1) Hi Andrea, thanks a lot for taking your time. For those who might not know you so well yet, can you please introduce yourself in a few sentences? Who are you and what do you do?
Andrea: Hi! Thanks to you for the opportunity. I’m Andrea Larosa, a Calisthenics Athlete from Italy, I’m currently 23 years old and I do love to train ahahah. In the past few years I won several Nationals and Internationals Calisthenics Freestyle Championships and Competitions, so I’m now pretty well known around the “Calisthenics and Fitness World“.
2) Are you a full time Calisthenics athlete or do you also have a „normal job“? What do you do in your life when you don’t train Calisthenics?
Andrea: Yes, I’m lucky enough to be a full time athlete, my entire life is about Calisthenics trainings and calisthenics video/photoshooting.
3) How and when did you get started with Calisthenics? What or who motivated you?
Andrea: I have started Calisthenics in July 2013, because the gym where I was training Kickboxing was momentarily closed, so I decided to keep training by myself for the summer time to stay in shape. Since I had no equipment, I started with some bodyweight exercises at the park and I loved it!
4) What is your current weight and size?
Andrea: I’m currently 165 cm x 65kg. Sometimes I weight less/more, depending by the season. (Bulking season or Cutting one)
5) How often do you train per week and how does your training plan look like?
Andrea: I do usually train 4-5 times per week, but when I need to get serious (to learn new skills or to achieve a new personal goal) I do add multiple sessions per week, even 2 sessions per day.
6) Should people choose Calisthenics over weighttraining and if yes, why? Do you only train with your own bodyweight or also with weights?
Andrea: Bodyweight exercises in my opinion are always the best for conditioning and to get used to training. I do train with weights too because I need to improve my shoulder stability. I had a really bad accident in September 2017 so I’m working with some rehab exercises with weights couple of times per week.
7) What is your favourite exercise?
Andrea: I do love most of the calisthenics exercises.
8) How many pull-ups can you do in one set?
Andrea: I do not train for endurance, the last time I tried to max out my pull-ups in one set, was in 2018. I did 45 repetitions.
9) What are your top 3 tips for people who wanna achieve more pull-ups?
Andrea:
First one, to train pull ups properly.
Second: work constantly on pull ups during the week, but be sure to not overtraining them!
Third: Work on classic grip pull ups, but don’t forget the narrow grip, the chin ups too and the neutral (hammer) grip.
10) If someone wants to build the same body than you, which steps would you tell him to follow? Do you have any secret or some tips to tell others who wanna achieve the same look? Do you have a special diet and how does it look like? Do you take any supplements?
Andrea: The best advice is to train hard with patience. To know the right amount of the daily calories their body needs to recover and grow is also very important! Also to stay hydrated. I do have my routine, and I do use supplements. Supplements are not a must, but I found them very helpful, because is very hard to have proper meals every single day with the right amount/percentage of Carbs-Fats-Proteins and micronutrients too.
I’m a Prozis Athlete, I love their products and I’m currently using a multi-vitamins; a pre-workout when I need extra energies for an intensive training session; a post workout with Hydro Isolate Whey to be sure to recover properly. Also, I do usually eat during the day a lot of healthy snacks for athletes, like protein cookies or protein bars (especially when I do travel), oats and all other products from Prozis.
11) Which top 3 tips do you have for all beginners who are just starting out with Calisthenics?
Andrea: First tip is to learn to enjoy the trainings! Second tip is to master the basic exercises (Pull ups, Chin ups, Push ups etc) and to not attempt any dangerous skill. Third tip is to have patience.
12) Are you using any calisthenics equipment and if yes, which one are you using?
Andrea: Calisthenics requires just a few calisthenics equipments, I do have a indoor bar and some parallettes for my home trainings.
13) You participated in Italia's Got Talent 2017: How was that experience for you?
Andrea: It was an amazing experience! To be surrounded by many different talents gives you even more motivation!
14) Will you be competing this year in a Calisthenics competition and if yes, in which one?
Andrea: I decided to not compete this year, I just want to enjoy my trainings like the old times and to spread positive vibes to my followers through social medias. I do think the biggest competition is always with ourselves. It’s me vs my body.
15) What are you Calisthenics goals for the next 2-3 years?
Andrea: To keep doing what I’m doing, to keep working full time with Calisthenics and to motivate as many people as possible to start (or to continue) a healthy lifestyle.
16) Will there be a „Andrea Larosa Training Program“ in the future?
Andrea: Probably, I’m currently working on some basic training programs with my own style and method of training.
If people will enjoy it, maybe I could start thinking to share more about my knowledge through some E-books or something similar. We will see.
Pullup & Dip: Thank you very much for the interview!
Check out some videos below of Andrea Larosa and find more videos on his Youtube Channel.
Training & Unboxing
A day in the life
Recommended articles:
Top 8 Calisthenics Exercises To Get a Wide Back
Top 8 Calisthenics Exercises to get you started!
The Calisthenics equipment you’ll need in the beginning
Calisthenics Nutrition- Everything you need to know about it
