📍#006 - Andrew Wong
An exclusive interview.
Welcome back to Calisthenics Corner!
This week we have an exclusive interview with Andrew Wong! I first met Andrew at a Calisseum competition in London in 2022. We were matched together for a 1v1 competition and he humbled me with impressive endurance on jump squats. Andrew is a committed athlete and seeing his progression has been inspiring.
Make sure to check out Andrew’s Instagram: andrew08cali
-SY
Now in his own words, here is Andrew…
Andrew Wong
I’ve always been active my whole life, as up until 2017 I had been a competitive squash player. My physique was always lean and I had good stamina, but without much muscle. Going into university abroad in 2018 I decided to start resistance training to improve my strength, physique, and overall confidence. I always wanted to master my bodyweight as fundamentally I saw that as cooler than lifting weights, in fact, I could do a decent amount of good pushups from my squash training, however, pull-ups were not on the cards for me yet. Through research online I found videos of insanely strong athletes in calisthenics performing seriously impressive skills on top of having great physiques, and from there, my heart was set.
we’re all trying to better ourselves and each other simultaneously
From 2018-2019 I spent a good 7 months doing a mixture of weights and calisthenics in the gym. I didn’t make the greatest progress but I managed to get good at the basics, up to a bad form muscle up (I was extremely happy with this at the time). Unfortunately, my second year of university was extremely busy, and I could only gym about 0-1 times a week, leading me to lose most of my progress. Fortunately, the coronavirus lockdown of 2020 was the spark to my new career, as many of my other responsibilities were cancelled or put on hold. I decided with my free time to re-chase my goal of bodyweight mastery, I bought a pullup bar for my room, and the rest is history.
this sport has extraordinary potential to change lives not just physically, but mentally as well
Overtraining, recovery, and nutrition are struggles for me, as I believe they are with many others. I realise with many calisthenics athletes the high from learning these skills can be incredibly addicting, leading us to want to train the same move/muscle group every day which can put our body and progress at risk. I’ve also realised my recovery isn’t as great as others and I usually require more rest to perform at a decent level. Regarding nutrition, putting on weight has always been a challenge for me as a naturally skinny guy. I also prefer to cook mostly compared to eating out as it’s healthier and more affordable, however, preparing more meals and larger portions does take up a lot more time. Now as I’m working full time and with my involvement in the UCA I find consistent training more difficult as well. Nevertheless, I’ve just had to be more rigorous with my day-to-day time planning to incorporate training. It can be slightly disheartening to not be able to train all the time or not be able to go full-ham in every training session, however my my mindset always remains that I’ve got to run my own race and do the best I can. For example, if I can’t train 5 times a week I’ll try 3-4 times; if I’m going through a super busy period I’ll still sneak in workouts where I can. Exercising patience is also a skill and adopting a system-based approach to training can really help with consistency.
I think we all feel like we’re in a golden age where the sport can erupt at any second
I’m sure many of us can agree that our community is one of the best aspects of the sport currently. While I went to calisthenics classes in my Dutch university, there wasn’t much of one there, despite meeting some great individuals. Very fortunately, I ended up at Brunel University for my Masters where I got to experience one of the biggest university clubs in the UK. It was there my passion for the sport skyrocketed as I met many other passionate individuals of my age who loved this sport. Training sessions were longer, more frequent, and extremely fun and my progress multiplied with this extra knowledge and training. I’d like to give a shout-out to Simao Esteves and Tom Ward for running such a great club when I was there.
I always recommend finding or training with people stronger and more knowledgeable when you start as they can give you tips and look out for you
Brunel also hosted a Calisseum and participated in an inter university workshop that allowed me to meet many great athletes across the country, especially other university students. Following that, I immersed myself more and more in the community, joining competitions, barjams, and connecting with others through Instagram. In the academic year of 22/23, I started the University Calisthenics Association (UCA) along with other students which was created to connect student university bodies across the UK. We managed to host an incredible workshop and competition this year, bringing students from all across the country for the first inter-uni event ever. Of course, I wasn’t alone, I worked with amazing individuals who pushed to make this change happen. Special shoutouts go to Yasin Baahmed, Nic Alvanis, and Demi Alvanis for Co-Founding and leading this project as well.
I’ve got a vision to have large and established uni clubs all over the country
In general, this community never fails to amaze me with the amount of support given to each other, whether it be in-person, or on social media. I’m tremendously grateful to be a part of it and I can truly say I’ve found a home here. There’s a mutual respect between all athletes in this domain with regards to the amount of practice and discipline this sport demands seeing as most of us started from scratch, we’re all trying to better ourselves and each other simultaneously. In addition, there’s also a mutual understanding that while calisthenics is still rather niche, this sport has extraordinary potential to change lives not just physically, but mentally as well. There’s a mutual goal for all of us to push the growth of this sport due to its potential, and I think we all feel like we’re in a golden age where the sport can erupt at any second.
there’s a spark here that can really push this sport to be recognised for the enigma that it is
As many others have mentioned, getting good at basics with good form before skill training is essential. In my first months of training around 2018 I was already trying to learn planche as it was always my dream. Looking back it wasn’t the best plan as my pushing strength was lacking, hence I was stuck at tuck planche for months without any progress. I always recommend finding or training with people stronger and more knowledgeable when you start as they can give you tips and look out for you. I also took years to learn a handstand as I was practicing wrongly, it was only until I went to Brunel with advanced athletes that they helped expedite my progress. Lastly, stay consistent with your training but also enjoy it, this sport is meant to be rewarding and fun. After going through periods of being busy and free I’ve learnt to enjoy each session and that being able to train at all is a privilege. Other simple tips you might enjoy are taking videos of training to log your form and progress, connecting with others that will support you, and researching the right form and programs for skills you want to learn.
My training goals are pretty simple, achieve a full planche, front lever touch/pullup/press, more reps of hspu and improve my combos in general.
With the UCA we’ve got a huge year ahead. We’ve expanded recently up to a team of 16 now and we can tackle so many projects at once now. I’m currently leading the events department with a great team and we’re exploring methods to make our events grander, smoother, and more fun, and exploring different concepts and event structures compared to a regular workshop or competition. I can’t release too much yet but do stay tuned to our page, we should have one around October/November. I’ve got a vision to have large and established uni clubs all over the country, clubs that are recognised as sports in their unis, and clubs that can sustain themselves through adequate funding. As for the community, I played a part with the UCA to start British Calisthenics, the new National Governing Body for this country which is extremely exciting. Currently, the NGB is still in the works to be fully operational, but there’s a spark here that can really push this sport to be recognised for the enigma that it is, attracting athletes from all different sporting domains as well as brands and sponsors too.
Weekly meet-ups
(Note - these are not necessarily taught sessions. These are just times and locations for people to get together and workout.)
Didn’t find a meet-up that works for you? Choose a park and time that works for you and let us know - we will add it to the list for next week! Reply to this email with the details.
Take a moment to share this newsletter with a friend that does calisthenics - let’s create a community.
Follow us on Instagram @calisthenics_corner
Email us at: officialcalisthenicscorner@gmail.com