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Why Calisthenics?
If you are trying to be fitter and healthy, one of the ways you can start doing is to be more active. One of the activities you can do are calisthenics, and we’re going to talk about how to be good at calisthenics to get the best results for your body.
Being active doesn’t automatically mean having a gym membership; you need to do an activity that frequently gets the blood pumping and your muscles engaged. While undoubtedly going to the gym is an excellent way to be more fit, calisthenics is a cheaper, more accessible way to achieving your goals.
Calisthenics is a form of exercise that is merely using only your body to train. Technically, any movement using your bodyweight can already be considered as calisthenics. You may not be thoroughly familiar with this type of exercise, but there’s a high chance you’ve seen one do calisthenics at least once in your life.
Calisthenics Vs. Weight Training
Many fitness enthusiasts engage in the age-old debate about whether calisthenics is more effective than weight training and vice versa. The best way to look at the situation is to consider calisthenics as the most basic exercise form.
There are different benefits to doing either calisthenics or weight training. One of the pros of weight training is that you can adjust the weights you use. If one is starting their fitness journey and does not have enough upper body strength to do a proper pull-up yet, they can start training their muscles using lighter weights.
Calisthenics, on the other hand, can be highly convenient as it doesn’t require much in equipment to start. Movements in calisthenics are also an excellent starting point for those in their fitness journey. Learning how to do calisthenics properly can also help you develop functional strength. Calisthenics will force you to make your body work as one in contrast to weight training where you break your workout per muscle group.
Benefits of Calisthenics
Workout Anywhere
Since calisthenics does not require expensive equipment for you to perform it, you can practically exercise anywhere. While it is a good feeling to get ready for a workout at the gym, it also feels freeing knowing you can train where it’s convenient for you.
All you need is to find a place where bars, poles, and other equipment you can use to do dips, reverse rows, etc. If you get the sudden urge to workout at home, you can use a sturdy chair to do your dips in or buy an affordable pair of parallettes to help you.
Get Ripped Fast
If getting lean and ripped is your goal, calisthenics is for you. Take a look at gymnasts – they have some of the most defined and toned muscles. Gymnasts also have a good proportion of their muscles, unlike weight lifting, where your muscle proportions can quickly get out of hand if you don’t consciously control your workout.
Using your body as one during calisthenic activities will help you build more definition in your upper body, core, and legs. Since you can quickly recover when doing calisthenics, you can do more exercises in a specific amount of time than weightlifting, which means you burn more fat and calories.
Improves Mobility
Since you’ll be training using functional movements, your body will naturally adjust and become more mobile. Through time, you gain flexibility, stability, balance, and coordination by continually doing calisthenics.
By having these skills, you can do daily activities better and without exerting too much effort.
Tips To Get Good At Calisthenics
Be Disciplined In Your Training
At the root of every exercise routine is your decision to be consistent in doing it. Nothing pushes your progress more than continually trying your best to get up and put in the work.
As the saying goes, “doing something is better than doing nothing.” Always make sure that no matter how busy you are, you always make time to take care of yourself.
See to it that the difficulty and intensity of your training also increase over time. Since your body weight is somehow fixed, you can improve your training intensity by doing more challenging variations of your routine. An example of this would be doing one-hand push-ups instead of the standard push-up.
Set Small, Realistic Goals
Don’t burn yourself out by rushing the goals that you want to achieve. Take your journey to fitness through calisthenics one step at a time. Focus on your progress and not on others.
Goals can be as simple as increasing the number of repetitions of your routine gradually until you achieve the number you want. You can also set advanced moves as goals.
Examples of advanced calisthenic movements are handstands, muscle-ups, single-handed planches, and several more. But don’t try to do all your goals at once. Take small steps to achieve this, and don’t forget to celebrate small wins.
Have Fun!
Exercising is a hard thing to do continually, especially if you look at it like it’s a chore. Always find ways to spice up your workout. Look out for little things like your playlist, clothes, the location where you work out, and the people you do calisthenics with affect your attitude towards exercise.
You can also take pictures once in a while to track your progress and have visual confirmation of any positive change in your body. Keep in mind that fitness is a continuous journey that never ends. Fitness is a lifestyle you choose every day, so make the most out of it!
Calisthenics Progression Workout to go From Beginner to Professional
Burpees
Burpees are an excellent way to build upper body strength and, at the same time, hit your cardio. When doing burpees, make sure you don’t rush. Remember, proper execution goes a long way in improving your overall fitness.
To do a burpee, begin with a standing position. Then, quickly squat down and place your hands in front of you. Kick your feet back as if you’re going into a push-up position, then do a push-up. Bring your legs closer to your body into a squatting position, then jump up while raising your hands.
Arms Extended Planks
Instead of doing the standard plank, you can increase your workout’s difficulty by extending your arms instead. It builds arm strength and engages your core.
To do arms extended planks, start from a press-up position and put your arm as far out as possible. Make sure that you keep your back tight, and your core is engaged. Stay in that position for around 30 seconds to 1 minute.
Jumping Lunges
Jumping lunges are an excellent variation to add cardio to your standard lunges.
To make jumping lunges, start by lunging your right leg forward until your left knee is almost touching the ground. Quickly jump and switch your legs’ positions. You should land with your left leg lunged forward, and your right knee is almost touching the ground.
In Conclusion
As you can see, we lay out a set of compelling reasons to up your calisthenics game. If you are a seasoned HIIT veteran or a beginner looking to climb the fitness ladder, the above is a good place to start. If you want a deeper dive, you can also look at some of our bodyweight workout guides as well. As always, stay safe, and work out smarter and harder!
