Female Calisthenics Body: The Benefits of this Routine and the Best Beginner Exercises to Try

Body weight exercises are a simple, cost-friendly, and effective way to transform your body, either through weight loss or muscle growth. If you’ve been looking into such workouts, you’ve probably come across some incredible female calisthenics body transformation videos that show how this form of exercise can give incredible and enviable results.

Calisthenics is a form of strength training that relies on your body weight to provide resistance. When done consistently and accompanied by the right diet, such a training plan can help you build an amazing physique and improve your functional fitness and general health.

Here’s how to build the ultimate female calisthenics body.

What Is Meant By a Female Calisthenics Body?

A female calisthenics body refers to a woman’s physique that’s achieved solely through body weight exercises.

Is Calisthenics Good For Females?

Yes, engaging in a female calisthenics body workout routine is very good for women for the following reasons:

• It’s Cheap and Convenient

One of the main reasons people fall off their gym workout routines is because they’re unable to make time due to schedule conflicts and other lifestyle factors. In addition, some people can’t afford a gym membership.

Calisthenics eliminates these issues. All the equipment you need for a female calisthenics workout is comfortable shoes and perhaps a yoga mat if you’re working out on a concrete surface. Equipment such as pull-up bars, jump rope, and resistance bands are a good addition, but aren’t necessarily needed, particularly for beginners.

As these body weight workouts don’t require any specialized equipment, you can perform them anywhere and at any time.

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• Targets the Entire Body

Many calisthenics exercises are full-body compound movements, which means they incorporate multiple joints and muscle groups at the same time. Adding full-body workouts to your routine ensures that you have a more comprehensive workout. 

Research has shown that these multi-joint exercises are more efficient for improving muscle strength and VO2 max compared to single joint/isolation workouts. Therefore, if you’ve been hoping to use calisthenics for women to become stronger, you can rest assured that such a routine will provide the desired results (1).

• Helps with Fat Loss and Muscle Development

Female calisthenics body transformation results often show fat loss and muscle development. This is because these simple body weight exercises can help with both matters, which makes them perfect for either goal.

Studies have shown that calisthenics exercises can help promote muscle strength and thickness without the use of weights and they can improve body mass index and body composition without the use of any major training equipment (2, 3, 4).

• Can Improve Balance and Posture

People often relate the effects of a sedentary lifestyle to weight gain and obesity, in addition to an increased risk of chronic illness. While these are valid concerns (5), we often overlook the effect of obesity on balance and posture. Obesity leads to a change in the body’s center of mass, which may result in postural changes that can lead to decreased gait steadiness and an increased risk of falling.  

In addition, the natural aging process also affects your balance and can lead to increased fall risk. Leading a sedentary lifestyle does you no favors in terms of maintaining adequate balance into your older years. Luckily, research has shown that adding calisthenics routines to your lifestyle can increase dynamic balance and help improve postural control (7, 8).

• Improves Functional Strength

These exercises work multiple muscles at the same time, giving you a more balanced workout, and a lot of the movements used in these exercises mimic everyday activities. This makes calisthenics a functional workout that improves your ability to engage in everyday activities (9).

• Can Improve Sleep and Mental Health

Studies have shown that engaging in regular physical activity can help improve your sleep quality, reduce sleep latency, and even help manage sleep disorders like insomnia (10, 11).

Research has also shown that regular exercise can benefit your mental health by helping you reduce or manage stress, anxiety, and depression, in addition to severe mental health illnesses such as schizophrenia. Working out can also help regulate mood swings and improve your self-esteem and cognitive function (11, 12, 13).

• Beginner-Friendly and Easy to Modify

The fact that calisthenics uses just your body weight for resistance makes it incredibly beginner-friendly. The starting point in body weight training is typically far less intimidating for many people than weight training or other forms of traditional gym-based exercise.

The lack of extra weight also makes this at-home bodyweight form of workout much easier to modify to suit your fitness level, which is essential for beginners, but it also works well for advanced exercisers who want to challenge their bodies and muscles in different ways.

Read more: How To Start A Beginner Calisthenics Routine (And Stick To It)

Does Calisthenics Change Your Body Shape?

Yes, it can. As previously mentioned, such workouts have been proven to help improve body composition and increase muscle mass. Therefore, whether you’re looking to lose excess fat, increase strength or muscle mass, or improve your endurance, a female calisthenics workout routine is precisely what you need.

Can You Get a Good Body with Calisthenics?

Calisthenics can be an effective component of a healthy lifestyle that can lead to improved body composition. However, it’s important to remember that no form of exercise can help you change on its own. Diet, rest, water intake, and numerous other positive lifestyle factors are equally important.

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How to Start Training Calisthenics for Females

If the above benefits are making you seriously consider a female calisthenics body workout, how do you start? Here are a few things you need:

1. Comfortable shoes – Good workout shoes can increase performance and prevent injury (14).
2. Comfortable clothes – Nothing too fancy or expensive is necessary. Any clothing you can move around in comfortably and without feeling restricted will do.
3. Enough space – Clear out a space in your house/room. The space should be enough for you to be able to spread your arms out to the sides and overhead without bumping into anything. Ultimately, you can get a great workout without a ton of space. If you’re curious about at home bodyweight workouts, check out our earlier article.
4. Optional equipment – Jump rope, resistance bands, pull-up bar, parallettes, gymnastics rings, exercise mat, and more are all options. They can come in handy during a workout session as you progress, but when you’re just starting out on the female calisthenics beginners program, you don’t really need them. Simply work with your body weight and you can purchase this equipment at a later date if you feel you need it.

