EMANUELE MAJELI | Training Habits of the Champ | Interview | The Athlete Insider Podcast #29

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if you see me in uh workouts i'm completely  different from competition because i do very light   workouts but with high high volume and very  low intensity short introduction before   today's interview with an extremely smart and uh  strong athlete from italy emanuele and yeah it's   a special weekend special day this weekend black  weekend at GORNATION with the biggest discounts of   the year with the parallettes launch with a new  collection and a lot of specials you know and   everything is down in the description feel free to  check out our store for this weekend feel free to   give this interview a thumbs up it helps a lot and  yeah 29th episode next week will be the 30th hope   you enjoy yo gorillas welcome to the athlete  insider podcast by gornation my name is phil   and today's guest is one of the most requested  interview guests in in this podcast people always   wrote yeah please my yearly please my yearly  and here he is i'm really happy to welcome   emanuele majeli the current champion of italy  yeah 2020 um and somebody who's you who currently   shocks the calisthenics scene with crazy moves  like a few days ago uh with a really clean touch   front lever pull up with 10 20 quick kg and yeah  i'm just really happy and honored to have you   here welcome emanuele to the show thank you for  inviting me hi everyone it's an honor to be here   it's really an honor we had so many people  saying yeah finally you interview my idols   finally you interview this great athlete and uh  yeah we received a lot of questions even though   we had like just three or four hours to get  questions but we received over 100 questions   so i picked out the best ones and uh let's kick  off who is emanuele how do you present yourself   okay well i'm a normal guy so it's difficult  to present myself in strange ways so i study i   work out that these are the too many things and  i do in my daily routine um um for the workouts   the this is my main hobby but i also have a  lot of hobbies uh i play guitar i read a lot   um i'm a simple guy so i have nothing more to  present uh even if i'm famous i would say not   so much like some names but in my own a little  bit uh i don't see this like um life changing but it's just the the calisthenics that changed  me so this great um yes that's interesting how   how old are you i ain't 23. 23. so uh born  1997. yes okay perfect and where are you born   in uh side accused the south of italy  okay cool and uh how tall are you um i'm between 162 163 with how many kg   uh 60 at the moment okay around 60. is it heavy  for you or lighter when you say at the moment sometimes you during competition i'm  lighter like the last competition i was 58   but always between 58 60 not more and not  less okay okay because these are always the   hard facts that people ask how heavy how tall  what's his biceps uh circum circumstance but   yeah i think we leave it here um and  yeah you you said that you're studying   how does your life look like um with all your  hobbies uh what does a typical day look like   well um i usually get up early because  this period due to the coronavirus i   study at home so start studying because  i do university study physiotherapy uh   so i for the most part of the day i study i  eat a lot and i train like three hours a day   well my hobbies like playing guitar i do  them all in the evening for the most time   okay so uh yeah right now you spend a lot of time  at home i think it needs quite some discipline for   your study is it the same discipline to to train  like really hard and to to be able to study hard   or is it a different different  kind of discipline for you well um i study a lot because i'm going to  get a degree so this period particular period   i'm good i'm studying more than i'm training  but it always it isn't always like this for the moment i'm doing this  to get the degree faster okay and are you a good student do you have  good grades or is it like more more medium no i'm good grades not the maximum but i'm there okay nice yes so um like the most  question um the most asked question is always   how did you get in touch with calisthenics  how did your calisthenics journey begin   it was the 2014 i was 17. um in  that period i was like 44 kilos   it was very small in fact i didn't want to go  to gym and a friend convinced me to go to gym   but just doing weights lifting  just two times a week so i wasn't   like the guys that you see in normal gyms um but  once i get there i saw a guy that was doing uh   skin cat rings and i asked my father what he was  doing so he explained me what calisthenics was   and said okay let's try it edited what was the  first thing that that we saw about calisthenics   i started with pull ups basics core exercises  and after that i never did anything else   apart calisthenics and how come that your father  knew calisthenics because i could imagine that   most of the fathers would have said oh it's  gymnastics you have to start as a kid otherwise   you can't do it you're 17 you can't do that like  also how come that your father knew calisthenics   well uh my gym is my father he is the owner of the  team wow so he always did sports in in his life so   he knew calisthenics before me because he did a  lot of research about different training methods in the first part of my life like when i was  a kid he wanted me to me to do gymnastics   but in my city there was no possibility to do it so he was very happy when i started calisthenics  because i couldn't start gymnastics before   okay and your so your father is also a really  sportive and active person yes that's great okay and does he have a  better maltese than you have no but in the first couple months  he had better front leader wow okay   the front lever is already nice  um yes so um before calisthenics   uh you did no sport at all or what what is  your background in sports well i did swimming i did judo and nothing more i did two months of  basket strange but i did it okay and what belts   did you have in uh in judo