K boges

Thoughts On Horse Stance

Hey everyone, I wanted to talk a little bit about the horse stance. Some of you have reached out and asked me about how it fits into my training, so I thought I would share some thoughts on why I love this movement so much and what role it has played in my training- past and present.

The horse stance was the first real leg exercise I actually “trained”. In 7th grade, I started training in traditional Chinese martial arts. My Sifu (teacher) was an exceptionally talented martial artist and coach with a pretty “hardcore” traditional background. For him, stance training was fundamental and the horse stance, along with several other traditional Kung Fu stances, was held multiple times every class, without fail and to a high standard. It was ALWAYS hard. Every single time. I don’t ever remember a class that didn’t leave my legs absolutely fried.

Fast forward to senior year of college, I was training at a new school, and my then-current martial arts coach introduced me to "The Naked Warrior" by Pavel Tsatsouline and "Never Gymless" by Ross Enamait (these two books are still at the top of the list of my favorite fitness books). The pistol squat is a move featured in both, and while I was introduced to it under a different name by my first coach, I was never aware that it was a “thing” people practiced. Thanks to Ross, Pavel, and my second coach, the pistol squat entered into view as an actual exercise that people aspired to develop and train, and not just a movement in an advanced Shaolin form. 

To qualify for the Sanda (Chinese kickboxing) team, I had to be capable of a variety of BW exercises, including pistols. But by this time, years of grinding out deep stances in Shaolin and Taijiquan made even weighted pistols easy, without the need for dedicated training. And while this wasn’t the most direct path to pistol competence, it did work really well and built a bunch of other fitness qualities I found, and continue to find, useful. All that stance training also conferred a whole bunch of more-or-less “permanent mobility”—nothing like a circus performer, but a surplus of mobility and flexibility that let me pick up Judo, BJJ, climbing, and yoga with a notable head start. Combined with the strength gains, pistols were no problem. 

So while the horse stance specifically, and isometric martial-arts stances more generally, worked really well for me for developing a base level of general lower-body strength, mobility, and fitness, their benefits do not stop there. This type of training drives a lot of really useful and interesting adaptations, some that become more interesting as we get older. For instance, long-duration isometrics can acutely reduce joint pain and create a healing stimulus in the involved tendons. This isn’t medical advice, but if your knees are feeling beat-up, trying out the horse stance might be worth a shot. There is even research showing that the horse stance, specifically, can reduce inflammation in the knee and improve function, stability, and pain in those with arthritis. Whether or not these benefits are unique to the horse stance or apply to other dynamic exercises, I can’t say because I haven’t seen them directly compared, but having sustained some knee injuries in martial arts myself, trial and error has led me to the horse stance as my go-to remedy when they get cranky.

Another unique benefit of the horse stance is blood-pressure management. Of all the exercise interventions available, isometrics seem to be the most potent at reliably reducing high blood pressure. Long-duration, lower-body isometrics, like the horse stance, can result in blood-pressure reductions that rival medications. Again, not medical advice but something to look into or share with your doctor if it’s relevant to you (I break down the research and protocols for this in the subscription content). 

So when you stack all this up, you get a very unique exercise that is simple, low-risk, exceptionally accessible, scalable (and loadable), requires very little space, has the capacity to significantly improve mobility and general lower-body strength, is excellent for joint health and joint function, and can help manage blood pressure- which is a well-known driver of a variety of health issues. 

As I’ve mentioned in other videos, it is an exceptional way to develop lower-body endurance and the pain it generates makes it highly effective at taxing and developing your focus. This is not an exhaustive list of its benefits. There are additional benefits to the vascular system, the heart, the autonomic nervous system, and isometrics are frequently used to improve muscular coordination which is useful in both rehabilitative and performance contexts. The occlusion the horse stance creates generates massive metabolic stress in the legs, and that accumulation can drive multiple beneficial adaptations both locally and maybe even systemically. For that reason, the horse stance has earned a more-or-less permanent place in my training routine. I will have blocks where I do it daily as a main movement, and blocks where it is cycled out in favor of other movements, but even then, I will always include it as an accessory movement or finisher several times per week.

Thank for reading! Let me know if you have any questions.

