Gabo Saturno

What’s your favorite tricep exercise?👇🏽

Bodyweight tricep extensions (also known as Sphinx push ups or Tricep push ups) it’s definitely one of my favorite exercises to develop our triceps and condition the elbow joint.

There is really nothing “magical” 🪄 about this exercise that you can’t get with conventional weights / cables variations. However, the fact that it can be done anywhere + the added core and scapula stability component, makes it a winner for calisthenics purposes imo.

👉🏽 The ex*****on is self explanatory, but in summery: get into an elbow plank. keep forearms parallel to each other at shoulder width. Then, simply extend the elbow and release back down. Hold 1-2sec on bottom position to avoid the stretch-shortening-cycle to kick in (easier concentric after an eccentric phase)

🚦Intensity: lean more forward to make it harder, and lean more backwards to make it easier. Alternatively, drop to your knees (not shown) to make it even easier (please do if you have any elbow pain, and or see yourself pushing one arm at a time) — build up progressively.

⚠️ That leads me to my last point which is that many people complain of elbow pain during these. My advice is to regress as much as possible and see if the pain persist. If so, spend some time doing bicep work with bands or cables to start strengthening the area. Once that’s done, you should have no problem performing these at a appropriate intensity. And actually, you might find that any elbow discomfort subsides as you do these regularly.

Questions bellow.
I appreciate you being here!

With Love,
Gabo

Movement heals what the mind distorts.

Your body is smarter than what your mind will ever be.

Listen to it with the endless curiosity of a child.

It holds every answer you seek in the limitations of language.

Words can only heal when we hear the silence between them.

Get quiet.
Keep moving.
Listen closely.

With Love,
Gabo

Easier said than done 😄 but here is the technique and cues I use to perform the Dragon Squat.

Comment “YES” if you would like a full tutorial on this movement 🐉🙏🏽

P.S: technique might differ from other practitioners. There are millions of ways to perform a Dragon Squat.

Stop jumping from program to program. Stop looking for that magic exercise that doesn’t exist. Stop trying to do more and more when you actually need to rest. Stop looking for the perfect diet. Stop rushing through progressions. Stop comparing yourself to everyone in social media.

There are no shortcuts.
There are no secrets.
This is NOT a race.

Consistency. Patience. Effort.
Applied over a LONG period of time.
That’s the “secret”

Keep moving forward.
One day at a time ☝🏽

Drop at 🙌🏽 if you agree..

With Love,
Gabo

Back Pain? 🤕

Probably the first post I’ve ever made on “pain” in particular. Reason being, there are just too many things that could be going on when we are talking about pain. Please take this post with a grain of sand.

These movements might, or might not, help. And even if they do, it’s probably going to be a temporary relief. You always want to get yourself check by a professional and hopefully that “professional” doesn’t tell you to rest for months until you feel zero pain.

Not moving is in my opinion the worse course of action. Unless the pain is chronic and you truly can’t do any movements, the best way to heal is to slowly mobilize the area and the joints surrounding it. Then proceed to strengthen the area.

This post simply shows 3 movements that will I increase mobility in the lower back, as well as their closest joints: thoracic spine, and Hips.

It’s useful to think of the body as a whole. Meaning that if you have low back pain, it “could” be caused by tightness in the hips and thoracic spine. The low back should be a stable joint, but if their closest joints are too rigid, the lower back will tend to become unstable — leading to pain.

The first movement is great for hip mobility. The second one is great for overall spine movement. And the third one will put more emphasis on the thoracic spine.

Give them a shot and see how they feel! 30-60sec each movement, or 6-10 controlled reps should do it. Move mindfully.

With Love,
Gabo

Veins Check 🩸

Had to jump into this one, but as many of you know about me, I don’t share anything without first making sure I add some form of value. Let’s talk vascularity…

Some people are disgusted by veins, others loved them. Regardless, there are certainly more important things in life/fitness than having popping veins. It’s also not a sign of health, strength, or performance whatsoever. That said, I’ve been asked countless of times “Gabo how are you so vascular”?

I’ll keep it simple. These are the 4 main reasons:

1. Genetics: I’ve always had a ridiculous amount of veins in my body, even before developing my current physique. When I laugh, you can see veins popping out of my forehead like I am some sort of alien. I barely train legs and have infinite veins on my calves, quads and hamstrings. Of course, training/nutrition makes this more prominent, but it all comes down to genetics really.

2. Skin: part of the genetic component, but worth mentioning. For one, my skin is extremely thin (thanks dad). And for two, being on the darker side of the spectrum makes a huge difference. Veins double when you are tanned.

3. Nutrition: arguably the most important one. I am not shredded to the bone, but I am lean enough. This makes ALL the difference. Low body fat + genetics is the simple answer as to why I look so vascular.

4. Conditions: last but not least, I live in Miami where is extremely hot. You guys see me training at a ~90 degrees, with a pump, and with perfect natural lighting. I don’t look nearly the same in “normal” conditions. Don’t get fooled.

Finally, No, I have never taken anabolic compounds and it’s not on my plans. Thanks for the compliment if that’s what you think 🫶🏽

With Love,
Gabo

Can you build muscle with Calisthenics?

A lot of people still think is not possible to build a a solid physique with Bodyweight alone. In this post I want to touch on a few points that might be useful for some of you interested in building muscle with bodyweight alone. I will also touch on my nutrition.

1. Get strong: aesthetics is not my first, nor my second, nor my third, primary motive for training. I train mostly for skills which require a tremendous amount of strength (planche and front lever). Just by focusing on that, I was able to build the physique you see today. I say this with one main purpose: wether it’s by lifting weights or by bodyweight alone, just by getting stronger you can build an impressive physique.

2. Basics: planches and levers will build some muscle, but to fully optimize muscle growth, we need all 3 types of contractions: concentric, eccentric, and isometric. If aesthetics rank high on your priorities list, don’t skip your pull ups, push ups, rows, HSPU, etc.

3. Intensity: some think that after you can do 15 pull ups YOU NEED to add weight, otherwise you’ll be working towards endurance. This is false. Anywhere between 5 to 30 reps where sets are taken close to failure can build muscle pretty much equally. Best practice here is to use a variety of rep ranges. 5-10, 10-20, and 20-30.

4. Lagging Muscles: despite being possible to look good with just calisthenics, you will have lagging areas that simply can’t be hit optimally with Bodyweight alone. You might want to consider using weights for those muscles: side delts, and upper traps being the main ones in my view. They do get targeted, but surely not optimally.

5. Nutrition: this is everything and it’s a huge topic so I’ll just summarize my nutrition. I eat around 3000 calories a day in most days (this is slightly above maintenance for me). I fast 16-20h a day, and eat all my food in a 8-4h window. Usually big 2 meals. ~150g of protein (I am 150lb), ~250g of carbs, ~150g of fats. Don’t copy this. You need to find the best ratio that works for you! I run very well on a higher fat, lower carb diet.

Hope this is useful in some way!
Questions bellow. I am a open book.

With Love,
Gabo

Think less. Move more.

I don’t know about you, but trying to think my way out of a problem when my mind is going south never truly works. Most of those “problems” are not as big as they seem to be anyways, or are not even real on the first place.

Movement has been, and still is the most profound way for me to change my state of mind. Next time you feel overwhelmed, frustrated, or depressed, just go for a walk and see what happens.

Movements is not magic.
It’s just a very underused & powerful tool.

Did you create the time to move today?🚶‍♂️

With Love,
Gabo