A Complete Guide on Calisthenics

It’s time to talk about calisthenics, aka, one of the best exercises you can do. Basically, this is why anyone can do a pull-up and anyone can do a push-up. It is a very underrated workout yet offers so much, no matter where you are on your fitness.

There are so many benefits to calisthenics that it would be silly for anyone to exclude them from their workout plan. Check out this complete guide so you know exactly what you need to be doing today. 

What are Calisthenics

Calisthenics exercises are a type of body weight workout that does not require any other equipment. In most cases, if people want to build muscle, they usually hit the gym or buy some weights. With calisthenics, all you need to do is learn some movements that allow you to use your own body weight in order to train and build muscle and strength.

Calisthenics exercises work major muscle groups. This allows them to build strength, endurance, and stamina and can improve overall fitness easily and smoothly. The best part is that you don’t need a gym or any extra equipment. Most calisthenic movements can be done in the comfort of your own home. Below are some amazing benefits that you can gain.

Flexibility

Aside from that there are real, measurable benefits to calisthenics. It tends to increase our flexibility. Flexibility and working out go hand in hand. If you strength train, then you tend to be able to move better with a better range of motion. Squats, for example, require a full range of motion to raise completely and squat down completely. Training to do a squat can help improve hamstring flexibility, hip flexibility, and ankle mobility. Squats are, in fact, a type of calisthenic exercise. 

Movement that we don’t even realize can help our muscles stretch out while we perform calisthenics. Another example is at the lowest point of a push-up, our elbows are flexed which allows our back to stretch.

Form

Our form is incredibly important during these types of exercises. Having proper form is needed to prevent injury and progress well. Calisthenics is all about starting on easier variations, perfecting the form, and then moving on to harder variations. 

These easier variations, aside from helping us build strength, can also help us get used to using the correct form. The body remembers how it should move and activate during an exercise. The body also learns what the motion feels like, allowing us to make this form a habit. This helps us to prevent injury when we do harder variations.

Strength 

If you’re doing calisthenics, then you are definitely increasing your strength. This type of exercise requires high amounts of strength involving many muscles in the body. One exercise can work out the entire body. To perform a certain movement, for example, a one-handed push-up, many major muscle groups must activate. This helps to build strength in a usable way.

Endurance

With calisthenics, it is very easy to train endurance. By pushing yourself and holding different positions, you activate your muscles for longer periods. The longer you activate your muscles, the more endurance and stamina you are building up. This means your muscles will be able to perform for longer periods of time. Training in such a way can also help increase cardiovascular health.

Balance

Another thing that is great to improve with calisthenic training is our balance. Balance is key to some variations of exercise. For example, if you are performing a pistol squat, you are balancing on one leg. This forces the body to balance itself. Remember, calisthenics is all about building up to harder variations. You don’t have to start with the ability to balance on one leg whereas the strength to squat with one leg. It’s all about starting with easier variations rather than slowly training your way towards harder variations.

Why do Calisthenics?

Why should we even try to do this type of exercise in the first place? Well, there are many reasons anyone would want to do calisthenics. First of all, you don’t need any equipment. Except for maybe finding somewhere to hang during your pull-up, calisthenics can all be done within the comfort of your home. 

Plus, calisthenics are very adjustable. Easier variations can help us become more comfortable in our bodies. They allow us to build up the strength and ability to move on to harder variations. That’s what I mean when I say anyone can do a pull-up or a push-up. It’s all about doing something easy, building up strength and endurance, and then moving on to something harder.

Calisthenics can be done at any weight or fitness level. If you think your weight prevents you from doing a pull-up, that is not true. We as human beings are designed to pull, push, swing, and move. Using calisthenics just allows us to be more comfortable in our body, making movement more natural. The easier variations allow us to adjust seamlessly from easy to hard exercises.

Best Calisthenics Exercises to Get You Started

Now, let’s talk about some of the best calisthenics exercises you have to start doing. These are the best, making a full-body workout that anyone can do. Plus, each section has tips for easier variations or harder variations.