1 month ago | [YT] | 1,196

K boges

Thoughts on Leg Training!

There are many qualities that you might want out of your leg training—endurance, strength, mobility, injury resistance, power, or a combination of these. Size is certainly on that list for many of us, but its place in the priority list will vary; it can vary depending on the person, and it can vary depending on your current leg development and training status.

For me, my aesthetic goals have pretty much always been built around the “fighter physique”—lean, athletically muscular, and generally fit. The exception to this was during my dreamer bulk, when I thought it might be cool to “get big” (lesson learned the hard way), but I’ve been about the fighter physique before that diversion and ever since. But the thing is, you don’t need that much muscle for the fighter physique. You just need a solid base. Most of us just need to snatch up all those beginner gains and keep working to the point where our strength is respectable, our form is good, and our gains slow down; that’s the point at which you are probably going to carry most of the muscle mass you will ever naturally carry. You can always add more, and you likely slowly will over time, but really pushing far past this point and closer to your genetic potential requires more dedicated and specific training, i.e., bodybuilding. But from that base, the fighter physique hinges on getting to a lean body fat percentage—for most guys, probably 10–15%, depending on genetics and goals.

But back to legs and calisthenics—building that athletic, muscular leg base can be done a variety of ways. You have a lot of options with how you go about that, and therefore your athletic goals can help drive your leg training choices. Starting out, I feel like the average untrained person has a lot to gain by building some basic competence in the bodyweight squat; even something like working up to a couple of daily sets of 30–50 deep squats can do a ton for the average person’s general conditioning, leg endurance, mobility, coordination, joint resilience, and yes, even muscle mass.

Obviously, not everyone needs to do this, but it’s a great place to start for the average untrained person, and once that foundation has been established, a person’s goals can shape the direction of future leg training. For someone pursuing pure size, picking variations that allow you to reach failure in the 10–20 range works super well; pistols, deep step-ups, sissy squats, single-leg bridges/leg curls, and assisted Nordics can keep you busy for a long time, especially if you throw on a weight vest. For conditioning and leg endurance, pushing higher reps on squats, walking lunges, step-ups, and long-duration isometrics will do the trick. For mobility, anything that challenges your mobility will work, but my favorite is long-duration isometrics. For power, things like hill sprints, bike sprints, and jumps are amazing, especially after a good strength base has been established. As for strength, low reps, as well as high-effort/short-duration isometrics, are great for maximizing it.

It’s important to note that there is a good amount of carryover between all of these modalities, and in terms of size, they all have the potential to contribute to that athletic, muscular base. Take your max bodyweight squat from 30 reps to 200 reps with a 45 lb vest, and your legs are going to grow. Take your max horse stance from a shallow and high 30-second hold to a deep and low 5-minute hold, and your legs are going to grow. Take your max pistol from 5 reps to 20, and your legs are gonna grow. Growth as a side-effect is a very real thing.

For me, I’m much more interested in leg conditioning, orthopedic health, and good endurance. I don’t care about max strength or adding a ton of size to my thighs (calves might be a different story); I’ve built and maintained plenty of leg muscle from my “conditioning”-focused leg training—lots of squats, step-ups, lunges, hiking, running, and cycling. I would say that for the last few years, though, most of my leg training has been horse stance and other martial arts-based isometric leg exercises, aside from the usual high-rep stuff. These were the movements I did as a kid that actually built a really solid base of leg strength and size. The point is, calisthenics leg training is very simple and flexible. Build some basic competence, get good at pretty much anything you want, and you can expect some athletic muscularity. Most people don't need to specialize in size, but you totally can. If you feel you need more size, focus on hypertrophy protocols—and if that’s not enough, well, then there’s always bodybuilding.

2 months ago | [YT] | 1,568

K boges

Calisthenics Skills

Many of you have asked why I don’t train calisthenics skills. Let me start by saying that I think skills are very impressive. I admire the strength, the balance, the control, and the work they require. But for me, they aren’t really a good fit. In my early 20s, I dabbled with the front lever, the back lever, and the planche, but by the time I was maybe 22, I had pretty much totally lost interest in skills. This was largely the result of painfully slow progress, constant joint irritation, and the realization that at my height, I was at a distinct disadvantage when it came to the strength required to display the full expression of many of the skills.

