Have you ever heard about calisthenics? Maybe you are already doing it but don’t know exactly that you are practicing calisthenics. Whether you have joined a gym for a long or you are new to this fitness world, calisthenics is something you may encounter in this journey.
Calisthenics has a long history spanning over centuries. This practice is ideal for building your overall strength and making you fit and well.
If you are a beginner and recently thought about doing workouts, calisthenics is a great option to start with. Not only for beginners, but calisthenics also offers advanced workouts for those who are experienced and want to challenge their body to its limits.
This article will help beginners to learn about calisthenics, and its benefits and also guide about some practical workouts to start your fitness journey initially.
Let’s First Learn About Calisthenics
There are many different ways of doing workouts for building and strengthening your muscles. Calisthenics is one such highly efficient way of strength training that uses your weight for movements of your body and joints through a different range of motion.
The basis of calisthenics is the resistance of your body weight and gravity so that your muscles push and pull against gravity. This phenomenon helps you to achieve your fitness goals and enhance the balance, strength, flexibility, and endurance of your body making your functional movement easy.
All bodyweight exercises you are familiar with such as push-ups, crunches, squats, and lunges are calisthenics.
How to Start Calisthenics for Beginners?
If you are a beginner, you can start this calisthenics training anytime easily at home, gym, or even outdoors with simple exercises such as squats which don’t need any equipment at all but are capable enough to make you active.
If you want to challenge yourself more with advanced moves, you can try muscle-ups, pull-ups, hanging knee raises, and many more. Along with increasing your training level, these exercises also require you to have some equipment such as parallettes, pull-up bars, or resistance bands.
You can do these calisthenics exercises as solo or combine them with other fitness modalities like yoga, or weight training. Your fitness goals, space and equipment available to you, and most importantly what you enjoy doing will shape your workout routine.
What Is The Difference Between Calisthenics And Weight Training?
The main difference between calisthenics and weight training lies in the fact that calisthenics uses your weight as resistance while on hand, weight training depends on external weights such as barbells, dumbbells, kettlebells, or other gym machines for building your strength.
So if you are into weight training, your progress means gradually increasing the amount of weight you are lifting whereas if you are doing calisthenics, your progress means moving towards advanced exercises such as spider push-ups or traveling push-ups instead of simple push-ups.
Benefits of Calisthenics Exercises
Read on to learn about some benefits of calisthenics which will motivate you as a beginner to start calisthenics.
Good Option for Beginners
You can easily do calisthenics exercises without much hassle as they are easy to learn and even can be started without any equipment and at any place as they just need you. They also have a lesser risk of injury compared to other tough exercises. Starting calisthenics and mastering its basics will give you confidence for more advanced workouts.
Involves Your Whole Body
Include both upper and lower-body calisthenic exercises in your routine and you are good to go for a full-body workout. For doing the calisthenics properly and maintaining your balance, your core also needs to be engaged.
Fun to Do
Learning calisthenics such as basic push-ups or squats, or challenging your body with advanced moves is fun and interesting while improving your health too.
Enhances Overall Flexibility and Mobility of Your Body
As you are doing multi-joint exercises in calisthenics compared to single-muscle contractions of weight training, your overall flexibility and mobility improve. If you are suffering from stiffness or constriction because of injury, calisthenics can help you with that.
Improves Body Composition and Posture
According to a study published in the Isokinetics and Exercise Journal, participants who regularly did calisthenics for 8 weeks had better body composition/lean body mass and body posture compared to those who didn’t practice it. This all improvement was observed without the use of any equipment.
Increases Your Strength
A fundamental benefit of calisthenics which we are mentioning again and again is building your muscular strength. By increasing the difficulty level of your exercises, you keep on increasing your strength further.
A study published in the Journal of Exercise Physiology Online found that school children doing calisthenic exercises including lunges, push-ups, and squats were more strong compared to those doing only recreational activities.
But remember to listen to your body, progress gradually, and exert yourself only as much as you can easily. Don’t overburden yourself.
Improves Your Everyday Movements
Calisthenic exercises are somewhat like your daily movements or if some are even not, they still help you with improving your movement needed for doing daily tasks. This is an extremely practical benefit of calisthenics that you can directly relate to your everyday life.
A simple example is that if you are regularly doing lunges or squats, you will feel in a few days that you are now better at going down stairs or climbing hills.
Some Common Misconceptions Associated With Calisthenics
Here we are mentioning some common misconceptions associated with calisthenics that previously may be hindering you from entering the world of calisthenics.
It Is Only For Experts
No one can start this fitness modality, whether you are a beginner or an experienced one. Just the concept is that you have to start from the basic and then gradually move to the advanced level.
It Is Only For Men
A huge misconception that is hindering women from joining calisthenics training is it is only for men. No, this is right, women can also benefit from calisthenics and become strong and fit with consistent workouts.
