Exercise is arguably the most important thing you can do for your health, but with all the different types of exercise how do you know which is going to be best for you specifically.
Weights can be disadvantageous in that they may cause nerve damage, cardio exercise neglects to build muscle, so what you do is calisthenics.
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What Is Calisthenics?
Calisthenics is a small bodyweight exercise with a purpose directed toward building muscles, so unlike traditional cardio exercise, you will start to see enlargement in the targeted muscles.
These routines are also beneficial in protecting your nerves and joints as well. Working with calisthenics gives you the best of both aerobic and anaerobic routines; it is an integrated merging of strength training mixed with all-encompassing cardio.
The body needs resistance to develop muscles and even to simply maintain the muscles you already have. Many people underestimate the power of calisthenics. Calisthenics exercises are great for increasing muscle, flexibility, endurance, and coordination.
THE BENEFITS OF CALISTHENICS
Calisthenics increase your muscle strength in a way that will help prevent injuries especially to your lower back which is a problem area for many people. Maybe the reason that calisthenics is so overlooked is that they are very simple and you generally only use your body weight for resistance.
You can easily hit every body part in a short period. Before your eyes glaze over at the idea of doing calisthenics exercise, keep in mind that it takes just a few short sessions each week to improve overall conditioning.
These body weight-bearing exercises help to increase metabolism while you build lean muscle – which turns your body into a fat-burning machine. Calisthenics exercises are great in that they have proof of time.
Before modern workout routines came into prominence, calisthenics workouts were the way to go. In the old days, warriors would endure a progressive training program that involved using their body weight to increase strength.
Doing a bench press won’t get you nearly the same kinds of results as pushing a stationary object or mountain climbing. The origin of Calisthenics is attributed to gymnastics, and one of the key benefits of calisthenics exercises is that it does not require the use of any specialized equipment to perform the exercises.
Another great thing regarding this type of exercise is that it could be performed anywhere and that too at any time. As it not risky and does not cause any damage to the body, it could be carried out by people of almost all ages.
Further, it is inexpensive, since one can do it without investing in gym equipment. Many times when a person is told that regular exercise needs to be incorporated into a diet regimen, the first thing that comes into his or her mind is the need for strenuous and fast-paced kinds of exercise routines.
While this is the ideal type of exercise routine to help you lose weight faster, this is not always the best type of exercise routine for everyone. People who have suffered an injury have undergone recent surgery or have an illness, such as heart disease, are unable to engage in strenuous and fast-paced types of exercise routines.
Exercises like pushups, pull-ups, and crunches would all be considered callisthenic routines because they all work strength in a rhythmic, almost musical, cardio manner. These are all strength training exercises that are going to be considered compound muscle exercises.
Weight lifting is an isometric workout because you can target only one muscle at a time, this works great for developing glamor muscles like Arnold Schwarzenegger. With calisthenics, though you are going to spread the tension over wider muscle groups, this will create more caloric burn and a deeper muscle impact.
Working the deep muscles is going to resonate inside the core of your body, making you much more physically fit without bulking up. So, unfortunately, these routines won’t work for turning into a bodybuilder, but they will work great for becoming fitter or better at sports. The Trick to calisthenics is to get creative with them.
Many people will do pushups for a few weeks and get very little results because they have been doing pushups the same way ever since they were ten. Changing the position of your hands, the rhythm of the rise and fall, and the posture of your body are all going to change the effectiveness of the workout tenfold.
If you are not feeling the burn from your exercise it is time to adjust, simply changing any one of the aforementioned will drastically change the dynamic of your exercise. Stretches are also considered calisthenics; they work by abducting the muscles rather than contracting. It performs the same tearing in muscle fiber, but in a more relieving, stress-reducing way.
Calisthenics Exercises List
30 Best Calisthenic Exercises
Calisthenics cannot be defined into a category as it involves anything and everything that promotes body-weight training.
There are certain types of exercises, however, which can be done at the beginner’s level. Once a person is adept at these, they can be incorporated into circuit training or other forms to reap better results
Some examples of Calisthenics Workouts:
Planks
Planking helps your core and abs to gain strength.
Get a prone position on the floor, supporting your weight on your toes and your forearms. Keep your body straight all-time, & hold this position as long as you can. To increase difficulty, an arm or leg can be raised.
Pull-ups
Pull-ups engage every muscle of the upper body with emphasis on the back and biceps. For example wide grip, underhand, Overhand, close grip, etc.
The 3 Most Important Pull-Up Exercises
Push-ups
Push-ups emphasize your chest, shoulders, and triceps. Again try to vary these slightly every workout, e.g. close grip, Wide grip, put your feet on a bench, etc.
Dips
Dips will help you develop a beautiful lower chest and spectacular triceps. Lean forward to emphasize your chest and backward to emphasize your triceps.
Leg Raises
There are many ways to perform leg raises my favorite is hanging leg raises. They will hit your abs probably harder than any other ab exercise, working every muscle in the abdominal area to the extreme.
Squats
Your legs are the biggest muscle part of the body and should in no way be neglected. Doing squats will release hormones that help you build muscle and burn fat.
Finally, the above are must-do calisthenics exercises list. Incorporate these routines into your daily regimen and start to see the exciting change that takes over your body. Fitness is a great hobby and once you get started you will get addicted.
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