Calisthenics

Getting Started with Body Weight Training

I’m doing body weight training for almost a year now and like it. It’s free, you can do it anywhere, all you require is something to push from and to pull to, and it is fun.

Two years ago, I stumbled upon a new training concept founded by a group of people in Munich: Freeletics. They trained with body weight and had impressive physiques.

Freeletics and CrossFit

I had heard of CrossFit, which is popular in the USA. I bought the Freeletics training guide, which included a 15-week training. But Freeletics is a HIIT course and was far too extreme for me. I couldn’t even walk a few hundred meters, after the first few training sessions, the muscle aches were bad.

And reading more about these extreme sports, I found out they come with the danger of getting Rhabdomyolysis, which is a dangerous degenerative muscle injury. It destroys the muscles and can even lead to death. The body of beginners may be incapable to do high-intensity training sessions as long or hard, as they are done in CrossFit or Freeletics.

Calisthenics

Other names for body weight training are Street Workout, Ghetto Fitness, or Calisthenics. The word Calisthenics comes from the Greek words καλός (kalos), which means beautiful and σθένος (sthenos), which means strength.

With Calisthenics, you use basic movements like Lunges, Crunches, Push-ups, Pull-ups, Squats, Dips to strengthen your body. You gradually expand your skills and proceed to more difficult exercises. That’s why it’s called Progressive Calisthenics.

Adding 5 kg of weight to the barbell doesn’t feel as good.

The nice thing with this training is you do small steps and improve sustainably. Your body needs time to learn the movements correctly and get used to them. If done correctly you might reach advanced exercises like Muscle-ups, Pistol Squats, Human Flag, or One-Arm Push-Ups. Each time you reach a goal and master a trick, this is a fantastic feeling of accomplishment. Adding 5 kg of weight to the barbell doesn’t feel as good.

Progressive Calisthenics

Calisthenics is suitable for everybody, you can start with the simple exercises possible. If you are untrained, you can even start sitting right on your sofa. You can’t do a Pull-Up? There is a progression route for that.

When I started with Pull-Ups two years ago I could do barely 1 or 2 Pull-Ups, now I’m at 20 in a row. To find out, how advanced an exercise is, you can have a look at this Periodic Table of Body Weight Exercises. The website Body Weight Training Area provides multiple progression guides and even a poster to print out and put on your fridge. Calisthenics 101 provides a complete list of Calisthenics exercises.

And yes, everybody can learn Pull-Ups. Have a look at Cornelia Rizkes’ Workout with other women or see the professional Star Craft 2 player Madeleine Leaner doing Human Flags, Muscle-Ups or Lever.

Building a New Habit

I’ve read James Clear’s article How to Build a New Habit: This is Your Strategy Guide. He writes in his article building a new habit has five key points:

1. Start small
2. Increase small
3. Break big habits into chunks
4. Never miss twice
5. Be patient

I followed his advice and started small, with a few repetitions and a few sets, but increased the repetitions, sets, and difficulty constantly.

To reach a big goal like doing a Human Flag needs to be broken into parts: Build core strength, back strength, and arm strength.

I keep track of my workouts in a diary and can see the training days in a calendar, to see if I missed too often.

And I am patient. It’s more about the journey than about the goal. It’s an effort to train every day, to convince me to do my workout, even if the day isn’t a good one. I decided to train early in the morning, a few minutes after I got up. This way I don’t need as much willpower as I would in the evening. Unfortunately, we are all victims of Ego Depletion, and later in the day, it may be gone.

Training Sites and Equipment

Calisthenics is far more popular in other countries, like Russia or the United States, where you will find a lot of good outdoor training courses. Working out is everyday life, as you can see in this Street Workout video from Ukraine. In Germany, this is unfortunately not the case. German cities don’t provide good outdoor training courses, and if they do, the height of bars is more fitted for children.

But with creativity, you’ll always find a solution. If prisoners can train Calisthenics in their small cells, you should find ways to train without a perfect training course. You can pull up to branches of trees or fences, dip on handrails, or bicycle stands. I, for example, found a playground nearby with decent bars. Not high enough to hang with my legs stretched, but I can train. Additionally, I bought a Doorway Pull-Up Bar and Dip Bars because I got tired of using two chairs for dips.

Build Muscle, Endurance, and Strength

One thing you read all over the internet is the question if it is possible to gain muscles with Calisthenics. The answer is yes. It may be harder than weight training, but your physique will be more balanced, and you will be a lot stronger. There is no value in training arms like Popeye or focusing on a Six pack. With Calisthenics, you can improve your strength, and endurance, and build muscles.

You can find plenty of articles on this topic on the internet, but as a general rule you need to do low repetitions, multiple sets, do them slow, and reduce rest time.

Motivation and Inspiration

Finding resources on how to do the movements is an easy task. YouTube is filled with videos on how to do anything. And these channels provide regular motivation. Frank Medrano, a vegan athlete, has over half a million followers.

Other good channels to follow are Strength Project, OfficialBarstarzz, Brendan Meyers, BaristiWorkout, Corey Hall, Al Kavadlo, Calisthenic Movement or Cornelia Ritzke.

And now get started with Body Weight Training.