I supposed that you have most likely heard of this fitness term if you are an active gym person.
Have you got into calisthenics workout now and then?
The good news is if you are right about starting to get active in fitness training, a calisthenics workout is a great way to build up your mobility, coordination, strength, and endurance, even with lesser fitness equipment.
It is getting more and more popular again among gym-goers as the years pass.
What are the 7 best full-body calisthenics home workouts for beginners?
Let’s get into it now.
What Are The Benefits Of Calisthenics Workout?
Calisthenics is a form of workout that uses your own body weight to resist train.
You can do it as a warm-up exercise before jumping into your main workout routine or treat them as your regular weekly exercise.
Some of the main benefits of practicing calisthenics workout are:
1. very useful and effective in moving your own bodyweight as it teaches your muscles to work together naturally.
2. your major muscle groups such as core, biceps, and back are working together at once, for example, when you are doing lunges, pushups, or pull-ups.
3. you are bound to burn more calories with higher intensity calisthenics workout compared to other normal cardio workouts as a larger amount of muscles are engaged.
4. risks of injury are greatly reduced as calisthenics focus more on body weight movements and lesser pieces of equipment. You are building strength while decreasing stress on the muscles, joints, and tendons.
5. can be performed anywhere at your home with closer to no equipment needed, and if you do need it, maybe a pullup bar.
6. you are literally saving a lot of time (as you can do it for 30 minutes a day) and money (from paying hefty membership fees).
Can You Build Muscles With Calisthenics?
Yes sure. You can build muscles with plenty of hardcore in the calisthenics workout.
How does it work?
Unless you keep adding weights in your foundational calisthenics workout and depending on your genes, physical strength, age, and diet, it could take between 1 to 3 years to build those muscles.
Experts suggested just continuously adding weights about 5 lbs each month in your basic workout, it is going to give you a stronger and muscular physique in long run.
Compared to the classic fitness exercises, you will gain more functionality, strength, and endurance as you slowly work out this way in the calisthenics movements.
Not so sure? Speak with your personal trainer for guidance.
Are Using Weights Better Than Calisthenics?
It depends.
Say if your real fitness goal is building strength but targeting specific muscle groups, then I would say weight training is for you. By focusing on maximizing your strength regardless of your body weight, you can know how much weight you can lift to build the targeted muscle groups.
Some of the weight training workouts are deadlifts, bench presses, leg presses, overhead presses, and chest presses.
In calisthenics training, you are focusing on your own bodyweight movements, so you don’t necessarily need any fitness weights, or at least just a pullup bar or a barbell, to progress.
If you want your gym session to focus on the many different muscle groups of your body mainly the core, then a calisthenics workout is ideal for you. You’ll get a lot on body stabilization and body awareness, which is not so with weight training sessions.
How To Start Calisthenics As Beginners?
These 7 workout techniques are the best calisthenics practices to begin building up strength and endurance at home.
1. Pushups are great workouts to help strengthen and tone your upper body and core.
When you do pushups, the major muscles in the upper body such as the chest, back, shoulders, arms, triceps, and biceps do all the work.
Try wall pushups to help you to build a strong foundation for the chest, arms, and shoulders. This type of pushup doesn’t imply heavy stress on the working muscles and is also excellent for shoulder injury recovery.
You can do it easily at home. Recommended start with 3 sets, each 10 – 12 repetitions, and rest for about 30 seconds in between reps.
You can also do this pushup using the knees instead of the toes. Be sure that the back and the legs should be straight too. It is easier and less stressful on the shoulder to begin but for sure, you will progress ahead later.
2. Pullups and chin-ups on a door are considered an advanced workout form to build up your back, arms, and shoulders muscles, improving grip strength especially when you move towards doing weight lifting at a later stage of your training.
They are kind of difficult to begin for newbies as it’s testing your strength by using your hand grips to slowly pull your body up until your chin just passes above the bar.
My advice is if you want to master this upper body strength workout on a door, start by pulling up as high as you can or at least in a hanging position or your chin is above the top of the door.
Imagine the amount of strength needed to reach this stage. Take a look at this 5-minutes tutorial.
Note: Please make sure that the door you are working with can withstand your body weight to avoid any unwanted injury risks. Also, no door with a glass panel.
3. Burpees are powerful and effective high-intensity workouts to boost energy and keep all your major muscle groups (chest, arms, quads, hamstrings, abs, glutes) strong.
It is a four steps movement which is squat, thrust, plank, and jump. All this counts as one burpee. For beginners or warm-ups, 10 – 15 burpees per set are ok.
Consider adding this to your calisthenics workout as a warm-up session.
But, before you want to incorporate burpees into this workout routine, make sure that you have some weeks of fitness experience or are able to do 10 push-ups as burpees do need a lot of strength and endurance!
4. Plank is a very good exercise helping to strengthen the back, neck, chest, shoulders, and abdominal muscles.
A plank workout is a great way to tone your midsection and improve your core strength. There are a variety of plank exercises you can do, and you can mix and match them to create a workout that’s perfect for you.
Some explosive plank exercises are arm and leg lifts, plank jacks, side plank, and commando plank. The latter form required good strength and control using one hand at a time in a push position.
5. Squat is another great calisthenics workout that focuses on toning legs, glutes, hamstrings, and lower abs, and helps in building a solid core. Do jump squat as many times as you can in 30 seconds.
