How To Start Calisthenics | Full Body Workout Plan For Beginners
Calisthenics routines are essential even if you have your own gym at home.
Knowing how to train well with your body can be very useful when you are away from home or do not have a gym at hand. Think about these situations:
- You go on vacation and do not want to interrupt your training routine.
- You are on the beach and you feel like extending the afternoon a little longer to do your routine in the sand.
- You are on a business trip and would like to be able to train in your hotel room.
In short, knowing the best calisthenics routines will allow you to continue your training wherever you are. As they say, with calisthenics your body becomes your own gym.
Calisthenics routines: are they only for beginners?
Calisthenics exercises can be complicated almost as much as you want. And, when the weight of your body falls short, you can use some simple elements to increase the difficulty.
The best calisthenics exercises
We will see the 4 most complete calisthenics exercises and different variants. With them, you will have more than enough to plan a good training.
1. Pushups
Push-ups are probably one of the oldest exercises that exist. And that is for a reason: they allow you to work a good part of the muscles of the torso and arms.
To see how important they are: a recent study relates cardiovascular diseases with the number of push-ups you are able to do: the greater the number of push-ups, the lower the likelihood of suffering them. Specific:
The study determined that men able to do more than 40 push-ups in a row had a 96% lower risk of cardiovascular disease compared to those who could do less than 10 push-ups.
We could say that the 2 types of push-ups most practiced are:
- Classic push-ups
You will know the technique perfectly. If you are able to do more than 30 in a row, you can complicate them by adding some inclination to the legs (deep push-ups).
With deep push-ups, you increase the travel of your arms, which makes your body lower more and you have to “carry” more weight.
Main muscles involved: pectorals, triceps and abdominals.
- Vertical push-ups
Vertical push-ups are a variant of classic flex that puts more emphasis on the shoulders.
You can use any surface to lift your legs: the more vertical your body is, the more complexity.
Main muscles involved: deltoids, trapezoids and triceps.
2. Pull/Chin Ups
This is one of the exercises that is not so easy to do when you are away from home. You don’t always have a bar to hang on, although it is true that many parks are already incorporating them.
If there is no bar at hand, you have an ace up your sleeve: your imagination. You can find some makeshift places to hang up. Of course, be careful when going down.
As exercises of dominated, we could highlight the 2 most typical
- Pull ups — prone grip
Palms should lookout. As you increase the distance between your arms, the more the dorsal works.
Main muscles involved: dorsal and forearms.
- Chin ups — supine grip
The palms should look inwards. The hands have to be at shoulder height or even more together.
Main muscles involved: biceps and forearms.
3. Squats
Many forget their legs. And the leg exercises are the ones that generate more growth hormone, which helps to increase your muscle mass throughout the body.
The squat is one of the most complete exercises (but the most) to work all the leg muscles. Let’s see the 2 most typical variants:
- Classic squat
There are still people who don’t do a classic squat well.
The key is to stretch your arms when you go down, don’t open your legs too much and don’t lift your feet off the floor.
If you are able to do more than 30 repetitions in a row, you can increase the difficulty by taking a backpack and putting a few books inside.
Another option is to take a couple of water cans.
Main muscles involved: quadriceps and buttocks.
- Bulgarian squat
It has a higher level of difficulty than the classic squat and is a previous step to squat on one leg.
It consists of supporting one leg on a surface (like a chair) and doing the squat with only one leg.
Main muscles involved: quadriceps and buttocks.
4. Plank
You may not practice them often, but is one of the best exercises to develop your abs. Much better than the classic crunch you have done so many times.
They do not require any additional equipment and, although it may seem harmless, I challenge you to endure more than a minute…
Main muscles involved: abdominal, lumbar and stabilizing muscles.
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