Here’s what you need to know: you can learn calisthenics on your own – even with little to no experience. Calisthenics is a perfect whole-body activity to improve strength, flexibility, and mobility.
Not everyone has equipment at home or time to work out at the gym, but that doesn’t mean you can’t set yourself up for calisthenics. Treat this review as your guide for getting into calisthenics: master basic skills, no gym required.
The main questions you’ll get answers to will be:
Getting into calisthenics isn’t necessarily hard. The main equipment you need to have (roughly put) is your body. Beginners may find calisthenics particularly beneficial because:
Calisthenics for beginners is a great way to get an introduction to bodyweight training. If you want to improve your overall health all from the comfort of your home, give calisthenics a try as soon as possible. One of the hardest parts of any wellness journey is just getting started. For any new exercise program, it’s important to follow a few different steps before you get started. First and foremost, contact a medical professional to ensure that your body is capable of performing the movements in a given exercise program. From there, there are four main steps you should follow: pick beginner fundamental exercises, focus on perfecting each move with proper technique and form, stay consistent, and create a schedule for yourself.
Pick the Right Basic Exercises
If you start calisthenics with advanced moves, you may feel defeated and could potentially give up on exercise altogether. Introduce challenging moves later, but for now, you should focus on the basic exercises, including:
You may have noticed that most of these exercises require no equipment, apart from pull-ups. Training your body with these moves is effective as they engage different muscle groups from top to bottom.
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Master Each Move with Proper Technique and Form
Although the basic moves are easy to master, you should do them correctly. If you fail, you may injure yourself. Yes, you may have heard about this rule a thousand times, but why is form so important?
When you don’t exercise properly, it places unnecessary strain on your joints. This can lead to injuries and hinder your progress (2).
Plus, you won’t want to work out when your knees or back hurt, right? You can avoid this by warming up your body before any workout and doing everything with proper form. Stick to the instructions and perform exercises in front of the mirror to see how you perform the move.
Create a Schedule for Yourself
Do what you want to do, at any time that’s comfortable to you. Your routine shouldn’t interfere with your daily schedule. For example, if you can only afford two sessions per week, that’s fine.
The most important thing is to start. Don’t vote for quantity, vote for quality. Always take rest days between your workouts, especially whole-body ones. Rest lets your muscles recover.
About training, you can do it in full-body splits or specific splits. Full-body split allows you to train your body during one session, while a specific split focuses on one or a few muscle groups.
For example, one day you train the upper body, the next you master lower-body exercises. A lot of it will depend on the time you can afford. A good rule of thumb is that it’s better to get some form of movement in than to do nothing at all. Every single movement the body does will contribute to your total calories burned for that day.
Our previous post goes into great detail about the intro to calisthenics.
Stay Consistent
You can’t progress with long pauses between sessions. Consistency helps you build a new habit and track your wins. Sometimes, unexpected situations happen because life is unpredictable. One day you might feel under the weather, the next day your dog gets sick, and another day your boss asks you to stay longer at work.
People aren’t robots and have responsibilities. Most of the time, they need to avoid procrastination with the workouts – do what you planned to do. Prepare your shoes and clothes beforehand, and place your mat on the floor to remind yourself of the future session.
Are you looking for a beginner calisthenics workout with no equipment? Start with this easy plan today:
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Read more: Beginner Calisthenics Workout Plan for Women: Your Science-Backed Guide
Yes, you can learn calisthenics on your own. You already took the first step when you opened this article. Here, you’ve learned the basic moves and instructions for calisthenics exercises. There are also many online apps and videos on YouTube to benefit from.
They offer step-by-step guides to a beginner calisthenics program that focuses on your body’s strength.
Make sure you start with beginner-friendly moves, stay consistent, and progress gradually. Pushing yourself to difficult moves too quickly isn’t the best idea to form a habit.
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The number one skill you need to learn in calisthenics is developing core strength. To do so, you need to practice the basic moves described above. Exercises such as planks and controlled leg raises help you build core strength
However, if you’re hoping to find one main core exercise to develop strength, we’d advise attempting a plank. A plank is all about bracing your core. Having an engaged core is important for every single exercise that you do in the gym. A stronger core can help you in sports and also in everyday tasks. One study has shown that the plank greatly benefits your core strength (3).
