Hannibal for King is a legend of street sports, workout and calisthenics. He did not rise through the development of these movements, but developed them himself. Thanks to this person, people all over the world know that a beautiful and strong body can be achieved not only in the gym. His training is still considered a kind of test for athletes and an indicator that you are worth something.
Biography of Hannibal King
- Full name of the athlete: Hannibal Tyrone Lanham. Born in New York, Queens.
- His date of birth is February 4, 1978.
Hannibal's sports career began quite difficult. At first, like many children, he played football. Hannibal's father was a professional athlete and this influenced the development of the young athlete. Despite his father's influence, he did not follow in his footsteps. Hannibal was not alone in the family, and it was thanks to his brother that his life changed.
His brother served time in prison, where he began training. The peculiarity of his training was that he did not have special sports equipment and exercise machines. Plus, no one divided the days, where today the emphasis is on the arms, and tomorrow - the legs. Everything happened complexly and in circles. This, by the way, is one of the fundamentals of calisthenics. When his brother returned home, he began to drag Hannibal with him to the playground and forced him to do basic exercises: parallel bars, horizontal bars, push-ups. The young athlete didn't like it. However, later he got involved.
Everyone in his family was quite thin people, which was passed on to Hannibal. However, nevertheless, all his childhood activities put stress on his body, so he looked relatively good: well-coordinated, neat and wiry, but definitely not the way he looks now. His sports “career” has already passed the 20-year mark, although he managed to get into shape in about a year and a half. His first video, which he posted in 2008. There you could see part of the training and these standard planches with two exits.
What exercises to do
Exercises are divided by degree of difficulty: for beginner, intermediate and advanced levels.
Pull-ups
This exercise allows you to work your biceps, back, shoulders and forearms. Hannibal often pulls himself up with narrow straight and reverse grips. The narrow straight line loads the forearms well, the narrow reverse one - the biceps.
Perform pull-ups without jerking or swinging; movements should be slow and controlled.
- Beginner level: 1-3 sets of 5-10 reps.
- Intermediate: 5 sets of 10 reps.
- Advanced: 6–10 sets of 10 reps.
Dips
A basic exercise on horizontal bars that helps work the triceps, pectoral muscles, shoulders and upper trapezius. Lower yourself until your shoulders are parallel to the floor, you can bend your legs at the knees and tilt your chest forward.
If you have no problem doing dips, try going below shoulder parallel to the floor, but be careful. When the ligaments and muscles of the shoulders are not ready for such a load, injury can easily occur.
- Beginner level: 1-3 sets of 10 reps.
- Intermediate: 5 sets of 15 reps.
- Advanced: 6–10 sets of 20 reps.
Diamond push-ups
Place your hands close, connect your thumbs and index fingers, and roll your shoulders forward so that your hands are at chest level or lower. Push up until your arms and chest touch.
- Beginner level: 1-3 sets of 5-10 reps.
- Intermediate: 5 sets of 20 reps.
- Advanced: 6-10 sets of 25 reps.
Reverse push-ups
Stand with your back to a bench or other elevated surface and place your hands close together on it. Perform reverse push-ups until your shoulders are parallel to the floor. Don't sit on the floor between reps.
You can perform push-ups quickly, explosively, or smoothly and slowly. But in any case, movements must be under control: no jerking, falling or resting at the lowest point.
- Beginner level: 1-3 sets of 5-10 reps.
- Intermediate: 5 sets of 20 reps.
- Advanced: 6-10 sets of 25 reps.
Squats
Push-ups and pull-ups pump up our upper part, but do not engage the muscles of the hips and buttocks. Therefore, in order to achieve a harmoniously developed body, you should not skip squats in any workout.
Place your feet together and squat with a straight back until your thighs are parallel to the floor. These squats work well on the quadriceps, the large muscles on the front of the thigh.
- Beginner level: 1–3 sets of 20 reps.
- Intermediate: 5 sets of 20 reps.
- Advanced: 6–10 sets of 20 reps.
You can perform these basic exercises in sets or in a circuit training format. For beginners, sets and repetitions are better: this way you will not overwork your muscles and will be able to maintain the correct technique. If you want to improve your endurance and get more exercise, do the exercises in circles.
Hannibal for King training program
In his videos about workout, Hannibal King says that the main thing is stamina, and, in principle, nothing more is needed.
He trains every day, without rest or breaks. At the same time, Hannibal King’s training program is tailored around those very “circular exercises”. The athlete avoids gyms, nevertheless, he tries to ensure that with each new day he becomes better than yesterday. He works hard, to the maximum of his capabilities. That is, he does not have the usual “approach-rest” system; instead, he rests when he considers it necessary. Besides the fact that Hannibal King doesn't go to the gym, he doesn't even use extra weights like they do now. Another feature of the workout is that it modernizes the basic exercises. That is, he constantly changes his grip and does several exercises at once. For example, pull-ups to the navel with an angle, to work the abs, or standard pull-ups, while swinging your legs, holding them at an angle of 90 degrees. The interesting thing is that Hannibal does not do a huge number of repetitions in one set of any exercise. You may be able to handle these approaches, but you certainly won't be able to handle the entire workout. Among Russian enthusiasts there is a Hannibal King training program that must be completed in 45 minutes:
- Push-ups - 30/29/28/27/26/25/24/23/22/21/20
- Straight grip pull-ups - 10/9/8/7/6/5/5/5/5/5/5
- Dips – 20/19/18/17/16/15/14/13/12/11/10
- Reverse grip pull-ups - 10/9/8/7/6/5/5/5/5/5/5
It is impossible to say for sure that these numbers were written by the hands of Hannibal King. However, this challenge has become part of the workout culture that is built on his name.
