Calisthenics: the art of training with your own body
A park, a bar, and two parallel bars: that's all you need for calisthenics, the art of training with your own body.
WHAT IS CALISTHENICS?
Calisthenics is a sports discipline based on bodyweight training. We can define it as the art of training with your own body: your body becomes the ultimate gym equipment you’ll use for your workouts, enabling physical improvement. With calisthenics, you’ll learn to use your body to enhance strength, hypertrophy, and coordination, resulting in a stronger, more muscular physique that is also harmonious and agile.
WHAT IS CALISTHENICS USED FOR AND ITS BENEFITS
Calisthenics is a comprehensive discipline that allows the improvement of various qualities: you can increase strength, muscle mass, and endurance. You will also notice an improvement in coordination: the exercises are multi-joint and require synergy between different muscle groups; you will learn to move in a coordinated and harmonious way. Additionally, calisthenics requires flexibility, joint mobility, and agility, allowing you to work on all these aspects.
WHAT EQUIPMENT IS NEEDED FOR CALISTHENICS
To do calisthenics, you really only need a few pieces of equipment, which can easily be set up at home or are often found outdoors in parks and equipped gyms. You will definitely need:
- Parallel bars and mini parallel bars for pushing exercises, such as dips and core training exercises.
- Pull-up bar: you will need it for pull-ups, chin-ups, and various pulling exercises in all their variations, up to muscle-ups.
HOW TO START CALISTHENICS
To start calisthenics, it’s essential to begin with the basic exercises and gradually progress to mastering specific exercises and skills over time. Initially, the focus should be on building good general strength levels in the main movements to establish a solid foundation for progressions. Concentrate on these 3 main areas:
- Core training
- Push and pull training for the upper body
- Lower body training
CALISTHENICS WORKOUT PLAN
Let's look at two examples of training programs: one for beginners and one for advanced levels.
As you get stronger, you can increase the workout volume (sets/reps) or progress to more complex versions of the exercises, such as incorporating push-up variations like pike and archer, as progressions toward handstand push-ups and one-arm push-ups.
CALISTHENICS WORKOUT FOR BEGINNERS
DAY A
- Push Up 4x8
- Body Row 4x10
- Squat 4x12
- Hollow Position 4x20 secondi
- Plank 4x30 secondi
DAY B
- Pull up 4x8
- Dip 4x10
- Lunges 4x12
- Superman
- Leg Raises 3x10
As you get stronger, you can increase the workout volume (sets/reps) or progress to more complex versions of the exercises, such as incorporating push-up variations like pike and archer, as progressions toward handstand push-ups and one-arm push-ups.
ADVANCED CALISTHENICS WORKOUT
DAY A
- Pull up 4x12
- Push up ad una mano 4x3
- Wall push up 4x3
- Pistol squat 4x8
- L – Sit 3x15
DAY B
- Body row rialzo 5x15
- Chin up 4x12
- Indu push up 4x12
- Dip alle parallele 5x15
- Front lever 4x15 sec
DAY C
- Pull up 4x10
- Push up inclinati 4x15
- Pistol squat 4x8
- Dragon flag 4x20 sec
- Planche 4x15
PROS AND CONS OF CALISTHENICS
Like any discipline, calisthenics also has its advantages and disadvantages.
PRO
CONS
Being aware of the disadvantages and challenges you may face will definitely put you in the right mindset! Here are the "cons of calisthenics":
PRO
- It's a complete form of training because it allows you to develop multiple qualities and skills simultaneously.
- It's an affordable discipline: a small initial investment is all you need to practice calisthenics. A few simple tools that fit into your home are enough for your workout!
- It can be practiced anywhere, allowing for consistent training: with calisthenics, you can train anytime, anywhere. Whether at the park, at home, or in the gym... your main piece of equipment, your body, is always with you!
- It's less monotonous than other sports: progressing through exercises and learning new skills makes training more dynamic and fun.
CONS
Being aware of the disadvantages and challenges you may face will definitely put you in the right mindset! Here are the "cons of calisthenics":
- Long learning curve: Calisthenics requires patience and commitment. You may be drawn to practice this discipline because of exercises like the front lever, planche, and handstand. They are all amazing moves you will eventually master, but they will take time!
- You have to move your own body weight: This is the strength of the discipline but also its weakness! If you can't perform a pull-up, you won't be able to adjust the load (as you would in weight training). - Instead, you'll need to rely on preparatory and assisted exercises to build up to training with your body.
- Lower body training is limited: Sure, there are exercises to perform, and some, like pistol squats, are pretty challenging, but leg training remains secondary. If you want to improve this body part, you must incorporate weights.
DOWNLOAD THE TECHNOGYM APP
Join the Technogym community and gain access to 1,000+ on-demand workouts, follow personalized training programs, and train with expert coaching and Technogym AI Coach guidance. Track your progress, take on challenges, and share your results to stay motivated.