Calisthenics athlete adds weight to exercises

Robin Klijsen performs a back lever. Photos submitted

By Tom Victoria

Robin Klijsen lifts weights, just not the old-fashioned way. He now does weighted calisthenics.

The athlete, who was previously profiled on the Grid, used strictly body weight exercises for a couple of years before switching.

“I was focused more on aesthetics like the human flag and front lever,” he said. “Now, I'm focusing more on the weighted calisthenics. It's more the basics: the pull-up, the dip, muscle-up and a squat with as much weight as possible.”

Robin, 19, of the Netherlands said calisthenics is challenging whether weights are used or not.

“The weight is hard because it's all with extra weight, but the other one is hard because it's just a really difficult movement that you need to do,” he said. “You can't really compare it to each other.”

Robin does a dip.

Robin is training for competition.

“Next year, I want to do the Finalrep Benelux games for weighted calisthenics,” he said. “So that's Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands against each other. The guy who can pull the most weight wins. I’m really focusing on that right now. If you win your national championships, you can continue to bigger matches with other countries.”

Robin said larger countries have their own finals leading to regional competitions.

“France is a different thing,” he said. “France is only France. Spain is only Spain. It's really different on other sides in Europe.”

Robin is training to win.

“I set a couple goals for myself,” he said. “If I have those goals in my training and I can do them next year, then I'm going to win the championship or that game. But if I don't have those steps that I wanted by training, I am not going to go to the games itself because I'm not just going to join. If I can't win, then I don't want to join.”

Robin executes the human flag.

Robin focuses on the four categories.

“The pull-up, dip, squat and muscle-up,” he said. “Everyone has to do them with weight as heavy as possible. I'm 67 kilos (nearly 148 pounds). It's not like I have to do the same weight as even someone who is 90 kilos. There are different weight competitions. That's a good thing. You should perform all the exercises with as heavy a weight as possible. All the weights you have achieved will eventually be added together and that is your score. The person with the highest score wins the match.”

Robin’s personal records are 97.5 kg (nearly 215 pounds) for the dip, 68.5 kg (151 pounds) for the pull-up and 35 kg (more than 77 pounds) for the muscle-up.

“Unfortunately, I couldn't really train for the squat yet,” he said. “In December, I tore my ankle ligament which I am still recovering from. I can finally train the squat again, but not yet with heavy weight.”

Robin said the competition is all about the weight.

“If I have a 100-kilo squat and 100-kilo dip, all those combined are one score,” he said. “At the end of the game, who has the highest score wins. So if I have 50 kilos less on a dip, then I have to get 50 kilos more on a different exercise to still have a chance to win.”

Robin performs a back lever.

Robin’s physique, which already was improved by calisthenics, is increasing more due to using weights now.

“It's a big difference with the body weight movements instead of the weighted,” he said. “I see that really fast in my body.”

Robin said unlike some athletics, gaining too much mass isn’t a concern in weighted calisthenics.

“That's a good thing with this,” he said. “With the dip, your movement isn't strict. You can always get it wider. If you're too big, you can always stick a little bit wider and then it's still possible. So that's not really a big problem if you're getting too big.”

Robin doesn’t have to fret about consuming too many calories.

“My diet is really the worst,” he said. “I eat whatever I want.”

Robin switched to weighted calisthenics due in part to a nagging neck injury.

“I had a big injury,” he said. “That's not really going well: a lot of nerve damage. Mentally, I can't do it anymore. If I try stuff, it's more in my head now. So I just focus more on weighted calisthenics. It's more of a challenge. It's still as hard as the other things, but in my head, it's more clear for what I need to do.”

Robin works as a personal trainer at a fitness center and as a side business.

“The one is more with weights and inner fitness itself, and the other one is fully committed to the calisthenics,” he said. “So that's more outside for my own business.”

Robin enjoys working with his clients.

“With the person making more progress, it's a big thing,” he said. “But for me, it's if you see the clients getting happier. That's the best thing for me. If you got a client and that's going to train with you, the progress will be there 100 percent. But the client needs to get happy. And if they are going to be more happy, then you really accomplish something.” 

Robin is attending college to become a physio (physiotherapist), so he can aid others in recovering from their injuries.

“Helping people with injuries get back on track,” he said.

Having dealt with his own injuries bolstered Robin’s desire to work in the field.

“I had a lot of injuries,” he said. “With almost everything, I know what people feel.”

Robin hasn’t posted much on social media in recent months.

“I didn't really have time anymore,” he said. “My time really got focused on work, school and the training itself. I want to build my Instagram more again, but I need to find the time.”

Robin does a weighted pull-up.

Robin stays motivated to bounce back from injuries.

“It's like with the injuries I had and I got right now, it's harder,” he said. “I want to focus real good on the training itself. For four or five months, the training was going excellent. The weights I got from the hanger under my body, it’s got up to 50 kilos with all exercises almost. Then I got a new injury three or four weeks ago. Now, I can’t train again, so that sucks really bad. Then the motivation is going all the way down. I need to wait till the physio says I can train again and then I can build it slowly back up again.”

Robin reinjured his neck.

“It's the same as before,” he said. “The nerves from the fall I had with my other freestyle. I fell on my neck and that was three years ago that the nerves are still broken. It's going all really good and then I get something on my neck and then it hurts really bad. Then I can't do anything anymore or I can't work out. I can do the basic stuff in life with the workouts. I can't do them anymore without pain. Wait till the pain is gone and then you can train again.”

Robin offered advice to those considering doing weighted calisthenics.

“Don't take everything too fast,” he said. “Take it really slow because of what I saw for myself. For me, it was way too fast. That's why my injuries are coming back again. So just take it on your own. Do it slow and controlled instead of rushing the progress. Really take your time to prevent the injuries.”

Robin with his workout partner Mitchel Nijhuis.

Robin said finding a workout partner is a good way to prevent skipping the gym.

“That's still a really good thing,” he said. “I still train with the same partner as before. For me, it really helps to the max. If I don't have the mindset that day to train and he texts me or calls me, yo, you want to go for the train again? I'm always down, And same with the exercise itself. If I can't push myself toward an exercise, he just helps me, and then it's going really easy on that moment. It's more our mental support.”

Robin’s new Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/robin_klijsen/

Robin’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/robinklijsen/