Read more: Calisthenics for the Core: 6 Exercises to Try

5 Best Exercises for Sculpting a Female Calisthenics Body

Here are 5 simple exercises you can use for a quick 30-minute female calisthenics body routine:

• Incline Push-ups

This is a great modification of the traditional push-up exercise that many beginners find difficult to do. This exercise works the upper-body pushing muscles, specifically the anterior deltoids, pectoralis major, and triceps. 

How to do it:

1. Stand in front of an elevated surface such as a box, bench, couch, or staircase.
2. Bend down and place both hands on either side of the elevated item with your fingers pointing forward. Your hands should be approximately shoulder-width apart.
3. While still in this bent position, step back one leg at a time and position your body in a plank position. Your body should be in a straight line from head to feet. No arching the back or sagging the belly.
4. Once properly aligned, bend your arms and slowly lower your chest toward the box/bench/couch. Hold for 2 seconds, then straighten your arms to bring yourself back up into a straight line.
5. This is one rep. Perform the desired number of sets and reps.

• Squats

No calisthenics program would be complete without the inclusion of the ultimate lower-body exercise. While this exercise is praised for working the butt, it also engages other important muscle groups such as the hamstrings and quadriceps.

How to do it:

1. Stand with your feet a tad wider than hip-width apart and your arms down by your side.
2. Inhale and lower your butt and hips toward the floor as if sitting on an invisible chair.
3. Keep your head facing forward, evenly distributing your weight between the balls and heels of your feet.
4. Lift back up to the starting position.

• Mountain Climbers

This is a fantastic exercise that engages the shoulders, hamstrings, hip flexors, glutes, triceps, and core, which makes it an effective full-body exercise.

How to do it:

1. Start in a high plank position. Your body should be in a straight line, your back straight, and your shoulders positioned over your wrists.
2. Keeping your left leg extended behind you, bring your right knee into your chest.
3. As you return your right leg to the starting position, switch and bring your left knee into your chest.
4. Continue alternating your legs, bringing your knees into your chest, while ensuring your hips stay down in a plank position.
5. You can keep this slow pace for the entire exercise, but if you feel up to the challenge, you can increase the speed. If you choose to do this, please make sure you maintain proper form throughout.
6. Repeat this movement for the desired time and number of sets.

• Burpees

Like mountain climbers, this is another full-body exercise that engages multiple muscles at once for the ultimate workout. Burpees work your pecs, deltoids, core muscles, quadriceps, hamstrings, and glutes.

How to do it: 

1. Start in a squat position with your knees bent, your back straight, and your feet approximately shoulder-width apart.
2. Lower your hands to the floor in front of you so they’re just inside your feet.
3. Place your weight on your hands, then kick your feet back so you’re on your hands and toes, and in a push-up position.
4. Keeping your body straight from head to heels, do one push-up. Once you come back up, do a frog kick by jumping your feet back to their starting squatting position.
5. Stand and reach your arms over your head then jump and land back down in a squat.
6. This is one rep. Repeat for the desired number of sets and reps.

If this feels too hard for you as a beginner, skip either the push-up or jump portion of the exercise. Simply do a plank instead of a push-up and just stand before squatting back down instead of jumping.

• Hip Thrusts

This is another compound exercise that works the glutes, core, and hamstrings. Discover the science behind hip dips workouts in one of our earlier articles.

How to do it:

1. Stand in front of a stable surface such as a bench or a couch, then sit down on the ground, leaving some space between your back and the bench/couch.
2. Lean back so your shoulder blades are comfortably lying on the edge of the bench.
3. Bend your knees and plant your feet securely on the ground approximately hip-width apart.
4. Engage your core, squeeze your glutes, and then push through your feet to push your hips up until your body is in a straight line from shoulders to knees.
5. Keep your glutes squeezed and hold this position for a few seconds.
6. Slowly lower your hips back to the ground to return to the start position.

Frequently Asked Questions

• Is calisthenics harder than the gym?

Calisthenics is neither inherently easier nor more difficult than traditional weight training. The difficulty of either form of exercise is dependent on the programming of the training plan in relation to the practitioner’s current fitness level.

• Why is calisthenics attractive?

As shown in the benefits section above, calisthenics exercises are incredibly advantageous to both your physical and mental health, in addition to being very convenient and cost-effective. Calisthenics also showcases how powerful the human body can be, which is quite impressive.

• Is 30 too old to start calisthenics?

No, it’s not. You’re never too old to want to pick up any kind of workout routine in order to better your health and quality of life.

• Is calisthenics difficult at first?

Yes, it is, but so is every new and unfamiliar thing you try that requires effort. The gym will also be difficult at first, so regardless of the routine you’ve chosen, give it time and be consistent.

The Bottom Line

Sculpting a female calisthenics body may seem daunting at first, particularly if you’re used to looking at experts online, but once you get down to it, it’s not as bad as it first seems. As with every new thing, you should start small and slowly build on what you’ve learned. 

With time, you’ll be able to move from basic moves to more impressive and demanding exercises. 

However, it’s important to remember that this body won’t come from exercise alone. A healthy diet that is rich in fruit, vegetables, protein, complex carbs, and healthy fats is also essential in order to see the best results. Eat well, stay hydrated, and exercise.