there are the colors  for the belt the yellow one okay okay so yeah um   and what was your motivation to start calisthenics  was it um i guess it wasn't to learn the skin skin   the cat but did you have one move especially that  you wanted to learn okay at the first it was more   body thing like i want to build my body because  the world was very thin so it was the primary code the goal um but then i  did some research on youtube   the third thing thing that i  saw was the touch front lever so these two was where the the first two things  that i even wanted to reach the main goal and how long did it take how did it go did  you find tutorials and follow them and then   after two weeks you had them or how did it go  oh it was more difficult than this because i in   that period there were very few tutorials so my  father helped me with his background so in the   first couple months i did my first front lever  while the planche in around 8 months after that not full full well and after that i did my programs so he  just helped me but i did told myself   so eight months until uh full planche is that fast or slow for you um it depends  for me was fast at the moment because i   i saw other guys that took one year  or more today is uh slow because   a lot of guys do it in three four months or  that time was eight months was slow yeah it was   passed and what do you want to say to the  people because i think there are a lot of people   who listen this now who work out for a  year and they don't have the straddle   plans or like for them the progress is slower  what do you what do you want to tell them well the progress and the time has  no meaning for me is that final   goal that has the verbal meaning so you can go to  planche in one month for two years but it is the   the final goal that has to motivate you to do  it and to train the best way without injuries   so it's not important to do it as soon as possible  um but the the best way possible okay um what does   your schedule look like right now right now you  don't have preparation for a competition i guess   yes no competition for at least the beginning of  2021 so my schedule is very light at the moment i   do like pull and push exercise every day uh with a  maximum of six to eight exercises i alternate them   while i'm doing basics uh like two days a week  while i'm training five five to six days um   and they are very light because i'm doing a lot of  dream machine work and loop band work okay so you   actually train with with a dream machine and for  the people who don't know what a dream machine is   this is a like a machine no it's a hit the rings  where you use leverage to have like a much lower   body weight i don't know is it 50 or maybe you can  explain it better um use the basic dream machine   but you can add more kilos to you so it  off the the body weight or you can use the weights to um um have like a  counter i don't know what to   do yeah counter counter weights so it's less  than 50 so maybe just 20 kg or something yes okay and how do you train there you do your um you do  your combinations there and practice transitions   or what is the goal of of this training for you  at the moment i'm doing jacks just to one exercise   like front lever to victorian sets and  rap i'm not i'm not doing on because i   do them just one or two months months before  competitions uh so mainly our single exercise   for uh for skill like lunch push up then i go to  front lever pull up then plunge press and so on   so basically with your if we look at your training  in general you do like sets and reps but with   with the skills so because people asked how does  your training look like do you do like one move   maximum hold and then to the next move or like  can maybe you can explain more in detail well   never next max hold i have a lot of  buffer in my workouts so for example um plunge press i have at least three or four reps buffer so i  work out a lot with assistance so look bands   if you see me in uh workouts i'm completely  different from competition because i do very   light uh workouts but with high high volume and  very low intensity this the majority of time   but sometimes like one day a week i do  more intensity workouts and less volume okay i didn't expect that um that's that's  interesting um and that's maybe something   that a lot of people can train i can try for  themselves maybe they get different results than   they get right now um um so yeah like somebody uh  user named julia asked never skip basics or only   static training um so you like when you say basics  you also do dips and push-ups and stuff like that   uh two times a week yes just them uh two times  a week i never left the basics okay and in what   rep range do you um train is it do you do like 20  dips or 10 dips or weighted or um no weighted not   so much i do more like endurance so mmm um reset  them reps like 30 pull-ups 10 sets divided in different blocks like three blocks of  30 reps then i rest and do them again   the same for the push-ups and dips waited not  so much just sometimes that way i want to change   my my workouts and do you feel that  this endurance work is helping you to uh   to improve your planches and your static holes the main thing that i do and i'm  doing the endurance because i noticed that   doing endurance helped me in the  competition because at first like 2018 i had   a lot of strength in the in the single skill  but i didn't have the endurance to make a full   one minute combo or till the end of the  day doing three four five sets in a day   so this helps me maintaining the the strength  all over the day and during the whole set   okay nice um and how do you mentally prepare  for your workouts so if you do like high volume   it still means needs a good mindset because  you have to um push through a long set or   like a lot of reps how do you mentally  prepare for a workout well it depends   on the on the workout because when i do like  high volume workouts i'm a bit more relaxed   because i i'm doing light light work so i  don't have i don't have that feeling that   i can't do it so i'm just doing something easy but  for more time so