Squat jump, for example, is an excellent workout targeting glutes, lower back body, calves, and hamstrings. Like a wall sit workout, it works great for glutes toning and weight loss.
It is widely considered a high-intensity plyometric workout and really gets your adrenaline pumping.
Noting that this workout does give a lot of stress to your knee, ankles, and hip joints. Make sure you have greater strength and endurance ready prior to trying squat jumping.
Remember to perfect your techniques first before attempting this or get a consultation from your fitness instructor. You will be surprised by how effective it is to burn calories and shaping your body.
Check out this video tutorial from Layla.
6. Side leg raise exercise targeting your hip flexor, glutes, core, and hamstrings muscles. If practice this form correctly, side leg raise can help to improve your hips’ mobility and core strength.
On an exercise mat, lie your body on one side, and slowly lift up your leg to almost 45 degrees above the other leg. Then, lower down the leg to its starting position and continue with 3 sets, 8 to 10 reps per set.
Switch your body to the other side and repeat the same steps. Watch this short video tutorial.
7. Lunge exercise is a calisthenics popular workout for those who wish to build strength, toning, or sculpt their overall bodies. It is targeting your legs, hips, and lower back by improving stability, flexibility, and mobility.
For beginners, the starting variation is usually the stationary lunge targeting your hamstrings, glutes, calves, and quadriceps. This technique uses your front leg to put all the weight in and your back leg to stabilize, balance, and support your entire body.
Lunges exercise is best to do when you are starting your leg exercises. You need only a few minutes to do lunges, with 8 – 10 reps per set, and 2 – 3 sets each session. As you are feeling stronger as you progress, you can intensify it by increasing the repetitions or adding weights such as dumbbells.
Learn how to do effective lunges from the Bowflex video tutorial.
Which Is The Best Calisthenics App?
There are many calisthenics apps on the market, but which one is the best?
This is a difficult question to answer, as there are many factors to consider. Some of the apps are free, while others must be purchased. Some have a wide variety of exercises, while others are more limited. And some come with added features, such as progress tracking and a built-in timer, while others are more basic.
To decide which app is best for you, it is important to first consider your goals and needs.
If you are just starting out with calisthenics, you may want an app that is free and offers a wide variety of exercises. If you are more experienced, you may want an app that is more specialized, with added features to help you monitor your progress. No matter what your goals are, there is sure to be an app that’s perfect for you.
Here are my top picks you can consider to start with,
1. Caliverse is the kind of app that gives you an online personal trainer from the comfort of your own home. Access to over 300+ calisthenics programs you can try. It has a good rating ratio in the App store too, a 4.8-star.
2. Calisthenics Mastery app has a large calisthenics workout library to give you all the insight into the body weight movement exercises.
3. Freeletics is also considered by many at-the-home trainers as one of the best calisthenics apps out there. Its main feature is the AI coach’s ability to adjust your training accordingly through your feedback.
4. Thenx app is another awesome calisthenics app workout with over 1000+ youtube videos to help you get started.
5. Calisteniapp has currently over a million downloads and if you are just about to start, you can try this amazing app.
Is HIIT The Same As A Calisthenics Workout?
There is a lot of confusion surrounding the terms HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training) and calisthenics. Both HIIT and calisthenics are forms of exercise that involve quick, repetitive movements. However, there are some key differences between the two.
For one, HIIT is typically done with exercise equipment, while calisthenics can be done with or without equipment. HIIT is also generally more structured than calisthenics, with specific intervals of work and rest. Calisthenics, on the other hand, can be more flexible in terms of both time and movement.
So, which is better? HIIT or calisthenics?
The answer may depend on your fitness goals. If you’re looking for a quick, intense workout, HIIT may be a good option. For those who are having more flexible time and movement in their workout, go for Calisthenics.
Overall, I would say HIIT and calisthenics are both great ways to improve your fitness. Speak with your personal trainer again if you are a complete newbie.
Does calisthenics increase testosterone?
This type of workout has been shown to be beneficial in a number of ways, but one of the most common claims is that it may help to increase testosterone levels in men.
So does calisthenics actually increase testosterone? The answer is a bit complicated. While calisthenics can help to increase testosterone levels in some people, it doesn’t seem to have the same effect on everyone.
Additionally, the extent to which calisthenics boosts testosterone levels may depend on other factors, such as diet, genetics, age, and, overall fitness level.
The verdict here, there is still much research to be done on this topic. But if you’re interested in trying calisthenics to see if it increases your testosterone levels, it’s certainly worth a shot!
My Conclusion on The 7 Best Full-Body Calisthenics Home Workouts
Calisthenics home workout if done correctly and consistently in your regular fitness routine gives you invaluable fitness experience at home. It is considered a fully functional strength training for most trainers.
Whether you are targeting to lose weight, or build muscle mass, this type of fitness training forms all the basics of the many usual workouts you may have been doing.
Another amazing thing is you don’t need heavier weights or lift any heavy weights in the calisthenics workout.
It doesn’t matter what kind of exercises you are doing for your fitness success, you’ll need great effort, hard work, patience plus a good healthy diet combined to gradually notice a positive result.
Do leave a comment if you have and will interact back within 24 hours.
Have another fabulous home exercise!
***This post may contain affiliate links. I receive a small commission when you make a purchase using the links. Prices are the same for you if your purchase is through an affiliate link or a non-affiliate link. You will not pay more by clicking through the link. Please see my Affiliate Disclaimer for more details.
