For those of you not sure about the entirety of the meaning that this word contains, Calisthenics are exercises in which the weight of your own body is used to come into shape.
It is used to burn fat and to build muscles, but the exercises solely revolve around you and your body, with nothing else included. Down below, you will find everything you need to know about Calisthenics for beginners.
Table of Contents
Calisthenics For Beginners – Why Should You Do It?
Now basically, this question might come into everyone’s minds. Why not use equipment and train in the gym, just like everyone else does?
I don’t blame you because as a beginner this question used to discourage me too. No more, though, because I’ll tell you exactly why you should prefer Calisthenics for beginners?
It saves you loads of money. As you can see, there is mostly no equipment required in Calisthenics exercises, and even if any equipment is necessary, it would only cost a few bucks.
So you don’t need a gym membership, and besides that, this will also help you save time, as you can do this at home, without having to travel long distances to reach the gym.
One great thing about calisthenics is that most of the exercises engage your whole body.
Not only the focused muscles are working, but alongside them, muscles all over your body are engaged in doing the workout, which can only prove beneficial in the long run!
As a whole lot of muscles are engaged during these exercises, it promotes fat burning, as the fat inside your body is constantly burned to provide the energy that is needed by those muscles to work. So if your goal is to burn fat, Calisthenics would be a great way to do it.
The movements involved in the workouts are natural, thus these are much better and safer for your joints.
You can’t possibly hurt yourself or your joints while doing these exercises, which just gives us another reason to prefer these over any other exercises.
Another reason why I love these is that it never gets boring. There are hundreds of kinds of exercises out there, and you can switch up between exercises whenever you start getting bored.
In my opinion, calisthenics for beginners is an ideal choice, as beginners tend to get discouraged pretty quickly.
How To Get Started With Calisthenics?
Now you see, Calisthenics are easier to perform as they can be done almost anywhere and everywhere, whenever you want, which makes it the best for people.
But as a beginner, I found myself lost. Where to start, what to do, I bet there are hundreds of questions running through your mind. But don’t worry; I’m here to tell you exactly how you should get started with Calisthenics for beginners.
This would be done by combining several different exercises and bringing them together to form a complete workout of whatever duration you’d like.
The key is to not go too hard on yourself. Realize that you’re just a beginner, and setting a routine that is too harsh will only make you lose motivation
When searching for workouts, search for beginner workouts. Simple push-ups, pull-ups, and squats can do the work, after which you should set a suitable duration with which your body can cope and reasonable breaks in between.
Know that your body will take some time to adjust to the new exercises and everything. So to keep going, find motivation.
Set a goal, maybe a person, but don’t set a goal too unrealistic. I’d suggest you set small milestones, and step by step you will reach up to the goal when you’re ready.
Set a diet that is suitable with what you’re aiming for, muscle building, or weight loss. The diet may vary with both the options, but stick to the one you’ve chosen
Both diet and exercises play a very important role in you getting the results, and one of these things can’t do the work alone.
Be patient! You don’t want to be rushing it. Keep it calm and believe in yourself, know that you will get your results when it’s time, and use this to work even harder and better.
Calisthenics Exercises List
Now, we all know that the base exercises are four; Push-ups, Pull-ups, squats, and lunges. These are all the exercises you’ll ever do, but just the intensity of the exercises changed with time as you move on.
This is done by modifying the moving a bit more, but basically, these 4 are all the exercises the beginners should do. However, if we move on from the calisthenics for beginners, the following are some of the popular exercises done in Calisthenics:
- via GIPHY
- Calisthenics Exercises
- List
- Human Flag.
- SwitchBlade.
- Handstand Push-up.
- Planche.
- Pistol Squat.
- Split Squats.
- Superman Push-up.
- Plyometric push-ups
- on a box.
- Clapping push-ups.
- Elbow lever.
- One-arm push-ups.
- T-pushups.
- Backflip Burpees.
- Triceps Dips.
- Back Lever.
- Side Plank.
- Jumping Jacks.
- Elbow Plank.
- L-Sit Hang On Bar.
- L-Sit.
- Bird Dog Crunch.
- Squats.
- Step-ups.
- Planks with knee
- bend.
- Wall sit.
- Jump on the box.
- Sit-ups.
- Butt Burner.
The intensity of these exercises varies and can be increased or decreased by changing the number of reps per set.
But the point is to always perform exercises while fully knowing your capability, not overdoing it but neither doing less than you can.
Calisthenics Diet
Throw junk food straight out of the diet
It’s true what they say, ‘You are what you eat.
It is proven that your exercises are only the 50% effort in your way to achieving your goals; the other 50% has to be fulfilled by the diet.
You cannot possibly expect a massive change on the outside if you aren’t changing your diet, because the diet is what will help you in gaining muscles and losing fat.
There is not a particular diet you should be restricted to, but by keeping the following points in mind, you will always know how to design your diet plan for calisthenics for beginners.
Throw junk food straight out of the diet. This one was pretty obvious because you don’t need the excessive amount of oils and sugars to go into your body.
It might be tasty and all, but believe me it does nothing but bad when it comes to your workouts. It would slow down your journey to your goals.
The real, moderate thing to do here would be to set a cheat day in the week, on which you can eat anything you want, but you have to restrict yourself for the rest of the days.
Eat unprocessed, organic food. This includes natural fruits, vegetables, and meat. The more you stay away from processed food, the better it is going to be. Add on to the amounts of fruits and vegetables in your diet especially.
The key is to have a balanced diet. Add in the required amounts of proteins and carbs to be able to achieve those muscles. For proteins, there is meat, and for carbs, you have fruits and veggies. Don’t undereat any of these nutrients, because it will only delay your goals.
Some Tips To Improve
The key to improving your Calisthenics workout is just to keep going on. Hold onto the motivation you have and just keep pushing. You’ll find that in this way, your muscles will obey you.
When you slowly start to increase the intensity of your workouts from day to day, the endurance capacity of your muscles increases as well, thus you can do more and more, push more and more until you reach the point.
The real way to improve is to forget about the number of times you are doing an exercise. The way you’re doing it is what matters.
If you’re doing an exercise 3 times correctly when compared to 15 times incorrectly, of course, the 3 times would be much more effective. Focus on that and keep increasing the amount day by day. Don’t push yourself way too hard, and know what your body can handle and what it can’t.
You will gain strength slowly, and it will take time, but doing every exercise correctly with everything you have in yourself is what is going to push you towards your goal.
Lastly, another tip is to be constant in your workouts. Set a routine and don’t go against it, ever.
By doing an exercise constantly, you will get a hold on it and your body will start to work much more effectively
Thus it is highly recommended to always do your workout whenever it is supposed to be done.
Calisthenics workouts and proper nutrition are keys to a healthy lifestyle. And success comes to those who perform things quite confidently that lazy persons are afraid to do.
Also, if calisthenics is done properly as per pre-defined rules and regulations, then it will become a boon for an individual by providing himself with several health benefits. It also aids in enhancing the body posture and overall look of any individual.
Then, feel free to follow the guidelines and live life happily!
How to Get Muscular With Calisthenics?