How Calisthenics Is Changing My Body And My Life
I’m 46 years old and always had an average body: never been fat but often with some kilos in excess (yes, belly’s beer and love handles) and probably below average strength.
I’m a running practitioner for several years, I love it and for sure I’m having positive returns at cardiovascular level and overall health, but running never impacted my body structure, except allowing to eat a little more due to more calories burned.
When I decided, some months ago, to start a complete improve program on my self, I had the issue of finding a way to work on my body too, to increase strength — knowing running was useless to achieve this.
Gym was not an option, I tried it some years ago but didn’t like it — too crowed sometimes, uncomfortable logistic, strange and complicated machine, boring workouts — generally I found nothing appealing.
Even setting up a small gym in my box — dumbbells, bench and so on — was the same, I felt disconnected from my body as a whole while repeating curls, bench press or deadlifts. I was missing harmony.
I did some research and found an interesting topic: calisthenics, a word derived from ancient Greek combining “kallos”, beauty, and “sthenos”, strength. Expanding a little bit with Wikipedia:
“Calisthenics is a form of exercise consisting of a variety of movements which exercise large muscle groups. These exercises are often performed rhythmically and with minimal equipment, as bodyweight exercises. They are intended to increase strength, fitness and flexibility, through movements such as pulling, pushing, bending, jumping, or swinging, using one’s bodyweight for resistance. Calisthenics can provide the benefits of muscular and aerobic conditioning, in addition to improving psychomotor skills such as balance, agility and coordination.”
Looked cool just reading the description, but suddenly I realized my favorite exercises — plank, push-ups and pullups — were part of it, so technically I was already doing it. Of course, these are the foundation exercises — performing them well is paramount — and doing some researches is possible to see incredible figures, defying the law of gravity.
So I started my humble journey and I discovered something truly amazing.
The advantages of calisthenics over other forms of training are many, and to me the most important ones are:
- it’s minimalist, you can practice nearly everywhere without fancy tools
- it’s extremely progressive, become more proficient is the precondition to access more difficult exercises
- there are tons of exercises and variations, so no risk to be bored always doing the same things
- you do natural and composite movements and your body is an unique entity
But what about the effects? Even if I’m a novice, doing calisthenics is bringing to me:
1) Coordination and strength
When you approach exercises like frog stand or wall handstand, you’re conditioning your whole body to perform an act of force and equilibrium that is not comparable to any other strength training. The satisfaction to keep a position a couple of seconds more than the week before is incredible.
And this is just the beginning, I cannot wait to be ready to approach more advanced exercises.
2) Visibile six-pack abs
For the first time in my life, I have visible abs. And, most important, not just esthetical, because you need a strong core to perform more advanced exercises. Correct nutrition is paramount too, to see results you have to lose fat.
3) Focus, purpose and joy
I practice almost every day early in the morning. To me, it became a habit, allowing me to channel my energy on my body while, at the same time, preparing mentally for the day.
I have the short term purpose of finishing my workout and taking the best from it and the long one to improve and see more results. It brings me joy and I feel energized more than just sleeping an hour more.
4) More confidence in myself
I’m feeling better, more reactive and confident in myself and probably will be even better this summer at the beach!
Jokes aside, feeling good and energized impacts your actions and your relations in a great way, so it’s definitely a huge plus.
5) Changes in nutrition, rest and sleep habits
When you start to train consistently, you learn fast that exercises are just a component to achieve results. Food, rest and sleep are the others.
I used to eat not always healthy, often too much, often not at all — skipping lunches for instance — and I simply shifted to a better diet, because it was just a natural consequence to fulfill my training goals and not just something to do for vague reasons.
Same thing for sleeping: I try to sleep at least seven hours and, due to the fact I wake up early in the morning to exercise, it is normal for me going to sleep early too.
In conclusion
So, if you’re struggling to improve your body, but not sure what to do, avoid the typical gym subscription trap and start doing something at home for a while. You can start right now, without spending anything and no matter the level you start from, there is always room for doing better.
Can you do one push-up? No problem, in a few times, you’ll pass to two — a one hundred percent improvement! — and so on.
To establish a goal, first assess yourself on the fundamental exercises: a starting point could be able to perform, with the right form:
- 10 push-ups
- 5 pull-ups
- 5 triceps dips
- 5 hanging knee raises
- 10 squats
If you’re already a little trained, double them up and then continue from here, setting your next objectives (something like enhance strength, augment mobility, increase resistance, be proficient with a particular exercise and so on) and build a time-boxed program based on them — for instance, three months training four days a week — and then assess again.
The key is consistency: the starting period probably is the toughest but when you’ll see results and the training will become a habit, everything will be cool and I’m sure you’ll going to love every minute of it.
Update: if you want to start and have questions, I wrote a detailed story answering the most common ones!
