Build calisthenics routine around indoor rowing#603

41/M coming back into a fitness routine from about 10 years off. I picked up a rowing machine a few months back and have been consistently rowing 3 days a week to build some cardiovascular endurance etc. I introduced some basic calisthenics on off row days a few weeks back but am having difficulty with finding a good balance with my physical job and intermittent sleep issues. I was going a bit too hard without a solid plan and experienced some fitness burnout about a week ago and stopped both to recover and reassess. I’d like to work on the hybrid 2.0 routine in addition to rowing, so about 3 days a week, what do you suggest as a modification to the 2 exercise per day standard to allow for a 3 day/week routine? As in stay with 2 exercises per calisthenics day but skip the second cycle? Change to 3 exercises per day to reduce the rest cycle? With the intent of maximizing gains while balancing rest requirements to avoid burnout I figured I should get some input from someone more experienced. Thanks for your help!

Hey Rkkopra! :)

Good on you for getting back to your fitness journey! I’m very fond of you consistently having been doing cardio already, that’s great!

In case you wanna have the entirety of the hybrid routine in 3 days; here https://www.hybridcalisthenics.com/blog/no-time-for-the-hybrid-routine

But if that feels like it’s too much, then I’d just stick with doing 1 cycle as you mentioned

If that still feels like it’s too much or if you want an inbetween, play around with the amount of sets you do - maybe don’t start with 3 sets for everything right away, maybe start with 2, or even with just 1 set per exercise per session if you really wanna be cautious

Long term I’d of course also aim to improve your sleep :) that’s a big part in recovery and have a keen eye on your nutrition as well, as they both play a very significant role

All the best though - and feel free to ask more, I’ll help you out as I can!

Thank you for your advice, Lars, I really appreciate it! That link contains the types of plan options I was envisioning and gives me a good starting point based on professional input without too much guess work on my end.

I have been diligently working toward better sleep as it has been a long term issue and have made a lot of improvements already, but there are still off days. Remembering that my fitness journey is a slow race needs to be ingrained in me to avoid that burnout in the future.

Thank you for taking the time to reply. This site and your advice are extremely valuable and motivate me to keep moving forward. Keep doing what you do, Lars!

Thank you so much for your kind words :) Sounds like you’re really making a change in your life and you can be proud of that!