Push Ups

So, I think by now we know what the basics of a push-up are. It’s like a moving plank yoga pose. This exercise works out the arms and chest while also activating the core. Here is a standard push-up. Get on your hands and knees, with your hands directly under your shoulders. Extend one leg and then the other to assume a high plank position. Make sure your back is straight, with your elbows close to your body. Lower until your chest almost touches the floor, then rise.

An easier variation can be performed standing up. Find a wall, then stretch your arms directly in front of you while you are standing. Perform a push-up on the wall. The next step up is to try knee push-ups, where you assume a push-up position on your knees then perform the movement of lowering your chest to the ground and rising.

A harder variation can be a one-handed push-up, a one-legged push-up, or having someone sit on your back while you do a push-up. Harder variations increase muscle mass, improve balance, and boost flexibility.

Pull Ups

So, you want to do a pull-up now? Let’s go. A pull-up works out the arms, back muscles, and core. Here’s how to do a standard pull-up. Face a bar, grabbing it from the front with your arms about shoulder-width apart. Engage the abs and tuck your feet until they are raised from the ground. Lower the shoulders and, using the back muscles, raise yourself up until your chin is over the bar. Lower yourself and continue.

An easier variation is a wall pull-up. Simply stand by a door, holding on to the knobs, and lean your body back. Keep your body straight, activating the biceps and back muscles, pulling forward. Next, you can do horizontal pull-ups. Find something about chest height. If you do not have any equipment, you can use a broomstick between two chest-height objects. Simply sit on the ground and raise yourself up by the bar, then down. Next, try to do jackknife pull-ups, which involve sitting on the ground and extending one leg in front of you, and then the other. 

A harder variation of a pull-up is a one-handed pull-up or a pull-up in which you have a narrow grip or an extremely wide grip.

Squats

Squats are a classic bodyweight workout. It works out your core, glutes, and legs. Plus, it can help with heel, hip, and ankle flexibility while improving your balance. To do a standard squat, stand with your legs about shoulder-width apart, feet facing forward. Lower your body, moving your hips down while bending the knees, keeping the back and chest straight. Get as deep as you can without raising your heels off the ground, hold, then rise.

An easier variation is assisting yourself during your squat by using a wall or a pole to help yourself move up and down in your squat position. This can help you build up the strength to rise and help increase your flexibility in your joints. You can even start with half squats where you only lower about halfway down or even 1/3 squats. This can help you gradually build the strength you need to squat completely.

A harder variation is a one-legged squat, also called a pistol squat. If this variation is too difficult to jump right into, assist yourself with a wall during your single-leg squat.

Leg Raises

Leg raises are a great exercise that strengthens the core, hamstrings, and back. A standard leg raise is done by lying on the ground with your back straight, and legs spread before you. Keeping your legs straight, raise them until your feet are to the sky. Make sure you are not bending your knees. Hold, then slowly lower your legs back down. An easier variation can be raising one leg at a time or only going about up halfway before lowering to the ground.

A harder variation of this is to use a leg raise as a reverse crunch. When your legs are towards the sky, raise your lower back and glutes, effectively crunching your abs.

Body Dips

Body weight dips workout the arms, core, and back. To do a standard dip stand by a dip bar or between 2:30 objects that you can comfortably press your hands on. Place your weight on your hands and lower up and down, bending your elbows behind you. Use your arms, activating your triceps. You can also use a bench keeping your legs flexed 90° in front of you, lowering and rising. An easier variation includes keeping one leg on the ground at all times. Harder variations include adjusting your grip for a wider or more narrow grip which can activate your muscles differently.

The Takeaway

Calisthenics workouts are amazing exercises that we should all be doing. They help us become more comfortable in our body, teaching us proper form, helping us improve endurance and strength, and allowing us to train without any equipment. Anyone can do it, so get up and start moving.

Remember, health always comes from within. Start by eating nutritious food, moving your body, exercising when you can, and caring for your mental health. These small daily changes and habits that you start to cultivate become the foundation for a life full of wellness. Don’t forget about the health of your microbiome, too! Gut microbiota affects everything in your body, from the skin to muscles to the immune system and mental health. Get all the resources you need about microbiota health for free 3369EC!