Who is this workout suitable for?
Training is suitable for you if:
- You want to better control your body, lose weight, get pumped up and develop flexibility.
- You are a beginner, want a simple and effective program and are not eager to sort through hundreds of options on the Internet.
- You can do pull-ups, push-ups and dips at least five times. If not, check out the tutorial exercises in this article.
- You don’t plan to spend money on sports: buying season tickets, equipment, sports items.
This program is simple, like everything ingenious. It helps to pump all the muscles of the upper body: biceps, back, chest, triceps, trapezius, core muscles, as well as the front of the thigh. A great option to start your journey in the world of calisthenics.
The role of Hannibal King in the development of street sports
Since childhood, Hannibal King was fascinated by gymnasts, on whose actions the workout was built. He wanted to become as strong, so that his muscles were practical, not beautiful. That’s why in his training he constantly encounters strange and difficult exercises that are half of the final element. The fact is that our body, roughly speaking, works on adaptations. This means that if you do the basics perfectly, you will continue to do the same. If you want to lift more, lift more, if you want to do an element, then do an element. That is why Hannibal King spent a lot of time on the sites, trying to do half or more of the result to achieve the goal. This idea became very important in the development of workout and calisthenics.
Programs
Basic
The classic training program on which all others are based:
This training is conducted daily. The recommended interval between sets is no more than 30 seconds (although Hannibal himself does everything without the slightest break for rest, and then immediately goes to perform various tricks). The main task is to complete the allotted 45 minutes. Many argue that it is quite suitable for beginners, but it is rare that someone without experience can immediately take on such a load in such a period of time. Therefore, the basic program is constantly being adapted. There are many variations of it that are suitable for different fitness levels.
Average
This table offers just an adapted version of the classics. The program contains only 7 sets instead of 11, due to which the number of repetitions of exercises is reduced. The rest interval is allowed to be 1 minute. Even beginners can handle such a load. Moreover, if at first you stick to the 1 through 1 training scheme.
There is no opportunity to work out in the gym or are you just a fan of workout and calisthenics? In this case, you should definitely watch Hannibal's training video. They inspire thousands of people around the world, help develop endurance and form an athletic, beautiful body without powerful exercise machines and heavy weights. The horizontal bar and parallel bars are the minimum that allows you to achieve amazing results.
Life before popularity
Hannibal trained every day of the year, often even 2-3 times a day for 1-2 hours, and in between training sessions he recovered and slept. This schedule was possible due to the fact that he lived on money paid by the state as unemployment benefits.
Hannibal liked to train alone more, but gradually other people began to appear on the site, inspired by his example. And one day a guy came with a camera and began filming Hannibal’s training. It was thanks to this accident that Hannibal was able to conquer the whole world.
There were times when Hannibal had to live on the streets. Then the street playground was a real home for him, he lived, slept and trained there. He always stopped for the night where there were horizontal bars and parallel bars.
Hannibal now
Hannibal is the father of three girls and one son, who is named after his father. He continues to train on the streets of New York, but fame has irrevocably changed his life.
Now Hannibal is a man whose name is associated with workout, a representative of the famous sports nutrition brand, and also a personal trainer. He became the idol of many street athletes, most of whom were teenagers. He was able to achieve this through hard training for 20 years. What used to be his hobby has now become his favorite job.
Hannibal never sought popularity, he just wanted to prove to the world that it is possible to achieve excellent athletic shape without a gym and sports nutrition.
He plans to continue to develop in this direction and motivate the younger generation, helping novice athletes with his advice.
Meaning of the name
Hannibal For King is a combination of the name and the prefix For King, behind which the philosophy of our hero is hidden. For King translates as “to the king,” which reflects the constant desire to develop to the “royal” level.
Hannibal was born in 1978 in the Queens borough of New York City. And yes, that's his real name. As he himself says, his parents named him in honor of the great Carthaginian commander.
Hannibal was able to become famous only at the age of 30. Videos of his incredible workouts simply blew up the Internet, each video received 5-6 million views, and sometimes this figure reached 20 million. Lean muscles paired with outstanding strength data made him a workout icon for the entire planet.
It was Hannibal who became the one who made workout popular around the world. Every guy who trained on the horizontal bar looked up to him. Everyone wanted to know what Hannibal workout was.
Connection with sports before workout
Hannibal's father was a boxer, he even managed to take part in the Golden Gloves tournament. He did not forget about his sons and taught them what he knew well, the basics of boxing. Hannibal initially wanted to become a boxer, like his father, and dreamed of winning the championship title, but the coach who trained his father and was supposed to take him on passed away.
After that he became interested in football. The sport gave him great pleasure, but he was unable to join the school team due to attendance problems. Later he was kicked out of school, and at the same time football faded into the background, giving way to workout.
Farm support
According to Hannibal, he is a natural athlete and has never handled any drugs that accelerate muscle growth. He even started using sports nutrition only because of the terms of the brand he started working with.
These fantastic muscles are the result of constant training for 20 years. The most interesting thing is that Hannibal does not adhere to any diets and does not limit himself in nutrition. For him, junk food is an additional incentive to train. So he has to train even more to burn extra calories.