A study published in the Journal for Life and Environment Research found that resistance training for 10 weeks resulted in similar upper body strength gains in both men and women.
It Doesn’t Build Your Muscles
You may not be starting calisthenics because of the misconception that it will not help you achieve your goal of muscle building. The fact is it can regardless of whatever your fitness level or equipment you use. You just need to be consistent to see the results.
A study published in the Journal of Physiology and Behavior demonstrated that resistance training with no external weight as is done in calisthenics enhances muscle size similarly to weight training.
A study published in the Journal of Exercise and Fitness found push-ups to be as effective for increasing muscle thickness as low-load bench presses when done twice weekly for over eight weeks.
You Always Need Weights for Increasing Resistance
Some people think that if you are into calisthenics, you can’t increase resistance or challenge your body without involving weights in your exercise. The fact is you can. For every calisthenic workout, there are basic and advanced levels without the addition of weights. Some ways that increase the challenge for you include:
• Increasing your speed
• Increasing your repetitions
• Using resistance band
• Include jumping-in exercises
• Go for advanced versions of exercises such as muscle ups instead of assisted pull-ups
• Include small pulses in your moves. For each exercise you do such as lunges, push-ups, or squats, you can add pulses.
• Have more time under tension by adjusting the pace of each repetition. You can take 3-5 seconds for going down in a squat and one second for coming up.
Some Best Calisthenics Exercises For Beginners?
Choosing the best calisthenic exercises for you depends on your current strength and fitness level. Beginners should start with the basics. Here are mentioned some simple bodyweight exercises you can start with if you are new to calisthenics.
Push-ups
They target and build muscles of your core, and upper body including arms, shoulders, and chest. You can start doing push-ups on your knees or use the wall as a support by resting your hands on it. The ultimate goal is to do push-ups on your toes. Learn how to do a push-up here. You can do one to two sets of up to 10 repetitions.
Lunges
Lunges target muscles of your thighs, glutes, hips, and core. You can do lunges by staying on your spot and just moving forward or backward or you can do them in the form of walking lunges and even jump lunges for increasing challenge for you. Learn how to do lunges here. Increase intensity when you want to challenge yourself more.
Squats
Squats are also for targeting your thighs, hips, glutes, and abdominal muscles or core. You can do this simple yet effective exercise on its own or to increase challenge, use a resistance band around your thighs. Learn how to do Squats here. As a beginner, you can do two sets of 10 squats.
Planks
This bodyweight exercise targets and strengthens your core muscles and surrounding regions such as hips and spine. It is simple to do but still challenging enough to give your muscles a hard time. Your body balance and stability also improve with this. Learn how to do planks here. Do this one to four times. The holding time can be anywhere between 30 seconds to 1 minute depending on how experienced you are.
Leg Raises
Leg raises are also simple to do. You can do them by lying flat on the ground. They help you improve your lower back stability. When you have developed enough strength, you can move to advanced leg raises by using a bench or try hanging leg raises. Learn how to do leg raises here.
Some Advanced Calisthenics Exercises
Apart from increasing the intensity and challenging levels of the exercises mentioned in the previous section, you can also try some other advanced exercises once you become more confident with calisthenics.
Handstands
Handstands are a wonderful exercise for giving strength and stability to your shoulders. This advanced-level exercise is slightly difficult to master on. Learn how to do handstands here.
Burpees
This high-intensity exercise targets your whole body as it involves multiple muscle groups at the same time. It is great for giving strength to your full body and building your muscular endurance. Learn how to do burpees here. Depending on your fitness level, select the number of repetitions you want to go for. Better is to first do one perfectly and then ultimately move to 5-10 repetitions.
L-Sits
They target your core and upper body. You can do them on the floor or you can also try the holding two bars method. Learn how to do L-sits here.
Pull-ups
This is difficult to do exercise and those starting it new can do it by wrapping a resistance band around the pull-up bar to support their weight. Learn how to do pull-ups here.
Chin-Ups
They target your biceps and your shoulder’s front. You do chin-ups with an underhand grip meaning that your palms are facing your body. Learn how to do chin-ups. If you feel difficulty in doing chin-ups, use a resistance band and it will help you support your weight.
Is Calisthenics For Me?
Yes, anyone with any fitness level can start calisthenics as you know it doesn’t require any special equipment or a trainer. You can easily include calisthenics in your fitness routine, just make your decision to do so.
Conclusion
Calisthenics is a well-rounded and safe fitness modality anyone can include in their routine for building strength and improving their overall health and well-being. These simple exercises just need your weight to practice them and you can adjust them as per your fitness level. It is capable of enhancing your quality of life in multiple ways including helping you do your movements of your daily life easily and smoothly.
Doing these exercises improperly can lead to muscular imbalances so learn properly before starting any new one.