in that case uh i'm very relaxed   while for the high high intensity workouts  i do mentally preparation because when i not mentally prepared for the workouts i prefer to  not do anything so i change completely my workouts   like i do weights i lift something else um because  i want to be like in a in a bubble when i train i listen to music and i don't usually talk when i when  i'm training yes i am different person so i'm very focused on my workouts like the the  competition this when i'm doing high intensity   but with low intensity i'm more relaxed  okay what kind of music do you listen to um okay so a lot of energy that's good nice um um if you would be a beginner  again how would you progress with   planche and front lever with your experience  now so let's share some knowledge with the   beginners with the intermediate athletes  who want to learn from you okay it will be   slower but at the same time faster because i  will do a lot of more progression probabilities   for the planche starting with the  very basic and progressing slowly   this to avoid the injuries and faster because  uh yeah i know how to prevent injury and   how to choose the best probiotics so maybe i  will get the planche in uh like seven months   and not eight but uh without stopping because  in my early days i did a lot of mistakes   the main thing for me is the the  word map i usually do one hour   warm up before my training especially from for the  planche or maltese so if i would be a beginner i would use a lot of buffer  in my first probabilities   before passing in the next profitability and  focus more on the dynamics uh like push-ups press   or raising races from lean then hold and nothing  more okay uh what kind of injuries did you have   in your career um nothing serious but like um tendinitis and i have had like 10 injuries  in two years my beginning at shoulders with   elbow so everything but not serious that  i couldn't go over in a month at night   okay um yeah also a part of your success i guess  uh will play nutrition um do you want to talk   about how your nutrition looks like yeah well um  at the moment i'm eating everything i want to eat   i i don't have a very rigid rigid diet  i eat well for the majority of my week   but i don't come to calories so i eat beets yes i shouldn't do it but for the most time   i do this just before competitions  i try to avoid all this junk food in fact i'm more definite during that time and  i i very balance the diet but it's not always   rigid like that i i don't have a big difference in  eating well or eating bad uh but i would recommend   not everyone as the as this a lot of people eating  well have like 20 or 30 percent more performance   okay so you think like the nutritionist  is is important for the performance   yes it is okay and how often sorry  for me not but it is important   for people for you it's not important also because  of your genetics i think yes maybe i will get like   10 more on performance eating  well so in it's not big difference   so i just do what i like not that i eat bad i eat  well most of the time so are just those little   things that i eat that i shouldn't okay and do you  do intermittent fasting or how often do you eat   per day do you have any schedule for eating not at  the moment just before competitions okay so like   a normal day has three meals or also some next  three to four meals i sometimes keep breakfast because for me it's not the most important in the in the day so yes three to  four is there also the saying in   it in italy uh that the breakfast is  the most important meal of the day   yes they say it is but for me it's not okay  because in germany there's the the same saying   it's interesting um yeah because like  in germany that like the the people are   much more obese and uh overweight um i think  italy is quite well it's quite good in in this like this okay okay then yeah but  i think in the statistics italy is   better than germany even though there is a lot of  pasta and pizza a lot of carbohydrates but um yeah   do you take uh supplements is no noise asking this just protein protein shake and sometimes creating not not something else i don't take amino  acids just these two things in my daily routine   okay and whey protein or vegan or what kind  of protein whey whey protein yes okay cool um   yes what do you think about freestyle and  dynamics um will we ever see emanuele doing   uh freestyle or is it something not in your  goals well it's not in my goals but i like it i don't have where to train it because  my gym is not prepared for for that   and i have no clue how to start it so if i  had a teacher or a place where i could do it   i i would uh because i like i like  to see it but not too much doing it   without knowing well what i'm doing because i  fear to break something okay true i i feel you   um yes um what are your goals for the future like  um any competitions that you aim to win any world   records or like to finish your studies and make  your profession uh like your professional goals okay for the competition my aim is to participate  first of all in the street workout ultimate battle   in madrid um maybe next year i don't know  um also to win next abc like i did last year   um for the moment apart these two and the  italian championship i don't have a lot of aim   um why for them uh for the university  i shouldn't get the degree in april if   every everything goes well  um and then continue to these   uh this study uh so with physical therapy uh  together with calisthenics so doing something   that can um unify these two things okay so yeah  do you also plan to to coach to offer coaching uh not for the moment because i not so much time  but i i'd like to do it maybe when i'm getting   the degree so i am more free maybe i'll start a  few people just to understand to work it and then okay nice um do you have a hero or somebody  you you look up to an idol or somebody you   just admire as an athlete uh a lot because i am  i don't have one outlet that i look up because   i take the best from everyone but the first  that had me like wow it was the camelot these are the two that inspired me  uh for