build real strength with our complete guide to calisthenics

Get in the best shape of your life with calisthenics. Gain power, control and practical strength with a training style designed to forge a ripped athletic physique.

Muscular and strong athletic man doing Push up exercising in sport gym.
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what is calisthenics?

Calisthenics is a form of exercise that uses your body weight for resistance instead of external weights and expensive equipment.
Because calisthenics doesn’t require any equipment, it is an excellent option for workouts anywhere, whether at home, in a hotel room, at a local park, or in a gym. It can be used for anything from a short warm-up to a full-body workout.

What’s more, calisthenics are an excellent choice for different fitness goals as they help you:

  • Build muscle
  • Lose weight
  • Increase muscle endurance
  • Work on mobility and flexibility
  • Improve cardiovascular fitness
  • Boost mood

Calisthenics is a great choice for different fitness goals, skill levels, and age groups, making bodyweight workouts an excellent option for anyone.

building muscle with calisthenics

While calisthenics helps you increase your work capacity and endurance, it is also an excellent option for hypertrophy. Following a carefully designed workout plan, you can achieve calisthenics hypertrophy and increase the size of all core muscles.

Because there is no added external resistance, calisthenics progressive overload revolves around:

INCREASING VOLUME

You will gradually increase the number of reps and sets you perform.

INTRODUCING MORE EXERCISES:

Adding more exercises for each muscle group will help it grow.

TRYING NEW SKILL:

As you get stronger, you will try new exercises to challenge muscles differently and help them grow.

ADJUSTING THE TEMPO:

Slowing the tempo and introducing pauses and holds will increase workout difficulty and stimulate muscles.

Another way to progressively overload is by incorporating tools such as resistance bands & weighted vests into your training.

young man athlete training push ups outdoor with weighted vest

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calisthenics body vs gym body

While everyone is different, a typical calisthenics athlete has a different body than a typical bodybuilder.

Calisthenics focus more on repetition, while gym workouts focus more on adding weight. As a result, a calisthenics body is leaner and more agile, while gym bodies are usually bigger and bulky.

A calisthenics athlete benefits from a lower body weight. On the other hand, a strength athlete benefits from more mass, allowing them to push more weight. 

As a result, calisthenics gets you in a lean and agile shape, while weights make you big and buff.

CALISTHENICS VS WEIGHT TRAINING

First, there’s no reason calisthenics cannot work with weight training. You can often see staple calisthenics exercises like pullups, pushups, and hanging leg raises, even in hardcore bodybuilder gyms.

But calisthenics, as a type of exercise, does offer some distinct benefits that training with weights doesn’t have:

  1. Convenience: Calisthenics can be performed anywhere, even without equipment, making it a great option for those who dislike weight training, lack gym access, or want to work out at home with limited space. 
  2. Zero starting cost: Unlike weight training, it will cost you nothing to start doing calisthenics. Even if you choose to buy equipment, you will only need a few basic items, such as a chin-up bar or dip stand.
  3. Great for all fitness levels: Calisthenics are incredibly flexible, and each exercise has countless variations. That means people of all fitness levels can perform calisthenics workouts that will challenge them optimally. Unlike calisthenics, weight training can be challenging for beginners, barbell movements take a lot of time to master.
  4. Effective training: A well-designed calisthenics program helps you lose fat, build muscle, and improve cardiovascular fitness. Because of that, calisthenics workouts are very effective, as you will gain the most out of your invested time. On the other hand, weight training mainly builds muscle, so you’ll need other activities for cardio and endurance.
African American man does dips outdoors on his exercise routine
Aerobic Stock photos by Vecteezy

FAQ

is calisthenics good for fat loss?

Calisthenics are an excellent choice if your goal is to lose weight. Explosive movements such as jumping jacks, burpees, and jumps are great for burning calories. But you can also intensify your workouts with techniques such as:

  • Supersets
  • Giant sets
  • EMOM (every minute on the minute) intervals
  • Tabata intervals

Those training methods will make your calisthenics workouts more interesting while helping you burn fat quickly. Combining calisthenics with a caloric deficit guarantees you will lose weight while maintaining or even increasing your muscle mass. Even 10-minute workouts can help you get in shape and tone muscle.

HOW LONG UNTIL I SEE RESULTS FROM CALISTHENICS?

Depending on your fitness level, you can start noticing the first results from calisthenics training in a few weeks.

As your form improves, you can do more reps, which will soon translate to muscle gains. Also, as your endurance improves, you can do longer workouts, getting you in better shape faster.

Is Calisthenics Good For Beginners?

Calisthenics is an excellent option for all skill levels, regardless of the starting position. Because you don’t need any equipment, you can dive into calisthenics from your bedroom floor and start with simple routines.

As you progress, you can introduce more advanced exercises that will make workouts even more challenging and help you develop a great-looking and agile physique.

Can An Overweight Person Do Calisthenics?

Excess body weight makes some calisthenic exercises harder, but overweight individuals can still benefit from bodyweight exercises.

Calisthenics are incredibly flexible, and there are exercise variations suitable for all skill levels and body types. They will help you lose weight while toning muscles, helping you reach your fitness goals.

Explore calisthenic progressions that will take you from your first push up to awesome skills.

What Calisthenics Equipment Do I Need?

You can start with calisthenics with no equipment whatsoever and still have a great workout.
However, it is recommended that you invest in a simple detachable pull-up bar you can mount on your doorframe. A bar allows you to perform many other movements, including chin-ups, hanging leg raises, inverted rows, holds, and other calisthenics exercises for the upper body.
Having access to dip bars or parallettes is recommended, as you can do body-weight exercises such as dips and more advanced forms of pushups, L-sits, and planches and train abdominal muscles.
But, if you have a well-put exercise routine, you can start with calisthenics without equipment.

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