Calisthenics is a word that tends to associate a certain image with it, and that image isn't always what most people think of as the most traditional strength training workout. However, bodyweight workouts are not only something people tend to be coming back around to socially in the internet age, but also continue to be one of the best if not the best form of free physical strength training you can do without equipment!
While most people still think that just going to the gym and lifting weights every day is the only way to seriously improve your fitness, calisthenics actually has a huge number of benefits as well. Of course, that isn't to say that a regular strength training workout at the gym won't also have it's own advantages, but calisthenics has a great many advantages too!
You don't need equipment for a calisthenics workout!
One of the most obvious advantages of calisthenics is that you need exactly zero equipment to do a calisthenics workout.
Calisthenics is, by definition, exercises that use your bodyweight for the resistance to movement rather than actual weights.
This method of training therefore means you can easily work calisthenic workouts into your week, as you can fit a workout into any position in your day.
Many common calisthenics exercises such as push-ups, pull-ups, squats, and lunges are relatively simple movements that can be performed anywhere, meaning no only do you save on a gym membership, you also don't need to travel to the gym to get your workout in.
This is great for busy working people, as inherently bodyweight workouts require much less time investment than a workout at the gym with equipment!
How do you make a workout harder if you don't have equipment?
Of course, one of the immediate problems you might think of with a calisthenics workout is that without equipment or weights, you have a lower range of exercises to choose from to increase the difficulty in your workout.
However, even just with bodyweight resistance, you can still make the workout more challenging! For instance, you can do single leg squats, diamond push-ups, or single arm pull-ups if you want to make your workout especially challenging and build a more difficult training plan.
These more difficult movements of course take time to master, and technique and safety will always be the most important part, but if you can do them these movements all make a great addition to your leg, push, and pull days respectively!
Build strength and increase muscle weight
Although we all have an image of strength being directly proportional to the weight of the weights you can lift at the gym, there is more than one way to build this strength.
Calisthenics can improve your overall fitness and strength in a unique way, as your body weight can actually be a very significant form of resistance! For example, if you weigh 160 pounds (72.57 kg), then every time you do a pull-up, you are effectively lifting 160 pounds!
Thanks to this, calisthenics can very rapidly start to build up strength much faster than you might expect! For many people, calisthenics will actually be both easier to stick to as a routine and more productive in terms of strength training than resistance training with lower weights.
This naturally makes calisthenics a great workout option for beginners, although even for the most experienced of fitness nuts adding calisthenics to your fitness routines can provide a good balance too!
There are multiple calisthenics exercises you can choose from.
Increase your natural physical fitness and health
One of the most obvious benefits of calisthenics is a benefit to most fitness routines and workout plans, and that is that it will naturally improve your physical health. Especially in modern society, your muscles aren't used nearly as much as they need to be to stay healthy.
For most people, their arms won't even get any proper exercise unless they go out of their way to train them! Looking after your body is the main reason for doing any fitness, and in the case of calisthenics this is especially true.
Since you are using your bodyweight exactly for the exercises, all of the movements you will do are the most practical versions of them. You will find this allowing you to better control your own body, which is not only immensely personally rewarding and satisfying but extremely useful!
Maintain proper form as you progress your strength in your workouts
One of the things that often slows down people's actual gains when they do regular resistance training with weights is actually adding too much weight to the bar!
There's no sense in trying to do reps with less control and a higher weight just to see how much you can physically lift, as your form will suffer and the exercise will invariably end up not being as useful as it could be.
This is more common than you might think, and "ego lifting" as it is commonly called is one of the fastest ways to reduce the effectiveness of any movement. However, this literally isn't possible with calisthenics!
Since you can't add weight, you are pretty much forced to make sure you are doing the movements with the best technique possible, as better technique is the only way to improve at a calisthenic exercise.
This is another reason calisthenics has a reputation in the fitness community for better consistent form and control in your exercises!
It's important to keep consistency and work on the technique so you can improve your calisthenics skills and abilities.
Train strength in all the muscles in your body
Another great advantage of calisthenics is that it almost by definition ends up training every single muscle in your body. This is a great advantage because in reality while we all like the idea of having big biceps, true strength and fitness comes from training every muscle equally.
The human muscle system is just that, a system. Every muscle is interlinked, and calisthenics is extremely good at training all of them. This is therefore one of the best ways to strengthen your entire muscle system rather than just specific muscle groups.
Of course, you can do regular resistance workouts to target every single muscle, but calisthenics will hit this goal much more easily!
Protect your joints and connecting tissues
Some of the lesser considered aspects of fitness are your joints and connective tissues. However, your knee and elbow joints are one of the most important parts of your fitness!
Many people do specific exercises for their shoulders and hips, but covering all of your joints in traditional strength training is much more difficult. However, by the very nature of its movements, calisthenics will naturally cover this.
Additionally, since there is no risk of overloading the joints with too much external weight, there's a much lower risk of a joint injury or ligament tearing with calisthenics!
In essence, the key advantage here is that by developing strength based around your body weight, your joints will be much less naturally susceptible to injury.
You might want to research both calisthenics and weight training to see what is the best for you.
Effectively train your stabilizer muscles
One of the reasons people tend to prefer free weight training to training with machines is that as well as hitting a wider range of muscles, it also trains stabilizer muscles in addition to the main muscle you are targeting.
These stabilizer muscles are the real heavy lifters when it comes to fitness, even if they ironically aren't the ones doing the heavy lifting! Stabilizer muscles are what allow muscles to work together, and as such are a very important part of your overall fitness that calisthenics again will train naturally.
Any calisthenics movement will, in much the same way as a free weights routine would, train stabilizer muscles along with the main muscle the exercise hits.
Improve the connection between your body and your brain
One of the biggest advantages of calisthenics is that it trains your physical strength, but also your fine motor skills. It trains your ability to move your body in ways you might not normally do, and by extensions trains your mind on how to make your body move like this.
It's all about movements that help with not only strength but also coordination, flexibility, stamina, and agility. Calisthenics is about training your actual fitness more than just the number on the weight you lift!
However, all of these advantages don't make calisthenics, or fitness in general, easy. Luckily, you don't have to face the challenge of improving your fitness alone! This is where a Superprof personal trainer can come in, and revolutionize the way you approach your fitness journey.
Whether you want online coaching on how to plan your workouts or in person face to face advice on your form and movements, Superprof tutors can offer you that extra help to meet your fitness goals.
Especially when it comes to doing a calisthenics routine that actually hits all of these benefits, having someone else to help ensure your workout is as effective and time efficient as possible can be very useful in the modern day.
And with many Superprof coaches offering their first lesson for free, there's never been an easier time to find the right tutor for you, and start your calisthenic journey to greatness!
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