6 Benefits of Calisthenics Workouts

What Are Calisthenics?

Calisthenics is a form of resistance training that emphasizes more body weight exercises and less equipment. It mostly consists of compound exercises that target multiple muscle groups at once. The exercises are also very versatile and can either make up an entire workout, or be easily modified to be incorporated into other programs.

Calisthenics vs Weight Training

How do these exercises compare to traditional weight lifting? Calisthenics offers many of the same benefits as weight training without the use of weights. Both are forms of resistance training, but the difference is that weight lifting incorporates the use of barbells, dumbbells and machines to increase strength. On the other hand, calisthenics primarily relies on body weight exercises to create resistance and build strength. This makes it an excellent choice for those looking to increase metabolism and burn fat.

Weight training also tends to focus on specific muscle groups. You can typically expect to have splits like leg day and chest day, which emphasize the isolation and contraction of a particular muscle. This can be beneficial for increasing muscle size and definition, but it comes at the cost of neglecting the surrounding muscle groups. Calisthenics focuses more on full-body exercises that engage multiple muscle groups at once. For example, a push-up can engage your chest, shoulders, core and triceps, but a chest press will focus more on chest, shoulders and triceps and not so much on your core.

Setting Expectations

Starting any new workout program can easily make you more sore than usual, and this is the same with calisthenics. This is due to the stress placed on the different muscle sets, and the inflammatory response to the micro-tears in the muscle fibers. During this stage, it will be imperative to incorporate rest days. This can boost progress, recovery, and minimize your risk of injury. If you are dieting properly and giving your body enough time to recover, you should notice a rapid increase in strength within a few workouts. Within a few months, you should expect to have nearly perfected your form and have started developing a more lean and chiseled physique. Let's look at some of the benefits you can expect when incorporating calisthenics into your routine.

Benefits Of Calisthenics

1. Builds Functional Strength

Calisthenics allows you to build strength in ways that are useful and beneficial in everyday life. It emphasizes full-body compound exercises, which are great for building functional strength, coordination, agility and flexibility. Most of the daily activities you do require you to use multiple muscle groups at once, so training this way can improve your quality of life.

2. Requires Minimal Equipment

The great thing about calisthenics is that you mostly only need your body to get started. This removes the need for expensive gym memberships or any of their equipment. You can perform calisthenics anywhere, and if you are looking to increase your progression, there are some equipment you can purchase. You can get a pull-up bar, jump ropes or calisthenics rings to do some assisted exercises or increase the level of intensity.

3. Supports Any Fitness Level

Calisthenics supports most fitness levels, which means you can get started at any stage. The difficulty of the exercises can easily be increased or decreased based on your current level of fitness. A great example would be the push-up. If you struggle completing a decent amount of reps with full range of motion, there are other variations like wall or knee push-ups. If you need a challenge, however, you could do diamond push-ups or even add a pause at the bottom.

4. Improves Athleticism

Calisthenics can also increases athleticism by improving balance, agility and aerobic conditioning. Incorporating them into a HIIT program can not only boost endurance, but burn a high amount of calories as well.

5. Protects The Heart

Research has shown that 15-20 minutes a day of calisthenics can decrease your risk of stroke or heart disease. This is due to increased circulation and lower blood pressure. The resistance training also helps reduce the risk of heart disease by burning fat and creating an overall leaner physique.

6. Reduced Risk Of Injury

When done correctly, the risk of injuring yourself is significantly reduced with calisthenics. This is primarily due to the low amount of stress being placed on your joints. In comparison, weight training can place a lot of stress on your joints and tendons, which is known to increase the risk of injury.

Example Calisthenics Exercises

Here a few calisthenics basic calisthenics exercises

• Push-ups


• Diamond Push-ups


• Wide Push-ups


• Knee Push-ups


• Pull-ups


• Inverted Pull-ups


• Air Squats


• Assisted pistol squats


• Jump Squats


• Hip Extensions


• Walking lunges