As you master the plank, you’re ready to move on to more challenging variations, such as forearms planks, side planks, and stability ball planks.
With a stronger core, you can master difficult movements, such as pull-ups, handstand push-ups, and one-legged squats. The mind-body connection lets you focus on your core; you engage it well, breathing through each move.
Getting into calisthenics for beginners doesn’t necessarily involve equipment. You can use your body’s weight in most exercises. However, if you’re ready to contribute money or time to find equipment in the park or at the gym, you should consider the following:
The answer will depend on your current fitness experience, consistency, and goals.
General moves, such as squats, lunges, push-ups, and planks, can typically be mastered within a few weeks of regular training, while intermediate moves, such as leg raises, pull-ups, and dips, can take 2 to 4 months. Advanced exercises, such as handstands, front lever, and muscle-ups, can take up to a year or even longer to master.
Your progression needs you to be:
As with any other training, much of the progress will depend on your lifestyle: your food intake, your everyday lifestyle habits, and your overall activity level. Smokers, heavy alcohol drinkers, and people who eat only junk foods will typically not see progress as quickly as someone who is more in control of their overall health.
No way! 25 years old is actually a young age to start calisthenics or any form of strength training. At this age, you can make serious muscle mass gains and see quick fat loss results as long as you remain consistent with both your exercise and your healthy food intake. Many people start their calisthenics routines even in their 40s or 50s. If you’re 25, go for it and stay committed to basic exercises, then move to challenging ones. As we’ve discussed, the hardest part is getting started, but once you start to manage several successful days in a row, this calisthenics journey will become your new normal and will fit right into your daily routine. Calisthenics is easier on your joints if it’s done correctly. Compared to weightlifting, it places less strain on your joints due to not placing an external load on your body. Therefore, if you warm up before each session and focus on proper form, you’ll already be on the right path to gain muscle and reduce the likelihood of injury. Building muscles with calisthenics alone is possible. To do this, you need to induce progressive overload. Progressive overload is a strength training principle that’s a requirement in order to see muscle mass or strength gains. It involves manipulating the sets, reps, weight, duration, or intensity of a given exercise/workout. Progressive overload is typically easier to accomplish with traditional weight lifting as you can simply pick up a heavier weight the next time around. For calisthenics, progressive overload is accomplished through increasing rep ranges, speeding up the workout (intensity/duration), and/or trying different variations of similar exercises (think handstand push-up vs. traditional push-up). However, you should remember that getting “ripped” requires consistency in both exercise and food intake. You’ll need to eat a diet that’s high-protein and contains complex carbohydrates and do your best to avoid eating in a calorie surplus. With consistent effort in your workouts and with your meals, you can build/maintain muscle while also cutting down on body fat. More muscle with less body fat gives you that “ripped” aesthetic that’s highly sought after. We touched on this briefly in the above section, but in order to excel at calisthenics, you should eat lean protein, complex carbs, and healthy fats. Examples include: chicken, lentils, tofu, Greek yogurt, protein shakes, whole grains, fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds, and oily fish. Such products support strength, recovery, and lean muscle growth. Frequently Asked Questions
Is 25 too old to start calisthenics?
Is calisthenics hard on your joints?
Can you get ripped with just calisthenics?
What should I eat during calisthenics?
You’ve finished the short guide to getting into calisthenics: master basic skills, no gym required. Calisthenics is easy to start at home as many exercises require no equipment.
Basic moves, such as planks, squats, and push-ups, help with core strength and stability. Mastering these movements will help you make progress in more challenging exercises. Extra equipment to consider includes resistance bands, a yoga mat, pull-up bars, and dip bars.
Start with foundational exercises (squats, push ups, rows, planks, etc), be consistent, and avoid pushing yourself to harder variations too soon. Listen to your body and progress at your own pace. It can take up to a year or even longer to master challenging calisthenic exercises.
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