

Three out of four sessions require a lot of equipment. So on one day per week I can train at a calisthenics park with rings and resistance bands.

Week 1

The first week has been non-stop sensory overload. My energy resources were almost completely depleted after work, and on top of that: trying to not get lost all the time in the city, hunting down new gyms while setting up the foundation for the basics such as grocery and houseware shopping.

Nevertheless, I successfully completed my four sessions.

It also got clear very quickly to me how big the difference is to train on my own vs according to a strict personalised training plan from a professional.

I did challenging group workouts and single sessions on my own before, did a lot of progress I’m proud of, but secretly I’ve always been afraid to do reps until failure, because I didn’t want to deal with muscle soreness afterwards.

After my first calisthenics session in 2024, I had T-Rex arms for a week, and I wanted to prevent this from happening at all cost.

But apparently I’ve built enough recovery strength after working out consistently at least 2-3x / week for the past years and thus four intense sessions were manageable.

Challenges

• Sleeping > 8 hours and eating 100g proteins per day is more difficult than working out
  (note to self: 6.5h < 7h < 7.5h < 8h)
• Under arm fatigue is real

Sleep

I’ve always been lucky to be able to fall asleep within 5-10 minutes. A gift not many people possess as I’d find out later in life. Which is why it sometimes infuriates me why I’m not making the best out of it and give myself the amount of hours that my body needs in order to feel good. This week, I often negotiated with myself (like a toddler!) to get to bed before 11pm in order to have a proper regeneration.

Food

• I stopped intermittent fasting. I’ve been skipping breakfast for years, but this is not sustainable anymore with a 9-5 in addition to working out intensely four times / week. I’m eating breakfast at 7 or 8 am in the morning now which feels super strange, but energising at the same time.
• Started fueling (protein shake or banana) within 30 minutes post workout (which makes a huge difference energy-wise!)

Self Love

I would say I cared well for my body before (during my job searching phase I also started with a daily gua sha face practice), but the upcoming competition has shifted my mindset regarding regeneration and care even more. I massage my tired muscle and/or rolling on my fascia roll every day. I took a bath twice this week. I stretch every morning, checking in with how my body feels. I am more mindful regarding my overall energy during the day. I drop anxious moments quicker, because I need that energy for my workouts. I’m completely locked in during my training sessions in order to get out my maximum potential and to prevent injuries.

It’s a quite fulfilling journey so far.

Body Image

As a teenager I’ve been quite ashamed of my naturally broader shoulders. Since I started calisthenics, I have gained some upper body muscles which is very difficult to hide by now. I remember how last summer people started commenting on my physique (when I was wearing tight t-shirts or tops). Now I get comments at least once a week. Don’t get me wrong, I love to receive genuine compliments, but it still feels strange since I don’t want to build an entire identity around my appearance.

Workout Sneak Peek