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What Is Calisthenics and How to Incorporate It in Your Workouts

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What Is Calisthenics and How to Incorporate It in Your Workouts

Calisthenics is resistance training that uses your body weight to build strength, muscle, mobility, and coordination with little to no equipment. Push-ups, lunges, squats, planks, and jumping jacks are all examples of calisthenic exercises.

Unlike traditional weightlifting, calisthenics uses your own body as resistance. That makes it a convenient way to strength train at home, at the gym, while traveling, or nearly anywhere else.

Calisthenics can be a complete workout on its own or complement other types of training, including HIIT, cardio, yoga, and weightlifting. Here’s how calisthenics works, its biggest benefits, and how to start incorporating bodyweight exercises into your routine.

What Is Calisthenics?

Woman exercising at home doing lunges exercise.

“Calisthenics is a form of strengthening the body using a series of movements, or flows, that rely on gravity and your bodyweight for the challenge,” says Holly Perkins, BS, CSCS.

Calisthenics — which comes from the Greek words meaning “beauty” and “strength” — combines strength-training exercises and gymnastics movements. Unlike weightlifting and certain types of strength training, though, calisthenics requires minimal to no equipment.

“Nearly all calisthenics movements are considered closed kinetic chain movement patterns,” Perkins says. “This means you are moving your body around an immovable object, like the ground or an anchored bar.”

Because calisthenics exercises are versatile and non-load bearing, athletes and trainers commonly use them to warm up for sports, HIIT classes, or cardio, but they also make a great workout on their own.

What Are the Benefits of Calisthenics?

Here are a couple reasons why you should consider a calisthenics routine.

1. Builds muscle and functional strength

The purpose of calisthenics is to improve strength, coordination, flexibility, and mobility, and it can be an effective tool for building muscle mass. “Calisthenics exercises are functional,” says Alex Robles, M.D. and certified personal trainer. “This means major calisthenic exercises resemble normal human movement patterns. As a result, they help you build real-world strength.”

Regularly doing calisthenics means you’ll be more equipped for day-to-day activities like carrying heavy groceries, moving furniture, and walking up and down stairs. Pick the right calisthenics moves, and you can also improve your endurance and stamina.

2. It’s convenient

The benefits of calisthenics go beyond improved strength and increased muscle tone, though. Calisthenics is also one of the most convenient workouts.

Here are a few reasons why:

  • There’s no barrier to entry. Regardless of your age, fitness level, or prior strength training experience, you can start doing calisthenics today.
  • It’s free. There’s no need to purchase a set of weights or even a mat, you just need your body weight.
  • You can do it anywhere: in a gym, at a park, in a hotel room, on the sidewalk, or in your home.

Calisthenics vs. Weights: What’s the Difference

Calisthenics and weights both build strength and muscle, but calisthenics requires no equipment and improves functional movement, while weights allow easier load progression for advanced lifters.

Calisthenics Weight Training
Primary resistance Body weight Dumbbells, barbells, machines, and other weights
Equipment needed Little to none Usually requires equipment
How you progress Reps, tempo, leverage, range of motion, exercise difficulty Increasing external resistance, reps, or volume
Key benefit Convenience and body control Precise load progression
Can build muscle? Yes Yes
Beginner-friendly? Yes, with appropriate modifications Yes, with appropriate resistance

With its focus on large, compound movements, calisthenics training is an efficient way to build strength and muscle as well as burn calories. But just as with traditional strength training routines that incorporate free weights, maximizing a calisthenics workout routine requires using a challenging load. That load in this case, of course, is your own body weight. And that can be a pro or a con, Braun says.

For people who have poor relative strength (how strong you are in relation to your body weight), calisthenics can sufficiently challenge the body to build muscle and lose fat. With time, of course, you’ll have to increase the challenge to continue progressing. That could involve either increasing reps, changing the tempo, adding a plyometric component, or trying more challenging variations.

“As you advance from the basic movement patterns to the more advanced exercises, you gain better body control and strength, which is the foundation of bodyweight training,” says Cody Braun, CSCS. 

To build a calisthenics body, the key is pushing yourself. By tailoring your calisthenics exercises to your current strength levels and performing them to fatigue, you can easily build muscle and strength using only the weight of your body.

Calisthenics Workout Plan for Beginners

Start calisthenics by performing two to three short workouts per week that combine bodyweight exercises like lunges, planks, and push-ups. If you’re new to calisthenics or other forms of strength training, start small by incorporating a few exercises at the beginning or end of another workout, like a run or yoga session.

To start, a calisthenics workout can look something like the following:

  • Walking lunges: three sets of 10 reps OR two minutes of continuous movement
  • Plank: three sets of 30-second holds
  • Push-ups: three sets of four to 10 reps

You can program your own workout with additional or different bodyweight exercises. If you’re challenging multiple muscle groups at a time, start with two to three calisthenics workouts a week, Perkins suggests. Once your body adapts after a few weeks, you can bump up the frequency to three or four times a week, she adds.

And remember: Correct form is key, not just for avoiding injury, but also for maximizing each exercise’s effectiveness. “When done properly,” Perkins says, “calisthenics are much harder than they appear.”

To ensure you’re using proper form, watch an instructor perform each exercise first, then check your own form in a mirror.

Our Top BODi Picks for Calisthenics and Bodyweight Workouts

Just Bring Your Body workout

Just Bring Your Body (JBYB)

Just Bring Your Body is a bodyweight-only BODi fitness program built around calisthenics-style training. The 60-day program features 30-minute workouts that combine cardio, strength training, core work, and mobility.

Four trainers lead the workouts, with modifications that give you different options for each movement as you build strength and body control.

If you like the convenience of calisthenics but don’t want to create your own workout schedule, JBYB provides the programming and trainer guidance for you.

CORE DE FORCE

CORE DE FORCE combines MMA-inspired cardio with bodyweight training and core-focused movements. It’s an option for people who want to combine calisthenics-style exercises with higher-energy conditioning.

INSANITY

INSANITY uses challenging bodyweight exercises and cardio conditioning to create high-intensity workouts. Because of its intensity, it’s better suited to exercisers who are ready for a more demanding bodyweight program.

Should You Try Calisthenics?

The short answer: Yes! Calisthenics is a fun, convenient way to challenge yourself, improve your functional strength, and work on your coordination. Plus, the moves are easy to incorporate into any exercise routine. If you’re a cardio fanatic, for example, you could try capping your sweat sessions with a few calisthenics exercises to work your muscles to the point of fatigue.

 

If you love to lift weights, use calisthenics as a warm-up for carrying heavier loads.

Or, if you’re just getting back into exercise after a hiatus, try doing a few simple calisthenics moves as you walk around the neighborhood and get your heart pumping.

Calisthenics is ideal for anyone looking to build functional strength, improve coordination, and work out anywhere without equipment.