Over 15 years later, I feel pretty much the same way. But now, I’ve got a ton more training experience, both personally and professionally, and being older, I’ve got much more clarity around what I want out of my training. Training serves a sort of dual role for me—it’s something I do because I love it. It’s a practice that I’m committed to and a target for my discipline (I could go on and on about this, but I don’t want to get distracted). It’s also a means of building and maintaining my health, fitness, and aesthetics. In order for it to be something that I can do sustainably, I’ve got to pay special attention to my injury risk. In order for it to drive the adaptations I want while keeping my injury risk low, I need to pay attention to my exercise selection.

In terms of fitness qualities, I really just want to be generally fit with an emphasis on good relative strength and good conditioning/work capacity. In terms of aesthetics, I’m happy with the “fighter physique.” In terms of health, I’m looking to reduce my risk of chronic disease, limit injury risk from training, and stay functional as I age.
I don’t need skill training to do any of these things. Focusing on basics allows me to safely accumulate more training volume, make steadier progress, vary my training intensity, and their dynamic nature and large ROM better ensure more well-rounded adaptations with a lower injury risk.

Again, I’m not anti-skill. It’s just that for me, the juice is not worth the squeeze. For those who want to pursue skills, basics still serve a very important role. They are arguably the best way to build general strength over the long run since they allow for more volume/practice, apply tension through more ROM, are easily scalable, offer tons of variation, are relatively safe, and allow for a wide range of training intensity. They are also not as limited by joint integrity, the need for special preparation exercises, or body proportions. Because of this, they make excellent choices as general strength and muscle builders, even for those who want to display that strength through skills.

I’m not saying skills don’t build muscle. They absolutely can. Straight-arm training, like in the back lever and planche, is well-known for developing incredible biceps; it’s just also known for increasing the risk of tearing them. There are always exceptions—the guys that built insane physiques and incredible strength with skills only—but I look at these as the exception, not the expected outcome for the average guy, which is a description I apply to myself. This doesn’t mean YOU shouldn’t train skills, or that they can’t fit into your routine, but just that all of this stuff needs to be thought of in terms of probability and tradeoffs relative to your goals and abilities. For some, they are sense. For others, they don't. For me, given my goals, genetics, and general risk aversion, I would much rather spend my training time working on basics.


I hope that makes sense.If you have any questions, let me know. Thanks for reading. I'll see you next time!

-Kyle

2 months ago | [YT] | 1,260

K boges

PEDs, TRT, and Steroids

Drug use is prolific in fitness culture, and TRT is becoming pretty mainstream. Many of you have asked for my opinion on PEDs and TRT, so I thought I would share my feelings on the matter.

So, if I ever came down with a disease or sustained an injury where my longevity and/or quality of life was significantly in jeopardy, then yes. Absolutely. I want to be there for my wife and kids for as long as I possibly can, and if I was headed for an early exit and steroids could keep me around longer while keeping me functional, then it’s an easy calculation for me. If something happened to my natural hormone production that could not be fixed by lifestyle, supplementation, or dietary intervention, and it was going to lead to a shorter and/or lower quality of life, then yes. Short of those scenarios, I’m just not interested in taking any sort of performance-enhancing drugs.

Before I get more into why, I want to make it clear that I hold no judgment against anyone who takes drugs. I have good friends who have taken PEDs, some that still do, and after having spent a decade and a half as a coach, I’ve trained plenty of clients who have taken PEDs. I really don’t care what other people decide to do, and I don’t judge them based on what I feel is right for me. I’m simply not concerned with it.

For me, training is a path of self-development, and the mental/psychological elements of it are a very big part of it. Because of that, I’m very skeptical of anything that offers to give me more than what I’ve earned. Yes, TRT/steroids would make me more jacked, and sure, that would be really cool, but that would undermine the larger purpose of training. It’s the discipline, the process, and the purity of it that makes training special and sacred to me. It’s the same reason why I refuse to use AI to write scripts for YouTube. These processes are as much a part of “me” as anything else; they are a core expression of what makes me “me.” I don’t want to cheapen that. I don’t want any of that to be false, and not because of what anyone else thinks, but purely for my own self-respect. Plus, there is the additional element of being offered an easier path, and then rejecting that path precisely because it is a shortcut. It’s the effort, the consistency, the discipline, the development of my own potential, and the acceptance of my own limitations that I’m convinced will ultimately give me more than adding more muscle will.

