Let’s learn how to personalize the routine for your needs and goals!

When should I be making changes to the routine?

Perhaps you’ve been following the routine for a while but you’re feeling like you could be doing more. After all, the website specifically states:

These routines were designed as a foundation upon which users can supplement.

Now, what exactly that means is up to you. Learning calisthenics skills, improving your endurance, building up a certain muscle, adding the bonus exercises from the website for their individual benefits - there can be many reasons to want to expand your training routine.

Maybe it’s none of that!

Perhaps you’re new to the routine but lack some of the equipment and are wondering how you could make up for that. Or maybe it’s just the opposite - you’ve been following the routine for quite a while, you have all the equipment you need (and more!), and are wondering which alternatives you could use to add some variety to your training.

Regardless of why you find yourself reading this blog, let’s talk about how to best make adjustments so that you can get the most out of your training!

The Hybrid Movement Patterns

Let’s first start by roughly breaking down the exercises in the Hybrid Routine into the movement patterns they represent, so that we can better understand which replacements fit.

Note: This section is for those who want the details - the method behind our madness! If you're just skimming this article for some substitutions, skip to the “Exercise Substitutions” section below!

Pushups: Horizontal Push

Pullups: Vertical Pull

Horizontal Pullups: Horizontal Pull

Leg Raises: Core Compression and Hip Flexion

Bridges: Hip and Spinal Extension (And a bit of Vertical Pushing, too!)

Twists: Rotation

Alternative Exercises

Now that’s quite something to wrap your head around, but don’t worry. By listing some example exercises, we’ll make sense of it! Let’s get right into it:

Exercise Substitutions

For all of you that are not too fussed about the mechanics of the exercises and are just looking for some alternatives, here you go:

There are quite a few options laid out here so I hope you will be able to find something that fits into your life :)

Now, in case you don’t want to substitute exercises but are instead looking to add something to the routine, the upcoming chapters are the ones for you!

Working Towards Skills

In case you want to learn any calisthenics skills alongside the routine, you may be wondering how to best include training for them. Wonder no more! I will give you some guidelines:

In case the skills you want to work towards have to do with flexibility, I recommend performing static stretches after your regular training. That way you’re already nice and warmed up and won’t negatively affect your other training.

Combining Weightlifting and Calisthenics

In case you find yourself really enjoying both bodyweight training and training at the gym, it may be worthwhile to create a routine in which you can combine the two!

But wait, how do we do that?

Yet again, it depends on what you prioritize and how you want to set it all up. We’ve already talked about replacements for exercises from the routine, so there is an option to swap out some of the calisthenics with some weightlifting.

Alternatively, weightlifting can be used to supplement the routine by working on aspects that aren’t as directly covered, such as overhead pressing via machines, or dumbbell and barbell shoulder presses. You might also want to strengthen the hip hinging motion via variations of deadlifts. 

Or, maybe just to enhance smaller aspects of one's physique, giving more direct work to the biceps, the hamstrings, the side delts, etc.

What you end up making of it really is up to you, depending on your needs and goals. I’d just recommend adding things slowly over time to make sure you’re not overworking yourself. More information on how to tell how much is too much can be found later in this blog!

Combining Endurance Training with the Routine

Whether it’s running, walking, cycling, swimming, or other types of cardio, they can all coexist with the Hybrid Routine. But there are some considerations to make yet again, as any sort of activity will always come with some level of exhaustion and thus may impact the rest of our training, so:

The Hybrid Calisthenics Bonus Exercises

As you can see on the website, there are additional exercises that Hampton suggests as useful additions to the existing routine. They could serve as just bonus exercises to give yourself more of a challenge, but also as substitutions for some of the exercises in the routine, for the sake of variety, accessibility, or simply personal preference!

They are categorized as such:

• Clutch Flags

• Elbow Lever

• Explosives

• Dips

• Lunges

• Calf Raises

Let’s go over the benefits of each and how they could be added to the routine.

How much can I add?

After having talked so much about what to add and how to add it, you may be enticed to create a training plan where you do absolutely everything!

But hold on a second, you can’t recover from all of that! So where do we draw the line?

You might not like this answer, but it comes down to your personal ability to recover. And this depends on quite a few factors:

• Your genetics

• Your diet

• Your nutrition

• Your training experience

• Your general health and well-being

Hmm, there’s a lot to consider… but it’s a good thing that we don’t need to think about it all in great detail and perform some crazy mental gymnastics to figure out what to do!

As I have before, I’ll yet again give you some guidelines to help you on your journey:

Of course, if you notice that your nutrition, sleep or overall health could use some improvements, I highly recommend tending to that, regardless of if you intend to add more training or not.

As a general recommendation, most people do well with about 4-7 exercises per session, so that’s at least double what’s in the Hybrid Routine. But how many exercises are right for you depends on which exercises they are, as some are simply more fatiguing than others, as well as of course how much you can recover from.

For example, mobility exercises and isolations are much less fatiguing than a deadlift.

However, more isn’t necessarily better, as the quality of your training is very important and should thus come first. Make sure that what you do is of high quality before you try to add more.

Keep the above guidelines in mind and you will, over time, find what’s right for you! :)

Summary

So, to conclude everything we’ve talked about in some simple key points:

• Perform the exercises that you prioritize (as well as skill, balance training, and explosive training) first in your training session.

• Schedule exercises in accordance with the muscle groups being trained, so as to not disturb your recovery.

• Add things gradually and ensure that you’re not overworking yourself.

No matter what you want to add to the Hybrid Routine, be it sports, cardio, skills, weightlifting, or mobility training, I hope that with everything I’ve provided, you feel confident doing so!