ML Coaching
You don't necessarily have to go to the gym to build muscle. There are plenty of ways to train with your own bodyweight and challenge your body properly. Calisthenics in particular is very popular for this: you simply train outdoors, all you need is your own body and ideally a bar, and you can get your workout done anywhere.
This article is about the training principle behind calisthenics and which exercises are recommended especially for beginners. I'll also give you my assessment of how worthwhile I find calisthenics training!
Quickly, a bit about me first: My name is Marco Laterza and I'm a personal trainer from Zurich. When working with clients, I focus on nutrition, training and the right mindset. If you'd like to work with me, feel free to get in touch.
What is calisthenics?
Let's get started right away with the simple question: what actually is calisthenics? As already explained above, calisthenics is about training with your own bodyweight, independent of a gym or various equipment. The trend comes from America, more specifically from New York, toward the end of the 20th century.
As mentioned, all you need for training is your own body, a pull-up bar or some other bar that can be used for the exercises. Calisthenics exercises can vary widely and can focus on strength, mobility or coordination. So you can choose your own goal, and with it the calisthenics exercises you build into your workout.
Progressing the training and intensity is also very simple. With pull-ups, for example, you can simply do more repetitions, wear a weight vest or use resistance bands. You could also try one-armed pull-ups, which need no equipment at all. Calisthenics is therefore possible and effective for both beginners and advanced athletes.
Exercise 1: Pull-ups
Let's move on to the most important calisthenics exercises, starting with the absolute classic, the pull-up. A pull-up is so popular precisely because it's simple and can be done almost anywhere. All you need is a pull-up bar, gymnastic rings, or any other element you can pull yourself up on.
The exercise itself is quickly explained: you hold the bar with both arms and pull your body upward, until your chin reaches the bar. Then you lower back down in a controlled way. How you grip with your arms is up to you. If you use a wider grip, you'll train your back muscles more with this exercise; with a narrower grip, your biceps work more.
At the start you'll naturally manage fewer pull-ups, but over time you can progress well. Once you manage more than 15 or 20 pull-ups in a row, you can increase the difficulty with a weight vest or resistance bands. In any case, it's a very good exercise for building lots of strength and muscle. Pull-ups are also always recommended for people who go to the gym.
Exercise 2: Push-ups
Everyone knows this exercise and has surely tried it at some point. A push-up is the classic exercise for beginners. It trains your chest, shoulders and triceps very well. Here too the movement is fairly simple to explain.
Kneel on the ground and place your hands slightly more than shoulder-width apart. Then extend your legs and put your feet on your toes. Make sure your body forms as straight a line as possible. Now lower your body, keeping the tension, and push yourself back up.
You can also progress push-ups with a weight vest and various bands. This exercise is recommended for all beginners too, since it not only trains muscle, but also improves your body tension.
Exercise 3: Dips
Dips are an excellent exercise, especially if you want to increase the strength in your arms. The exercise mainly targets the triceps, which makes up two thirds of your arm. For this exercise, however, you need a dip bar, which you won't find everywhere. If you have access to an outdoor fitness park, you should definitely give dips a try.
You start by gripping the bars and lifting your body up. Now you lower your body and then push it back up. This exercise is very hard at the start, since many people can't push themselves up. At the beginning, though, you can always lower your body down in a controlled way, since the negative also stimulates the muscles and promotes growth. This exercise is also highly recommended and offers a good entry point into calisthenics.
Exercise 4: Leg raises
If you have a bar available for pull-ups, you can also do leg raises here. This exercise mainly targets your abs, hip flexors and lower back, and so substantially strengthens your body tension. This exercise is very good, since it builds the tension you need for more difficult exercises.
To do it, simply hang from the pull-up bar, bring your legs together and raise them. Ideally your legs should be extended while doing this; if that's too difficult for you at the start, you can just raise your knees instead.
Exercise 5: Single-leg squats
Now it's also time to strengthen your legs with a calisthenics exercise, namely single-leg squats. Of course you can also start with normal squats, but for most people this exercise is too easy. On top of that, with these so-called pistol squats you also train your balance.
To do this, first stand upright and extend your arms in front of you, also raising one leg. Now perform a squat, while keeping your arms and one leg extended throughout. It's often difficult to keep your balance, so it can help to steady yourself on an object at the start. Still, the exercise is very effective and helps strengthen your lower body.
More calisthenics exercises with a higher difficulty level
With these five exercises you can train your entire body. Especially at the start, this is completely sufficient to both build muscle and get more balance and body tension.
Further along, you can also try more difficult exercises, like muscle-ups. This is a mix of pull-ups and dips. Here you take a pull-up bar, pull yourself up explosively and then push yourself up further. This requires quite a bit of technique and strength, so this exercise is only recommended much later on. At the start you can use resistance bands to make the exercise easier.
The L-sit, also called the angle support, is also a very difficult exercise. Here you sit on the ground and place your hands by your hips. Now you push yourself up off the ground and hold your body up for a few seconds. You can do this exercise either on the ground or using gymnastic rings. An L-sit requires a lot of body tension, which you should first build up with the basic exercises.
Would I recommend calisthenics?
So where do I stand on calisthenics training? Well, basically, I can highly recommend this type of training. Bodyweight exercises in particular are very well suited for beginners, since they train not just strength, but also body tension and balance. On top of that, you can do the exercises almost anywhere and don't need a gym membership.
What you should pay attention to, though, is proper execution. If your form isn't right, you risk injury. Nonetheless, calisthenics is an interesting alternative to the gym, one I can definitely recommend.