So you have heard about calisthenics and want to try it out. But you have no idea where to start! In this article we will go over the basics of calisthenics and some key movements you should incorporate into your routines.

Calisthenics is all about using your bodyweight to exercise. Instead of going to a gym or buying expensive weight training equipment you can do it outside or in the comfort of your home. While you do not technically need any equipment, here are a few things we would recommend.

1. Pull Up Bar

2. Olympic Rings or TRX Straps

3. Resistance Bands: For beginners, resistance bands can be great at helping to build the strength to do pull ups and chin ups.

There is more equipment you can buy, which we will go over in another article. But for now that will be sufficient.

So I have my equipment and I am ready to start, now what?

There are 4 main movements we recommend you master. As they all are very important foundation exercises that transfer over to pretty much all calisthenics movements.

1. Pull Ups:

– Holy grail of upper body calisthenics. Pull ups hit your back, biceps, shoulders and activate your core.

2. Push Ups:

– A close second, the push up is an excellent exercise for building muscle and strength in your triceps, chest and shoulders.

3. Squats:

– Great for building mass in your legs. Squats should be your go to exercise for legs if you are just starting out.

4. Hanging Leg Raises:

– The hanging leg raise is an ab exercise that carries over to a lot of calisthenics movements.

If you only had time to do 4 exercises, these would be the ones to do. You hit virtually every muscle group with these exercises. There are tons and tons of variations of these exercises but as a beginner stick to the basics.

A great beginner workout routine would be the following…

As mentioned before you are hitting every muscle group and building a nice foundation to start adding harder movements.

The first number is the amount of sets, the second is amount of reps. So for example 3×10 means 3 sets of 10 reps. That means you do a set of 10 reps, take a break, do another 10 reps, take a break and do a final set of 10 reps.

Where we have a varying number for the reps, i.e. 8-12, that means do whatever you can in that rep range. If you can do 12 great. If you can only do 8 that is fine too. Just try to do as much as you can.

Start out resting 1 minute in between sets. As time goes on you can lower this time period or add more reps and sets.

Some of you just starting out will find those reps a little high, especially for pull ups. If you cannot complete 8 reps place a resistance band on the pull up bar and on your feet. The band will assist you and help you hit all the reps. Over time work on doing them without the resistance band.

Here are some other great exercises to throw into your routine.

Dips

Lunges

Chin Ups

Inverted Rows

This is a basic and rough write up of a nice routine you can to when you are starting out. Everyone will be different and may not be able to complete the routine. If you are having issues or have any questions at all, shoot us a message! We would be glad to get you going in the right direction.