$ ./lab --skills
A library of the bodyweight skills I train: where I am on each progression, how to get to the next step, and what I'm chasing now.
I track my progress on the progression chart from Steven Low's Overcoming Gravity (2nd edition): 42 skill families, each a ladder of levels from novice to elite. I colour in the chart as I go, and this page is generated from that spreadsheet. Handstands are still my favourite, and the handstand push-up is the goal for this year, but the point is the whole library: how each skill progresses, how to get there, and what I'm working on.
Handstands, handstand push-ups and presses.
Freestanding Handstand + 4 Fingers
✓ 2026: Freestanding Handstand 20 s
guide: Handstand Technique: Base, Stack, Corrections
Freestanding Headstand Push-up
✓ 2026: Wall Handstand Push-up (parallettes)
guide: Handstand Push-up Progressions
L-sit Bent-Arm Bent-Body Press
guide: Press to Handstand
Box Straddle Press
guide: Press to Handstand
Planche, push-ups, dips and pressing strength.
1× bodyweight
✓ 2026: 0.9× bodyweight
guide: Handstand Push-up Progressions
Advanced Tuck Planche
guide: Planche Progressions
Next on the chart: Advanced Tuck Planche Push-up
guide: Planche Progressions
Rings-Turned-Out 40° Pseudo-Planche Push-up
Next on the chart: Ring Straight-Body One-Arm Push-up
✓ 2026: Straight-Body One-Arm Push-up
Next on the chart: One-Arm Dip
guide: Dips and Ring Dips
1.85× bodyweight
✓ 2026: 1.7× bodyweight
guide: Weighted Pull-ups and Dips
Next on the chart: 45° Incline
Levers, pull-ups, rows and muscle-ups.
Back Lever Pullout
✓ 2026: Full Back Lever
guide: Back Lever Progressions
Next on the chart: Straight-Arm Front Lever to Inverted Hang
guide: Front Lever Leverage
Advanced Tuck Rope Climb
guide: Front Lever Leverage
Top of the chart
guide: Pull-ups and the One-Arm Chin-up
Top of the chart
guide: Pull-ups and the One-Arm Chin-up
Next on the chart: One-Arm Chin-up
✓ 2026: One-Arm Chin-up Negative
guide: Pull-ups and the One-Arm Chin-up
1.9× bodyweight
guide: Weighted Pull-ups and Dips
Next on the chart: Kipping Back Clap Pull-up
guide: The Muscle-Up Transition
Next on the chart: L-sit Muscle-up
guide: The Muscle-Up Transition
Next on the chart: Tuck 180
guide: Front Lever Leverage
Compression, L-sits, flags and anti-extension.
45° V-sit
guide: L-sit and V-sit
One-Arm Straddle Elbow Lever
Next on the chart: Advanced Tuck Flag
guide: Core Progressions
Full Ab Wheel
guide: Core Progressions
Top of the chart
guide: Core Progressions
Next on the chart: Weighted
guide: Core Progressions
Next on the chart: Prone Straddle
Pistols, shrimps and the posterior chain.
1.35× bodyweight Pistol
guide: Pistol and Shrimp Squats
Two-Hand Shrimp
guide: Pistol and Shrimp Squats
Next on the chart: Weighted Reverse Hypers
Ring-only skills: statics, kips and felges.
Ring Shoulder Stand
Next on the chart: Advanced Tuck Planche
guide: Planche Progressions
Rings-Turned-Out 45° Dip
guide: Dips and Ring Dips
Next on the chart: Back Lever
✓ 2026: Rings-Turned-Out Straddle-L
Next on the chart: Ring Wide Handstand Push-up
guide: Handstand Push-up Progressions
Next on the chart: Chair Press
guide: Press to Handstand
Next on the chart: Assisted Cross Pulls
Next on the chart: Tuck Planche Push-up
guide: Planche Progressions
Next on the chart: Kip to support
Next on the chart: Felge forward piked to support
The friendliest of the big statics — tuck to full back lever, with the shoulder extension prep that makes it safe. Full back lever unlocked in 2026; pullouts are next.
Once the beginner routine stops working, alternate blocks that build capacity with blocks that turn it into skill, with a deload between. You can't push both at once.
Ab wheel, dragon flag, hanging leg raises and the human flag — anti-extension and compression work that every lever and handstand borrows from.
Muscles adapt in days, tendons in weeks. Planned deloads and short, spaced bouts of loading keep the slow tissue in step — and the same is true of teams and their tech debt.
Parallel-bar dips to rings-turned-out dips. Stability, depth and turn-out are what the ring ladder adds, and why ring dips carried over to my muscle-ups.
The front lever is a torque problem. A back-of-the-envelope segment model shows why each progression is a step in moment arm, why tall people suffer, and why the straddle is less of a shortcut than it feels.
From pike push-ups to the freestanding handstand push-up — the ladder I'm climbing in 2026, the prerequisites that matter, and why balance becomes the limiter at the top.
The cues that took me from wall holds to a 30-second freestanding handstand — build the base, stack the line, and balance with your hands, not your feet.
Compression is the quiet prerequisite behind presses, levers and muscle-ups. My L-sit to V-sit ladder, the flexibility it needs, and the drills that move it.
Single-leg strength for a calisthenics athlete who also runs. Pistols to weighted pistols, shrimp squats to two-hand shrimps, and why single-leg work keeps the knees and ankles honest.
Tuck planche and tuck planche push-ups are in; the advanced tuck is the goal. Lean, protraction and patience — and why planche keeps getting parked behind handstand work.
Bent-arm and straight-arm presses to handstand are compression and shoulder problems more than strength problems. What's worked for me so far, and what's still missing.
From the first strict pull-up to ring archers and one-arm chin negatives. The vertical pulling ladder, the cues that made it click, and how I'm approaching the one-arm chin-up.
The muscle-up isn't a pull-up plus a dip; it's the awkward bit in between. False grip, pulling height and a fast lean-over are what got me from zero to eight ring muscle-ups.
When time comes in smaller blocks and sleep is broken, the minimum effective dose, short explosive sessions and a flexible schedule keep progress going — or at least keep the skills.
The two strength lifts that underpin most of my skills, logged relative to bodyweight. How I programme them, when to test, and where their carry-over runs out.
Your wrists are the actuator, the sensor and the weak link of a handstand. What a pressure-mapping study says about where the load goes, and the prep and cues that kept mine happy.
Run slowly enough to stay in zone 2 for the whole session. It builds the aerobic base that makes everything else recover faster, and progress shows up as a faster pace at the same heart rate.
Videos, research, methods and tools I'm adopting, trying or watching.
Calisthenics, CrossFit and HYROX events I follow.
Levels, families and step names follow the progression chart in Steven Low's Overcoming Gravity(2nd edition, 2016), which explains each progression properly. Buy the book; this page only shows my place on it. Loads are shown relative to bodyweight. Three families (front lever circles, reverse leg lifts and pelican push-ups) are my own additions. Technique notes are what worked for me, not coaching or medical advice.