I also have zero interest in shutting down my own natural hormone production and being tethered to pharmaceuticals for the rest of my life. I also don’t want side effects and then have to balance those side effects with more drugs. Maybe it’s ignorance, but I’m naturally skeptical of interventions of this type. I look at biology as pretty finely tuned. In some ways, it is a very delicate balance, and when we start to randomly intervene in such a complex system, there are pretty much guaranteed feedbacks. I’m just not interested in opening up that can of worms.

So that’s it. That’s my position. Again, I don’t think I’m superior, more moral, or a better person because of this. Not at all. I look at this as an individual calculation, based on the game each person wants to play. Some people want to just get jacked, and they don’t care about training as a means to develop their character, and they don’t care about side effects. It makes no difference to me if they use drugs. My principles are my own. This is just what I care about. I’ve got my own journey to focus on. It’s the journey that I want to take. I wouldn’t claim it’s right for everyone else, and I don’t think I’m special or better than anyone else who chooses to do things differently. Also, if something ever happened to me that pushed me down the route of PED/TRT use, I will openly share it with everyone.

Note: Peptides are a growing category of compounds becoming more popular in health and fitness. I’m also not interested in these, with the exception of something like BPC-157, which is a healing peptide. I’ve been lucky enough to avoid surgery from the orthopedic injuries I’ve had, but if I was facing a surgery, I would definitely look into this compound. I do not know much about it at all; I do not know its safety profile, side effects, risks, benefits, applications, contraindications, etc. I have never looked into it because I’ve never had a need to. However, I’ve seen a lot of bad outcomes from orthopedic surgeries, and I would explore all the options before choosing to get cut open. I would need to know all the tradeoffs, the risks/benefits, probable outcomes, etc. before making a choice, but it is definitely one compound I would be open to and one that I’m not philosophically opposed to.

2 months ago | [YT] | 1,096

K boges

So my intention with this channel from the beginning was to keep it mostly about ideas, concepts, and YOU guys, and less about me. I don't really like to post about myself, but I figured this would make for a good exception.

In the first picture, I'm probably 28 years old, and weigh in at 232 lbs. I took this picture after a big meal and reached the PEAK of my dreamer bulk weight (230 was my goal). My routine at the time consisted of a high intensity, low volume approach with lots of heavy deadlifts and squats. I still did heavy weighted chins, dips, push ups, but my rep range rarely went above 5. It took me probably 2 years of aggressive bulking to go from 190 to 232.

In the second picture, I'm probably 36 or 37, weigh around 172, and had been focusing exclusively on BW exercises since I was 30, with a focus on unweighted basics with occasional weighted sets. Overall, my volume was WAY higher, my overall work capacity was significantly improved, and I was doing a good amount of cardio.

Side note: I've always had better results from working with more volume, staying further from failure, and training more frequently. As for my diet, my cut involved reducing my meal frequency and eating less processed foods- nothing crazy.

Anyway, the point of this post is to show just how much your body can change. 230 was a weight that seemed unachievable to me when I set out to reach it. I struggled to get over 170 in high school. Once I hit it, I realized it wasn't what I wanted at all, so I began to put they pieces in place that could get me back down to where I wanted to be. Nearly 10 years separates these pictures. It was a LONG journey and this stuff can take a long time, but time passes regardless, so we might as well make the investment.

If you guys have any questions about this process, let me know. And yes, I did this naturally. The issue of drugs is a topic I would love to talk about but we can do a whole other discussion about that if you guys want.

I hope you are all having a great day.

Best wishes,

Kyle

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3 months ago | [YT] | 3,276

K boges

Hey everyone! I hope you are all well!

I thought I would open up the YouTube community feature to engage with you all a bit more. Thank you all for the support, and let me know if you have any questions! Keep an eye out for some posts in the near future. 🙏

3 months ago | [YT] | 1,085