the majority but everyone like   didn't co or christian lagana in italy  manuel caruso ryan from the outsiders   they all have had something that i would like  to to get inspired by well that's that's cool um gabrielle i think he asked a  really really interesting question   is um do you think everybody can  reach your level um well this sport is is known from 10 years i think so uh it isn't  like gymnastics that had the time to reach level   uh always hide so uh with more people starting  doing calisthenics there will be more people   that can reach this level so i think that  it's possible with the right program right   mentality and also a good genetics is always good  for reaching some level but also people who don't   have the best genetics can uh can reach they maybe  will take the double years so mentally is very   difficult if you are not strong enough mentally  first and then with the body well good answer um   and uh also a question that i wanted to take in  uh was coming from sw gupp um also a really strong   athlete but he asked um did you expect to win  burning gate 2019 who did you think could beat you well um i didn't expect because  i choose to participate like   two months before the the competition and i wasn't very well prepared so  it was like a rush like two months of   full immersion so i did okay i want to  participate but um i'm not interested in winning   i wanted to take the volume but i  saw there was zeus benjamin cetanol   a lot of guys from the world that was  very strong so i said okay let's try then i quote um that i was about to win just  before the final because uh in the semi-final um   i said no i can't win because  uh chavo val was so strong so   i am i understood just at the end that i could win was it also because of your  endurance because uh you were able to   to have like such a long competition  and still perform at the end was like two minutes we against the use   so it was a matter of endurance because we had the  same skills in that moment but i could maintain   till the end while he couldn't so this  helped me a lot because if it was a smaller time where he was fresh and  this would have been more difficult okay   nice so yeah we're coming to an end um like  it's it's a crazy interview because there is one   one thing after the other that at least i can  take with me um so really really big thank you for   for these insights but we still have some quick  questions quick answers uh tip for the end so the   first question a hard question for an italian  guy but what do you prefer pizza or burger it depends on the quality because  if i eat pizza in the best   pizza pizzeria in italy we say i choose pizza  but i eat a lot of boogers but always pizza yeah   okay do you prefer dogs or cats  guess that's true do you have one   no but my uncle had two so i like them a lot great  um what is your favorite location for holidays i wouldn't say see because i can go there  every time i want so for me it's more monthly   the best location okay um what is your nightmare  exercise the worst exercise that uh you could do absolutely eye exercises really yes i had them i  could do legs all the time but not abs exercises   i don't know why by i had them but you have  to be good in them like you have a good car   right i train with skill score but uh don't  train core directly okay so no crunches no   leg raises or stuff like that exactly okay  nice um christopher asked do you watch anime um yeah no not at the moment but sometimes like   naruto one piece dragon ball uh one  punch man this kind of anime okay nice um the next move that you want to unlock the caruso so the front lever  to victorian with straight arms   i'm working on it so i don't know  when i'll get closer to it but   i'm working on this okay nice um the best  calisthenics event you've ever been at so far   uh the first uh the first that i won so the abc in  2019 because you were the first big event that i   i took apart okay for the people  who don't know what the ebc is   is the international burning gate cup so the  the international cup that is organized by   bargaining gate in italy and takes place uh one  time a year and it's only statics right um no   you can do all yes it is statics for the majority  but in the you can also do dynamics if you want   but there is there are some points to every  skill so you should read the the rules of the so they have less points than statics  so it is more convenient to do statics   okay good for you nice um and the last question  if you have to decide planche or front lever handstand no i'm joking i think  planche because for me it's more funny because i can do it everywhere  even though it is not my   personal favorite my personal favorite is  maltese in everything every act on the floor okay   great um how can people get in touch  with you how can they ask you something   uh where can they write to you best um at the  moment only instagram but i don't always check the   direct because i have a lot of them and at  the moment i'm not using instagram so much   i just post stories or some posts um  so it's more difficult to at the moment   but there are times where i'm more free that i  read than all the directs but it's better okay   nice so yeah we will put all you like your social  media your instagram in the description for   everybody uh wanting to check it out you're really  close to the 30k so maybe we can hit this together   yeah and we are coming to an end of the podcast  series before you can end the episode emmanuella   i want to say thank you to everyone listening to  this till the end and supporting the series and   yeah i really hope that you enjoyed it i enjoyed  it a lot thanks for all these insights thanks   for your time emma and yeah if you want to let  this series continue uh just leave the person   down below who should be interviewed next  and share this episode with somebody who is   uh interested in it like it do whatever you want  but keep growing and emma you have the last words   well thank you to everyone for  seeing this and thank you phil for   inviting me and this interview uh let's get  in touch sometimes see you in the direct